The Toxic Dream: Progressively Improving Futures
Dec 21st, 2009 | By Linda Brady Traynham | Category: Featured, Morning Whiskey
Shooter Bill Simmons wrote me: “…If things continue to muddle along into the progressively improving future as they always have in the grand scheme of things…”
I whipped back, “I suggest that for the first time in our enjoyable growing acquaintance you had better check your premises. Start with a period known as ‘The Dark Ages!’ Or work your way backwards using Japan as a good example of how things do NOT improve progressively. Zimbabwe, Iceland, the USA, England, Venezuela, Greece…
Times of social upheaval seldom improve the lot of any nation or sector of society, especially true in our own where the votes to pass legislation disapproved of by over 70% of the citizenry turned on the vote of Senator Mary Lou Landrieu being purchased with money extorted from taxpayers and threatening Senator Nelson with closing the big air base in his state at the cost of thousands of jobs. Californians, earlier, had the threat of martial law levied at them. This is scarcely what the Constitution advocates, but is reminiscent of ancient Rome, Venice, and the worlds of Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot.
“In the centuries in between you will find innumerable periods where nothing much happened and others were there was alternating forwards and backwards movement with occasional side drifts,” I continued. If we contemplate the past up through the Renaissance, discounting such things as the scarcity of good plumbing and the home hairdryer and the plethora of things that bite and itch (such as lice and bedbugs), there were numerous periods when life was rather nice for most people in agrarian economies—yes, even those at the bottom in periods where “upward mobility” meant an extraordinary opportunity to marry “above one’s station” or distinguishing one’s self in battle—we find that in general there was a high level of contentment. Ours is a very ethnocentric society and many of you will be aghast that I would discard the microwave, the cell ‘phone, and political correctness for peace, stability, and belief that we can succeed by our own efforts. I have a very great talent for being happy—and making those around me happy.
The basics of a stabile society are common mores, customs, beliefs, and guardrails, where demagogues and the lawless are kept in check. Ignoring the very occasional slave revolt, a superb rule of thumb is that revolutions are started by pampered scions of a growing bourgeoisie, otherwise known as parvenus who have been educated above their stations, or religious zealots—again, those with more time and too little work to keep them from making trouble. The American Revolution—as good an idea as we think that was—was the result of 3% of the population, almost exclusively from the privileged classes.
The more “advanced” societies grow, the more things they find to fight about, instead of good old-fashioned stuff like booty, outlets to the sea, arable land, and slaves. Our modern versions of slaves in this country are “wage” ones and outsourcing jobs to areas where labor is cheaper, and the unions don’t get a bit of sympathy from me; they priced themselves out of the market—and our pampered bureaucratic drones are now averaging $30,000 more for comparable jobs on the private economy without turning out any useful work product. Our devastating national debt stems from giving in to increasing demands for “entitlements,” pushed by those with political agendas and others who find endless opportunities for graft, corruption, and reelection. Our so-called “advances” are not worth the lifestyles we forfeited for them, doing “good” only for the very few who profit monetarily at the cost of millions who could have been at least content a hundred years ago.
I find the ancient Egyptians very sensible most of the time, their pantheon of gods notwithstanding. Above all else they prized STABILITY. They liked “dominion,” but “stability” was the primary goal. I’ve said this before, but for new readers Pharoah’s idea of an excellent reign was one in which he won any wars others insisted upon starting and built gaudy monuments to his prowess if he lost.
A MAGNIFICENT century in the most stabile and long-lasting country the world has ever known was one during which absolutely NOTHING changed. They dated events by who the king was and whether or not it was raining! (“Month two, day seven, innundation, in year ___ of the reign of…”) The currency remains stabile, the social structure remains stabile, and every five or six hundred years art forms and pottery decorations may changed slightly without threatening the peace and stability of the Upper and Lower Kingdoms. In time hieratic develops because it is faster to write, but only grubby shopkeepers and shipping magnates care because the real business of the land—seeing to it that nothing changes—is done in the language of the gods. Everyone else is perfectly happy with the status quo, just as I would be quite happy in 1910. Or even 1810 or 1776.
The Egyptians had a very simple system that worked magnificently: don’t mess with success. Build your tombs and temples, keep the nobility and priesthood under control, make good dynastic marriages, get rid of an occasional disaster like Akhenaton, and it is perpetual summer time an’ th’ livin’ is easy. You start enlarging your empire with a lot of foreigners with strange customs and no good will come of it, mark their words. One of the most emphatic things you can do in hieroglyphics is to assert that you, yourself, aver, avow, or attest that something is true! You have your nerve, saying a thing like that. Keep that sort of nonsense up and the priesthood will fall and people won’t believe in the divine right of Pharoah to rule and the next thing you know we’ll have mummy cases made out of cartonage with Greeks in them.
“Improve” the lot of the peasants? Whatever for?! They’re happy and employed, and if you go and develop a bigger middle class they’ll rock the boat wanting what the upper class has and leave a shortage of labor making the peasants restless and greedy, too. Goatherders, artisans, brewers, rock carvers, scribes, house servants, game beaters, bakers, potters…there are lots of useful tasks that need doing and somebody has to do them. Precisely how are we better off having a professional class that has illegitimate babies (and the highest abortion rate in the land), does drugs, commits most of the street crime, and remains illiterate simply because they vote for Statists reliably? Are those on the Welfare Plantation happier, more useful, or given even much chance to escape the class into which they were born? That system destroyed Rome, and it has destroyed America.
The Egyptians went to great pains to make it difficult to learn to read. The language is full of deliberate in-jokes. Literacy was reserved for the elites—the court, the priests, those with a genuine need to know, and the scribes who did it professionally. The elite knew instinctively that no good could come of educating the working classes; if you need a reader in your household go buy an educated Greek slave and treat him well. There wasn’t enough literature to talk about anyway.
