While flipping the channels, I stumbled across a movie I thought was so ridiculous I wondered what network would play it, not to mention the fact that someone funded a movie like this. The main character wakes up 500 years in the future to find an uneducated society trying to grow everything under a Gatorade-like irrigation substance. 

I turned it off. 

Then I heard from a young man who had just returned from Washington and was talking about a lady making a presentation to an ag committee about how irrigation was depleting the waters of the West and was destroying the ecosystem. When he asked her questions after the presentation, she admitted she knew little about agriculture in general. 

I flipped through CNN, MSNBC and Fox and listened to our nation committing to a Vietnam scenario with Ukraine. I listened to a former President and his staff being the subject of a grand jury in Georgia and a brainless jury foreperson seeking her 5 minutes of fame. Finally, I saw our VP holding up a Venn diagram and cackling in total 1st grade fascination.

I turned the movie back on, it wasn't as stupid as I thought. 

What does this have to do with farm equipment dealerships? We are in turbulent times. We make a living selling “stuff” that is made all over the globe — especially in China. Events are occurring that could have catastrophic fallouts for us. China is about to meet with Russia who is in a war with us via proxy Ukraine and is about to furnish its new high-tech tank killer missiles to destroy the German Leopard and later our M1 tanks, before they reach the battlefield. We then will slap sanctions on China, China will invade Taiwan and halt all shipments to us and our allies as they turn into a co-ecosystem with Russia and the Middle East until we are forced to peace talks without us ever firing a shot. 

A new world currency that is not based on a dollar basis will make inflation of the last 2 years look like, I don't have an illustration — look at Venezuela.

China is a drug we are dependent on and addicted to. Look at your parts boxes and products — a large percent come from China. Think your Japanese or Korean or even Taiwanese products don't come originally from China? You are mostly wrong. Remember, Japan fought WWII because they had no natural resources. A crankshaft in a Japanese engine starts from ore or a casting from China. 

Cat, AGCO, Deere, Case, New Holland, Kubota and others all have plants and holdings in China. You can see the possibility of things going south here with a shooting or non-shooting war with China. 

We need leadership to stop the war with Russia. Ukraine should negotiate an easement for Russia to have access to a port on its southern border. We have to have an easing of tensions and let the Russian people deal with Putin. We have to deal with the military industrial complex that wants these regional wars to exist perpetually. 

We have to start electing leaders that can speak coherently, have above average intelligence and are not an embarrassment or a bull in a China shop.  Let us pray our suppliers have contingency plans sans China... so "other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?" I'm trying to smile!

Told from the perspective of an in-the-trenches owner/operator — Tim Brannon of B&G Equipment, Paris, Tenn. —  Equipment Dealer Tips, Tales & Takeaways shares knowledge, experiences and tips/lessons with fellow rural equipment dealerships throughout North America. Covering all aspects required of an equipment dealership general manager, Brannon will inform, entertain and provide a teachable moment for current — and future — leaders within equipment dealerships.

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