Monkeyfister

I typed and researched, and posted from 4pm til 330am. I 'm fucking hosed.

I am a REALLY bad Glenn Greewald/Digby-type blogger, but I felt that I needed to get some things out, and get some discussion rolling in the blogohood. I'm just a dude with a 7-4 job. I got out early today-- yeah, me! I didn't even eat dinner, I am such a bad and slow typist.

I've not even had the chance to post about the implications surrounding China, yet, and folks, we should all be DAMNED FUCKING SCARED STRAIGHT in pondering the whole big gamut of what is going on there, and exactly WHY it is all going on.

I've got to get some sleep.

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Labels: CHINA BITCHES, Collapse, Pity Party, The Greater Depression

Oh, Friday was another BLESSED ANNIVERSARY for the fucking Useless Queen Of England. May she eat and shit solid stuff for years to come, and get good Pawn Value on the Crown Jewels. What's there to say?

Sadly, The deeply innovative Rockabilly Punk band, The Cramps, suffered a terrible loss, with the death of Lux Interior. Their Lead Singer, at the age of 62, from heart failure.



I LOVED me some Cramps. That dark, dark, funky, wacky, Rockabilly on ludes just moved me, and made me want to know more about the REAL Rockabilly Genre. The more I learned, the more I loved me some more Cramps.

GOD DAMMIT. God Dammit. God Dammit.

Just knowing that Henry Kissinger is STILL alive, and Lux is dead, just makes me thinks bad thoughts.

The Cramps Classic-- "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns":



Dammit.

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Labels: Fuck The Queen, In Memoriam, Kissinger Needs To Die

Peanut Corp. is a fucking Psychopathic Corporation that needs to be brought to justice without the ability to declare bankruptcy... These fuckers are utterly culpable, and deserve the long arm of the Law.

They found a "Dry-roasted rat" in the peanut bins (not in this article... I'll try and recover that article).

NPR News right now, as I type, is telling me in the very last line of there report on this subject:

""Peanut Corp. is denying any wrongdoing.'

FUCK THAT BULLSHIT. These are Sociopaths that we're dealing with.

via Bloomberg

By Nicole Gaouette

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Peanut Corp. of America knowingly distributed salmonella-tainted products to hundreds of food manufacturers from its Blakely, Georgia plant, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

Food safety officials initially said the closely held Lynchburg, Virginia-based company shipped its peanut butter, peanut paste and chopped peanuts from its Georgia plant after a second set of tests showed the products were free of salmonella that had been detected earlier. After scrutinizing the firm’s shipping records, FDA investigators said today the plant sent the products to customers before the results of the new tests were known.

“For these, sometimes the firm received a subsequent negative test, and sometimes no additional testing appears to have been done,” FDA spokesman Michael Herndon said in an e- mail.

The salmonella outbreak began in September and has been linked to eight deaths in the U.S., sickened more than 500 people and prompted calls for an overhaul of the country’s food safety system. President Barack Obama has called for a “complete review” of the FDA in light of its failure to stop the contamination. Lawmakers have introduced legislation that would make food safety the focus of a new, stand-alone agency.

The outbreak has led to a criminal investigation of Peanut Corp. and forced the recall of more than 1,555 products.

Peanut Corp. didn’t return telephone calls today seeking comment.

Contamination Found

FDA investigators found that the company discovered salmonella in its Blakely plant on 12 occasions in 2007 and 2008. The private lab that tested the products was not required by law to inform federal officials.

The agency said Jan. 28 that Peanut Corp. contracted for a second set of tests, which found no evidence of the contamination. The company continued to ship its peanut butter, which is sold by wholesalers to schools, hospitals and other institutions, and its peanut products that are used by manufacturers in food such as granola bars, ice cream, candy and cereal.

After inspecting the Blakely plant, FDA agents conducted a more thorough review of Peanut Corp.’s records, which contradicted the firms’ claims that it had shipped only salmonella-free products.

“We realized there were a lot of inconsistencies between what the company officials said and what was actually in the records,” Herndon said today.

NPR News repeatedly tells me on the hour that Peanut Corp. denies any wrondoing.

Motherfuckers.

500 ill already and at least eight reported dead. The Federal Agencies involved had BETTER STOP their request for "bankruptcy," and get down to criminally prosecuting these fuckers.

America has had enough of Bush Era "Food Poisoners For Profit" motherfuckers, and these bastards need to be treated especially hard to show that the Republican "Fuck the little Americans" era is OVER.

This is just one example of what is happening over, and over, and over, and over, and over again in America and WORSE all over the REST of the World.



MANDATORY WATCH:: "The Corporation" Run Time ~2hrs of required viewing

Part 1-- The Pathology Of Commerce:

Watch The Corporation 1  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Part 2-- Planet Inc.:

Watch the corporation part #2  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Part 3-- Reckoning:

Watch The Corporation Part 3 : Reckoning in The Corporation  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Two years ago, I posted this as one simplee, clean video. Now, It is three hard to find parts, and I've no idea if these parts actually fit together properly. Damn. Even the Anti-Corporatists who have made their money, are fucking shit up for their own greed. Get it? I guess you've got to go and pay money to Buy this ANTI- CORPORATE DVD, after all the awards for the movie, and 100% money return for the spectacled producer... OMFG, it simply hurts. THIS IS AMERICA.

I THOUGHT I was going to just link up the flick, and make a point. It took me me over a goddamned hour to find decent footage, and it comes with the producer BLEGGING for more fucking cash.

Fuck. I could have uploaded this flick, myself, with all the bonus footage, and skirted the bullshit.

This film is over FIVE FUCKING YEARS old and and the Production Corporation is cramming down for profits for an ANTI-Corporation film... Only in fucking America. My point is MADE. GAAAH!!

And thus I type.

Corpormotherfuckingations must die now, die hard, and must never be brought back to life as we now know them. If that makes me Anti-American, than so be it. Yeah! I'm a Terra-ist! I believe that arms need to be taken to bring them down if we, the little People are so pressed, and we are given no other choice. THEY are killing US... Why SHOULDN'T we resist that? Are you getting PROSAC in your water supply? Municipal Water companies all swear that they have no means of filtering pharmaceuticals from the water supply, and they honestly don't. We're getting dosed with your neighbor's pissed-out psychotropics... no shit. Well, yeah... probably that, too, come to think of it. No wonder this Fat-assed Country is so fucking passive, these days.

All aboard the FAILBOAT, my fellow Americans. The floggings are free upon embarkation.

