If there's any way to swing it,

please consider the possibility of switching to a Tiny House (maybe on wheels) if you can. It might even be possible to build one on your own. Even in municipalities that would never allow them to remain stationary, moving a little ways as required could keep a roof over your head. I happen to have a huge old house, but that's because it was a wreck when I bought it at auction for pennies on the dollar and nobody else wanted to put up with the years of discomfort and work required to restore it. Not to mention expense.

That was before the Tiny House movement really got rolling; and truth to tell, I think I'd go that route now. With a comparatively under-insured house, if disaster strikes that might well turn out to be what happens. Especially at my age, I just love Tiny Houses now. Some are actually beautiful. Of course I also look at grain silo conversions and shipping containers, plus cob domes. If I wound up in the latter, I'd make it look like a Hobbitat. They're not that hard or expensive to make, either.

Hope I haven't said too often that finances dictated where I could retire -

to a remote corner of the MidWest in a blood red county of a blood red state. Let's just say it's been interesting learning how to survive here as a flaming liberal. Some have actually threatened to shoot me (and worse yet, my dogs) and probably even more would like to do that. But I've been chipping away, trying to gain at least a toehold, and a few have at least eased their grip on the stick.

Yet here's the interesting thing I see: although the vast majority are poor as church mice, a few from the oldest families (sometimes banking/farming) do eat a lot higher on the hog than the rest of us. And I'm starting to hear at least a little concern from them about the possible error of their own ways. Not just because they're afraid the tiger they're riding may unseat and devour them, which it will someday w/o fail if things even remain the same (forget worsening), but because a few can see they're living in an unjust world their class made.

Roosevelt's New Deal was not primarily for the sake of the destitute working class - it was to head off a general uprising and preserve the wealth of the upper classes who were too depraved to do anything but hate him for it. The poor man got a little more of his just due along the way, and I do believe FDR had some degree of genuine concern for 'the others'. But communism was on the march double time back then, and that's what concerned the government most.

Today, as anyone can see with the 1-2% outrageously blind greed, too many plutocrats are napping at the wheel again. At least Buffet has the sense to know that fat cows give more milk. When the proles start banging on the gates, it's a little too late to bargain then.

David,

(that's one of my favorite names, btw) I'm almost 68 and have spent an inordinate amount of those years with my nose in a book. But never once - NOT ONCE! - have I heard what you said, said better. Thank you.

Good point. Case closed.

His words personify why China hates Japan and I expect they always will. There's only so much I can read about the Rape of Nanjing w/o vomiting. Women weren't just raped and tortured, but also impaled on stakes along the roadsides and left to rot in public view. Skulls of men, women, and children were piled high where they'd have the most effect. Only wrong by today's standards???? War crimes are war crimes, no matter where or when.

I think they're changelings.

Followed the link for the rest of the story.

Almost wish I hadn't, because another article caught my eye as well; a story about Senator Richard Black, of VA, I think, having complained to Benedict about the official support of bishops for the canonization of Dororthy Day; Black referred to one of my greatest heroes as "a woman of loathsome character", saying she promoted the violent eradication of thousands of Christians! If I saw that man on the street, he'd get a good swift Irish kick to his rear end!

Powerful.

I'm sure future generations will appreciate him better than some people do today.

I don't know how they could say anything worse than they already have.

Ignore barking dogs.

Great OP! Thanks.

I not only stand tall (well, a full 5' anyway) with President Obama but everyone else who stands with him. We lift each other up.

Yes, I'm a great Merton fan.

Sorry my writing initially led you to misconstrue anything I was trying to say. I'm not always clear, and I appreciate your extending the conversation so we could reach understanding. PS: thanks for the Bible verses. I'm especially bad to say, "Somewhere in the New/Old Testament..." I've read it all several times straight through, in different translations, and try to learn as much as I can about the context, but I'm the world's worst at recalling exact location. Half the time I need a concordance to find John 3:16!