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We touched on this earlier, but I think it's worth pondering much more:
One thing that I worry about A LOT lately is the dependence we all have (including moi) on the ‘system.’ We depend on this huge, complex, global system of transportation, manufacturing, service, etc. My grandparents could have survived if the ‘system’ had collapsed. They knew how to can food, grow food, make clothing, live without electricity (didn’t even have it until the 1940’s from what I understand), live without a culinary water system (the used well water their whole lives), etc. I think a higher proportion of people had those skills back then. I, on the other hand, do not have those skills. Most other folks don’t either. Yes, I’m university educated, smart, blah blah... but I don’t have the skills to live that my ‘uneducated’, ‘sodbuster’ grandparents did.
Nowadays, we have a global economy. The grapes that I like to sit here and eat are typically from Chile. The fresh strawberries are from Mexico. The fish I like are from Alaska. My laptop is from China. My clothing is made in Mexico. Etc. At one time in my area, there were many orchards, many open fields of potatoes, beets, grain, vegetables, many dairies and cattle ranchers. Today... not many at all. Now don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against other places and countries, but it used to be that many locations in the US had local economy enough to self sustain if the need arised. They grew food locally. They made essentials locally. They were far less dependent on what happens on the other side of the continent or on the other side of the world. I’m not really complaining about a global economy; I’m just pointing out that it can be dangerous under certain conditions.
All it would take for our society to be in a world of trouble is several days of breakdown in our transportation system, our power grid, our communications, our water systems, etc. I think a huge portion of us would be really screwed if such a thing happened. Especially us high and mighty city dwellers who like to make fun of ‘rednecks.’ We can no longer sustain ourselves locally. In a way, we are in a situation like soldiers on the battlefield; if the supply line is cut off, we are SOL.
I'm not saying that there aren't some serious problems in our world that need to be contended with. There are. And, being of the younger set, I chafe a bit at being told me generation doesn't see anything worth fighting for considering that it is my generation that is considered to be one of the most active when it comes to humanitarian causes.
However, haven't people always felt that the world was on the brink of something terrible? For example, during the Bubonic plague in Europe people were convinced that the world was ending and everyone would die. Also, I am sure that those who were on the receiving end of the atomic bomb wondered if things could possibly ever get worse. And I am sure that the millions who died in WWI and II would argue that the relative peace many nations are experiencing is a welcome change. The world has always been fraught with racism, prejudice, poverty, war, disease, etc.
That being said, I feel a whole lot of lucky to live in a world where in only 24 hours I can travel anywhere in the world. Or, I can jump on the internet and read well thought out and intelligent commentary on what is happening around me. I also feel lucky that my only real experiences with hunger have been witnessed second hand while working abroad and not because I cannot afford to feed myself.
There are a whole lot of things that I would change in this world if I were Queen for a day (and I would probably make some mistakes!). We have a long way to go and certainly the current state of the world economy is disturbing at best. I just like to keep real about the gloom and doom stuff. I am really happy that I am on this planet at this time.
Your comment reminded me of what Mr. Julian Simon wrote. He was a professor of economics. He wrote: This is my long-run forecast in brief: The material conditions of life will continue to get better for most people, in most countries, most of the time, indefinitely. Within a century of two, all nations and most of humanity will be at or above today's Western living standards. I also speculate, however, that many people will continue to think and say that the conditions of life are getting worse.
I agree with him. Overall around the the world the standards of living are higher than let us say 50 to 100 years ago. The higher standards of living are spreading out more and more as time goes by. Just buy a recent world economics book and most likely it will show lot of data how nations have progressed more and more as time goes by. Of course there is still ways to go but overall this is true in my opinion.
I guess some people simply have a doomsday mentality. Others simply do not like thing the way they are now because they are used to what it used to be. They do not like change.
Some of the problems cited if I recall correctly it was Socrates saying the same thing about the youth of his day. We can look in history and the older generation talked about how bad things are and how bad their youth is.
I do believe each generation may have some valid concerns but in the end the next generation will make some things better and some worse. It is an never ending cycle I guess.
Not an hour ago I was very crudely propositioned by a ***** young man on my remote west Texas farm when the man came to purchase something from me I had advertised. Things do indeed change but only a bottom feeding organism or someone possessed or stump-dumb believes the change that is now occurring in society is good change.