Are you watching too much TV? You need to stop that. Kill your cable, and shoot the TV. It is poisoning your brain, and causing you to just lie there on the sofa... All fucking night... staring... clicking the remote... and clicking... and then clicking... hell, I am probably watching too much TV and all I have is a DSL connection. I DON'T EVEN HAVE A FUCKING TV!

As Mike Ruppert stated in the post two below, these fuckers are the Dinosaurs that don't know that they are already extinct, and are fighting their asses off against the growing number of us us who are awakening daily, who understand that that these reptiles MUST be put down, and put away to save Humanity and the Earth.

Resist, Dammit. RESIST.

WAKE THE FUCK UP!

I'm going to put it straight right here and right now-- if you don't get it, if you disagree with my position, if I make you uncomfortable then I'd rather you just go the fuck away. I don't need you reading this blog or bothering the comments.

We are at a do or die moment for America's future, and the future of America does not allow for obscene profiteering, and gross abuse of its Citizens. Nor does it call for the gross misuse of its energy or other finite resources.

We MUST make use of Solar Power, Wind Power and Tidal Power to augment and ultimately replace fossil fuels, while making due with less. We're talking about TOTAL Decentralization of Power Generation. Every House. Every Building on the map, and those scheduled to BE on the map, need Solar PVs, either grid-tied or not, and it needs to be in the Stimulus Bill. Or another Bill, Energy Lobbies be damned. Sorry Centralized Energy Companies... Your days are numbered by force of REALITY.

Every Parking lot needs to be fit wit the same, with a set of plugs for every parking slot.

GET IT???

GET IT, Republicans and STUPID BLUE DOGS??? FUCK YOU, BLUE DOGS.

We NEED SUPERTRAINS (Maglev or electric) running along every major Interstate. NOT your resistance.

YES! We NEED the Federal Vehicle fleet to be hybrid and/or plug-in. The Plug-Ins will be for parking and local enforcement of traffic Laws.

"DUTY" vehicles MUST be super-efficient for the good of the Country and Government. What the hell is wrong with that? What an INCREDIBLE stimulus for the Auto Industry. The Civilian Benefit is that while the Auto Industry is Mass Producing the Federal Fleet, WE can all get similar cars for cheap. Demand reduces cost. IF the Government demands it for the Civilian sector for at least a couple of years to jump-start the industry. Soon, there will be no V8 Escalades. they won't be needed.

Let's talk about SUPERTRAINS. GM Makes Locomotives. Let's get them making SUPERLOCOMOTIVES-- Electric and MAGLEV Engines that pull hundreds of miles per hour, and get people cross-country nearly as fast as an airplane with less Security and BULLSHIT hassle. Memphis to New Orleans in 3 hours instead of 6 hours. THAT is REAL REALITY, People. Extrapolate that to YOUR situation. It is POSSIBLE. There is no reason that SUPERTRAINS SHOULDN'T be moving us to where we need to go, and AVIS , and the other renta-car joints should be buying hybrids and electric cars to get us around the towns we need to get around. The Renta-Car Joints are booking in their own deaths every day they don't get on board the hybrid/electric car Superhighway to success. Want the Big 3 to survive-- get SUPERTRAINS and modernization of the Federal Auto Fleet in the Bill.

I'm reading now that the Senate has decided on **Something**, but what the hell is iare the details? Did he FUCK-UP Nelson Cuts make it in? if they did, kis the Nation good-bye.

I'm hearing that that they are PROUDPROUDPROUD that they cut 100 Billion out of the Bill. Good for them. What was left was real Stimulus, and an aim toward the REAL NECESSARY future of America.

But Drudge, John "Tears and tan" Boner, and Mitch "no-chin/no-eyelids/no-lips" McConnell rule the Republican world under the almighty Limbaugh, and so all the above means absolutely nothing, and I shouldn't have wasted my goddamned time even typing this scree, because Pelosi and Reid only read Drudge and only listen to Limbaugh, and goddamn, this is three hours worth of typing that I'll never get back....

Fucking Pussy-assed, Blue Dog Democrats and Crazy-assed Republicans. America COULD have had a future if it wasn't for you.

Fuck. I'm typing too much again.

I'm NOT a TYPER. I am a LOUSY typist, and it takes me FOREVER to type this shit.

I am NOT a scree writer like Digby or Glennzilla. I HATE typing this much. I try to be much more economical in my word usage.

But, right now I am PISED BEYOND WORDS, and words I must type. We have poison food, poison baby products, poison Republican politics, Poison Economics, Poisoned Cosmetics, Poisoned toys, because poisoned RICH REPUBLICAN MOTHERFUCKERS don't care about even their wives or kids, and won't trickle-down their wealth, don't subject their products ,like BEEF, and PORK, and Baby Toys to inspection as they SHOULD, but rather demand their products just slide through the system like Reaganomics says they are entitled to, but like to cut every corner they can to make a buck for themselves. No matter whether it kills a bunch of kids or not-- wit doesn't matter to them whether those kids happen to be their own kids, they are only thinking about those Brown kids getting killed. There is no thought process at all with those making the decisions.

It is cheaper to pay a fine and have their PR company sat "SORRY," than to apply and follow the Laws. That is going to stop for a lot of people very soon... I NEEDS to Stop NOW!

Enough Americans are DONE with this sort of mentality.

If Congress won't stop this Corporate Menace, then I am sure that regular Americans WILL stop this fuckshit. One way or another.

I won't mourn the violence against the Corporate offenders.

I WILL mourn my awful typos tho.


Gobbless American Politics. I am SO goddamned glad that I wasted all this fucking time typing this only to wake up to be kicked in the teeth by my own fucking Party.

Yippee.

I think they should have scrapped the whole Bill and broke it down into several focused Bills: Transportation, States Relief, Health Care, Infrastructure.

Aside: If Americans are PISSED, I am certain that their anger is focused on the Republicans and the Blue Dogs, in Reality, but Drudge, Rush, and the Village will ignore the facts, and exploit the minority polls.


But I'm just a jumped-up Stagehand who doesn't know when to shut up. I've typed WAAAAAY too much, tonight.

I'll probably be sorry when I wake up tomorrow.


