Like Monasteries on the Hill

The following is an archetypal response to the complete failure of banking and investment processes worldwide.

I was thinking tonight about the tent cities springing up around the United States, in Florida, Southern States as well as places like California and all over. These tent cities are people new to living in tents, often with cars who have recently lost their jobs. Generally, these people tend to be between 20 and 40 but could literally be of any age these days.

It took me back to co-ops formed by mostly college students starting in the 1960s. Many of these co-operative communal farms are still going throughout the U.S. and the world. The basic idea was for like minded people to work together, to live off the grid, generate their own power(solar or wind or water), own their own land, grow organically, and be self sustaining. As long as people were basically single, more like sort of self styled monks and nuns, these co-ops tended to work okay. The breakdown occurred mostly when people got pregnant, got married, needed more privacy and freedom etc.

However, for people who would rather not just live in a tent and feel unsafe, living in the country with friends on an owned piece of property with water rights and farmland could under the right conditions feed these people and house these people, off the grid and allow them a transition place into a better life. So, banding together and growing organic food together and living off the grid together could be a very useful transitional safe place for many people in these difficult economic times we now face.

Relatively little money is needed per capita to start a co-operative somewhere. If people are friends they could pool their resources to start such a venture on as little as a minimum of one tillable acre of land per person in a group. Water rights and suitable weather are also a necessity. HOwever, as long as there is agreement and useful good will between all interested parties such group ventures could be useful to all concerned.

Another advantage to such a co-op is that barter can be used as a method of exchange instead of money. Any profits from crops being sold can be(after paying the basic bills of the co-op) go to all working members of a co-op according to the number of hours worked.

It is important for members of any co-op to share ideals, practicality, a work ethic and a desire to actually make the thing work. Otherwise, if you just have a bunch of starry eyed idealists with no practical knowledge or experience and the whole thing can fall apart very easily. However, these things work well with enough intelligent industrious members. However, realistic group meetings must be held for the whole thing to work. But in these times standing together and working together can be better than just standing alone and starving worldwide.

But if people are willing to work to make such a co-op work then often it doesn't matter what governments or financial institutions do because such a group, just like the Amish and others are like Monasteries on the hill and function well independently of any government or top down financial system that works or doesn't work worldwide.