A REGULAR SUNDAY MORNING

AMERICAN'S CUT BACK

I have been reading about how Americans have been cutting back on their normal consumerism. I want to welcome them to the world of survivalism. Howdy to all of you folks that have had to cut down on your expenditures. This country has 5% of the worlds population and has FOR DECADES consumed 50% of the worlds good and services. And they accomplished this by being one of the most aggressive people on the planet. They were smart and they worked hard and they had a government that was complicit in this manner of living. They had a powerful armed forces, and still do for that matter.

But things have changed along the way. The oil producers have decided that they want more say in world affairs. And since this condition known as Peak Oil has apparently come upon us, they want more money for the black gold that is pumped from their land. America, the big consumer, has responded with war in the Middle East and with the printing of more currency in order to have more money to spend on Oil. Wonderful! We turn to war and inflation to alleviate our problems. Man, you really can't get much better thinking than that. Or can you? Hmmm..

My rant this morning is not on the idiots who formulate policy in this country. They have done enough to get themselves labeled correctly as idiots. What profit is there in pointing out the fallacies of their thinking to those who now bear the load of paying for their mistakes? WE ALL KNOW, NOW. My writing will concern those who are caught in this web of stupidity. The average, dumb, unthinking American. We have been a large force in this debacle. Our ranks have swelled to immense proportions.

Joe and Josephine Blow have gone along with the programs initiated by the banking industry, the federal reserve and the politicians for a long time. They kept throwing credit our way and we kept using and spending it. Good times were upon the land. Prosperity was the battle cry and the campaign slogan. And we voted for more of it with every election. Hell yes. Let's all make money and lived like English Lords of the 1800's. We can have big homes with lots of rooms and have our lawns manicured and perfect. Our kids will go to college and get fine degrees that will ensure their future. We will have big pensions that will allow us to live our "Golden Years" in a manner befitting a people who are so intelligent and cunning. Our retirement home down in Florida has a very nice view of the ocean and our Master Bathroom off the Master Bedroom has a jacuzzi spa that really feels great. Life is good! Continue on! Any debt we accumulate will be paid off when we sell our present home here in Workland and make our move to the land of the Big Sun. It appreciates in value at about 10% a year and it will insure our security. This plan we are all living is foolproof. We can't lose! Our bankers and stockbrokers are so wise and our politicians are so caring. What a wonderful world! (Sing it, Satchmo!)

I think I should give you one of Michael's Laws of Life at this point. This particular law says that "However tight a grasp you have on something is how tight a grasp it has on you." I learned this law while sawing with a big circle saw headrig in a big sawmill. It was painful but it was very enlightening. I use this law to point out that the system we thought we were manipulating was also manipulating us. How comforting.

The gas inside the balloon is leaking out. Where it once floated gaily in the wind, with it's pretty colors illuminated by the bright sun, it is now descending to good old terra firma. A writer in the Daily Reckoning said that the global economy was not getting out of balance but rather regaining balance. Things had just gotten too far out of whack and a correction was being made. Error is it's own reward. The economy is on a downhill slide. The sureness of it all has become a mass of Play Doh. Where life was rigidly assured it is now malleable and unsure. And the public is suffering with this. Men don't know what to do!

We have invented a new concept in the economic life of America and called it Jingle Mail. It is a physical manifestation of the realization that the game is over. The Goose is roasted and it's time to bring it to the table and serve it. And folks get busy looking for a new way to live. If you look for the information you will run across some of these roasted geese and their testimonies. It might astound you. People with big income and big bills and big plans for the future are suddenly having to throw in the towel and start over, and very prominent is the fact that their new life is nowhere near as gracious and well fed and watered as the lifestyle they were forced to give up. And this is good.

Good? Yes, it is good. It is going to teach a lot of people about how life on this planet really is. It is going to make them confront reality. It will teach them to live within their means and not just in their imaginations. And living within your means is not necessarily the stuff of dreams. It is reality. Dull, boring, reality. And the scripture says to keep a dream before the people. And in another place it says that without a dream my people perish. We have to have a dream! But is our dream the stuff of reality and logic and conforming to the Harmony of Survival? Or is our dream some Hollywood fantasy, assembled by the pimps and whores and homosexuals of that suburb of Los Angeles? Do some of our kids now get to learn about reality instead of fantasy? Will they be toughened to the point that they can be decent productive people and not just high paid technicians? Will they have some common sense? Will they lose their greed? Will they discover the world outside the Mall?

I think that all things work together for the good for those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. And he will whip his own kids ass but another mans he will not bother. If you are in the crucible of adversity it may just very well be because God is trying to make something out of you that he can use to benefit his people. And it might be for your own learning as well. He really doesn't want a bunch of robot children. That is why this planet is a school and not an assembly line for robots. God doesn't want his kids to be inexperienced and unthinkingly obedient. He wants some development! He is trying to raise us up to HIS standard!

And America having to do without is providing the means to achieve that standard at this level of our education. The education will NEVER stop. It goes on for eternity. But this is the particular grade we are in at the moment and we better get busy learning how to live with it

Stay alive!

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net