The End of America

by Pete Thorsen

  To help stay in shape Mac is often out on his home made snow shoes and at the request of Amy he built another smaller pair for her and she often accompanies him on these treks. Flo and I often walk to the neighbors when we need eggs or milk but we only walk on the road when it is plowed. It is plenty of exercise for us older folks and we enjoy the visits with our long time neighbors and we often stay the whole afternoon and only make it home before dark.

  It is cold but not any different than other years. The snow has pretty much stopped for now though often we get a lot more snow closer to spring. The wood stove is working fine to keep the small area we heat in our home comfortable. The bedrooms are quite cool but we just get under the quilts and blankets and sleep well. It is always quite a shock in the morning when you first put your feet on the floor and there are always volunteers to fill the wood stove in the early mornings to warm the house.

  We just use the wood stove for heat plus the incidental heat we get from the use of the kitchen range from cooking and baking. We have plenty of propane now that we don’t use it for heating and at this rate it should last a couple more years at least. Our wood supply is going down naturally but we have plenty to last this season and still have some leftover.

  Before they dropped their antlers so he could tell the bucks from the does, Mac went out and shot a buck deer to make sure we had plenty of meat for over the summer. The loss of the buck will not hurt the deer supply and it appeared to be in healthy condition so apparently the deer are getting through the winter just fine. There should hopefully be a good fawn drop in the spring to provide plenty of deer by next fall again.

  Mac went to the river with the thought of doing some ice fishing but gave up because it was just too much effort for what he could hope to catch. Walking to the river on snow shoes pulling a sled then shoveling the snow off the ice then chopping a hole through the ice and trying to catch some fish before the hole froze shut again was just too much. We were not exactly starving here anyway.

  Though it was winter and there were hardships across the nation there was also hope. The economy was slowly coming back. More businesses were reopening and some people were going back to work. It is certainly not a flood and likely the news channels did blow it up more than they should have but there were a few signs that gradually things might be getting better. It would naturally be a slow road back but at least it looks like the wheels are starting to turn in the right direction again.

  Congress and all the state legislatures are working hard (supposedly) to get the whole country fixed. In the last while there did not seem to be much progress but granted it is a huge job and if they just keep chipping away at the edges they will eventually reach the center. Much better for them to work slowly and not make costly and possibly permanent mistakes. The nation is fragile right now and we can not afford to take any more hits through simple errors.

  All the fervor about the government putting chips in people has died down but not died out. So far there have been no horror stories about the chips but most people do not think its right for the government to ‘chip’ its citizens (no one in this house thinks its right). The whole idea seems anti-American.

  But the fact is that by now many millions of Americans have chips in them. The government insists the chips prevent any fraud and can not be tampered with. They can not be lost or stolen and you always have them with you. First I want to see all the politicians get chipped if the chips are so wonderful. If there is a return to Social Security ever you can bet that having a chip will be a requirement (but I hope not).

  I do admit the winter seems long and I think a big part of it is the fact that I am not going to work everyday. It helps to have the two kids here with us and in the summer I did not have a problem because I was always busy doing stuff outside. But now in the winter I do not spend much time outside due to cold and it is starting to get to me and make me antsy.

  Even with the time dragging it is getting closer to spring. The weather is getting warmer and the snow is gradually going down (but I’m sure we will get a little more yet). On the news they keep talking about the economy stepping forward and things getting a little better. The government is moving people around to fill jobs where ever the jobs are (but I do wonder just how many jobs there actually are).

  The government is coming out with a new currency after all. They will still be called dollars but now will be either “new dollars” or “red dollars” or “red backs” as the backs will be red instead of the old green color. They will also sport different Presidents on each denomination. The old bills can be exchanged for the new ones at a sliding scale rate.

  At first it will be ten old ones for one ‘new’ then after a set amount of time it will decline to twenty to one then fifty to one then a hundred to one. Then the exchange will cease and the old dollars will be worth nothing. They said they are doing it this way to get the old bills out of circulation quickly and have a cut-off when they are no longer valid.

  All money that is in any type of bank account will be automatically changed over to the new money immediately and it is everyone’s responsibility to exchange any old cash they have on hand for the new red dollars as quickly as they can. I guess we will make a trip into town to exchange our cash and do a little shopping.

  The government has revoked the minimum wage and it will be up to the free market to set the pay rates. States can still impose minimum rates but not for at least one year to allow things to settle down some. Business, individual, and corporation income taxes have been dropped and instead we will be taxed through a national ‘Value Added Tax’ which is similar to a sales tax for consumers.

