Spokane7
65°
April 10, 2011 in City
Consumers in area struggle as food prices rise
Bad weather, political unrest and a foundering U.S. economy contribute
Donna Sampson purchases in bulk with her monthly Social Security check at Sonnenberg’s Market at 1528 E. Sprague Ave.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
Donna Sampson was up in the middle of the night earlier this month checking online to see if her Social Security payment had been deposited in her bank account.
Without the money, she wouldn’t be able to buy food later that day.
“I make a list and buy once a month,” Sampson said, and that purchase has to feed the three people in her home for the next 30 days. “You have to figure out a way to do it.”
She is not alone. Living with a tight food budget is becoming a more common experience across the Inland Northwest as prices for food, energy and other consumables climb higher.
Experts said price inflation is likely to persist for the foreseeable future.
The cost of food nationally is rising 5 percent a year, according to a February estimate by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Severe winter weather across major southern growing areas, including Mexico, are pushing up fruit and vegetable prices at a rate of 10.9 percent a year. Meat, fish and eggs are rising by 7.6 percent a year, the government said.
Consumers are trying to adjust by cutting back on more costly items, shopping sales or buying in bulk.
“You get inventive,” said Sampson, who is retired.
On April 1 after her Social Security payment had arrived, Sampson drove to Sonnenberg’s Market & Deli, 1528 E. Sprague Ave., to stock up.
She was joined by a longtime friend, who is also retired, lives on a small Social Security pension and struggles to make ends meet.
Sampson, of Spokane Valley, takes her bulk meat purchases and divides them into individual meal portions, which she freezes for later use. She lives with her husband and an adult son.
Her grocery bill that day was $230 for meat, which will have to last until May, she said.
When Sampson runs short, she goes to the food bank.
Hope Belieu, a checkout clerk at Sonnenberg’s, said she knows the struggle. She sees it repeatedly there, especially in the first 10 days of the month when state food stamp allotments are deposited into recipients’ accounts.
Belieu, too, has learned to be a bargain hunter when it comes to feeding three children and a fiancé, plus other friends who might show up at mealtime at her Spokane home.
“I price shop,” she said, spending at least $500 a month on meat and groceries. “When I go grocery shopping I get my calculator out.”
Belieu keeps close track of her food spending. She said her average per-pound cost for meat has gone from $1.80 to $2.25 in the past two years.
Her family’s diet consists of an increasing number of stews and soups made from the bones and trimmings off larger cuts of meat, or lesser-priced stocks.
Dan Englehart, the manager at Sonnenberg’s, said he’s seeing buying habits change as well. Customers are increasingly choosing things such as chicken hindquarters, which are useful in simmered meals and for making soup stock.
“We’ve noticed people buying lesser cuts,” Englehart said.
For value, he recommends prepacked meat boxes or ground beef.
The role of oil
The upward price pressure traces back to international oil markets, and to a government monetary policy intended to stimulate weakened economies.
Assistant economics professor Ryan Herzog at Gonzaga University said, “Oil is kind of the driver in all of these food price increases.”
The current problem started with the economic recession in 2008 and 2009 and the anemic recovery since, Herzog said.
The Federal Reserve has chosen to keep interest rates very low to provide economic stimulus at the same time the Fed has increased the money supply, he said. As a result, the U.S. dollar has been devalued on international markets. Oil has gone up in price to compensate for the weakened dollar, Herzog said.
On top of that, unrest in North Africa and the Middle East has forced prices up further. “Oil prices have been going up pretty steadily for the past year,” he said.
AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report shows that the average price of a gallon of gasoline has risen 87 cents in the past year. Most of that increase has occurred since September.
Herzog said inflation is a predictable outcome of the Fed’s easy monetary policy. Economists believed that the upward swing in consumer prices would start within two years of the easing, and it has, he said.
In addition, drought and wildfires last year in Russia and rains in Australia have caused wheat prices to accelerate. China may need to import more grain as a result of drought there, which adds price pressure to grain markets. Corn in the U.S. is being diverted to ethanol production for gasoline blends.
Locally, chicken farmers said feed prices have gone up about 20 percent, forcing them to raise prices for local farm-raised eggs to $5 a dozen for the coming farmers market season.
Pinch on food banks
All of this plays into the price of food at the checkout counter.
Food manufacturers have responded by repackaging items into smaller quantities, which has the effect of passing along the increase without being as noticeable.
A Rosauers store on the South Hill posted a sign in the fruit and vegetable section last month warning that produce prices had gone up temporarily because of severe winter weather.
Camille Sullivan, co-manager of the Food Sense program in Spokane, works with youth and adults on limited incomes to help them get the most out of their food dollars.
She said her clients “are finding it harder and harder to make food last through the month.”
As a result, food bank outlets become an indispensable part of the food supply for many families and individuals, she said.
Rod Wieber, the chief resource officer for Second Harvest, which supplies local food banks, said that donations are holding up, but that fuel costs are squeezing his agency.
The fuel cost for hauling a semitruck load of surplus produce from Northern California to Spokane has increased from $2,800 to $4,000, he said. “It is very significant,” he said.
Local surveys show that 1 in 6 people in the Inland Northwest face concerns about where they will get enough food to eat – a situation referred to as “food security,” according to a survey from the Feeding America organization with assistance from a University of Illinois professor.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says a family of four with two small children would spend $6,000 a year on what it considers a “thrifty” and nutritional food budget and $11,800 on a “liberal” food budget.
Less meat
Sullivan recommends that shoppers buy items on sale and build menus around those things. A sale is also a good time to buy extra.
Often, frozen vegetables are a lower-cost alternative and just as nutritious as fresh vegetables, she said.
Sullivan said planning menus can also cut costs. Starting a garden, reducing meat consumption and eating staples such as cooked dried beans can save money, too.
“Cooking from scratch is always cheaper,” she said. “It’s cheaper to eat in, of course.”
Shane Delforge, a manager at Fresh Abundance Local and Organic Foods, 2015 N. Division St., said he has cut down on meat and increased the amount of organic vegetables he eats, and he feels better as a result.
“You don’t have to eat like a king all of the time,” he said.
Nutritionally, more produce and whole grains are healthier, Delforge said.
“People are starving themselves even though they are eating,” he said.
Fresh Abundance delivers variety produce boxes to its customers with prices starting at $35 and containing locally grown products when available in season. Fresh Abundance and other markets offer local foods such as grass-fed beef and milk and free-range chicken and eggs.
