Posted on 02/24/2009 4:31:17 AM PST by Kaslin
An old Spanish proverb says, "An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy." I believe that value holds, in or out of a recession. And seeing as my 87-year-old mother lived through the Great Depression, I think her value (and that of those like her) will increase through these tough economic times because her insider wisdom can help us all.
Mother was about 10 years old when her eight-member family endured the thick of those recessive days in rural Wilson, Okla., which only has a population of 1,600 today. The recurring droughts across the heartland during that period dried up the job market, making it worse in the Midwest than it even was in the rest of the country. Over the years, my grandpa worked multiple jobs, from the oil fields to the cotton fields, and he was even a night watchman. The family members did what they could to contribute, but most of them were simply too young to play a major part.
In 1933, when President Franklin Roosevelt took office, his administration, through the Works Project Administration, brought about the employment of millions in civil construction projects, from bridges to dams to airports to roads. My grandfather traveled about 90 miles for a day's work to help build the Lake Murray dam. But with a far smaller ratio of jobs to potential laborers, if Grandpa worked five days a month (at $1.80 a day), it was a good month.
Like most families, my mother's family didn't have running water or electricity. And Granny did her best to keep the outhouse clean, with Grandpa helping by regularly depositing lye to control the odors. (You can imagine how the hot, humid Oklahoma summers turned that outside commode into one smelly closet-sized sauna.) A "scavenger wagon" came by once a week and cleaned out the hole, which had a small chairlike contraption over it with the center punched out. (They once had a two-seater in there, which allowed for two people to enjoy each other's company and conversation. Mom told me that she always felt a little upper-class when she sat with someone else!) By the way, and I'm not trying to be crude, toilet tissue wasn't around, so they used pages from Montgomery Ward catalogs (and you wondered why the catalogs were so thick). No joke -- they preferred the non-glossy pages. I'll let you figure out why.
Got the picture? With that in mind, I turn to a recent conversation I had with my mother. I asked her, "How would you encourage the average American to weather the economic storms of today?"
Here's her advice, in her words:
--"Get back to the basics. Simplify your life. Live within your means. People have got to be willing to downsize and be OK with it. We must quit borrowing and cut spending. Be grateful for what you have, especially your health and loved ones. Be content with what you have, and remember the stuff will never make you happy. Never. Back then, we didn't have one-hundredth of what people do today, and yet we seemed happier than most today, even during the Great Depression.
--"Be humble and willing to work. Back then, any work was good work. We picked cotton, picked up cans, scrap metal, whatever it took to get by. Where's that work ethic today? If someone's not being paid $10 an hour today, they're whining and unwilling to work, even if they don't have a job. The message from yesteryear is don't be too proud to do whatever it takes to meet the financial needs of your family.
--"Be rich in love. We didn't have much. In fact, we had nothing at all, compared to people today, but we had each other. We were poor, but rich in love. We've lost the value of family and friends today, and we've got to gain it back if we're ever to get back on track. If we lose all our stuff and still have one another and our health, what have we really lost?
--"Be a part of a community. Today people are much more alone, much more isolated. We used to be close with our neighbors. If one person had a bigger or better garden or orchard, they shared the vegetables and fruits with others in need. Society has shifted from caring for one another to being dependent upon government aid and welfare. That is why so many today trust in government to deliver them. They've forgotten an America that used to rally around one another in smaller clusters, called neighborhoods and communities. We must rekindle those local communal fires and relearn the power of that age-old commandment, 'Love thy neighbor.'
--"Help someone else. We never quit helping others back then. Today too many people are consumed with their own problems and only helping themselves. 'What's in it for me?' is the question most are asking. But back then, it was, 'What can I do to help my neighbor, too?' I love Rick Warren's book 'The Purpose Driven Life,' and especially his thought, 'We were created for community, designed to be a blessing to others.' Most of all, helping others gets our minds off of our problems and puts things into better perspective.
--"Lean upon God for help and strength. We didn't just have each other to lean on, but we had God, too. We all attended church and belonged to a faith community. Church was the hub of society, the community core and rallying point. Today people turn to government the way we used to turn to churches. It's been that way ever since Herbert Hoover's alleged promise of a 'chicken in every pot' and President Roosevelt's New Deal. Too many have abandoned faith and community. We trust in money more than God. And maybe that's a reason why we're in this economic pickle."
Now that's conventional wisdom that should be shouted and posted in every corridor of government, every community across America, and every blog on the Internet.
Call me overly pragmatic, but I think a little practical wisdom and encouragement is what we all need about now. Mom always was good for that. She still is.
$700 a month? In central PA you can rent a really nice house for half that! Yes, $350 a month will get you a house, garage, 3 bedrooms or more, plus most utilities — in a nice neighborhood. You can buy a foreclosure in Youngstown OH, Pittsburgh PA, Buffalo NY or Birmingham AL for ten times $350.
