Homestead mailing list

[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >No, I don't think gasoline will become unavailable or priced so high  
> that ordinary people can't buy it.
> 

Speaking as an ordinary person, lobster and prime rib haven't gotten so 
expensive that I can't afford them ... so long as 'afford them' means once 
every 
two years or so.

As to unavailability, it depends.  If we get an administration hell bent on 
overregulating the oil industry, there will be shortages.  That's what 
happened 
in the 70's and the fundamentals haven't changed any.

Yes, retired people whose money comes in the mail can live in a rural 
location, as long as their life is rural.  Most of the Gentleman Farmer 
Esquires that 
tried to settle here abouts wanted to go 20 miles or more into town every day 
or twice a day because that's where their church, social contacts, friends, 
recreational shopping etc was.  One by one they all gave it up when gas was 
$1.50/gal.  

There's another factor under way.  The national entitlement debt is far 
larger than our prospective income revenue.  Also, how often do you hear 
about the 
'obscene profits' the oil companies are making?  Who's making those profits?  
Mainly retirement funds, pensions, and other investment vehicles ... they 
account for over 85% of the 'obscene profits' that oil companies make.   If 
the 
bid to raid those profits materializes and the government continues to 
sidestep 
COLA by hoodoo inflation estimates, and the stock market continues to edge 
downward .... that money that arrives in the rural retiree's mailbox soon 
might 
not be enough to fill up the tank one time to go into town to play bingo.

I find the most informative, if not entertaining, thing going on now is how 
even admitting that things are very different now and will continue to be in 
the future, we fail to take into account the changing realities when 
evaluating 
emerging lifestyles.


James   </HTML>