The coming horror show

Jim Kunstler's latest blistering column says we're in for a shitstorm this winter. Pull quote:

Take a good look at America around you now, because when we emerge from the winter of 2005 - 6, we're going to be another country. The reality-oblivious nation of mall hounds, bargain shoppers, happy motorists, Nascar fans, Red State war hawks, and born-again Krispy Kremers is headed into a werewolf-like transformation that will reveal to all the tragic monster we have become.

Kunstler's also sniffing out some unexploited aspects of the Katrina fallout: how the Port of New Orleans impacts Midwestern grain shipments, and how the Gulf Coast oil and gas industry can't help but drag down the national economy. No amount of Disneyland-grade floodlighting is going to wish these effects away. See the comments for more dire prophecy, such as this moneycentral column, explaining how Sarbanes-Oxley reforms have eaten away bank reserves, which could intensify the looming credit crunch.