Thanks RandyMatt. What can I add when the opportunity is right in front of our noses ?

RIGHT NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT !!

Get up, get up out of your chairs and scream at the top of your mind (save your lungs), “I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it any more”.

Sound familiar ? Unabashedly swiped from the movie “Network”.

So what can we do to protect ourselves from high inflation ?

One answer is to buy now what will be much, much higher in the future.

As I have been saying, food right now is a screaming bargain with no downside.

Not to denigrate precious metals but if/when their prices shoot to the moon, the govt. can be counted on to want a large chunk of the increase. It is what they do with “profit” from bank accounts, stocks, bonds, housing… Hell, they tax everything !!

If you can’t tell, I am mad as Hell and not going to take it any more.

But instead of opening the window and screaming your frustrations to the world, I prefer to get even.

Buying food now with price increases anticipated is a no brainer.

But what other ways can we get even ?

First, it will take a change of your perception of yourself and your caring what others think of you. By the way, it has been said to not worry what others think; they don’t do it very often anyway. I would add that I have to respect someone before I respect what they say. This is especially true today with the world gone mad.

BE YOURSELF; EVERYBODY ELSE IS ALREADY TAKEN

This is an invitation to be as radical as you want. Well, within boundaries of good sense anyway. If you don’t think for yourself, others will do it for you.

For instance, who the Hell cares if you got a winter jacket at a garage sale for $2 that was originally $100 in the store ? Is it any less warm ? Will it last as long ? Is your foregoing the $98 savings worth salving your fragile ego ? Poor baby.

Get over yourself ! Lose the propaganda that you are upper, middle or lower class. Remember that this is determined by amount of income and whether you crook your little finger when sipping fine wines. Both stupid yardsticks used to divide and conquer the masses.

Being wise deal makers is crucial to our futures while class distinctions are an illusion.

The other day my younger son and I had just finished shopping and were pushing the cart to our 1973 Chevy truck. A beater by any standards but it‘s great for hauling the boat around and heavy items. I had a little trailer hanging off the back which was for hauling a free freezer at my next stop. There was a shiny new red Corvette convertible parked nose to nose with my truck. There were three guys standing around it and babbling like schoolgirls with the owner. One of them looked up an me and my son and I could see that he quickly sized us up as po’ folk, just scraping by. Little did he know that I looked at them as Debt Man Walking. I have had all the toys I ever wanted and knew what was behind owning a showy toy. These days it is huge monthly payments, upkeep and insurance. And with what I believe regarding the future, I wouldn’t want a fancy car even if it were paid for. Too much an attention getter for me and too much money tied up in something for which the cash value has a higher and better use. Low key and anonymous will be best in a depression. Might as well do it in advance and get comfortable with it. Just another prep.

You can be one of two kinds of car owners in a parking lot. One is to have a new or expensive pristine car, always worrying about others opening their car doors and scratching your paint. The other is a total dirt bag with the kind of car that tells others that you just might not have insurance and probably don’t care about cosmetics but only gittin’ thar an’ back. Of course, there are many in the middle with a presentable vehicle but these are as spectators of the aforementioned two extremes.

Remember form to function ? We as a society are in the process of moving from form to function. I am already pretty much there. Admittedly, I still have occasional slight feelings of yearning to have nice things. I ascribe it to the dying vestiges of my misspent youth. I can now appreciate fine things but don’t have the desire to own them as I once did. It is both cathartic and a downright relief. Little things are now more fascinating than big things once were.

My son recently said that he has never seen pride keep people out of trouble. But it sure seems capable of getting them into trouble.

The other evening RandyMatt’s wife called me and said to turn to ABC News. I did and there was a piece all about world food shortages and rising prices. It said that in the last year, rice has gone up 147%, grain up 40%, dairy up 80%. And pork in China was up 63% in the same year. They talked about starvation and food riots around the world.

Besides the CBS article about Haitians eating dirt because they couldn’t afford food, this is the first time I have seen mainstream news addressing our current world food crisis.

What does this mean to us; what does the future portend ? If a rumor of toilet paper shortage on a late night talk show can cause a nationwide shortage of toilet paper, it doesn’t take much imagination to envision the potential for a food panic right here in the good old U.S.A.