Shannon Kessler, who buys for her family, said she shops the sales and buys at lower-priced outlets. The price of the bread her children like more than doubled recently to $3.19 a loaf.
Her current answer to fighting food inflation: “I’m going to do a garden this year.”
MLK Jr. Way opens Thursday 
mikeln on April 10 at 3:23 a.m.
The new american diet, raise prices untill people get thin, real thin. Just another way for these fascist bankers to control the people. If we do not take back what is ours, what our government gave the few to profit from, we are doomed to stay the economic slaves we’ve become. Oil is, and has been the number one security issue in our nation, yet remains in private control. Wake up people, take back what your corrupt elected officals gave to their buddies before it is to late. To late to stock up, you can’t afford it now and that’s the way they wanted it. Can you say baa?
polistra on April 10 at 3:48 a.m.
Nonsense. There’s no inflation. Ben Bernanke says there’s no inflation because the Core Inflation number is zero. Ben says it, I believe it, that settles it.
All you have to do is give up those foolish Non-Core habits and stick to the Core. Don’t bother with luxuries like eggs and soup and heat; instead buy Arugula In A Balsamic Reduction and 600-Horsepower Maybach Saloons and Gulfstream Jets and 12-paks of Disposable Mexican Servants. Basic core stuff.
See how easy it is? Easy as cake. I mean pie.
oneanddone on April 10 at 6:46 a.m.
The Idaho Politburo loves it when food prices go up. After all, higher food prices = more sales tax from the Idaho taxpayer, which can then be funneled to business special interests by slugs like Goedde, Nonini, Otter, Luna, and Hart. Ain’t it grand.
Ninch on April 10 at 6:49 a.m.
Bankers control food prices?
mikeln on April 10 at 7:13 a.m.
The fed, that prints and gives these banksters free money is responsible for the weak dollor….leads to inflation, for food and everything else. Granted, there are other factors, bad weather and oil companies money grab and such, but yes. Government subsidies that keep farm land out of production is also a cause, one the american taxpayer pays for, a hidden cost on food that does not show up at the market.
Orphan on April 10 at 7:28 a.m.
Come on Ninch everyone knows the bankers and the super rich want everyone else poor, really poor the poorer the better. That way there will be no one except for the bankers and super rich to buy their goods and services and to be able to pay taxes. A healthy productive society will in no way benifit the bankers and super rich. Ninch you should have learned by now and because you have not you will have to attend special reeducation classes at the commune.
idahocity on April 10 at 7:33 a.m.
time to get rid of the federal reserve bank owned in part by queen elizabeth and the rockefellers. the currency of this nation should not be issued by a private group for their profit.
end the fed.
monkeyman on April 10 at 7:52 a.m.
What about the corn that is going into the gas tanks as ethanol. It has been a direct contributor to higher food prices for last several years, not just recently.
Also, as much as possible go veggie.
berrybestfarm on April 10 at 7:53 a.m.
When you listen carefully to what was/is driving the unrest in Africa and the middle east it is government change because the people want jobs, lower food and energy prices. The same thing is happening all over the world—even here in the late great nation of the United States. People are not lazy. They want to work for their keep and be able to afford the most basic staples of life. There is something fundamentally destructive being produced by the alliances between government and business and It is happening world wide. When does our own revolution start?
Dennis Patterson—Deer Park
Orphan on April 10 at 8:21 a.m.
Berrybestfarm gets it
monkeyman on April 10 at 8:28 a.m.
Good times if you are a corn farmer and not just a consumer.
“Filling the 25-gallon tank of an SUV with pure ethanol requires over 450 pounds of corn — which contains enough calories to feed one person for a year. “
From June 2007: “How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor”
http://www.nytimes.com/cfr/world/20070501faessay_v86n3_runge_senauer.html
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“The spike in the price of corn that’s hurting Boerboom and other pork producers isn’t caused by any big dip in the overall supply. In the U.S., last year’s harvest was 10.5 billion bushels, the third-largest crop ever. But instead of going into the maws of pigs or cattle or people, an increasing slice of that supply is being transformed into fuel for cars. The roughly 5 billion gallons of ethanol made in 2006 by 112 U.S. plants consumed nearly one-fifth of the corn crop. If all the scores of factories under construction or planned go into operation, fuel will gobble up no less than half of the entire corn harvest by 2008.”
From Feb 2007: (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_06/b4020093.htm)
A longer reads for those interested:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10057/MainText.4.1.shtml
mikeln on April 10 at 8:47 a.m.
The wealthy are no longer interested in a healthy american economy, they are busy building a middle class in china and india. Much more profit potental there then here where people want to work and pay their bills but can’t because of non-livable wages and rising cost just to live. People should have became worried when payday loan places started poping up everywhere there was a closed out retail space. This is nothing more then a company store economy with the middle class the losers. To say that the already too wealthy need us is just plain ignorance.
SugarShane on April 10 at 8:53 a.m.
Thanks for pointing that out monkeyman. Hemp could produce all the biofuel we could ever use but is illegal because someone might try and get high on some hemp with no THC in it, and people that make their money on timber and oil would be up a creek. The most important thing we can do as Americans is protect the interests of our corporate masters. We fight wars for them, live in poverty for them, and produce the goods and services that keep them wealthy. Oh wait, never mind, thats the corporate American dream.
hawken on April 10 at 8:59 a.m.
Inflation is caused by several things. None of which are banks.
- Supply and demand: First on the list, oil. World demand for oil has increased greatly as previous, third world nations demand more oil. Add to that, our nation moves by commercial trucking. Inflated fuel prices inflate prices to everything that ships by trucks. Add to that, revolution throughout the Middle East. Add to that that we are sitting on more oil than all of OPEC combined, here out home but refuse to drill more oil and build new gasoline refineries. Add to that Obama praising Brazil last week, for drilling more oil with the promise that we will be buying more of Brazil’s oil, again, transferring billions of US dollars to another country.
Another example related to oil: We have converted our food to a form of gasoline. Namely, ethanol. A large portion of our corn crops are now used to produce ethanol. Thus, reducing the amount of corn available for our food supply. Thus, greatly inflating the price of corn due to high demand and less supply.
Corn is also a food for our cattle, hogs and other livestock. Thus, we see the inflated prices of beef, pork and other meat products.
