One Auckland, one Banks, no banks, and marine farms

Well, it’s to be one Auckland and a Lord Mayor. I have no trouble with the structure, indeed any structure, they are all only as good as those filling the positions. History suggests that, going into stressed times, one autocrat can be more effective that a collective. Mugabe proves that the alternative can also occur. Auckland has run out of time to get sustainable.  As oil exporting nations hang onto their resource, as oil-dependant nations get more antsy, and as the supply reduces, cities dependant on oil will stagger. Much has been written about the linkage between suburbia and the motor car, and projecting what may happen when the fuel becomes expensive, difficult to obtain, or rationed. None of it pretty. So whoever gets to be Lord Mayor has to be able to do more than bleat about your place on the OECD!  Most current leadership becomes inappropriate when the paradigms change………..

We are to have Marine farms – of course! There are no limits to growth, you just farm the sea! Um. We can presume to assume that the right hand has no idea what the right hand is doing, at this point. All economic development ultimately owes it’s existence to natural capital – real stuff. If we are reaching the Hubbert Peak for crucial finite resources, then the scenario has to be a sinking lid. Who will loan capital in that situation? It would be like betting on chairs in a game of musical ones! We are already guaranteed to crash still owing mother nature a debt – of that there is no doubt. Whether they manage to facilitate an extension of a provably unrepayable overdraft (thus ensuring we leave her an even greater debt), is the question. Marine farms will have to stand in the queue, the one at the window marked: Pounds of Flesh Accepted. It’s a long queue……………