I expect that we will be seeing more of the food crisis TV articles in the near future. It has been on the internet for a while but next has to be slowly and carefully introduced to the general public. I say carefully because nobody knows how seemingly insignificant a piece of information could set off a widespread panic.

I will leave the relative impacts of anal versus oral crises to you. But something to think about. Nobody was killed in the toilet paper panic but food ?

I was at the dollar store today and they were out of 2 pounds for a dollar pasta. Maybe they will restock but I am beginning to believe this won’t happen in view of the world food crisis. So if my great pasta deal is now a thing of the past, it may be time to reassess and think of getting more pasta, even if it has doubled in price. A trend, once established, will continue until it ends. With our falling dollar and failing economy, it is hard to see an end except at the bottom. And conversely, prices in the stratosphere.

If the leaders at the Federal Reserve say that they can’t see a recession until we are in it, how can we citizens see it either ? Well, there are several “dots”, some big and some small. In the child’s game of connect the dots, enough dots are connected and then the picture becomes obvious.

How many more dots will we need to connect to see enough of the picture to ACT upon what we believe will be the whole picture ?

Those who act earliest will be best prepared. We may be wrong but it is this early acting that gives us the advantage. Stocking additional food preps now, when either prices or availability may be perceived as a problem in the future, is an example of acting early in order to avoid the rush.

Maybe I seem paranoid but I don’t really care. My mind is made up, I have weighed all the possibilities I can and the evidence or dots are substantial enough that to delay could be costly, perhaps tragic.

This post was thrown together without much editing; just some thoughts to try to keep up with what is going on. It seems that things are accelerating; I don’t think it is my perception either. With the FED recently being allowed to effectively loan itself money, the limits to monetary exponential increase appears to have been unleashed. If we do move to hyperinflation, I don’t think wages will even begin to keep up. After all, wages have been falling behind inflation for many years. Therefore, what I call hyper stagflation would be in play.

Here is the article of which I referred :

Who Will Bail Out The FED ?
By Alex Wallenwein

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials...ein040908.html

In such a scenario, food prices would skyrocket while wages effectively stagnated. And in such a situation, who would be able to invest in the precious metals ? That’s right, only the rich and those few who had large food preps. Because food may well about to become a substantial percentage of Joe six pack’s net income. In some poorer countries, food costs are 80% of income, so we can understand why there have been riots. With us Americans, food price increases have been a concern. So far, that is !

Be a futurist and begin to think in the future and this may get you motivated to prep more wisely. There will always be time to prep until there ain’t.

Gotta go; lots of running to and fro just to stand still.

Best wishes,

Agnut

Hi Olmstein. As I keep saying, this summer and fall should be “The Great American Garage Sale”. Buying items for profitable resale will have to be handled with kid gloves in our devolving economy (a nice way of saying things are going in the shitter).

I still have the $100 motorhome. Never know when some friend or relative may need it for a roof over their head.

Watch the local papers as well, bulletin boards and last but not least, cruise neighborhoods for neglected motorhomes that are sitting in the side or back yard. Ones that are dirty or have a flat tire or grass growing up around them are signs to look for. Also check the license plate to see if it is out of registration. These signs may mean that pride of ownership has evaporated and the owner will be glad to just get it off his property for a song. Remember that these motor homes aren’t advertised and the owner may be in such financial straits that he hasn’t considered this option. You would be taking it off his hands and giving him cash for his financial burdens as well. Once a screaming bargain has hit the classified ads, you are now competing with other buyers. Better to search out deals sitting around.

You must be aware that later motorhomes often have loans still against them. This alone precludes getting any steals here. Besides, even if they were paid off, their being newer means that they still have a lot of depreciation to go. No sense buying now if they are going down in resale value in the next few years.

Often you can find an older motor home that wasn’t driven much and is still in good cosmetic condition.

I have wondered if there will be a period of time in which the public hasn’t yet needed temporary housing, ala a motorhome, AND simultaneously a dumping of assets at bargain prices. The timing here isn’t sure, but if this goes in a motor home buyer’s favor, it will be a time of opportunity for a steal.