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Labels: Bush Era Poisonings, Corporate Disobedience, Corporate Values, Eat The Rich, Food Security, Fuck The Poor, Fucking Republicans, Tainted Foods, Tainted Peanut Products

In comments, gene'o asks:

Do you think the UST bond market is going to collapse soon, making it impossible for the US Gov. to service its existing debt and borrow new money to bail out elites? I think maybe. I'm keeping tabs and looking for an ungodly spike in the yield for 2-yrs and shorter. I think that's probably the point of no return.

I'm leaning toward "yes" on this topic. There are a LOT of "IFs" surrounding the topic.

A Google Search on "Treasury Bill Bubble" yields a whole lotta articles about exactly that subject.

I'm a bit worried about this on a selfish level, as I'm fully in US Securities and Treasuries, but, I am assured by TSP, that the set I'm invested in are "special and seperate" from the Publicly-Traded pools:

The G Fund offers the opportunity to earn rates of • interest similar to those of long-term Government securities but without any risk of loss
of principal and very little volatility of earnings.

• The objective of the G Fund is to maintain a higher return than inflation
without exposing the fund to risk of default or changes in market prices.
• The G Fund is invested in short-term U.S. Treasury securities specially
issued to the TSP. Payment of principal and interest is guaranteed by
the U.S. Government. Thus, there is no “credit risk.”
• The interest rate resets monthly and is based on the weighted average
yield of all outstanding Treasury notes and bonds with 4 or more years
to maturity.
• Earnings consist entirely of interest income on the securities.•
Interest on G Fund securities has, over time, outpaced inflation and
90-day T-bills.

Net Assets
$86.5 billion

Administrative Expenses
$0.15 per $1,000 account balance, 015% (1.5 basis points)

By law, the G Fund must be invested in nonmarketable U.S. Treasury securities specially issued to the TSP. The G Fund investments are kept by electronic entries which do not involve any transaction costs to the TSP. The G Fund rate is set
once a month by the U.S. Treasury based on a statutorily prescribed formula (described below), and all G Fund investments earn that interest rate for the month. (The G Fund rate is also used in other Government programs, such as the Social Security and Medicare trust funds and the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund.)

The Board invests the G Fund exclusively in short-term securities (with maturities ranging from 1 day to 4 days over holiday weekends), but the securities earn a long-term interest rate. Because the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board pursues its strategy of investing the G Fund in short-term securities, the value of G Fund securities does not fluctuate; only the interest rate changes. Thus, when the monthly G Fund interest rate goes up, G Fund earnings accrue faster; when the G Fund interest rate declines, G Fund earnings accrue more slowly.

So, I am sort of "special." (where's my spork?) Still, I really don't know what to really make of the alerts of "peril" on the T-Bond front.

The thing with Publicly-traded T-Bonds, is that **usually** one goes through a broker/fund, and their fees tend to offset the very-tiny current return, so that the investor ends up actually losing money on them. However, here's a secret: one **can** buy directly from the US Treasury, and save those fees.

Right now, US Treasuries, and Securities, and EE-series Savings Bonds are really the only "safe" and solid investments, and everyone is jumping at them (actually-- no-one is jumping at EE-Series Savings Bonds, but, as my grandparents proved-- they just might be the thing that saves this country). That is the reason why the USD is gaining against other currencies right now. it's not like we're doing so well, it that every OTHER country's currency is falling apart. Thus the bubble mentality.

Treasury just opened up the 7-year bond. I view this as a very serious poke and hint from them, as to how long they believe they will need heavier investment. If I were not with TSP, I'd probably look at those bonds. I'm more inclined to look at EE-Series Bonds right now, as I am 40, and have the time to allow for their maturity period. I personally see this "Long Emergency," "the Big Ugly" lasting around a decade, as there is so damned much to unwind, repair, update, renew, bring modern... Either/Or, but go direct to TREAS.

As MadSat has reminded us, we have this little thing called the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which has 5 Sections:

Section. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

I guess we need to be vigilant, and keep our eyes on Legislation being passed. Anything that smells of getting around Section 4 would be a very big signal to bail.

OK. Before I start looking at individual articles regarding a US Treasuries Bubble, I want to ask you good readers whether articles written by known "Gold Bugs," and Gold sellers should be considered valid, or are these people trying to scare readers away from Treasuries and into their product?

Treasuries are LOANS to the United States to service debts.

OK. Let's look at a coulpe of respectable economists, and their views on Treasuries.

Peter Schiff:

If it is well known that Fed will be a big purchaser of Treasuries, those buying now will be positioned to unload their holdings when the buying spree begins. If the Fed pays higher prices in the future, traders can earn riskless speculative profits. If the traders lever up their positions, as many are likely doing, even small profits can turn unto huge windfalls.

The downside of course, is that all of the demand for Treasuries is artificial. Treasuries are now in the hands of speculators looking to sell, not investors looking to hold. These players are analogous to the mid-decade condo-flippers who flocked to new developments for quick profits. They did not intend to occupy their properties, but rather flip them to future buyers. Once these properties came back on the market, condo prices collapsed, as developers were forced to compete for new sales with their former customers.

This is precisely what will happen with Treasuries. Just as the U.S. government issues mountains of new debt to finance the multi-trillion annual deficits planned by the Obama Administration, speculative holders of existing debt will be offering their bonds for sale as well. In order to prevent a complete collapse in the bond prices the Fed will be forced to significantly increase its buying.

However, since the only way the Fed can buy bonds is by printing money, the more bonds they buy the more inflation they will create. As inflation diminishes the investment value of low-yielding Treasuries, such a scenario will kick off a downward spiral. But the more active the Fed becomes in their quest to prop up bond prices, the bigger the incentive to hit the Fed’s bid. The result will be that all Treasuries sold will be purchased by the Fed. But with the resulting frenzy in the Treasury market, and with inflation kicking into high gear, we can expect that demand for other debt classes that the Fed is not backstopping, such as corporate, municipal and agency debt, to fall through the floor, pushing up interest rates across the board.

In order to “save” the economy from these high rates the Fed will then have to expand its purchases to include all forms of debt. If that happens, run-away inflation will quickly turn into hyper-inflation, and our currency will be worthless and our economy left in ruins.

To avoid this nightmare scenario, the Fed should pull out of the bond market before it’s too late and let prices fall to where real buyers, those willing to hold to maturity, re-enter the market. Given how high inflation will likely be by the time this happens, my guess is that long-term Treasury yields will have to rise well into the double digits to clear the market.