You will find the writings of the English landed gentry and above on the social scale quite instructive, and their arguments were ineluctable, not that such good sense halted the Industrial Revolution. What they needed was more and better Luddites smashing looms to keep weaving a cottage industry. Two hundred years ago there were a few people “on the parish,” but they were objects of scorn. There were those in debtor’s prisons, a short-sighted solution because it is usually a little difficult to earn enough to repay one’s debts there. One of the things America needs badly is a nice Botany Bay colony! Instead of housing felons at the cost of a Harvard education, send ‘em off someplace unpleasant to survive as best they can. Such policies certainly reduce the recidivism rates. The best future I can devise really does require that we look backwards, not forwards.
I have spoken of the “anti-industrial” revolution many times since I began writing here; it is coming, and it will be very beneficial—at least, for those who survive the birth pangs. Part of that was shipping our industry off to “third world” countries which do not have any sloppy, sentimental, deleterious ideas about the sacred environment, children who are not excelling in school working, enormous taxation, and “safety nets.” The original safety net is quite sufficient and provided through families and being enough of an asset to the community that your neighbors pitch in when you are ready to raise a barn because you’ve helped enough to have ample chits to call in.
I am NOT, of course, speaking solely of destroying our industrial base through Cap and Tax and even more strangling regulations. I am speaking of a sea change more and more are calling for: sustainable levels of comfort for those who work, and backing off the unattainable dream of every new generation having “more” than their parents did, far less attempting to “give” 3rd world nations the lifestyle that makes many in first world sectors miserable at unsustainable costs in numerous areas. A very simple—but nevertheless quite correct—explanation of reducing the “carbon footprint” by means of reducing our electrical consumption 17% through a combination of increased prices and taxes is not that it “benefits” less advanced countries (not that I consider such a suitable goal), but that it knocks Americans down to the level of India and China without the hope those people have. They, too, will find out that bicycles and meat on the table an extra time a week come at a very high price in terms of cultures they value.
“The enemy of good is ‘better.’“ Quit while you’re ahead. Consolidate your gains and leave well enough alone. Why do you think everyone loves “Happy Days” and “RFD Mayberry?” Back in the Twenties the Grangers were a political movement against unions and trying to hold on to the 1870’s life on the farm. They saw, correctly, that assembly lines were exploitation of those who were leading fulfilling lives. No, that does not mean that all of us must spend bits of time plowing fields and milking cows; it means that for some of us there is far more fulfillment doing those than being tied up eleven hours a day getting to and from offices.
A theme that runs through my correspondence is how greatly those of us who pull away from “civilization” improve our lives. By giving up externals which cost far more than they were ever worth we have consistent large amounts of precious leisure and raise our standards of living sharply. We don’t pay $27/pound for arugula, we grow our own—and we know where it was grown, under what conditions, and that it was touched only by those who do not defecate in the fields but do wash their hands frequently. We have the leisure to cook from scratch, using as many items we have grown ourselves as possible.
We don’t chase our tails and we don’t race rats. We laugh gaily at the thought of worrying about what the Jones have. MDC and I chortle because we do not have to worry about losing jobs; we don’t have any to lose, being retired. We are not worried about upside down mortgages because we don’t have any of those, either. I swapped my McMansion for Green Acres and live in chaos and sometimes near squalor, knowing that we are building and growing towards a time when we will have serene, gracious surroundings again. That can be done; you cannot find what we have in a gated community, slave to high taxes and officious City Councils and Home Owners’ Associations. Pretty much we do what we please, when we please, the way we please—and many of you could follow suit. As our new colonist remarked here, “There are no big shiny rugs to get yanked out from underneath our feet!” He got voted ON the island because his dreams are the same as ours, and he made a soup tonight from potatoes and turnips he had grown, plus cabbage, carrots, onions, and beef sausage that is one of the most delicious things I ever ate in my life.
We have no interest in “full meals” made from the contents of a box and a pound of hamburger—high calorie, low nutrition, and almost no taste. We don’t eat fake cheese or margarine, which will give us cancer. We know what has gone into our free-range chicken that costs you ten dollars a pound, dressed. Free range chickens require that premium because it takes us nearly three times as long to raise a bird to eating size as it does if they are kept in cages and stuffed with hormones and antibiotics and then have their flesh pumped full of chemical “enhancers” sold at the price of chicken. Read the labels, people! It isn’t just ham that’s 30% water these days. We don’t work as long or as hard and we have astonishing amounts of time to spend with our families and on our personal growth. Perhaps the reason that tiny villages in Europe could build great cathedrals was that the enhanced amounts of leisure time and ability to learn new skills unleashed the creativity dormant within most people.
I quote again from the gentleman on barstool # 859, although he was speaking of something JHK wrote: “It is with gladdened heart that I write, now knowing that I have at least one fellow traveler on the journey back from the abyss that America has become. I started my journey 10 years, 3 months and 21 days ago when I saw that we were speeding ever faster toward a cataclysmic end to the pursuit of more, more, more for the me, me, me generation. What I had known, a proud nation of proud people, always willing to help each other, always willing to stand together in the face of adversity, where one’s word was his bond, was going straight to hell in a hand basket, all in the name of consumerism.
“Mr. Kunstler’s latest contribution at least gives me some hope. Knowing that there is one other out there who sees that a long and difficult road lies ahead for this nation before it can get back to the basis it was founded on is indeed heartening. So to Mr. Kunstler I say, welcome fellow traveler and thank you for making your voice heard.” You are less alone than you knew, 859, because I’m standing here behind the Bar dispensing old wisdom when I’m not living La Vida Whiskey.
No…a “progressively improving future” is a false idol that has failed to bring happiness for rising two hundred years. We should have quit with indoor plumbing and gas lighting.
Warm regards,
Linda Brady Traynham
December 21, 2009
Linda Brady Traynham
Linda Brady Traynham is a former editor and analytical project report writer and is now a Whiskey & Gunpowder field correspondent on a ranch in the Republic of Texas. She studied Counseling at Boston University and got her Masters degree in Philosophy from the University of Hawaii.
