Thursday, April 9, 2015

Everybody knows

We are told that the economy is in recovery. Things are getting better. Facts and figures bolster the argument: Lower unemployment figures. Higher GDP numbers. Affordable health care for all.

I look at my personal world and it doesn’t reconcile with the narrative.

Is it just me?

I expand the circle and take at those around me.

They don’t seem to be doing so well either.

Local oil companies, (the majors, anyway, which aren’t the majors that come to mind), continue to operate, but everyone knows the current price of crude does not come anywhere near the cost of exploration and exploitation.

The large outfits lay off a portion of the help and speak of hedged oil prices that allow them to continue for six more months.

The little guys did not hedge their oil. So, they lay everybody off, aside from perhaps a skeleton crew to keep remaining assets from being stolen. The service companies don’t get paid.

Hotels, recently booked two years in advance, sport vacancies, and even more soon-to-be-new hotels have yet to open their doors.

The truck that sold tacos to passing oil field trucks quit coming.

Pickup truck salesmen watch nervously through shiny glass windows for non-existent buyers, worrying about bills at home, knowing their only income is derived from commissions; the trucks don’t sell.

Farmers plant crops, hoping government subsidy programs bridge the widening gap between production costs and the current price of grain, knowing that without this assistance, they lose money for their efforts.

Bankers watch accounts dwindle as clients pilfer retirement reserves to pay bills; the day arrives when the retirement account is retired and those bills go unpaid.

Then it’s, I can’t pay you because he didn’t pay me, only he tells the same story about another.

A scene from the movie, Cinderella Man, comes to mind: The Depression era boxer Jim Braddock, (played by Russell Crowe), arrives at an upscale apartment of a believed-to-be wealthy associate, looking for a loan, only to discover a cold, empty home, devoid of furniture, sold to maintain the appearance of wealth.

Cattle are high. But many places no longer have cows, which were sold during the droughts. Truth be known, just about everyone raising cattle has a day job to support the habit, and it has been this way for the last 40 years.

Today’s beef prices are necessary to break even, not to make a profit, just to pay expenses.

There’s no way in hell this endeavor justifies the supposed value of the land those cattle are raised on.

Meanwhile, meat has become inaccessible for many consumers due to current prices.

A few years back, I received a windfall.

I distrust and dislike banks and lending institutions.

So, rather than place money in a bank account, which would then be lent out to others, others not of my choosing, I decided to lend money to friends and associates I thought had viable enterprises in need of funding.

The recipients covered a wide array, from farmers and ranchers, here and abroad, to musicians and even a start-up insurance salesmen. There was a flower salesman and even a medical marijuana guy in a state where such is legal.

One guy trained race horses.

My wife opened a business, built from scratch from raw land.

We restored an old store from ruins.

Bought a small irrigated farm in West Texas.

And, bought way too many fine Thoroughbred horses.

None of the people I loaned money to were able to pay me back. All are decent, hard-working people; all made honest efforts, yet none could repay their loan, aside from one of minimal value and he sold a house his grandfather gave him before dying to do so.

Most of these people continue to work, vigorously. Some have a few remaining assets; most don’t.

Those assets could not be sold for a fraction of the money it cost to buy them.

I can’t throw a rock at anyone, because my personal situation is similar.

While I don’t owe money to any institution, I have borrowed money and goods from my father and have been unable to repay him.

Both of us are in essence, broke. Not yet insolvent, but broke. We got no cash. Or maybe we are insolvent and don’t yet know it.

What happens when the value of assets becomes zero?

Nearly all the horses I bought were acquired at pennies on the dollar from their previous value, some of which arrived from other failing operations—high scale operations.

To this day I receive calls from yet others, offering to sell me horses, good horses, cheap.

And there’s no shortage of decent mares to be had for free.

I decline.

I'm already overstocked.

For those that advise selling the horses I own to fix my own situation, I ask: To whom?

It’s not like there are people lined up at my door with money waiting to buy a horse.

Aside from that, they’re worth more than money to me.

They’re living creatures. They know me. They trust me.

They’re magnificent.

They cost money to maintain.

I’ve made mistakes for lack of money I needed to provide proper care.

Recently I fed hay we grew containing Klein grass, good for cattle, but potentially dangerous to a horse. Times past, I got away with this.

This year, I lost three foals. I suspect Klein grass was the culprit.

We had the hay and I didn’t have money to buy something better without allowing some other obligation to go unmet.

In river bottoms, the shit encroaches from places upstream, whether you plant it or not.

Try explaining this to an anxious mare watching over a foal that won’t get up to eat because it died.

And if I sell the horses to someone else that can’t care for them (whether they realize it or not), or send them to slaughter, then where do the people in my employ that care for these animals go?

These are tough times.

To any and all that owe me money:

Your debt is forgiven.

Circumstances beyond your control created your demise.

I know you tried. I've been watching. Struggling alongside you.

Lord, have mercy.