The grim reality of course is that when the real estate bubble burst the Government was able to “bail-out” private parties. However, when the bond market bubble bursts, it will be the U.S. Government itself that will be in need of the mother of all bailouts. If U.S. taxpayers or foreign creditors are unwilling or unable to pony up, and if the nightmare hyper-inflation scenario is to be avoided, default will be the only option. If misery really does love company, Bernie Madoff’s clients might finally find some comfort.

For a more in depth analysis of our financial problems and the inherent dangers they pose for the U.S. economy and U.S. dollar denominated investments, read my new book “Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse.” Click here to order a copy today.

For an updated look at his investment strategy order a copy of his just released book ‘The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets.” Click here to order your copy now.

Video from Canadian Media:


I throw a red flag on her unfortunate shirt, but, Schiff is talking sense (up until the 4:15 mark. Obama's vision isn't at issue, the FUCKED-UP REPUBLICANS and Blue Dog "Democrats" are fucking up the Stimulus Bill, and I want to make that AMPLY clear. At the 4:15 mark, Schiff's strange and unknowable agenda comes out of the bag, so buyer beware.). The FED has stated REPEATEDLY that they are standing by to purchase Treasuries (with freshly-printed "money." I've posted here just in the past week or so, when the FED starts buying US Treasuries, we are into the Circle-Jerk phase of the "economy," and everything following is just a ruse. When The FED starts buying our OWN Treasuries, the entire country will be on the brink of hyper-inflation, and total, utter collapse, and if your pantry isn't full, your garden planted, and your arms and ammo stash well-established, then good luck...

Nouriel Roubini (not exactly fully addressing the Treasuries issues, but everything around them. Roubini's analysis requires a free subscription to RGE, and he sends you stuff via email-- I recommend it):

The Decline of the American Empire

Recent economic, financial and geopolitical events suggest that the decline of the American Empire has started. After the collapse of the Soviet Union there was a brief period where the world switched from a bipolar balance of two superpowers to a unipolar world with one economic, financial, geostrategic superpower, or better, hyperpower, i.e the United States. But by now three factors suggest that the US has squandered its unipolar moment and that the decline of the American Empire – as the US was in effect a global empire – has started.

Let us explain how and why... First, the US squandered its power by relying excessively on its hard military power in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan and in its unilateralist foreign policy – including economic issues such as global warming - rather than relying more on its soft power of diplomacy and multilateralist approaches to global policy issues.

Second, regardless of mistaken US policies the rise of other economic and financial powers – the rise of China, the recent resurgence of Russia, the process of economic and political integration in the European Union, the emergence of India, and the rise of other regional powers such as Brazil, South Africa and Iran – implies that the relative economic, financial and geopolitical power of the US will be reduced over time. We are indeed slowly moving towards a multipolar world where there will be a balance of Great Powers rather than the hegemony of a single hyperpower. While on military terms the US is still the only superpower even its military power is now restricted by imperial overstretch and its armed forces being bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan; thus, Russia has now been able to flex its muscle in its Central Asian backyard and humiliated the US – not just Georgia – in the latest conflict on South Ossetia. For the Bush administration having supported Georgia by words only and show its impotence – or unwillingness - to support an ally in spite of the administration push to have Georgia join NATO shows the limits of the American power. The US is at fault for effectively letting Georgia start a reckless attack on South Ossetia. Russia has scary and dangerous neo-imperial goals but deeply flawed US foreign policy of encircling a paranoid Russia allowed the worst nationalist tendencies of the Russian bear to reemerge.

Third, and more important, the US squandered its economic and financial power by running reckless economic policies, especially its twin fiscal and current account deficits. The last time around the current account started to go into negative territory in 1991 after a brief surplus during the 1990-91 recession. In the 1990s the growing US current account deficit was driven by a private investment boom – the internet technological revolution – and thus the accumulation of foreign liabilities of the US was driven by FDI and M&A activity, i.e the US accumulated foreign liabilities in the form of equity rather than debt. But since 2001 the further worsening of the US current account deficit was driven instead by growing fiscal deficits - especially in the 2001-2004 period – caused by unsustainable tax cuts and by the buildup of spending on foreign wars and on domestic security and since 2002 by the collapse of household savings and boom in investment in unproductive stock of housing capital that the housing bubble induced. And while the weak dollar is now inducing a modest improvement of the external deficit the looming sharp increase in fiscal deficits - that the current recession and financial crisis is inducing - will cause a return of twin deficits in the coming years. By now the US is the biggest net borrower in the world – running current account deficits still in the 700 billion dollars range – and the biggest net debtor in the world with its foreign liabilities now over 2.5 trillion dollars.

The trouble with these twin deficits is multi-fold. First, superpowers and empires - like the British Empire at its peak - tend to be net lenders – i.e run current account surpluses – and be net creditors, not net debtors; The decline of the British Empire started in World War II when the British fiscal deficits in the war and the current account deficits turned that empire into a net borrower and a net debtor both in its public debt and external debt. That financial switch into an external debtor and borrower position was also the reason for the decline of the British pound as the leading reserve currency. And the British twin deficits were being financed by a rising economic and financial power that was a net lender and a net creditor, the US.

Second, the last time the US was running large twin deficits in the 1980s the main financers of these deficits were the friends and allies of the US, i.e Japan, Germany and Europe as the US external deficit was against these economies. Today instead the economic powers financing the US twin deficits are the strategic rivals of the US – China and Russia – and unstable petro-states, i.e Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and other shaky petro-states. This system of vendor financing – with these US creditors providing both the goods being imported and the financing of such deficits – has led to a balance of financial terror: if these creditors were to pull the plug on the financing of the US twin deficits the dollar would collapse and US interest rates would go through the roof.

Third, while it is unlikely that China, Russia and other powers would suddenly pull the rug from under the US feet – as such action would lead to a sharp appreciation of their currency and negatively affect their export led growth model – relying excessively on the kindness of strangers – especially that of your strategic rivals – is extremely risky. Since almost 100 percent of all US fiscal deficits since 2001 have been financed by non-residents – as US residents net holdings of US Treasuries have been flat since 2001 - by now the total stock of US Treasuries held by non-residents is getting close to 60 percent. And the foreign financing of the US current account deficits has also become more risky: less FDI and equity, more debt, more short term debt, more debt held by official political actors – central banks and sovereign wealth funds – , less debt held by foreign private investors, and more debt held by politicals rivals rather than allies of the US. This change makes the US vulnerable to such rivals using the financial terror weapon – dumping US assets and or reduicing their financing of the US twin deficits – in situations of geostrategic tension.

