I'm finding some interesting reading over at How Many Miles from Babylon. I appreciate the emphasis on freedom and a viable example of what that freedom might look like. My thinking about economics and work is definitely moving in the direction he outlines, rather than toward a small commercial farm. Read especially the posts on a Direct Use Economy and this one.
We have been moving toward such an economy since I discovered that with 5 boys my food bill had become the single largest expense in my cash economy. Opting completely out of the Cash Economy is not really an option as long as we have property taxes to pay, or we aren't able (or willing!) to live off the power grid, but there's still a lot of freedom in not spending money, and the less of it you need the more free you can be.
The problem is that living with one foot in a Direct Use Economy and one foot in a Cash Economy, neither one functions very well. The more we can wean ourselves from reliance on cash which requires huge expenditures of time, the more we will have the time needed for production in the Direct Use economy. I'm hoping that we can reduce our cash needs by 20% or so a year for the next couple of years. If we can eventually do with half the cash we now need while increasing our skills to the point where we are producing a surplus of food, particularly beef, milk and veggies, we may be able to cut our ties to the corporate behomoth entirely. Free at last and all that.
3 comments:
I have enjoyed thoses posts from Appalachia as well...
There are two warring strategies, you can either increase income or reduce your need. Of course with income taxes, each dollar of need reduction translates into $1.20 or so less you need to earn.
You are right. A direct use economy where we live of what we produce by the sweat of our brow is far more healthy, prosperous, and biblically future oriented than one where we must earn “cash” to pay for everything, especially when the cash is virtual currency that we are forced to borrow into existence at usury, as it is with our private central banking system, the Federal Reserve. Every dollar in existence today – be it greenbacks or the debt and credit money that exists only on a bank’s computer screen -- was borrowed into existence at usury, which is demanded and collected by the banking elite that control our economy. Trying to make ends meet with it is like trying to water a garden with a hose that has many leaks, which increase with the use. Only those that have enough water pressure, that is, cash or credit, can stay ahead enough to get the job done. God is not mocked, however, as He will judge the lawless water district’s monopoly that supplies the water, if one can even call it that. The Lord is faithful to set His people free from these oppressors when they have fully served His purposes in humbling His people in turning them back to Himself and His righteous law. We here are also moving in the same direction in becoming, as much as possible in the difficult economy that rules our nation, the producers of what we consume. May God bless you in your endeavors.
Thank you both for your encouragement.
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