The $5,000 difference between a motor home correctly offered for $8,000 and one correctly offered for $3,000 may not justify your opting to buy the $3,000 one if it needs so much work that it would have been cheaper to have bought the $8,000 one instead. As I have said, deal making is pretty much unique with each deal. You must use your judgment and past experience as well as your “gut feeling”.

It may be best to first consider your personal needs for a motorhome. How big do you need ? You may not intend to drive it but instead park it in a secure location. So mechanical condition may not be as important. How do you anticipate using it and for how long ? Will it be used for a bugout place ? And do you have a place in mind ? Maybe a friend’s where you won’t have to pay rent or a mortgage like you do now. Preplanning for such scenarios may save your cookies in the future.

My $100 motor home isn’t newer or pretty but can be made functional in a pinch. Instead of investing thousands for the future I have opted to keep the savings from not purchasing a more expensive motorhome and using that money for more preps.

I would be happy to further discuss motorhome plans for the future that could make a crisis scenario less difficult. In fact, such a move could be a big relief if done properly. Handling a crisis is easier if we have some new advantages to look forward to.

Best wishes,

Agnut

Thanks for the reply, Agnut. I look forward to seeing a new post here in the horse trading corner. I loved the line "Debt man walking", so very true. That's one curse I don't have, debt.

I'm looked at an truck/5th wheel combo deal yesterday that I prob could have gotten for around $3k, but it wasn't in very good shape and I am looking for an even better deal. The guy selling it has had it on craigslist for over a month, and I was the first person to come out to look. I agree with you that the deals will be getting better in a few months. I'm looking to get an RV as a bug out vehicle in case things get bad, at least I'll be mobile for a while. I'll start looking at unadvertised vehicles in yards and l'll let you know what I find.

Again, thanks for the thread.

__________________
I came to GIM for the Gold & Silver. I'm staying for the crazy.

Here’s a heads up from a well respected financial analyst :

The Dollar Hasn’t Bounced
By James Turk

www.goldmoney.com

He is predicting a collapse of the dollar this summer !

Not much time to prepare if this comes true. I have been expecting this dollar failure for a long time. As I have written several times in the past (see how I snatch a bit of credit for my prescience ?), the fate for the fiat dollar is no different than any other past fiat currencies which fell to their true value EVERY DAMN TIME, which is ZERO.

And as I have said before, the nature of a crisis is that it catches most everyone unawares and unprepared. Can’t have a crisis if everybody is prepared and there is no grist for the mill, aka ignorant masses of citizens. Can you see the setup coming with most everyone in paper assets of all kinds ?

We have been focusing on food bargains here for a while. Food is the new gold, some have said. With the riots and starvation going on around the world, we have been watching it with a detached interest. Well, it’s going to get a lot more interesting as it comes to our shores. Food prices have been rising here at an incredible pace. You must ask yourself if the prices will keep rising as well as the specter of shortages in the future.

How can the U.S. have food shortages ? In an insidious way, price rises shut out citizens from buying as much quantity. It is an ongoing process and looking down the road, we who think we are living well will be forced by price increases to buy less and to switch to less expensive food alternatives. It has been happening for some time now but has more recently become obvious that it is accelerating.

So the shortage doesn’t have to come from empty market shelves but rather from empty wallets. Not enough fiat dollars to buy as much as before.

This is why I have been writing about stocking up on long term food purchases. It is a recent phenomenon and those who ACT earliest reap the most benefits. In this case, lower prices now as well as availability. There ain’t much worse than to know about food prices going to through the roof and to not get them early on. Well, except not being able to get food in the future even if you have the money.

The whole deal making landscape is changing as we speak. I will be writing more about adapting to these changes as time permits.

Gotta go.

Best wishes,

Agnut

The unbridled lust for power and money is an as yet unrecognized form of mental illness.

Here’s something I was reluctant to post. I hate to be the bearer of bad news (who doesn’t ?). However it does give some opinions of what things could be like after a financial crash. There are several possibilities, some difficult and some downright grim.



ECON - So...What Exactly Would Happen First?

