BETTIN' ON THE COME...

We're now the proud owners of this "Hogheaven" a 2700 sq. ft. Log Home on 43 acres of Timber Conservation Land, including a Timber Mill, lot's of outbuildings, fenced and cross fenced pastures, tack room, ponds, wildlife galore, and lot's of 'trails' to explore! Even an 'Elk'crossing on the North 40...

It even sounds a little 'nutty' to me... for anyone to take on this sort of responsibility at our age, but this happens to be a property that can double or triple in value in a short amount of time...so the old investment nose...got the best of us, I fear. I have a feeling larger acerage parcels are going to be the thing of the future for a lot of reasons. So, preparing for a better nest egg than we have seems wise to me...

...and perhaps even wiser, is our concern for our future economy. 78 million baby boomers are heading for the Public Trough and that means Retirement, Social Security and Medicare Benefits will be demanded by the largest single group of people in our Nation, and they will be supported by one of the smallest population Groups. Our Country is currently more than a trillion dollars in debt, with China holding a large share of those "notes". It is unlikely we will balance the budget for some time due to the Boomer aging factor, and a long drawn out War in Iraq.

How will our Grandchildren pay for the 'debts' we are creating for them?

We're sending more and more of our manufacturing industries off shore everyday. Just try to buy something that doesn't say "Taiwan or China" on it? Even the Harley Davidson Stores (once respected as American Made all the way) are bringing in all their Name Brand items from Taiwan. So the great middle class is disappearing.

When American Corporations started sending our Factory jobs over seas, they said we would still have the higher paying, high tech...white collar jobs for our kids...but guess what, they are going too. Microsoft just opened a 3,000 employee "Research Center" in Bejing, but not to worry...we have another hi tech Research Facility in India. IBM just sold off their Computer Division to China. A billion strong, China is already flexing muscle around the Globe...and like Rome...we seem to be imploding from within. WalMart is opening more than 4,000 stores in China this year...so the big money and the big markets are betting on China...not the good old USA.

Service Industry jobs are still available, but they tell us that American's don't want these lower paying jobs and won't work them so we've imported 35,000 million illegal aliens across the open border of Mexico to do them for us. Nevermind the free medical American's have been paying for have Bankrupted Hospitals in every State on the Border...to the tune of Billions of dollars the Feds had to use to plug the dike for now. In California, the politically correct term is "undocumented workers"...since we don't want to offend anyone in our country illegally!

So, you'll have to forgive me as I don't see the 'rosy' outlook for my grandkids and their children...and I and my own kids have enjoyed. It appears it could get very grim, very quickly in the not too distant future.

For the past three years, the Mortgage and Real Estate Industry has been the major column holding up the American economy, but the Re-fi craze is over and homes are being priced so high only 17 per cent of Californians today can afford to buy one.

The 'Greatest Generation' is dying off, and there is about to be the greatest 'turn over' of wealth in history...especially through Real Estate, and the spendthrift Baby Boomers will soon have all that 'savings account and CD' wealth in their hands to squander.

It will be our children and grandchildren who will be burdened with the enormous debt we're creating...and with good paying jobs going off shore, we tend to agree with the economists who believe we are going to face a "major recession" within the next five years, and many believe it could decline into another Great Depression.

When and if that happens, I don't think people are going to behave as 'nicely' as the Greatest Generation did, patiently standing in bread lines...waiting their turn.

I see most Americans perfectly willing to take from their neighbors by force, anything they think they need...in order to feed their families. We had an electric blackout in the Central Valley a few years ago, and I witnessed people almost going to 'blows' over bags of ice...so you might imagine how it would be for food, warmth, or transportation out of dangerous metropolitian areas.

So, this "Retreat" we're buying, will be free and clear very soon...and may end up being the only place my Grandchildren can build a home of their own for their families should that become something they would like to do. I'm not trying to appear some sort of 'dooms dayer'...and I will completely change my mind as soon as the demographics give me some hope...but in the meantime, no harm in buying paradise is there?

I'd rather share these concerns, and I would rather err on the side of caution, than to be one of those 'wonderers?"....you know the drill. There are three kinds of people in the world. Those who make things happen, those who watch what happens...and those who wonder what happened? I would be in the 'watcher' category and totally powerless when it comes to stopping runaway trains, I fear.

So, we're bettin on the come...only this time, we don't see money 'coming'...we see it going...and going out faster than it can come in as boomers retire and hit the 'gravy train' in a dozen ways. Just think of the Federal, State and Municipal Retirement accumulations...and let's not forget that almost half of all employed people in our Nation are now Federal, State or City Government workers.

Government workers do not create wealth...so the take from just the govie end of the spectrum is a mind boggling 'debt' our progeny will be left to deal with.

So, as a small cushion to ease the financial pain we're passing on to future generations, the least we can do is try to provide a little plot of land somewhere for them to lay down their own roots should they need it.

...and that little plot of land would be, of course....Hog Heaven. Broad, massive and "defendable"...should a need ever arise to do so. I don't think anyone is going to 'take' from our family without a hell of a fight...but as my Federal Agent son says, "It's best to put yourself in a position to defeat your opponent completely."

In the meantime, and should we by some miracle avoid 'paying the piper' for our excess...what a place to play paintball, ride ATV's, fish, hunt and Mill Timber...raise a few goats...and watch a Doe birth two Bambi's every year.

Even more important, to share something with our Grandchildren more important than the latest TV program, X Box, computer game or lurking around the Mall. In a place like 'Hog Heaven', they may learn first hand...a respect for the earth, sky and all the creatures who reside in it.I'm not sure kids can 'get it' by just watching the Discovery channel...but watching a coyote stalk duck on a pond will help them get the importance of natures 'food chain' real quick.

So, I see good in it all around, and feel good about getting a little further out in nature than we are now. It has a draw all of it's own...and can be addicting as well. So, yes we're crazy like foxes...but the bunker is always open to family and friends. Just a thought.

Maybe our Grandkids will become better "stewards of our planet" than we have been...and maybe they will see the word "consumer" as something less desirable to become than we have...and maybe the incessant seeking of money, property and prestige won't take up as much of their lifetimes as it did ours. Maybe....