A COUPLE OF CALLS

I called an elderly friend in Georgia this morning. He's just a bit shy of 80 but still going strong. He now has 174 children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great, great grandchildren. Sort of like a ready made clan. He talked to his banker this week and his banker told him the country was going to collapse. No question about it. And this banker knows what is going on and says it is over. But my friend has a 1000 acre farm where he raises cattle and he aims to use that to pay their land taxes. Their businesses are just about down to seeds and stems. No money left to be made. Credit has gone by the wayside and jobs are scarce because of the lack of financing on the buyer's part. In other words it is grinding to a halt. But he says they are doing everything they can and they will trust God for the rest. I have known these folks for almost 30 years and I have seen them go through rough times and good times, but this is the worst economic report I ever got form them. But they will fight and scrap for every dime they need to make it through this coming mess. The banker told my friend that he figured he had gone nuts when he bought that 1000 acre farm and all those cattle but now he sees my friend was really ahead of the curve and ahead of everyone else. And these folks in Georgia can REALLY do some gardening. They will have their garden in by the end of February and the harvest will be soon enough. They grew a lot of sugar cane last year and had their syrup made and they have a world of it. They gotta have that syrup at least one meal a day and sometimes two. Their opinion is that it is better than sugar as far as your health is concerned.

I called my cousin up in Anderson, Indiana, this afternoon and he had gotten laid off/let go from his position as an office manager for a large civil engineering firm. He set the hourly ate and billed all of the customers. He is a registered professional land surveyor and really knows his stuff. He has been in it for his entire adult life. They got rid of him with no warning and no "sorry" or anything. The company got rid of their head draftsman the same week. He is 63 years old and can retire, though he will have to make his mortgage payment. His wife still works and has a school job as a vice principal in a very popular school. They are a ways from getting kicked out on the street but things are looking a little grim around their house. They have played the game according to the rules and done what they were supposed to do and now it is being taken from them. But when I called him two years ago and told him to get ready, he told me that his company was too big to go down. TOO BIG TO FAIL is how you say that. But there to guys they let go, my cousin and the draftsman, are part of the meat of the company, not the fat or the excess. It looks like the jobs they are getting rid of now are the real jobs. The jobs that mean something to the company. Secure people are hereby warned that they are the next to go.

The good jobs seem to be the next ones to go. This ain't french fries and coleslaw, this is steak and potatoes going by the wayside. I cannot imagine how those people will take their dismissals. It is going to be rough as hell. But we have prepped and dug in and we are ready, if anyone is ready. Obama is living in some kind of dream world. He is trying to get these big programs through congress. He wants to go down as a savior to the country. Well, he is going down as an idiot who can't read a computer screen. He is going down as a left wing ideologue who can't accept that the money he wants to spend ain't there. But he entertains the fantasy. The book says "Woe unto the people when their king is a child." Well, Obama is in this childish fantasy and can't get a grip on reality. He's daft. And his staff is daft. What a bunch of morons. Try to stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtcccom.net