So the economy strikes again

I hate the fact that a lot of my posts relate to unemployment or layoffs.
2 years ago my company was very prosperous with 178 employees, today we're down to 56 employees, losing 15 more critical employees this week to just balance the books. Those that are left take a 15% paycut, insurance increases aren't any fun either.



Rick

Bits and pieces

Gardening-
I just dug up the last of my overwintered Yukon Golds, they sure were tasty baked with a olive oil and sea salt rub. The onions that overwintered sprouted some great green onions, they just needed a little clean up from last years onions. I had planned to let them seed this year but decided to relocate things.
If you're near Yamhill County join us at the Master Gardeners plant sale at the fairgrounds. Many other counties have similar events this weekend and coming up soon.
I've been prepping my raised beds for planting this weekend, a few beds have already sprouted and growing but my big push is just starting.

Wild goodies-
This is a great time of the year to get out into the field for spring goodies; cattail shoots, nettles, dandelion greens and buds, truffles and fiddleheads. It's also a great time to harvest pine needles for tea, the young needles just seem to taste better to me.

Unemployment is up 3%-
Yamhill county numbers jumped this month, personally I think they finally got realistic, I've seen way more than 10% looking for a job and it's getting worse. The local newspaper has 5 job offerings, the fewest I have seen in my 40+ years.

Got a GPS?
If you're near McMinnville I have tough 5 point gps course you can play with. 5 colored clothes pins hidden by dense vegetation, but still in plain site. I didn't set it up but I passed the test this week, you can expect 2 hours. If you want to play send me an email and I'll send you the coords.

Rick

Some thoughts on unemployment and planning ahead

Oregon's unemployment numbers hit 9.9% - Link

We're running at close to +%1 a month here and while I'd like to point out how bad it is, it's not the highest in the nation; Michigan and California to name but two, beat us consistently.

I'd be willing to bet this average rate will continue for atleast 6 months even with the 'stimulus' package. Keep in mind that the Great Depression lasted about 10 years and if this is a similar condition we might have a little ways to go before it turns around.

I don't think I can put back 10 years of income as a cushion, 10 years of food are pretty much out of reach as well. What can I do for 10 years worth of a depression? Skills, knowledge, seeds, contacts, potentially some transportation. I can't expect my job to last 10 years, I'd love it to last 2 in this climate. I can continue with my volunteer work, which will let me buy some preps that I can justify writing off on my taxes (but if you don't have money how can you buy anything?), I can write off some mileage/gas/repairs, I might even be able to be paid occasionally for a shift.

Prepare now, it won't be long before you'll be using your 'preps' or sharing them. Even if you're unemployed and on some form of financial assistance you need to continue to prep, it's only going to get worse for everybody. There will likely be a time in our near future when there isn't any government money for health care, welfare or unemployed citizens. If the money is there, it's likely to be so overshadowed by inflation that $400/week is only worth sending to your creditors as it's not enough to by a sack of groceries.

Rick

Some personal opinions and thoughts

I'm just going to rant a bit here and you can feel free to comment, agree or laugh as your mood suits.

You could still buy gold if you want, I think it will go up another $100-150 during the next year without any help, it might go even higher and I'll just keep mine in the stash until I can't avoid using it. Silver is a little easier to find and might make more sense for daily purchases or trading. I don't expect it to gather the same amount of value but it's cheap compared to gold.

If you don't have a garden what the hell are you thinking? Grow something you like to eat even if it's in a couple pots on the patio, inside the sliding glass door (buy a cheap 3x5x18" shelf unit on wheels with 5 shelves) or on a window sill. If you have a yard and flower beds put something in there you can eat, if it's 'purty' that's a bonus, but even if it's potatoes it's food and your roof will likely provide the water it needs. Pansies and nasturtiums look great and the flowers are tasty in a salad even if they don't have a lot of calories.