Suppose Russia flexes further its muscle in its backyard – under the pretense of defending abused Russian minorities in Ukraine, the Baltics and other former Soviet Union or Iron Curtain countries. Then Russia could use its financial power – the ability to dump hundreds of billions of dollar assets – to exert both financial and military influence. So could China over time if trouble in Taiwan or other disputed Asian territories become big geopolitical issues. Russia and China are already winning the new war for the control of commodities and ressources through their investments in Africa and Latin America - in the case of China – and its domestic and foreign control of energy and pipelines in Central Asia in the case of Russia. China and Russia are indeed winning the new Scramble for Resources.

Fourth, the foreign creditors of the US are getting tired of financing the US in the form of low-yielding US Treasuries. Thus the switch of such reserve holdings to SWFs that are planning to make large equity investments possibly with actual control of corporate firms and financial institutions that are desperate for capital to recapitalize themselves. But this desire of our creditors to get equity investments – the gems of the US corporate world - rather than low yield debt instruments is hitting the political backlash of financial protectionism as the UNOCAL- CNOOC, the Dubai Ports cases and the likely protectionist reform of the CIFIUS process of approving FDI in the US suggest. But a country that needs to borrow from abroad 700 to 800 billion dollar a year to finance its external deficit cannot afford to be too choosy on the ways – equity rather than debt – that its lenders and creditors want to finance those deficits. The first rule of good manners if you are a guest is that you don't spit on the plate from which your host is feeding you. But in its creeping financial protectionism the US thinks it can dictate to other countries the form and the terms of the financing of its twin deficits. This attitude will not be allowed by such creditors to last much longer.

The ensuing decline of the US dollar as the main reserve currency will take time and will not occur overnight; but it is inexorable given the relative fall in US economic, financial and geopolitical power. Already Russia is flexing its muscle and pushing for an international role of the ruble; the euro is rising as a major reserve currency; central banks and SWFs will slowly but surely start to diversify away from dollar assets especially as the Bretton Woods 2 regime starts to unravel; and even the RMB may become the dominant currency in Asia in the next decade as capital controls are slowly removed in China. It will take little time – if the secular decline of the value of the dollar continues – for oil and other commodities to be priced in currencies other than the dollar or in a basket of currencies.

All these changes in the economic, financial, reserve currency and geopolitical role and relative power of the US will not occur overnight. But the trend is clear. The rise of the BRICs and other emerging market economies; the continuation of the process of economic and political integration in Europe; the US policy mistakes in economic, financial and foreign policies will steadily erode the power of the American Empire. This process will not be sudden and will take a couple of decades. But the trend is clear: the brief period of unipolar power of the American hyperpower is now over and a new age of balance of great powers is starting in the world. Also, the rise of non governmental actors – multinational corporations, NGOs, terrorist groups, non-nation state powers, failed and unstable states, non-traditional global players – will radically change the traditional balance of power as the power of nation states will shrink relative to that of other global players.

Whether the decline of an hegemonic power providing global public goods – security, free trade, freer mobility of capital and people, inducements to free markets and democracy, better environment, peace – will lead to a more stable world with many powers multilaterally cooperating on these global economic, financial and geopolitical issues; or whether the absence of such stable hegemonic power will lead to a more unstable world characterized by conflicts – economic, political and even military – among traditional nation states, great powers and non-traditional actors is an open and difficult issue. But it is certain that the decline of the American Empire has started.

Barry Ritholz (link is to his site search for US Treasuries Bubble):

Top of last month, Barry posted this video from Barron's. The caption from Barry above the video is this:

The bubble in Treasuries looks ready to pop, sending prices on government debt sharply lower. But just about every other corner of the bond market beckons.

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I suspect that Ritholtz was glomming onto the "stay away from Publicly-traded Treasuries" aspct, and not really supporting the Junk Bonds crap, but, I think you need to read the comments for the rest. The Search link is pretty helpful. I TOTALLY disagree with investing in Junk Bonds and any other stock-based investment right now. I am a textbook supporter of Corporate Disobedience. YMMV.

My very special TSP.gov Treasuries and Securities investments sort of make me an outsider to thisparticular market. I honestly hold my particular investments under a jaundiced eye, as I really do not know how "special" they really are under the current circumstances.

So, after all of that bullshit, I think I am negative on Publicly-Traded Treasuries. I support the idea of direct investment in America whole-heartedly, and as totally fucked-up as the current situation is, I might even recco EE-Series Savings Bonds.

Moreover, I would find a friend who deals in Junk Silver Coins, and buy 5-10 ounces a month from that person. I have an expert Numismatic friend from whom I do exactly that. Pure Coin-Grade Silver (.93% Sterling) at today's bullion prices... see my sidebar. I try and buy $100 worth every month... whatever the price, unless it gets stoopid high.

I'd be happy to help you get in touch with him. He might be able to help you out. He's scrupulous to a fault, and very direct. Email me for info. Put 'Silver Dude' in the header. I'll middle-man, if he is interested, I'll hook you two up, free gratis, and let you deal directly. he's a regular Officer (often President) of the Michigan Numismatic Club.

I'd also recommend investing in Alpine Aire or Mountain House Dehydrated foods. Barter and survival of yourself and your family are top of the list. What happens if the trucking company that services your local grocery store goes bust? oh, yes, ther e is always WalMart, but then what happens if...? There is always the chance of tornado, flooding, or other natural disaster. A store of easy to cook, tasty foods is a real investment in your future, and those two companies foods will store for YEARS.

I recco Survival Acres for your food purchases, as "John" is a very honest, honorable, and capable man, with whom I have done plenty of business, and feel very comfortable recommending. There are others, and I have done business with plenty of them, but "John" is a guy that I know comes through, communicates, is low-profit margin (by choice to serve), and is a very, very, caring and decent human being. I put his banner ad in my sidebar for only one reason-- because I TRUST him, and know that he is doing a good thing for the right reasons.

To sum up regarding US Treasuries:

There appears to be a REAL BUBBLE in US Treasuries. The very short list of those worth trusting these days seem to agree. Government Employees with TSP are assured, but in the dark as to the REAL realities of the safety of their investment in the G Fund, but they LEGALLY have the 14th Amendment to back them. The Publicly-Traded Treasury buyers are pretty much on their own, and I personally recco, should you chose to take the chance with PT-TREASBonds, to buy directly through US Treasury to save brokerage fees that will put you at negative earnings... .34% is better than negative-- see link above, and two posts down.

