Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

Last night I dreamed I was making a purse, because the one I have been using for ten years—the think geek bag of holding made of fake leather—had finally fallen completely apart (it’s patched) and I couldn’t buy one, at a price I could afford.

What annoyed me about the dream was how plausible it is. I could make a purse. The only daunting bit is applying a zipper, as zippers scare me. (Shuddup. I’m just not good at putting them on. I KNOW the theory, but….) And I actually have high quality fake leather from the repurpose website (50 yards WIDE for $150, and I’m covering a bunch of chairs so the cats can’t baptize them. Like my editing chair. I have also threatened to make a coozy for son’s car while he’s with us, because it doesn’t fit in the garage.)

And I woke up thinking: you know, part of this is that if the left is hoping to hit the economy really hard with a hammer till the wheels come off, it’s probably getting frustrating about now.

Let me explain: to some extent this plan is always stupid because humans are resourceful. Even back in the seventies, in Portugal when the bakers kept going on strike (and to understand how much this touched the normal person, you have to understand that back then we were used to getting our bread delivered to the door before we woke up. Tie a bag to the back door, leave a note of what you wanted, wake up to crackling fresh rolls and baguettes. This is one the things I really missed when I moved here. Then I found bread machines, and made do.) The first couple of weeks were pandemonium and people were deeply unhappy because their routine—worse, their waking up routine—was disrupted.

And then things… changed. So, some people started making their own bread. Some people started making their own bread, other people heard and suddenly they were showing up at the back door and placing an order for the morning, then coming in the morning and knocking a certain way to receive your order. It was annoying, but life went on, and not everyone had to bake their own bread anyway.

Oh, and bonus, you didn’t have to pay taxes on the bread you sold. You were obliging your neighbors, and if they wanted to give you some money in return to help with expenses, it would be rude to refuse. (And since everyone was doing it, they couldn’t chase everyone, even in a tiny country.) Oh, and to understand this one, and the reason I use this expense, I don’t think people in Portugal had baked their own bread (Other than farmers makign broa) since before Roman times. Artisanal bread wasn’t a thing. But people found a way.

I do realize with so much of our manufacturing in China, and the supply problems, etc, it seems like the world is coming down on top of our heads.

But people find a way. Look, in Cuba, a tiny country, they’ve kept 1950s cars going all these decades. They might be repaired with washing machines parts, but they keep going.

The US is a huge country, with a ton more resources, and perhaps genetically (As we’re immigrants or descended thereof) more adaptable people.

We’re in the first shock, so not much being done to get around this cr*p inflicted on us from above. But in a month or two, probably before the anger reaches the level (alas) that #teamheadsonpikes comes out to play, we’ll adapt, improvise, overcome.

People are already buying direct from farmers. I have no idea how the Christmas gift shopping is going, because since the kids haven’t been little, we usually pick ONE interesting or meaningful thing for them, and anyway, Dan and I always want the same “A book and a music-vehicle (used to be a CD)”. This year, with worry over selling the house, etc. I haven’t even looked. I keep hearing it will be lean, but I suspect Americans will make more stuff/etsy will have a boom year. And life will move on. Heck, I know someone considering going into 3-d printing to make those pieces that are stuck in containers or that China is not sending off, or whatever, to repair your car/washing machine/air conditioning. Yeah, copyright problems, but if you market it as a “Stop gap while you wait” and market to local repairmen? I bet it works.

The point is we’re not Portuguese or Cubans. Not a small country, easily stomped. Out in the heartland, people will go over, go under, get around almost by default.

And even in Portugal, in the seventies things were…. fluid. Push hard enough and people don’t fall into line. At least not if your plan amounts to running around with pants on your head screaming “cuckoo!” So instead they do the other thing. The one you didn’t want.

So for instance when unemployment was something absurd like 70% (I probably misremember) everyone was busy, and eating and getting things done. Just not officially. We knew a family where the dad was laid off, and they found the local textile factory burned their “end of rolls/leftovers/trash fabric” at the end of the day. So the family asked if they could take them instead. Got four sewing machines, and sat around the dinner table making pot holders and small goods which they sold at the local fair. Incredibly lucrative? Well, you know, the material was free and they weren’t paying taxes. Eventually as things eased, they expanded the business and became fabric goods distributors. So, they didn’t do too badly.

More importantly, students were making stuff, and selling in craft fairs that popped up all over (did it occasionally, mostly for bus fare.) As a teen there was never a lack of affordable jewelry or decor items to buy. Of course, none of these were paying taxes, which is too bad for the central planners.

And again, there were places where you knocked a certain way and they sold you an already roasted roast or the produce or whatever. Even when the stores were empty.

HERE? In the US, with our distributed communication, our vast land, and our bizarre amount of abilities (Seriously guys, Americans take hobbies WAY seriously. I’ve never been anywhere else where pretty much everyone has a hobby and works hard at it. Most other countries, people go to their paid jobs, come home and veg in front of the TV. Yeah, mom sews, but it’s mostly mending.) I think those who want the wheels off are going to get a massive shock.

Now, keep in mind that this means the poor who are poor due to lack of will power or inventiveness will suffer. But some of them might actually discover they can do things. All of us will be very busy. BUT life will go on.

Of course the downside of this is that team #headsonpikes might not come out to play. (What? I never hid my bloodthirstiness. I just know it’s inadvisable, for a society.) That’s also the upside, of course.

Does it mean we’ll just endure the boot on our necks?

I don’t think so for three reasons:

1 - the people wearing the boot are too stupid to pour piss out of it with the instructions written on the heel.

2 - They’re in panic mode that they can’t help but keep accelerating, so the stupid crap they do will get worse, and even if we’re surviving, it’s going to piss people off. If they’re lucky, they get put on a container and sent to China. If they’re really lucky, we’ll punch in air holes.

3 - What they’re doing is going to encourage more and more going under/going over/going around. Which makes people more independent and resourceful and less likely to fall for their bag of tricks. As everything they’ve done since 2016, they’re just accelerating the demise of their cult.

So, what I mean is, the country is vast enough and resourceful enough (I mean, just the repurpose site. And a million thrift stores, and and and) that the wheels never really come off. Or they do, but new wheels pop up from under them and we all go FIDO (F*** it, drive on.)

It’s the most likely outcome.

The point is the parasite class that thinks they’re elites don’t know that. And they’ve never done anything useful in their lives. And they think everyone is like them.

Buy popcorn. The story is about to get interesting.

Yeah, it will go nasty in spots. Keep your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

But remember what you’re watching is the stomping around of the Marxian regimes as they die. It’s a blind, fatally wounded monster trying to take us to the hash heap of history with it.

Don’t let it. Adapt, Improvise, Overcome.

Remember you’re Americans. They ain’t seen nothing like us yet. And they will….

 

Reprinted from https://accordingtohoyt.com/ for November 12, 2021