From: "Jerry W. Shepperd" <shepperd AT austincc.edu>
To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org, homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Homestead] American manufacturing
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:48:52 -0500
Both Adam Smith and Karl Marx, among many other observers, recognized
that the first fundamental need is food. Manufacturing,
agricultural, service, or tertiary economies are marginal or
nonexistent where food supplies are limited. Western Europe and the
U.S. have been blessed with farms that have produced enough food for
all our citizens, with a surplus to export. That may be changing as
we divert crops to biofuels.
The upside to it all may be that the cost of operating monstrous farm
equipment on factory farms may become prohibitive and we will see
more people returning to a "homestead" lifestyle, which was the only
lifestyle with which I had first-hand experience until I went to
college. We weren't rich, but we ate well, and had a house that
protected us from the vagaries of a sometimes hostile climate.
Jerry S.
Re: [Homestead] American manufacturing
, (continued)