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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Leslie wrote:

> Some of my personal experience ----we went thru hyper-inflation in
> ecuador (as fresh water lobsters farmers).  It did affect us.  This
> was as commercial farmer though.

Commercial,,,,I think that is the key difference.


> 1.  The government set minimum wages higher nearly every week.  Had
> we only had a sucres account - we would never have been able to keep
> up with wage increases.  We did have a dollar account and bought
> sucres on pay day - the only reason we could continue to pay
> employees.

Most of us wouldn't have employees


> 2.  When we were trying to get to the airport to ship product, hungry
> peasants in large gangs blocked the roads - cash payoffs were
> required to continue down the road.  One time they stole the truck,
> which we later retrieved in Colombia of all places.  Peasants
> demanded more cash than was in the bribe pocket that day...

We don't need to ship anything


> 3.  Armed guards were needed to go anywhere, even into the grocery
> store (one to guard the vehicle, one to guard the food at the
> checkout)

We try to reduce the need to go anywhere and buy anything.


> 4.  The only way to ship anything was to pay off everyone, including
> the secretary.  If the secretary wasn't paid off, you couldn't speak
> to the next clerk, and so on.  If you missed paying off the loader on
> the tarmac - your product "missed" the plane, etc.

Again, no shipping needed.

> 5.  Food prices for workers (who we housed on the farm) rose weekly -
> significantly at times.  Some of their food was grown on the farm.

Again, no employees

> 6.  Armed guards were needed 24/7 to keep the local peasants from
> slipping onto the property to steal anything that wasn't bolted down
> (water hoses, buckets, you name it).  And steal they did, even with
> armed guards.

Very few locals, and those that are nearby are like myself.



> 7.  Most of the food for the lobsters was grown on the property,
> but...
>
> 8.  ...the entire operation required electricity.  We had our own
> huge generators, but fuel prices for diesel went up continuously in
> terms of the local currency.

We generally don't farm with electricity.


> 9.  The place was still under construction, and construction costs
> escalated - loans were 100% unavailable.... unless the bank thought
> they could raid/steal/attach money from a non-Ecuadorian currency
> account (preferably a dollar account).


No hired out construction costs.


> 10.  Taxes rose - although very few seemed to bother paying them,
> they didn't have quite the same heavy arm of government that we have
> here.


We do deal with taxes, but like Gene said earlier, most of us live in 
areas where the millage rate is very low.


> We left in the midst of the collapse of their currency, it was
> impossible to do business under those conditions.
>
> Which is why I watch the "gold" warning bell - it's ringing and
> warning of hyperinflation here in the US,,,, when it unfolds I
> suspect there will be an effect on homesteaders.  How much will
> depend in part on what level of self-sufficiency has been reached.
>
> Some here use tractors?  watch fuel costs in a hyperinflation. Some
> here buy chickens?  watch shipping costs & chick costs. and so on....


I do understand your point.  No man is an island.  The price of things 
will go up.  Our goal however is to reduce the need to buy anything, 
which puts me in a better position than the average person.



> I figure whatever still needs to be acquired off-property is
> something each homesteader needs to look at and have a plan for.

I think most homesteaders are doing that or have done that as much as 
possible already.  Regardless of the economy, we do this because it 
makes sense for us.  We don't change operational procedures when the 
dark clouds approach because we generally don't have too...we are 
already in the basement-we live in the storm shelter, so to speak.
I'm having financial issues, but the only thing left cut back back on is 
the phone.  If I eliminated phone and TV, I'd save $75/month.  That is 
my last non-vital expense that I can lose. I conserve as much as I can, 
I grow as much as I can, and I save as much as I can.  It may get so bad 
that my efforts are not enough, but for now, I am doing all I can.

B


--
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race"

~ Calvin Coolidge