AN EXPLANATION, SOME BARTERING

I have been pondering the considered opinions of many contrarians calling the forecast the spells doom for the American economy. How is it going to happen? What do we look for? And I have come to the conclusion that it will mostly happen within our borders. The dollar will not collapse if there is a basket of currencies that will be the reserve funds for the world. Iran already trades oil for Euros. They won't take the dollar. And it hasn't hurt the USA very much at all. So, the Petro-Dollar is not the back breaker we might have thought it to be. The dollar is not going to be excluded from the market place any time soon. Believe it. All these Central Banks in Europe and around the world have tons of dollars in their vaults and they are not about to pitch them into a fire unless absolutely forced to do so. Ergo, I see a place for the dollar for quite a while. The dollar may be severely down graded but it will still be legal tender of some sort. What will kill this country will be the fact the we produce little or no manufacturing. China is the big dog on the manufacturing level these days. Europe comes next, I would say.

America will choke to death on it's own incapacity to produce. No jobs are forth coming. No tool orders like we used to have in the past when we geared up for a come back. The fedgov will be fighting a war of attrition. America will devour itself. There will be the gray visage of the out-of-work laborer who is in soup lines or FEMA camps. And many will join their ranks on a daily basis. America has lost 11,000 jobs per day since the recession was declared in December of 2007. Congress is having to extend, repeatedly, the unemployment benefits that so many require just to live. Jobs are scarce and a few openings will attract thousands of applicants. It happens every day. I watch videos of guys in big cities who are constantly looking for work. A lot of them are working part time these days because that is all their companies can offer them. But they can't find full time work so they are trapped in the downward cycle of lack of income and nowhere to go to better themselves. And these are working men with wives and families. They don't want to lose their homes and watch their kids go hungry and have to live on the street. And it is getting tough. Tough as hell. And they are eating up their resource. Every week they have a little less than the week before. Their kids get a little less than they did the week before. And this will trigger the death of this nation. This is the nut that will crack to open the soft underbelly of the American economy. The problem is we don't HAVE an economy. We are consumers, pure and simple. We borrow and buy. We live off the largess of the world. And it is going to take a helluva toll when it goes to hell and gone. We are eating all of our fat every day of the week and we are making no more. It's gonna get hungry outside. Very hungry.

Now that I have all of that off my chest I can get on with writing. We have so much to do and so little resource to do it with. But somehow we manage. It's kind of amazing when you think about it. We are making a way through the collapse a few cans a week! And it will bear witness of our thinking. We are not haters or terrorists or any of those idiotic names the system like to bestow on those who don't go along with their insane programs. We are lovers of our fellow men and wish to see them survive the hard times ahead. We can stay out of the anarchy and rioting of the future because we will be able to stay at home and ride it out. No trips to jail or to FEMA camps or any of that crap. Just folks out on the land at their retreats growing food and looking after each other. The way things are supposed to be. If a disturbance comes our way we will take care of it in the manner required,. and no more. We have become tired of the world's problems and wish them to go away. We didn't cause them and we can't stop them so leave us out of the mess. The fedgov would like to see us get involved in their shenanigans but we are too enlightened at this point to fall for their bullshit any more.

I got some good comments and emails about the bartering I had up on the blog. A lot of people seem to be very much in to this form of commerce. A surprising amount. And a lot of them are taking steps to acquire barter items on a regular basis. They pick up a few items at the stores every week or so. Useful items like batteries and ammo and beans and things like that. Razor blades and flashlights are in the mix as well. Bags of cigarette tobacco and rolling papers along with half pints of booze are popular items. Watch some trading and you might be able to turn your little barter thing into a real business. I think about mmpaints and her soap making. She makes it all the time. My mind goes to having my BIL make me a board mold to knock out 20 bars of soap at a time! Shouldn't be any task at all for my BIL. He could knock it out in an afternoon. My wife makes wine in gallon jugs. Sure might be popular with folks who like a little change of pace from straight water. These are some things you can make from scratch, should you be able to find a source of raw materials. And who the hell knows what you have available and what you can make out of it? THINK! It is your future and your future may be a little more comfortable if you can come up with something useful to your neighbors. You can get mmpaints recipes at her web site at http://selfsustainedliving.blogspot.com/ . She is big on soap and cheese. Truth be told, she is good at a lot of stuff.

I'm all wound up today about the coming collapse and bartering and growing food and telling the fedgov to stay the hell out of my life. It all falls in line so well! We get to be responsible again! What freedom. What a clear shot at life we will have. Let the morons die off or live in FEMA camps, sustained by fiat money. We can go on ahead into a life of honor and meaning. Our kids will know how it is done, not being allowed to be dumbed down and turned into robots and parasites. I have lived a life, many years ago, where we did not allow outside influences to rule us. We did not look to outer society to entertain us. We had a band with pots being turned into drums and a washtub converted into a bass fiddle. A guitar made the melody, with no amplification. Great parties! A wonderful time was had by all. We drank lots of beer and danced like we were possessed. Old folks and kids together. And we were free! Nobody messed with us. We logged and sawmilled all week and we had muscles in our shit. The guns were up in our rooms if they were needed. Visitors behaved themselves or they got told to leave. If they didn't leave they got their asses kicked. Ahh...the simple life. We'll get to that again one of these days and it will be great. Be ready for the good times. Stay alive!

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net