Economy

"It's the economy, stupid!" We have heard that often the past few years and I have thought that since the first economic crisis my family went through in the 60's.

I remember selling my prize market pigs at the Brown County Fair for ten cents a pound, a huge 2 cent premium over market price. I thought, well I will never get to college this way!

I remember really lean years on the farm as a kid in the 60's but we made it through it. We found the same thing out west.

LuAnn doesn't have her pictures downloaded yet but she has some neat ones of the mounted police in Jackson Hole. I remember one officer commenting Wyoming only has 5 percent unemployment and it was obvious across the trip that the land in the middle of our two coasts is doing much better than the coasts are.

Why is that? I suppose there are lots of reasons but ever since DHL left Wilmington, this area is really depressed economically which leads to physical depression in people. We have lots of problems.

But we never saw that on our trip, only happy people all along our way. There are good things going on in the country and I know there are over 70,000 well paid happy employees of ethanol plants in the middle. Wind farms were everywhere from Iowa west and that produces jobs and reduces our dependence on foreign oil.

The ag economy is perking along so nicely land is bringing record prices and rents and farm machinery business is booming. You couldn't get a new machine today if you wanted it unless you find it on a lot. We saw lots of used, but not that much new machinery.

Combine fires and farmer demand keeping eating up supply as fast as they build them. We saw a new John Deere S series demonstrator with a tarp over it as it had burnt the first day and they said make sure no one gets a picture of it. The new green and red combines are what I call NASCAR bodies which look sharp but are just big heat traps for fires. Insurance premiums have to go up.

So it is the Economy, Stupid and I want to put a sign on our farm that says Raise Cane With Herman. His 999 plan makes as much sense as anything I have heard.

I thought that would catch your attention...

Ed