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Linda,
Another nice essay. I enjoy reading, and then daydreaming, about the life that you describe…until reality hits. My reality; wife, 3-kids, dog, mortgage, one hour and twenty commute (each way), job (for now…and earning less then in 2000, nominally)….get my drift? JHK talks often about reality, or lackthereof. But for some of us, the reality of our lives, commitments and lastly, financial (in)security, prohibits any real movement to what you espousing. While good may be the enemy of better, it is also, often, a place that we pine for, after overcoming the inertia of our lives to take risks for something new. Remember the “good old days”, when I used to have a job (even though it paid less then in 2000) and we used to have a house (even if the mortgage was a bitch), etc, etc.
Inertia is still winning in my life, though I detest my day to day existence.
Soldiering on (at least until my kids are in college-my daughter is 10),
Marty
Linda,
You are so smart and have so much soul that I don’t enjoy taking the opposite side of the argument, but I must stand for progress even though I agree with many of your and JHK’s criticisms of the places progress has taken us all. I am keenly interested in this discussion of quality of life and resonate with your bucolic leanings, but I concluded long ago that the ability to lead a sustainable life depends on the wonders of modern technology. I think the choice is either use the best tools of science and industry to obtain more freedom and greater green leisure or refuse to use those tools which depend upon the entire, complex industrial infrastructure for their existence and thereby condemn yourself to the same kind of hardscrabble living recently rejected by our pioneer ancestors and now increasingly by those in the developing countries who see modernity and want it.
MartyO,
Onward soldier! Survival of your family takes precedence. Making smarter choices, if possible, to get out of debt, reduce expenses, commute times, etc. Temporary sacrifice for long term benefits usually makes the most sense. Share living with other family members. Focus on family and work. Remember and retell the family depression-era survival tales. Every American family has them.
Regards, Bill
Perhaps the defining characteristic of US society is it’s dynamism. The opposite of the Egyptian society you describe. We have made some serious errors and are down for the moment but I would not bet against the American people. We will re-evaluate what is important to us and work towards new goals which in all likelihood will include the agrarian elements of which you speak. While much of the third world is moving from the country to the cities the opposing trend is more prevalent here in the US. And the technical progress of the last 2 decades has accelerated and made this trend possible.
Long ago as I drove through West Virginia in winter and observed the woodsmoke rising alongside the newly installed satellite dishes, I realized that was the lifestyle in my future.
I sit here at this moment on my acreage in rural Northern CA communicating with youover the internet via DSL while my satellite TV system hums in the background and the wood stove warms the house with Oak that I cut and split myself. I have been telecommuting for the previous 8 years thereby keeping my San Francisco job (at San Francisco wages!) while living in a rural area where the cost of living is quite reasonable. Garden, well, septic, wood stove, satellite systems, internet, these things all come together to create a self sufficient little world. We barely drive as we buy almost all non-food items via Amazon and have them delivered free and sales tax free. Just eliminating the cursed daily commute will go a long way towards lowering expenses and greenhouse emissions if you are interested in that sort of thing. As long as the electricity keeps flowing there is no need to give up ‘advanced’ comforts while living a simpler, happier and more leisurely life.
$27.00/lb for arugula? No way! A packet of seeds in March and then harvest the seeds after it bolts; I can’t wait to replant my own seeds. The seed catalogs are like a good, satisfying novel used to be-evening reading, pumpkin varieties, all so tranquil during the cold days. Today my husband built a portable hog pen to travel through the woods with some electric fencing, we enjoyed some guitar playing from our girls and had a leisurely supper of chicken and dumplings, from our own chicken, fried okra (frozen from last summer) and fresh butter made this afternoon from our own cream. This is the life. We are not going back.
Progress.
I have trouble buying it, too.
Last Spring I was sitting by a lake with my Dad.
Kickin’ it.
“Jeez, Steve, used to be you could take the trolley anywhere… for a nickel. All electric, too.”
I’m sure fortunes were made tearing up that system.
All for a better idea.
Progress.
Dear Marty: Your letter touched me deeply and made me glad I’m almost through working up a little “Christmas present” that I hope will help; it will be “up” in time for you to read and discuss with your family over the holidays. I loathe seeing you bound in the worst sort of wage-slavery, for that is what it is; you are tied as thoroughly as an indentured servant or a serf bound to a feudal lord’s land. You dare not quit because you would be homeless and hungry and your commute alone ought to be against the articles of the Geneva Convention; the gas is ruinous. I have a simple plan for you who want out that offers REAL hope because it is do-able if you have even a little capital and can band together with family or friends. What I hope you can attain before the collapse is a minimum of the lowest level of dignity in a free agrarian society, that of being a yeoman farmer, a man who owns (rents, leases, borrows) enough land to be able to raise all the food his family needs to eat well and have some for barter. Once that level of security is attained it is amazing what we can do without happily in return. Purchasing land is beyond the purses of many of us, but it can be leased for 1% of an acre’s value per year! If you homeschooled your children would get better educations, there IS no financial security in 2009 through traditional investments, and certainly not on your pittance. If you can scrape up a basic stake and sufficient for power and a little animal feed and to tide you through the winter, I hope you are going to be astounded by the possibilities I can show you. Sure, nobody WANTS to live in a travel trailer with three kids and a dog, but if that is the price of getting out of the cities before the collapse and ensuring your survival you could smile and do it. If your parents are retired and in reasonably good health it may easily be that you can escape the living death which statists have sentenced so many of us to. Comment over on http://www.thetexasring.com and we can continue this conversation privately. Have FAITH because it can be done. Obama ruined the word “hope” for all of us, but I am going to offer you real hope by explaining how little it takes to become pretty self-sufficient. You might even decide it would be worth it if you had to slave in the city while your wife and children had escaped to serenity and greater safety. In many agararian areas $2000/mo, a garden, and some small livestock is considered living very well. Let me know what you think when you see my idea. Linda
