PLANS FOR GENERATIONS

I have a message for Laurie. She read my post on Development and Survival and she wants to know more. I will give you all the ideas I can come up with but I don't have your email address in order to post to you directly. Get that addy to me and I will go further.

I guess I had better get more deeply involved in this career development issue, so here goes. The first thing you may as well recognize is the way your kid thinks he or she wants to go. If they are interested in any sort of education or training that will be useful in the coming collapse then encourage it. Just remember that people getting ready for retirement are going to have second thoughts about entering the Golden Years and more than likely will be hanging on to the jobs with all the seniority they can muster. Remember, the pension funds are getting hit HARD these days and people's plans can change. So beware for kids who want to be social workers or Philosophy majors. It might ring a bell with them intellectually or emotionally but it might not put beans on the table. And putting food on the table may be a major ordeal in the immediate future and beyond. I look for at least a 20 year era of hard times. This is not something to play around with. It is serious business. America is circling around the commode and is getting ready to go down the drain. This needs to be spoken to all kids, to the best of their understanding.

As far as career choices are concerned, there are a lot of things to look at. Will fuel go to $10 or $15 a gallon? It doesn't matter a whole hell of a lot if there is a lot of oil or not, if the dollar ain't worth the paper it is printed on. People will not be driving many places in the future. So think of all the fuel tax the governments are NOT going to collect. And since governments will be short of money due to severely curtailed incomes and spending, people who work for the government will be sucking hind tit. So you must look at what will be in demand and what will be lost in the collapse. Being a car mechanic will more that likely be a really "money short" position. The demand won't be there. But a farrier might make all the money he wants. Shoeing horses is a field to take a look at. Industrial construction may be a thing of history but being a Blacksmith could very well prove to be a gold mine. Old Dobbin may just see a resurgence in popularity. They eat a lot but they can do a world of work. Animal health is a major field, especially in the future. Cows and horses and pigs and goats and so on will be worth a lot of money and trouble and the person who an keep them healthy and producing will be in demand. Same with people who can sex chickens. Laying hens are very valuable but cockerels are decidedly of less value. If someone wants to buy a dozen laying hens they will not be happy if they get a couple roosters in the mix. Raising chickens for sale is a good business if you can do it. Good for money and good for barter. Both methods can put food on the table.

There are positions in the social area that might pay off. I call a social worker a bartender or a waitress or maybe a player in a band. These people who go around playing the game of child protective services are mainly just more government intrusion and do little good. But a waitress or a bartender might be a good area to get into. They are shutting their doors in the cities because of high overhead, but out in the country the cost of having your doors open are much less and can be rewarding financially. The actual money to be made is in the manufacture of the beer and wine and liquor. The University of Wisconsin can teach you to brew beer and give you a degree in the art. But you can go to most wine supply houses and they will sell you the stuff to get started in brewing. You will be a popular guy if you can brew good beer. Just don't ever make the mistake of selling it out of your front door. You will never get a full nights sleep. Folks will drive you nuts!

Any food endeavor will be popular in a given area. Do what ever floats your boat. They are is limitless. You will be able to sell all the eggs you can produce. My next project will be a chicken coop. Meat chickens will be popular also. A chicken is also called a yard bird and one will just about feed a small family. If the family is bigger then maybe two chickens will do the job. The idea of a yard bird is that it does not require any refrigeration. The bird is cooked and eaten pretty quickly and does not spoil. But Cows can give milk that can be made into butter and cheese or just drank with your meal. Wonderful food. But they require milking twice a day seven days a week. Raising hogs for meat can be profitable. But they smell awful. It you can save the manure in some decent manner then you can use it for fertilizer. Same way with the chickens and the cows. Fertilizer comes from petroleum and it will get damned expensive. Basic garden produce will command attention where ever you live. And you can eat it yourself. Grains are a little trickier but still mighty popular. Wheat, Oats, Corn, etc. All very necessary for sustaining life. People will be very happy to help you for a bag of grain for their kids or their animals. Put 'em to work hoeing and weeding the garden! A 50 pound bag of Oats ought to be worth some amount of hours of labor and you should trade it wisely.

I have not mentioned these different occupations as end all, be all, but rather as little ideas to get your brains to clicking. You have to look around and see what will work in YOUR area. You have to talk to the young person and see what they are interested in doing. You must apply your thinking mechanism to this with great skill. And no matter what you do it might not be enough. The kid may want to study underwater basket weaving no matter what you say to it. And who knows what will happen? Jesus was a carpenter. It turned out he had another calling. So approach this area with calmness and a relaxed mind. Kids are not necessarily going to pay you a damn bit of attention. And then again, they just might. Good luck, and stay alive.