Whats happening with the economy?

[BarredBuff]

I think also Barred it is a 'true frame of mind'. Like I know I can live without alot of things. I can do it, now, don't get me wrong, I don't wanna lose certain things, but if I did I could get thru. Cause my 'mind' is more into the SS way of things. I would easily jump on board and say, WOW NOW I MUST use some of my old timey skills etc. Other folks not in our frame of mind will find it a 'wider and mucher' harder swing to change and adapt.

So that frame of mind is important and you being on step closer to being more SS you are way ahead of alot of others.
That is a good thing!!

Yeah it is truly a mindset, you have to be jack of all trades and a master of none, IMHO.

I also have the know-how and the equipment, I have a fine set of electric and non electric homesteading tools...........

I just get confused on what is really happening with the economy, its like a tenis game. Back and forth, back and forth........and on and on and on.......

 

[i_am2bz]

Like my guru GB advises: spit yourself out of the system.

I think you're already doing that, BB, so you will be better off than most.

 

[FarmerChick]

It is back and forth on the economy in the media. but truly, just look around your area. are homes for sale sitting with for sale signs and not moving? Are neighbors out of work and can't find jobs? Do you hear that the local food bank can't fill the needs of people? Do you see some of your local business closing? Do you see empty shopping malls/stores for lease, just sitting there and no new stores opening? When you go to the feed store do people chat about hard times/high prices/ and yikes it is getting worse out there?


Then you know. If your area is depressed you can easily see the signs. And that is happening in many small towns everywhere. And no matter how much someone on tv or in an article says, hey times are getting better, hmm...you know better....at least what you see around you.

So to me there isn't much back and forth even though we hear it.....I believe we are in trouble. My little town I see the changes. I hear the neighbors all chatting about harder times. Things will get tougher. prices will increase. Shortages will happen if mother nature and other situations combine......so, be on your toes. I am. Not going crazy, just taking care of business for my family. Slowly stocking, cutting costs, being smarter consumer, etc.

 

[Britesea]

I've always figured that the harder the Powers That Be tell us how everything is fine and getting better, the more likely that it ISN'T.

 

[Marianne]

I guess it all boils down to where you live, what you do, what you read, if you watch the news and on which channel...etc.

I vote and occasionally write a letter/email. If there was a protest or revolution close by, I might join in.

But for the most part, I live my life, don't worry about politics and continue on with my self sufficient journey. When times have been tough here, I remind myself that as long as I am warm and have food in my belly, life is still good.

JMO, now I'll be quiet.

 

[bambi]

The Economy: The Blondie and Dagwood Version (In Leta's Opinion, At Least):

1. Capitalism, the dominant economic system of planet Earth, is based on perpetual growth. It is a fact. I am not against capitalism; it has enabled human progress like no system before it, but it's clearly not a sustainable system. Perpetual economic growth is based on perpetual human population growth (more workers = more wealth created = more money in circulation = higher standard of living for everyone). The first world countries (i.e., capitalistic countries) have been at zero to negative population growth for a while now. The countries that still have population growth are not going to have it forever, or even very long- world population is going to start declining, big time, in about 50 years.

2. The theory of supply side economics spawned the neo-conservative movement. Neo-con foreign policy is a direct reflection of the idea that wars are fought over trade and/or resources. (And they are, but wars are also fought over other stuff, too.) The problem with these notions- supply side econ, trickle down theory, free trade, etc.- is that it has hurt local economies all.over.the.world. Think about NAFTA for a minute. The Americans who were put out of work by NAFTA weren't unemployed because the products they made were no longer needed- they were made in Mexico, where the workers were paid pennies on the dollar. Those south of the border factory jobs didn't lift the Mexican workers out of poverty, and NAFTA was never designed to do that. It allowed the corporate masters to become more profitable, rather than allowing the workers to become more prosperous. The net result wasn't cheaper cars (or clothes, or widgets, or whatever), it was more profitable cars. So instead of money being spent locally, it went into Bill Ford, Jr.'s trust, where it sat, and earned him more money, but didn't contribute to overall prosperity in any meaningful way.

