The ‘uptick’ currently manifesting in the economy is fodder for the Cons electioneering message, “See?  We told you….the economy is NOW out of the recession because our plan is working.”

No.  It is not.  They are lying yet again.  And it will never work because they continue to decimate the middle and lower income levels to make it look like it is improving.  Let me explain: When the $C is low, our goods, services and exports are cheaper for others to buy and so they do.  Our national production and sales numbers (GDP) then go up and the economy is said to be ‘booming’.

Any crook can devalue the dollar to make the numbers look better and that is what they did.

For the worker being paid in lesser-value dollars, there is no advantage. In fact, there’s a disadvantage.  Imported cars and stuff (like food) are more expensive. So the Canuck has a steady wage but it is worth less due to devaulation.  It’s like a pay cut. Joe Six does not benefit from the work but falls behind in their standard of living.  For him or her, it is STILL hard to ‘get ahead’.  They don’t quite feel that is really HARDER.  But they will soon enough.

Soon it will be almost as hard to get a ‘head of lettuce’.

Why is this?  It is simple: the economy is built on stilts, cards, smoke and mirrors.  But because the common denominator of measurement is the dollar bill, and THEY control that, too, you have no idea where you stand on anything at any time.  Shaky or not.  Well, you do know that you can afford to buy a house in Spuzzum, BC, but not in Vancouver, BC.  But other than that you haven’t a clue.  So, you keep on carrying on not realizing that your efforts are aiding and abetting the purposeful deceit and confusion perpetrated by government and big business.

You are helping the bastards cheat you.  And they will always cheat you.  When you think about it, that is their job – to take your money from you.  They can call it what they want but that is what they do.  Then the duplicitous crooks try to bribe you with some of what they took from you.  They spend less and less on what they are supposed to give to the people by way of common-good efforts and they take more and more with which to do it.

They basically STEAL that from you.  And it is getting worse.

But, who cares, really?  It’s only ‘play’ money and, as I said, they manipulate the hell out of it and so as long as you play in the ‘money game’ you will always be the patsy, never the winner.  Frankly, I am OK with that.  I prefer ‘patsy’ to ‘crook’ on my resume anyway.

But here’s a tip: when the economy ‘rebounds’ because the dollar has been devalued by so much, it really means that the economy is just the same (maybe less if you look at other indicators), only the StatsCan measurement looks better because of the devaluation. It’s like looking at your speedometer in miles per hour but the car just won’t go faster so you choose to look at that same speedometer but read it in kilometers per hour.  The speed is the same.  You are only fooling yourself.

Bottom line: DO NOT BELIEVE THEIR NUMBERS.

Another tip: use cash.  Trade.  Barter.  Grow or catch or even hunt your own food.  As much as you reasonably can given that most families require two incomes at the very least.  You make the jam, Margy makes the peanut butter and Sam delivers some venison now and then.  Janice brings the odd salmon.  Try to avoid the ‘system’ of Visa and PayPal and debit and debt as much as possible.  Why?  It’s more real.  They can’t tax your garden.  The food is better.  You have some human time.  A salmon is worth four loaves of freshly baked bread.  An old engine might be worth a hand putting on a new roof.  A shared potluck dinner is worth five times what everyone puts into it.  That nano economy works FOR you.  Theirs DOES NOT.

The thing these little, teeny nano-economies all have in common is that the government and business do not play a part.  They are not much of a part of that life.  They cannot leech from you or control it or restrict it or fine you.  You can dig for clams.  You are allowed to pick some of your neighbour’s apples….so do it.

One of our last freedoms – to exclude them from as much a part of your life as you can.  And INCLUDE real people in as much as you can.  It is the right thing to do.  Especially with Thanksgiving right around the corner.

Which reminds me: coming back through the forest on a dirt road from friends the other night we came across a large, black, struttin’-his-stuff wild turkey!  Just like it was the days of the Mayflower!  There he stood, tall, proud and ugly and right in the middle of the road.  We’ve seen a lot of wildlife this year from Humpbacks to Wild Turkeys now.  I didn’t know we had ’em.  It’s been good.