  We extend previous work showing that violation of the null energy condition
implies instability in a broad class of models, including gauge theories with
scalar and fermionic matter as well as any perfect fluid. Simple examples are
given to illustrate these results. The role of causality in our results is
discussed. Finally, we extend the fluid results to more general systems in
thermal equilibrium. When applied to the dark energy, our results imply that w
is unlikely to be less than -1.
