Cheer Up Idaho: Bad Times Always Run Their Course

One day I read a story and it tells me oil will be priced between 165 to 200 dollars within a year.  The next day I will see a story that tells me prices have slumped.  They haven’t slumped much.  Brent Crude was still trading at over 100 dollars a barrel the last time I looked.  The housing bubble is about to burst, according to some sources.  Others write that the sky is the limit.  The jobless rate has dropped nationally to below four percent but something called the Yield Curve has gone negative and signals a recession.  How the heck can anyone plan for anything in life if we can’t get some agreement on when the world is coming to an end?

All societies have expiration dates and we’re on the hook for 30 trillion dollars in national debt.  On the other hand, how many people are trying to cross the border into China?

Are You an Optimist?

We can choose our outlook on life.  Things sometimes get better.  I don’t believe I would’ve liked life in 1870, 1932, and 1942.  Life was pretty good for me during the 1960s.  I was a boy and we lived in a big house and we could run and play and always had food on the table.  In other parts of the country, the 60s burned with rage.  The 1970s were said to be a depressing time.  I was in high school during the Carter years and played football and went to dances and looked forward to college.

It's a Matter of Perspective

There was a deep recession when I was in college and I didn’t much notice.  There were beer blasts and pretty young women and I made good grades.  Times were tough for me in the late 80s and early 90s.  Great for me, in the late 90s and a mixed bag the last 20 years.  If you live long enough, and it’s a blessing, you’ll see peaks and valleys, and only later in your years will you learn it’s always darkest before dawn.

A friend shares a story about his ancestors.  When they first came to Idaho they lived in a cave.  They also looked out the entrance every morning and saw opportunities.