  This tax has been used in many countries for many years but not in the United States. On the news they have explained this new tax system several different ways but I am not sure I fully understand it yet. It seems like it might be a fair tax without the loop holes of our old income tax system. It will certainly be easier as no one will have to file taxes anymore. We will see how it works out.

  Businesses will have quite a time for awhile deciding how much to charge for their goods with the new red dollars and the new tax happening at about the same time. Plus prices have been fluctuating anyway with the economy still in a state of semi-chaos. But I can see where things have to be done now and there will just have to be a shake down period before everything settles down again.

  Our old tax system was a joke. With so many loop holes and many thousands of pages of tax code that no one could fully understand. With the old way some people and companies paid a lot of taxes and some paid nothing or very little. This new system just about has to be better. Maybe.

  I found a job for Mac! Well kinda anyway. The neighbor with the cattle that we get milk from asked if Mac would want to do some work over there on occasion. I told them yes but I would have to double check with Mac to be sure.

  So now he goes to the neighbors place off and on to help them on the farm. They told me he never complains and works hard no matter what job they give him to do. They pay him with mostly cash and a little milk and butter. Even though it is still quite cool he rides one of the bikes over there to work.

  Apparently the neighbors have been talking because Mac now does some work for a couple other neighbors also. He now usually works five days a week and just has weekends off. He isn’t making a ton of money but it is something. Amy misses him during the days and is usually waiting and watching for him to come home in the afternoons.

  It is warm enough now that the flea market has opened back up on Saturday’s in town. We set up every other weekend to barter some things but mostly for socializing with everyone. Many of the younger single people in town have left to work in other areas.

  The government provides transport to where the jobs are and almost all stay after their government debt has been paid off and continue working. The jobs are definitely coming back slowly and even in our little town you can see the difference. There is talk about a shuttle service from our little town to the c
ity everyday for workers. Gas is still quite expensive and a shuttle service would be a good idea I think.

  We have worked up the garden and enlarged it again this year. The seed companies must have really planned ahead last year because there are plenty of garden seeds to buy and this year the seed packets are much larger than they used to be. One of the stores here is selling many of the garden seeds in bulk so you can buy as much as you want of the varieties they sell.

  Gradually we are all getting used to the new money that we have to use now. The new VAT taxes are in effect but we don’t really notice that as we have always had state sales tax here anyway. The county has cut the property taxes way back and I really mean way back even considering the new/old money exchange rates. And gas went down a couple cents, while not much it is the first decrease since this all started.

  Epilogue

  Well there has been a lot of water under the bridge. The United States is definitely coming back and I’m not just talking about the economy either. The old USA that we were all so proud of is coming back. People are taking responsibility for their actions and people are finding God again. The word God is no longer a dirty word that can not be uttered in public instead it is a way of life for most of the population, just like it used to be.

  Our own oil is being used in the United States now and none is being imported from countries that hate us. Actually very little of anything is being imported here and we now have restarted manufacturing in a big way. The USA still has plenty of our own natural resources like metals, oil, natural gas, fertile land, and willing workers.

  Both Amy and Mac now are working regular jobs again but Amy will be taking a leave of absence soon to have her first baby! It is hard to say who is happier about the baby between Amy and Flo. Flo already said she will baby sit while Amy is at work when she does go back. We are looking forward to our first grand kid to spoil.

  We still have a big garden that mostly Flo and I take care of now with the kids both working out. The government says they will still pay out Social Security but at reduced amounts and I will be able to start drawing it soon.

  Banks and insurance companies are still in a kind of limbo with no decision yet about whether they will go bankrupt or continue to operate or what exactly will be happen to them. What assets they have the government has ‘temporarily’ frozen so those on the top can not escape with ‘golden parachutes’ when the companies are so far in debt.

  I think it will all be sorted out soon though. The government has passed several laws pertaining to corporations to limit them to some degree. Things like now CEO’s and board members can only work for one corporation at a time and wages of both have to be approved by the shareholders with the wages including all the ‘perks’ that were formally hidden and could amount to more than the actual wage.

  I have been doing handyman work both here in the country and in town to give us a little more spending money though I think we will be OK. Our IRA is still intact and I am eligible to start drawing it out whenever we need it now but we should not have to touch it. It will not be long and I can start drawing the small Social Security benefit that is now offered and I can still keep doing odd jobs. Plus we still rent out the bulk of our farm land.

  Depending what happens with the price of propane we might go back to heating with that or a combination of wood and propane. Mac said he will certainly put up a bunch of wood for us this year so there is little worry in that department. I have been bringing home scrap wood from many of my handyman jobs also to use as firewood because every little bit helps.

