Why America has a future

I always enjoy reading James Howard Kunstler, and I'm sure he's right in saying - as he does again, today - that we're looking at a future in which basic food production will become a more significant part of the economy.

But America does have a future.

Everybody knows that the USA has by far the largest economy on the planet. And although her debts are huge, so are her assets. Seen in the context of net international investment position, America is in much less trouble than the PIGS, and a little less than the UK or Italy.

And here's the picture where population and food production are concerned:

I've just been watching a TV programme about the development of a new Chinese city 1,000 miles west of Beijing, and wondering why there is such a rush to urbanise, especially when it means building on productive farmland. It seems to me that one consequence must ultimately be an extra incentive to look for more resources in other people's countries.

But the USA still has enormous resources - land, capital, people and skills. So does Europe. If we can reform and wrest power from the greedy and incompetent uberclass, there is time to recalibrate without horrible disaster, at least for ourselves.

INVESTMENT DISCLOSURE: None. Still in cash (and index-linked National Savings Certificates), and missing all those day-trading opportunities.

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