Speaking of calories... When you purchase storage foods, animals or plant your garden consider what you're spending money on. Food has a few basic characteristics; nutrition, calories, flavor, mass (or fiber if you will), and fats if you can accept the differences. We love celery but it's a serious draw on water. It does have great fiber and can even be used for cordage, it adds some significant fiber to your diet, it can fill your void if needed, but it has zero effective calories and you could eat 10 lbs a day and die of starvation. Rabbits are a similar dead end, they are high in protein but have almost no fat. Tomatoes are high in sugar (carbs) and have other benefits but you just can't live on a single staple, balance is the key. You really need to handle all of the major 'food characteristics' for any kind of survival beyond the first month. Rice and beans will fill your tummy for a week or two, but $10 worth of spices and $30 worth of vegetables will make it taste a lot better if you actually have to eat it.

If you still have a job you need to suck up and stay with it, your odds of getting another job or a better job are slim to none and even if you did you would be low man on the totem pole. Last in are almost always first out unless you're seriously lucky. This will only get worse before it will get better, I think it will get much worse.

How many people can the government give money to before they drain our country of all worth (not that we have any left)? Once the US is giving just barely enough money every month for subsistence to 20% of the population where do you think the money is going to come from? The new health care options will only make it worse. Yes, it helps the people who have lost health benefits and I do feel for my friends and family that need the coverage, but the government is paying 2/3 of the cost!

Gas is headed back up, maybe not drastically but I think it will be consistant in it's increase and be fairly permanent, at least 2-3 years. The cheap stuff truly is gone and the hurt is being felt everywhere. Store some gas if it's your thing, if you want to store it for more than 6 months use a chemical to preserve it. I don't expect shortages unless the supply lines faulter.

Banks... I actually use a credit union and right now I trust it fairly completely. My whole check goes in there and I use a debit card to buy things. Even so most of my spare cash isn't in savings, it's either in food or goods or in FRNs stuck away in 'places'. I personally wouldn't leave a lot of wealth in a savings institution of any type. Banks can come and go as we've seen so often in the last year and honestly the FDIC is backed by what, a completely failed national financial system printing pretty green paper when they're low? Food and equipment are assets, gold and silver might eventually be worthwhile, FRN are just paper/linen and only good for today, tomorrow they may only be cheaper than firewood per pound.

Last tonight, will be a topic I have a hard time debating, not because I don't believe in them or have them myself but because they're so controversial, and hell, I'm a fence sitting libra. Guns baby, you do need guns and ammo. I'm not a militant SOB, honest, but I do believe people need to have the ability to protect themselves. For the last 9 years I've been a reserve police officer and I must admit I like to be the only person with a gun if there is a problem, but the next person (after my backup) I want to have a gun is anyone who supports the law. If you have a carry permit I trust you far more than I should. You went the extra mile to be legal and aboveboard and that means a lot to me. I do want to know if you have a ccw or are carrying, in most cases, it means you're a law abiding citizen and you deserve a break if everything else is equal. As a police officer I know that our coverage is decreasing locally. It's only going to get worse, even if our police departments don't want it to (we're not stupid), we want to provide more coverage, the powers that be just don't want to pay for it. In my opinion people need to be able and willing to protect themselves, you/we shouldn't rely on overtaxed , underpaid and unsupported public servants. While as a police officer, I'll do my best to protect your rights while you exercise them.

To you I wish a peaceful future, while I hope to prepare you and mine for one that likely won't be,

Rick

No man is an island

In 1624 John Donne wrote a rather short poem which has effected me since I first read it as a child.

When I first read this simple verse at the age of 12 or so I related it the Boy Scout's motto to do a good turn every day, I suppose I still consider it valid. Give something back to people in need.

When next I read it, at 16 or so, it was required reading/memorization for an English class, and I was told what it meant, and who I was, how I mattered to the rest of the world. Honestly, I felt pretty small at the time and figured somebody was blowing smoke up my nether regions.

Many years of my life had passed, work, responsibility, even just general life and then I read it again (I must have been early 30's). This time; I read that 'No man can only be an island' a minor point, and perhaps unintended, but that's what any art requires; interpretation.

