The New American Digest

Way out in the back country. Eastern Oregon if I recall correctly. I was on a less than optimal dirt road myself when I saw this place. Cattle country.
A long way from nowhere.

What toil to build such a home? What hopes and dreams? What tales? Did they raise a family? Did they have ranch hands? Did they grow crops? Hay at least seems likely. Vegetable garden?
No signs of any of that but plenty of time for such to have disappeared “back to nature”

One didn’t settle this land for the sake of just finding a place. There must have been water, grass … a place within reasonable distance for supplies. A typical homestead was 160 acres – ½ x ½ mile. Several plots could be obtained or free-range* for cattle.

The building is old; made of logs … perhaps from the hills in the background. I would suspect late 1800s to 19-teens. A well with hand-pump sits by the right front of the main building. The roof shows signs of red tarpaper covering what appear to be the original shingles. The extension at the rear looks to have had corrugated tin roofing – again, over what appears to be the original shingles. One of the windows appears to have glass remaining. It looks like a large groundhog hole – or some other critter – in a corner of what I’ll call the mudroom.

There is slight evidence of what must have been a road coming from the left to the house. there appears to be a foundation to the left of what is presumably a barn or simply a large shed . A single post of some sort – bigger than a fence post – appears to the left and some distance away from that. Barely visible some distance to the right and rear of the house is what appears to be a barbed wire gate – fenced off now with another fence running along. Far to the left is another cluster of fence posts enclosing an area perhaps 10×10 or 15×15.

There doesn’t appear to be any electrical connections; there is nothing to indicate any vehicle having visited the site for many years. No tire tracks, no bare dirt. No old tires or rusting car bodies as is not unusual for homesteads dating into the 40s. The construction appears older than that.

I find these places occasionally. A place to stop and wonder about lives and times past. What a different world these people of not really all that long ago must have lived.

*Side note: I’ve not seen them back east but out here in open country, one may see signs stating “Open Range”. The practical meaning is that if you hit livestock in open range territory (no fencing required), you are responsible for damages. I happen to live in open range territory even though I live in a “subdivision (of sorts).

Honey, how many burgers do you want for dinner?

Two sounds good.

But you’re having corn and salad and some leftovers from last night. Isn’t two too many?

Then why do you ask?

You’ll have to eat it tomorrow.

Wouldn’t give her up for the world …

Excerpts from ZeroHedge, Sept 3, 2025
“Is The Fed Setting Up Trump To Be The Scapegoat?“

It should be obvious the answer is “Yes”.
Not that I’m pessimistic or anything.

When the SHTF … coming soon to wherever you be … it will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen.
The US won’t escape this time – the US will be the target.

There will be no proper prepping, there will be no planned “safe place”; when it comes – signs seem to indicate soon – there will be only luck, fate, the grace of God.
God may have mercy on our souls but there are no promises for our corporeal selves.
My suggestion? Live life as if it’s normal. Don’t worry, don’t “prep” beyond normality, just enjoy what you have and where you are.

And when the time comes (which no man knows of) … ?
**********************************************

Examining the US price Index from the year 1800 to 1913 reveals a period of continuously falling prices. The price index was down by more than 40% by 1913, as compared to the starting year 1800. By some estimates, this fall in prices was even higher as the product basket was continuously becoming better and not even strictly comparable. Most major innovations we can think of – telephones, automobiles, airplanes, computers, mass production, modern medicine, military hardware, etc – happened during this period. The transition of the US from an erstwhile colony of the British Empire to the dominant superpower also occurred in this period. If falling prices had caused the Great Depression of 1929 to 1946, as is popularly believed, or as the Phillips curve implies, the entire 19th century (1801-1900) should have been an extended depression. Instead, what we actually witnessed was a boom of unparalleled proportions in modern history, except for what has happened in China starting in 1990 to date.

The mainstream media narrative even today is that Trump wants to lower interest rates to achieve even higher growth rates, from already what is the “best performing economy ever”. On the other hand, Powell intends to hold the rates steady to protect the purchasing power of the US Dollar. The economic truth is that both narratives are flawed.

Even a 0% rate today cannot prevent a bust of the financial systems that is floating on a sea of asset bubbles – an AI bubble that dwarfs the NASDAQ 2000 bubble; a housing bubble that is far bigger than the 2008 housing bubble; and a US bond bubble that is bigger than these two bubbles combined. The bust at this point is inevitable and imminent – the timeframes would be a few months and not a few years.

The current rate of 4.25% to 4.5% is way too low to contain price inflation meaningfully. The National debt is increasing at an even higher pace than before, and monetary inflation is a natural outcome, indicating that the rates are very accommodative.

For more than 50 months in a row, the core inflation rate – the Fed’s preferred measure – has been above the target 2%. The June 2025 number was 2.82% and under normal conditions, the US Fed would have aggressively hiked the rates. The only reason why they do not do so is “Fiscal Dominance”.

In effect [what] they are doing is the equivalent of putting the National Debt on an Adjustable Rate Mortgage System (ARMS)

Trump is unwittingly setting himself up to be the fall guy for what has essentially been the blunders of the US Federal Reserve.

It would be uncharacteristic of the Fed not to utilize the opportunity and pass the buck, as it has almost always done.

What about the supposed critical issue of the Fed’s Independence?
Truth to be told, the independence of the Free World’s monetary system was eliminated in 1913 with the formation of the Federal Reserve.
The Independence of the Fed was effectively abolished in 1971 when Nixon closed the Gold Window.