Bill, dear, you’ve been sold a pup. I am as hedonistic as they come and I do NOT lead a hard-scrabble life! I wouldn’t foist such misery on others, either. I don’t cook, clean, do laundry, milk cows or grub in the dirt. My Social Security covers hands (servants, if you wish) who do the things I don’t want to do, and we live well on Charles’ pension. True, I swapped my MacMansion for far less space, but we GOT the life style we want. We don’t have cable TV, multiple blackberries, or vacations in Australia, but we don’t want any of those and we have lives of such joy and leisure that we would never go back. The PLAN is to crowd men into ghettos, and suburbs qualify. Can YOU say truthfully that there is nothing reasonable you want that you cannot have? I can’t have a new bulldozer or Liz Taylor caliber diamond earrings, but those are not reasonable. True, our capital is tied up in land, machinery, and livestock, but it is a great deal safer than in T-bills and stocks. If we get solar/wind up before the crunch we won’t need cash for anything much except taxes. The credit/consumer life is dying and those who wriggle free of the trap in time will have such security and abundance as are to be found anywhere. In ten or twenty years America MAY recover, or it may break up into anarchy; if it recovers, fine, a working ranch will be very valuable. If not, we aren’t likely to live in tent cities or die in riots. Those who work for us share the same benefits and have even fewer expenses. We don’t WANT the plastic society, any of us. We have books, music, companionship, magnificent food, and far fewer hassles. We don’t fight traffic, we are not tied to offices. We LIVE vacations with work breaks, not the other way around. I’m as practical as they come, Sugar, and I know what makes me happy. “Upward mobility” is a null concept when you already have everything you want except a strict Constitutional government that uses only hard money. Our men are tied to us by love and sharing our dream, so we will never be warehoused in an old foks’ home that costs far more. If truly hard times come the land will take care of our children, too. Warm regards, Linda
Dave, talk about putting it together right! We don’t even have a land line; we do fine with one cell and the magic Sprint box that provides wi-fi for multiple computers anywhere we can get a cell signal. We don’t buy cable because we never watch TV! It isn’t primarily a cost-cutting measure, although it is a very good one. With UPS/FedEX and those on Craig’s List who deliver we don’t drive much, either. We still CAN go anywhere and do anything we want to, but our lives are centered around the land, the livestock, each other, our minds, and the delight of getting what we want through our own efforts. We beamed when we bought a real wood cookstove and the smallest saw mill that will make useful sizes of lumber from our trees. It is so much FUN to work out how to have what you want if the distribution network shuts down. Your story is a wonderful inspiration. Thank you so much for writing! Snoopy Dinner Dance Hug, Linda
Jennifer, dear, your joy in your life enchants me. If you would like me to cc you on things I share with two similar ladies write me over on http://www.thetexasring.com. You would like Kristen and Mini-Moo. LISTEN to her, Marty! She shows you a glorious adventure on the cheap. Jennifer commutes still while her husband is turning into a full-time farmer. In time, as less cash is needed, perhaps she can find a part time job closer to home, and eventually stay home and wear sunbonnets! Jennifer, explain to Bill that we are not a bunch of Okies or hill folk dressed in flour sacks. We are RICH compared to most people because we have leisure, quiet, and the excitement of growing things. Our kids are not in danger of drive-by shootings or gangs. When we hear a shot we know someone is hunting; we don’t have to listen to loud TV sets, sirens, arguments, or horns honking. What wonderful, wonderful mail. Thank all of you so very much for writing to me. Group hug, Linda
Steverino…once we get to septic tanks, flush toilets, basic medicines, and reliable lighting, just about everything else is a complication we don’t need. Okay, washing machines are good, although MDC’s dream is of the day the ‘net goes down and he gets his darling back full time. We don’t NEED what the snake oil salesmen are selling. We’re happier without that stuff. The luxury of a stay at home time Mom is a lot better than Lean Cuisine and Sarah Lee. Sure, if gals WANT to work, have fun, but not because it takes more and more income to keep the level you’ve reached. What is the a value of being able to reserve two hours every afternoon the weather is good enough to sit on the terrace with darling Charles, checking the livestock as it wanders up and planning projects? That has it ALL over spending that time in a car in rush hour traffic. Taxes, expenses, lunches, take out food because Mama is too tired to cook, and that 2nd job usually doesn’t pay enough to talk about. It isn’t WORTH it. Wage slaves cram all the errands into the weekends, and frequently we don’t know what day it is because it doesn’t MATTER. YOUR leisure comes in hectic, expensive weeks once a year…we have it every day. Deadlines? Not many! The rats have road rage; we have laughter. To each his own but a troop of Marines couldn’t force me to live in the city unless they stood there constantly to keep me from running away. I’m HAPPY. I’m busy, I’m useful, I’m loved. What “modern conveniences” and “advantages” am I missing? Yeah, we even have microwaves, disposals, a vast Kitchenaid, a bread-making machine and other nonessentials. My joy lies in the things I do NOT have that city folk must endure as well as joys they will never know. Lucky dog, lucky dog! Linda
Linda,
You are one of my favorite authors at W & G.
My wife and I are in the final stages of preparation for evacuating the city (Minneapolis) for the rural life in SE Arizona. It has been a long time preparing for this, nearly 10 years. But, we managed to pay cash for enough land to raise a garden, have enough animals to more than support us, and allow me to build the best wood shop the world has ever seen!
It amazes me how saving even $25 or $50 per week adds up over time. Furthermore, when paying in cash, one often saves a great deal on the price of great expenses such as drilling a well or digging the footings for our new home. Not to mention it does my soul good to know that our contractors are depriving Peebo of some money that he would otherwise use to persecute us. The rural life IS within reach of anybody that really wants it.
City life is miserable. But it becomes more tolerable once you have started down the path of excape and self-sufficiency.
Keep up the GREAT posts Linda!!!
Dear Linda-
I am thrilled to discover that, when all is said and done, you are an old hippie, just as I am. I may have learned to use guns, tractors and chain saws since the 60′s, as well as bathe a little more frequently, but the ethos is the same as ever.
fond regards,
jm
Nah, JD, you’re a young sprig of a Hippie. I’m more like the last of the Beatniks! The difference was we were more laid back, didn’t care about politics, and never dreamed those five years later like Hillary and Bill would think they could get away with breaking all the rules and destroying our worlds! They hadn’t earned it; we thought we had because we were soooooo darned smart.
Shucks, we wuz just havin’ fun; we always intended to grow up to be stockbrokers and Donna Reed housewives! And hide our uniqueness and rebellion from the world.
