Hunker Down

I spent a lot of my youth with much older folks, so I have a few “old-fashioned” phrases in my vocabulary that seem quite dated to some. One of them is “hunker down.” I’ve always taken it to mean to get back to basics, or to cut off unnecessaries and become more efficient. Recent headlines and changes in American society are making me think that we as a society will soon find it necessary to “hunker down.”

Gas prices are at an all-time (and utterly criminal) high. Here in Central New York, where we pay some of the most (if not THE most of all) expensive gas prices, the lowest price I’ve seen for gas is $3.29 a gallon. Taxes are rising out of the atmosphere; here in Oneida County we’ve seen property taxes double in five years. Food prices (thanks to the crock-science that is ethanol fuel) have risen 50% of what they were before Christmas. And today’s headline in the news was “Gold at $1,000 on Weak Dollar, High Oil.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Gold futures hit $1,000 an ounce for the first time Thursday, pushed past the benchmark by the sinking dollar and record crude oil prices.

The dollar fell below 100 yen during Asian trading Thursday, its weakest level against the Japanese currency in 12 years. The dollar also dropped to all-time lows against the euro.

That is very bad news for the American economy. Strangely, I’ve heard nothing about it on the radio news, and nothing about it at any of the money blogs I visit via Entrecards. I heartily agree with presidential candidate Ron Paul: we’d better get back to the gold standard and fast, or our entire economy is going to shatter. The Keynes-based philosophy of “debt=wealth” has destroyed our economy. It might have been fun in the beginning, when there were no consequences, but the “chickens have come home to roost” as another antique saying goes.

At any rate, there ARE things we Americans can do to ease the pain of the coming recession. And believe me, a recession is coming, because the government STILL has no idea what they are doing and are exacerbating the problem. We can buy smaller vehicles (think about it– do families of three or four REALLY need those super-sized SUVs?), get rid of the electronic gadgets we do not need (I’m talking tough, I know), unplugging or replacing those “vampire” electronics that burn energy even when they are not being used, recycling everything you can and making good use of what you’ve got. Simple things like not running the water at full blast when you brush your teeth have greater benefits than you realize.

I was raised in a very thrifty home, so I have the benefit of having these habits already. We fueled our home with a wood furnace– wood that we chopped ourselves; planted gardens; kept the old vehicles maintained rather then buying new ones every other year; ate wild game and learned to eat edible plants in the forest. It was an interesting life, and the lessons have come in handy.

It’s time to “hunker down” in this country. Our excessive, profligate lifestyles are ruining our future. And living economically and wisely gives a person a great sense of accomplishment, which is another thing greatly lacking in our society today (no, “getting over on someone” is not a great accomplishment).

That’s my two cents. I’m trying to do what I can by renovating my existing home, use my land for food production instead of lawn-competitions, and be wise with my energy use. If enough of us will do this as a lifestyle, we not only will do well through some tough economic times, we will be building better families and communities at the same time.