4 comments:

  1. I don't have to tell you to hang in there Don..., I know you will. And right on partner..., write on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is what a friend of mine reads when he participates in an open mic now a days:
    http://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/we_cant_make_it_herelyrics.htm

    ReplyDelete
  3. Of possible interest:
    ==============

    The lowest current estimates of International Banks derivatives meltdown crisis is $1.4 Quadrillion.

    $1.4 Quadrillion is roughly (a) 40 times the worlds stock market; (b) 10 times the value of every stock and every bond on the planet; (c) 23 times world GDP.

    So imagine the world derivatives bubble bursts tomorrow; that will reap a financial tsunami that wipes out initially all the banks; but the money the banks have been using to play these derivative casino bets; was not their own money; but the banks clients money. So all the worlds stock markets [ in terms of all the financial transactions, debts and credits on their balance sheets ]; every stock and every bond on the planet; and the entire worlds GDP: BANKRUPT.

    At this point a massive wealth transfer will occur.

    "What are written about in history books is wealth destructions but they’re not really, they’re wealth transfers, if you look at them the way I do, which is that before and after the Wymar hyperinflation experience they are just as many acres of farmland and buildings around and people and productive property plant and equipment. But what happened was a lot of people got wiped out and who owned those things changed hands rather violently and dramatically." – Chris Martinson; Why Smart Money is so Nervous

    Two Wealth Transfer options:

    Masonic War is Peace Wealth Transfer: Instead of 50% of the world belonging to the 1%; 90% of the world belongs to them. One percent elite become overt In Your Face Warlord slavemasters; and the rest of the 99% overt slaves. The treatment of slaves, whether they are allowed to live or procreate; or how they are to be slaughtered, is totally dependent on their Warlord slavemasters goodwill.

    Ecology of Peace wealth transfer: all bankrupt banks; corporations are nationalized. All individuals owning property greater than the EoP allotted ration footprint have their property nationalized. Families who agree to cooperate by signing EoP cooperator statements; are granted confiscated nationalized property sufficient for their family to sustain their most basic shelter, food and water needs; to engage in the process of rebuilding local cooperative tribal responsible freedom communities.

    Ecology of Peace Facts:
    1. Earth is not flat; 2. Resources are finite; 3. When humans breed or consume above ecological carrying capacity limits, it results in resource depletion, scarcity and conflict.; 4. To sustainably protect and conserve natural resources in accordance to local and national carrying capacity limits; and restrict national and international inter-cultural resource war conflict; humans must implement an international law social contract that restricts all the worlds citizens to breed and consume below ecological carrying capacity limits.

    -- Excerpt: Correspondence to Elijah Blanton; RE: GMC 4643-13 Legal correspondence sent to Elijah’s father: Dr. Brad Blanton; which Dr. Brad Blanton has yet to respond to »» Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2015 9:18 PM; Subject: Subject: RE: 4643-2578: SS44: re: Elijah Blanton, Brad Blanton; RH Support Mike; Raven Dana (PDF).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Excerpt: MILED Clerk Notice: Ecology of Peace (EoP) NWO Options: Ecology of Peace Options: International Ecology of Peace Referendum [See 09 March 2015 correspondence to PM Benjamin Netanyahu & Muslim Leaders: Re: EoP Referendum Option Ideas (PDF)]:
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    The simple referendum options for all Earth citizens consideration are based upon the following Ecology of Peace Facts:

    1. Earth is not flat. 2. Non-renewable and renewable resources are finite. 3. When humans breed or consume above ecological carrying capacity limits, it results in resource depletion, resource scarcity and consequently resource war conflict. 4. To sustainably protect and conserve natural resources in accordance to local and national carrying capacity limits; and restrict national and international inter-cultural resource war conflict; humans must implement an Ecology of Peace international law social contract that restricts all the worlds citizens to breed and consume below ecological carrying capacity limits.

    • I vote to support the leaders of my nation to support the non-violent implementation of an Ecology of Peace international law social contract; that supports the implementation of an EoP international law social contract that restricts all the worlds nations citizens to procreating and consuming below ecological carrying capacity limits. I shall deliver my non-violent legal statement of EoP unconditional or conditional cooperation to the [ relevant court or office to receive EoP cooperation statements and monitor that EoP cooperation terms are not being violated. If allegedly violated such violations are referred to relevant court for adjudication. ]

    • I object to the leaders of my nation supporting the non-violent implementation of an Ecology of Peace international law social contract; that restricts all the worlds nations citizens to procreating and consuming below ecological carrying capacity limits. I shall deliver my non-violent legal objection brief arguments and evidentiary reasons to [ relevant court or office setup to deal with any objections ] within the required time period provided; and understand that should I fail to do so; my objection shall no longer be considered an honourable non-violent objection but shall be dealt with in the same manner as citizens who refuse to vote.

    All legal and illegal citizen residents – irrespective of class, race, gender, religion or social status – over an agreed upon age; shall be required to vote. Their vote shall not be secret, but a statement of their legal non-violent public declaration as a citizen in support of; or in opposition to their nations support for the implementation of an Ecology of Peace international law social contract.
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    ReplyDelete