ROFL…My idea of the ideal survivalist colony WOULD be sort of a Hippie-Beatnik colony where we all had our separate pads and a big meeting place you could go to seek companionship, do crafts, cook, clean guns, maybe even just work a jigsaw puzzle or play cards. I still wear black and long hair in preference to anything else, cook odd ethnic foods, study bizarre subjects, and philosophize happily. I meet such great people on W&G. How come none of you ever live near me? Hugs, Linda. Remember “fried shoes?”
Dear Mike:
Your great letter put an enormous Texas smile on my face. I’m so GLAD for you! How wonderful that all those years of planning and saving and work are coming together. ROFL…one of my dreams we’re closing in on is renovating a four-bay car shed so that I can keep it at least reasonably cool in summer and reasonably warm in winter. It has a small mechanics pit I talked my daddy into long ago, welding facilities, stuff for woodworking, automotive, machining, and even the smallest “real” saw mill capable of turning out standard sizes in lumber. Is that super wonderful, or what?! MY guys aren’t supposed to change oil when it is sweltering or work on a tracter in 38 degrees. They both insist they don’t really need it but I know they’ll love it.
Just one question: why SE Arizona? Why didn’t you come to Gawd’s Country?! Greatest people in the world. How about some photos when life calms down? What kind of animals did you go for? I wrote 13 hours today without a break, a “Christmas present” for those who think the country life is far beyond their reach. I don’t think it is, particularly for those who can make do with whatever sort of building is available on a hunk of land or are willing to camp out in a travel trailer while they are finding out if our life is for them. There ARE those who get to hankering for the city lights or whatever. I STARTED with what sort of livestock to get and why, along with the basics of how to take care of them. I wonder frequently if that, more than the thought of reduced income, isn’t what keeps a lot from trying. They don’t realize how inexpensive it can be to take a shot at it if they’re willing to make a few very modest sacrifices. I’ll really be interested in your view on my budget. I suggested all the essentials except for land (they might have it, be able to use family land, or lease) for five thousand dollars, and half of THAT is ear-marked for an older motor home or towable trailer to use as a bug out van and temporary housing while they make whatever they find habitable. Other than that, a flock of chickens, a pair of dairy goats to breed at alternate times of year, two bred Dexters, and a couple of steers, with a flash finish of a real milk cow (Dexters can be milked, too.) if they get even a little lucky. I figure that is pretty much all the milk, eggs, cream, cheese, chicken, and in a year, beef, a family of 4 could use AND have plenty for barter, along with cabrito and bottle feeding doelings for another cash crop. That isn’t much of a cash investment, and if a pair of young couples got together, or a retired family with son and his wife, it could be very, very do-able. The “hard” part is breaking loose someone to live on the land. This analysis is good for three things: short term chaos in America, a very long depression, or the complete destruction of our way of life and rebuilding as a much smaller agrarian economy. It gives them OPTIONS, and is a good place to store some value out of the market, bonds, or T-bills. They could decide to keep it as a weekend and vacation place…all sorts of possibilities. Again, enormous congratulations, I’m so proud of you, and Marty, you pay attention ’cause we’re going to work out a way to cut that slave collar off of you! Hugs to all, Linda
Linda and all country folk, My head hangs in shame for enjoying the city life. I live on a beautiful ridge where a civil war battle was fought over my land. I can’t leave; the yankees might get it, yet. I have six acres in an upper middle class neighborhood surrounded by a sea of multi-culturalism, all smack dab in the middle of a mid-sized southern town that offers many amenities for the materially minded. There are also many cultural, intellectual and spiritual resources and friends nearby. I have relative privacy. No one watches my home. I have a awesome view to the west of the Cumberland Plateau and the Tennessee RIver and the twinkling lights of the city. I work out of my property and keep a large garden and small orchard as a hobby. We enjoy our downtown so much, going there once a day to eat, walk, shop, meet friends for coffee that we think about moving there to a condo but probably won’t since it’s only five minutes by car. The only way my lifestyle becomes unsatisfactory is with your collapse scenario.
Linda,
I’m ready for your plan, and paying attention. I have always been supremely coachable.
I am probably older than you think (47) and do not consider myself to be a particularly handy guy. More of a ditch digger mentality (with the endomorphic body to go with it) , which probably is not all that bad, come to think of it.
I hope your next note speaks to those of us with younger kids. The dilemma of pulling kids out of school, and the main stream, is not easily dealt with. Also, wives who are used to the creature comforts, such as they are, need to be considered, and in my case, convinced.
I see this decision, in many ways, resembling the battle between whether or not to fight the FED in allocation decisions. Generally, it is easier to work with the FED “winds” at your back (ask GS, Citi, BAC, et al), though often shorting ,or betting against the FED, feels right, to the core. In the same way, leaving home and life (such as it is) feels right to the core, right now. Everything “feels” different to me now. As if we are ONE event away from rolling over, in the big picture.
I know you know what I mean, even if I can not explain it well.
So post your plan, I will read it and will work it into the Christmas dinner conversation.
Thank you Linda,
Marty
Dear Marty: I hope the first half of the report I wrote will be “up” here on Morning Whiskey tomorrow, and I wrote for thirteen straight hours! If I can get over shaking with anger over Reid DARING to call thrusting us into slavery “a Christmas present,” mocking all I hold right and dear, and the obscenity of asserting that health insurance is a “right” we will be charged several times the going value of, on threat of fines and jail, I will get to the other part.
The news is very, very good, Marty. You probably do not know that from time to time I am employed by Fortune 500 companies (I am forbidden by contract to reveal any more details) and I write analytical project reports; I figure out what went wrong and tell the companies how to do things differently so that they have much better results when they try again. It is fascinating, and my idea of great fun.
