Polite discourse appreciated Hardpan. but to move on from where we are,
which is not well defined, to some of the scenarios we mite be
confronted with. Which may not wait til next year, or even the election.
If foreign holders of dollar denominated securities start dumping, with
global communications, it could all come down over nite. Any nite. We
can still hope the election discourse provides foreign investors the
idea that their holdings will be worth something, but I've not seen word
one from any candidate yet.
I've lived most of the last 40 years in the Ozark boonies, and never
been gladder of it. I spoke with a young couple moving here who are also
concerned earlier today. And every time I drive to town, I see new
McMansions and starter castles going up. There's no decline in real
estate values in the Arkansas Ozarks. Dont imagine there is in Idaho,
Montana, or Alaska either.
But I've already got most of the firewood I'll need next winter already
cut. That'll be a ***** in those northern states. Especially if nobody
has chainsaw gas. Nevertheless, if four men can share a house, they can
cut the wood to heat it with a two man saw. I was born on a farm in MN
in 1939, and remember it that way.
Course, back then, it was big families, so the old man had 3 sons. Now,
with just one or two kids, the nuclear family just cant cut it. I mean
that literally as well. The young couple that stayed over at my place
last nite seem to realize the problem. Lesbians and fairies, who are not
fixated on the nuclear family model seem to get that as well.
But for whoever, moving here is win/win. All the construction by the
early boomer retirees created lotsa jobs. Transnationals also seem to be
moving in to the mid size (10,000-40,000 pop) towns along I-40, where
folks tend to stay put cause they all have kin in the area. Job turnover
is lower, and while the payroll cost is lower too, so is the cost of
living. The land prices the rich pay for lake front or mountain tops are
still going up, but there's lotsa shacks in the woods that are cheap, or
even feasible to squat in.
Another issue Diamond dealt with twards the end of "Collapse" is how the
areas that have timber- which provide fire wood and lumber, recover the
fastest from economic or social crisis. The Baltic nations had timber
and lotsa lakes and swamps that broke up the land preventing large
factory farms. So, when the schitt hit the fan, the small farmers didnt
need to talk to a banker, but just went ahead and ****fted production to
meet the local market needs. The Ozarks are too steep for agribusiness,
so its still all family farms here, and the same deal. No doubt, there
are parts of the Northern States like this to find if you look.
A town of less than 40,000 with lotsa small farms around could make out
pretty well. Its not so many people that a horse and cart cant haul
produce to town and back in the same day from a rural fringe that's only
a few miles away. I dont see how a major metro area could function
without the fuel for produce trucks. Most of the cities'd look like the
same kind of disaster zones New Orleans was, with looting all over.
When corruption destroyed the Roman republic, Caesar'd just finished
looting Gaul, so he had the *money* to pay his troops to restore order.
Today, I dont think a general handing out nice lithographs of dead
presidents will persuade his troops to obey him. Nobody, not even the
streetgang leaders, has the real gold to pay his men with. Many areas
would see gangs roaming with pickup trucks as long as there's any gas at
all, out to get whatever they can from whoever they think has it.
But steep forested land, like the Ozarks, or the Rockies, or Alaska,
would enable a few snipers to keep even fairly well organized forces
out. Clausewitz, ON WAR:"when confronted with steep forested land, take
your army around it." No doubt, farmers and ranchers'll figure that out.
I see lotsa X-military moving into my neck of Ozark woods who already
have that figured out. Its why they are coming.
If the global economy keeps on muddling thru despite how bad it looks,
life in the boonies is still pretty good, and broadband is coming so
they'll be able to stay informed about what is going on. I spoze we'll
still get snowed in a few days every winter, but that's no biggie. The
smart people who have all this worked out make better neighbors than the
couch spuds in the cities. Stay tuned. Maybe you'll get a clue on when
to drop out, hopefully ahead of the crowd. You dont wanna get stuck on
the freeway out of town.
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