DIFFERENT ECONOMY
Since Covid-19, apartment rents in San Francisco have dropped nearly 10 percent. That means just a few months ago, a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco averaged nearly $4,000 a month. Just call it $45,000 a year.
Let that sink in for a moment. That's a one bedroom apartment. Imagine what a 2 or 3 bedroom one would go for; or a house of the same size. Around our rural area, and even in town, $45,000 is far more than the average annual income.
The disparity between urban and rural cost of living is hard to grasp. The cash-centric urban economy is hard for us country bumpkins to absorb. We routinely have families living fine on $30,000 a year.
We have gardens to supply our food. We find entertainment and recreation in our own yards or nearby woods and creeks--all of it free. We cut our own firewood for winter heat; many if not most of us don't run air conditioners. Teresa and I open the windows at night to let in the cool air, then shut everything up in the morning to trap it inside. Seems to work quite well. So do big shade trees.
The cash disparity does not mean urban folks are richer than country folks. On the contrary, often the actual savings rate is higher in rural areas. What's left over when all the bills are paid is often the same even though the income difference is $50,000 a year or more.
It reminds me of what a friend once said: "The best way to disempower the government is to pay fewer taxes by earning less." I wonder what it would look like if all of us tried living on the least amount possible rather than trying to earn more. Minimalism has a wonderfully liberating edge to it, to not be shackled to the high cash requirements of typical modern American living.
I own no stocks or bonds but does that mean I haven't prepared for the future or saved anything of value? I would suggest that being surrounded by a community of loving, caring folks who can grow things, repair things, and build things is of inestimable value. I've spent a lifetime cultivating relationships built on doing things together, sweating together, building and growing together.
These are not fickle partnerships conceived in cyberspace and dependent on a screen. These are visceral, eye-to-eye proximate relationships. I would rather die a pauper financially and have all my wealth tied up in loyal relationships than die wealthy amidst mistrust and people clamoring for riches.
As people examine urban life with a new awareness, perhaps a garden is worth taking a pay cut. I'm not opposed to cities, but I do wonder if they need to be as big as they are. Would it be helpful to repopulate the countryside and shrink cities by about 25 percent? They'll survive. St. Louis lost 50,000 people a decade from 1950-2000. It's still there.
Wealth is far more than paychecks; it's far more than cash. I would say the most valuable things in life have nothing to do with cash. Resilience in food, clothing, shelter, and relationships is better than cash. You can't eat cash. You can't wear cash. You can't sleep under cash. I have no desire to be cash rich; I want to be rich in partnerships, in team spirit and team players, in sacred vocation.
What is wealth to you?
**A huge thanks to our friend Kate Simon Lifestyle Photography for the use of her image!**