Starting Over

America: The World's First Post-Industrial State? by Dustin Ensinger on October 22, 2010

I just came across this article a couple of weeks ago, but it’s been bugging me ever since. The article is very informative with plenty of statistics supporting the claim that America very well will be, probably already is, by this point, considered a post-industrial state.  Really? Our number one export is, literally, garbage? That’s just wrong on so many levels.

The article bugged me, specifically, because while the statistics are incredibly important, it offered no actual solutions to such a crisis. Knowledge only becomes powerful when we actually use it to create a better tomorrow.

So, industry has moved out of America. Now what? Do we just give up? There was no “industry” in America when it first became America either, but our predecessors found needs and niches and simply made stuff and offered services in response to the needs of  the consumers. None of these pre-industrialists made millions of dollars, necessarily, but they rolled up their sleeves and worked hard and earned themselves food on the table and a roof over their heads and clothes on their backs. Not starting a whole other debate here, but they did this without any government entitlements, before there was Social Security, Medicare, welfare and unemployment insurance. There were no unions and no bailouts. There were no retirement funds and pensions. This country started out with a whole bunch of sole proprietors. That’s it. There were farmers and blacksmiths and  bakers and seamstresses. Everyone contributed, for the sole purpose of eeking out a living, and as a result, everyone benefited from the products and services that were provided.

As sole proprietorships grew into small businesses and then, of course, into big businesses, people in America became increasingly accustomed to working FOR someone and depending on someone else for paychecks and services. When you think of it that way, it’s almost like the big bosses of big business were handing out an allowance to their employees.  Then, people began to expect the government to provide allowances for them as well. I am not saying any of this is necessarily BAD, there are certainly social services, such as public education, for example, that are tremendous assets to our society. With this dependence on big business to provide products and services, as well as jobs, we, the working class, found ourselves in a position of being the beggar  and Corporate America has realized it.

This happened before, when we were colonists dependent on Mother England. When we decided we had had enough of having no control over where our tax dollars, sent to England, were being spent, we simply did something about it. We took the initiative and went out on our own and took control of our own circumstances (so to speak.)

We can certainly do it again. If, as the article states, America does virtually nothing other than create trash and consume things, then we certainly know there is a buyer’s market right here. It is possible turn the tables and cut Corporate America out of OUR equation, especially since they already cut the American workers out of theirs. We don’t need a huge industrial complex to provide jobs and services. The fruits and veggies from your local farmers have no preservatives, require no transport (saving on fuel costs) and, to my knowledge, have NEVER gotten recalled. Your local butcher shop does their own quality control on the meat products they sell. A friend of mine uses a local tax preparer during income tax time, because the preparer makes house calls. I don’t think H&R Block does that. 

We, as a nation of consumers, have become complacent. We no longer expect the quality and excellence in services and products that was once synonymous Made in the USA because, alas, we think there isn’t much left that’s Made in the USA. So many of us are forgetting that we have the power to change that, we have arms and legs and muscles and minds and skills from years of working for others. Maybe it’s time we use them. The slate’s already been wiped clean by Corporate America. Maybe it’s time to take that leap and invest in ourselves again. Maybe it’s time for starting over.

Growing Pains

So, I started this page on Facebook for my blog a couple of weeks ago, basically because while my thoughts on politics and on society are far from extreme, it seemed, to my dismay, that most in my circle of friends, for whatever reasons, just didn’t want their minds to go where my thoughts might take them. We all have our lives to lead, we all have responsibilities that often exhaust us to the point where we just don’t have the time or the energy to be the Fool on the Hill that gets to sit and watch the world spinning round (The Beatles, paraphrased quote from the actual song, Fool on the Hill.) The gist of the song, is that there is a guy, that sits on the hill, watching everyone below him living their lives. The question raised by the song, in my estimation, is whether HE is a fool for watching and learning about the happenings of the people below, or are we the fools for not taking the time during the hustle and bustle of our lives, to pay attention? Neither, the fool on the hill, or the people below are actually experiencing life completely. Is there a happy medium?

So, I started the blog, suggested it to a couple of friends and started commenting on my favorite Facebook pages, probing, I suppose, to see if there was anyone else out there who might want to share in a discussion, who might see even a bit of what I see, the way I see it. And people DID like it! So, now, I feel compelled to write for them, instead of for me, which was the whole antithesis of the reason behind the blog. So, Friday, when I usually try to post on my blog, was filled with the necessity to write something, and since it was Earth Day, I thought I should write about that. I tried, I had an idea, which I am sure I will later revisit, but my research was coming up VERY dry. Then I realized, that, being that we LIVE on Earth, every day should be Earth day and since it first started in the 1970s, maybe it’s about time we DO make taking care of our home an occurrence that happens everyday. Seriously? Do we only vacuum one day a year? Do we only take garbage out one day a year?  I am sure some of us do, but I will digress.

Earth Day, to me, is as much about the Earth as it is those who inhabit it. Generally, people who are HAPPY in their homes are more likely to take care of their homes. So, why aren’t we so happy?