So, that is what I have with three hours of hauling shit together. I've called this "The Big Ugly" for two years for a reason-- there is simply no place to hide, except real assets like Food (PLANT A HUGE GARDEN!!!!!), Silver Coin, Guns, Ammo, Bart Goods. I LOVE to appreciate the BEST in Humanity, but, as Dr. Cherry will witness, I, personally, have known the worst of what humans can deliver unto an honest man when they are deluded, high, or desperate enough to attack.

Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

If the worst happens, you are prepared. If the best happens, you have a lovely garden, well-stocked pantries, plenty of everything, and some guns and shit to sell.

Maybe Larry Kudlow, Ben Stein, and Screamin' Jim Kramer are right (though they haven't been yet). I would rather shoot them to shut them up, and quit poison my fellow Americans' brains, then actually believe their bullshit... Pacifist that I am.

So. There it all is.

But I'm just a jumped-up Stagehand and Scenic Artist, who managed to make good in a gubmint job. At least I care to discuss this heavy shit with others.


I REALLY, REALLY want some serious discussion about this topic, as it is DIRE, DAMNED-STRAIGHT SERIOUS.

I understand the invest in America idea, and I DO buy EE-Series bonds a few times a year.

Fuck. There is LOTS and LOTS to discuss on this topic.


Lets start.


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Labels: Collapse, US Economy, US Treasuries

I just clicked over to via Mike Ruppert's Blog for the first time in, heck, over a year. It seems that he, too, felt the same whacked disturbance in the force, yesterday. After a similarly long enumeration of the bleakness around us all, he ends with this:

Shit, I had to turn everything off tonight and just sit and be still.

So did I.

Mike takes a pretty good look at the situation. He describes the elite/corporate power structure as a group of dinosaurs desperately trying to not go extinct, while those of us who are awake, are coming down to the realization that they MUST go extinct, so that the world might heal and live. He also ponders about what is going on around the Kyrgyzstan situation. If his suppositions are correct, things are likely to get downright strange in that region soon.


Happy Birthday, Mike. We've all made it this far...


And thank you, all, for the great comments in the thread below. It was like unto a balm for the soul.


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Labels: The Blogohood

I become more angry, and more depressed.

When is the Obama Administration going to understand that today's GOP cannot be taken at faith. That they are completely untrustworthy, and have placed their Party over the good of the Nation?

When is the Democratic Party going to understand that they won, and need to treat the GOP the EXACT same way that the GOP treated them for the past 12 years simply to accomplish the goal of moving the Country to the place that it needs to be moved to in order to simply survive?

When are the Villagers going to accept that this Country, and its very existence are in a state of dire peril, and that the current paradigm is now useless, and over, and MUST change to something very different?

You know what? They aren't, and they will NEVER grasp that.

Today, the Senate took out the Mass Transit part of the stimulus bill. No investment in trains or buses, and no money to help cities and regions pay for those services. Fucking obstructionist, anti-American Republicans.

Real altEnergy investment is next to nil. Because Republicans told the Villagers that non of that would be "stimulous."

A SUPERTRAIN project would have put many, many people to work in REAL PRODUCTION. But no. Republicans told the Villagers that non of that would be "stimulous."

Solarizing 3-Million single-family homes at government expense would also put hundreds of thousands to work, and would only represent 10% of this 900-Billion dollar monstrosity of mainly, now, tax breaks for the rich, Corporations, and the "Banks" that created the mess in the first place. Boosting the tax breaks for putting PVs on Corporate roofs would have helped immensely. We'd also could have cut CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions greatly, and cut our oil usage. But no. Republicans told the Villagers that non of that would be "stimulous."

Bonuses to the Auto Industry to get the hybrids and electric cars rolling, as well as a huge tax break to turn out mag-lev or electric locomotives would have aided in this. But no. Republicans told the Villagers that non of that would be "stimulous."

Legalizing Hemp for fiber and oil-products would be free, and be a cash cow. Legalizing and regulating Marijuana the same way as alcohol would first, boost tax revenue, and second relieve states and cities of millions of dollars annually in court and incarceration costs. But no. Republicans told the Villagers that non of that would be "stimulous," and we have a "War On some Drugs," doncha know.

These were many of the ideas proposed, not necessarily in the Bill, but proposed at the My Obama site and by others, and me.

But, no. But, no.

Instead...

It's tax breaks for the wealthy, and very little help for struggling workers and Home-Owners, no breaks for those of us struggling to try and pay down our fucking STULOANS. No new actual PRODUCTION projects for a new 21st Century American Reality, while car dealerships go tits-up and stiff us with the trade-in value loans of our old cars. The rest of us down here get to get our fucking heads stomped so that the idle rich can stay that way, piss on us, and tell us it is raining fucking sunshine, unicorns, ponies, kittens and gold. Yeah-- the unicorns are coming at us horn-point down; the ponies-- hooves first; kittens-- claws-out; the sunshine is frying us alive; and the gold is simply the greedy rich bastards' piss pounding holes in our heads.

And Bernie Madoff whines about being a "prisoner in his own home," while his new security team is not allowed to monitor his transfer of illegal assets out of the Country.

Are they putting fucking Prozac in our public water supplies to keep us from going the route of China, India, Europe and Great Britain? What the fuck is wrong with my fellow Americans that they are so willing to just roll over and take this raping?

Here is a little local example of what I am seeing...
Back in August, I put out a warning to all of my co-workers to pull out of whatever TSP (retirement) accounts they might be in, and get IMMEDIATELY into the TSP "G" fund (Special Treasuries and Securities not part of the public markets). At least fifty of my 161 co-workers listened to me, and over the past few months, they have come to me to personally thank me for looking out for them.

Today, one of my closest co-workers told me that he lost his ass (he was hoping to retire this year) by not listening to me. Actually, he takes his lunch in his car, listening to Rush fucking Limbaugh. He and a few others in my Division laughed out loud at me when I laid out the sheaves of graphs and reports to them. They didn't even look at them.

"A" sneered at me, and encouraged the others to scoff me and my liberally liberal anti-Bush views. Of course, three weeks later, the fund he was in, that was averaging 12% in August suddenly was losing 21%-- yes, over 150% loss... and it's not moving. He told me this today, and I told him to immediately move into the "G" fund, as AT LEAST it is making .32% a month and won't go below zero. He's 65, and his bar-room/golf course (Republican) "advisers" told him to just stay with it... it'll come around.

