Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog, Three
visualizations describe the breakdown of PSMs--previously
successful models: S-Curves, Supernovas and Rising Wedges. A
successful model traps those within it; escape becomes
impossible. I recently highlighted one historical example of a
PSM (Previously Successful Model) in Our Dust Bowl Economy
(November 20, 2012): in the ample-rain era of the 1920s, farmers
in the semi-arid southern Midwest had reaped huge profits by
plowing up and planting fragile native grasslands. They poured
their profits into homesteads, equipment and more land to enable
further expansion. When grain surpluses pushed prices down,
their "model" had only one "solution": plant more land and
harvest even more grain to compensate for lower prices. When
prices fell from $1 per bushel to $.25/bushel, the model
collapsed. This previously successful model exacerbated the Dust
Bowl and left the trapped farmers with no alternative but to
either keep trying to make a failed model work or lea