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[sjc <indexer AT fairpoint.net>]

bobf wrote:
> Bev, everything in your post was making the point of what I see happening.  Now, maybe I didn't realize that it had already happened 
Bob, Bob, Bob, where have you been?  That separation happened for many 
way back in the 80's, having begun well before that.....

I'm with Bev on this one.  When I read your first post this morning on 
this matter I kept thinking Huh? Where has he been?

It's been history for the lot of us for a very long time, Bob.  I simply 
don't see how one could have failed to see it. 

I'm no economist but already back in the 70s it was clear to me that we 
(still married then) were losing out in real goods and that the only way 
to be able to hang onto what we had would be to let go the idea that 
'money' would secure us; that there was no possible way for us to get 
high enough on the pile that we could count on money to be there for 
us.  It was also clear that those at the top of the economic pile were 
increasingly taking from the bottom of the pile, unfair and to my mind 
very ugly stuff.   I realized then that there was no way to count on 
money and I didn't want to be high on the pile as much as I wanted 
security for myself and my kids.

So my effort's all gone into homesteading since, except for medical 
bills as I outlined before, and at least I have what I have, and it's 
unlikely that 'they' will want it or try to get it; what I have is of 
little to no value to those at the top of the pile.  I deliberately 
chose marginal land (rocky, steep, requiring hard labor to exploit it 
even for gardening, much less farming), knowing that it, while always 
being reliable to support us, would never hold value to those whose 
purpose was to make/have money, but it has provided a rich living for 
me, and for my kids while they were still home.  So if the world 
(society, that is) crashes around me, my life is going to change little. 

But there are the untold masses out there still stuggling the uphill 
battle toward 'more' and they are ever losing ground.  They've been 
dropping farther and farther behind all these years and have allowed 
others to make their decisions for them to the point they no longer seem 
to be able to absorb the idea that their hole is ever deeper until they 
reach the big rock at the bottom.  So they are increasingly dependent on 
the money-mongers for their everything.....

It's certainly not a pretty picture, but it's been in the making for a 
lonnnnggg time.

SJ, where it is still blowing but not as hard, is 3* right now, and 
there is about 5-6' snow outside both doors.  If somebody wants me badly 
enough they are going to have to know how to operate a shovel.  The dog 
made his own little pee-tunnel this morning so we're all set.