[Vision2020] Palouse Farming: was Hemp...

[Donovan Arnold]

Garrett,

Farming is also subsidized as well. So to criticize the current free market for being subsidized I don't think is a fair evaluation. Not all businesses are subsidized, just as not all farms are subsidized. But we do live in a society that is quickly becoming socialistic. 

I don't think there is anything inherently evil with outsourcing lots of production jobs to make products cheaper, but you must replace the exiting jobs with new ones, in areas perhaps like science, engineering, management, construction, education, health care, research, electronics, computers, product design, etc. 

This is why I have a problem with illegal immigration, because they are taking jobs from US citizens and not paying taxes into the system when they do not live here year round, or send the money out of the country. It is the same thing, in my opinion, as outsourcing, only a little worse because we have to endure the costs of education, crime, poverty, health care, and pollution of the underpaid workers and their families. 

I do have a problem with credit, credit cards, and a credit based society. I think if you cannot afford something, you shouldn't buy it. It is that simple. 

Housing is so expensive, precisely because credit is what our economy is based upon. It allows people to buy things they cannot afford, go into serious debt, and then not be able to get out of debt. I think credit makes things more expensive, because if credit was limited, housing costs would have to be closer to what people could afford to pay in fifteen or twenty years with the builder, not 30 years with a bank that takes half. Cars would also have to be under $10,000, they would not get away with $30,000 for a ten year loan on a car. Overnight, a young person can bury themselves in unmanageable debt to accommodate a lifestyle they have been talked into believing they can afford when they cannot. 

This is all catching up to society. All these people under the illusion they can afford a $200,000 home and two $15,000 cars on a $36,000 a year salary are having reality fall on them very hard. 

My take on the credit crisis is, "DUH!". And not to subsidize anyone except people that are at a reasonable debt/income ratio. Don't bail out banks that made bad loan decisions because they were taking advantage of people by convincing them they could afford something when they could not. 

If I gave money to anyone, it would be businesses that have hired lots of people, made good profits, and would like to hire some more people but don't have the capital to do so. I would not give money to businesses that don't know how to manage money. 

If you want to point blame at a bad economy, don't blame the $1 Diet Mountain Dew bottle I can afford, blame purchasing of $300,000 homes by people that cannot afford them and the banks that loaned them the money to buy them when they knew they could not afford it. 

Best Regards,

Donovan






--- On Tue, 3/3/09, Garrett Clevenger <garrettmc at verizon.net> wrote:
From: Garrett Clevenger <garrettmc at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Palouse Farming: was Hemp...
To: vision2020 at moscow.com, donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2009, 9:14 PM

Donovan writes:

"I would suggest you keep farming, but also employ the manager, the
builder, the merchant, the cashier, the salesman, the banker, the clerk, the
stacker, the cook, the waitress, and the advertiser by having a mall to sell the
food you grow and other items the community needs."


Of course, I hope everybody is employed, hopefully doing something they like. I
also don't expect everybody to be a farmer. The problem is, at least the way
the economy has been run, as we now see, it apparently requires a HUGE infusion
of tax-dollars to keep it rolling.

I'm not an economist, and when I think about how it all works (or seemingly
doesn't work) I get dizzy (and that's without any drugs!). However, it
doesn't make sense to let our country primarily become a service economy,
outsourcing manufacturing overseas in the process. It seems that is
unsustainable, and at some point, there isn't going to be enough cash to go
around, unless we borrow it and make our grandkids pay it back.

I realize you want your $1 2-litter bottle of Mountain Dew, but do really think
continuing to subsidize that kind of lifestyle is healthy in the long term? How
many malls, that essentially require people living on credit, and cheap foreign
goods, do we need?

As I see it, there are limited resources to go around. It only makes sense to
use those resources wisely to ensure we aren't passing the costs on to
future generations.

gclev

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