What Real Wealth Is: An uncut diamond

"Don't participate in the economy unnecessarily. Buy as little as you can" (Dmitry Orlov)

This may sound like the advice of a miser, but more and more it becomes obvious (to this writer) that these are the words of wisdom.

When a person wants to buy a house or a car they usually make payments upon it, rather than paying in cash. But before the loan can be gotten one must first hand over a percentage of the cost of the item, which is called a "down payment."

The loan company gets cash, tens of thousands for a home loan, then the buyer feels happy that they have an instant roof over their head and get to pay off the loan, along with taxes, and repairs, and interest for up to 30 years of their life.

Hopefully, the person paying the loans and taxes is healthy as an immortal god, never gets struck in a car accident, and always has an income. If they show signs of being a mortal human the home/car will be taken back by the bank, or the government if they're unable to pay the taxes.

Meanwhile, the generous entity that gave you the loan has had fun with your quick cash/down payment, and interest without ever investing into maintaining the item. They don't repair its oil leaks, they don't mow the lawn, they don't paint.

Debt makes some people rich.

Earlier this year many people fell for the debt scheme called "Cash for Clunkers." The government "gave" the people and dealerships a small amount of money in return for their hard asset -- a hunk of valuable metal on wheels and years of payments with interest. It's not the person buying the new car that got a deal, but the government, those that gave the loans, and who ever got the old car.

Perhaps, it would have been a good deal to those few that took advantage of the incentive and paid cash for the car.

Then, there is the First-Time-Home Owner's incentive, which ends soon. This "gives" an new home owner several thousand dollars to buy a house. This $8000 benefits no one but those that have their hands out, and it's amazing how many there are when one is buying a home.

It's amazing how much greed is involved in the business of homes. If one wants to avoid a great deal of it they must behave and think more like a millionaire, which means having as much cash on hand as possible. Cash is power. A loan is slavery.

If more people would wake up from their pride they would see that they don't need a new car, a palace, or a perfect life for their children. It's okay to be mortal, imperfect, and have no debt. We don't need to prove to the world that we are successful with the shiny and sparkly new things.

We can't have it all, but we can have more freedom and joy by rebelling against the lie of perfection and entitlement. The world is not fair, and until we accept this we will never have true wealth.

"*To a society in denial, collapse invariably looks like personal failure, whether one survives it or not.

*Collapse without preparation is defeat.

*Collapse with preparation is an eccentricity.

*Collapse-avoidance is shame-avoidance"

And finally, my favorite part:

"Collapse-proof personalities: indifferent, determined, self-resilient, unreasonable" ("Definancialisation, Deglobalisation, Relocalisation," Dmitry Orlov, 11 June 2009)

image: Quilting Bee, Grandma Moses

Won't Come Back From Dead Man's Curve!

The Bard remembers the good old days--the days when there were still a few deafening engines mowing down the stop lights, and there were some who thought it cool to drive hoodless. I don't know, perhaps, driving hoodless was due to laziness, or improper latching, or some other malfunction, but it was cool. Those that chose to leave the hood back in the trailer court really had nothing to show off, since the hoodless vehicles were also the ones that needed the most paint and looked as if they had been run into signposts, and deer, and old ladies, and other obstructions. But it didn't matter because they made the most noise.

Ah, the good old days when the good old cars were still on the road. One acquaintance had a particularly special car. Oh, my! It was in mint condition with perfect white vinyl covered seats. And they were bench seats, which means that everyone gets to sit in the front. A hundred miles an hour down Main St. once, was what the officer said! But that was nothing.

Now, there is an automobile euthanasia program called the Car Allowance Rebate System aka "Cash for Clunkers," which seeks to rid the streets of these old reliables because they are now considered liabilities and wasteful burdens.

Really, the car must not be a clunker if it is still registered and drivable. A real clunker, one that has been sitting in the back forty is not eligible for the government voucher upon trade in.

Somehow, this program strikes me as disturbing. When the old vehicle is turned in to the dealer the engine must be destroyed before the car can be sold for scrap. This is how it is to be done: "Drain the oil, then run several quarts of sodium silicate through the engine. As engine heat evaporates the solution, deposits of dehydrated sodium silicate line the engine's lubrication system, abrading all the moving parts and causing the engine to seize" ("'Cash for Clunkers' starts Monday" msn.com).

"Scrap facilities can sell any part of the car except the engine block or whole drive train, but ultimately the car must be taken off the road" ("Cash").

This seems incredibly wasteful and disrespectful of a healthy and strong, although old vehicle. And where will the scrap parts be sold to? If I were to guess, China, which has quite a trade in scrap parts and bodies of all sorts. If it bleeds blood or oil they'll profit from the parts and sell it back to us in a repackaged form.

Image: 1986 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS