Sioux County, NWIA | Chief Illiniwek - 11/7/2024 07:49
Excellent point. It sounds like a lot of guy’s balance sheets are a total mess after twenty years of good times in row crop farming. You don’t see the problem with that? Debt should be DANGEROUS. Taking big risks should eventually ruin you. Heck even taking small risks should be badly punished if your timing is wrong. Otherwise they aren’t risks. Our society is absolutely addicted to nonstop “growth” and inflation. How does your balance sheet look compared to 15 years ago? Ask yourself why it looks that way. Can the change over 15 years be attributed to the actual work you’ve done? Now stop at think how much more actual physical property you own vs 15 years ago, debt free. Not in terms of dollars. In terms of acres. Or in terms of number of tractors. Or buildings.
Regarding risk taking. I have seen the US economy described as "speculative". Not that all economic activities are such but there is a tendency toward such. As a comparison I have seen the European economies describes as being "entrepreneural", or at least tending to be more such. Speculation seems to be bred into the US people and system; the very first speculative boom in the newly formed US of A was when Alexander Hamilton established a banking system and consolidated the debt from the individual states. People fell over each other to buy those bonds. |
Thomas Massie
