Is it the End Times?

With world events spiraling out of control, things are going to be getting really bad, for every one. People are dying by the thousands in Japan, either from the earthquake/tsunami or they will soon be dying from radiation poisoning. People in Africa are being killed by their own governments. And this is not just in Libya, but all over the continent. Disease, famine, wars, gang violence, thousands are dying every DAY. And what are we doing about it?

Nothing.

Everyone has been taught by society that we should all look out for ourselves first and others second. How can we learn and grow as humans if we look out for ourselves first? It is just insane to think that we can succeed by only looking out for ourselves. Do we not learn compassion by seeing, not looking but really seeing, those who are less fortunate? Do we not learn what love is by loving others unconditionally? Do we not learn, well, anything important, by doing for someone else? Is it really surprising that most of us don't even think to donate to charities until there is a disaster of some sort?

Most of us do not see how current events will affect us in the long term. We are not prepared, none of us, for a global tragedy. We, as a society, have exchanged the ability to provide for ourselves for convenience. Take out is cheap so we no longer cook our own meals and in many cases wouldn't even know how. We do not know how to make clothing, grow food, preserve food, build a shelter, find water, protect ourselves and our families. We think Survivor is an entertaining show, but not anything we would ever have to do ourselves.

I am afraid that we will all have to be Survivors in the near future. When there is nothing left in the stores, will you be able to either do without or make it your self? You know where to look to see what is happening in our world and what it means for humanity. Will you be part of the problem, or part of the solution?

The State of the World

I know that I haven't posted in a while, and I apologize. There has been so much going on around here that I just haven't had time to sit and collect my thoughts.

There are a lot of things going on in the world these says that are very worrisome. Civil wars in the Middle East, the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan, the instability in the global economies. All of these things will affect us in the months and years to come. It is rather frightening just how little most of us understand how all of these things together will affect our way of life.

Fuel costs are going up, with no end in sight. This will effect the price of everything we purchase. It will cost more to produce goods, from agricultural products to clothing and everything in between. It will cost more to get to work every day as we fill up our SUV's with gas. It will cost more to heat and cool our houses. Businesses will have to cut costs, either by cutting salaries or cutting jobs. Rising costs of production will be passed on to consumers who are already cash-strapped. Your dollar will not buy as much as inflation takes off. And that is just from fuel prices.

The disaster in Japan will have a whole different effect on us in the United States. Japan is the 3rd largest economy in the world, but at the moment, their economy is shut down. Their factories are not producing, their already produced goods are very limited and possibly contaminated. The population will soon be having food and water shortages as they deal not only with earthquake and tsunami damage, but rolling blackouts and contamination from the nuclear disaster. The Bank of Tokyo has been pumping trillions into the Japanese stock markets to keep it from completely collapsing, but there simply isn't enough yen available to maintain this.

And since every nation's economies are tied globally, it will affect every nation on Earth.

Food costs are going to be the biggest problem in my opinion. People will stop buying luxury food items, like steak, in favor of cheaper cuts and ground meats. We will stop eating out so much in favor of eating at home. Generic canned goods will become more popular choices causing a drop in sales for the name brands. Big producers will have to lay off, causing more economic problems for the US as a whole. And with the legislation being pushed through Congress that favors Big Agri, the small farmers and small producers will have no choice but to go out of business causing even more food issues.

And that is supposing that there will even be enough food to feed the country. If there appear to be shortages, a lot of people will begin hoarding food, causing even more shortages on the store shelves. Depending on just how bad it gets, there could be food riots. Yes, this is a worst case scenario, but it isn't outside the realm of possibility.

And then there is the fact that the radioactive plume being produced by the Fukushima Power Plant will reach the West Coast of the United States tomorrow. No one is really sure just how that will affect us. There is so much dis-information being thrown out on the airways it is difficult to know just what is true and what is executives playing CYA.

Are we prepared for this sort of situation? The answer for most of us is NO. As Americans, we have gotten complacent in our land of plenty. We have come to believe it is our God Given Right to have a Starbucks just around the corner and strip malls full clothing and food and closets full of shoes.

We should all be asking ourselves What If?

Americans these days are concerned, or downright fearful, of what the future may hold. With the current economic situation and all of the unrest around the world, we have a reason to be concerned. This is not 1950 any more. We do not have a lot of confidence in our leaders, our economy, or even that we will have a job tomorrow. The era of "buy what you want, when you want it" is over.

Most people aren't buying big ticket items any more. Existing home sales are way down. Car sales are down. People are not eating out as much. Everyone is trying to find ways to save money.

