Regarding the post up top, Why is it so tricky to define 'peak oil', the post talks about peak oil being when high oil prices start causing financial impacts. I agree with this.

Part of this is the impact on debt. As long as we were growing, countries such as the United States have been using increased debt to increase demand, and to increase their ability to buy imports. Once high oil prices started leading to higher default rates, and once companies no longer could see the need to expand endlessly into the future, the amount of debt outstanding started to drop. This debt interaction is part of what makes the problem so great.

(The amounts in this graph exclude federal, state, and local governmental debt.)

Here's a commentary from MarketWatch:

Where to next for oil — $50 or $100?

The author, Myra P. Saefong, has been following commodities on MarketWatch for a number of years. This article notes the fact that the price of oil at Cushing, OK, is considerably below the price paid in other markets, due to the glut from Canadian oil. She notes that the price of gasoline has not dropped as much as the WTI price and expects the WTI price to climb toward the price in the rest of the world, once the glut is removed...

E. Swanson

Cheap Fiberglass Insulation

Both Lowe's and Home Depot have R-30 rolls of unfaced insulation (about 31 ft2) for $9.99. Add sales tax and subtract the 10% federal tax credit if you are installing in your primary residence.

Assuming free labor, this lower price changes the break even point for the most economic level of insulation.

Best Hopes for Long Term, Energy Saving Investments,

Alan

PS: Note to Texans - superinsulation of your attic will not only lower your utility bills but preserve reasonable indoor temperatures for longer in a black-out next summer (or winter, there was a small one in ERCOT on 2-2-11).

Is the WTI anomaly the reason that gasoline yesterday in Albuquerque was as cheap as $2.94/gallon?

I am curious, as the price has been trending down for quite some time.

Previously on this site, invariably, when any one floats the idea of fielding greatly increased efficiency vehicles to cut gasoline use, another person asserts that China and India (and the rest of the developing World) will immediately snatch up the surplus gasoline, and therefore gasoline prices would not drop.

As far as I know, the U.S. consumers have not made a mass switch from their vehicles of preference to Prii or Volts or other high-mileage cars, yet the price of gas has decreased.

Of course the U.S. economy has been, and remains, depressed...Has vehicle miles driven per capita in the U.S. significantly decreased over the past year?

...But wouldn't the idea that oil is fungible in the global market, and the idea that growth in China and India and elsewhere is booming, argue against the price of gas declining, given that oil production has been flat since ~ 2005/6?

If biofuels and tar sands etc are the answer, then why hasn't their lower EROEI kept the price of gas up?

The link in the EU-against-US-airlines story seems to be gone (404 not found.)

Here is another one from Reuters.

A few points on what are some of the fundamentals behind the "Occupy…………….." movement and all of the other movements around the world for that matter.

First the most powerful meme of this movement, the one that scares TPTB to there core, is the fact that it is all about;

1% vs the other 99%

The accounting has been done by multiple organizations. The banking industry in the US and probably globally, have the assets to cover peoples deposits, merchant deposits and transactions, basically all of the "REAL ECONOMY's" money.

Unfortunately this only represents a small portion of the banking and finance industries activities. The other 90% of what they have been doing, essentially gambling and fraud, is what is being bailed out, that is what is at risk if (when) banking collapses, NOT the real economy.

This is a bit over simplified as banking collapse would certainly effect all trade and therefore the real economy but not in the way that they are saying and recovery of the real economy would be possible and maybe even reasonable whereas what is happening right now is that the real economy where 99% of us live, is being sucked dry, thrown under the bus, raped, or what have you, in order to cover the bad gambling debts of the 1%.

It's not just banking and finance it is all big corporations most of which have been augmenting low and declining revenues from making and selling stuff by participating in the financial dealings (gambling and fraud) also.

The politicians currently in charge (and those aspiring to be) got there positions and owe complete allegiance to BIG money. They will do what is best for the 1% NOT what is best for the 99%. In all fairness they are convinced that serving the 1% is whats best for the other 99%. I know this for a fact.

Money = a claim on the future.
1% controls all of the money.
99% have no future.

Bottom line This is a crisis of capitalism but this is where it gets tricky.

Debt driven Capitalism is and has been the optimal system to promote exponential growth. Resource depletion, over population, environmental degradation, are just a few of the detrimental results. A version of capitalism is what every Country around the world uses to juice growth, even communist China. Silly people think they can control capital, LOL!

