Friday Brunch: Yes, The Recession Is That Bad

by Natasha Chart · 2009-02-06 07:02:00 UTC
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I spent way too much of yesterday listening to Republicans on C-SPAN giving speeches that sounded like they hadn't learned anything in 20 years and were sleeping through the last eight. Migraine city. Here's some of the news I was catching up on while trying not to seethe fruitlessly ...

- You know your economy is in trouble when even the Financial Times is recommending that people pack their own lunches.

- You really know your economy is in trouble when used copies of an out of print book called "Small-Scale Grain Raising" are selling for $1,000 each. Fortunately, a revised edition will be available through Chelsea Green in a few months.

- If you are considering growing some of your own food, these reflections on homesteading might interest you. If you're serious about it, here are some resource links along with some heartening info about Iowa's small farm economy.

- The agriculturally disastrous aspects of climate destabilization is also going to mean more in the way of random weather events that are unusual for a given area. So while this harsh freeze being expected farther south than usual can't individually be attributed to global warming, it's the sort of event that global warming theory suggests is likely to happen.

- More info on the agricultural census, and a closer look at the small farm numbers, which are up.

- Directed mutagenesis is being touted as a kinder, gentler genetic modification of crop plants. I'm actually willing to reserve judgement on this one, since it doesn't add new genes. It's more like the gene modification as described in the movie Gattaca, where you're only selecting from the extant gene pool. We'll see, I guess.

- Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) scoffs at the idea that creating jobs is wasteful, and talks with some authority about the need to provide forest maintenance services in Western states. He clearly knows his stuff here, check it out.

- If you've been as irritated as I have by the way the bank bailouts have been handled, there are actually small banks that are using the bailout money right. I've never been so glad that I kept my credit union as before the current unpleasantness.

Natasha Chart
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