- Devaluation of the U.S. Dollar: In order for our economy to function there needs to be sufficient U.S. dollars in circulation, here at home. Since we transfer hundreds of billions of US dollars overseas, most prominently through our dependency on foreign oil, we have an insufficient money supply here at home. Solution. Print more money just as the FED has been doing for some time. At least $600 Billion, crisp, new, dollar bills. Printed out of thin air. The more dollars we print out of think air, the less the dollar is worth.
Unsustainable U.S. Debt. We have to borrow money just to pay the “interest expense alone” on our debt. Meanwhile, we continue out of control, big government spending which causes more debt,,,, which requires more borrowing,,, which results in higher interest expense,,,, which requires more borrowing,,, and on and on. This is a formula guaranteed to end in a “crash and burn,” the same way an airplane goes into a spin and crashes nose first into the ground killing all aboard.
Inflation is the widely accepted, solution to get out of our current mess. At this point in the game, the plan is to inflate our way out.
When one boils it all down, inflation is caused by flawed government policy at home (directly related to oil) and abroad, along with wars we fight to maintain our supply of oil, some natural disasters (Japan) and other less prominent things. Most prominently, inflation is caused by the price of oil on the world market and bad U.S. policy at home.
Inflation is here. It will get much worse before it gets better. Inflation is the solution being implemented by the U.S. government as the fix to our problems. This is very tricky and very, very dangerous.
The FED must start raising interest rates before inflation gets out of control. That is the tricky part which rarely works in time to avoid the inflationary damage suffered by all. Just study the Jimmy Carter administration.
We are in a much more dangerous situation today as the world economy teeters on collapse. Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, to name a few.
hawken on April 10 at 9:00 a.m.
I see that monkeyman addressed the corn issue while I was composing my post.
Albert on April 10 at 9:01 a.m.
2 years ago we “invested” in a quality food dryer. We have taken out “flowers” and replaced them with veggies. I cut down the Austrian Black Pine and Willow tree, by hand, this last month, stacked the rounds and they are for sale. They were replaced with Apple trees and Cherry trees. We dry a variety of veggies and fruits and the savings is VERY impressive during the winter months. Not kidding. Occasionally we buy some chicken, or extra lean ground round, but that is becoming less of an option.
Until we find begin to seriously tap our massive oil fields, then we can expect to be held hostage to the slug oil companies and a private corporation called the “Federal? Reserve” .
In the Carter years, we had “odd - even” days for filling up our cars. The gas prices back then, reached $4. a gallon and shut the U.S. down cold.
Food prices will continue to soar with the ever-increasing cost of oil. The answer to the problem begins with production of our massive oil fields in the U.S. We have the oil good friends, but we simply do not want to drill for it, thus we are in the midst of ever-growing poverty.
I’m broke, my neighbors are broke, my friends, are broke, so what’s left? I could care less about the corrupt politicians, but we do need to toss them all and get to drilling NOW!
Thoreau on April 10 at 9:36 a.m.
Albert has the right idea. Self-sufficiency is the way to go, if you can do it. But don’t wait for an impending crisis like this story offers.
Ever think of what would happen if a higher authority shut down every restaurant and food store?
That’s when “the revolution” begins, berrybestfarm.
We assume we will always have access to food, but we are at the mercy of the providers of the food and water we take for granted.
The fastest way to have the people revolt is starve them - history can prove that.
west on April 10 at 9:38 a.m.
Obama’s goons say there is no inflation.is SS getting a raise next Jan 1?? I see a revolution coming between the peasants and the gov workers…
mikeln on April 10 at 9:45 a.m.
They are drilling and so fast the regulators can not keep up with them, story in the spokesman about three weeks ago. There never where any regs that kept them from doing this, just greed. Now that the speculators have been allowed to drive the price of fuel up, they drill. Our american economy is a ponzi scheme, developed by banksters for banksters. They are no doubt a crimminal element allowed to opperate as a buisness. Hawken is right about inflation, it is one red hot demon that can cause the failure of nations, or fix the problem if used right, which rarely happens. One option is to burn all the excess money the already too wealthy have accumulated, leave them just as broke as the rest of us and start over again.
Orphan on April 10 at 9:50 a.m.
Well said Albert and Thoreau
Mikein Do you really believe that the Indians and the Chinese are going to sit back and allow American businessmen to come on in and take over the business there, if so you are the ignorant one. Your logic is all backwards the good old USA imports much more than we export thats a big part of the problem.
The decline of the middle class has a lot to do, as Hawkin pointed out, with goverment policys and the fact that the greedy middle class would rather purchase the made in Japan TV than the made in the USA TV. The middle class shot themselves in the foot when they started purchasing foreign products. Businessmen then reacted by supplying less expensive products but to do that they had to manufacture their products where labor cost less and regulations were fewer. Other wise how could they compete with the cheap products that middle class America were buying from overseas.
eagleproducer on April 10 at 9:50 a.m.
albert hit the smart button!
My family has been growing over half of our food annually for decades.
Fred Meyer has 6x4x6 Greenhouses on sale right now for 89.99 (with the coupon). This unit has 10 sweet shelves that can fit up to 30 flats of starters. That’s like 500 plants! If you have grass, dig it up and plant food. Your grass is unsustainable, wasteful and won’t do jack to feed you come winter.
I grew up in the 1970’s. I don’t remember gas ever approaching a dollar during that “crises” let alone four dollars. Crude went from around fifteen dollars a barrel to near forty dollars a barrel. Gas went from around 35 cents a gallon to over 75.
He’s also correct about tossing incumbents, but I’ll bet anyone the entirety of my wealth that Cathy McMorris Rogers will be re-elected in 2012 if she decides to run, which she will, because she’s never really had a job and doesn’t really know how to do anything except wear the right clothes, stand behind the right men and barely stammer out the party line when forced to speak to the public or media.
nitro71 on April 10 at 9:50 a.m.
People in Spokane might have to make a choice. Buy their dope whether it be prescription, pot, alcohol or other or buy food and put clothes on their kids backs. This town is full of self medicating street rats.
johnclarke on April 10 at 9:53 a.m.
Thanks for the cut and paste lecture Professor. So let me see if I can guess what you are trying to say. Obama is doing something wrong, is that about it ?
This article really speaks to something else - the importance of Social Security and local food banks. Imagine if Social Security had been turned over to Wall Street (!) Also, try and contribute to your local food bank. Go through your kitchen and empty out anything you will not use. Someone else might be able to use it.
