My vegetable basket overfloweth

[altivo]

[We interrupt yet another rant about the stupidity of Wall St. and politicians...]

I went out to the garden to pick "stuff" because I haven't looked since the weekend. I finally quit picking when it got too dark to see, but there were still cherry tomatoes left. I carried back what felt like about eight pounds of tomatoes, beans, snow peas, and okra. We've mostly been eating the green beans fast enough to keep up with them, but the cherry tomatoes have multiplied like guppies. Guess we'll have to freeze some. We just wash them off, scoop 'em into ziplock type bags and freeze. We don't mind the little skins, so they can be dumped into spaghetti sauce or soup, or run through the food processor to make salsa or something at a later date. The taste of real tomato stays very well through freezing, even if they do get a bit mooshed.

Hope the frost holds off for a while longer. The zucchini and yellow squash that I thought were going to die after all their leaves froze last Friday night are putting out new leaves, and still blooming. New fruit have set on both. The butternut squash, on the other hand, seems to be finished. I had no room left to carry those in, but they'll be all right left out there for a day or two. They're ready to eat, now. Still getting lettuce, still flowers on beans and peas though I think there aren't enough bees left to pollinate them so they're probably about through.I think I've got turnips and perhaps some beets. Nothing in the cabbage family succeeded. Next year I'm going to have to use some BT culture on them. And though the pickles bloomed and set fruit, the little cucumbers don't seem to be maturing. They look the same as they did a week ago. Perhaps it's too cool for them already.

Even though we've now seen a series of market declines to rival only those that took place in late 1929, everyone is still pussyfooting around the words "recession" and "depression." I don't see how there can be any question at this point. We don't have a "possible recession" but a full-blown one that could easily slip into serious depression. I fully expect the results of this election to remind us of 1992, when voters sent a message to Bush, Sr. that was often stated succinctly as "It's the economy, stupid."

The national debt counter in Times Square has overflowed (not enough digits.) So much for the "fiscal conservatives" who were going to make the government smaller and leaner. I agree they made it a hell of a lot meaner, but certainly they did just the opposite on size and cost. It's time for a change of direction.

Comments

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

I think Mark and I are going to grow some veggies on the roof if we're still here next year.

Jokingly, we've toyed with the idea of just bugging out of the city and becoming food farmers somewhere. So that when society inevitably collapses, we might have stuff to eat.

Hmmm...maybe it's not too late to start that commune after all.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Beans and tomatoes are prolific and provide some good nutritional value. The difficulties with roof gardening are significant. Wet soil weighs a lot. In summer, most roofs get extremely hot so at the least your plants need more frequent watering. I know you guys do cook regularly, so you'll have no problem actually using whatever you produce, but do a little research and planning and you'll have much more satisfying results. Pick things that will do well under the conditions you have up there, and that you like enough to use up.

[zevdawg.livejournal.com]

Hmm you just reminded me that I got some tomatoes in the fridge from my neighbors... perhaps I should freeze mine cause I don't know any use for them atm =P

As for this whole economic crash shebang that I've been hearing lately - I have a similar note to add to that... I pay attention to certain media from time to time, and overheard the announcer on the radio stating (idly I suppose) that "If the economy does crash, I think all it'll affect is the rich people".

Perhaps a few small market crashes here and there - yeah, not really affecting us middle class people much (unless relying off stocks, then you're screwed). But a big one's going to effect everything for sure. So in essence the announcer was slightly (maybe wholly) biased on some level?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Tomatoes are good just to eat raw. You don't have to do anything but wash and slice them up. They are also a terrific package of concentrated vitamins and minerals. Homegrown tomatoes taste a thousand times better than the commercially produced ones.

Bubbles on Wall St. are sometimes just bubbles and the only people who get hurt are the ones who dabble and speculate in stocks. This one, though, is much more serious. It wasn't the stock market itself that was the source of the problem, nor will the cure be found there. It's a deeply rooted problem in the actual economic structure of the US and several other countries who have close ties. It reaches back for at least 30 years and has been building for all that time, and isn't going to go away easily. It's most likely going to pinch all of us, whether we have a lot of money or a little, whether we own stocks or not.

When banks and large corporations face bankruptcy, there's a ripple effect. People lose jobs, can't pay their own debts, causing more banks and companies to feel the stress, tighten their belts, lay off their own workers. It's a chain reaction and we're all going to experience some of the effects. Even the government is going to have problems because taxable incomes and commerce are going to contract, shrinking the funds available.

I can go on and on about the causes and who's really responsible, but it comes down to selfishness and social irresponsibility. We've reached what is going to inevitably be (I hope) the end of a dark era when self-interest, greed, and the individual "family" have been held as the only things that were important, and the responsibility for consequences, concern for the needs of others, and the idea of sharing were pushed under rocks and laughed at. Either this changes, or a really major collapse in society, one on the level of what happened after the Roman Empire fell, is going to be in the offing.

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

I find it sadly telling that Wikipedia's entry on "Fiscal conservatism" ends with the 1920's and doesn't begin again until the Reagan era.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiscal_conservatism

That ideology did a face-plant and didn't get up again for 50 years. Now that they are back in full force, so are the same problems. I guess people who study history are doomed to know they'll be repeating it. :-P Wow.


And unlike abortion and gay marriage, things that social conservatives are afraid will destroy the fabric of society, incessant tax cuts and deregulation actually DO destroy the fabric of society.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

That's because Conservatives do not believe socity exists. They think the world is a big free for all, where it matters not who you step on in your quest to get to the top.