Since that time I've found my own ways to give back to the island, to the whole. I'm not looking for kudos so don't send them, I'm just giving examples. I 'spent' about 1000 hours to become a unpaid solo reserve police officer, I 'spent' 300 hours to become a certified search and rescue volunteer, add in hours for man tracking, a few other dozen topics, training, teaching and other concepts and I feel happy with who I am. At the same time these obsessions, if you will,
took time away from my wife and 2 boys. I just hope my service teaches them what I should have been there to show them.

So now I finally get to the point of the post. Damn that took awhile, carefully digging through this mind of mine.
No man is an island and neither is our economy.
I'm not stupid, but I guess you figured that out or you wouldn't have read this far. Until recently I really haven't bothered to figure out how my job relates to others, I guess I just like my check and as long as people are getting paid it's cool.
But how does your company effect the local economy? We've lost half of our work force over the last 16 months and it really does have a huge impact on the economy beyond what happened to the people we laid off. While I want to point out their losses I'm going to skip that for now so you can see what it means beyond them even though they are really very important to me).

The tire company only get's 1/3 of the re-treds we used to ask for. We sent back 1/8 of the forklifts. I canceled the AC maintenance company we've used for several years. We've gone from three days of cleaning to 1 day, all the employees need to empty their own trash and wipe their own desks. We'll use spare time to cut the lawns with a mower we have in storage. We trained somebody to resharpen all of the saw blades we use.
They don't seem like major issues but when you consider the full impact, do you see how many jobs have been lost, just by my company cutting back to stay in business? It's not just accumulative, it multiplies losses 3-5 times when you think about it. We're one fairly
small company of (originally) 150 people, consider what a company like Intel with 15,000 people have cut back on.

No island is just a man, or a group of men; every island is a part of the whole. Should one island or a portion of an island fall so to will all other islands fall and then the men with them.

Never send for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee... it tolls for us all.

Rick

I didn't post much this week ...

Well it's job and life related I guess. I took on another job in addition to my normal IT/ inventory management positions.
I know that my family relies on my job for money, heath care. peace of mind and their standard of living. It's nasty out there and I'll do most anything legal to keep things status quo. This last week I spent every hour doing a job I used to think was below my position (hell I trained them in many ways) , but I still get a check and when it comes right down to it I committed myself to my company and will continue to do so until they violate my personal standard of accountability.
The boss doesn't have to be smart or right, but as long as he's trying to be ethical I can't fault him.

Next week I can post more, I'll have a new profession that gives me another perspective on life.

PS. I still owe a post on what to do when you're unemployed, I started it but it needs a lot of work as it's just not that easy.

Rick

Do you have old grinding wheel?

I want an old style, LARGE (24+" dia.) grinding wheel, with or without a platform. I can sharpen knives, scissors, axes and most any other tools with the stones or files I have but a good old fashioned wheel fits into my preps as a useful skill. I can polish any newer blade with my stones, but a good wheel can turn an old worthless blade into a new tool. Being able to reprofile an old blade with a mechanical wheel mounted to a bike, foot treadle or even a large oversized weighted wheel make a lot of sense if you're cutting back from the standard 6/8"grinding wheel in a $50 bench grinder.

I have some cash, but I'd like to offer forever sharpening as a trade, that means your direct decedents, any or all of them, that can claim your line will get free sharpening off the wheel, as long as it's in use and I will guarantee it for my personal lifetime. As a bonus, the stone will be named after your surname. (shipping is a bitch, but I promise it at cost).

Let me know if you have a nice stone that I can work with, we'll make a deal.

If you're looking to sharpen your own knives and other tools I'll leave you with a couple of suggestions.

1. There's so much involved I can't do it in a short post.
2. Get a fine diamond plate sharpener (the larger the better) and try to slice off the top of the stone in equal amounts, ie. top and bottom of the blade. This is far from what you deserve and what I can provide, but it's been a long week.

Rick

More people loose their jobs

I'm sure you've seen some of the larger announced layoffs this week but I want to touch on some of the smaller companies that don't get press in the MSM.

