Weather Report: The Economy – Something More Profound, Just Where We Are, What To Do & Where To Go, a Jewel

THE ECONOMY: Today’s news, like yesterdays news, is replete with story after story and perspective after perspective on the current U.S. credit/financial/liquidity crisis. We read and we read and we underlined and circled and made notes in the margins… and then we happened upon a bit of commentary by Patrick J. Buchanan (@ WorldNetdaily.com, 9/19/08) entitled “ The Party’s Over”.

“The Party’s Over “ tells us how we got here : “ Up through WW11, we followed the Hamiltonian idea that America must remain economically independent of the world in order to remain politically independent.

But this generation decided that was yesterday’s bromide and we must march bravely forward into a Global Economy, where we all depend on one another. American companies morphed into “global companies“ and moved plants and factories to Mexico, Asia, China and India, and we began buying more cheaply from abroad what we used to make at home: shoes, clothes, bikes, cars, radios, TV’s, planes, computers.

As the trade deficits began inexorably to rise to 6% of GDP, we began vast borrowing from abroad to continue buying from abroad.

At home, propelled by tax cuts, war in Iraq and an explosion in social spending, surpluses vanished and deficits reappeared and began to rise. The dollar began to sink…

“Yet, still, the promises of the politicians come, Barack Obama … national health insurance and tax cuts for all but that 2% of the nation that already carries 50 percent of the federal tax load.

John McCain is going to cut taxes, expand the military, move NATO into Georgia and Ukraine, confront Russia and force Iran to stop enriching uranium…

Who are we kidding?

What we are witnessing is how empires end.

The Last Superpower is unable to defend its borders, protect its currency, win its wars or balance its budget. Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars….

Notice who is managing the crisis. Not our elected leaders…

An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators.”

Mr. Buchanan may very well be right, the party may be over.

JUST WHERE WE ARE: Its Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, commenting on the imminent adjournment of congress in the face of financial crisis, that gives us both position and perspective: “no one knows what to do” at the moment.

WHAT TO DO & WHERE TO GO: Walk away. Walk away from the consumer economy. Walk away personal debt by paying it off and taking on more only when absolutely necessary. Walk away by living within your means. Walk away by shopping and spending for what you need. Walk away by saving for your luxuries and paying for them as they come. Walk away by buying from your neighbors first, your countrymen second, and lastly from those far away. Walk away by doing for yourself and by learning to do more for yourself. Walk away by preparing: preparing to provide for yourself and your family in the times that “ cannot come”. Remember that one drowning man cannot help another.

Go home. Go home to your faith. Go home to your family. Go home to your friends. Go home to your neighbors. Go home to those values you know to be as true as they are currently unpopular.

A JEWEL: The jewel is a small book by Anita Evangelista entitled, “ How To Develop A Low-Cost Family Food-Storage System”. Its only 111 pages, including the index, but it is absolutely jam-packed with information all the way from substantially cutting your current food bill and increasing your self-sufficiency to the preservation and storage of almost any kind of food. We highly recommend that you begin your reading of the book by first reading pages 105 and 106: Last Words. We’re in the process of doing a book review on it here at PrudentHome but since we saw the price reduced from $10 to $5.95 + shipping at Lehmans we decided to mention and recommend it now. ( We don’t receive any remuneration from Lehmans, we just think that it’s a tremendous value and have purchased several copies for family and friends.)

Until next week, keep your eyes on the horizon.