Yes, he's a dittomonkey, but, he's a very talented man, and I still respect him, and consider him a friend. I looked him right in the eyes today, and told him to not listen to his Republican buddies. I said, "Just look at reality, and take the .32% gain, instead of a 20.59% monthly loss." I asked him point-blank-- "What the hell is wrong with you that you can't see that a little gain is better than a huge loss?" He simply wouldn't listen, and got pissed at me. Shouted some "You're just a fucking negative Liberal" nonsense, and stormed off.

THAT is the state of the Limbaugh/Joe-The-Not-A-Plumber/Sarah Palin-lovin' Republican base. There is a ZERO grasp of Reality amongst them.

THAT is the problem with trying to reason with Republicans on ANY level. It cannot be done.

This Administration and Congress and Senate simply shouldn't try to reason with or deal with them. It's hopeless and senseless.

GET THE WORK DONE THAT NEEDS TO GET DONE, and FUCK the Republicans. Push the Bills through like they did to us. At least we'll be doing some GOOD for our fellow 95%ers.

I just can't look at what's going on any more, and want to try and make sense of it here. It's hurting me in every way possible. Politics isn't the answer, The President is BUSYBUSYBUSY shunning Progressives, The TV Village is BUSSYBUSYBUSY attacking Obama and already calling him a failure after barely two weeks, the other Media is helping that effort. With no one on our side, and our Lawmakers ignoring us at the switchboards, all I can say is that...

We are on our own, and the best things to do are to plant a huge garden, buy: a .308 bolt action rifle, a .22 rifle or pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun, either a 9mm or 45cal. pistol, and either an AR-15 or an AK-47, and a load of high-cap magazines and ammo for all the rifles and pistols, and learn how to use and maintain them. Invest in storeable foods, and drinking water, a proper water purifier, and a solar cooker, learn to hunt, and learn some REAL skills for starters, if you want to make it through this shit alive. Die-Off is already happening. Anti-Globalism/Anti-Corporatist riots are wide-spread and growing across the globe. Unless they up the Prozac in America's Public water supplies, by July, those riots will arrive here in force. Plenty of our fellow Citizens' Unemployment Benefits are running out already.

My Sidebar is chock full of links to the resources you need to learn the skills and means of surviving this nightmare. Come April, we will get the BIG PICTURE of what is to come, and then it will start to get bad. I contend that we are in the top of the Fifth Inning of this Baseball Game of Collapse, and we have a LOOOONG way to go.

US Households are 1/3 the way down to a point of actual de-leveraging (everyone paying down debts, and saving cash), the bastarly top 5% will be the last to go, and only once they are forced to pawn the Wedgewood; Commercial Real Estate has barely started that trend; Retail has utterly fucked themselves; Banks and "Banks" are lying out their assholes, while stealing our money, keeping two sets of books-- ENRON-style. The entire Financial Sector has been run as one big Ponzi scheme for the past eight years, but if you go to Yahoo Finanance, and look at the interactive DOW chart, you will see that every FQ month marker is charting a new low, and the trend is, of course, down.

It is OVER, and you need to look after yourself, and your neighbors and family right now.

The day we hear that the FED has started to buy US Treasuries, it will be too late. THAT will mark the absolute end of everything that most Americans accept as "normal." Expect that announcement some time between June and October. Three weeks ago, the FED announced that they are "standing by" to buy the Treasuries. It's only a matter of time.

I've covered all this previously. It is all tagged. The 2006-2008 archives here aren't that hard to search (Collapse, Federal Reserve, The FED, Bernanke, Treasury, Paulson). I'm not Doctor of Economics ATRIOS, who posts a half-coherent, totally esoteric sentence (with no links) and expects you to immediately understand his Doctoral knowledge. It's all here, and I don't post a lot, so it's easy to comb through the archives.

Shoot that 52" plasma screen TV and get rid of the cable, and start reading more Nouriel Roubini, Paul Krugman, Calculated Risk, James Kunstler, Joe Bageant, Chris Hedges, Richard Heinberg, and Energy Bulletin. Most of those links are in my sidebar.

Your Cable TV is doing nothing but making you passive, couch-laying lazy, and is rotting your brain with Corporatist-Consumerist messaging. GET RID OF IT. There is NOTHING you need there.

For THREE DAYS RUNNING, I've heard NOTHING but stoopid conversations about those GOD DAMNED Super Bowl Ads. THAT bullshit and all its distraction is killing us-- keeping us diverted from what is important, and effecting our lives. The sooner you kill your TV, the sooner you will wake up from "Reality TV" to what is really, and honestly happening to us.

We NEED YOU. HERE. NOW.



I apologize for not taking part in B.A.Days. I really do. But, damn... It's all just hurt me. It's put me in a very bad way, that forced me to simply stay away as much as I could. I feel fucked by my audacity to hope. Gobbless 'murka. We're fucked if this is all we can can be.


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Labels: America, Collapse, Debt Society, Economy, Throw Away Your TV, Wake UP

Oops. I mean, "Master And Servant." Listening to the lyrics, it could be bondage sex, it could be Capitol Hill. Is there a difference?




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Fascinating.




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Labels: Collapse

They DEFINITELY go to 11.

via NPR's "All Things Considered"

All Things Considered, February 2, 2009 - Actor and filmmaker Christopher Guest is probably best known for his role as lead singer Nigel Tufnel in the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.

But he's always been a serious musician. Now, for the first time in his career, Guest is sharing that side of his personality. He and some longtime friends calling themselves The Beyman Bros have just released their first CD, Memories of Summer as a Child.

Spend a few minutes inside the intricate, placid music of The Beyman Bros, and it's clear that Guest is serious about music. Of course he had to be at least a decent musician to pull off Spinal Tap and the spot-on satires of old folk music in the 2003 parody A Mighty Wind. But the music of The Beyman Bros suggests he's more accomplished than that. Just listen to the way Guest and his longtime collaborator, guitarist David Nichtern, interact: It's as if they're flying in formation.

Guest plays guitar and mandolin, mandolin cello, and even the clarinet. The Beyman Bros' members have been playing together informally for years, mostly in Guest's kitchen. Nichtern says that when they began to work on the new album, they started with simple rhythm-guitar ideas. Once they arrived at an intriguing mood, they'd go off exploring.

I am SO buying this album as soon as I press the 'publish" button.

Atthe link, you can hear thew entire article, with plenty of music excerpts, and even see an exclusive video. YouTube ain't got this shit... yet.