Capitalism functions like a pyramid scheme in that there are always opportunities for more and more people to acquire wealth but only as long as multiples of additional participants are constantly coming in at the bottom. Oh, yeah, capitalism also requires that there is enough cheap, almost free energy coming on line at a similar or greater multiple in order for those participants to generate excess profit$ to pass on up the pyramid.

Right now there are plenty of willing participants but due to the lack of cheap, almost free energy these participants are unable to generate "excess profit$" to pass up the pyramid. Low life bums. So instead of money flowing, being pushed up that is, the relentless, unquenchable demand that "capital" is simply sucks it up anyway it can even if it has to create virtual participants with virtual excess profits. There is no stoping capital…FEED ME SEYMOUR!

Capital has muscle too and is always looking for cheap, almost free energy. Is it any coincidence that last of the light sweet crude is in Iraq and Libya?

Even that is not enough so it just keeps on expanding debt/credit and skimming off the top.

Debt/credit expansion has continued on well beyond anything that this planet can ever support.

Problem is whenever you talk this way people scream "your a damn communist/ socialist".

Clearly humanity needs to operate from a base of support that includes healthcare for all. education for all, security in old age for all, in order to maintain dignity and humanity and this is socialism. Above and beyond that maybe we can have some form of capitalism that allows people to reach there aspirations BUT CAN NEVER INTRUDE ON THE BASIC SOCIALISTIC BASE SYSTEM.

Truth is we kind of had this sort of setup here in the US for a while but then capital noticed this while heading out for some grub one day and…well the rest is history and here we are.

Maybe instead of Debt based Capitalism we should try Gift based Capitalism.

I always thought Peak oil = point of maximum production of oil.

This definition seems just fine to me. Why do we have to say, "peak easy oil"? Let people add the "the expesive, hard to get oil" (and tar sands etc) into the pile of reserves - does it, or does it not change peak production?

The Yerginites etc might declare that in a perfect world we could reach new highs in oil production - but that perfect world depends on an Imaginary Universe of peace and cooperation, economies and technologies that does not exist and never will.

Re. Chris Sebrowski's definition of peak oil.

Chris Skrebrowski, who argues that peak oil is best defined as the point at which “the cost of incremental supply exceeds the price economies can pay without destroying growth.”

This sounds like part of the mechanism for peak oil, not a definition. There geologic constraints, technical constraints, geopolitical constraints, economic constraints... are not these all just factors in the equation?

Why bother to muddy the waters? Just discuss this part of the equation, and leave the definition alone.

So which is preferrable, because in today's world it appears to be one or the other?

- Falling stock index and commodity future prices OR rising stock index and rising commodity future prices

Reading the story about the water restrictions for tracking due to drought, I realized that tracking for oil in Israel and Jordan will have some problems.
Does anyone know if sea water can be used for fracking instead of fresh water?

From defining peak oil: "In other words, eventually the world will max out on production of the cheap, easy oil — the stuff that comes from Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries. At that point, as long as demand for crude keeps growing, prices will rise and we’ll have to resort to more expensive oil from the Arctic and tar sands and so forth."

True but not the complete story. Folks do tend to talk past each other especially when the focus is on the AMOUNT of oil left to develop and not the RATE at which it will be produced. While increased oil prices will allow more oil to be developed it ignores the potential size of these undiscovered fields. Consider the DW Brazil pre-salt. Huge fields for sure. But it does not compare well to the number and size of all the old heritage fields. And not just the ME fields. The East Texas oil field was one of the largest ever discovered. Many other super US /global fields. Ignore the cost of developing future fields and focus not just on the cumulative size of this undiscovered oil but another critical factor: field life. All the big DW water fields will have a good/bad production profile: very high initial rate followed by rapid depletion and abandonment with significant unrecovered reserves due the high offshore operating costs. No DW field will be producing a significant amount of oil just 10 years after it comes on line. And it will takes decades to bring all these new Bz fields on production. Almost certain some of the early fields will be near depleted by the time later fields come on line.

