money dependence

MONEY DEPENDENCE


It’s always a good week when the Druid Dude ( http://www.thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/ ) gives me an idea for an article. You would think that with all the survival and preparedness blogs out there that they would take turns and each give me one good idea a week for me to use. But they don’t, which just goes to show how selfish and lazy they are. Bastards. I’m doing all the heavy lifting here, telling you how wrong you are and showing how you can follow the Bison Path To Inner Peace And Enlightenment In Ten Easy Steps So Order Now But Wait If You Act Now I’ll Double Your Order ( easily remembered as BPTIPAEITESSONBWIYANIDYO ) and all I’m asking is a little help with article ideas. His article basically said that by having a victory garden, among other activities, you have started down the road to minimizing the danger of being dependent on the money economy which as we speak is collapsing and you should be running and screaming away from it at top speed. Not a replacement of that economy, an impossible dream for 99% of us not sucking in huge amounts of cash, but the start of substitutes. Frankly, I was embarrassed that he made such a compelling case for growing your own veggies and chickens which put to shame such regular arguments in self-reliant circles as eating healthier or saving money. His argument was sound advice for survival during the collapse.

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I can see you drawing the air in between your teeth, that long sucking sound promising to end in an explosive bleating as you try to refute the last sentence, so allow me to add that the whole point of the article was that you had to start divorcing yourself from the market economy as much as possible. It isn’t about saving money, it is about trying to become less dependent on money, period, for the occurring collapse. Saving money is certainly not the same as needing less, although that is easy to mix up. If I were to say, oh, I don’t know, let’s pick something foreign and exotic, buy a friggin piece of junk land for cash, I would never have to worry about having a place to live ever again. If I went from paying a thousand dollar mortgage or apartment rent to spending a hundred dollars a month for a land payment, I might be saving a heck of a lot of money but I still would not be free of the effects of needing money. The Druid Dude was making that point with vegetables and chicken/eggs. After an initial investment it was a self perpetuating cycle that totally removed the need for money for that particular item ( to simplify, we are ignoring the need to compensate for entropy ) . It wasn’t meant to imply you could totally eliminate the need to buy food. It was showing how a return to the old tradition of backyard gardening was a step in “The Long Descent”, to use his term. And I have to hand it to the guy, he never went into the tired old Hippy crap about saving the environment and such. It was a strict survival mode lesson.

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In past articles he made the same point with solar power. After a one time investment, a lot of your power needs are divorced from the money economy. No, you can’t power your big screen TV or your beer keg fridge with the sun ( the focus was passive solar, not PV panels which are a hideously expensive prospect if trying to duplicate modern lifestyles- the strategy advocated by the corporate ass sucking whores at Mother Earth News may the fleas of a thousand camel jockeys infest their armpits ), but for mere pocket change you can replace a lot of cooking and heating. The Dude is trying to point out how easy and cheap it is to build your own personal suburban survival homestead since widespread change won’t happen. In other words, do it yourself rather than wait for Obammy’s Thousand Points Of Light to erect a windmill next to your green shoots. It’s cute that he never implies you have to give up your modern lifestyle, just substitute a few proven organic and solar techniques. I’m not criticizing as much as acknowledging that the smart people don’t alienate their readers with the shock and awe of doom and gloom. That is the job of the idiot writers such as myself.

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So, the way I read this is that I am being validated when I warn you against trying to own the perfect survival retreat if it involves debt. Yes, I always try to warn you against letting your guard down even if you grow all your own food because in a collapse you are a sitting target. Afterwards you are going to be at the mercy of the local baron. But I’m not arguing against gardening/farming per se. Just don’t do it on debt and beware the possible complications. And own your own home. Better to own a hovel than owe on a mansion. Transportation is a bit harder as you can’t do away with paying for it somehow ( outside of owning hay fields and mules ). My solution is only moving out of town so far that you can comfortable bike ( while the economy holds together ) and in a mechanical breakdown still walk on occasion. This presents its own problems but the compromise is necessary if you must work. My thoughts are that gas will become unaffordable to the working poor far before the whole economy crashes so it is best to be prepared for that. I’m still dependent on money, but I have started down the path argued above. You might want to get started, too.

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