August 1, 2002 - Market Wrap Up
"Scenes are now to take place as will open the eyes of credulity and of insanity itself, to the dangers of a paper medium abandoned to the discretion of avarice and of swindlers."
Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1814. ME 14:189.
"A spirit... of gambling in our public paper has seized on too many of our citizens, and we fear it will check our commerce, arts, manufactures, and agriculture, unless stopped."
Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael, 1791. ME 8:230.
"We are now taught to believe that legerdemain tricks upon paper can produce as solid wealth as hard labor in the earth. It is vain for common sense to urge that nothing can produce but nothing; that it is an idle dream to believe in a philosopher's stone which is to turn everything into gold, and to redeem man from the original sentence of his Maker, 'in the sweat of his brow shall he eat his bread.'"
Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey, 1816. ME 14:381.
"Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act on the 22nd of December 1913, and from that day forward the United States of America ceased to be a republic."
Anne Williamson - The FED - March 2001 - WorldNet - Vol.10, No. 3.
SEE CHART: Federal, State and Local Welfare Spending - 1929-2000
SEE CHART: The Dollars Devaluation - The Purchasing Power of a single U.S. dollar
How Big Is The Government's Debt? - $33.1 Trillion
In 1913 a man gathers up his family and moves from Kentucky to another state far away. He has his lovely wife, and six children to take care of. This is a great challenge, as he has virtually no money, and worse, only an 8th grade education.
Upon arrival, he begins the hunt for a variety of jobs. Within a short time he lands two labor jobs. He works both jobs for some time. He then finds a solid position for a logging company, where he performs a variety of tasks including falling, rigging, operating heavy equipment, etc.
By now, a few years later, he has added two more children to his quiver, for a grand total of eight children. He has bounced from apartment, to rentals, to a rental farm where he is finally happy and content.
He refuses to let his wife work. He and she are content and happy with her taking care of the home and the children, while he provides for the family.
One day he is approached by the landlord, who he has known for some time, to buy the small 25 acre farm. His first instinct is no. He refuses to go into debt. Debt to him was an enemy, a heavy load, slavery in motion. The landlord will sell the acreage for $35 an acre, the home for $650. That's $875 for the land and $650 for the home with everything included. Grand total: $1525. The man had half of that amount. He agreed with the landlord that he would give him the $1525 within a two year time period. No loans, no papers, just a handshake.
He sold a few things, saved his money, plus the money he had already saved, and through hard work gave the landlord the full price, even beating the deadline.
Years thereafter, he purchased 20-30 acre tracts adjoining his property one at a time, until he had 380+ acres, he built a new smaller home, added a huge barn, purchased a tractor, accumulated large heads of cattle, horses, and put in the best fencing available throughout the entire farm. The river and large creek that run through the property provided excellent irrigation for the crops in the fields. The dirt is so rich and dark, you would do a double-take when you saw it. TV? What was that.
For the most part, the farm was self-sufficient. Deer and even elk could easily be killed on the farm, or surrounding timber areas. Timber? That's old growth timber, that you could walk barefoot through, and see the awesome handiwork of God Almighty.
They worked this farm through the Great Depression, world war and troubles of all kinds. One child died. But seven lived to a ripe old age. This man, even when old, often stated, he could breathe out here.
So, his wife never held a job. She never finished high school. She married him at 15 years of age. She worked terribly hard on the farm, and, well, raising eight kids, speaks for itself. If cooking is an IQ, she was a genius. She never missed a day of church. She read books and studied all of her life, and wisdom flowed from her soul. Neighbors from miles around would ask her of many things knowing they would receive an answer. He had an 8th grade education. His work ethic was legend. He bought a small farm and gradually turned it into a 380 acre spread, with tractors and attachments, farm machinery, a new home, cattle, horses, well, fencing, etc. He didn't borrow a dime in his whole life. No loans, no banks, no credit, zip. He did this within an approximate 30 year timeframe.
Now, I challenge a young blue collar worker with an 8th grade education, no money, a young wife with little education, and 8 kids, to move to another state, with no job prospects, to find a job(s), purchase a small farm, turn that farm into a 300-400 acre spread, with tractors, machinery, a new home, cattle, horses, fencing, etc., without ever borrowing money from anybody, and do it within approximately 30 years. Good luck.
What changed?