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Thanks! Love McMurtry...

The laundromat here on Saturday morning had one other customer, for about 20 minutes, then nobody for the next hour, but one guy picking up laundry he'd had done...the laundromat I usually avoid like the plague Saturday morning because the machines are full and its too crowded, Dead like a ghost town. People can't even afford the quarters to wash their clothes, and my more uppity students call the kids of such "dirty" because they smell and wear the same clothes day after day...call someone dirty? thats a good talking to, if not a detention...

But the antiques mall was swamped for the first time in months, those still with a little money seemed to have bought the "hope" of recovery...credit card sales way low however...

Signs of the times...We can't make it here anymore...

Thanks! Love McMurtry...

The laundromat here on Saturday morning had one other customer, for about 20 minutes, then nobody for the next hour, but one guy picking up laundry he'd had done...the laundromat I usually avoid like the plague Saturday morning because the machines are full and its too crowded, Dead like a ghost town. People can't even afford the quarters to wash their clothes, and my more uppity students call the kids of such "dirty" because they smell and wear the same clothes day after day...call someone dirty? thats a good talking to, if not a detention...

But the antiques mall was swamped for the first time in months, those still with a little money seemed to have bought the "hope" of recovery...credit card sales way low however...

Signs of the times...We can't make it here anymore...


Funny, I've seen an increase in credit card usage, a lot of people ain't got nothing else. When they pull the plug on the cards that'll be the last straw.

Thanks! Love McMurtry...

The laundromat here on Saturday morning had one other customer, for about 20 minutes, then nobody for the next hour, but one guy picking up laundry he'd had done...the laundromat I usually avoid like the plague Saturday morning because the machines are full and its too crowded, Dead like a ghost town. People can't even afford the quarters to wash their clothes, and my more uppity students call the kids of such "dirty" because they smell and wear the same clothes day after day...call someone dirty? thats a good talking to, if not a detention...

But the antiques mall was swamped for the first time in months, those still with a little money seemed to have bought the "hope" of recovery...credit card sales way low however...

Signs of the times...We can't make it here anymore...


Funny, I've seen an increase in credit card usage, a lot of people ain't got nothing else. When they pull the plug on the cards that'll be the last straw.


Hhhhmmm, thats interesting, whats the demographic difference? wouldn't think it'd be much...

Thanks! Love McMurtry...

The laundromat here on Saturday morning had one other customer, for about 20 minutes, then nobody for the next hour, but one guy picking up laundry he'd had done...the laundromat I usually avoid like the plague Saturday morning because the machines are full and its too crowded, Dead like a ghost town. People can't even afford the quarters to wash their clothes, and my more uppity students call the kids of such "dirty" because they smell and wear the same clothes day after day...call someone dirty? thats a good talking to, if not a detention...

But the antiques mall was swamped for the first time in months, those still with a little money seemed to have bought the "hope" of recovery...credit card sales way low however...

Signs of the times...We can't make it here anymore...


I'm in one of the prosperity zones, DC metro area. There's more anxiety and worse than anything else. People are buying less frills. The grocery stores are odd. They all have empty space on their shelves. It's like they've converted to just in time delivery. In certain places, the "lower" income areas, you see some foreclosure signs. In the tonier hoods, there are foreclosures but they don't post them in front of the house. It's all negotiated sales with realtors and the banks to keep the values up. Unemployment doubled but that's 5% but being unemployed sucks wherever you are. People here have hated Bush for years but there's not much that is done about it except vote for Democrats, who are marginally to somewhat better.

The laundromat deal sounds like a real indicator. Geezus, can't afford to wash clothes. Guess we'll just have to see how the stimulus goes, not!

Lots of little signs. Have to cross US 2 to get to town. It is the main (only) east-west route and it is usually a big pain in the ass waiting for a break in traffic to get across. The last couple of weeks - empty. The first time it happened I thought they had closed the road or something.

Last Jan-Feb, 300-400 people a week coming in from Seattle. We have not seen one person from Seattle since November now.

Playing, you see ebbs and flows in people's willingness to buy cd's and tips. I have never in 40 years seen it this tight. Between the several musicians, we used to sell 100 albums a week or so. Now - one sale between all of us over 6 weeks. Musical collective collapsing this week. One decided he can't afford the drive, another can't make mortgage and is getting out and moving in with friends in California. Local blues group, who pulled in 250 a year ago, pulled in 12 people last week.

Laundromat empty here, too, and it was always a mob scene at all hours. Local restaurants slow. Several businesses in town have closed their doors.

Fruit packing houses were doing OK 60 days ago, but now are laying off and shutting operations down. Sales to the Far East are way down - not sure how bad yet.

Rail traffic way down on the old Great Northern mainline. Used to hear 6-7 trains a night, now one, if any. That is container traffic from the port of Seattle, mostly, and durable goods from the Far East.