I would forget about shopping anywhere except Winco. They have the lowest prices I have seen. Also, they have an extensive bulk food section. I would not spend extra money on “free range” anything. There is no evidence that it’s healthier for you. Although, there is no argument it’s more humane.
eagleproducer on April 10 at 9:56 a.m.
miekln: Nice! None of the minions in the U.S. who claim we can produce our own supply of cheap crude oil want to know that the reason we haven’t already is because those sources remaining are very expensive to locate, extract and process. The only reason they are viable now is because of the high price of oil.
If we had listened to Carter nearly forty years ago that energy security was our most important priority we’d be well on our way to weaning dependence from fossil fuels and energy independence. We are way behind the eight ball now, mainly because of GOP policies and government give-aways to oil companies.
hawken on April 10 at 9:58 a.m.
A summary point from my post above. On second consideration, I thought I should state it succinctly. Rather than assume everyone will connect the dots.
Republicans are attempting to correct our mess by significant cuts in government spending, stopping the ever increasing debt with it’s ever increasing interest expense (see above).
Democrats fix for the problem is full speed ahead with the spending and debt. The Obama administration and Senate meanwhile have implemented the “inflation” fix to get us out of this mess.
Soon the “debt limit” will be up for debate. We all know how that will go.
Republicans will argue to make significant cuts before they agree to increase the debt limit.
Democrats will scream about the Republicans hate for grandma, children and puppies to justify the “necessity” to raise the debt limit.
If Republicans stay true to form, they will again cave to the wreckless spending of liberals. The debt ceiling will again be raised without significant cuts in spending,,,, and our downward, uncontrolled, spiral to the crash will continue.
Then of course, grandma, children and the puppies will have been well served, as we live through the greater, great depression.
Those who are in a state of denial to the above probability are blinded by the “Normalcy Bias.”
eagleproducer on April 10 at 9:59 a.m.
Big plant sale in Browne’s Addition during the upcoming Art Fest. Look for the signs to buy great organically grown, locally raised, carbon neutral plant starts!
leekinny on April 10 at 10:01 a.m.
Truly harmful political correctness exist within the ‘you’re either with us or against us’ right wing of the Republican Party where strict loyalty is demanded, down to accepting every talking point, including coddling of international corporations
The far right big conservative mucky mucks must not only be amazed, but overcome with giddiness that every lie and distortion they fling against the wall sticks. They must also have contempt for their malleable base and bad backs from bending over for corporations who have used favorable legislation greedily, rather than investing in the US.
We are all ambassadors for America when we leave our shores and that includes business.
If you care about human rights, it’s plain that a sizable portion of the money we save buying cheap imports, is money that’s being used to subjugate others. There’s a direct link between trade policy, the consumer and human rights violations throughout the Third World. Money spent on these products highlights not only international corporate indifference to the plight of our fellow human beings but compliance with child labor and slavery, while our ignorance allows it to continue.
hawken on April 10 at 10:12 a.m.
Clarke; The only cut and paste is in blue,,,, the blockquote,,, the light blue area in my post.
The rest of my post is my original composition. “Cut and Paste” is you routine “Red Herring” in an attempt to discredit, which is your common practice when you’re incapable of addressing the facts.
Just block copy one of my paragraphs and do a Google. With a whole paragraph, it will show up at the top of the list if I plagiarized it. Which I did not. You will not find it on Google. It is my original composition.
Your phony personal attacks such as this, is something I will have to endure. On occasion, I will respond directly as now.
The more you do it, the more you discredit yourself. At least among thinking people.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on April 10 at 10:18 a.m.
Hawken, have the conservatives ever done anything bad in the history of this country? Or are they perfect and have always been perfect for as long as time?
Also, has a liberal or democrat ever done anything to satisfy you or have they always been horrible, horrible un-American people trying to destroy this country?
Diana on April 10 at 10:21 a.m.
Having been born on January 20, 2008, fake PhD hawken refers to the “wreckless spending of liberals”.
Too bad he wasn’t around 2000-2008 when conservatives spent like drunken sailors and the Republican president raised the debt ceiling three times.
If he were around, he would know about unfunded wars and their crashed economy and that the fix we’re in today has everything to do with conservatives spending during those years.
johnclarke on April 10 at 10:24 a.m.
My attacks are not phony, they are real. Let’s start with this.
“Add to that that we are sitting on more oil than all of OPEC combined, here out home but refuse to drill more oil and build new gasoline refineries. ”
Prove it. Prove that the oil exists where it can be reached and is economically viable.
greenlibertarian on April 10 at 10:28 a.m.
Another thread full of misinformation and conspiracy theories, but let’s cut to the bone, shall we?
The price of the bread her children like more than doubled recently to $3.19 a loaf.
That sounds like a load of bull, but even at $1.59 a loaf, that’s too much to spend when you’re on a tight budget.
I can and do buy Freddy’s cheapest wheat bread for 75 cents a loaf, and can buy superior loaves of bread at Grocery Outlet/Bargain Market for 99 cents to $1.29 a loaf. (100% Whole Wheat, Honey-Wheatberry, 7 Grain etc.)
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Ethanol’s subsidies should be cut back, however one must remember that Ethanol functions as an oxygenator that helps burn gasoline more cleanly, and replaced the carcinogen (and more expensive) MTBE as a fuel additive.
hawken on April 10 at 10:36 a.m.
Liberal: Not true conservatives.
Phony conservatives such as Bush surely have. Bush is responsible for the second, largest, deficits in recent history. Outdone only by Obama who holds first place.
As I have demonstrated above. Our deficits by and large have been due to our need for oil. Like it or not, we need oil. We don’t drill our own oil to the extent we could, because of liberals. Rather than drill our own oil, we spend trillions to fight wars to insure our oil supplies. Thus our huge deficits, Bush and Obama. Now add to that, the liberal world view to continue our out of control spending, borrowing and debt.
In the Democrat party there are liberals, far left liberals and self-proclaimed socialists such as Bernie Sanders, who by the way, is a ranking member in the Democrat party.
There are also “Blue Dog,” conservative Democrats cut from the mold of JFK who would probably be a “moderate Republican” by today’s measure.
In the Republican Party there are liberal Republicans, true conservatives and RINO Republicans (Republicans In Name Only).
I’ll defend a proven, conservative, world view. See our US Constitution for the standard.
I will oppose liberals from both parties every chance I get.
