Just Passing Through

The title should cover it, but I realize there are people who actually listen to what the liars on TV say. Thus, it becomes necessary to explain some things in detail -- small, bite-sized pieces.

For humans to exist, they have to get food. They have to get several kinds of food or suffer horrible deficiencies and die young. You have to be good at getting all those different kinds of food. If you have a neighbor, and he's better at something than you, and you than he, you can specialize and trade. That's called "having an economy." If enough of you live close together and can exchange all the different kinds of food each of you specialize in getting, you can all live better with less work. It's called "economic efficiency." Enough of that, and some of the folks can consider doing something besides fetching food, some other useful thing which folks need.

Maybe one can work on clothing, and someone else on housing. All good things we need. Then someone can make tools which make all of those tasks even more efficient. Pretty soon, some folks can specialize in services which don't actually make anything, but takes a load off others. Eventually, there is this thing called "leisure time," where everyone does not have to work from dawn to dark every day. There is enough stuff exchanged, and services exchanged, folks have time to think, dream, worship, etc.

Then we can have some artistry in production, or even plain old art: music, stories, pretty toys, etc. As the situation gets more complex and more efficient, we can talk about technology advances and even greater efficiency. Then we start needing folks who do nothing more than coordinate all this stuff, guys who buy and sell and hold stuff for those who have no time to barter. They can come up with a means of exchange, and maybe even loan it out. Maybe go farther afield and collect stuff not available locally.

But, if there is no underlying production of stuff everyone uses, the economy becomes exceedingly fragile. Without that solid base of food, clothing and housing, there's nothing to keep the top part of the economy from falling down. We Americans hardly know how to make basic clothes. We aren't that good at growing our own food any more. We do okay with housing, but we don't make much of the tools and equipment an advanced technological society needs. We got the banking and hustling and managing part worked out, but we don't make much of anything compared to the size of our economy.

All we have is loans and using the technology built elsewhere. We haven't protected the basis of life. Now that the loans and management business isn't working too well, we have nothing to fall back on, nothing to keep us alive. Nobody knows how to do the stuff everyone has to do just to live, and nothing in our economic system has room for reviving that sort of production.

We have no economy to recover. Until we stop all the stupid, non-productive stuff we are doing, all those banking type services, loan management, etc., and start making stuff again, we will have massive unemployment. Let me explain what the President and all his brilliant advisers are saying in just a few words:

You need to get back to the lending agencies, borrow some more money, and start buying all that cheap crap again so we can all have jobs.

In other words, the problem, as they see it, is we just aren't willing enough to borrow and buy. Never mind we don't even have a job that will buy basic food, clothing and housing. We are all having trouble in this nation because we don't buy enough luxury junk and services. Somehow, it's all our fault. So if we would just go back to the banks and borrow money we can't possibly secure with collateral, backed by jobs which we may not have, or won't very long, and pay huge interest rates without those jobs and income. That's what Obama is proposing. Oh, I suppose it would be okay if business on the verge of closing can go borrow up that money on expansion for a non-existent market.

So there you have it. We don't have no economy to revive. We have to start over.

If you have time, I recommend you read this short account of how the US Constitution is now, indeed, just a stinking piece of paper.

My point doesn't take too many words. It's all well and good to talk about how the Constitution should be obeyed, defended, and perhaps reasserted upon the nation now and then. What everyone wants to forget is the provisions of the Constitution mostly restricted the central federal authority. Unfortunately, we relied upon the good graces of those in federal offices to realize they had to uphold those limits against their exercise of power. You know, sort of the fox guarding the hen house.

Thomas Jefferson said something about needing a bloody revolution about every 20 years to retain real human liberty. If you examine the first few government actions under what was then a new Constitution, you'll see it didn't take 20 years for subversion to begin. The clear meaning of the words has been twisted. The whole thing has been bent, broken, beaten, shredded, until it now confesses all manner of oppressions are appropriate.

We are most certainly not a "great nation" if we allow this to continue. And we will.

In eastern Oklahoma County where I live, the terrain left to itself will produce massive weeds, then brush, then a choking growth of scrub oak, scrub cedar trees and some other junk flora, including numerous vines. Eventually, some of that scrub oak gives way to really find massive oaks, but that's the exception, because it takes so very long. Mostly, we have trees and shrubs growing inconveniently to just about any human activity. If you mow your yard here, chances are you're hitting at least one seedling in every square yard/meter.

A major part of the budget of every utility company is cutting trees to keep access clear. The law protects their right to cut pretty much as they please, but people rarely balk. If anything, they request the clearing teams completely remove a tree, rather than hack it clear of utility lines, leaving an odd-looking growth. Chain saws proliferate on just about every utility maintenance truck. One might think they were woodsmen first, and utility maintenance is just a side-line.

