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| Kenny, you are too young to really understand how close the world was to going into a full blown depression. Just Google financial meltdown, October 2008. You need to understand what counterparty risk is, and that's what we were facing. Ships backed up in ports that couldn't unload their goods because they didn't know if the bank the cashiers check was drawn from was any good. Libor was through the roof. Lehman brothers went bankrupt. Money market accounts cracked the buck for a few days, which is what scared me the most. It's is common perception with money market accts., that you can put in a dollar today and withdraw a dollar and a fraction of a percent interest tommorow,and that trust has been as good as gold. Well that trust was broken for a couple days in October. 2008. Money markets got down to $.91, and shook the banking industry up, and George bush took immediate action by raising the FDIC insurance up to $250,000, and gave an immediate transfusion of liquidity to the banks to stave off a bank run. We were only maybe a day away from a full blown run on the banks. It was the most scariest time of my life, because I knew what was really going on, and we as a nation were led right to the very edge of total collapse, and the world would have followed. Some say maybe should have let it happen, and purge the system of all the contagion that exists in our economic system. The blood letting would have been severe, but eventually we would have replaced the old system with a new cleaned up balance sheet. But most would have been totally wiped out. No, this is going to be a tough time, and it's not that prices are that terrible. If our inputs were what they were 15 years ago, we'd think we were cutting a fat hog in the ass. Those inputs will make those adjustments, it's just going to take some time. You will see some major relief in 2016 on the input side of things, as few farmers are going to make money this year. If a person owns their land free and clear, they will make good money this year. No, Kenny, you are too young to have experienced true hardship yet, and this period that ag is in isn't even close to those levels. You actually have a very bright future ahead of you, and if you as a young man just getting started can understand that $8 corn can be worse than $3 dollar corn, you will have a leg up on your neighbor. A total reset is necessary in our profession. Cleans out the contagion, things reach an equilibrium at a much lower level, and the low debt producer survives and prospers. I have no doubt you will benefit and prosper in the long run, because I know you will make good decisions. Enough of my rant.
Edited by Boone & Crockett 1/24/2015 06:30
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Mother Deere laying off 910 people
