Economies Can Rebound Quickly

In times past, the bubbles popped with great force and resulted in terrible consequences. On Black Thursday in 1929, thirty billion dollars disappeared in a single afternoon leading to what is commonly known as the Great Depression. Today, that would be a trillion dollars or more. Imagine that, a trillion dollars gone in six hours. After this event transpired, the economy slumped for ten years until World War II began to demand more from America. The economy then rebounded suddenly as thousands of factories with millions of new jobs emerged with the help of national debt. After the war, the economy was still booming and continued to boom for quite some time. Because factories and infrastructure resulting from the war could crank out products like never before, debtors paid off their debts both publicly and privately.

This Economy Can Rebound Too

Today, the economy is seeing similarities to the Great Depression. But this time, it’s happening after the war. The war in Iraq, right or wrong, good or bad, has been very costly because it did not add new infrastructure. It simply used the infrastructure already present. Many factories before the Iraq war were running at 30% capacity or less. Now they are running at 50-55%. But few new factories and industries have been built. The same factories making materiel for peacetime are now the same factories making materiel in wartime. When the war is over, those same factories will remain. This means there is little chance that the postwar economy will be more prepared to pay off war debts than was the post WWII economy. Something else must happen.

Wars no longer fix economies because wars no longer build infrastructure–at least, not for America. The dollar is going to fall, and fall fast. It will be inflated to a very high degree and will do so very quickly. The best way to cope is to own something valuable so that when the dust clears you still have something people will likely want to buy.

But one benefit from the falling dollar is that other currencies, valued higher than the dollar, will be looking to buy things cheap. And when their currency is far more valuable than the dollar, they will buy American. Countries will start looking to American factories and American suppliers for goods and exports. American exports will be cheap and American manufacturing will be incredibly busy. And busy manufacturing puts millions to work-many millions.

What You Can Expect and How You Can Benefit From It

It is likely that the dollar will begin falling dramatically in 2009. Consumers, commerce and many industries will suffer. Other nations with solid currencies will look to American factories for cheap goods. The goods will be so devalued that a foreign teenager’s wage will be able to buy an American TV without financing.

We must understand that industry is the place to invest in a recession. It is the only place to invest in a recession. In the past, wars pushed industry along, and therefore the economy. Then, debts could be repaid. Now, the only thing to push industry along is willpower. If we invest elsewhere, a falling dollar will destroy that investment. Don’t invest in bonds, ARMs, retail, consumer services, or anything intangible. Invest in mining and industrial corporations who manufacture physical items and export them or supply them to retail stores for distribution. The only other place to invest wisely is in charity, where gains are not measured in dollars.

Don’t Look Now, but It’s Already Happening

Most commerce, retail, and service businesses are taking terrible hits. Some industries are also struggling. Ford is planning on cutting thirty thousand jobs in the near future and Dell is planning on cutting eight thousand. But what you might have missed is that several industries, for example this metal fabrication company, reported record gains in the fall of 2008 and hopes to be heading for a record 2009.

This company’s suppliers are having record sales as well due to greater market demand. Since commodity prices and natural resources have fallen so rapidly, it has contributed to steady gains in the industries that utilize those commodities. If this trend is national, it represents a move that America has not seen in decades: a shift from a consumerist nation to an industrial nation.

Service industries like retail stores, theatres, fast food restaurants, and the like are not able to rebound an economy. They just tell you how well the economy is doing. Companies that actually produce physical goods, not sell them to consumers, are the indication of a thriving economy. Selling happens after a good is produced, not before. Companies that sell things need to be a second priority after those that make them.

What Government Can Do Now

I would recommend that the government simply cut taxes and restrictions on industries and companies producing physical materials and goods. This would include mines, manufacturing companies, national infrastructure, and energy-generating facilities. These companies provide quality jobs that genuinely help the economy, add consumer items to the pool and keep things cheaper for the average American, and grow the economy rather than just use it.

The industries that make an economy powerful and sustainable are mines and factories. When factories come to a town, the town flourishes with services and commerce. When factories leave a town, a wave of deficits, crime, and gray skies hit the area.

As the dollar continues to decline, I respectfully recommend that the new President help American industries get a head start on the massive amount of orders that will begin coming in from foreign nations looking for cheap exports.

According to the American Nursery and Landscaping Association, improving your home’s landscaping can add 7 to 15 percent to your home’s value. Also, homes with an “excellent” landscape can expect a sale price about 6 to 7 percent higher than equivalent houses with a “good” landscape, while improving landscaping from “average” to “good” can result in a 4 to 5 percent increase.

In addition to the financial rewards, good landscaping can increase your satisfaction with your property and make it feel like “more of a home.” Well-positioned trees and other flora can reduce energy costs and mask bothersome street noise.

The first thing you should do when improving your landscape is draft a master plan. The master plan should take into account what effect you’re shooting for with the landscape improvements, such as providing more shade, a privacy screen or just brightening up the yard. The plan should also set a budget for your projects and a timeframe for completion.

An important question you should ask yourself when making your landscaping plan is, “How will my yard be used?” Do you plan on using the yard for exercise or athletics? Do you have children or pets? Answering these questions will help you make choices. For example, if you intend to have a lot of outside social gatherings or want to play ball with the kids you’re going to need some lawn space. However, if you’d like to turn your yard into an isolated retreat, lawn size can be reduced in favor of trees to provide privacy cover.