I used the same techniques to approach how to get what you want, and I think your dream is far more achievable than you dare hope, even given the difficults which beset you. If you can come up with even a little bit of capital AND the cooperation of your wife, without which the project will fail anyway, I have worked out a way to get the biggest benefits at the least cost while letting you see if the dream is what you really want–and probably make a profit if you change your mind in six months of trying. I want to start with a tiny bit of leased land and buying some livestock! Put out the SMALL money and learn to do the chores, first.. I need to talk to you, and will check the Ring to see if you left me a real address, although you have not shown up on my gmail list. Is your daughter the ONLY child at home and does your wife work outside your home? I have a far better, fool-proof solution to college expenses, and if you made far more than you do in what is coming you could not possible be able to pay for college in 8 years. Wipe that one off the agenda entirely, it will be fine. 8 years from now send her “on-line” for less, better, faster instruction, and probably still guaranteed student loans. I KNOW this works. I wish I knew why jobs are so hard to find that you must drive 5 hours a day for such low pay; surely the cost of gas makes this impractical. Have faith; we will talk this over until we come up with a plan that will work and your wife will like. There is always a way! You will LOVE finding out how little work and time and knowledge will make you quite expert enough to take care of goats, chickens, and cows! Hug, Linda
Marty–things aren’t posting. Please write me over on http://www.thetexasring.com because that sends your private e-mail address to me and only me. As you know already, there are a lot of us here to encourage you, and we have ideas that may well make your dream come true. What “creature comforts” do you think your wife would have to do without and why are they so important to her? Why suppose I do without such things?! What is better than happiness, self-sufficiency, and family time? Soft smile…you have won our hearts, Marty, and our minds are at your disposal, and that is a LOT better than a government grant. I’m so angry at Harry Reid mocking all I value with his contemptuous “Christmas present,” and tell me that paid medical expenses are a “right” which he will FORCE me to buy for myself and pay for for others that I am starting my own Holy War to help as many as possible see that we really can opt out of the system and earn only enough to support ourselves. Happiness is a full belly, a snug roof over our heads, meaningful work (especially that which provides the food and nourishes our minds), family, and telling the Statists we won’t pay for their dreams of conquest any longer. Misery is slavery with electronic toys for a consolation prize. The happiest man is he who wants NOTHING that he does not have or cannot get through his own efforts.
This is the oddest Christmas of my life. Due to lingering bronchitis, stalled projects, and not being able to get together with my family until the third week in January, there is NOTHING that says “Christmas” except the feast. Not a single present, not so much as a wreath on the door. It does not MATTER because it is a temporary condition but more because there is nothing I want that I cannot have other than a Constitutional Republic and stable hard currency. LISTEN to me. Sheer joy is those you love, work which consumes you, dreams you are working to make come true, and wanting NOTHING except to get over being ill. I am not bragging, because I have never been Pelosi wealthy, but I have never been below the top 4% in any area in life and that alone really does not bring happiness. I am not at all ascetic; I see nothing noble in being a sturdy son of toil; I do not value “noble savages.” I LIKE “marble halls and crystal chandeliers.” I’m all in favor of having a butler, a cook, a housemaid, a gardener, a chauffeur, and a ranch foreman, not all of which I have at present although I have some of them. “Better a dinner of herbs where love is than Kobe beef and hatred withall,” is very, very true. By the time you read my words most Americans have the mess of shiny rubble and the bitter knowledge that new toys brought only momentary happiness–and unpaid new bills. Anticipation has turned to disappointment–no matter what they got it wasn’t “enough.” This is not a rejection of materialism, because my idea of a hair shirt is a cashmere sweater. Of COURSE I like nice things. It is to remind you that the joy our Jennifer B takes in fresh whipped cream from her cow is more real and enduring than a new Honda in your driveway, particularly if that comes with payments for six years. Her joy in knowing that they are close to being self-sufficient soon is worth the sacrifices she makes to obtain that. There is far more happiness in reducing expenses until you can afford a full-time wife and mother than in Club Med, gym and country club memberships, and a big screen TV will ever give you…and the more we reject statists and work towards free futures the happier we will be. WAS your Christmas full of joy and love and gifts you could afford? If so, I’m glad. If it left only disappointment, worry, and debts you cannot afford, now you know why. Never be any kind of “poor,” whether that is too big a mortgage, a new Cadillac instead of a 20 year old Jaguar, too many meals out, or Obama type vacations. It isn’t worth it. NO house is worth $4,000 a day. How absurd. Be happy, and may the new year bring you the joy of truly grand dreams you can make come true by returning to core American values. LBT
I am currently living in an odd metropolis called Salt Lake City; it is largely clean, open and well-ordered. Brigham Young may have been many things, but he was a fairly good city planner; the streets were wide enough “to turn around a team and wagon”, and they are snowplowed in winter. I am not LDS, so I’m not totally tuned in to their culture, but their self-reliance, attunement to business and preparation (keep a year’s worth of food on hand, rotate your stocks) rings true to me.
At some point, I will either get my Ph.D. and find a position, or things will collapse first and I’ll have to move anyway; Utah is not exceptionally fertile, and I suspect SLC will turn out to be unsustainable at these population levels. My parents own a 30-acre farm in TN and another in TX; I may well wind up at one of them if things go south in a really spectacular fashion. Right now I admire your setups, and wish you all the best; I’m not sure if my Ch.E. degrees or prospective Ph.D. in material science would be really useful on a farm, but perhaps as a miner….
Cheers! Happy Holidays, and we’ll keep a weather eye open for new developments.
James the Wanderer
There’s an alternative to the mass consumerist ultra capitalist society we currently struggle to survive under. Capitalism’s only redeeming feature is that all the others that have been tried have been worse, much worse.
What hasn’t been tried so far except in isolated pockets is the system proposed by Chesterton, Bellloc, Fr McNabb and others called Distributism. A version of it has been working extremely successfully in Mondregon in Spain for most of the last century up till now.
Perhaps one day it will gain wider acceptance and people will be able to live dignified lives instead of the current pressured existence of boom and bust cycles with the Maddof’s of finance above it all.
Hi Linda
In answer to your question “why SE Arizona?”… I do not really have an answer.
I have traveled most of the country due to my work. The one thing I have discovered is that rural people are pretty much the same everywhere – (although I am not sure about Maine since I can only understand about one word in four they speak.) They are friendly, work hard and just generally enjoy life on life’s terms. I would be happy 100 miles out of the city in Minnesota if the weather were not so awful six months per year.