This is NOT “Rocket Science.” It does NOT require a Ph.D. to figure it out. It’s called, basic, American, home grown, common sense. Which has been demonstrated on this string by others as well.
hawken on April 10 at 10:48 a.m.
Clarke:
The earth is flat.
We cannot put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth within 10 yrs.
The evil empire, former USSR cannot be defeated. Mr. President, please do not call them a “evil empire!” Please do not say “tear down this wall!”
Just look at the technological accomplishment in the world. Who are the authors? Americans! Private sector, entrepreneurial, work in your garage Americans! See Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, and on and on.
Clarke; In my demonstrated, not so humble opinion, you are a typical, pessimistic, liberal who sees big government as the mother’s teat for human existence.
There is not a people in the world that can even come close to American ingenuity!
“Necessity is The Mother of Invention.” That will naturally take place based upon our American DNA,,,, as long as we can keep the heavy hand of a nanny state government out of the way. Which is our current problem.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on April 10 at 10:48 a.m.
Hawken, so many things wrong with that statement I cannot respond to them all.
However, you keep forgetting oil will not last forever, we cannot drill our way out of anything because oil WILL and IS running out.
Both parties are responsible for the debt, but Bush and the republicans are more responsible by sending us to two wars unpaid for and tax breaks and endless tax loopholes for corporations and the wealthy that they choose to keep open. No matter what you or other conservatives say planned parenthood, the EPA and NPR have not and never will cause this country to go into debt. Its not that difficult to see why we are in debt, just have to stop listening to Rush and Fox News to find the truth.
Also, Bernie Sanders is a independent he is not part of the democratic leadership - in fact most democratic leader don’t like him, nice try though. However if we had more senators like Bernie Sanders who stood up against the corporate greed and the corporate lobbyists we might not be in such the sh*thole we are in now.
johnclarke on April 10 at 11:04 a.m.
Yeah, as I figured Professor. No facts, no proof. Why don’t you trot out that chart of oil producing nations and their price of gas again? That’s always good for a laugh.
Oil is priced high due to speculation. Duh. They are sitting on all time high surplus oil right now.
Dazzeetrader11 on April 10 at 11:09 a.m.
ALibaba has spent like no other 3 presidents. To cover himself, he’s had the printing presses working overtime. This leads to a weak..(weak as it’s been in 30 years). This dilutes valeu of the dollar. Bernanke sent trillions of the fed money ( our taxpayer money) to somewhere.we don’t know and Ron Paul’s trying to MAKE him show us the books…….Bernanke is refusing and hiding under “privelege” fo Obama.
Meanwhile, Obama’s continued to spend like he wants to do damage to the taxpayer. He does. So RYna shows up with a serious budget. Now…Obama’s taking credit for the spending cuts from Friday night…whaat laugh. Plouffe is running around of the talk shows claiming Ryan’s budget is really Obamas! lolol.
Would somebody fire the whole Administration please!?!?!?! It’s the same now as it was then. Obama’s trying to kill off and weaken the US.
FOOD prices, as with gas prices, will continue to rise. Weak dollar and a president who continues to assault America as he tries his best to turn us to socialism with government controlling everything. Fire these jerks.
To escape…Obama will try to raise the debt ceiling. He seriously needs to get out of here! He’ll continue to try to kill of America if he raises it. No sense to cut spending if the debt ceiling is raised. It just goes on and on. Obama’s behind this whole debacle you’re witnessing. DOn’t you guys have fear yet? More than the prior 8 years? I bet you do. It’s by design. Wake up America!!
johnclarke on April 10 at 11:11 a.m.
I guess that’s what this thread was missing; Daisy.
Dazzeetrader11 on April 10 at 11:40 a.m.
I know Clarkie. I’m setting them straight.
Cannot keep spending. Obama will make you hallucinte that things are going along according to plan. Devalue the dollar so it doesn’t buy much. Prices rise…..it’s how it works. He knows that. He doesn’t care.
I’d cut more.
Many think this is a movie….like “it” can’t happen even though the US breakdown is happening before their very eyes. I don’t understand that.
hawken on April 10 at 11:41 a.m.
Liberal: That you are not able to respond, abundantly makes my point.
Clarke: Higher oil prices are due to an huge increase in world wide demand and decreased supply. What you don’t understand is that the law of “supply and demand” is
a universal law, not unlike the law of gravity.
The evil speculators (per your implication), make short term profits or suffer short term losses based upon their short term analysis of supply and demand.
You really need to study the commodities market, basic eocomics and gain a better understanding of speculators as a legitimate element of the market, which obviously you do not.
Speculators do NOT establish long term price trends in oil prices or anything else for that matter.,
Worldwide stock markets pay a price today, for a given stock, because they believe, based upon economic fundamentals, that the price of that stock will increase in value in the future. If they are correct they benefit financially. If they are incorrect, they lose money. Financial reward and risk go hand in hand. Your problem, is that you want a guaranteed “reward” without “risk.” Thus, you depend upon the socialist “teat” of big government.
Maybe you purchased real estate of some kind, in the past, believing that real estate would increase in value in the future, as did I. I’m loosing on my real estate investments today. What about you? Did you invest in Real Estate of some kind?
On the other hand, at the same time, I purchased a significant amount of silver bullion at $11/ounce. Today, it’s worth over $40 an ounce. You do the math. All in all, I have made significant gains to date, because I understand world markets and economics. Which you do not.
When the markets go up your investment in real estate nets you a profit. When markets go down, you loose. Nevertheless, you invest in what you believe will produce a net gain. So do I.
The alternative you and your like offer is communist China. Let the government rule my life.
I’m growing weary of your ignorance of the world economy, economic laws and your liberal/socialist world view which is on it’s face destroying our American greatness.
There’s more I can say. First digest this if you can.
Here’s the bottom line, difference between you and me. You depend upon the crumbs from big government. Consequently, you, nor your posterity will ever have a better future, as long as you are dependent upon the socialist “teat” of big government.
I do not and have never banked my familie’s future on the “teat” of big government. Apparently, my family and I are light years ahead of your world view, concerning our personal, financial well standing and economic future.
Your whole, world view, is dependent upon the good will and growth of a nanny state big government. Mine is not.
Clarke: Your ignorance of economics is obvious to all who have at least a basic understanding of the same. I would call you a fool, hypothetically, of course.
However,,,, attention SAR moderators,,, I AM NOT calling Clarke a fool. It’s only a hypothetical, lest my post be deleted as in the past. On this point, I am being ONLY ‘hypothetical.”
