Homestead mailing list

[Roy Morgan <k1lky AT earthlink.net>]

On May 14, 2008, at 11:28 PM, Don Bowen wrote:

> > The current paradigm of...
> Our entire system is built on perpetual growth.  It is embedded in the
> system of credit that funds growth.

For as long as I can remember, I (we) have heard how important, nay  
essential, perpetual growth is.  And for as long as I can remember,  
I've harbored a nagging suspicion that it just is not so.

Where I grew up (Northern Mass, near NH and VT), there were folks  
doing dairy farming, and others making hand tools and machine tools,  
in basically the same ways that had been used for most of a century,  
or more.  The folks who had 30 or 45 head of milkers did not want 100  
head. The folks who went to the Starrett or Millers Falls factory  
each day and made machinists micrometers or etched steel rulers day  
after day did not want a Porsche.  A Chevvy or Ford to replace the 10- 
year old one on it's last legs, yes. But a new Porsche, no.

During a lucky tour of the facility where folks restore the airplanes  
to be exhibited in the National Air and Space Museum in DC, I asked  
our guide how long it takes them to restore an aircraft.  (We were  
near the all-in-pieces Enola Gay.)  "Oh," he said without hesitation,  
"However long it takes to do it right.  There is no time schedule."   
That pleased me way down inside.

One of my favorite things to do is to restore a radio (transmitter or  
receiver) from the 50's or 60's. It's a treat to get it running as  
well or better than when it was new, or to reclaim a sorry batch of  
parts back into full function again.  The radio equipment made today  
(almost, not quite, all on the Pacific Rim) perform better in many  
ways (not all), but have serious drawbacks to the point where they  
are sometimes not repairable.  In some cases,  you simply cannot get  
a fancy integrated circuit or mechanical part custom made even a few  
years ago, when the modern wonders quit.  There are lots of very  
smart, highly technical folks on the Pacific Rim working hard to make  
those things ever more complicated and capable each year.  THEY look  
forward to their new Porches.

Roy

Roy Morgan
k1lky AT earthlink.net
Lovettsville, VA 20180