I work for a smaller company here in Oregon that had 160 employees just 15 months ago, we've been reducing numbers ever since. Today we laid off 24 more, leaving us with just over 70. I know we're not the only small company in the local area in a situation like this, both our suppliers and dealers are in the same condition. In fact, many of our suppliers in the building industry have completely closed up shop.

On the bright side, between online resources (craigslist and Oregon's state job listings) and local newspapers I found almost 30 local job openings in the last week. 2 years ago I could have found 60 in just the local newspaper. (I didn't check the Oregonian or Statesman Journal)

It's pure conjecture, but I'm guessing that we may only be hearing of about 50-75% of the actual layoffs across the country, reporting only the announcements of large corporations doesn't take into account all of the smaller jobs that are interconnected. I honestly don't believe the numbers listed by the various unemployment agencies either, many people are exhausting their benefits and I don't believe those numbers are as accurately reported as the numbers which indicate those actually receiving unemployment insurance. That being said, I expect Oregon's January numbers to jump 3/4 to 1 point from 9% up to 10% when the report comes in this next week.

I'm working on a entry for what to do if you lose your job. I'll have that up in the next week or so; in the mean time: focus on your food preps, polish your resume and reduce excess spending.

To my friends who are no longer at the company, I'm sorry and hope to see you back soon.

Rick

Cheap, free, barter, sell and job opportunities

Just a couple websites you need to keep in mind during these times.

Freecycle is a place for people to offer items that they don't want, to other's for no charge. If you've got something you hate to throw away that could be useful to someone else it's likely to be picked up within a day. It's a great way to recycle something you don't need. Check in frequently and you might find something you've wanted but just couldn't justify buying. It's even acceptable to request an item as many people don't think they're 'trash' is worth offering, but don't beg frequently, unless you're offering even more often.

Craigslist is a very liberal website offering anything people may want, some of them aren't legal in your state. Please understand you'll find some well-marked adult areas, but the job listings, for sale, barter and housing sections are very worthwhile. I don't see any gun listings there, but there is a lot of camping equipment.

I'm sure there are more sites like this, do you have some suggestions?

Rick

100,000+ people lost their jobs last week, were you one of them?

CNN reports over 100,000 job losses from major employers, it makes me wonder how many jobs were lost from smaller companies that don't report the same way.

Obviously this is more than a trend. December's numbers of 632k actually show that last week is fairly average.

I hope these people have some food put back in the pantry for themselves and their dependents.

Rick

My primary focus

Unemployment levels increase in all Oregon counties. [Oregon Live] 01.26.09

"Statewide, more Oregonians were out of work last month than at any time since 1983. Oregon's jobless rate was 8.8 percent, compared with 5.4 percent in December 2007."
--
This is one of the reasons we need to 'Prep' and I think it's the most important reason to do it now.

Unemployment is likely to increase for at least the next foreseeable future and having food and other materials handy will ease our minds and decrease the stress on our budgets should we be in the next batch of people to hit the unemployment lines.

Oregon's maximum unemployment benefit is $482/week, before taxes (the equivalent of $12/hour). If you're used to bringing home twice that much you're going to have a hard time meeting your bills, looking for a job and feeding your family. If on the other hand you had been making 12/hour before, don't expect a free vacation, you'll receive considerably less than the maximum amount and it could be as low as $113/week pre-tax.

If you have a decent supply of staples (not the pointy kind) and can put in a garden, grow some container vegetables, brew up a batch of sprouts on the kitchen counter, you can supplement that $482 taking some of the stress off.

This is my focus for the 'OPN' at this time. I'll interject a few other things relating to wilderness survival, frugal living, handy gadgets, DIY projects and the like. I'm not going to dwell on many other aspects being discussed on so many other websites and in the news, I'll be keeping my focus on helping out the individual and his family and the community they live in.

I'm new at the blogging 'thing' so be gentle as I jump into the mix. If you have other ideas or would like to join in let me know.

Thanks - Rick