Of all the people you'd expect to be affected by the 'economic downturn' (or whatever is this week's euphemism for recession) the Amish would be low on the list. And yet they are suffering along with the rest of us according to the LA Times and Wall Street Journal.
The austerity with which the Amish are associated has apparently been relaxed by some of late. In Indiana US a number of Amish moved from traditional farming to well paid factory work and opening their own businesses often around craft skills. This resulted in the (rather hard to imagine) sight of Amish 'souping up' their carriages, buying second homes and jetting off on holidays.
When redundancies started to hit last Autumn, local religious leaders relented on their traditional forbidding of social security claims. At the same time there was a bank run on the community's Land Trust.
With unemployment at almost 20% in some parts of Amish Indiana, times are very seriously hard. Since the Amish espouse modern technology like cars, some are having to think again and, though there is a precedent for relaxing these rules because Amish men were allowed to drive during the depression if it was a viable way of earning, this is a major life change that will not be taken lightly.
An altogether strange side of the current world dilemma.
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