"They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours." - Margaret Thatcher; Speech to Conservative Party Conference (9 October, 1987)

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a good way to put it. That would be an incohesive society. Everyone "pulling together" for themselves.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Now you've got it. While people are pacing the floor and wringing their hands about the immediate personal losses they are suffering, or fear that they will suffer, those of us with more vision are seeing something a whole lot worse.

Unfortunately, there has been very little long term thinking or vision on the part of politicians, corporations, or banks over the last 35 years. Everything has been focused on short term profits and immediate power. Unless that changes quickly, we may see a whole house of cards collapsing disastrously.

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

Everything has been focused on short term profits and immediate power.

I think the thing is that many of the actions that fiscal conservatives believe in actually do help the economy in the short term. And so that wins them many converts, because people see the proof that these things did seem to do a great deal of good during a certain time period in the past. And then everyone else (other political parties, ie Democrats, and other countries) have no other option but to follow suit or they become non competitive. But the problem is that the benefits of fiscal conservatism are not only limited to a finite period of time but become more harmful than good when applied over the really long term. There's no basis for fiscal conservatism to be a permanent and escalating policy to run the planet with, and the "converts" as I called them really start to look like believers in a religion, complete with miracles in the distant past - even now they are calling for more tax cuts and removal of more regulations even though there's ample evidence that caused the current problems. Give me fiscal responsibility over fiscal conservatism - that's what really works.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

*eyes his little stip lawn* I could get a row of beans and some cabbage in there next year. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Now is a good time to start planning for that. If you really want to plant vegetables in the spring, preparing your soil and adding more organic material now will help a lot. Cabbages are generally pretty inexpensive here, so I don't plant them. I plant stuff that I can't get in good quantity or quality. Tomatoes are usually a good target, because good ripe ones don't travel well so you can never buy commercially grown tomatoes as good as the ones you grow yourself. We plant pole beans because they produce in prolific quantities, offer excellent nutrition, and taste better than what you can buy because they are much fresher.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I like the grapes off my dad's vine. I sadly do not have a large conservatory though.

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

And asparagus! It's amazing how fast it grows. We have a patch about two feet by three or four feet, and I could nibble a stalk or two every day for a couple months.
All that would cost me about $20 in the season, and the ones I can buy don't look very healthy.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Your soil must be different from ours. Asparagus grows, but doesn't produce a whole lot here.

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a fairly dense plot of crowns. It's not like it's only a plant or two.

Also, try mixing sand and ash in the soil. Asparagus likes it on the base side, with sandy soil.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Our soil is in fact basic. It's silty loam, though, so it gets quite dense and that's likely the problem.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

The national debt counter in Times Square has overflowed (not enough digits.)

Whoa. o.O

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, whoa indeed. And I had to get this story from the BBC, as the US media have ignored it.

Another way of looking at it: One of your favorite nations, Iceland, is in really serious trouble. Their economy has come to depend heavily on international banking. The government has apparently taken over the two largest banks completely to prevent them from collapsing, and is closely watching a third. This is a crisis that transcends international borders because of the spread of globalization in the last few decades.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Iceland does seem to be in trouble - isn't it all three of the large banks already? Landsbanki and Glitnir have definitely been taken over, and I think Kaupþing's been, too, although I'd have to check to be sure.

But yeah, Iceland's definitely being hit hard by all this. They're apparently not happy with the USA, either - not because of the bubble as such, but because the USA entered into a currency swap with the other Nordic states but specifically excluded Iceland. It's been described as having been given "the finger", and - along with the unilateral withdrawal of the USA from the defence agreement and the closing of the Keflavík base a few years ago - has apparently not exactly left a good impression.

And now Russia wants to borrow Iceland 4 billion Euros - it rather makes you wonder what they'll expect in return.

(And at the same time, the UK, who already threatened to sue the Icelandic state if British savers would lose their savings in Landsbanki's Icesave programme, now apparently invoked an anti-terrorism law to seize Landsbanki assets in the UK. I guess someone still hasn't gotten over losing the cod wars...)

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Oh, and as for the national debt counter... yeah, seems like the US media are simply not reporting on it at all. There's a few blog entries at well-known sites, at least (at the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News and World Report and the Huffington Post, for instance), but that appears to be it.

You'd think that this is news, yes...

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Holy Highscore, Batman!

So, 10 trillion of national debt? Thatmust an all-time higscore. Pity it overflowed and went down again.
I wonder how many times it has overflown so far... o.O

That is a lot of money. Just makes me wonder where it went -.o

[altivo.livejournal.com]

A huge chunk of it has been dumped into the fruitless wars in the middle east.

Apparently the response of the company that owns the counter there in NY has just been to order a new, larger display that can go up to 999 trillion or just under a quadrillion dollars.

These numbers are genuinely astronomical but also starting to be meaningless. There aren't that many dollars in the world, nor enough gold to pay it back. If you put one dollar bills end to end, that many of them would probably reach right out of the solar system. Now dakhun will come along with real math and correct me on that, but they'd certainly reach to the sun and back repeatedly. Given the benefits we are receiving for most of them, we might as well just dump them into the sun. Except that might increase global warming...

[dakhun.livejournal.com]

If you put one dollar bills end to end, that many of them would probably reach right out of the solar system. Now [info]dakhun will come along with real math and correct me on that, but they'd certainly reach to the sun and back repeatedly.

Yup! End to end, 10 trillion American $1 bills would reach far enough to go from the Sun to Jupiter and back again, let alone to the Earth. It would be 10.4 times the distance from the Sun to the Earth, or about 1.655 times the circumference of Earth's orbit.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Thanks for doing the math I was too lazy to work out. ;D