Fall in the Mountains

Fall. Here in the valley, One could hardly discern the changing of the seasons last week. This week the temperature will be 10 degrees warmer , and that exemplifies how the cooler weather has taken hold so far. In the mountains of southern Oregon it is cool now at night. The deciduous trees are beginning to change color. In Oregon it will rain once a week from now until it rains three times a week. Nice, cool, Fall weather. Like it should be. This time of year, "tis the season" in those mountains. A long Summer of gardening will culminate soon in the exhilarating sigh of the harvest. There is nothing like having a plan come together and bringing in the herd. Nothing. Those in the "know" smile a lot and slyly pat each other on the back. Locals wave each other down for a quick visit , a little show and tell, and a sample swap. Octoberfest. I miss the camaraderie of being an outlaw, especially in the mountains of southern Oregon where a man can be respectable and an Outlaw; One does not necessarily preclude the other.

On another note;

“The distinguishing characteristic of the Third World country is you have the people at the top and the rest—you don’t have a thriving middle class,”

When I think of a "Third World country", " the rest" are always poor, and with that poverty comes desperation. Desperate times call for desperate measures, thus the world, at least for "the rest", becomes a desperate place. The scary part is America lost a big percentage of it's middle class the last few years, and despite that we're being told the recession is over, the GDP is growing, or corporate earnings are up and the rich are getting richer, the middle class is still disappearing like a vanishing species . 30% were wiped out with their equity when the bubble burst.

The air is far from being gone from the bubble and " the rest" , or soon to be, are getting more desperate by the hour. Increasingly, this desperation affects our lives and cannot be ignored. Tried selling land or a home lately? After the elections in November, grab a parachute because the next dip will take us back to pre-balloon levels. California property can already be bought at 1990 prices. In some places price's are at 1980's levels. With the banks rat-holing 4 of five properties in shadow inventory, the worst is yet to come for homeowners/middle class/ "the rest" of us. Every day I kick myself for investing in land back in May. I feel your pain and don't like being one of 'the rest', America.

On a final note;

Revolutionary thoughts.

One world will be a Third World country. If you're not on top now, it will only get harder to climb the pile. Americans need to recognize if we weren't making war, or One world, or making our leaders and those who bribe them rich, there would be plenty of money. The "redistribution" of wealth we so often hear about, is not to Americans, it is to the world, and the rest of the world thinks we are fools for giving our money away. America is a rich country. We should close our borders and divide the money. 80% of us live on 2% of the money. 80% of us could live three times as well on 6% of the money. When the difference in quality of life between the vast majority, ( "the rest" ), and the 2% whom control our country's wealth becomes ridiculous (as it is quickly becoming) the seeds of revolution are born.