The readers of the SAR blogg should be able to decide for themselves. Don’t you think? It’s called the marketplace of ideas.
johnclarke on April 10 at 12:03 p.m.
Oh, you insufferable blowhard Hawken. You don’t know anything about me. This is your normal reaction when I ask you to back your posts with facts and data. You can’t, so you act like a little baby. What, you own one rental house ? This makes you a real estate expert ? My real estate investments are now worth in excess 900k and 100% rented, thank you very much.
“Because oil has become a form of investment and a hedge against rising inflation. People plough their savings into oil and speculators drive the markets. As Saudi Arabia correctly observes, the price of oil is no longer determined merely by supply and demand.”
http://www.globalpolitician.com/24980-oil
Note: the author is a genuine PhD. That is what we like to call facts and data. If you wish to post here, please back up what you say and refrain from the really odd preaching - it’s boring.
leekinny on April 10 at 12:08 p.m.
On one of the other threads there’s complaining about how the rich pay all the taxes and the poor nothing.
Government taxation is not the only kind. Corporate taxation hits the poor very hard. Every time a corporation raises it’s prices it takes from those who must by their product.
The poor spend all their money on food, housing and transportation. They end up giving all their money to either the government or corporations, With the largest portions going to the latter. Whatever ends up being passed down hurts the people on the bottom most, since the largest portion of their income goes to necessities.
The corporations take the most and have the responsibility to give back to their country a portion, of the sweat, blood and treasure, they take from it. They should also have enough respect for the nation to keep it clean, too.
liagarden on April 10 at 12:11 p.m.
Buying less of the “industialized agriculture” meat in the grocery store will not only save you money, but save your health. Save your money for grass-fed or local meats, when they come on sale at health-food stores or small butcher shops. See my fb pages, blog and website. Grow some edibles or start a garden. Even a small one (6X6) can save a family hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Garden of Lia is a non-profit that can help with seeds, vegetable starts, or the planning of a garden. Lia Emet-Katzman or Lia Katzman or Garden of Lia gardenoflia@yahoo
Dazzeetrader11 on April 10 at 12:18 p.m.
I’m looking at Obama’s budget offering today. Among the fundamental difference is Obama’s is that ( you’ll see this Wednesday) Obama RAISES tax while Ryan’s CUTS taxes. HUGE difference at first blush.
Looks like Obama’s trying to take Ryans budget and reword it and call it his own. What a crock of trash Obama is.
Orphan on April 10 at 12:38 p.m.
Eagleproducer @ 9:50 gets it.
I sold gas for 17.9 cents per gallon durung a gas war in 1971.
We should vote McMorris out the next go around, the question is are we smart enough to do it. Are we smart enough to vote for a 3rd party candidate or simple change partys and go back to suffering the same results from a different angle.
hawken on April 10 at 12:54 p.m.
Clarke; Here’s my question repeated to you above as you trash investors, all of whom are “speculators.”
“Maybe you purchased real estate of some kind, in the past, believing that real estate would increase in value in the future, as did I. I’m loosing on my real estate investments today.
What about you? Did you invest in Real Estate of some kind?”
If you “honestly” answer yes to the above, you are a “speculator.”
If you answer “no” to the above, you are nether an “investor” nor a “speculator,” one in the same.
You are a demonstrated, dependent, totally dependent upon the government “teat,” with your previous service to the USAF. Whatever that means.
Don’t get me wrong. I do in fact appreciate your service. No matter how limited or how prominent. That’s not my point.
You propagate a liberal, socialist, world view. That flies in the face of the majority of our troops.
Not to put you in the same class, but you must admit, that simply serving in the US Military, doe NOT necessarily, make one a true patriot. Nor, does military service alone make one an authority on basic economics. Which clearly, you are not.
Only a few cites to prove my point:
One of the most decorated generals in American history, a trusted subordinate of Commanding general George Washington. Who? Benedict Arnold.
Timothy McVeigh. Honorably discharged. Thank you for your service Timothy! NOT.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan murdered 13 American Troops because he was an Islamic Radical, American Army Officer!
Anyway, Clarke. Since you are not currently included in the above. Thank you for your service to our country.
Meanwhile, I recommend that you enroll in some basic classes on economics at either of the two campuses of Spokane Community College. One of the best CC on the West Coast according to some.
leekinny on April 10 at 1:24 p.m.
liagarden :
I’ve been gardening organically for years. it’s not only more economical, it taste better and has more vitamins.
I hope it’s a better year than last year, although the late frost was nice. Without it I wouldn’t of had any green beans at all and a whole lot fewer tomatoes.
Because of last year I’m putting down black plastic for the first time.
johnclarke on April 10 at 1:25 p.m.
You are not right in the head Hawken, and since you clearly can’t stay on topic I will get back to my garden.
mikeln on April 10 at 1:43 p.m.
Like I have said before, when you depend on others you lose some of your freedom. Your great granparents were much more free then you are, they knew how to live with what they had, not things from some corporation. The energy I use to power my computor was produced right here, in my own back yard. I use producer gas from wood scrap I collect. This is used to opperate a greenhouse year around. I have a huge backyard full of deer, bear, grouse, rabbits and turkeys. I thank my creator every day for what I have. Greed is the cause of all the problems we suffer today and will destroy us if we do not put a stop to it. For a so called christian nation, we sure are hell bent on destroying it. The way we are told we have to live, in debt from birth till death, is just plain wrong and doesn’t have to be. We need to take back what was ours in the first place untill corrupt people gave it away to their even more corrupt friends for a handfull of dimes.
hawken on April 10 at 2:19 p.m.
Clarke: Not that you have to answer the question. But I am as curious as a cat!
Are you and Misjudgment, husband and wife? You have so much in common!
mikeln on April 10 at 2:35 p.m.
For people who despise government control why would you let a corporate controled government control every aspect of your life? Every thing you do puts a profit in big oils account and they use that profit to keep you strung up by the short hairs on your a$$. Good luck too you, people like you are going to need it in the very near future as the people that own you are coming to demand payment in full.
leekinny on April 10 at 2:41 p.m.
Sometimes it’s irresistible to feed the trolls. That doesn’t mean they have something going on.
Sometimes it’s, just so, hard to keep from getting sucked in by outrageous imbecility, even when you know you’ll get lost in a circling whirlpool of right wing torturing of all that is true.