For businesses, that means not hiring any new employees or in some cases, laying off. For the working class, that means eating more Mac and Cheese instead of grilling steaks every weekend. We try to find less expensive ways to entertain ourselves. The big problem with this is that it is a vicious cycle that just feeds into itself. Say you own a moderately priced, sit down restaurant and you have 12 employees, 3 cooks/chefs, 6 servers, 2 busboys and a hostess. You have owned this business for several years and have always managed a reasonable profit. Suddenly, the banks are not issuing small business loans and you need a new grill. You have the choice of doing without the equipment, buying it from your own salary, or getting it fixed as best you can. You decided to get it fixed and hope you have enough profit in the next couple of months to be able to buy a new one. Then one or two of the major employers in your community begin to lay off portions of their work force. Those people will have a hard time finding new jobs in the current economy so they will stop eating out. Your business drops off. You change your server scheduling because you don't need all of the wait-staff standing around getting paid with nothing to do. They all get fewer hours and fewer tips. So their personal spending is affected which affects other businesses. Your business slows to the point where you have no choice but to lay off 2 of the servers and 1 of the cooks. So now you have 9 employees. During the busiest prime time rush, your service is slower because you have less help. This causes customers to not come to your restaurant as often. Less business means you either have to raise prices or lose money. Raising prices causes fewer customers, who are also trying to save money, but losing money means that you cannot afford to upkeep equipment, buy quality ingredients, or pay a decent wage. You have no choice but to close your doors. Now there are 9 more people out of work.

All of these things are inter-dependent with every other business in the community. If even 1 business goes under, it effects everyone. And this is happening all over the country. And small communities are being hit the hardest. They are the ones who can least afford for a business to close it's doors.

People are scared that if the economy doesn't get better, all of the jobs in the US with the exception of teachers, public safety(police and firemen) and union jobs (which are protected by the big wigs in Washington) will simply go away. The jobless numbers that we hear about on the news are ONLY the new unemployment claims, not those who have been unable to find a job for the last 18 months.

But even so, you think 10% isn't a bad unemployment number. But think of it this way. That is 1 out of every 10 people you know has just gotten laid off. You know 30 people? 3 of them got laid off this month. And the next month, 3 more get pink slips, and so on. Eventually, most of the people you know will be without a job. Some, maybe half, will be able to find a job of some sort, but it will probably not be for the same pay they were getting before and it probably will not be in their chosen career. It is just a job to keep the bills paid. And it will take them longer to get that job because employers do not want to hire over-qualified people for entry level positions. And there is a lot of competition for every job opening.

Is it any wonder people are nervous? According to the US Department of Labor, 14.6 Million people in the US, and 6.6 Million of those have been unemployed for more than 27 weeks. Don't believe me? Here is the press release from the DoL dated Aug 6, 2010. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm .

Does anyone honestly think that 14.6 million jobs will miraculously appear in the US so these people can go to work? Not very likely.

The daily grind

There is still an awful lot of stuff going on here. Both of the kids are back in school, only one of which is still here, and it seems I STILL have some house cleaning to do from all of the renovations we have done in the last month. The laundry is finally caught back up and the dishes are getting done every day.

Today, I got the joy of sitting in the doctor's office for three hours with an IV stuck in my arm and had to give them large sums for the privilege. But in a day or two, I will not hurt so much. But it is looking like I will be having surgery on my wrist at some point before the end of the year. Won't that be fun?

And to top everything off, my husband's uncle is in a coma and has hung on almost 48 hours longer than the Hospice folks said he would. So, the black suits and dresses have been dry cleaned and are ready to be packed for a quick trip to Fort Worth any day.

We were given a bag of tomatoes and jalapenos yesterday, so I made salsa and I dried the majority of the peppers. Not really sure what I will do with them. We don't eat a lot of jalapenos, but I am sure I will find some use for them, sooner or later.

I guess it is a good thing that , along with everything else, I have some easy meals either canned or frozen. I do not feel like cooking tonight.

Stress, on many levels

I think that now, more than ever, we are killing ourselves with stress. How much easier it would be to only have to worry about whether or not it would rain at the right time. What I want, and I mean really really want, is to have a few acres far enough into the sticks where I can't see a neighbor, no one turns around in my driveway, I can grow a garden and a few chickens, maybe a milk cow, with my husband who works from home, and our children.

Although the kids will be leaving for college in a few years, they will always have a place they can call home. I know that I will miss them terribly. But I don't want to hold them back from their dreams cause I know that my dreams and theirs are radically different. I cannot see my daughter plucking a chicken or my son tilling manure into the garden.

We talked with some friends of ours about buying 20-30 acres, building a couple of houses with a big communal kitchen, and making a commune of it. I can see it now, it would be total chaos. But many hands make light work, you say. That is definitely true, to a point. But the chaos factor, coupled with the destruction of the peace, would negate the goodness of the concept. I still like the idea, at least for a little while.

We have too much stress. Work, kids, money, cars, TVs, bills, taxes...we try to put too much on our plates. That is why so many people have IBS, migraines, high blood pressure, heart disease, road rage, strokes. And we are teaching our children to be this way too. Soccer, Dance classes, karate, scouts, youth groups, play dates, ad nauseum.

Our kids don't understand the concept of relaxing anymore. Or playing. Only the stresses of modern living. Is it any wonder at all that kids are making bad choices as they grow up? Drug abuse, sex, handguns at school, all of these are a mixture of absent or uninterested parenting, mental pressures at home and school, and lack of structure from society. No one wants to do anything to prevent it from happening, but they analyze it to death after the fact and then flood the rule books with really stupid "laws" that everyone has to follow. For crying out loud, it is in my kid's school handbook that they cannot take a doorknob to school. Well, DUH!

OK, enough ranting.