No planes. Usually see or hear several private planes a day, but not the last few weeks. The Wenatchee-Seattle puddle jumper, but that is it.

There is a stalled feeling to everything, and it is self-feeding and keeps growing. The more that things stall, the more people hesitate, and the more things stall.

More families eating home-cooked meals

Associated Press
3:27 PM CST, February 15, 2009

VALPARAISO, Ind. - Tough economic times are keeping more families home for home-cooked meals that save money and also bring the family together for the dinner hour, experts say.

John and Susie Olson of Valparaiso estimate that by making dinner from scratch for themselves and their three children they're saving between $10 and $15 per meal compared with the expense of dining out.

The family dines together nearly every evening in their home. Everyone pitches in to prepare, cook and clean up meals, and made-from-scratch dinners are common and cost effective, Susie Olson said.

"I would rather cut up a chicken breast and make chicken nuggets" than head to a fast-food restaurant where feeding a family of five can cost $20 to $25, she said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-in-downturn-homecook,0,7915182.story

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Economic effects felt at the meat counter, farms

Jim Hannon/TimesDaily

Adam Cox stocks the counter with beef cuts at Cox Butcher Shop in Lauderdale County.

By Dennis Sherer
Staff Writer

Published: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 12:42 a.m.

For many Americans, coping with an economic meltdown tastes like chicken.

As unemployment and the economic uncertainty continue to rise, shoppers are favoring poultry and other less expensive meats at grocery stores and butcher shops.

"The customers are buying more chicken leg quarters, ground beef and ground chuck," said Renee Cox, one of the owners of Cox Butcher Shop in Florence. "We've been running specials on our steak to try and draw more people in."

Cox said even with the slowdown in sales of high-end meat products, business has been brisk at the store that specializes in locally grown beef, pork and lamb.

"We've got new customers coming in all the time," she said. "People still have to eat, and with all the food scares around the country, they really like knowing their meat came from a local farm."

http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090217/ARTICLES/902170328/1011/NEWS?Title=Economic_effects_felt_at_the_meat_counter__farm

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Well, the laundrymat across the parking lot from the shop seems to be holding it's own, but the barbers round the corner are sucking wind. All sorts on nonessential services are in the same boat, my sweeties' flower shop took a 40% drubbing at Valentines this year and all florists were in a similar situation. Lots of retail business closings, both local and chains. Real estate is dead, dead, dead, here and there large projects sit idle, 90% completed. Work very hard to come by, yankees and Floridians move on after a little while of fruitlessly hunting a decent job. People who have been here years are heading back to NYC, they say until things get better. 'It's gotta get better' is on the lips of many, but a lack of conviction is becoming apparent in the tone.

And we ain't seen nothin' yet.

What is that Michale Poulan (sp?) character doing all over the media? Something brewing there. It is the one thing I cannot stand to listen to on NPR. Some new aggressive stance from him, and his agenda is becoming more clear now. I think I hate people like that more than any right winger. Every sentence out of his mouth is a lie, and his lies are much more clever than anything the right wingers ever come up with. The interviewer asked him - "there is now some criticism of your work from people who say that it sets up a two tier food system, that it caters to the tastes of the upscale few, that it is elitist and works against a strong national public food policy." Damned straight. His answer? "Well there are some ideologues on the extreme Left who will never be happy with anything because they want some Marxist ideal, and so they criticize practical ideas like mine."

Game on motherfucker. OK, now all of you folks out there who have argued to the death with me and defended the liberal organic blah blah bullshit - I told you it was reactionary. I told you it was all a lie. I told you it was an attack on farmers and on the common people. Damn, people. Damn, damn, damn.

Speaking of which - what is the purpose of having AEI and Heritage Foundation mouthpieces on the air continually? And a "representative form the Bankers Association pf America" or whatever the fuck that person was who was just on. NPR is now running a non-stop theme - "there is much controversy to this day as to whether the New Deal actually helped anyone."

His answer? "Well there are some ideologues on the extreme Left who will never be happy with anything because they want some Marxist ideal, and so they criticize practical ideas like mine.

I don't listen to NPR but I have seen a lot of this crap everywhere else I look lately. Cover of Newsweek magazine this week - "We are all socialists now: The Perils and Promise of the new era of big government". Right. I'd love to hear their definition of "socialism". And Newsweek is supposed to the most progressive of the news magazines. Alot of this on DU as well lately.

Calling neo-liberalism "socialism," or kinda sorta socialism, is a way to be able to say "see, we are going way, way far left, as far left as is practical, so whatever it is that you are saying must be very extreme and therefore not to be considered." It is an interesting new approach to red-baiting.