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=284735

And here’s a recent article from Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo :

ECON - GOLDMAN SACHS AND WELLS FARGO WARN OF STOCK 'BLOODBATH'

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=284751

The overview is that we are going into hard times and must do our best to prepare as quickly as possible. We have a rare opportunity here in that we are aware of the future’s perilous possibilities and can therefore make plans beforehand. I posted Turk’s article and if his prediction that we will have a market crash this summer comes true, we have but a few months to get ready.

So what has bartering and horse trading got to do with a market crash ? Everything, since we negotiate deals in the particular time we are living. And when that time changes dramatically, we must not only adapt but also foresee the hurdles ahead and be ready to overcome them.

Most of you already know this but it bears repeating. The Chinese have two meanings for crisis; one is danger and the other is opportunity. At least that is the way I understand it.

As I have said, bartering and horse trading is a lifestyle, not just something you pick up and use once in a while and forget for the rest of the time. It is a minute by minute thought process wherein you look at every transaction and calculate its benefits versus its costs. And some transactions aren’t financial but investment in time.

The best way to avoid a fight is to not be there in the first place. This applies to dangerous physical situations as well as costly financial decisions. If you find yourself in a bad situation, you most likely allowed yourself to be there in the first place.

Yet another thread tells of world food shortages amid rising prices :

INTL - Soaring Food Prices Unleash Chaos

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=284323

Is it any wonder why RandyMatt and I have been focusing on cheap food opportunities for the last weeks ? We have been doing all in our power to get while the getting is good. We don’t want to be among the panicky masses when they clean out the stores.

And by the way, prepping in advance IS NOT HOARDING ! Hoarding is buying amidst shortages in anticipation of making profits from selling later. We have no intention of selling for profits but only feeding our families for a long time. If the govt were to try confiscation of preppers’ food stocks, I would consider that stepping over the line in the sand. Taking away food from my and my family’s mouth would be met with the strongest resistance we could muster. Especially when I know that the same govt sold our grain reserves and essentially pocketed the money. Yeah, pocketed it via spending the money on pork barrel projects to gain votes and therefore remain in office. It is a terrible thing to witness politicians using taxpayers’ money for their own political gain.

Don’t misunderstand me; I am a patriot to the Constitution and Bill of Rights. But as Mark Twain said, “Support your country always and your government when they deserve it.” Words can’t describe how deeply disappointed I am in our representatives.

Maybe a reread of Atlas Shrugged would be in order about now. Time to do a John Galt and opt out of the system ? That’s something every one of us must ask ourselves.

Don’t become fearful or depressed by the articles. I have posted them for you to think about how you will prep for the future.

I strongly feel that now is a good time to think of a bugout place for yourself and your loved ones. It could be a friend’s place in the country or a piece of land you already own. If a motor home or trailer could be bought cheaply, it could be prepositioned for an easier transition. Treat it as a future vacation vehicle; look at the positive factors. We don't have to be grim about this type of preparing.

Recently I saw a 35’ Beaver motor home on the side of the road; it is for sale for $10K and is luxurious. It could be had for maybe $7K or $8K. Just a thought.

Gotta go; lots of work waiting.

Best wishes,

Agnut

Been a long time since I posted in your thread agnut, but this link deserves a huge bump -
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=284323

Read it all (and invite Martin over here).

Thanks for posting.

fasTT

__________________

Hi Agnut,

I thought my pasta deal had dried up too. Today I went to the drug store where I’ve been getting the 2lbs of name brand pasta for $0.99 and once again they have the same deal going with plenty on the shelves. Couldn’t resist so I picked up another dozen boxes and will be adding more throughout the week.

Coincidentally, right next door to the drug store a large supermarket had their boxes of pasta on sale as well, same brand. “Reg $1.79 Only $1.25, Card Holders Save $0.54”, the sign said. But what’s this? ...now, the same size box of spaghetti that last week contained 1lb now has just 12oz (.75lb) inside. They also changed the little window on the box so you can’t see that it's only 3/4 full. The 12 oz box works out to $1.67 per lb. The 1lb box prior to the ‘sale’ was $1.59, so by picking up on this sale you saved , ummm lost $0.08 from last week’s price.