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Labels: Hot-Ass Music

It's Monday, and time for the weekly Kunstler. This week, James visits Mongomery, Alabama, and a "New Urbanism" enclave on the Gulf Coast. It does strike me odd to read Kunstler talking about taking a car ride anywhere, but, I am sure he has his reasons for "happily motoring" on this excursion. If we had SUPERTRAINS, he wouldn't have had to drive or fly.

via Kunstler.com

"We will not apologize for our way of life..."

This unfortunate phrase from President Obama's otherwise sturdy inaugural address, echoed through my mind last week as I cruised the suburban outlands of Montgomery, Alabama. All the usual commercial furnishings of consumerist America hugged the flattish ochre and dusty-green landscape of played-out cotton fields where thirty feet of topsoil has washed away in the two hundred years since the mainly English settlers shoved out the native Alabamu, Coosa, and Tallapoosa. Along the low horizon, mall followed strip mall followed "lifestyle center," book-ending the "one house" failed subdivisions of otherwise empty unsold lots in a cavalcade of floundering enterprise. It seemed at times as if the terrain was a kind of sea-like expanse, and all the retail boxes ghost ships drifting to oblivion.
They say that the banks have stopped calling in their loans on the commercial real estate, even though the owners of the malls and strip malls have arrived firmly in default. Calling in the loans would only pin another horrifying liability on the banks' balance sheets. So all parties join in a game of "pretend," that nothing has really happened to the fundamental equations of business life. Something similar goes on at the next level down, where the tenants of the malls and strip malls sink deeper into rent arrears every month, and the eviction process is simply postponed, while the stores themselves put off paying their vendors and suppliers – as the whole system, the whole way of life, enters upon a circle-jerk of mutual denial in a last desperate effort to forestall the mandates of reality .
How long will these games go on? This is the primary question that haunts the republic as we wait for new TARPS, and "bad banks," economic stimulus packages, infrastructure renewal roll-outs, and other policy life-lines thrown out in guarded hopefulness to haul America out of a ditch.
The center of Montgomery was instructive, too. Not unlike any other city in the USA (pop. about 200,000), the former main artery of downtown commerce – Dexter Avenue, rolling out like a red carpet below the state capitol hill, where Martin Luther King's early career kicked off in a modest red brick church, and where Rosa Parks famously refused to move to the back of her bus – this "main street" presented a sad sequence of empty shopfronts interrupted here and there by rather creepy amateur murals depicting the cruelties of slavery, as if a remonstrance to the politicos up the hill. Most of the buildings lining the avenue still stood burdened by the clownish facade re-doos and ghastly claddings of the 1950s, which had replaced the ordered classical-vernacular decorum of the original 19th century frontages. Once the malls had landed in the old cotton fields, and MLK moved on to Atlanta, Dexter Avenue was just left to rot in the memory trunk.

More at the link.

It's true what he says about suburbia and Commercial retail schemes in the South. Here, in West Tennessee, stores and restaurants, and car dealerships are closing faster than I can keep track of them.

It is, as ADMIN, at Survival Acres, points out, getting extremely difficult "to write the obituary for humankind in some morbid spectacle of ‘documentation’."

I might take a bit of a break for a while to get some things done around here that I really need to do in prep for the Spring planting. I'll let you all know if that becomes necessary. It's difficult for one person to do as much as is needed to get ahead of this collapse, let alone post about it.


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Labels: James Kunstler

Sharon Astyk is the author of "Depleton and Abundance: Life On the New Home Front," and writes a wonderful weblog about simplified living, and raising a family in a healthy and frugal manner. She's one of my favorite authors on the topics, and I often post her work her. I also have the link to her site: Casaubon's Book, posted in the Sidebar.

When Zombies Attack!... or not.

Whenever I do these classes and start posting about food security, we come up against what I would call “the zombie issue” - the idea that marauding hordes of some sort will immediately emerge if we ever need our food storage, and promptly take it away from us. There are a host of reasons I don’t buy this, one of them being that I think the “0 to Zombie in 30 seconds model skips over the fact that a whole lot of grey areas exist in between 0 and zombie ;-), and most of the middle territory is far more likely to be enacted than the most apocalyptic anxieties/fantasies.

But for the purpose of the discussion, let’s imagine that there’s been some major disruption in food supplies and the undead are getting hungry.

Now I’m still somewhat skeptical of the “zombie theory” for a number of reasons. They include...

Questions to Ask Yourself When Designing Your Farm or Garden

What would you like to achieve on your property in terms of the landscaping of your home and its ability to feed you? This is the time to dream big and long term.

What is your timeline- can you make changes quickly or do you plan to make changes over several years?

How much money do you plan to dedicate to initial changes?

How much money can you dedicate on a monthly or annual basis?

How much sun do you get on your property? It helps to think in terms of number of hours of directly sunlight between March and November and think in terms of the different areas of your property.

Are you willing to remove trees to increase the amount of sunlight?

Food Security As A Cottage Industry

It would be great if all of us had the luxury of putting our community’s food security needs at the top of our agendas, simply because we care. The problem, of course, is the need for us to meet other requirements - to make a living, get food on the table, tend our families, etc… One of the ways we can find more time for this project is to shift some of our income to local food security work. So what kind of jobs are there that allow you to improve your local food economy? How might you make a cottage industry niche for yourself that might simultaneously improve your family’s economic security in tough times, and also help your community maintain a food supply?

Now obviously if you and your partner already work two full time jobs, or you are a single Mom struggling to just get through the day, the last thing you need is a new business. But for the retired, underemployed, unemployed or for at-home parents who might need a little extra income, this offers the possibility of doing good and also keeping the wolf from the door.

So here are some jobs I can think of (I’m leaving out jobs as growers or raising livestock - I’ll do a post on growing and producing food for income next month during the Garden Design class) - I’m sure the rest of you can come up with others.

Let me be clear that anyone dealing with food is going to have to decide how they want to operate in relationship to food laws. Know your local food laws, and know how they are enforced. The recent Manna Storehouse raid suggests that we need to take care. I believe that many food safety policies do exist for a reason - but the fact that they so hugely prioritize the well being of rich corporations, who still can’t keep the food supply safe (witness the current peanut contamination and cyclical contaminations that show up every few months), that we’d be better off allowing more small scale food production. I personally don’t have a lot of problem circumventing the laws, or campaigning to overturn them, but I do want people to understand the risks.

All of these articles are very worth the time to read and consider. Please do!


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Labels: Food Security, Gardening