My mother used to invest in real estate and help people down on their luck, to relocate to places they could start fresh. She taught me that for most of them, the only thing really standing in their way was lack of imagination: when they think they can’t, they can’t, and when they think that where they are is where they will always be, it is.
These people are used to having tax payer slaves support them. When the slaves are gone and they have to work on their own, there's going to be big trouble, especially in the liberal cities. They'll feel they have the "right to steal" those things they're used to getting for free. This is where the social unrest will come from.
That's the root of this depression -- the drive for ever cheaper and cheaper labor for more than two decades, in an economy where 70% of economic activity is consumer spending (mostly U.S. consumer spending).
The disconnect is nothing short of insanity.
Viz. Katrina. People who grew up with the idea that the government would take care of them are going to be more than a little disappointed when America is one big Katrina.
I disagree. I think the problem is the grasshoppers have outnumbered the ants.
Our government depends on a certain number of voluntary slaves to keep things moving. The government is losing control. The feeders are demanding more, and the slaves are already pushed to the limit. That's the big picture. For example: The slaves can't afford to buy houses for the non working democrat base (and feed the entire world at the same time). The government has gone too far. The slaves are getting restless.
You make good points, but refer to my post 21. "...when they think that where they are is where they will always be, it is."
Last I heard, there are even places in this country where you don't have to pay car insurance. (New Hampshire and Wisconsin? I am not the human almanac in our house but I think that's right; plus Alabama isn't burdensome, and maybe Tennessee...) Also, if you don't want to pay more than the legally required amount of insurance and your record is good, you probably won't pay more than $20 a month for car insurance. Ask your agent.
We’re in Florida (Tampa Bay area.) Rents have come down, $700 gets you a two bedroom in a complex with swimming pool, and some amenities. Plus the area is close to beaches so that makes the housing/rents cost higher.
Even now, the dependent democrats are still collecting free rent or living in FEMA trailers. They're whining about having no other place to go. It's been years, and they haven't done a darn thing to help themselves. They're still sitting back and expecting someone to "save them."
Bless his heart, it’s not lye you use in outhouses - it’s lime. There was a sack of it in the girls’ outhouse on my great-grandparents’ farm, with a little beach shovel. You just always threw in a shovelful after you were done. I assume there was a sack in the boys’ outhouse too, but I never saw that one. With ten kids (Grandmaw was near the top) they had to have two outhouses, and the girls’ at least was a two-holer. In 1970 the relatives left on the farm put in septic and an electric well. I don’t miss the one-eyed owl a bit.
Yep, and the welfare crowd has been told by their politicians for decades that they could never survive without the governments help.
Beets - they'll be lucky if they get beets and lard from the government to eat this time.
Stone soup! Famous Russian entree.
Most people are only renting their living quarters now, and monthly rental fees aren’t likely to go down before all else does.
Have asked my agent, and shopped around. I have two old cars since we live far from any bus line, and my daughter (away at school) and I both work. Total tab = $175 with excellent driving records. Much is dependent on your zip code, but I’m told this is a very very good sum for a family with a 20-year-old. I don’t think anybody is going to move a thousand miles away, at enormous expense, just to have lower car insurance rates.
The point is, we have expenses today that many people did not have 75 years ago. Our lives are constructed around the concept that people should be dependent on infrastructure, (having electricity and running water, for instance) and now that the real estate market has collapsed, they can’t escape. Many would not have the moxie to farm, hunt, fish, etc. even if they could get away from the ‘burbs.
The modern interpretation is, "Don't be too proud to be a parasite."
Yep, subsidize it and there will be more of it. Especially grasshoppers!
We are headed for “locust years.”
That’s the root of this depression — the drive for ever cheaper and cheaper labor for more than two decades, in an economy where 70% of economic activity is consumer spending (mostly U.S. consumer spending).
The disconnect is nothing short of insanity.
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“Insanity” is the perfect word. You are exactly right. How is the American Consumer going to keep on consuming when he doesn’t have a good-paying job?
An EF3 struck the city, many of the houses in Holly, and some outside of town, were completely demolished.
Very true. Most of us will be in bad shape if the electricity, gas, and water utilities don't function. However, people who are determined, and say, "I'm going to ..." rather than "I can't ..." have a much better chance of making it through any serious trouble.
Ask him again, if you’re saying you pay $175 a month. I know lots of people who pay about that in a year.
He’s an agent. You may have to grab him by the necktie and holler down his throat, “LEGAL MINIMUM.” You may have to repeat it a few times. I am serious.
I mean, if you want to cut costs to what the govt demands to leave you alone, this is the way to go: legal minimum insurance. You won’t have much coverage, but you could save over a thousand dollars in a year.
Just sayin!
I’ve been to Youngstown, OH. Your ammunition budget for personal defense would be more than $350. IMHO
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