An odd part of the law requires they also prepare to remove all their cuttings. What to do with all that wood? Tons of that material is produced every week just in my end of the county. There is a solution. There is a sod farm on one main road with a very wide space between the fence and pavement. In one of the few spots where that space is relatively flat, the utility wood cutters can drop their cuttings, provided everything is cut down to 18" or less. That is, if someone can easily lift the piece, it's okay to drop them there in a pile. The reason should be obvious: People driving by can stop and load up on free firewood.

This has been going on for a number of years. I'll spot some workmen tossing wood out every now and then. Frequently I'll pass by and see various area residents loading up a few pieces into their cars, vans, or usually a pickup truck. Funny how people will respond to a rather common sense regulation by coming up with a common sense means of handling the results. Nobody required that sod farm to set aside space for this, and they could easily file suit in court and forbid the utilities from dumping wood there. They allow it as a community service.

We see the advantage of minimal regulation, and minimal intervention to ameliorate consequences. Most things take care of themselves, so long as nobody makes goofy demands. Yes, the pile can be unsightly at times, but to someone with a wood burning stove, all those oak cuttings, needing only to be split into firewood, are a glorious sight.

If it weren't for the pervasive pile of false assumptions in this world, things would be very boring. That is, we'd be living in much greater peace and security, and more of our attention would be focused on the mundane pursuits of living day to day.

I've already set out in writing what the world should look like, and I don't expect to sell too many books on Oprah. None of it is earth shattering, and surely does not look like common sense to very many people. It is merely my best understanding of what the Bible says God requires of us.

It also accords nicely with some of the best analyses of world problems. Bruce Schneier rekindles the best understanding of why there are gangs, and how we got the Middle Ages in Europe. People are designed to live in community. When your culture or social structure provides a very poor community structure, you'll likely go looking for another. Chaos means whatever you have isn't working, and it's time to change. Feudalism in the West arose from the ashes of ancient history because prior official government had failed, lost control, and life was getting really ugly. Protection was only available by seeking a strong feudal lord. It's mirrored in the strong leadership in gangs and terrorist groups.

So the primary element in seeking community is quite simple: protection. The Old Testament refers to shalom, which we have poorly handled in Modern English. It's not just "peace" as in simple placidity, but all the things which go into making life placid. That placidity is not a matter of external serenity found in Utopian visions, but placidity internally. You can afford to be creative in seeking harmless, if risky, excitement because you feel secure, not because you are simply bored. Boredom is the direct result of lacking much inside yourself. You are bored because you are boring. That's a symptom of poor community structure.

Fighting terrorism is something governments are particularly poor at, much as it is in fighting gangs, and for the same reason. Those things arise when government fails and refuses to listen. Gangs form as a counter-government; they succeed when they become the de facto government. Every government on earth is a conspiracy -- people conspire to rule their situation in life largely by extending that rule to those close enough to affect their lives. That's why government schools insist on getting involved in directing and forming the sexual identity of students, for example. Since such issues do affect the business of education, the school system insists on controlling those issues, never mind no educator has any business getting involved in something which is entirely a family matter. Public education seeks to replace family, demands it, and provides a horribly deficient replacement. (Keep in mind I worked as a "professional educator" for a few years.)

While Schneier suggests there is something governments can do differently and more effectively, my own solution is quite different. Government as we know it must dissolve before things will get better. That's the prophetic word from God.

Here in the U.S., as the credit system continues to collapse, and the value of dollar plummets, what can we expect?

First, there will come a point when the electronic funds transfer (EFT) system will probably break down. We are looking at hyper-inflation, rather like Zimbabwe is going through right now. Not only will more banks shut down, but those still running will be using software which is not capable of handling the demands of a hyper-inflated economy. For example, if you move between $3,000 and $10,000, the software requires a bunch of detailed information due to federal laws on reporting large transactions. Since we would be in the range of $10 for a loaf of bread, if not higher, then simply buying a bicycle can set off the reporting requirement and bogs down the system. There are a hundred other factors, such as many banks still running software incapable of tracking money beyond a certain inflationary level.

Second, because EFTs will fail, cash will become more necessary. However, the vast majority of our US dollar paper notes are outside the country. There will be a huge shortage of cash currency because there really aren't that many large notes in existence.

Third, alternative currencies will arise. Just about anything with some intrinsic value can be used, not just silver and gold coins -- which are also in short supply. Think of how cigarettes are considered money in some prisons, for example. Straight barter will also increase a great deal. In the end, it will become very difficult to conduct business.

Finally, the vast majority of our consumer goods are imported. We do not have much internal production of even food, for example. This will create a drastic shortage because the dollars we have won't be worth much in buying these imports. Lots of things we now buy overseas will suddenly need to be made locally. Coffee, tea, sugar, and most of the fruit we now eat cannot be grown here without some dramatic changes. There are only a few things we export, and those will become the sole source of keeping up some exchange.

Oh, and just because you can't pay doesn't mean your taxes will stop. Governments will most likely continue their previous requirements without the least cutback, plus add many new services to consume goods and services. Since no one can pay their taxes, look for governments at all levels to begin direct confiscation, which will naturally engender armed resistance. That's a whole other mess.