Sportin' Wood
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- Sep 24, 2007
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Drinking a nice cup of Montana Coffee Traders, Montana Blend this fine Sunday morning watching the sunrise over the Mission Mountains, I was pondering the flow of Money into the local economy. Coffee produced locally by a small business FWIW.
I was thinking how each transaction depreciates the value of a dollar through the collection of a tax. I was thinking of how money earned in one place and spent in another transfers wealth. I was thinking about how giving money to large corporations makes them stronger and small business weaker. Do large global corporations care about America? Do they only care about Profit?
Now this might not be the kind of thing you would consider on a Sunday morning if you live in the big city, but in Rural America, I tend to think it can make an impact.
You see we (me and the wife) are blessed to be able to make our money outside our community. However, if we were dependent on the local economy, we might not be financially stable. Two of our local primary means of pulling money from outside the local economy are forestry and mining. We (Montana Citizens) extract natural resources from the earth and sell them to a party outside the local region and trade for money that is spent in the local economy on things like food, produced locally on farms and ranches. Services, medical treatment etc.
Palladium is a precious metal we mine here in Montana. Last week they announced that 700 miners are getting laid off due to falling prices.
https://dailymontanan.com/2024/09/12/sibanye-stillwater-plans-to-lay-off-700-montana-mining-workers/
My neighbors are loggers, one of them stopped by last week and told me he was shutting down operations, due to the difficulty in making a profitable business of logging in the current climate. Yet the forest will burn uncontrollably and new housing prices are through the roof. We import our plywood from Canada BTW and two local lumber mills have closed down in the last year in Montana. Montana is suffering a housing crisis with almost no affordable housing built and a massive shortage.
https://montanafreepress.org/2024/0...ry-but-officials-say-demand-for-wood-remains/
So here I am thinking about how the money flows in the economy, the depreciation of the dollar through taxes, how rural America is getting knee capped through regulations as the government limits their ability to produce value locally pulling money into the local economy, and how each of us contributes to this flow of money. Then I start thinking bigger, globally. Should I give my Money to China, Mexico, Canada?
Is it worth saving a couple bucks on goods to buy them on Amazon, or at the big box store? What is the impact I can make? What if we all started thinking about the flow of money and not just our own personal materialistic desire? Why is it a good investment for dark money to influence local politics? What happens if I pull money from the global economy as a remote worker and spend my money exclusively local? What role can remote workforce's play in the balance of power? Why is there a big push to pull workers back into the office? Why give money to the media for an ad spend if you hate them?
If I buy goods and services from FB Marketplace for cash locally outside "The System" Am I making a positive impact on the local economy? When I take advantage of a 3% discount for paying cash at the local diner, paying the tip in cash, am I making a positive contribution to the local economy? Did I really save any money buying online when I factor in shipping costs? Can I keep the local hardware store in business, or the local mercantile in business by ordering from them? Is my purchase of local beef and produce impacting the locals?
Yesterday we made a Costco trip to the big city. They had giant Pumpkin Pies on sale for $5.99. We asked ourselves how do they sell a pie for $6 bucks? The wife said the quality of the store bought Pumpkin pies has diminished over the years as they substituted less quality ingredients. Those pies could be a metaphor for all goods, especially food. How many of your favorite foods have changed? They have changed them slowly, but they have changed. You can see it when you compare pictures of people from the 70's to pictures of people now.
I'm not sure where all this Musing leads, but I thought I would share my Sunday morning thoughts and see if it is worth your time to consider.
Where does your money go? I'm thinking hard about where mine goes this Sunday Morning.
I encourage your debate. Thanks for your time.
I was thinking how each transaction depreciates the value of a dollar through the collection of a tax. I was thinking of how money earned in one place and spent in another transfers wealth. I was thinking about how giving money to large corporations makes them stronger and small business weaker. Do large global corporations care about America? Do they only care about Profit?
Now this might not be the kind of thing you would consider on a Sunday morning if you live in the big city, but in Rural America, I tend to think it can make an impact.
You see we (me and the wife) are blessed to be able to make our money outside our community. However, if we were dependent on the local economy, we might not be financially stable. Two of our local primary means of pulling money from outside the local economy are forestry and mining. We (Montana Citizens) extract natural resources from the earth and sell them to a party outside the local region and trade for money that is spent in the local economy on things like food, produced locally on farms and ranches. Services, medical treatment etc.
Palladium is a precious metal we mine here in Montana. Last week they announced that 700 miners are getting laid off due to falling prices.
https://dailymontanan.com/2024/09/12/sibanye-stillwater-plans-to-lay-off-700-montana-mining-workers/
My neighbors are loggers, one of them stopped by last week and told me he was shutting down operations, due to the difficulty in making a profitable business of logging in the current climate. Yet the forest will burn uncontrollably and new housing prices are through the roof. We import our plywood from Canada BTW and two local lumber mills have closed down in the last year in Montana. Montana is suffering a housing crisis with almost no affordable housing built and a massive shortage.
https://montanafreepress.org/2024/0...ry-but-officials-say-demand-for-wood-remains/
So here I am thinking about how the money flows in the economy, the depreciation of the dollar through taxes, how rural America is getting knee capped through regulations as the government limits their ability to produce value locally pulling money into the local economy, and how each of us contributes to this flow of money. Then I start thinking bigger, globally. Should I give my Money to China, Mexico, Canada?
Is it worth saving a couple bucks on goods to buy them on Amazon, or at the big box store? What is the impact I can make? What if we all started thinking about the flow of money and not just our own personal materialistic desire? Why is it a good investment for dark money to influence local politics? What happens if I pull money from the global economy as a remote worker and spend my money exclusively local? What role can remote workforce's play in the balance of power? Why is there a big push to pull workers back into the office? Why give money to the media for an ad spend if you hate them?
If I buy goods and services from FB Marketplace for cash locally outside "The System" Am I making a positive impact on the local economy? When I take advantage of a 3% discount for paying cash at the local diner, paying the tip in cash, am I making a positive contribution to the local economy? Did I really save any money buying online when I factor in shipping costs? Can I keep the local hardware store in business, or the local mercantile in business by ordering from them? Is my purchase of local beef and produce impacting the locals?
Yesterday we made a Costco trip to the big city. They had giant Pumpkin Pies on sale for $5.99. We asked ourselves how do they sell a pie for $6 bucks? The wife said the quality of the store bought Pumpkin pies has diminished over the years as they substituted less quality ingredients. Those pies could be a metaphor for all goods, especially food. How many of your favorite foods have changed? They have changed them slowly, but they have changed. You can see it when you compare pictures of people from the 70's to pictures of people now.
I'm not sure where all this Musing leads, but I thought I would share my Sunday morning thoughts and see if it is worth your time to consider.
Where does your money go? I'm thinking hard about where mine goes this Sunday Morning.
I encourage your debate. Thanks for your time.
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