James Howard Kunstler believes that the consumer credit economy is over and that we are now moving on to the next phase of the U.S. economy. Kunstler provides some historical context on our current global economy and muses on the relationship between over-complexity and diminishing returns, which he believes is the "hallmark of all civilizations that come to grief."

This May, the Committee on Environmental Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics confirmed that the design of U.S. communities (i.e. car-dependent suburbia) negatively affects the health of children (i.e. makes them obese). James Howard Kunstler explores the relationship between suburban sprawl and the declining health of Americans. SPONSORSHIP INFO: This week's sponsor is PostPeakLiving.com, offering online courses that prepare you for the post peak oil world. Use "KunstlerCast" as your discount code.

James Howard Kunstler and other commentators are often called "doomers" for their seemingly bleak outlook for modern society after the peak of oil production. Kunstler gives a brief introduction to other "doomer" authors, including Dmitri Orlov, John Michal Greer, Jay Hanson, and James Lovelock. Though Kunstler rejects the doomer label, he does believe that we are involved in a human system that needs to be severely pruned. He believes that resurrection and redemption are great themes in the human story and that civilization has a few more cycles to go.

James Howard Kunstler joins host Duncan Crary for a quick KunstlerCast "grunt" to react to the recent death of pop star Michael Jackson. Kunstler thinks Michael Jackson represents many of the bad choices that America made about itself and also its difficulty in telling the truth about it. To read Kunstler's recent obituary for Jackson, visit http://kunstler.com/blog. The KunstlerCast will return in full next Thursday on July 16.