  I admit the chips the government put in people has led to – nothing. They are just being used in place of ID cards so far and there have been no problems. None of us here are ever getting a chip and I know many other people feel the same way. And maybe that was whole plan to keep some people off the government dole by forcing them to get chipped. Plus the idea of making those that get government assistance actually work for that money is very popular.

  None of us know for sure but we think things are going to work out fine. As a nation we are now on the right track at least. And as a family we just have to sit back and wait for our new addition. Our first grand kid. I hope it’s a boy!

  The End

  Polar

  Shift

  Pete Thorsen

  Formerly Published

  Under the Pen Name

  Jack Forester

  Originally Released

  On Kindle May 2014

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except that brief selections may be quoted or copied for non-profit use without permission, provided that full credit is given. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely accidental.

  Chapter One

  Sidney Blanch and Bill Summers were friends and had been for a long time. They went to high school together and after graduating they joined the Marines together. Though separated in the service both spent time in Iraq. Both found things they liked about being in the service but not enough to remain in. So they both came back home to Flagstaff, Arizona at the same time and even rented a two bedroom apartment together. Then they both also got hired by the same construction company.

  While they shared many things and were good friends they were still very different people. Sid had grown up poor and being frugal was a not just a way of life for him it meant survival in his younger years. And he never really changed. So when he came out of the service he had a fair sized nest egg saved up. Bill not so much. Bill liked to spend his money and while he did exit the military with some savings it was not very much.

  But the construction job they got was good and both were excellent workers. Soon they were making good wages and it wasn’t long and they both were in charge of their separate work crews. They shared that apartment for two years and then they could easily afford to have their own separate places. Sid of course got a small one bedroom place that he found at a very reasonable price. Bill got a much larger apartment that he had no problem affording.

  The next year Bill bought his first brand new pickup. Sid had a pickup but it was thirteen years old when he bought it. But Sid bought a run down place well over twenty miles from town. That place could only be called a fixer-upper if you had a lot of imagination. He bought it for actually less than the bare land was worth because it was expected that the new owner would have to pay to demolish the old house and the couple of out buildings before a new house could be built on the site.

  But Sid had looked the old house over very carefully. It looked awful and there was no doubt that most people would have dozed the thing down but it was still solid, just ugly. And it needed a whole lot of work but it could again be a very good house and Sid saw that potential when he inspected it before his purchase.

  So Sid scavenged wood and some other supplies from the big dumpsters at his job sites. And he worked every single weekend on his house buying new lumber and other supplies as necessary (usually getting a company discount). It was nine months after the purchase before he left his small apartment and moved in to his own house. It was far from done and still looked bad but enough was livable so he could move in.

  Occasionally Bill would help Sid work on his house. They were still good friends though they did not see much of each other now that they lived many miles apart and though they worked for the same company they ran different work crews on different job sites. It was just over a year and a half before Sid thought he was done with his house.

  Because it was in a wooded area (and he wanted it maintenance free) the house now sported a metal roof and the outside was colored stucco. The house had something that was rather rare for the area; a basement. Well it had a walkout basement because it was built in
to the hillside.

  Sid’s place did not have much for flat spots because it was on a hillside. So when he wanted a garage he cut into the hillside and put up a Quonset style building which he then partially covered with earth so it blended in with the hillside better. When it was done it looked like it was just starting to grow right out of the hill.

  There were a couple of flat spots that Sid had planned for a garden. One of the first things he did when he bought the place was plant several fruit trees. He had also cut down most of the trees on his place to make a fuel-free buffer zone in case of a wildfire. He might have trouble with smoke but he was quite sure he would never get burned out. Of course he saved all the wood from the trees he cut for firewood. And he always brought home all the dimensional lumber scraps from work to use as firewood also (or save for future projects).

  While re-doing the house Sid had done as much as worthwhile to make the house as energy efficient as possible. It had propane heat with a wood stove back up. It also used propane for cooking and heating the water. Using his considerable contacts he was able to buy two large used propane tanks for just over scrap prices so he had plenty of propane storage. He liked his place and knew he could make a considerable profit if he sold it but that was never his plan. That’s when the bottom fell out of the housing market. And it wasn’t just the housing market in Arizona either the whole economy went down the tubes and the country went into deep recession.

  Chapter Two

  Bill

  Bill liked his job and he knew he was good at it. Luckily his boss knew that also and he got promoted several times with substantial pay raises. It sure worked out well for both him and Sid. It was great sharing an apartment with him to cut costs when they got out of the service. Then they both started making plenty of money and so they could each get their own places.