[CitizensTruth] Do you believe me yet? Re-post: It's Time To Develop Community Volunteer Pools

[Daniel Stafford]

I said this first this past January as the foreclosure crisis started 
dragging on the economy. Dire predictions were flying all about. Now, 
there are major retailing chains and restaurant chains closing stores or 
going bankrupt. We've lost 3/4 of the Bakers Square, Joes Crab Shack, 
and Lonestar Steak Houses in our area already. Wickes Furniture was just 
built last spring, and they went out of business - it's empty now. 
Wilson's Leather is going out of business nationally, their entire 
store, fixtures included, is on clearance.  Food rationing is starting 
to happen on both coasts. Oil has spiked over $117.00 a barrel and 
gasoline is looking to head north of $4.00 per gallon this spring, let 
alone this summer.

Wage erosion cuts deeper in US 
<http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12162181> 	America faces 
food rationing? <http://www2.nysun.com/article/74994> 	**Oil spikes to 
over $117 per barrel* 
<http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Attacks_in_Middle_East_Nigeria_send_04212008.html>*
_Average pump price hits $3.50 
<http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Drivers_paying_record_pump_prices_04202008.html>_; 
Fuel _panic 
<http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/-The-fuel-panic-begins.4001427.jp>_ 
begins, oil capacity rise on _hold. 
<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/36b36e2a-0efe-11dd-9646-0000779fd2ac.html>_ 	_
_*Food prices could harm security 
<http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Food_price_crisis_could_harm_global_04202008.html>* 
	*
*US dollar hits record low 
<http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080417/oil_prices.html?.v=10>
AU drought worsens global rice crisis 
<http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/17/business/17warm.php> 	States 
tackle foreclosure 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041503157.html?hpid=topnews> 
	Foreigners sustain NY's economy 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/nyregion/16tourism.html?ex=1209009600&en=e2915cf2c501d419&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY> 
	Foreclosures up 57% in 12 mos. 
<http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Foreclosures_jump_57_percent_in_las_04152008.html> 
	AP: More won't be buying home soon 
<http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/AP_poll_More_avoid_buying_homes_04142008.html> 

Ohio town fore- closures up 178% 
<http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/08/real_estate/radical_city_plan/index.htm?cnn=yes> 
	US housing woes spread globally 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/business/worldbusiness/14real.html?ex=1365825600&en=efb802e7d1c88270&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss> 
	Citigroup, Merrill Lynch's $15b loss 
<http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article3671568.ece> 
	'Poor go hungry, rich fill tanks' 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/11/worldbank.fooddrinks1> 
Soros sounds world economy alarm 
<http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/11/business/11soros.php>
Middle class hit by debt, econ. woes 
<http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h5BLKr5It2p9VI3sFdwU7d3x3I5QD8VUJV200> 
	'Bleaker hopes' for retirement years 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/09/AR2008040903900_pf.html> 
	Foreclosures hit McMansions 
<http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Foreclosures_come_to_McMansion_coun_04072008.html> 
	Delinquent loan payments soar 
<http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Late_loan_payments_highest_since_19_04032008.html> 
	UN World Food Program struggling 
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-food1apr01,0,5185698.story> 



Corn rationing predicted for 2008 
<http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Analyst_Predicts_Corn_Rationing_in_2008_0401.html> 
	Banks abandoning student loans 
<http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3649021.ece> 
	Economic downturn hits states hard 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033002138.html?hpid=topnews> 
	Food stamp use nears new high 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/31foodstamps.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1206929080-T1nWta1S+xNL5uA16620wA> 
	
Wave of Bankruptcies Will 'Remake' Shopping Malls Across the Country 
<http://www.planetizen.com/node/30773> 	*"Foreclosures Prompt Cities to 
Make Plea for Aid :*
The United States Conference of Mayors (usmayors.org)As more than 250 
mayors , agreed that the collapse of the subprime market had left a 
growing problem of vacant houses, depressed property values, tighter 
credit, and a need to cut services to close municipal budget gaps.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/us/24mayors.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 
<http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0019LawIGrT8LvriHOGjTheqSvmvfx6QUej1zZg8MxRU3KKWBg8kySqdYXWEbn0P5-3tb7G5KgAG-fmr2b1ab9IzfhmcPz50wtvu6lqz1da01fApB2xE2P03P-CyT0Hka9KbGHM9RC0r5hZv9z9ldOL21Xd5XAKN1xrtRP6CtGtpIABPrkMv6P0tJLP7puRYsei>" 
	
	
	

<http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/08/real_estate/radical_city_plan/index.htm?cnn=yes>
/*How do we beat this in the absence of help from the federal 
government? */ 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033002138.html?hpid=topnews>


      It's Time To Develop Community Volunteer Pools

*It's Time To Develop Community Volunteer Pools -
*


With news like this, and many other stories threatening the possibility 
of a global Depression, (Based on a repeat of the land speculation 
mistakes of the 1920's and other factors) it is time to organize 
volunteer labor pools. Absent any real leadership from the government, 
the unemployed and bankrupt will increase in numbers dramatically over 
the next few years. This represents a lot of economically desperate 
people and a huge pool of idle talent.

Food security is going to become difficult under these circumstances. It 
will become vital to begin massive vegetable gardening efforts in urban 
and suburban areas. It is also going to become necessary to build large 
scale shelters as housing foreclosures continue to skyrocket, driving up 
the ranks of the homeless.

*Grass lawns are a waste of precious crop-growing space. If you add up 
the aggregate land area of lawns in the USA, that is a large area of 
"farmable" land. Putting in a home garden now, before it's too late, 
could help many avoid hunger if the economy collapses as many are 
predicting. Community garden plots need to rise up, and so do back yard 
garden plots. "Canning days" for whole neighborhoods could mean the 
difference between just missing certain food items or going hungry over 
the next few winters. http://www.seedsavers.org is an excellent source 
of vegetable seeds and plant seedlings, with over 25,000 varieties of 
heirloom vegetables that are optimized for different parts of the country.*

Why not begin forming the structures of a "citizens' W.P.A." now, before 
all this happens? Strapped municipalities could use these pools of labor 
to avoid much of the cost of infrastructure improvements, focusing their 
dwindling property tax intake on purchasing materials for volunteer 
workers to use. In return, such municipalities could provide materials 
and space for shelters and gardening projects to feed the volunteers and 
their families.

Additionally, judicious use of eminent domain laws could foreclose on 
the Foreclosers - seizing bank-owned vacant properties and using them to 
house homeless laborers in return for their labor hours on community 
projects. They do not need the federal government to solve the problem. 
This could be a way for rural communities and suburbs to turn the 
situation around - since such efforts would in effect fall outside the 
purview of the failing capitalist economy.

Obviously, recycling and local sourcing of materials would be driven 
higher by such measures. Energy efficiency could also be built into such 
plans.

Just as the States are taking action on renewable energy and climate 
change through local initiatives, the States and local communities could 
begin a national turn-around absent help from the federal government, in 
a legal and moral manner.

Idle union workers could initiate apprenticeship programs within the 
volunteer pools, creating a vast pool of skilled workers for when the 
economy does rebound. Municipal energy projects such as wind, solar, and 
biomass (not using food grains, but rather agricultural and yard waste) 
systems could be built also, driving up local renewable power generation.

Local sustainable forestry programs could also be developed and 
maintained, providing a source of lumber for furniture and interior 
building structures. Earthen housing using lumber only for floors, 
windows and roofing could provide highly durable and energy-efficient 
housing in place of the current lumber-intensive methods of buildings. 
Existing vacant structures could be tapped for materials and space to 
build with.

Municipalities that embark on such paths could begin to draw people back 
out into the small towns and suburbs without the need for long-distance 
commuting.

Small family-owned farms might even work with such communities, 
providing much-needed food in return for volunteer labor to help with 
growing and harvesting. Composting and sustainable farming methods are 
age-old ways of working farms without the need for petroleum-based 
fertilization. Natural methods of controlling pests would leave enough 
production in place, when combined with urban/suburban gardening 
efforts, to feed local populations.

I also wonder if milkweed pod fiber and cattail fiber couldn't be used 
to produce small quantities of local textiles in a manner similar to the 
way cotton is used today. Does anyone out there know if there are 
small-scale textile mills that could be used or built to operate with 
such materials? Milkweed and cattails are ubiquitous in the Midwestern 
US in my experience.

It's time to think outside the traditional box, and recover some of the 
skill sets that were our heritage from times when communities had to be 
much more self-reliant in the past, combined with modern technologies in 
ways that are harmonious to the natural environment and the natural 
rhythms of the human body.

There are things we can do to head the worst effects of a severe 
economic downturn off, while making the lives we lead more sustainable 
and healthy. More walking, biking, and horsepower in the flesh, more 
local foods, more local work, shared computers at libraries, community 
fire brigades, and many other means are available.

Open private schools where laid-off teachers could educate children and 
recover from the closures of public schools resulting from No Child Left 
Behind and lack of federal funding.

There are ways to do these things, using non-profit entities and local 
initiatives that would bypass the failures of national-scale systems. A 
mixture of the best from the past and present could lead to a more 
sustainable, stable, and bright future.

It's not necessary to go down in flaming despair at all - if we work 
together, and start now.

JMHO,

Dan Stafford
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