The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings to everyone in Western Illinois. It's good to be back here again see'n if'n you'ns are all up to a spell of see'n what's go'n on round about.
Corn fields have take'n a hit from the hot weather. In walk'n the fields, one finds a variety of results.
Depend'n on plant'n date and replant'n date some of the corn was hurt dur'n pollination time. Miss'n kernels and shortened ear tips are not hard to find. In our area the yields seem to be off 15%-20% at this time, from 5 year averages.
In the Champaign Illinois area, yields are suffer'n dramatically from dryness. Some folk down there feel they will be lucky to obtain 100 bushel per acre in some fields.
Timely rains from here on out could help some. But for the most part bumper yields seem out of the picture for various parts of the state.
Corn can stand hot days if'n it has adequate moisture. It was the hot nights that has affected this years crop adversely. The nights this summer so far have averaged 8 degrees F to 10 degrees F warmer than last summers nights. Corn needs cool nights for best yields.
Does this mean crop failure in our area? No, but what it does mean is yields will be decreased in many fields at least 18% to 20% from earlier expectations.
Will prices then go "gang busters" high? Maybe and maybe not. Some livestock and poultry folk along with exporters have found substitutes for corn at these higher corn prices. Ethanol plants have cut back to keep their fermenters at the proper temperature. Livestock has suffered heat loss and feed usage will be off accordingly.
All in all it's anybody's guess as to future prices. One would have to think not be'n greedy might be a sound market'n strategy.
Ya know, with all that's go'n on around our area-cruise nights, fairs, Western Illinois Threshers Bee, and antique shows-there's plenty of opportunity to gather wisdom from neighbors, friends, and new acquaintances. Whilst sit'n on a piece of old farm equipment at the Threshers Bee near Hamilton, me and the boys gathered the follow'n wise teach'ns.
1) You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislate'n the wealth out of prosperity.
2) What one person receives without work'n for, another person must work for without receive'n.
3) The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4) You cannot multiply wealth by divid'n it.
5) When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is go'n to take care of them and when the other half gets the idea that is does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they worked for, that is the begin'n of the end of any nation.
6) A nation with citizens of sheep breeds a government of wolves.
And finally, one elderly gray haired gentlemen with his wife pointed out the follow'n calculations he had been work'n on.
He and his employer both contributed to Social Security all of his work'n life. It totaled 15% of his income before taxes. He averaged $30,000 over his work'n life which was close to $220,500 in payments.
When he calculated the future value of $4,500 per year (his and his employers contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the government pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of work'n he'd have $892,919.98.
If'n he took out only 3% per year, he would receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years, and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit!
If'n he bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, he would have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.
The folk, in Washington, he said have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever had. He then blurted out that "I paid cash for my social security insurance! It is not an entitlement!
Just because the politicians borrowed the money from the social security fund, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout to be negotiated down."
"Real welfare," he proclaimed, "seems to be congressional benefits, aka free health care, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days and on it goes."
He sez "now that's welfare, and yet politicians have the nerve to call social security entitlement.
"In the last months", he said, "we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile, and Turkey. And now Pakistan, home of Bin Laden, literally billions of dollars!!! And yet not enough money for retired seniors live'n on fixed incomes who receive no aid."
On that statement, he and his wife went stomp'n off, both of them red in their faces. They never looked back once. I'm not sure if'n the red faces was from the heat of the day or heat of the discussion.
Me and the boys didn't have a chance to reply. We just sat there and listened whilst he talked about his high financial calculations and his wife nod'n in agreement, figures to complicated for us boys to understand or comprehend. Each sentence he blurted out made him and his wife's face redder and redder.
After a time of silence, in their absence, Jasper Jenx slowly proclaimed, "I'm a hope'n no politician show'n up at this here Thresh'n Bee runs into them two. It might get ugly! Fer they really had themselves "a head of steam" to the "boiler burst'n point"!
"If'n a feller could of captured some of that there "steam" from them two he could of fueled a "Thresh'n Bee steam engine" for quite a spell."
Any ways, keep cool and concentrate on positive things. As always it's been good share'n with you'ns and we'll be touch'n base with ya next week, as the Good Lord wills.
Keep on Smile'n
Catch ya Later
Barnyard Bruke