OOOh! They like to torture, don’t they.
leekinny on April 10 at 3:33 p.m.
mikeln:
I’m a little bit envious of the place you have. Almost had it on a hill top in the middle of nowhere MO. On one corner of the property you could see across a long valley of flowered dogwoods in the spring. There was a different path for me.
We can’t all do that. Our country would be stripped bare if we all lived like that.
We have to get together in a group and decide how we will attack our various problems. Sometime it’s almost impossible to get a group of people together on just getting more pizza and beer.
The rules to do that is called government. It’s so we don’t shoot each other over pepperoni or mushrooms.
When the group gets larger we need individuals to stand for the group that wants pepperoni, mushrooms, only cheese, or whatever.
And all that gets complicated in a whole variety of ways with the more interests that are involved.
Democracy is an attempt to make those decisions pleasing to the majority without any prejudice or discrimination to any minority. It’s damn messy.
The problem with our democracy isn’t the issues we all struggle with but who we consider a person and how much money equals free speech rather than suppression.
Orphan on April 10 at 3:54 p.m.
LeeKinny Said “Democracy is an attempt to make those decisions pleasing to the majority without any prejudice or discrimination to any minority. It’s damn messy.”
You my friend just described a Republic which it just happens to be our form of goverment not a Democracy.
Mikein I agree with what you are saying at 1:43. If more folks would stay out of debt they would be oh so much better off. I have been mostly debt free for years.
Albert on April 10 at 3:56 p.m.
Leekinny we planted the peas, beans, and lettuce seeds today. We also have amassed a huge compost pile = ready for early “stuff”. This will be a good year to crank up the food dryer (early) and begin the freezing process as well. Food prices are going to take a massive jump and we are watching for the “sales” to stock ahead for the dry goods. I’ll bet you are doing the same.
Today SR has a great article on getting the right seeds in now. Recommend it to all the readers. Time to take care of yourselves with you own provisions. We all know that oil will continue to climb and the retail prices along with it. “Good things from the garden” still holds true for Spokane. We also are doing neighborhood “trades” with the extra’s.
leekinny on April 10 at 4:07 p.m.
Actually through the WWII years and the Cold War our country was ALWAYS described as a Democracy so it would be a stark contrast to the republics of the USSR and China, both Communist republics.
What I described was an example of a true blue democratic republic rather than something autocratic.
mikeln on April 10 at 4:28 p.m.
I know not everyone can do what I do but is is nice to hear that people are starting to realize they need a garden, they need to feel the type of freedom one feels when harvesting ones own food. That was taken away in our modern world, the one that makes a person feel that the talent the creator gave them makes them worth so much more then the next guy. And for hawken, what makes you think you are better off then a person in china? If the oil was to stop today, the regular person in china would hardly notice while your bones would be bleaching out in the sun, not the kind of so called freedom I want for my fellow citizens.
zelda on April 10 at 4:31 p.m.
It is the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. We are now the verge of the second one, also to be known as Campaign 2012, because the first Civil War never really ended; it just went dormant for a while. If this is what passes as discourse, we’ve got some bloody battles ahead.
Here’s to all the brave ones who go trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. They all think they’ve got god on their side and I can’t tell the blue from the gray.
leekinny on April 10 at 4:36 p.m.
Albert :
I have lettuce, spinach and radishes for my wife,in. Most of my work is going into getting the soil ready. I’ve been burned a lot trying to plant in mid May, up here on the South Hill. Every now and then we get a very nice warm May, and a cold day and frost right at the beginning of June. It really sucks!
But it’s going to be alright. We’re having all our cool wet, frosty weather now, so it will be warm all through the end of April and May……..ooooooh, and the worried part of me sees a frost at the beginning of June.
I’m slowly learning to be ready for that; I think: I hope.
leekinny on April 10 at 4:44 p.m.
mikeln :
You’re right! There’s a lot of empty space just right for gardens and chickens that’s just collecting litter. Community gardening. You know that’s the kind of pitching in that made our grandfathers generation great.
Dazzeetrader11 on April 10 at 5:03 p.m.
“people who despise government control why would you let a corporate controled government control every aspect of your life? Every thing you do puts a profit in big oils account and they use that profit to keep you strung up by the short hairs on your a$$. Good luck too you, people like you are going to need it in the very near future as the people that own you are coming to demand payment in full.”…<––—how about because the law..enforcable law, is on the government’s side while the other has no legal standing to tax and punish the citizens??
DickAdams on April 10 at 5:43 p.m.
After perusing the posts, one ingredient is missing, i. e., social security was never meant to live on. Americans live for the day and it seems to me, too many thought they never had to save a red dime. How selfish to strap their children with debt. And friends, that`s a fact.
Dazzeetrader11 on April 10 at 6:27 p.m.
True DIck. SS was meant to help out not be a sole source of everything. My parents have saved and saved for a rainy day. They were kids in the Dust bowl days and know very well how devastating the Great Depression was. They instructed us very well about how bad things were and could be again.
Spoiled kids and generations of them (well adults too) have never thought the country could be stopped like it is. The government IS the problem……it won’t save anyone. Nor should it.
All thes eprograms need to be cut. They should have ALL had sunset clauses. SInce the politicians didn’t stop them, necessity will….and has. US need to be what it once was.a place not for payoffs for the freeloaders..it’s supposed to be a place with opportunity. Forget the government. Obama’s made things worse with his handouts.and so have the liberals before him. He’s raised in the “handout nation” and he’s never had a job outside of the government. Small wonder he doesn’t know how to toughen up. He’s a bred socialist. Look at his parents.
This is about saving a nation.not about saving social security. Argue all you want, most Americans should want a strong nation…not a strong handout program.
detroitdude on April 10 at 6:58 p.m.
As many have said already on here, growing your own produce is the way to go for sure. The veggies themselves look more robust, they taste better, and most importantly, it’s yours! All you need is a little time and some seeds, speaking of which, I like to grow cherry tomatoes, talk about a resilient plant. You plant them once they will keep coming back for over 10 years, with even minimal attention. Not to mention that gardening is calming, it can be almost a spiritual experience.
To everyone bagging on elderly people who have no other income besides their social security…I find it funny how you can make blanket statements saying “Oh they should have saved their pennies, they should have done this or that”. Way to generalize, and while I agree, as a young American, that one should always be saving what money they can for a rainy day and/or retirement, if it were always that simple, don’t you think everyone would do that? The reason it doesn’t happen that way is because it is NOT that simple.