Our spot in Arizona is at about 5000 feet elevation, so the usual Arizona sterotypes do not necessarily apply. A few things we looked at when we decided on our AZ land were:
1 – Water – was there a decent aquifer within a reachable distance.
2 – Soil content – After you dug through about 4-6 inches of sand, it is almost 100% clay. (Clay mixed with sawdust makes soil that is as fertile as the soil in Idaho.)
3 – Local people – We have a cattle ranch immediately to the north of us and one immediately to the south. Both of the ranchers have already offered to allow us to have one or two cows per year run with their herds. So, we have already the beef problem.
4 – Hunting – Since we have the Dragoon mountains butting up to the western edge of our property, we have mule deer, whitetail deer (although they are smaller than the whitetails in MN), javalina, as well as several other large game. In terms of small game, there are some kind of funky looking quail, rabbits, as well as several other game birds. In short, daddy is going to be able to spend a whole lot more “quality time” with my rifles and shotguns!
Just a note to anybody else that might read this: If you are just starting to consider the benefits of escaping city life, try out the difficult parts of the self sufficiency first. About six or seven years ago, we decided to quit going out to eat in restaurant (except for very special occasions), we quit going to grocery stores, and we quite going to big box stores. Even living in suburbia, we tried to take on the “country life”. For a while we bought our produce at the farmer’s markets, until we got to know the farmers so now we buy directly from them. Once per year we buy a side of beef and a side of pork. We bake all of our own bread, make our sauces (making different kinds of mustard is great fun – on Christmas Eve we made a ginger-garlic mustard that will blow the back of your head off – GREAT stuff!) My wife learned how to can fruits and vegitables which means we always have the best jams and jellys. I have learned how to make sausage and smoke meat – no rushing out to the store to pick up plate of sausage and cheese before some unexpected guests drop by. The only household goods we buy at the store are paper goods (and I am trying to figure out a way to even get beyond that.)
This whole thing started as an experiment to see if we could manage to live happily in a “country” lifestyle. It has turned into a way of life even though we are (temporarily) still living in the city. In short the experiment proved that we eat better (I have gained 10 pounds), live happier, and it costs us about a third of what we were spending. So, cancel you cable TV subscription instead, enjoy a game of cribbage with your wife/husband at the dining room table (my evil-spiteful witch took 4 out of 5 games from me last night).
Ho, James the Wanderer, and you bet an engineering background is good no matter what you do or where you go! For starters…if you were part of our merry band I’d say, “Here’s what we have to work with, we can buy anything sensible we need for supplies, the Farm Manager will cooperate, we’ll all pitch in on building products…so go work out how to make all the biodiesel we need! Sugar beets are one strong possibility and we can use the leftover mash for animal feed. Oh…there is a 30,000 gallon tank over there that still has a little oil sludge in it, a boiler of at least 500 gallons, I can store several thousand gallons you produce other places, we have all sorts of machinery that runs on diesel, I’ve got a welder and lifting gear, and if you just have to have a chemistry lab we’ll re-fit the tack room. Let me know when you have a basic plan and have fun. PIck out a trailer to live in and dinner is whenever it is or cook for yourself.” Wow! My acquisitive heart beats faster at the thought of a PhD who functions as VP in charge of Energy and Developement. (I’m great at inventing titles. Everybody should have a good one he earns.) Remember Michael, over on http://www.thetexasring.com lives in Utah, and is very, very bright. How long until you have the poo-aitch-dee? I’m the Princess of Partially Partially Parallel and Only Slightly Skewed Universes, head cheerleader, and visionary. MY big job is planning my self-contained feudal fiefdom, and the HARD part isn’t land, cows, tractors, and casing to make our own sausage. It is personnel. You can’t HIRE the kind of men I need. I want BARONS, not serfs, men with skills, brains, and fire in their bellies. I need men who say, “I can contribute THIS in return for sharing what the rest of you produce, and here’s how my dream fits in with yours.” No, we are NOTHING like a pack of communists. Nobody owes anyone anything and we own nothing in common. We’re trying to put together our own Galt’s Gulch where we trade the good in ourselves and what we produce for the good in others. In time, if things ever reorganize and stabilize, we will probably have separate lands, but short term the more we can do to ensure self-sufficiency the safer and happier we all are. We all have our specialties, but we pitch in when a little extra muscle is needed. John is in charge of raising all of the vegetation humans and animals eat AND enough to barter–and he has the drive of a robber baron. He plans on getting rich fast! I’m rich already because all it “costs” me is a trailer I have several of, a little electricity, and setting another place at dinner. I can take care of his living expenses easily because I already have all these things; that frees him full time to produce, and his precious flock of goats roams happily with mine. Shazam, I erased every worry he had, and the land, seeds, machines, and tools are already here–and he has several material things I need badly. Instant factory, so to speak. HE will knock himself out providing what I did not have the energy, skills, and knowledge to get otherwise. He can use his share of the extra he produces to buy more goats or whatever he wants, and “my” share will be plowed into more upgrades. Bliss. It’s so Randian! Everyone is richer because John provides green, yellow, and red stuff, and he is richer because he doesn’t have to be distracted by anything else. I could really use a full time carpenter and handyman who wants to phase into having his own goats and chickens NOT because there isn’t plenty to eat, but to know that if circumstances sent him elsewhere he would have acquired basic farm skills and livestock. We’re big on cross-training. We’re working on becoming an association of equals who admire each other and are proud we pull our own weight and are building dreams that can be spun off in time…or get us all safely through the Greater Depression. So go study chemistry and any other sort of engineering, ’cause you might want to apply for membership some day! Linda
Mike, you did it ALL right, and you’re an inspiration to us all. That is EXACTLY how it should be done, and bless your ranching neighbors; in time you’ll come up with something of equal benefit to them. Our pride demands that. Oh, gosh, I’m going to hate to see this one disappear off W&G. And YES, there is little better than cribbage! Three games after dinner, then our books or research on Craig’s List…MY specialty is pegging, and you could grow to loathe the signs that say I have read your hand. I understand odds fine, but I am not lucky. In general my opponents are, and it makes them very vulnerable! Many a hand I’ll take you for eight or ten points (or more!) on a count of two. And…as much as I value self-sufficiency, one of the most special aspects IS shedding the trivial in life to gain time to be together, work together, and love each other more deeply. Get rid of TV, get rid of cell ‘phones, give up almost anything that will get you the incredible luxury of a stay at home spouse–and solve the paper problem, please! Wanderer! Figure out how to get the ink sludge out of newspapers at home for us, please. Dryer lint…felting will do for some things (animal hair mixed with a little detergent, mushed together, and dried) You people are a true delight to me! ranchLT4@gmail.com. Hugs, Linda
All the inventions for an ‘ever-increasing prosperity’ have been found out. The only problem is the owners and rule makers of the markets’ playing fields have stiff-armed them out of production. The masses will not be given freedom from the grind which makes the owners of centralized markets the rulers of the masses. Sick egoes as usual are prevailing.