When drafting a landscaping plan, you should consider some basics of design such as unity, repetition, balance and consistency.

– Unity: A landscape design achieves unity when all design elements mesh together to form an attractive whole.

– Repetition: The principle of using similar elements throughout a landscaping design composition. Repetition can be created by repeating certain varieties of plants, colors, textures, or hardscaping elements.

– Consistency: An extension of repetition; using a constant type of plant, color or texture helps to create a landscape that works as a unified concept.

– Balance: Visually balance the weights of objects in your landscape. Think of dividing the landscaping in half. If both sides attract the eye equally, the landscape is balanced

The great thing about improving your landscape is that, unlike other home improvement projects, it can cost as little or as much as you choose. There are a variety of low-cost plants that can be used to spruce up your home’s appearance, as well as more expensive solutions. Landscaping is often a year-to-year process of steady improvements – this is good because it often means you don’t have to buy everything all at once!

The staff at the plant nursery should have time to answer all your questions, and should know the situation a certain plant will grow well in. Always try and give the nursery staff a good idea of where you would like to put the plant, the type of soil the plant is to grow in, and your climate. Your climate is mainly important when you shop at your online nursery, as online nurseries usually post plants around Australia, and may not be in your local area.

If you have neighbours, family, or friends with plants you like the look of, ask them which nursery they get their plants from. You may be surprised, as many people shop for plants online (on the internet) these days so you may find an online nursery on the internet which you’ll love. Many online nurseries specialise in certain plants, such as tropical plants, cottage garden plants, palms and cycads, succulents etc.This way you get the very best advice from a nursery which is most likely very passionate about what it does and the plants it grows.

Look around your neighbourhood for plants which seem to grow well. This is always a great indication of which plants will grow well in your area, and you can then talk to the staff at your local nursery or online nursery to see if they have this certain plant. Many nurseries can even help you identify plants if you do not know the name of the plant you would like to grow.

Many nurseries will offer their plants in specific categories, which make it easier for you to select a certain plant for that specific spot in your garden. You may find a ‘groundcover’ area, where you can select a groundcover plant from a range of plants offered, or a ‘drought hardy’ area, where you can find plants which don’t need much water. Some online nurseries have a list of categories in their online shop, including categories like ‘hedging plants’, ‘palms and cycads’, ‘flowering plants’ and ‘cold hardy plants’ The cold hardy plant category is especially handy if you are in an area of Australia prone to frost!

Once you have found a nursery, whether it is your local nursery, a mail order nursery or online nursery and you are pleased with their service and plants, be sure to spread the word about your experience! All plant nurseries would agree with me that word of mouth advertising is one of the very best advertising methods in the plant nursery world, and if you have a pleasant experience with a nursery, I’m sure they would appreciate you telling everyone you know.

According to the American Nursery and Landscape Association, your landscaping can increase your home’s value by up to 15 percent (an amount comparable to a new kitchen or bathroom renovation), and you can recoup as much as 200 percent of your initial expenditure.

Here are several tips to ensure you get the most value from your home’s landscaping:

• Remove dead or dying landscape features. Also consider eliminating any large items that obscure your home’s view from the street.

• Hide parts of your property that could be considered unsightly. Landscape beds with shrubs and flowers can conceal problem areas or unsightly utility boxes.

• Highlight natural property or architectural features. Use your landscaping to create focal points so you draw attention to elements that make your home stand out in your neighborhood. Low-voltage lighting or accent lights ensure the visual effect continues at night.

• Landscape with a plan. With a well-defined strategy, you can take a large landscape project and divide it into smaller jobs that you can complete over time. A plan also forces you to plant for the future and space properly – although determining how big your plantings will grow isn’t always easy.

• Grow and maintain a green landscape. If you do not have the time or energy to maintain your grass and exterior plantings, consider the services of a lawn care company. Your lawn will thrive when it’s mowed regularly and at the proper height. Likewise, properly pruned shrubs and trees will grow healthier and look more attractive.

• Provide your landscape with proper nutrients and fertilizer. You’ll see faster and healthier growth when you provide your lawn and landscape with proper nutrients. This often-ignored detail can quickly transform a landscape and lawn that’s struggling to survive into a flourishing investment.

• Protect your landscaping from diseases, insects and deer. The best way to secure your investment is to consult with professionals who know how to protect your lawn and landscape. If left unchecked, deer, insects and disease will destroy your investment in no time.

The new session will give Democrats the ability to show that they are in fact willing to grow a spine. Republicans have made the country ungovernable by exerting minority rule with the filibuster. Democrats must institute no less than majority rule after a cooling off from a super majority vote giving the minority time to try to plead their case.

Democrats opposing changes may fear that changing the filibuster rule is dangerous in case they become the minority. My contention is that effective Democratic/Progressive principles ensure that Democrats will never be in the minority. Minority status in a real democracy is earned through ineffectiveness, weakness and/or bad policy.

Democrats earned severe losses in the midterms for being weak and allowing Republicans to dictate the narrative as they passed less than optimum policies. Democrats earned severe losses in the midterm by not expressing in absolute terms their conviction for Progressive policies and how it materially affects every middle class American. Democrats earned severe losses in the midterm by allowing the Republican alternate state of reality to seem plausible irrespective of demonstratively verifiable facts.

The middle class has been the largest victim of the filibuster and other arcane rules of the senate as the Oligarchs need only turn a small number to effect bad legislation.