If all your transactions are part of the formal economy, you’re going to have difficulties when the SHTF. After that, everything will be under the table and informal. If you’re not doing any of that now, you need to change some habits and learn how to do it while it’s not the only game in town.
Archive for the ‘Financial Meltdown’ Category
The Formal Economy
28 November 2011Last Frost (maybe)
9 May 2010Last night we had a light frost. I covered the strawberries (which are in bloom), and the beet, kidney bean, and carrot seedlings. I haven’t been out there yet this morning to check on them, but they should be okay — it was only about 30F this morning. [Update — the kidney beans got a little frosted, but most should be okay, and everything else was fine.]
We’ve had a very warm, early spring, and it’s definitely time to plant a lot of other seeds, but it’s also been showery enough (and I’ve been busy enough) that it’s been hard to get out into the garden.
The tomato, ground cherry, pepper, and onion seedlings are all looking good. We’ll get those outside in another week or two. I’ve been moving them outside for half a day at a time when it’s sunny to get them used to full sun.
Planted in main garden today:
- Purslane in 2nd raised bed to complement existing self-seeding wild purslane
- Sunflowers just to the north of the raised beds, on north edge of main garden
- Swiss Chard Fordhook Giant (Johnny’s sell by 6/10)
- Collards Champion (Johnny’s sell by 7/09)
- Kale Hybrid Starbor F1 (Johnny’s sell by 8/09)
The world financial system looks like it’s on the verge of another crash, but it’s also impossible to predict. Powerful people and institutions are doing everything in their power to prevent it, and although it doesn’t appear that they’ll succeed, they may delay it for another few years.
Who knows what people should do to protect themselves from a world financial meltdown? I think reducing debt to the maximum extent possible is a good idea, and we’re doing well on that front; I suppose it makes some kind of sense (strictly on an intuitive level, I’m not smart or financially savvy enough to explain it otherwise) that if the world’s problem is too much debt compared to productive capacity, individuals should do what they can to reduce household debt.
Beyond that, we’re going with the usual TEOTWAWKI preps — striving for independence in food, water, and energy. I believe everyone will see a severe reduction in quality of life, and whatever we can do to increase independence will mitigate that reduction.
We’re considering a new, more-efficient propane furnace to replace our 14-year-old model and to take advantage of the tax credit that expires at the end of this year. Our current furnace works well, but higher efficiency is always good and if we’ll be replacing it in 5 years anyway….
Learning the Value of Money
20 March 2010One way to describe what’s happening in the world, and especially the US, right now is that we’re all learning the value of money. We’re learning it anew if we’ve never known it before, and we’re being reminded of it if we’ve only forgotten it.
If every day feels like Christmas, then you’re not living in reality, you’re living in a fantasy world. If, as an individual or a nation, it seems as if the laws of nature have been bypassed or cancelled, be assured they have not.
Money has value. If the place where you live does not tie the value of its money to a commodity, then the value of your money will vary (inflation and deflation), but it does have value. If it seems as if everyone has more money than they used to and that the level of material things in your culture increases more and more over time, be assured that the books are still in balance and that someone else in the world has less. Imbalances such as that can exist for a long time when defined in terms of a human life (that situation could be all the reality an individual knows), but the day of reckoning always comes.
It is that day of reckoning that we face in the next few years. You prepare for it by acquiring tangible assets, by saving, and by preparing to live without money as much as you can. But you cannot prepare yourself for it fully, no matter who you are how much you’ve got now. You can only do your best and bear in mind that flexibility and learning will be required.
This Just About Sums It Up
25 February 2010Who are you going to vote for, the candidate who promises growth and prosperity or the candidate who promises higher taxes and austerity?
Paraphrasing from TAE:
http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/2010/02/february-24-2010-bumping-along-bottom.html
Being Right
7 December 2009Finally, and for the first time in a long time, I feel as if my understanding of the world is correct and that it’s time for everyone else to come around to what I think instead of the other way around. Specifically:
- We cannot continue spending money we don’t have, as individuals, as states, or as a nation.
- Farming is one of the most important activities anyone can engage in, and being a farmer who takes care of his land and everything else under his care is one of the most honorable things anyone can do.
- We all need to grow as much of our own food as possible.
- We all need to be responsible for our own health to the greatest extent possible. That means exercising every day, not eating trashfood, and not burning the candle at both ends.
- We all need to be independent, both as individuals and as families. You only rely on others when you absolutely have to. That does not diminish the importance of community.
- Debt is bad.
- Engaging in foreign wars should be avoided at all costs.
Ending and Beginning 