Barry, I give up, what is “Distributionism?” It doesn’t sound like anything I’m going to like (since I work to produce things others would want to seize and distribute), but I’m always willing to listen. Thanks for writing.
Joe…the solution is relatively simple, even though not all can manage it fully. Those of us who can opt out of the whole mess. We work on becoming as self-sufficient as possible and curtail all expenditures as sharply as we can manage. We trade with friends and family. We don’t buy things that occasion taxes if there is ANY other choice. We raise gardens, cut off the teens’ cell ‘phones, drive good old cars we can pay cash for, refuse to purchase useless consumer goods, hit Hollywood where it lives (no movies, no video rental, no cable TV), whack Pepsico by not buying soft drinks, Kentucky Fried, or Taco Bell., reduce driving, make our own lunches, and do everything we can come up with to lower tax revenue and growth of Agribiz, Pharma, Banks, government, and other connected entities. The BIGGEST thing to work on is finding a place you can grow a garden and either share or lease a little land. If you can, relocate to a small town or the country. For $250 (in Texas) you can get a GOOD milk goat who will provide all two families are likely to use about 300 days a year. Pullets (young hens who will be laying in a few weeks) cost $5.00 and will lay an egg every 26 hours in all but the worst of winter for at least two years. They cost little to feed because they love finding their own bugs and stuff. 5 hens would provide you with two dozen eggs a week practically free–IF you have some place to keep them. They will pay for themselves very quickly and be good eventually for soup or dumplings. If you have a rooster you can hatch chicks. If even one of several families has a place for livestock and you share the few chores you’ll reduce your food bills amazingly–and have fun. Get creative. YOU buy the goat and chickens if your friend has land and takes care of them. Read books on how to achieve independence. Use what you save by rejecting Pop Tarts, Dominos, Coca Cola, and HBO to get started. We built the greatest country ever known by growing our own food and not being wage slaves. If I can do it you sure can! Linda
Bill, you wrote “11.Bill Simmons December 18th, 2009 10:54 pm :
Linda,
Sorry I’m talking about survival in a comment section about consumerism, but you and JHK have got me thinking about the relationship between the two ideas. The way I see it, in defense of consumerism, it is itself a survival strategy of the masses coping with the environment in which they find themselves- not exactly a awful environment by any stretch of the imagination despite JHK’s derision of modern American life, but nevertheless a world in which everyone must consume intelligently to prosper and survive the benign challenges of 21st century living. How to spend your disposable income and how to invest your savings in light of the trouble brewing?
I can think of a few interesting TEOTWAWKIT-or-not outcomes that might occur:
1. Planning for disaster and being ready for it when it does arrive.
2. Planning for disaster and wasting resources in needless preparation.
3. Planning for status-quo and being blind-sided by disaster.
4. Planning for status-quo and actually reaping the benefits.
5. Planning for status-quo and hedging for disaster.
6. Planning for disaster and hedging for status-quo.
Other possibilities?” Consumerism is great–so long as we can afford it! Your analysis is excellent and with care #2 will not be a factor; don’t buy any fall out shelters first. 1, 4, and 6 describe me best. Protect myself and those I love first, become as self-sufficient as possible, expect this to turn into a money-making operation if life staggers on, do my best to cover every sensible contingency I can (I can NOT protect us against UN troops, for example), and plan on coming out of TEOT-WAWKI stinking, filthy rich because I’ve got what everyone will want, starting with food and small livestock. Most of history folks counted themselves very well off indeed on a few acres with a garden, chickens, a goat, perhaps the luxury of a cow. Basic common sense is to secure your food supplies first by stocking up and expanding if possible. Get out of those high rise apartments and rent a small house in an older neighborhood. That will get a garden and reduce expenses. Americans are very wasteful, especially of time. Our chores take about 1 1/2 hours a day to milk twice, feed, cut brush for the goats (you could get stuff free from lawn services), and joy is taking care of a small garden after work. We’ve just forgotten HOW, or “when” people kept at least chickens and gardens. Write me any time you want to; ranchLT4@gmail.com. You’re smart, and I LIKE that. Linda
Kredyty bez zgody współmałżonka
Przedstawiamy Państwu oferty kredytów gotówkowych, dla których nie jest wymagana zgoda współmałżonka. Kredyty są przeznaczone również dla osób z nie najlepszą historią w BIK. Procedury szybkie i uproszczone.
Kredyty bez zgody współmałżonka mają istotne znaczenie dla osób znajdujących się w trudnej sytuacji rodzinnej, nie zamieszkujących wspólnie, będących w separacji lub w trakcie rozwodu i nie mających rozdzielności majątkowej.
W takiej sytuacji tylko kilka banków jest w stanie udzielić pożyczki.
EUROBANK na dowód i bez zaświadczeń o zarobkach oraz bez BIK i zgody współmałżonka może udzielić nawet 30 tys zł na 7-8 lat !!! Wystarczy złożyć wniosek.
W pozostałych bankach mogą Państwo uzyskać od 10-20 tys zł bez zgody współmałżonka.