Food & Politics

About two months I got an email from an old friend that said that the time to buy gold was now. He tends to be one of these "Gold, Guns, and God" guys, with not much of an emphasis on guns in real life...more theoretical as a political tool to fight tyranny in the abstract. Or in reality, if the time comes. I say trust God, and don't worry about the gold or the guns. Otherwise, it is idolatry. But, then again, I don't have anyone trying to steal my stuff or rape my wife.

Gold prices have gone up dramatically because paper currency really has little intrinsic value, besides being a way to kindle a fire. Gold does have some uses in electronics, space ships, and other useful and interesting properties. So, it has more value than paper currency. Yet gold's price is way out of proportion to its value. It might beat paper but it hardly is worth the price. Just because it is scarcer than paper does not necessarily make it more useful on a day-to-day basis beyond some very narrow but critical applications (like the cell phone and computer). Having a big dookie gold chain around one's neck is not one of them.

We all have heard that "Money does not grow on trees." Well, in the modern U.S. economy, it most certainly does, especially if the Chinese buy your T-Bills. The gig is going to run out when the Chinese finally realize that they have enough of our paper to plaster its Great Wall from start to finish and that is about all its good for. Ever hear the biblical maxim, the "Borrower is slave to the lender?" Might be a good time to pick-up Chinese. I counseled my buddy and the rest who were in the group email to buy land if they happen to have extra cash to invest. Land has intrinsic value primarily for two reasons:

1) You can live on land, build a home, etc.

2) You can grow food or harvest something else from the land (water, oil, etc) that has intrinsic value.

Living space/shelter, food/water, and fuel, are immensely practical. Next to air, nothing else can be as valuable. To argue otherwise, one would have to think death preferable to life.

After listening to Fresh Air on NPR today, where a program about "Food: The Hidden Driver of Global Politics" aired, I am more convinced than ever that some degree of growing and producing food at home is not just a good diversionary and healthy hobby, it might be something that may be necessary down the road. I am not an alarmist but we should be concerned that the issues of water scarcity, fuel prices, a warming environment and atmosphere, political turmoil, an urbanized population that has lost an awareness of how to grow and harvest food, all potentially spells a crisis down the road. Big corporations are also patenting seeds that are proprietary, don't reproduce, and are seeking to get other players out of the market, so they have a functioning monopoly. This could be a major cataclysmic disaster down that same road.

Where I live, Central Pennsylvania, is blessed by great land, abundant water and sun, and a culture that has farmed for centuries. In other words, this is the food and water equivalent of Ft. Knox. I have been taking steps to think through what I can learn now so that I don't just have the ability to look after myself and my wife, but how--if the time comes--I can be like Joseph and be a blessing to others during the seven lean years that may be on the horizon.

I have been wanting to grow my own barley and hops for home-brewing, so I bought the seeds and plants to do so today. It is going to be on the small scale and not real practical on economic terms. Now. But what I learn, may become immensely valuable later.