Any advice on how to get family members and relatives to "see the light" on these issues? Most of mine live in "Disney World" and don't even bring it up. <br><br>Too much of a downer at holidays and get togethers - la,la, la - "the government will step in and make the problems go away."<br><br>With these events coming at a more rapid pace, at some point it will be hard to avoid the reality.<br><br>Thanks for the post. Time to get my bicycle ready for the daily commute. :-)<br><br>-Mike<br><br><b><i>Daniel Stafford <aqmstaffo@mailbag.com></i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> 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. <br> <br> <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top"><span class="rss:item"></span><font><font color="black" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a set="yes" linkindex="60" href="http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12162181"><font color="black">Wage erosion cuts deeper in US</font></a></font></font></td> <td valign="top"><span class="rss:item"><font color="black" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a set="yes" linkindex="64"
href="http://www2.nysun.com/article/74994"><font color="black">America faces food rationing?</font></a></font> </span></td> <td valign="top"><span class="rss:item"><b><font color="#990000" face="Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif" size="4"><a set="yes" linkindex="54" href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Attacks_in_Middle_East_Nigeria_send_04212008.html"><font color="#990000" face="Arial, Helvetica,sans-serif" size="3"><strong>Oil spikes to over $117 per barrel</strong></font></a></font></b><br> <font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3"><span id="kicker"><u><a set="yes" linkindex="55" href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Drivers_paying_record_pump_prices_04202008.html">Average pump price hits $3.50</a></u>; Fuel <u><a linkindex="56" href="http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/-The-fuel-panic-begins.4001427.jp">panic</a></u> begins, oil capacity rise on <u><a linkindex="57"
href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/36b36e2a-0efe-11dd-9646-0000779fd2ac.html">hold.</a></u></span></font></span></td> <td valign="top"><span class="rss:item"><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3"><span id="kicker"><u><br> </u></span></font></span><span id="money8"><span class="rss:item"></span></span><font><font color="black" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b><a set="yes" linkindex="120" href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Food_price_crisis_could_harm_global_04202008.html"><font color="black">Food prices could harm security</font></a></b></font></font></td> <td valign="top"><font><font color="black" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b><br> </b></font></font><a set="yes" linkindex="60" class="red" href="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080417/oil_prices.html?.v=10">US dollar hits record low</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="67" class="red"
href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/17/business/17warm.php">AU drought worsens global rice crisis</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="52" class="red" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041503157.html?hpid=topnews">States tackle foreclosure </a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="59" class="red" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/nyregion/16tourism.html?ex=1209009600&en=e2915cf2c501d419&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY">Foreigners sustain NY's economy</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="48" class="red" href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Foreclosures_jump_57_percent_in_las_04152008.html">Foreclosures up 57% in 12 mos.</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="35" class="red" href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/AP_poll_More_avoid_buying_homes_04142008.html">AP: More won't be buying home soon</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td
valign="top"><span class="rss:item"></span><span class="rss:item"></span><span class="rss:item"><font face="Times New Roman,serif" size="3"><span id="kicker"></span></font></span><a set="yes" linkindex="51" class="red" href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/08/real_estate/radical_city_plan/index.htm?cnn=yes">Ohio town fore- closures up 178%</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="62" class="red" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/business/worldbusiness/14real.html?ex=1365825600&en=efb802e7d1c88270&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">US housing woes spread globally</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="25" class="red" href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article3671568.ece">Citigroup, Merrill Lynch's $15b loss</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="65" class="red" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/11/worldbank.fooddrinks1">'Poor go hungry,
rich fill tanks'</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="58" class="red" href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/11/business/11soros.php">Soros sounds world economy alarm</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="42" class="red" href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h5BLKr5It2p9VI3sFdwU7d3x3I5QD8VUJV200">Middle class hit by debt, econ. woes</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="48" class="red" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/09/AR2008040903900_pf.html">'Bleaker hopes' for retirement years</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="72" class="red" href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Foreclosures_come_to_McMansion_coun_04072008.html">Foreclosures hit McMansions</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="31" class="red" href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Late_loan_payments_highest_since_19_04032008.html">Delinquent loan payments
soar</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="60" class="red" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-food1apr01,0,5185698.story">UN World Food Program struggling</a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <br> <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="65" class="red" href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Analyst_Predicts_Corn_Rationing_in_2008_0401.html">Corn rationing predicted for 2008</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="49" class="red" href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3649021.ece">Banks abandoning student loans</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="61" class="red" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033002138.html?hpid=topnews">Economic downturn hits states hard</a></td> <td valign="top"><a set="yes" linkindex="71" class="red"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/31foodstamps.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1206929080-T1nWta1S+xNL5uA16620wA">Food stamp use nears new high</a></td> <td valign="top"><br> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"><a href="http://www.planetizen.com/node/30773">Wave of Bankruptcies Will 'Remake' Shopping Malls Across the Country</a></td> <td valign="top"><span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 85%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>"Foreclosures Prompt Cities to Make Plea for Aid :</strong> </span> <div><span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 85%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span></div> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 85%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">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.<br> <a set="yes" linkindex="13" href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0019LawIGrT8LvriHOGjTheqSvmvfx6QUej1zZg8MxRU3KKWBg8kySqdYXWEbn0P5-3tb7G5KgAG-fmr2b1ab9IzfhmcPz50wtvu6lqz1da01fApB2xE2P03P-CyT0Hka9KbGHM9RC0r5hZv9z9ldOL21Xd5XAKN1xrtRP6CtGtpIABPrkMv6P0tJLP7puRYsei" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/us/24mayors.html?_r=1&oref=slogin </a>"</span></td> <td valign="top"><br> </td> <td valign="top"><br> </td> <td valign="top"><br> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <a set="yes" linkindex="51" class="red" href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/08/real_estate/radical_city_plan/index.htm?cnn=yes"></a><br> <big><big><i><b>How do we beat this in the absence of help from the federal government? </b></i></big></big><a set="yes" linkindex="61" class="red"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033002138.html?hpid=topnews"></a><br> <h3 class="post-title"> It's Time To Develop Community Volunteer Pools </h3> <div> </div> <div><span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 85%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>It's Time To Develop Community Volunteer Pools -<br> </strong></span></div> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 85%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 85%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>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. <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.seedsavers.org">http://www.seedsavers.org</a> 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.</b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 85%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> Obviously, recycling and local sourcing of materials would be driven higher by such measures. Energy efficiency could also be built into such plans.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> 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.<br> <br> It's not necessary to go down in flaming despair at all - if we work together, and start now.<br> <br> JMHO,<br> <br> Dan Stafford</span><br> _______________________________________________<br>CitizensTruth mailing list<br>CitizensTruth@six.pairlist.net<br>http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/citizenstruth<br>website:
http://citizenstruth.info<br></blockquote><br>