As mentioned in the Richebacher letters, a housing bubble is the worst kind because the assets involved cannot be readily disposed of, although this is what actually needs to be done for the market to return to normalcy.

For years I have been buying guns, gold, silver, and durable goods. I own part of my property outright, and have solar and wind power on it. I have gotten myself into the local government and have some say in checking the idiots and the gimmes.

I am not alone, I have lots of good company. If you’re smart enough to realize there are big problems and government is not any kind of solution, but free men are, then you are one of us. Now, let’s all get to work. The alternative is to lay down and die, perhaps saying “yes sir” and kissing the ass of the government before that last gasp.
EP

For years I have been buying guns, gold, silver, and durable goods. I own part of my property outright, and have solar and wind power on it. I have gotten myself into the local government and have some say in checking the idiots and the gimmes.

I am not alone, I have lots of good company. If you’re smart enough to realize there are big problems and government is not any kind of solution, but free men are, then you are one of us. Now, let’s all get to work. The alternative is to lay down and die, perhaps saying “yes sir” and kissing the ass of the government before that last gasp.
EP

I appreciate W & G and Agora bringing us Mr. K’s thoughts. I’ve responded to him before, and I’ll give it a go again:

How did we pioneer and populate this God-given land and prosper without Mr. K’s help? This idea/land-of-the-free was built by God-fearers on a Gold Standard and individualism. And it can continue to be built, innovate, and advance into the future based on those same principles!

It must be terrible to be locked into a particular mindset and want to convince a collectivist coercive state (I know its redundant, but how many others do?) to force their citizens to follow it. Central planning got us into this mess. It sure isn’t going to get us out. It will get us killed. GUARANTEED! (The politicians will eventually kill us unless we take the power away from them as originally intended.)

I for one don’t want to be killed by the collective. I want individuals striving in a free market of ideas and opportunity (not striving for the hive). There are many paths through this fog. One school of thought, which Mr. K is either unaware of or refuses to acknowledge, sees the best path clearly. The Austrians. Mr. K is obviously not an Austrian. Agora is Austrian-derived, but it is wise of Agora to present Mr. K’s ideas for consideration. It shows us what we’re up against.

Speaking of Agora, has Patrick Cox or Byron King ever had a chance to discuss energy sources with this knucklehead? Or is his mind so closed that its not up for discussion?

I am glad you support public transportation.

Our governments and businesses should spend more money on public transportation and freight rail.

Many people have discussed manufacturing, infrastructure, and other topics on http://www.newgeography.com

I discuss manufacturing and many other things we may do dealing with the financial crisis on http://www.newgeography.com/users/kenstremsky

My website is http://www.myspace.com/kennethstremsky

I ran for United States Senate in 2002.

I hope your are wrong. For, if you are correct, a lot of people will starve. It is nearly impossible to revert to farming they way it was done only 30 years ago. I’m 50 and remember many local farms around Philadelphia (I’m sure other areas were similar). Food was transported relatively short distances, for example hogs were grown and slaughtered locally, after being fed a diet of local garbage collections. Today those former farms are covered by your much-despised suburban sprawl, and will never revert to productive land again. Even if one could remove the houses, the rich topsoil was largely scraped off and sold.
Sorry, Mike G., but in the above scenario, you will likely be among the starving. A walkable downtown sounds wonderful in most situations, but you will be entirely dependent on others to continue to supply your food, water and fuel.
No, I don’t have the answer. I do in fact grow a significant portion of my own food, with the ability to do more if necessary. But in the coming apocalypse, I will live only a little longer than Mike. As long as it takes the starving hordes to find me and take my food. Then, they too will likely die, for they will lack the knowledge to run a farm after having disposed of me.