The European online version of the New York Times has this hopeful article.
Higuera de la Serena is in many ways a microcosm of Spain’s troubles. Just as Spain’s national and regional governments are struggling with the collapse of the construction industry, overspending on huge capital projects and a pileup of unpaid bills, the same problems afflict many of its small towns…
But what has brought Higuera de la Serena a measure of fame in Spain is that the residents have stepped up where their government has failed…
Every Sunday now, the residents of this town in southwest Spain — young and old — do what needs to be done, whether it is cleaning the streets, raking the leaves, unclogging culverts or planting trees in the park…
“It was an initiative from them,”…
This is a very good sign for us. The same fiat currency problems they are now dealing with are in our very near future. They are simply months ahead of us.
Higuera de la Serena populace is quite typical with lifetime expectations that the money would keep coming in increasing amounts forever, and that “The City” would take care of increasingly expansive services without anyone personally lifting a finger.
The central planners and subordinate staff overspent straight on through the wall of economic reality. They found themselves on the other side with their community about to crumble.
Turns out thinking and initiative aren’t completely removed by the way we have been living. While I’m disappointed that so few see the obvious coming, I find cause for optimism in the community’s response once they finally do get run over by the train.,. they pick themselves up and go to work. The people of this community discover that labor is every bit as effective when donated as it is when hired.
The true bright side of this doesn’t come out explicitly in the article, but is quite obvious even unstated. The important stuff gets done. The unimportant does not.
While this particular example comes from a small village, it could well apply to larger communities and to neighborhoods within cities. Tribal instincts may well be such a part of our nature that programming and indoctrination cannot displace them.
At least we can hope so.