There is a sense of doom in the air everywhere.... One reason might be the government isn't looking out for us anymore, nor do they listen to us...People are realizing we have nothing but crooks with no morals from both political parties running this country now. People are starting to fear the government...Look what happened in Europe in the 1930's, (not good)!...Government is getting too powerful...How many Czars do we have now?? More than 30? What's up with that? Are we close to losing our freedom??
Last edited by mollymonk; 07-12-2009 at 06:32 PM..
The time of the Lone Wolf is over. Gather your Tribe. We're the Ones we've been waiting for.
Maybe we shouldn't be looking to our government to take care of us, but should be looking to one another and our community for support...localization, I think it's called.
I do try to buy from local businesses and support local growers and farmers.
I'm hardly an alarmist. I'm really quite amiable and positive; however, just a few days ago, I said to my husband that this summer feels very much like the summer of 2001 when the news was filled with articles about Gary Condit. I doubt another September 11th is imminent, but I do feel a bit off kilter in a way I can't really explain.
I think we are experiencing a paradigm shift, a move toward a new normal. We have become accustomed to unsustainable things-- strong economic growth fueled by bubbles in stocks, real estate and commodities, a strong job market with low unemployment and a higher standard of living and inflated sense of worth driven by escalating home values and an over-reliance on easy credit.
If current indicators hold, we are looking at anemic economic growth, average investment returns in the 5% range (vs. 10-15%), an unemployment rate around 7% (as opposed to 5%), tighter credit and lower home appreciation moving forward. This will be the new norm, and it will defer retirements, downgrade lifestyles, create chronic underemployment and force people to actually pay for what they buy.
Lowering our expectations and living within our means is the future. I think more and more people are beginning to see that the past decade was an aberration and that a reversion to the mean simply isn't possible. Perhaps moving from denial to understanding, then acceptance, is the "feeling" that some are experiencing? Or maybe the Big One is finally heading toward California? I have friends who're feeling that.
Last edited by goodbyehollywood; 07-14-2009 at 08:13 PM..
Perhaps moving from denial to understanding, then acceptance, is the "feeling" that some are experiencing?
I think this could be a large part of the Shift or change that many of us are feeling.
The Chinese have a saying that crisis is another word for opportunity. Will it be so for us? I'm hoping this time of feeling unsettled soon turns more fully to a quiet downshifting into more simple living. The last decade was a boom time, but it wasn't a healthy time. It was the time of greed. Look at the financial giants who fleeced so many people...individuals as well as trusted mega-corporations.
A main concern I have is that our nation has been hollowed out by moving so many of our manufacturing operations offshore. I think many of us feel we've been disregarded and wonder where future jobs will come from...will the vanishing middle class again have opportunities for a reasonable life?
Some folks think I'm a Pollyanna, but I'm hoping Green Collar jobs will come to our shores and we can re-create a new middle class from these jobs...I just hope they come soon. I feel so much dissatisfaction and despair in the the climate right now...too many people are feeling displaced and hopeless.
I think we've already had, to some degree, a great cleansing. Much of the wealth gained has been lost, as investments and real estate values have been decimated. Yet much of the causative behavior continues, the lessons still not learned.
It would be wonderful-- for people and the environment-- if green jobs and programs saved the day (and the planet). But I think that while people pay lip service to a Greener America, most simply don't want the behavioral and economic changes that it will entail. It's cool to say you want it; inconvenient to make it happen.
I, too, feel the dissatisfaction and despair, as well as a depressing negativity from so many people, especially on this forum. This can so quickly escalate into rage and violence. I remember flying over L.A. and watching the city burn after the riots. From the sky, it looked like Dante's Inferno. That's what smoldering resentment can do, once it erupts. I thought I'd never see it again. But I wonder...
Is it wishful thinking that the economy will start to stablize mid next year? I know many that are unemployed and many people that have gotten notices that they company will go threw rounds of lay offs. But how long can it really last? Things don't feel good at the moment but I think there are opportunties for people to go back to school, have 1 parent working and one staying home to be there for the kids, and for families & neighbors to grow closer, in parts of the country you can own a home for less than $20K, there is also an opportunity to develop better relationships with other nations (we all need each other). The biggest opportunity we have as people of this great nation is to hold the people we put in office to a greater scrutiny and either elect them or kick them out instead of rolling over and playing dead.
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People are starting to fear the government...Look what happened in Europe in the 1930's, (not good)!...Government is getting too powerful...How many Czars do we have now?? More than 30? What's up with that?
Are we close to losing our freedom??