We all know food prices are going up, what gets me is the way that suppliers and stores are trying to hide it. All the grocery stores I’ve been to lately have changed the way their sales and pricing are done, making it harder to know how much product your getting for how many FRNs. Most all food manufactures are now going with the same size package / less product approach. This probably fools more people than we think. Another tactic being used is stumping us with ‘hard’ math. For example, before they had 10 for 10 and 2 for 1 sales, now they have 4 for 9 and 3 for 7 sales. When you do the math you will see that your only saving 10 to 15 cents if that, on 3 to 4 dollar items, until recently there were much better deals to be had.

With the skyrocketing wheat prices and grain shortages we will no doubt hit PP (Peak Pasta) soon. Now that we are using our food stocks to produce fuel that in the end, produces less BTUs then the energy consumed to make it, this can’t end up good.

-RandyMatt

__________________



The president of a socialist nation (America)..
has to give a convincing speech saying essentially..
“We are not going to do.. what we are doing”

"No exports, No recovery"... Ponce

Hi Olmstein. Yeah, debt is a monster alright. Glad to see that you are out of debt. It is complicated enough paying all the monthly bills without also having credit card, car payment and other debt bills adding to the burden.

That $3K truck/fifth wheel sounds like a sweet deal if it is repairable. It may have not sold for a month because almost nothing is selling right now ! Where I could have put an ad in the Craigslist ads a year ago and gotten 20 calls, I would only get one or two this year. It may be as few as a couple of months until we see some screaming bargains. It depends upon who gets to the bottom of their resources and when.

Let me know how your looking at unadvertised vehicles works out. There are many motor homes around here sitting in driveways and side yards for many months at a time. They are gas hogs but in our case it doesn’t matter since they will be driven to one bugout location and parked there. Some states charge no registration fees if you don’t drive it for 12 months after the monthly expiration date. I have a medium motor home that ran out in March 15 and I may not register it until after March next year. That way I save $111.75. Also I’m not going to insure it since it isn’t going anywhere; more savings.

Having a mortgage seems to be in the process of becoming a liability for many as opposed to renting and being free to move to a better location. Pride of ownership has been a grand illusion foisted upon an approval hungry populace. This is an example of the change from form to function our society is transitioning toward. Whereas the form of “home ownership” was a source of pride (which comes before the fall as we have heard from our elders), the real function of a house or apartment is to provide a shelter from the weather and a place to keep your “stuff”. George Carlin did a comedy bit about all the “stuff” we drag around through our lives. I believe that loads of this “stuff” will be for sale starting in the next few months. It will have to be cleaned out until the system returns to normalcy. Some will be dumped at fire sale prices and some will just go to the dump. Hey, I’m guilty of having too much “stuff” too ! When I look at all the things I don’t use that are just taking up space, I get the feeling that they are connected to my ankle like a ball and chain.

The furniture that can’t be sold will be broken up and used in the fire stove. The metal will go to the scrap yard. Some of the art that I could have sold a year ago will be kept and given as gifts to family and friends. I have always believed that gifts can be given from personal belongings. No sales tax and having to shop through tons of tacky knick-knacks. Patty whack comes next, I think.

I have been thinking about what it would be like to bugout in a crisis. Say you had a motor home or fifth wheel as you have just written in your post. And it is loaded with food preps. Of course, preps for you and your family may have been better to have prepositioned well beforehand. To me, it would be “inconvenient” to bugout having to load and haul tons of preps.

And trying to rent a U-Haul truck in a crisis would be moronic. Let me lead you down the merry/hairy path.

‘Good afternoon sir, ma‘am. May I help you ? ”

“Good afternoon. We (trying to maintain some semblance of civility amid the racket of cars racing around and people screaming at each other in the distance. A human barnyard gone nuts) would like to rent a truck from your fine company.”

“Where do you want to go ?”

“We want to haul some household items to our vacation home in the mountains.” All the while thinking, “None of your damn business where we want to hide out; just please let us have one of your trucks.”

“Will that be a one way or are you going to return it ?”