What is that Michale Poulan (sp?) character doing all over the media? Something brewing there. It is the one thing I cannot stand to listen to on NPR. Some new aggressive stance from him, and his agenda is becoming more clear now. I think I hate people like that more than any right winger. Every sentence out of his mouth is a lie, and his lies are much more clever than anything the right wingers ever come up with. The interviewer asked him - "there is now some criticism of your work from people who say that it sets up a two tier food system, that it caters to the tastes of the upscale few, that it is elitist and works against a strong national public food policy." Damned straight. His answer? "Well there are some ideologues on the extreme Left who will never be happy with anything because they want some Marxist ideal, and so they criticize practical ideas like mine."

Game on motherfucker. OK, now all of you folks out there who have argued to the death with me and defended the liberal organic blah blah bullshit - I told you it was reactionary. I told you it was all a lie. I told you it was an attack on farmers and on the common people. Damn, people. Damn, damn, damn.

Speaking of which - what is the purpose of having AEI and Heritage Foundation mouthpieces on the air continually? And a "representative form the Bankers Association pf America" or whatever the fuck that person was who was just on. NPR is now running a non-stop theme - "there is much controversy to this day as to whether the New Deal actually helped anyone."


Almost seems programmed, doesn't it? We're all 'pragmatic' now, we must be, the times will allow nothing else. Starting with the president, chief pragmatist. Of course pragmatism is defined within the bounds of capitalism. Socialism failed, FDR didn't do jack, we must be realistic, leave it to the experts, they know best, even if they engineered this clusterfuck to begin with.

Just heard that Obama said that he signed "the most sweeping economic recovery plan in the history of the US". That's what I call revisionism.

The way history is mutated, not just that statement but everything, is breathtaking. I'd wager that damn near everybody on DU and most NPR listeners has read '1984', yet they cannot recognize what's happening right in front of their eyes. Not that it's something new, but the intensity, the sheer cumulative effect is damn near as bad as the book. It works like a charm, the upper middle class, NPR's target audience knows that NPR is liberal, they have accepted the RW meme that liberal = left, they are radical as is pragmatic. Get real!

We are at war with EastAsia.

I have this little deal going with a farmer, a Republican voter here. I listen to NPR and then critique them, he listens to Limbaugh and critiques that. Between the two of us we can see how the progressives and conservatives are working hand in glove to fuck all of us over. Much easier to convert these Republican voting farmers to socialism than it is to convert any liberal.

Anyway, that is how I can tolerate NPR. The worse they are, the better, because it gives me more to talk about. No liberal would listen to criticism of NPR.

That Poulan is a slimy little weasel - a smug, self-righteous, dominating, phony, lying sack of shit.

I especially hate this "farming is using fossil fuel" propaganda. If we are going to use fossil fuel at all, how is growing food with it a waste? Besides, it is not farmers who are dependent on fossil fuel, it is suburban eaters. 93% of the people are now able to live off of the farm - unprecedented. Get rid of tractors and trucks, and most of them will have to give up their suburban lifestyles, their corporate careers, and move back to the farm. No changes in farming will ever make suburbia and capitalism sustainable.

But what Poulan wants is public support for the whims and desires of the "foodies" - the upscale and privileged few. You cannot attack and reject the Left and then claim that you are going to solve the problems of food and agriculture, through "better choices" and more organic gardening. What will happen is that the public agriculture infrastructure will be further stressed and crushed, we will be importing more food, and the upscale people will be able to get more "organic" food from China and Mexico. Things will be worse for the rest of us.

Where the hell is chlamor when we need him? We could be having one of our knock down drag out battles just like the old days.

In Poulan's world Bush and Cheney are those evil people who are eating beef, and the more enlightened upper class people are eating organic veggies, don't you know. Now that Obama is in office, we will have all of the ag money diverted to the fucking foodies. He yaps on and on about CSA and organic as the solutions to our farming crisis. It is a politically reactionary program, and no I am not defending fucking Monsanto, and I am not defending "conventional" agriculture.

Where the hell is chlamor when we need him? We could be having one of our knock down drag out battles just like the old days.

In Poulan's world Bush and Cheney are those evil people who are eating beef, and the more enlightened upper class people are eating organic veggies, don't you know. Now that Obama is in office, we will have all of the ag money diverted to the fucking foodies. He yaps on and on about CSA and organic as the solutions to our farming crisis. It is a politically reactionary program, and no I am not defending fucking Monsanto, and I am not defending "conventional" agriculture.


Hey Mike

Do you have the equivalent international stats for % of pop employed in Agriculture compared to the US? I know agricultural productivity in China is disastrously low. Seems like food is for sure going to compound the global crisis..on top of everything else

Hey Mike

Do you have the equivalent international stats for % of pop employed in Agriculture compared to the US? I know agricultural productivity in China is disastrously low. Seems like food is for sure going to compound the global crisis..on top of everything else



I would have to look it up. I seem to remember it being up around 80% not that long ago. I know that it fell below 50% last year for the first time in history, largely because of changes in China.