OTOH "fields" such as the Eagle Ford and Marcellus may have commercial lives for many decades. But these aren't truly fields in the normal sense. They are "trends". In essence each well can be viewed as a single field. Thus there are many thousands of such "fields" to be drilled but each field will only have a significant production rate of a few years. To what degree these trends are developed will hinge on oil prices. This is a very important distinction between a conventional field like Ghawar and these unconventional plays. Once a convention field is developed the lifting costs are rather small and can thus keep producing when oil prices fall. But the "unconventional "fields" don't have that same financial edge: prices get to low and these "fields" go into immediate rapid decline because new wells cease to be drilled and existing wells drop to stripper levels in just a few years. Consider that Ghawar field kept producing at higher levels than today even after oil dropped to $10/bbl in the mid 80's. Very few unconventional wells will be drilled if oil drops below $50/bbl let alone $10/bbl. I'm not predicting oil will ever fall that low. But, OTOH, no one predicted in 1980 it was going to fall over 70% just 6 years later either.

Thieves steal 50-foot bridge in Western Pa.

According to CBS affiliate KDKA, the 20-foot wide bridge was in a wooded area along a railroad line, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Police say it was made out of corrugated steel and valued at approximately $100,000. The thieves used a blowtorch to cut the bridge apart. They presumably to sold it for scrap metal.

Radiation in Japan: Hot spots and blind spots

CREST the hill into the village of Iitate, and the reading on a radiation dosimeter surges eightfold—even with the car windows shut. “Don’t worry, I’ve been coming here for months and I’m still alive,” chuckles Chohei Sato, chief of the village council, as he rolls down the window and inhales cheerfully. He pulls off the road, gets out of the car and buries the dosimeter in the grass. The reading doubles again.

Iitate is located 45km (28 miles) from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant hit by a tsunami on March 11th this year. In the mountains above the town, the forests are turning the colour of autumn. But their beauty is deceptive. Every time a gust of wind blows, Mr Sato says it shakes invisible particles of radioactive caesium off the trees and showers them over the village. Radiation levels in the hills are so high that villagers dare not go near them. Mr Sato cannot bury his father’s bones, which he keeps in an urn in his abandoned farmhouse, because of the dangers of going up the hill to the graveyard.

Iitate had the misfortune to be caught by a wind that carried radioactive particles (including plutonium) much farther than anybody initially expected after the nuclear disaster.

http://enenews.com/

ENENEWS.COM

Tokyo: Cesium at triple gov’t limit in radioactive compost made by elementary school children — Using fallen leaves!

Kyoto science prof: “Possibility that radiation will not only spread, but will start to accumulate in large concentrations”

Osaka: 700 microsieverts of radiation from parts of bridge made in Koriyama — “Serious concern” from residents

More on Dead Fukushima Nuke Worker: Internal radiation level unknown since early Sept. — “Died suddenly” — TEPCO not revealing cause

Meanwhile the BBC continued its series of pro-nuclear power adverts disguised as documentaries this week with an episode of "Bang Goes the Theory". This concluded that the maximum number of early deaths from Chernobyl was 140 and that nobody at all will die because of Fukushima. Although they talked to a "professor" who said this, there was no mention whatsoever that other "professors" had described their "professors" as either idiots or liars. No mention was made of the recent Russian Chernobyl study (100s of thousands of early deaths) even to attempt to debunk it. No mention at all of the claims that tens of thousands of the clean up workers have died very early deaths. Not even the usual excuse that they all had mental health problems and/or drank themselves to death.

No mention at all of Professor Chris Busby at the opposite end of the scale to their pet academics - not even a mention to debunk him - just ignored him

Professor Chris Busby

Busby was a member of the British government sponsored Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal Emitters (CERRIE), which operated from 2001 to 2004.[6]

In 2001 he was appointed to the UK Ministry of Defence Oversight Committee on Depleted Uranium (DUOB).[6]

In 2003 he was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Liverpool, in the Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology.[6]

In 2004 he was named Leader of Science Policy for (EU) Policy Information Network for Child Health and Environment PINCHE based in Arnhem, The Netherlands.

Massive nuclear incidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima are nothing to worry about according to the BBC and the radiation risks are minimal even if you are exposed. There is no scientific debate about this according to the BBC.

Illinois town evacuated following fiery train derailment

The town of Tiskilwa was evacuated early this morning after a freight train derailed and several tanker cars containing ethanol exploded in flames that could be seen for miles.

Twenty-six cars on the 131-car train derailed around 2 a.m., including seven to nine loaded with ethanol, according to Mick Burkart, chief operating officer of Iowa Interstate Railroad. Seven to nine of the cars were on fire, he said.

