One person's view of this economy

As we all try and understand the financial dilemma we are in and exactly what it means to us individually, there are mostly dire predictions. Everything from total insurrection to 25% unemployment, to the military being called out to restrict our movements, to a small cadre that will rule the world from some hidden location. I go back and forth like a ping pong ball, right brain, left-brain and back again. I have thought that perhaps I needed to ask my son to return to me my old shotgun and rifle maybe for protection from those looters, and maybe to shoot some food. Then again I decide on a more positive approach, reminding myself that the huge losses we have experiences are not lost as long as we have not sold anything and that yes, we will probably have enough to eat. At my age, there is not much I would buy, as there is just not much I want, remembering that most of my life has already passed.

If you are reading this waiting for some great point, you may wish to stop here because I do not have one, but here is what I offer and maybe thinking this out, will help me see things clearer and hopefully you. This is a brief story of what I have seen and experienced over the last 60 years.

I was born in 1942 to an old Southern family that did not have much money but still retained some of the semblance of the “grand old South”. My father had spent most of his inheritance but we still had a summer place, a boat, and hunting camp. By the time of my teens in the 50’s there was not much money at all, and as my friends parents built homes, we remained in a rental home. I was not a very good student but I did manage to get a university degree, married at 21 and started my adult life. I opened a real estate office in 1965 and the year before the largest employer in the area, a military base was closed. There was never a worse time, as the total population was only around 200 thousand and the base employed 18,000. There were businesses closing, foreclosed homes everywhere, banks unwilling to lend and a general malaise. The first positive step I took was to learn about foreclosures and how they could be sold. In those days, most loans were either FHA or VA and both institutions were willing to finance for a small amount down. Some sellers were so anxious to avoid foreclosure they would sell their home by the buyer simply taking over the mortgage. Over the next few years I bought 4 or 5 of these homes, rented them for enough to cover the mortgage and sold them years later at a nice profit.

Gradually as the economy improved over the next few years, I expanded the business to include construction and development of lots. By the late 70’s life was good and I owned a yacht, built a new home for my family, traveled and enjoyed the “good life”. Then in 1979, in a down economy, we were hit with a major hurricane that devastated the industry. Interest rates went to 22%, no one was buying homes, and I was stuck with 30 completed homes. To add fuel to the fire, my wife of 16 years and I got divorced. The private school tuition, maintaining 2 residences, alimony and child support, along with the banks and I was dead. Beat, broke and bankrupt. I left the area, after finding that no one wanted to hire a broke developer and went to another state to try and start over. It did not work out. I left there and took a job as a boat captain running a sport fishing yacht. I had been president of the local big game fish club and had a reputation for catching fish, but to go from boat owner to boat Capitan, a paid hand working for a bunch of rednecks just did not work. I was married again and my new wife got a job with a time-share development and they needed a real estate broker. I had kept my license and took the job. It paid $500 a month-----not much, even in 1982 but it did pay the rent. Shortly after that, my wife and I started selling and we quickly started making money. Since we were broke, it was a lot of money because when you are broke it is hard to take on new debt and the money goes further. By that time the development we were working for got into to trouble and it was time for a change. Over the next few years we opened a real estate office, developed a condominium, bought a beautiful sailing yacht and life was good. At least before my wife decided that it was not the life for her. I finished the condo, made nothing, say good-bye and went sailing. I left with a debt free boat and $6000 hidden under my bunk. I sailed for a year or so, during which time I worked on a charter boat for $20 a day plus tips. I returned with $2000 to my old stomping ground and took a job as a bartender. Five dollars and hour plus tips, free food and 2 shift drinks, and live aboard my boat.

A boat friend had delivered a yacht from Bali to Darwin and told me about Indonesia. Sixteen thousand islands some that had never really been explored. What the hell I thought, I’ve quit better jobs than this so why not go. By then I had the $6000 back again and so for the next 6 months I traveled from Lombok Island in Indonesia all the way to Thailand. Busses, ped cabs, ferries, and foot I saw the countries. Like all things, those times come to an end, usually as funds get low but it was time to return. Shortly after returning a family member asked me what I had seen and the birth of a new idea came forward. He would put up the money and I would return and buy a container of furniture. Why not I thought, so after being home only two months I was back on the road. We had not a clue whom we would sell the stuff to but one thing led to the other and I finally opened a small store. Retail jail it is called and for a fellow that had been sailing and roaming around the world, it was not exactly what I was looking for but I have always had a rule and that is you do what you have to. The store found a niche and we did well. I say “we” because a friend that was helping me get started turned into wife 3. Do you know the feeling of, “I know this is a mistake but I am doing it anyway”? That was marriage 3. It was not the best time in my life and when I had to buy back what I had given when we were married------well just another lesson.

One of my favorite movies is Jeremiah Johnson staring Robert Redford and Will Geer. Redford is the new mountain man and Geer is the old grizzly bear hunter. At the very end of the movie, Redford has survived by the skin of his teeth and they meet high in the mountains in winter. Snow all around cold, and Geer finds Redford spitting a rabbit and Geer says, “you’ve come far pilgrim, were it worth it”? “It weren’t nothing, I hardly noticed”. I guess all old men look at life a bit that way, as when most of your life is behind you, it seems that you have come a long way-----and for me, “it weren’t nothing”. If I had not come the path I have, I would not be with the wife I now belong to. That has no value----it is priceless. Have I made mistakes? If you have come this far with this tale you already have that information. I think the point is, I am still here and after we get to wherever this economic tsunami leads us, I will be there. The most important thing in my life is my wife, followed by children and grandchildren and their health. Right brain whispers to me and asks if I remember the old Sadu in Nepal who had only a staff and bowl. There was something very powerful about him, yet he had nothing but the wisdom he had gained traveling his path in life. I remember the high priest in Bali, sitting and mostly smiling as I spoke no Balinese and only a small amount of Indonesian. My Balinese friend told me that I was very honored, as the old man had many each day that came to him and that very morning as I waited, a writer for a western magazine had left in a huff because he had to wait. The old priest told my friend that when the writer returned he did not want to see him as he was too arrogant but that I had silently waited and he would like to meet me. Right brain asks what that is worth in money and I have no answer.
None of us know where the road leads us and certainly this is a hard time, but in the end we simply die and it all begins again or whatever your belief system tells you. I am reminded of what St. Paul said when asked what he would do if the world were to end tomorrow. “Hoe my garden” was the reply.