Just a touch of irony here; During the depression of the 1930s my great grandfather did well for himself and my great grandmother as the only coal distributor in Cedar Rapids Iowa. Now, 80 years later I am making a good living doing essentially the same thing. I work for a publicly owned utility whose main (almost exclusive) source of energy is coal. By operating the electrical transmission system I am delivering coal to around a million people 24 hours per day. It’s funny how despite appearances things really don’t change.