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.

Preparing for the Next Great Depression

80 some odd years ago, something really bad happened in our country. We had a series of catastrophes that triggered an economic meltdown the likes of which had not been seen in modern history. There were several years of droughts that destroyed most of the harvests in the Midwest. The stock market became unstable causing bank runs. And as a side effect of those issues, many people left their family farms and moved to the cities looking for work, causing food and housing shortages in large urban areas.

Then the Black Blizzards came and scoured literally millions of tons of topsoil from what was once the richest areas of the Midwest, and scattered it all over the country. This all but destroyed the fertility of the wheat belt for about 20 years. It took many years and thousands of tons of fertilizers and chemicals to get back even a fraction of the growing capability of that once fertile soil.

We have recovered the crop producing soil now, but the mindset that worked that soil is probably gone forever. A single farmer, with 80 or 100 acres, or even 200 acres, does not control what he produces anymore. He cannot decide to plant sweetcorn on his rice field anymore. Because of the specialized nature of modern farming, he would have to invest in a multitude of new equipment if he decided to change his crop. And most simply cannot afford it.

What does that mean for the average person? We depend on farmers to grow food for us. If they cannot grow it, we cannot eat. The cost to consumers for the lack of diversity in farming is that if we have another Great Depression, there are millions of acres of fields planted in crops that are not edible by humans. Corn crops these days are mostly grown to make ethanol or corn syrup and not to eat. Different hybrid strains of corn that produce higher starch content have been produced to increase the yield but not for food. So all of that land that used to grow food, now grows sweeteners for you sodas and additives for your car. If every farmer used 2% of his fields to grow food crops, like potatoes or beans, that is only 2 acres for every 100 he plants in cash crops, we would not have food issues in this country. A 2 acre plot of land could feed a family well for a year. And if every farmer in each community would get together and each plant his 2 acres in a different crop and swap with each other (one plant tomatoes, one sweet corn, one beans, squash, etc) they could easily feed the entire community. And if that was done all over the country, no one would have to go hungry.

Even if everyone who has at least 1/2 acre of space in town planted a garden, everyone that person knows would have access to fresh food. It is very easy to have more squash than a family can eat. And tomatoes are a very high yield crop as well. Peppers, okra, beans, peas, all of theses are very high yield for the space they use. Even melons and cucumbers can be run on a trellis so that they take up very little space.

If everyone planted something, anything, there would not be food shortages in the face of an economic depression.

Food isn't the only thing that will be needed if the worst happens. The basics we as humans need to sustain life are food, water, warmth and dry. Food we have already talked about. Water is an issue that most people take for granted. You turn on the faucet and there it is. But that water has to come from somewhere. If another Great Depression occurs, it is highly unlikely that municipal infrastructure will fail. So water shouldn't really be an issue except in very remote areas.

Warmth is something to be concerned about though. With the prices of heating oil and natural gas skyrocketing, it only makes sense to look at alternative sources for heat. Wood-burning stoves come to mind. As well as passive solar and geothermal sources. The technology is there now but the prices are still high enough to put it out of reach for most people. So wood stoves and fireplaces are still the cheapest, most efficient option at the moment. A wood stove can be used not only for heating the room, but also for cooking your food. So that is another plus to look at.

Shelter to keep you out of the weather, be it rain, wind, cold, or hot summer sun is always an issue. If you loose your job, and you home get foreclosed, where will you go? It is always a good idea to have a backup plan in the event of an emergency. Even natural disasters like tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes can take your home away from you in a heartbeat. Where will you go? A good backup plan can be the difference between surviving and subsisting.

Make a plan. Will your family be able to survive?

Born too late

I think I am the only person I know who would do just fine without modern technology. I love my clothesline. I enjoy growing my own food, canning, sewing, crocheting, and cooking. We have been living with the windows open for the last 2 months so no heat or air going. I like making bread. I can pluck a chicken and butcher a hog. I can make butter and, sort of, cheese.

