A Sign of the Times…Unempolyment Rates Continue to Rise…Think Preparedness For the Holidays

The latest unemployment rates are out today and we are now at 10.8% nation wide. This means 16 million Americans who are looking for work cannot find it. That does not include those who have been looking for  awhile and given up. California’s rate is now at 12.5%. That is no surprise, as we have discussed the lack of work for farm workers due to the government decision to place the survival of smelt over the survival of our food supply…a little editorial there. Seriously, right now there are 30,000 people in one county here Madera county has a 20% unemployment rate!) who are being fed at food banks because of the loss of farm jobs. I have warned you the price of food would rise due to this ridiculous decision and it has. In addition to nuts, fruits and vegetables, have you noticed the price of salmon? Now, salmon may be a luxury to many but it also means the fishermen are out of work which increases the welfare rolls, and, you get it, that costs us too.

In addition to higher unemployment and increased welfare rolls, and higher food prices, we are also looking at the quality of our food supply being affected by all this nonsense. Do you remember a few years ago when people died because of imported fruit from South America?  As we produce less food, we export less food, affecting our economy and creating even more job losses. As we produce less we import more, building another count’s economy and not our own.

California is considered the nation’s sole producer of a large number of crops.

Almonds (99%), Artichokes (99%), Clingstone Peaches (98%), Dried Plums (97%), Figs (98%), Olives (100%), Persimmons (98%), Pomegranates (99%), Kiwi (97%), Raisins (99%), Sweet Rice (99%), Walnuts (99%), Pistachios (96 %), Apricots (95%), Celery (94%), Tomatoes (94%), Broccoli (93 %), Nectarines (93%), Plums (93%), Strawberries (90%)

Close behind are: Carrots (89%), Lemons (89%), Grapes(88%), Avocados (84%), Dates (82%), Lettuce (78%), Peaches (76%), and Honeydew (73%).

California retained its ranking as the nation’s leading dairy producer by a wide margin, producing 21 percent of the U.S. milk supply.

As nations move from third world status to second world status they are purchasing more food, decreasing supplies and increasing the cost. When you add to that the decrease in crop yields in California the supply grows even smaller. I hope you can see that this is a huge world wide problem.

When will water be returned to California farmers? We don’t know. There are however, other signs that times are bad.

Thieves broke the lock on the food bank’s storage locker and took around 30 crates of potatoes, onions, canned food, peanut butter, and other items–around $1500-$2000 worth of food earmarked to be given to needy families over the weekend as part of the food bank’s Thanksgiving distribution. The Rainer Valley Food Bank provides food to around 10,000 people per month, up from about half that this time last year.

We can only imagine what goes through someone’s mind as they steal 30 crates of food from a food bank–a place where, if they’d asked, they’d have been given food for free. The need is particularly dire: this time last year, the food bank served about 5,000 people a month, but this year, the number has risen to approximately 10,000 says executive director Sam Osborne.

When will the economy improve? We don’t know. This is the time to prepare, before it gets worse, and if there are not dramatic changes, it will get worse. Help prepare your family this holiday season. Think preparedness in all your holiday planning. This week in the United States we celebrate Thanksgiving. As you gather together assess the needs of your extended family and commit to helping them by giving preparedness gifts this year. We have talked about many the last few years, and I will be adding more ideas. I hope you will share what you are doing.

In an effort to help I am offering a few items at deeply discounted prices as I close out items at TotallyReady.com I will not have these again as I am closing the store, so if you need any of these items please purchase them before I run out. Check them out at:

http://totallyready.com/component/option,com_virtuemart/page,shop.browse/category_id,5/Itemid,1/

Please share with us what you are doing to help others prepare. Remember what Madame Currie said: “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/allyoucaneat/2010311572_food_bank_burglary_bigtime_hel.html?syndication=rss

http://www.patriotwatch.com/water4farmers.htm

www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics.html

One Response to “A Sign of the Times…Unempolyment Rates Continue to Rise…Think Preparedness For the Holidays”

1. Linda says:

   November 20, 2009 at 9:44 pm

   I’ve been doing a lot of teaching on various types of preparedness, teaching how to can, now to prepare, etc. to family and ladies at church. We’ve done classes on canning apples, meats, berries, etc. We plan on teaching gardening in our area next year to encourage more to have gardens. We personally are enlarging our garden and building a greenhouse as we figure if we want fresh food, we will have to be growing it.