[jac]

I am so with you on that Rod.. we try to by British but boy is it hard .. Lynn Miller wrote a great article on the buying local and how it would kickstart a sustainable economy.. what we have right now is not working. It needs a shift of thought by the majority. At the end of the day China has a big enough domestic market for its manufactured goods.. same with Japan and India and all the rest. Problem we have is the “professional” polititians that run things nowadays.. never had a job except politics.. meanwhile I try to make my family less reliant on outside influances like oil..
John

[jac]

What also angers me Geoff is the manner of how these cheap goods are made.. never mind the child labour{i dont mean never mind but more..as well as} but the fact that whole factories are set up to make stuff they know full well wont work.. and our import lot allow this to happen… a good friend of mine bought a “Husky” saw… it was orange with husky bar…that was as far as it went.. the effing thing could not be started and the on/off switch was off a toy.. the plastic was of sweet box quality..she got fleeced, my point is that here is a country churning out crap and shipping it to God knows where.
Rod I like your idea.. a lot !! theres way to much of the “dont say that, you dont want to upset them” crap !!
John

[jac]

Quite scarey when its laid out isnt it ? ..Britain is in as big a pickle… relatively speaking. Both the US and Britain seriously need to re industrialise.. we dont make tractors any more for cryin out loud… sure CNH have an assembly plant at Basildon but not a single tractor is truly made in the UK anymore.. our last match manufacturer closed down recently so we dont even make matches :o… computers and software is the byword and “service nation”:mad:..We in the western developed nations seem to move round the world seeking out cheap/child labour to make our images of percieved wealth… even Harley Davidson have opened a plant in India now !!! do they not want Americans to build the bike ??? Im all for free trade but you can only buy for so long… if you dont sell anything you cant make the money to buy… unless we follow Adolf’s idea and keep printing notes…
John

[jac]

Way I see it is that this “modern” banking system just doesnt work. 2 world wars have kept it going but now its failed…. 3 times on a large scale. When are the idiots that run the show going to get it thru their thick skulls that we need to change the system !? I am curious as to why China cant call in a debt ? We were in debt to the US for WW2 untill very recently so why is the US debt to China any different ? If you owe money you owe money… simple.. or least it is to me:D…
John

[jac]

OldKat can you set us straight on the stories in the papers that are to be believed… so far we have had the oil is running out, then it isnt, then a well was filling up again, then the water powered cars, then the hydrogen power, then the oil was a polutant on water, then it isnt and the sea cleans its self, now we have some kind of multiplyning thing on the oceon because of the stuff they sprayed on to clear up the BP cockup… whats next… petrolium products dont cause cancer, now that would be cool :cool:!!!!!!!…. As someone on the inside it would be great to have your opinion on the hype we get told… best regards..
John

[jac]

Good news guys !!!! HSBC bank has just announced that the next 40 years are to be “boom” times and that they have only just begun:D… they cant predict past 2050 tho…
John

[jac]

Charlie it may have been gunpowder:o was a long time ago I read it but it was definaitly to do with sparks and big bangs:D..
John

[jac]

A great picture sure enough Carl. I remember reading about how the mule trains that were hauling dynamite in rocky areas were fitted with bronze shoes.. Seems some archeologist had found a bronze shoe at a dig and wondered if it could be off an emperors horse mabey.. burst his bubble when he was told the real reason ..
John

[jac]

This is definaitly the wrong forum for the “doomsayers”… way too much hope on here !!!!
John

[jac]

Thanks Donn.. that sounds about right. My machine is an Albion from around 1920/30.. original metal was a pivot with the evener attatched in the centre with the pull bar on the bottom but as I had this slider off another model I thought I would save a bit of fabricating. Thanks again and I’ll let you know how it goes… got a start to the welding of my pto hitchcart BTW..
John

[jac]

Erik we have the “local” hype over here too.. At 1st glance it sounds great that these guys are buying local produce but as far as I can see all they are doing is creating “beef clubs” or whatever the produce is. They would be happy if the auction markets were to stop all together and that.. in my opinion.. would be a disaster !!!. We have tomatos in a store here in the summer that are grown not 5 miles from the shop and sold in the co-op… after they have traveled 250 miles to the manchester depot to be re packaged and sent 250 miles back again… if indeed it is the same tomatos.. which from a sustainable point of view it would be better if they wernt… crazy old world…
John

[jac]

Just a thought … but I personally dont think a major disaster like fuel running out would do our horses any favours !!!! sure we that can hitch a team would be ok but if society had to revert to animal traction I fear a lot of people would be using draft animals that didnt even like animals… it happened before on Scottish farms because the horse jobs paid the best and my grandfather often said he saw a lot of hamfisted men loose their temper and spoil a good team.. same thing must have happened in towns. We use horses/oxen because we have the CHOICE.. if fuel suddenly isnt an option then a whole line of folks would get a horse and cause mayhem. Personally I think the fuel prices will just keep creeping up and folks will cut corners by shopping for the cheapest.. which I fear will be produced under even more intense systems than we have now..
John

[jac]

Good points Erika… and Smalltown, another reason we dont drive as far is the uncool cars we have… most have as much grunt as a hairdrier:D…joking aside… things are going to get tight for a while I recon…
John

[jac]

$3.19…. a gallon !!!!!!! We are getting our petrol for the bargain price of £4.88 or near enough $7/ gallon !!!! tractor diesel is running at around the same as you guys pay for road fuel… im assuming agricultural fuel is subsidised with you too.. not looking great for any economic recovery here any time soon…
John

[jac]

I seem to remember a book review in SFJ a few years ago about dynamiting horses !!!!!:eek: dont know if this is the same book tho…
John

[Author]

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