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I don't know, taking short term social and economic trends to project them over the future has never gone well (it's been done for hundreds of years). Just in the last 3 decades people were doing the same after the oil crisis, the S&L scandals, the tech bust...all to cycle back from a simpler living to a buying and consumption lifestyle. Projecting things will be worse forever, then when things got better people thought it would be getting better forever...just to cycle back and forth.
The people featured in the article are just leading the way with what is in vogue now from what was in vogue last year, it's still spending money to sell where they did live and buy a 40 acre farm and redo their whole life style. Who knows if in 3-5 years they will say "This sucks, I'm physically tired and we make less money. Things are better now then they have been...let's go back to what we were doing".
Who knows what will happen, but I think it's going to be cyclic back and forth. People want to jump back and forth to be the forefront of the wave of what's happening now instead of stepping back from the cycle and seeing where the cycle is headed. Just IMHO more then anything, but it's worked for me.
The first people to get hit in the downturn, and the ones who have suffered the most, were the ones riding the crest of the wave (builders, loan officers, ones who took advantage of complex loans, investors in said products) too long and expecting it to go on forever. It started a cascade that's affecting everyone now, with too many invested too heavily in it. It might happen that people who are taking the situation of simple living and opting out of more "Traditional" lifestyles may be left out if things start to cycle in a better direction if they have divested all their stocks and invested in metals and farms.
Last edited by subsound; 04-17-2009 at 11:49 AM..
Reason: Addition
That's how most people already live in Mexico. They don't have to go back to it, they never left. That's why I have calculated that, if the fit hits the shan in our economy, I can walk to Mexico in about ten days. Or if there is still any fuel, I can drive there in a morning. I keep my tank full and can make it on that.
Interesting how the media suddenly 'discovers' the way of things to come. Really this lifestyle is nothing new. People all across the country live a 'simpler' lifestyle. It's called rural America. Most folks refer to these people as 'rednecks.' Until now, they are typically the object of scorn. I guess they are going to be the next big thing.
In our society, we are expected to give a damn about new cars, big houses, high-paying jobs, lots of toys, etc. if we don't care about these things, we are 'slackers' or 'losers'(or rednecks). Now that is going to change?
It's true though--if one has a work ethic, some seed, water, land, and freedom, one can survive in the big city folks' 'down times.' As an example, my paternal grandparents were farmers all of their lives. They were relatively happy, never had a lot of money, lived in a dolled-up log cabin with five very small rooms piece-mealed and added on, and didn't even have electricity until the 40's or indoor plumbing until around 1960. But they did own their land (about 40 acres homesteaded by the family way back). During the great depression, they didn't really have much trouble. They lived the same way they had always done. They never got a handout from the government, no soup lines, no aid, no nothing. In troubled times, the scorn of the nation, the 'redneck' (I'm talking the traditional definition of redneck) is in a far better position for survival.
With all of that in mind, I don't think 'living off the land' or 'simple living' is a bad idea at all, just as I don't think living frugally and ecologically friendly is a bad idea. But you know what's going to happen? We are going to be bombarded by the media and the 'let's make a buck' crowd with this whole 'simple living' thing. It will be run into the ground and broken off just as being 'green' has. Do you know how sick I am of hearing 'green'? It makes me want to go turn all the lights on right now. I suspect that in five years I'll be just as sick of hearing 'simple living.' And that's a shame, because I think both principles are very good ones....
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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It wouldn't hurt to inject some know-how back into the American nuclear family. Everyone once baked their own bread, cooked their own meals, grew their own vegetables, worked on their own houses, fixed their own tools, etc. etc. What do Americans really know how to do anymore?
It wouldn't hurt to inject some know-how back into the American nuclear family. Everyone once baked their own bread, cooked their own meals, grew their own vegetables, worked on their own houses, fixed their own tools, etc. etc. What do Americans really know how to do anymore?
Ah, but first we have to go back to the American nuclear family. That must be accomplished before injecting anything into it.
Why is that a prerequisite to learning how to grow food or make tools?
Because you'd better have some help on the back 40.
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