"And I can't think of many things where you don't get a better crack of the whip if you have more money - isn't that where people get their incentives from? "

A lot of the time it's true of folk music, and the culture that has grown out of the revival. And it's true of the Mudcat, as part of that. Yeah, I know you can but posh seats and all the CDs you want and stay in comfier hotels at folk festivals if you've got the loot. And you can buy some beautiful instruments. But basically we're all in the same boat. And money as an incentive to most people learning to play a fiddle or? You must be joking.

And I think it's also true of a hell of a lot of important things that people give their lives to. We believe too much of what we see in the mass media, and the mass media is obsessed with money as the measure of all things. But outside the spotlight real life is going on, and money, while handy enough, (and it's decidedly inconvenient if you've got too much of nothing,but not the be all and end all. When was the last time you found yourself saying "it's only money"?

And DougR - "only had one major fuel crisis in this country." So the hole in the ozone layer, or the Exxon Valdez and so forth don't count as crises...