Friday, April 4, 2008

The Myth of "Unemployment"

The Above Chart is found here:






Unemployment During "The Great Depression" is often shown using the chart above, but statistics can often be misleading. Consider the Following:




1. Only Half of American Society was "urbanized" in the 1920s. The most powerful lobbying group during the 1920s was "The Grange". This was the farmers lobby. Why so powerful? Because 50% of Americans lived on farms! It wasn't until World War II (the 1940s) that the urban centers starting "taking off".




Lets examine the numbers: The Chart above shows that 3.5 million Americans were unemployed.
The population of the country at the time was as follows:


1920: 106,021,537


1930: 123,202,624


1940: 132,164,569




To Understand the Numbers we will refer to the Charts above: One states unemployment at 3.5 million, the other at 10 million during the worst part of the depression. The Actual Unemployment Rate would be at 10% using the charts above. But, neither can account for the 50% working in the agricultural community; most of which, were "subsistence farmers" that raised food for their families and then sold their surplus for cash. So then, the actual unemployment rate was about 5% during the worst of it!!!!

Those that owned "Factory Farms": which were more plentiful in the South because of tobacco, cotton and other "cash crops" sufferred because there was a glut of their goods in the market place and no-one to pay for them! The only ones that "went hungry" were the ones that never ran their business at a surplus, and thus, had money or those that were too stupid to switch back s over to "subsistence farming".

Why It Even Matters:

Today, our society is on the verge of "another Great Depression". The big difference is that less than 1% of us live on farms! When we loose our jobs and the economy tanks we won't be able to grow enough food for ourselves and our families on our 1/3 acre suburban lots! We are already at 5% unemployment and its going to get a whole lot worse! 10% is "critical mass" and will then start to feed on itself as less and less buyers remain in the market to purchase "consumer goods". 15% will totally overwhelm all of our social programs and benefits will be significantly reduced or done away with altogether! Breadlines only exist when someone has a "surplus" of wheat.

With Drought Conditions Seriously Impacting our ability to meet current demands, and the deteriorating dollar, our food imports are already being reduced. Domestic production is also in trouble.

Why do I tell you this?

Because its time to realize that you are not "Farmer Joe" with 40 acres of land and a "mule for Sister Sarah". You don't have time to learn and it isn't necessary that you do. All that is required is that you start using your cash "surplus" (while it still exists) to think about surviving long enough during our society's transition to feed your family.

Things have a tendency to accelerate; either for good or bad. Inflation will accelerate. Unemployment will Accelerate. Civil Unrest and Disruption of the long chain that goes from your grocery store to the farm in Argentina will also accelerate.

Good businesses run with a "surplus". Good families do as well. In the old days, they were called "grain silos". You might remember seeing a picture of one, somewhere. Farmers lived their lives expecting "hard times" and always prepared for them by storing food.












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