Cheap oil means cheap food. As gasoline and diesel fuel pass four or five dollars per gallon (and gold passes $1,500 per ounce), biggest change in North America will be that wholesale food markets in urban areas will no longer see trucks arriving with loads of vegetables from California, fruit from Chile, or wine and cheese from Europe. In first place, fertilizers and pesticides are oil based so food will no longer be cheap even at source. And whether paying freight for a ship from South America or a truck from California, our current food sources will become prohibitively expensive compared to eating what grows within several miles of your kitchen.

Cheap oil also means cheap heat and cheap transportation. When North Americans can no longer afford to heat their atrium-entried McMansions or commute from suburbia to their urban jobs, we'll see a initial period of workers sleeping in parking lot and commuting once a week to join their families in huddling around woodburning stove they installed in family room after putting up plastic sheeting to separate that area from rest of their unheated house. During this initial period, when it gets warm they'll be planting vegetables in back yard and hoping their drafted son lives to come back from Venezuela. Depending on how long it takes for them to realize that pension they've thought they were earning is imaginary (or will be so diluted by inflation as to be meaningless), they may or may not harvest that first backyard crop before they quit going to work and simply begin trying to survive. The words "social disorder" don't begin to describe what life will be like as gold goes from two or three thousand dollars per ounce to being recognized as a store of value not to be measured in dollars.

When dust settles (maybe two years after what's left of US central government gives up on pursuing what's good for "awl bidness"), North American economy will be same as rest of world: * local populations using mostly local resources * worldwide population same as in 1850 plus however many more can be supported by extent to which local populations succeed in (a) recreating age of coal-fired steam engine and (b) establishing alternative renewable energy resources * an ounce of gold approximates annual wage of a skilled worker.

The above paints a glum picture. But note that it's outcome of shortsighted decisions made by organizations, both corporate and governmental. At level of individual, there's nothing to prohibit each of us from heeding lesson Aesop taught more than two thousand years ago. Be an ant rather than a grasshopper. Instead of doing what feels good today, do what's smart for tomorrow. Put away some food for coming economic "winter." Learn some useful skills and acquire tools to go with them. Consider moving to an area where your new neighbors will already have such skills. With less than one ounce of gold per person on planet, buy a few ounces of real wealth instead of that plasma television. Finally, if you like flush plumbing, look into having a couple solar panels and a 24-volt pump in your well.

Errors on credit report are common. If you find an error on report, notify credit agency immediately in writing.

Specify clearly what error is: account name, account number and what type of error (whether there was never a late payment or account has been closed or you never had that account!).

The agencies are required to investigate and respond to you within 30 days. If error is complicated, it might take longer than that to remove error but at least they will be looking into it.

To learn more about credit, including where to check your credit score and tips for improving it, visit Empire Real Estate – Credit Scores.

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