What's old is new: U.S. farmer swaps tractor for mules
Above: A mule team working the field in 1910. And maybe 2010?
Just as high gas prices have sent Indian farmers looking to the camel as a less costly alternative to farm tractors, an American farmer in Tennessee has begun using a pair of mules to work his fields. T.R. Warren says it's more economical to feed the pair, named Dolly and Molly, than it is to buy fuel. Warren's son, Danny, told the Associated Press that the mules are -- irony alert -- the "way of the future." What's next? Trading in the pickup for a horse and wagon? Keep this up and it'll be like "Little House on the Prairie" all over again.
[Source: AP via Breitbart. Photo: U.S. Library of Congress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 9:38AM (5/22/2008)
America is moving toward becoming a 3rd world nation thanks to Congressional spending and the Federal Reserve Bank's debasing our currency.
As so Soviet Union collapsed of it's own debt, so goes the United States. Freedom dies with a whimper...
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Wave54 10:07AM (5/22/2008)
And today Russia has a balanced budget every year and the 4th largest cash reserves in the world while the US is $10 trillion+ in debt.
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Tim 10:38AM (5/22/2008)
Wave54
That is like saying that Kansas has a cash surplus after the United States dissolved. Russa is NOT the Soviet Union!
Why can't Congress STOP SPENDING?
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Insightful 11:13AM (5/22/2008)
"Why can't Congress STOP SPENDING?"
Simple, it is called a WAR.
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Steve 11:17AM (5/22/2008)
Third-world nation? Hardly. We've got more than enough fossil fuels right here in the homeland to last us until we can harness fusion.
As for the mules, it's actually a very good idea. Feed the mules/oxen/horses/cows/etc the food not fit for humans, they crap on the field and fertilize it, and the crops grow. We might even be able to fit in a step to extract some natural gas from the crap. Oil has completely skewed perceptions about what's effective, but you should know that agribusinesses are less economically efficient (fewer $/acre) than small farms. Don't assume that oil's skyrocketing price is such a bad thing, or that using animal power is backwards.
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MikeW 12:42PM (5/22/2008)
US debt is like $60 trillion, not 10
The total net worth of US households is like $40 trillion.
But if you include 'off budget' monies [see CAFR], we have just enough to cover that $60 trillion without seizing all the assets of the US population.
What war? The US invasion/occupation of Iraq, or the dicking around in Afghanistan.
I don't doubt that humans can crack fusion in the next 100-1000 years, but will the masses have the 'free' electricity that results?
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Tim 1:56PM (5/22/2008)
MikeW (#6)
You will love this site:
http://www.federalbudget.com/
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Mike 2:12PM (5/22/2008)
On a trip to Arkansas in 1970 I actually saw farmers ploughing with mules. There really is nothing new under the sun.
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