Cost of the Iraq War through July 31, 2011: $704.6 billion

If arable land, fresh water, irrigation, genetically modified seed
modern equipment, pesticides and fertilizers
convert fossil fuel into enough food
to keep pace with population growth,
is the populace dependent on ever increasing supplies
of finite resources?

If resource consumption, food production, population,
money supply and temperature,
all rose faster in the last 50 years than the preceding 5,000,
are we consuming more than replenishing?
Instead of promising the imminent return of good times
why aren’t our leaders talking more about the importance
of living within our means and not spending money we don’t have
on things we don’t need?

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation

is inflation of the currency,

the second is war.

Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin.

But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.

Ernest Hemingway

Are there correlations between currency, debt,
natural resources, peace and war?

If the second law of thermodynamics
means concentrated pockets of energy in isolated systems, like Earth
even out over time,
where and what on Earth is more or less concentrated,
and how fast is what evening out?

What happens when linear food production
can’t keep pace with exponential population growth?

Should American political and economic leadership
be held accountable for what their conduct has wrought
that our warriors fight and die to protect?

Did America build up military power as it strengthened economic power
while its industrial base moved overseas to use near slave-labor
paid for with printed money?

Should you question those with less to lose, who may think you have what they need,
who may be saying what you want to hear,
while urging you to do what they don’t want to or wont?