Sigh …

From 25 Sep 2017

Speaking of county stores.

Nigh on 8 years ago I wrote something and Gerard published it.
Then in the comments section I wrote the following.

Bean Blossom bridge, you did that one right Gerard!
Been across it many times, most recently to test the 4×4 capabilities on my Blazer.

The road to the rear of the picture taker is pretty arduous and shouldn’t be undertaken by anything lesser.

This picture is facing north and I live about 1 mile to the west of that bridge. It spans Bean Blossom Creek which meanders around like a snake and comes close to our house. A stream across the rear of our property feeds into that creek.

That road, that goes thru that bridge, was once the mainline from Indy to Louis many years ago. The northen most end of that road terminated at what was the longest same-family continuously run business in the state, McDonald’s Shopworth. The original owner was what was called a Huckster back in the late 1800’s, brung his wares by horse drawn wagon from the big city to sell and later established the store. Then in the 50’s his son aligned with the IGA chain and built a brand spanking new building, leaving the old dilapidated red wooden structure standing right out on the corner, sort of a landmark over the years. In the 70’s Jack, the grandson took over and was running the place with 3 of his grown kids when we moved here almost 12 years ago.

60 years later the IGA building looked very dated but like an old pair of shoes, was very comfortable. 3 cash registers but I never seen more than 2 open at 1 time. Along all the perimeter walls on the inside, up above the shelves and coolers, were momento’s collected over the years. One of them was a large, maybe 4′ long, wooden model of the Bean Blossom covered bridge. Bottles, cans, a large Singer thread display, many old products I had never heard of. There was a small deli at the rear and we would often get a 12″ pizza there on Fri evenings and while waiting for it to get done I’d wander the store looking at all the thousands of items up high on display. A veritable trip back in time, all times back to the 19th century, all at one time.
Going to “Jack’s”, as everyone called it, was not just a place to go to spend money. As the community is small and there is no other business venture close by, everybody went there. I always seen somebody I knew when I went there. It wasn’t unusual to see someone and start yappin and someone else would jump in, then someone else, and soon 10 or more people are standing around running their jibber, jokes, etc. It was a place to “connect” with others in the real sense. “News” was transmitted, like when the bridge construction at Morgantown would be completed, or Jim Bond was bringing 200 blue watermellons back from Vincennes, Dr Brester (the vet) was doing better with his ailing foot, or Jr Cody bragging about his new tractor and all the stuff he could hook up to it.

Jack’s shut down about 3 years ago and I felt it in my bones, and still. Jack was in his mid 80’s and started suffering from alzheimers and it was painful to try to communicate with him, though I always did try. I knew Jack before the disease and he was a fun guy to talk to. Every year the store would hold a birthday party for Jack in the store with cake and ice cream for everyone and hundreds showed up. I remember the last one, Jack was out of it most of the time, sitting there with ice cream all over himself. Jack’s funeral was like nothing I had ever seen before. The line for the viewing was unbelieveable. My wife and I stood in that line for over 3 hours til we got up to the casket. The family members coming back thru the line shaking hands and conversing with everyone. Amazing.

A year later the kids decided they wanted out and shut the store down and put it up for sale. A year later “Dollar General” bought the place, and re-did the whole thing in their style – just opened a few months ago. It looks out of place. Many people seem to like it but I don’t. I have been in it and can see the convenience but what I really see is what has been lost. Funny, last week I stopped in there and lo and behold, Jack’s daughter was there and I hadn’t seen her since the old store shut down. I asked her how she liked this new dollar store and she said she did like it. I told her I didn’t and that I wanted the old comfortable store back. She looked at me and I could see the wispfulness in her eyes. Or was it regret? I know she seen regret in my eyes. Then without another word we both sort of walked off in different directions.

Yes, that shiny new store with all it’s thousands of items is a convenience to many and like a mushroom it will most likely cause other such things to spring up close by and little by little the meaning of life will be replaced by things that are easier. I’m not happy about this stuff but realize that there is little I can do about it. Back in 2006 I had a conversation with my FIL about my disappointment with the same thing occurring where we lived in Florida. I had spent a lifetime and a fortune procuring what I thought was my own personal paradise and the last place I would ever live. A home I had designed and built myself in a place 2 miles from the closet neighbor and the last people to live there were the Calusa indians a millenia before. A year after we moved in the largest builder in the state bought all of the property around us and started erecting cheap pieces of junk and inserting all the misfits of society into them thanks to free gov’t money. I told my FIL I was very disappointed and my wife (his daughter) and I were searching for another place to live, a place where we can find peace of mind. He asked me, “Where are you gonna go? Where ever you go they are gonna find you and in time you will be right back where you were. You can’t outrun change.”
My FIL is now dead and I can’t tell him he was right. I see the changes going on around here and again I am not happy.

My wife and I are looking at property to purchase in distant lands though still in the US. But we’re not spring chickens any more so staking a claim on the northside of the rockies is probably not in the picture though that is what I want more than anything. More though than for my own sanity, I am thinking for my wife. She loves her woods and her wild animals and can’t imagine living anywhere else, and never back in society. But I won’t be around for ever doing the heavy lifting that she cannot. So I have to find a balance between peace of mind for us, and a path that is struggle free for her in the future. Can this be done without having neighbors with long noses right up against you on all 4 sides? I don’t know but if it’s possible I will figure it out and I’ll not stop trying, until I no longer can.