3. Standard of living and credit. The average U.S. family now earns less, in real terms, than in the 1970s. The stagflation '70s! Hardly boom years. The reason that our standard living has continued to rise or at least stayed the same, is, in a nutshell, because we've been running it on credit. We as individuals and this country as a collective have been racking up credit card bills for 30 years. This is not sustainable. Sooner or later, that house of cards (tax cuts + same ol' or even increased spending; trickle down a.k.a. voodoo economics) is going to collapse. It is inevitable.

4. The end of manufacturing/resource depletion. When you turn raw materials- let's say trees- into finished goods- let's say furniture- you are literally creating wealth. We don't really do that in this country anymore. We treat ourselves like a colony: we take our wood, ship it to Asia, and ship furniture back home, because it's cheaper than paying Americans to do it. Other countries do this, too, and it is bonkers. It is one of the many ways that money ends up in multinational's hands, just chilling in a Cayman bank account somewhere rather than increasing overall prosperity.

5. Obsession with finance (moving money around to make a profit) rather than wealth creation (turning wood into furniture). All you really need to know about finance is this: it isn't real. It's paper. That's it.

6. Utter lack of political will. Both parties have blood all over their hands looking at this economic carnage. As do European and Asian leaders. George H.W. Bush, who I think is a decent and intelligent man, he is the one who dubbed trickle down economics "voodoo economics". And you know what GHWB's nickname was when he was in Congress? Rubbers. Rubbers Bush, because he was constantly agitating for more funding to be put toward family planning. He sold his soul to run with Reagan, and a voice of reason was silenced forever, in a way that we are still watching play out. It makes me terribly sad.

There is more, oh man, is there more, but these are the biggies. This is why this is such a complicated problem to solve- it's not any one thing, it's many things, all of which are coming to a head at more or less the same time. We haven't had this type of economy for very long, only since WWII, really, but it's like we've completely lost sight of what life was like 70 or 80 years ago, or for most of human history for that matter. We don't teach history in school anymore (I minored in history in college, entirely because of one singularly brilliant teacher, so I have a bias here, I admit) and I can't help but think that that's part of it.

Long story short: Capitalism and this standard of living is a tsunami, not a river. There will a break in the wave, and we are watching it happen this is suppose to be in quote box but not working. No clue what I am doing wrong. I f anyone can tell me how to get a post in the quote box it would be much appreciated.

 

[ksalvagno]

The government will NEVER say that things are bad, all the way to the end. If you look at other countries, the governments said that the economy was fine even when it crashed. There would probably be panic if the government admitted it. It really is a matter of honestly looking at what is going on and ignoring what the media says. It isn't rocket science to see that the economy has been bad all along and is just going to get worse and there are plenty of obvious signs to that effect. Just a matter of if you want to face those facts or not. Many people are chosing the "not" option.

 

[Team Chaos]

I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by what I hear... I'm w/ Britesea and the rest, the louder the reassurances come from the media/gov./etc. the more convinced I am that the ship is still sinking. There is a lot of comfort in being less and less dependent on the system so that life won't radically change around the homefront when it all crumbles. It'll be interesting to know what will start to take shape once the dust settles...

 

[Britesea]

If you want some ideas about what is coming, check out this guy's blog . He is/was living in Argentina at the time of their economic collapse in 2001, and it's still bad there. His descriptions of what it's like living there- both then and still- are very sobering, and have changed some of my preps.

 

[AmericanHomesteader]

Its not just the small towns that have the foreclousers, stores closing, people with no jobs, its in the large cities also, My house was worth a 150K 4 years ago, now there trying to sell foreclosures in my neighborhood for 38K. I think it hasnt gotten better at all. We have been in the process of selling off and we are heading to our small ranch in Arizona, We have sold things ie, boat, household goods etc and purchased our solar panels and wind generator, We are blessed that our 12 acres is paid for and we have a building built prior to the bust. We are heading out in March to live SS and totally off grid. MY DW is ready to go now, DD is not happy but DS is. I am new to this forum so hey everyone