[TheForge] Fw: Can't compete w/ this

[Andrew Vida]

David Childress wrote:
> Nobody can compete with that.  The real mystery is that I make more
> than $50K/yr. and can still barely pay my bills.  I do not have many
> bad habits, except blacksmithing, and I still barely can pay my bills
> and It takes me more tham half a year to come up with enough to buy an
> anvil.


	Nature of the economy these days, it seems.  I don't know if this is 
result of manipulation (likely) or the result of the times in which we 
live (read: 7 billion people consuming resources at ever rising per 
capita rates).  We've eaten up a lot of this world and are showing no 
signs of letting up.  This has been intentionally crafted over many 
decades.  The economy as it is structured almost requires it.  Growth = 
life... at least in theory, and I suppose in reality as well.  IF it 
stops growing, we are all in a lot of trouble.  We haven't had a 
depression since 1929, but we have had stagflation and that is plenty 
bad enough.  Some economists are saying we are heading for another round 
of it next year.  That is really bad news for all of us.  Think things 
are tough now?

>    I work in a factory an daily see the wonders of modern production,
> no hand work can compete even at $0.05/ day wages.  The efficiency of
> scale.  A couple of years ago Wally World had shepards hooks cheap
> enough local smiths were buying them because they could not get the
> material for that price.  But it still cost $50K/yr to live, maybe we
> need to look real hard at how our grandparents and great grandparents
> lived.

	Indeed.  But we also need to consider population. This is something I 
have no answer for.  People don't want to stop making more... nature of 
the animal - yet the planet gets not appreciably larger day by day and 
the resources are being consumed.  It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to 
figure out where things are heading, all the wonders of modern 
technology notwithstanding.  But abandoning the mindset of the 
bottomless consumer would perhaps be a good start.   We don't need 3/4 
of the shit we buy.  My biggest recent sin was an old Simmons & Co. 12 
ga.  Didn't need it, but I sure wanted it.  I try not to do this very 
often anymore.  Compared with some, I'm a veritable ascetic.