Map: Occupy Wall Street Spreads Nationwide (Updated)

The loose-knit protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street has stirred action from New York City to Los Angeles and many cities in between. While questions remain about the anatomy and goals of the movement, one thing is clear: It has grown in scope (99 cities), tapping into widespread American anxiety about the grim economy and anger over corporate greed and the increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.

Map, Charts and Graphics

Nigeria’s oil production fell by 80,000 barrels in September:

Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer, reduced output by 90,000 barrels, or 0.8 percent, to 9.76 million barrels a day
Iraqi production rose 90,000 barrels, or 3.4 percent, to 2.77 million a day this month, the highest amount since October 2001.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/markets/companies-and-mark...

UPDATE: Iraq Oil Output Hit Post-war High At 2.9 Mln B/D:

Iraq's crude oil output Monday hit 2.9 million barrels a day, the highest level achieved since the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003, the country's oil minister said in a statement. Iraq's crude oil output Monday hit 2.9 million barrels a day, the highest level achieved since the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003, the country's oil minister said in a statement.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20111003-709171.html

Analysis: After Heat Wave, Texas Debates Power Needs Next Summer

The summer heat wave that pushed Texas' power grid to the brink of blackouts has faded, but the debate over how to keep the lights on next summer is just warming up.

State regulators and utilities are weighing a myriad of short-term and long-term strategies to encourage companies to build new power plants at a time when long-term wholesale power prices are barely half the level needed to justify new investment.

...The ERCOT forward power price for 2012 is about $45 per megawatt-hour, "well below the $70-plus you would need -- not in one year but consistently for many years" -- to support investment in a new gas-fired plant, said Kamir Barbir, senior vice president of strategy and risk at IPR-GDF Suez NA.

... market critics say the inability of the market to maintain robust power reserves is a sign that electric deregulation has failed.

related Gulf Coast Power Association 2011 Fall Conference Presentations

3M Shows Photovoltaic Film for Windows

3M drew press and viewer interest earlier this week at CEATEC with its show of special film that the company has developed to coat ordinary, existing windows and convert them into solar panels. The product was shown on curved and regular glass surfaces. This “windows-transformative” film is to debut next year. Not only does the panel generate energy in sunlight, but it also serves as a heat-blocking layer.

FOR ALL

A little follow up on my post about various US entities pulling oil/NG (mostly NG) off the market through various contract arrangements. I mentioned this was a common practice back in the late 70's after the embargo coincided with a NG shortage. Yesterday I attended a pre-spud meeting on a new well in which we own a non-operating interest. The operator is also a very large metal ore processor that has been taking NG off the market for decades by drilling wells themselves. Not only do they own their share of the production but have also reserved the right of first refusal on its partners' share. Over the years this one company has accounted for 100's of $million of NG not being available on the open market to be purchased by other end users.

First chance I had to visit face to face with my new partners. As I expected they did talk about a major push to expand such efforts. And the new NG wells don't have to be close to the plant. The new production could be 500 miles away but as long as they have the call on the production they can swap it on paper with another company for NG that can be delivered to their furnaces.

I've also been asking around about the utility companies and what moves they might be making to pull NG out of the market place through such arrangements. So far the silence from my contacts has been deafening. When I've asked face to face I get a suspicious look back. My interpretation is that there are a lot of discussions going on that no one wants to publicize. Remember the basic plan: utility company A delivers NG to end users (residential and commercial) in State X. By contractually owning or having ROFR they can effectively require NG that could have been shipped to State Y to be shipped to them.

Given the low prices and the amount of NG on the market now I doubt anyone would pay much attention to this activity even if it were made public. But these deals are typically made with 10 to 20 year terms. The resource plays are keeping NG production up. But here comes that double edge sword: if the economy recovers and demand (especially commercial demand that took a big hit) increases so will the prospect for shortages...even if just short term. Just my WAG but I guess in a 5 year time frame. A big WAG given I have no idea how the economy will roll in the near future. But somewhere down the PO trail the politics of pulling oil/NG out of the market place by various end users will be a very contentious issue. And it might happen even sooner: the NG delivery system is not, nor ever has, been designed to handle max load. The pipeline system can max out during high demand periods in the winter. As someone pointed out the feds can declare an emergency and curtail commercial deliveries to the benefit of residential. But that's a whole different ball game than the feds taking NG essentially owned (through their utility company) by residential consumers in State X and requiring delivery to residential consumers in state Y. And it won't necessarily be Texans letting those folks freeze in the dark. It might be next door neighbors of NY or PA.