I cook with bacon grease and plain flour. My pie crusts are home made. I make my own soap and laundry detergent. My skirts are down to my ankles and my necklines to my collar bone.

I believe in punishing the kids if they smart off to me or someone else, and giving them hugs and telling them how proud I am of them often.

I was just born too late I guess. I should have been living in the hills back during the Depression or something. I don't need a bunch of Madison Avenue execs telling me that I can't be happy without...whatever they are trying to sell. I am perfectly happy with the things I have. I don't need anything else.

Grandma's House

I spoke to my mother last night. We were talking about my grandmother's house and the fact that something really needs to be done with it. My grandmother has been in a nursing home for a couple of years now with Alzheimer's and the house has just been sitting empty. Well, not exactly empty. My grandma lived in that house for close to 50 years so it has 50 years of assorted stuff in it. And it looks like my grandma will not live to see her next birthday in September. She has to be strapped to her wheelchair because she is falling out of it all the time and she hasn't been able to speak for almost a year now. Mom said that she isn't awake very much and when she is, she just sits and smiles. I just hate it. I haven't gone to see her because I cannot stand to think of my Grandma that way. She would know who I am anyway. But that is a completely different rant.

Grandma was born in 1919 and like every person who lived thru the Great Depression, she has never thrown anything away. If I had to guess, I would say that there are probably 50 fruit jars full of buttons scattered over the 2 or 3 acres the house is on. There are probably 5 and 10 dollar bills tucked away in every book in the house. For all I know, she could have a couple of thousand dollars worth of pennies buried out in the garden. And the really bad part about it is that before she went into the nursing home, she would get very paranoid that someone would steal things from her, so she would hide stuff. Anything that she thought someone would want, she hid. Then promptly forget where she hid them.

Anyway, my mom and aunt are going to start going thru the house this weekend and get rid of stuff then is just plainly trash. 20 year old plastic butter bowls, newspapers that were used to wrap empty fruit jars, magazines from the 80's, that sort of thing.

Mom is aware that there are some things I would like to have from the house before it gets sold or destroyed by the roof on one of the many sheds falling in. I remember a wood stove in the shop from when I was a kid. I don't remember if it was a cook stove or a Franklin stove, but I told her that if it wasn't rusted out, I would like to have it. Any cast iron cookware will have to be split amongst the kids I am sure, but maybe I will be able to get a piece or two. The stuff I am interested in really is the stuff that I cannot see my aunt or cousins really wanting. I want the old time stuff. Milk churns, crocks, fruit jars, wash boards, flour bins, salt cellars, all of the things of every day living from three quarters of a century ago. There is an iron bedstead in the house but I can't remember if it has been claimed or not. It has been painted a few times but the last time I saw it, it was still sturdy. It won't fit my bed but it would be just awesome for a guest room.

My aunt and cousins all live near St. Louis and have for as long as I can remember. They are city folks. Wouldn't have a clue how to cook without a microwave. They will not want any of the things that I would be interested in. Even the hand pump we used when my dad drilled them a new well when I was a kid would be useful. All of this kind of stuff is very handy around the farm that I will have some day.

My grandpa had an old forge out in the yard that we used to play with when we were kids. Now, I cannot see any really need for that, but it was a really interesting relic of the time. Mom said that she thought it had belonged to Poppy, my grandma's dad. He passed away at the ripe old age of 94, when I was a teen. But I remember the forge from when I was a little kid, so who knows.

I would like to take about a week to go to the house and help Mom and Aunt Janie with the clean up and inventory. I don't know that I would be much help really since I really can't pick up anything but mom said the shop is about to fall over, and pump house and smoke house are having roof issues, so if there is still anything worth keeping, it needs to be moved into the house at least so it doesn't get ruined.

It is tough having to think of going thru all of grandma's stuff. But that house is so packed with random crap that if we don't start sorting it out now, it will never get done.