The Greater Depression – The Renaissance – Finding A Place
Saturday, September 27th, 2008So I made my choice a few years ago. I left NYC for Truth or Consequences, NM, a tiny desert town that was never fully dependent on the national economy. Folks here have skills: welding, sewing, woodworking, canning, growing etc. The domestic economy is vibrant, in fact barter is more respected than the dollar which says so little of one’s character. When a developer came here with big plans to “help us” I realized that he could not see that poverty is being redefined. While one in four American homes are empty, here in T or C we have a nearly full occupancy. He sees trailers and mobiles, “poor folks!” I see balance, living within one’s means. This is wealth! This is a place that skirted through the great depression of the 1920′s and 30′s. Here locals grew food and stocked the supermarket for those who could not grow. That supermarket is still here.
The things that make us believe in an independent life! I love the description of the contractors skewed view on life and the active level of the community in the local community instead of trucking out their goods.
I think that a community like this is more able to survive fluctuations and failures in the much larger economy of the U.S. Communities with more macro/micro economies are less effected on the larger scale failures like are currently happening in the greedy world of the lenders which now, we the average citizen have to bail out. Nothing like having a society geared more towards welfare for the wealthy…