No one has the foresight to see what their situation is going to be 30-40 years down the road. Life is unique to each of us, and to each of us we have to deal with the unique circumstances life has us. I’m sure most retired people with no savings regret not doing things differently, maybe they didn’t have that option at the time and had to do the best they could. I find it sad that this group of people are being derided on here. These were our parents and grandparents, these are the people who raised and nurtured us when we were young. They are not the problem. Nobody wants to have the realization one day that they are unemployable due to age and have nothing to show for it. Many of these people are extremely proud and feel guilt for excepting ANY charity from others. Demonize who you will, but don’t kick the elderly when they are facing tough times, it might be you one day.
greenlibertarian on April 10 at 7:05 p.m.
No kidding Zelda.
And as to this whackjobbery: This leads to a weak..(weak as it’s been in 30 years). This dilutes valeu of the dollar.
Utterly wrong as usual.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Currency.aspx?Symbol=USD
In 1981, 30 years ago, the DXY was below 90 and climbed sharply to its 40 year peak in Febuary of ‘85. Again it dropped sharply and was in the 90’s again at the end of the decade, where it remained for most of the nineties until the end.
Supposedly the dollar is counter to the price of oil, but the dollar was at average value in the 90’s and oil was super-cheap. Currently the dollar is still a few points above it’s all time nadir in April of 2008.
If it’s a strong dollar your looking for (btw, that negatively affects US exports and US jobs), then the early Reagan period is superior.
And what does Reagan’s top economic advisers NOW say about the Ryan Manifesto:
David Stockman, Director of OMB, 81-85.
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/06/david-stockman-republicans-need-to-man-up-and-shut-the-government-down/
Bruce Bartlett, domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and was a Treasury official under President George H.W. Bush.
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2011/04/07/Wealthy-Get-Free-Pass-in-Ryan-Budget.aspx
Ryan is a lightweight compared to these guys, Reagan alumni. His plan is a joke, but then, that’s what attracts ignorant teabaggers.
greenlibertarian on April 10 at 7:22 p.m.
Tens of millions of middle class jobs with defined pension benefits were destroyed in the last 30 years. These were people who planned and wanted to work hard until at least 65, but the jobs “disappeared” when they were 30, 40, 50 years old.
So they took a massive paycut to have a job in the service industry, which if they were REALLY frugal and at least had access to a tax deferred 401K plan, they MIGHT be able to save a few thousand dollars a year to put in to it for retirement.
Then, twice in the last 15 years, they saw their mutual funds plummet in value, oh, and the banksters and securities ratings companies conspired to engineer the housing bubble, and millions lost the only nest egg they had, their home equity.
And you wonder why people get upset when you talk about cutting their (future) SS and Medicare benefits. For 10’s of millions, that’s all they’ve got left to look forward to, a meager retirement at best.
SS is easily fixable by raising the earnings cap, Medicare somewhat a tougher nut to crack, as the medical-industrial complex has us by the short hairs, but there are efficient models that are working and need to be emulated.
detroitdude on April 10 at 7:50 p.m.
Well said, greenlibertarian. So many of these folks were “assured” they would have a stable future for the rest of their life, they bought into the company program and believed it. Later, things didn’t turn out the way they were supposed to, and they were probably left with a meager savings if any and SS. Can definitely see why this upsets so many people, when they find out now again, their retirement benefits and healthcare is going to be reduced.
I have a savings account I started when I was 14 and got my first after school job. Since then I’ve been feeding it weekly, sometimes $20, sometimes several hundred in deposits. I’m not counting on SS to be there for me (even though I pay into it) when I retire at age 80, or whatever they project the retirement age to be by the time I’m ready. These corporations, including the one I’m employed for now, use you until you are of no further use, they then discard you. The word I hear from the top is “everyone is being asked to do more with less”. Sorry, that doesn’t jive with me when a company has 60+ billion dollars in assets.
johnclarke on April 10 at 8:10 p.m.
Nice post Green, and spot on.
Albert on April 10 at 8:18 p.m.
Detroitdude: I lived on Lodewyck Ave., went to Denby High, and then moved on when my Pop retired. Loved it and missed those “civilized days”. Our neighbors were great, however those summers were a boiler!
detroitdude on April 10 at 8:32 p.m.
Albert: We definitely live in a time right now with far less camaraderie for our fellow man and neighbor. It has really started to pervade our society, I think it would be interesting to conduct a survey polling people on how many folks they are acquainted with on their street and/or apartment complex. I bet not so many, I miss the days where each street had its own identity, people had block parties, all that good stuff.
DickAdams on April 10 at 8:41 p.m.
I`m old enough to remember the great depression. I wonder how many who have posted are old enough to remember? I can remember going to school in the mid 30`s and when I got home mother would start to cry because the card board put into my shoes before going to school because of the holes in the soles. At the end of the day I`d worn through the card board and at times the bottom of my foot was bleeding. My poor mother. There was nothing she could do.
greenlibertarian on April 10 at 9:54 p.m.
Albert: We definitely live in a time right now with far less camaraderie for our fellow man and neighbor. It has really started to pervade our society, I think it would be interesting to conduct a survey polling people on how many folks they are acquainted with on their street and/or apartment complex. I bet not so many, I miss the days where each street had its own identity, people had block parties, all that good stuff.
This is something I’ve been lamenting for several decades now. We know next to nothing about our neighbors compared to decades gone by.
When I was on my local homeowners’ association board, people would come to us with various and sundry complaints about their neighbors.
My first question was, “Have you approached such neighbor in a friendly manor and asked them about their supposed transgression?”
If they said “No”, then I said, “Why not? You need to deal with things directly and politely, before you bring it to us. If you’ve done that, fine, we’ll talk to both sides and see what might be done to resolve this. But YOU have to take responsibly to deal with (often petty matter) with your neighbor, FIRST.”
Communication Breakdown, it’s always the same.
Lulubelle on April 11 at 2:39 a.m.
Lucky me….I live in a great (and one of the few progressive) neighborhoods in town. We know and depend on each other, feel free to ask for help, snow blow one another’s walks, share green bins, gossip over the fence, keep an eye on strange goings on in the ‘hood, trade garden produce as well as home canned and baked goodies, have BBQs and yearly “Raspberry Social” block parties. We garden and just recently have gotten into urban “farming” - chickens and bees. Ours is a strictly middle-class neighborhood of young families, middle aged, retired and old folks…..and I love it!