Afghanistan's Energy War

... Unknown to most Afghans, in January 2009 the government implemented a new Hydrocarbon Law that transforms its oil and natural gas sectors from fully state-owned to all but fully privatized. In April 2011, the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines launched the first of what it expects to be "several tenders for Afghanistan's oil and gas resources over the next few years".

As in Iraq, the contracts include production-sharing agreements. ...(45 years or more, including the exploration phase, under Afghanistan's law).

The Afghanistan contracts, moreover, would not require foreign companies to invest earnings in the Afghan economy, partner with Afghan companies, or share new technologies.

Afghanistan is not only an energy producer, it is also a potential "energy conveyer". Negotiations for the creation of a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline are progressing at a rapid rate. Just last month, Afghanistan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani reported, "The implementation of the TAPI project will begin in 2012 and will be completed in 2014."

Couldn't find Afghanistan on the Energy Export DataBrowser. Its known resources include 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil and 15.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas, primarily in the North.

Pakistan lawmakers rally against energy crisis

Islamabad: Pakistani opposition lawmakers and activists staged a sit-in outside the president's house on Friday in protest at perceived government inaction over the nation's crippling energy crisis.

The severe energy crisis has triggered rolling power cuts of between six to 10 hours in urban and rural Pakistan. Shouting slogans "no to corruption" and "no to Zardari government" the lawmakers condemned the routine electricity load-shedding or power cuts.

Italy and Spain debt downgraded by Fitch

Fitch cut Italy's rating by one notch, from AA- to A+, following fellow agency Moody's downgrade earlier this week. The agency also cut Spain's rating by two notches, to AA-.

It talked of the "small but no longer negligible risk that a further worsening of the eurozone debt crisis and volatility in the value of Italian government bonds will further erode confidence in the banking system".

The agency said a "vicious cycle" could emerge where a growing lack of confidence in Italian banks could knock confidence in government debt, which could in turn undermine the banks further.

Tale of a Modern [Indian] City

How can Indian cities keep up with the nation's dramatic economic boom? India is richer than ever before, and could surpass China's economy by 2013. But its growth is a mix of dynamism and dysfunction as can be seen in the city of Gurgaon.

Gurgaon barely existed 20 years ago. Today it is a booming metropolis of apartment buildings, shopping malls, golf courses and luxury stores. But it lacks basic infrastructure like sewerage, electricity, public transport and roads.

The city suffers from traffic jams and flooding due to poor infrastructure, and those living there say government bodies are struggling to keep up with developers who helped build the city.

Facing inefficient government, corruption and bureaucracy, consumers must provide their own resources, including generators, water tanks, private security and transport, which is leading to growing frustrations.

Re: And not a drop to drink, up top:

Tuvalu residents use King Tides Festival to draw attention to their plight. (3 part video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOWehgeL_fk&feature=relmfu

Re: Nestle chief warns of new food riots from up top

Ran across a WikiLeaks cable on www.cablegatesearch.net about a month ago that echoes Nestle CEO's view on food and water security. What is important to note is that this is not just his personal view it's the Nestle corporate view.

See World’s Largest Food Company: Forget The Global Financial Crisis, The World Is Running Out Of Fresh Water

… (SBU) Nestle sees the world, and global food production, largely in terms of the water economy. Its management is convinced that growing shortages of fresh water, rather than land, will become the Achilles heel of global agricultural development. This -- and not the current financial crisis, oil depletion, or global warming -- is the most dangerous near-term threat to the planet's well-being.

On present trends, Nestle thinks one-third of the world's population will be affected by fresh water scarcity by 2025, with the situation only becoming more dire thereafter and potentially catastrophic by 2050. Problems will be severest in the Middle East, northern India, northern China, and the western United States.

Re: Poland Leads Wave of European Shale Gas Development, up top:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0IxA7qC3f0

The EV Market In Context: 15 Cars That Are Selling Worse Than The Nissan Leaf (And Chevy Volt)

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/10/the-ev-market-in-context-15-car...