There are powerful nations on this Earth that have been around for hundreds of years. The United States’ birthday is logged in the history books as July 4, 1776. In comparison to other countries, the US is still in its adolescence. In our youth, we emerged energetic and ready for action. We wanted our independence and we fought hard for it. We declared to our Mamma England, that we can do it (to quote my 3 year old) BY OURSELVES! And we did. We did do it by ourselves. We took our small corner markets and we prospered. Everyone had a craft or a purpose and we all made enough to get by. We opened our doors, borders, to people that could be our friends. And they came in and they worked hard and they prospered as well. Then the Industrial Revolution came about, and we still all knew what it meant to spill blood for a cause, whether it be independence from another country, or whether it meant the independence that comes along with pay day. We had the energy of happy, spirited children that had a goal and just went after it.

We were a savvy bunch. In America, you could go from rags to riches and no one could get in your way. Of course, as Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest” may suggest, the savvier ones rose farther and higher. It was okay, though, because after the Industrial Revolution, working conditions evened out, thanks to the unification of the workers, and we transitioned into a glorious time just like the Donna Reed Show said it was. All innocence was lost after that, like when we find out the truth about Santa and the Easter Bunny and sex (for the first time!) We were divided over the necessity of American soldiers dying in a crazy place called Vietnam and we didn’t like the ones that came home, because TV footage had, for the first time, brought the inexplicable violence into our living rooms during dinner.

It’s then that we entered our adolescence, as a country. Questioning our leaders for the first time in a long time. Realizing the truth that, just like parents, the representatives that we hire to make decisions for us, really might not know best, because they are human and make mistakes and are susceptible to urges and inclinations that the rest of us are. So, we rebelled in the 1960s and even the 1970s, protesting, experiencing life in other “realms” and such. By the time the 1980s hit, we were freakin tired of all that- like a teenager that forms a little garage band and then can’t do our chores, like monitoring our government of the people.

Technology made it easy to get lazy. Why walk when you can drive? Why buy American when it’s cheaper to buy good made in China? Televisions and VCRs transitioned into where we are now. Who remembers what it felt like in 1776 when the Colonists decided that the freedom they wanted WAS worth fighting for? Who remembers being willing to lay down one’s life for a cause? It’s easy to say that we are a bunch of spoiled teenagers, the Democrats and the Republicans, fighting so much amongst ourselves that we have totally lost sight of the real goal and purpose, fairness, justice and freedom, and then we have the new kid on the block, the Tea Party that comes in and does nothing, but add to the turmoil.

It’s time to grow America up. It’s time that we decide if we want Corporate America to dictate how we live, like my parents that instituted a 2am curfew until a week before I got married. Ya don’t like the way things are going? You don’t like what America has decided you get to do? Then change it. We don’t have to do what Egyptians did, we don’t have to protest in the streets. Besides, what do most protests achieve? Recognition? Yes. Results? Sorry to say, not so much. Nowadays, everyone is screaming at each other and placing blame, but no one is coming up with actual solutions.

Mine? Well, I am not a big political theorist and I don’t have a doctorate in Sociology or anything. I do vote though, and I am a citizen. I am more than happy to admit when someone else has a better idea, but until then, I am gonna keep suggesting mine. It can’t hurt. What’s the easiest way to stop the One Percenters from dictating our lives as Mother England once did? Cut them out of the picture! Do I mean a revolution with guns and forts? No. This nation prospered when small business was king. When we had corner stores and corner bars and corner churches, we walked everywhere, which meant no pollution and very little obesity. We got our food from local farmers, which meant no preservatives and no weird effects. Everyone knew everyone and trusted everyone, which meant no abductions or molestations. We had small, corner schools, there were no Columbine incidents back then.

United We Stand, Divided We Fall. We used to be a melting pot, now, we are like a meal on one of those sectioned plates from the junior high cafeteria. Diversity is fine, but right now, we need to remember that the enemy is not the person next to you that may have a different job or a different color skin or even, dare I say, a different country of origin. We are fighting FOR the middle/ working class. That is what MADE America, through working hard and, actually, it’s what DEFINES us and sets us aside from so many other countries that don’t acknowledge the rights and the plights of the common folk. And we still have the fight and the work ethic in us- it’s in our heritage! This country can settle into adulthood just fine. We just have to step it up a notch, take responsibility and make it work. Stop the bickering, figure out a Plan B and make it happen. We have been up against so much worse and done so much better.

I am kind of silly to think that a blog with a whopping 32 likes is a responsibility or that anyone really cares if I update it regularly, but who knows, with enough dedication and steady work, I could make it into something more. On Friday, I spent most of the day doing a thousand and one other things, mostly legit, I have little kids, and also avoiding having to write, stepping up, and standing behind my ideas, but, at the “witching hour,” I sucked it up, like a grown up, and forced myself to write. Thirty two likes might not seem like a lot to pretty much anyone, but to me it does. It’s hope. It’s 32 people that just might see possibilities. That’s 32 people that know the difference between fighting for a cause and yelling at someone. It’s 32 people that take a little bit of time everyday to be The Fool.

Hope everyone had a great Earth Day! For you Christian folk…I hope your Good Friday was solemn and that your Easter is joyous!

