I don’t think that’s what Sharon is talking about, but it’s important when we talk about this stuff not to forget that real, desperate, killing poverty exists, all around us.

This collapse can be an opportunity for re-birth for many of us; a way to get back on track and reclaim what’s important.

Unfortunately, there are going to be many who aren’t so lucky. The landless urban poor who left willingly or were forced off their ancestral lands over the past 10-30 years have no place to go and nothing to fall back on. When the retail stores close, the factories aren’t far behind. And when left with no home to go home to, I fear for what that means for the millions who have their ability to eat staked on our constant consumption of their cheap labor and goods. The ripple will be a tsunami. From those struggling here with $7/hr retail jobs who can’t find work to those subsisting on their $1.50/day from the shoe factory, it’s going to get ugly for those already on the margins.

I’ve got a secure job for the forseeable future. I don’t love it, but I can keep it to support my family. I’m downshifting like crazy to squirrel as much as I can away for the days to come, but at this hour, my notion of poverty is completely voluntary.

There are just so many sides to this mess. I thank you for helping us think through it and consistently reminding us that despite every dark cloud on the horizon, you can still look towards the basics of human kindness to be a light in your life. Love the ones your with.

In the rich and ostentatious city where I currently live, we are “poor”, living a simple, unglamorous life.

If we were in a blue collar neighborhood of the 50s, we’d fit right in.

If we lived in most parts of the Third World, we would be wealthy.

I’ve found that the pain of poverty has everything to do with being the butt of snobbishness and an unresponsive government.

Bart / Energy Bulletin

BTW, your courner of WV sounds very nice.

MEA