Peak oil, peak fossil fuels treated as capital crisis and not resource crisis

One thing which has really been bothering me about the treatment of peak fossil fuels in scientific modeling and here is that they have been treated as if they are a resource. Whilst they are resources by any technical definition, in my mind they should be treated as capital goods. They do not follow the same model as any other resource given the fact that their EROEI is typically greater than 10:1 and the production of other resources tend to be energy sinks. Their consumption pattern and the consequences of their shortages are different. In the absence of iron or steel due to a lack of enough iron ore the iron demand could be substituted or deferred for a time. However in the absence of say natural gas a significant proportion of the capital stock in the economy from power plants to fertilizer plants are useless and the direct substitute for moving away from fossil fuels is durable capital such as renewable energy.

I propose that instead of calling peak oil a resource crisis that instead we could call it a capital crisis. There is a special difference between a resource crisis and a capital crisis. In a resource crisis such as rising prices for phosphate does not significantly reduce the utility nor utilization of existing capital stock. I resource crisis involving oil on the other hand significantly effects multiple classes of capital from transportation to remote power generation for mines. The supply of oil acts as a multiplier value on capital and in a complete lack of oil gives a multiplier of 0, I.E. the capital is rendered useless. The crux here is that capital is needed to create capital and the substitute for oil is increasing different types of capital stocks to act as a substitute whilst at the same time the effective base of capital which is needed to build additional capital is contracting due to a lack of supply of oil.

Given the ways oil is used and the fact there is a lack of an adequate substitute for it if the supply of oil becomes too problematic then it presents a catch 22 to the worlds economies. Oil is needed to power capital to build the substitutes to oil but the capital needed will only be built if there is a clear and present danger of shortages in oil and by that time there isn't going to be enough oil flowing to power the capital to easily build the substitutes needed to replace the oil demand. This is the trap the post peak oil world will have to deal with.

TEPCO claims nuclear worker's death unrelated to radiation exposure

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/10/07/fukushima-nuclear-plant-worker-d...

Two bombs hit Iraq Rumaila oil pipelines-official

The impact on production from Rumaila was not immediately clear, but firefighters were working to put out blazes caused by the blasts, two sources said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/07/iraq-oil-blasts-idUSL5E7L72WC2...

Rumaila is the largest Iraqi oil field; with the stalling of the political process, I expect much more attacks of this type once the American forces withdraw.

Regards,
Nawar

Last Day to Register for ASPO-USA conference with $100 early discount

http://aspo-usa.com/conference/2011/

Best Hopes on Seeing You !

Alan

September 2011 Dashboard: Consumers Favor Trucks Over Hybrids

All the top hybrid sellers dropped in September and are down for 2011—a year in which hybrid sales were expected to rise. In September, the hybrid take-rate was a disappointing 1.68 percent of new car sales.

Diesel volumes were also a letdown in September—falling 5 percent compared to a year ago. However, sales of clean diesel vehicles are up 30 percent for the year.

The documentary, The Secret of Oz (VIDEO-2 hours), explains the original Wizard of Oz story as being about monetary policy.

Baum's children's book is filled with monetary reform symbology. Yellow Brick Road (gold), Trek to Oz (Washington), silver slippers (coin), Scarecrow (western farmer), Tin Woodman (factory worker), Lion (William Jennings Bryan), poppies (opium wars), field mice (populist movement), "seven passages and up three flights of stairs" (Crime of '73), Wicked Witch of West (Rockefeller), Wicked Witch of East (JP Morgain), water (liquidity)... The power of the witch in The Wizard of Oz is the power to create money.

The following was printed in United States Bankers magazine in 1892.

   We must go forward cautiously and consolidate each acquired position, because already the inferior social stratum of society is giving inceasing signs of agitation. Let us make use of the courts... When, through the law's intervention, the common people shall have lost their homes, they will be more easy to control and more easy to govern, and they shall not be able to resist the strong hand of the Government acting in accordance with ... the control of the leaders of finance.
   We must keep the people busy with political antagonisms. We'll therefore speed up the question of reform of tariffs within the Democratic Party; and we'll put the spotlight on the question of protection ... for the Republican Party.
   By dividing the electorate this way, we'll be able to have them spend their energies at struggling amongst themselves on questions that, for us, have no importance whatsoever.

Gold and money are separate things... Gold is the trick mechanism by which you can control money... that is the root of all evil.
- Thomas Edison (12/6/1921)