Thinking of Our Friends in Belgium

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

      We have friends in Belgium.  The gentleman moved there from England some years ago, married a lovely Belgian girl and raised his family there. They are very bright and hard working and have a rural home there.
Things in Belgium have been tough  This month Belgium finally reached a deal in which it once again had a government after 535 days without one. The Guinness Book of Records says that this is the longest in modern history that a modern nation has not had a government. Without writing pages upon pages on this, Belgium owes 90 plus percent of it's GDP and is economically insecure. In addition, Belgium is quite diverse and has multilingual Belgians. Their political party leanings and disagreements tend to be along language lines. Broad insecurity financially in Europe as a whole is not helping. Belgians discuss day to day the very real possibility of a European Depression. There was talk of splitting Belgium into two different countries.
           As a result our friends in rural Belgium are careful financially, and planning toward relative independence. Lawlessness there, however transient would be disastrous because without weaponry, defending rural areas especially could be difficult. The hope is the new government will aid both social and economic stability. Our friends in Belgium are bright and well informed, and I believe they will do well.  To everyone else, this may be a good time to buy some food ahead as a hedge against inflation.  Explore where you might garden in order to grow some of your own foods.  Consider a side business in order to make more money. You are not alone. There are no countries that are really doing well at this moment.  Hang in there.
         

An excellent article on the recent political trials in Belgium is:

http://www.businessinsider.com/belgium-government-elio-di-rupo-2011-12?op=1    by Adam Taylor

Belgium by Wikimedia Commons

Rural Belgium      Hermanth's photoblog


UPDATE;   I posted this before the gun attack this week in Liege, Belgium.   One of the last things I heard from our friends there is that they were moderately fearful of potential civil unrest, and now this attack happens.  I have not yet heard from them since the attack.    We send our best wishes and prayers to our friends in Belgium, the people and families impacted by this terrible shooting, and to the grieving families there.