Trade Ya for a Better Economy?

According to Dictionary.com, the first listed definition of value is, “relative worth, merit, or importance,” in other words the worthiness, merit or importance of an abstract or concrete entity in relation to another abstract or concrete entity.  I would conjecture that the list of our most valuables would indeed be a matter of character and maybe even morality. What do you most value? Generally, that’s a question one might hear in a philosophy class or maybe even resonating throughout a religious assembly from clergy standing at a pulpit. It might seem that what is valuable is, or should be, as far removed from the world of finance as the unemployed are from finding a lifestyle sustaining job in the United States.

What do I value most? What in my life is worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Well, that would be my children and my husband- my family. Abstract entities that are valuable to me? Time, love, security and space. Next on my list of valuables would be the slightly more practical necessities: food, water, shelter, warmth, clothing (especially after two cesareans, this gal doesn’t wanna do the nudist thing!)

It would be at this rung on the Ladder of What Matters where I would probably insert some kind of landing area because anything else I could add is just fluff. What is kinda neat about the top tier of this fool’s values is that all of those valuables CAN indeed be gotten without any money exchanging hands. Am I going all Ted Nugent on your ass here? Maybe, maybe not. It is true that not every one of us is in a position to build our own log cabin or hunt our own meat. Some of us don’t even have room to grow our own vegetable gardens and quite frankly, I can’t remember learning how to sheer sheep and spin it into wool to make clothing in my high school home economics class. Honestly though, doesn’t this mean we can’t? Or does it mean there are other things we would prefer to do with our time and resources.

Early on, maybe even before the emergence of homo sapiens, we realized that some of us have a certain affinity for producing a specific good or service and that maybe it made more sense to let them be brilliant at THEIR craft so that we could hone the necessary skills for brilliance within OUR craft. “You cook, I’ll do the dishes?”  That folks, is called bartering. Exchanging a good or service for another good or service. Both parties involved in the self legislated transaction, where each party walks away with a valuable commodity. There’s no speculation, there’s no regulation, there’s no taxation. There’s no unions or management. There’s no outsourcing or globalization or pensions or social security. There’s no entitlements and no lobbyists. There’s no stock holders and there are no off shore accounts. There’s no inflation or deflation and there are certainly no stimuli or bailouts. It’s pure, unadulterated commerce. What sounds like a fantastic utopia has actually been right here, hiding, under layers and layers of ideas perpetuated by people trying to “fix somethin’ that just ain’t broken.”

In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt nullified the “gold standard” in the United States, which meant that the dollar bill was to be no longer backed by a portion of gold sitting in Fort Knox. Instead, the United States government would decide how much the dollar was worth. My personal assumption would be that, at the time, this decision was integral to FDR’s plan for the US’s recovery from the Great Depression; however, this action always takes my mind to the board game Monopoly. At the moment FDR enacted this policy, he pretty much equated  the dollar bill with its Monopoly counterpart. Is it really okay for the government to decide what something is worth to us (or the US, for that matter?) Because, by removing gold as a physical backing for the currency, we might as well use it buy one of those little plastic hotels for Boardwalk.

Obviously, I am oversimplifying a undoubtedly complex system, one that many have spent a whole time manipulating and mastering. Golly gee, maybe I just ain’t quite sophisticated enough to decide what is valuable to me. Maybe I need the government to determine the worth and the value for my life.

Or maybe, just maybe, we really can determine value for ourselves. According to U.S. Small Business Association’s Web site, , as of 2008 SBA.gov, there were 29.6 million businesses in the United States and , as of 2007, 21.7 million of them had no employees. So, that means that approximately 21.7 million people in the US have figured out that they want to determine their own values as well. They want to be able to determine their own worth, and the worth of the services/ products that they produce and, surprise, surprise, if they were considered businesses, it means they had customers/ clients. What if we were to take that concept one step further, and just eliminate the paper/ electronic currency from the transaction entirely? Hmmm, I wonder if that would be considered tax evasion?

What if, I produced a product and charged $5.00 for purchase of said product, but on that price tag, along with the $5.00, there was a picture of 2 chickens? What if you could have my product for the price of two chickens, that could be placed in my freezer and used to feed my family, or simply pay the five dollars? What if my store was on a country road, and if you decided to erect a windmill to produce electricity on your neighboring property and what if I gave you X amount of doohickeys that I produce, so that I could have some of the electricity that your windmill produces to power the lights in my store?

Something to think about?

Well, you and I aren’t the only ones thinking now. As per a quick google search of “bartering movements,” I found:

Bring Back Old-time Bartering by Roland McShane 2008

The Barter Project #2 By Sharon Knight

The Barter News Web Site

Bartering in Place of Currency in Today’s Economy

Barter, Trade, and Share – Save Money and Strengthen Our Community by By Sono-Ma Holly | Published: June 2, 2010

Apparently, what I thought was an innovative, cutting edge idea, has been re-surging for quite a few years. Strength in numbers, I suppose? Maybe, just maybe, our economy is really so broken that we have to scrap it and start over. I don’t know, but, can the current system really get much worse? <shuddering>