Friday, December 21, 2007

Krugman



Very helpful talk about the economic situation today. One fascinating conjecture he made: if home prices decline 30%, we may have easily 40% of homeowners (20 million) with negative equity. (They would owe more on their loans than the house is worth.)

Listening to him speak, I didn't have the feeling we need to stock up on dried beans and rice.... at least it's not 'fighting in the aisles time over the bags of lentils' time yet.

But stocking up never hurt anybody.

16 comments:

mapaghimagsik said...

brilliant!`

ellroon said...

He is, isn't he?

mahakal said...

If you know how to purify water and make bread, you may never need to stock up on much.

ellroon said...

But I'd have to grow wheat out in back, right?

mahakal said...

Any kind of grain will do, or starch. Potatos work, too, I think.

If you're saying you need some kind of actual food source, yes you do. I'm assuming however that there will be more than one person around, if if you know how to do certain things you can help others by imparting that knowledge and you might receive enough wheat to work with.

mahakal said...

With some starches, bread may be interpreted loosely. You can make beer, too, and people will give you food for beer, most likely.

mahakal said...

Save seeds. Nothing more important to save.

ellroon said...

Luckily some countries has such foresight, thank goodness.

mapaghimagsik said...

Ellroon, I'd suggest that we would consider more corn and tortillas, all points considered.

Chilis might grow well.

Anonymous said...

Tortillas are unleavened bread. Leaven is life.

ellroon said...

You're right, map. Corn, corn bread, tortillas would be easier than wheat...

And, Michael, are you saying that tortillas are anti-life?

Anonymous said...

Tortillas are yummy. But you need yeast bread of some kind as well.

Anonymous said...

Cornbread is life, certainly.

ellroon said...

Yeast I'll have tortillas then...

Sorry. Terrible pun.

Is there something in yeast itself that helps our bodies function?

Anonymous said...

Yeast are eukaryotes, like the cells of your body. When you eat yeast you are eating living cells that are like your own. When you eat an unleavened bread your body can convert the food into energy but it cannot transform the food into living cells directly.

ellroon said...

Thanks, appreciate the info. I had no idea...