Pause here. “Oh, We’ll bring it back tomorrow.” A blatant lie as there is no way they intend to return to the growing melee, since it is scary today and will probably turn freaky by tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the wife is thinking that with a hacksaw to make the windows, a few plastic sheets and finally, some curtains, the truck box could make a homey nest. Of course, she hasn’t thought about how to cook all the preps they intend to “get away with”. Also, the bathroom facilities haven’t yet been thought of. A light bulb (probably a 5 watter) goes off in her head right then and there. “Hey“, she thinks, “we’ll take one of the toilet seats from our house and a 5 gallon bucket.” She smiles in self satisfaction, not thinking further about any plastic liners for the 5 gallon bucket. Or a shovel, for that matter. Or toilet paper. Ewww! Or deodorizer. Phew !You see, this is what happens when a crisis hits and there is no real plan. Lots of halfassed (pun intended) notions that won’t work in the real world.

The U-Haul salesman gets a phone call and excuses himself for privacy. The prospective truck renters are getting as restless as 5 year olds that gotta pee real bad. It is the corporate office warning him to not rent any trucks since they can’t expect to get them back.

The salesman returns to the couple and says that he has been told to shut down the business until further notice. He is also thinking that he has to take the distributors out of the trucks or otherwise disable them since as hours pass and more folks get frantic, desperation will mount. And even nice folks will turn into animals when feeling trapped. The old flight or fight syndrome impacts with flight not possible anymore. All that is left is fight.

So the couple leave without further argument since they are becoming aware that each minute is precious. That is, if they want to get away from the growing confusion.

They go home and begin to load up the family sedan but only a small percentage of their preps will be able to be taken. The stark conclusion hits them like a hammer upside the head. They will have to leave behind thousands of dollars of preps for the perps. A heartbreaking thought.

A further revelation is when packing up to bugout, the couple look at the televisions, computers, appliances, furniture and all sorts of conveniences that they had taken for granted. Things that will now have to be left behind with all the comforts and perceptions of security they provided.

As Bob Engvall (sp?), redneck extraordinaire, says in finality, “There’s your sign !”

There are three things which must be dealt with here; one is to have a reliable bugout location, a way to get there and that you must feel confident in your food prep stocks’ security.

Might I suggest that those of you who read this and haven’t made plans that you take the time to consider the alternatives ?


At the top of the list of concerns is what happens when you suddenly don’t have an income as a consequence of a crisis. I haven’t seen this addressed anywhere yet so I wondered what it would feel like from a plus vs. minus investigation. A financial impact assessment.

Suddenly no income. Sounds frightening, but if you will stop and consider what income you have been taking home and paying bills with it, how much do you have left over for savings ? Are you just treading water right now with the possibility (yeah, right !) of higher taxes and inflation in the future ? If so, aren’t you really a sitting duck by staying in the system until it devours you ?

Or maybe you’re already underwater and going deeper. It may be time to cut your losses and change your lifestyle.

And I have to mention the psychological effect of quitting your job. Or maybe your job will disappear in a crash. Either way, this is normally seen as a defeat to a working man. Not so; in a crash, it is largely a defeat of the system itself. I understand the pride an honest working man has in being employed. Fine and dandy. But in a bugout scenario, it would be best to realize that your job #1 is to succeed at what needs to be done. After settling in at the new bugout place, there will be time to contemplate what you want to do to pay your now much lesser monthly expenses. This should include food expenses because no matter how much food preps you have, you should as much as possible treat preps as a last recourse.

But also you have suddenly little outgo ! No more burdensome rent or mortgage payments, no electric bills, and all the other bills that gobble your paycheck. No $4 and higher gasoline since you won’t be driving anywhere except in business dealing. No income taxes to pay ! Before you yell YAHOO !, realize that you are also disconnected from the teat of societal largess (and excess from whence these teats grow fat with milk. And not the milk of human kindness). You are on your own now.

Say for example, you were grossing $60K per year and taking home $45K. Divided by 12 months, that’s $3,750 net income per month. The mortgage/rent is $2,000/month. Electric, phone, heating, cable, insurance, vehicles, etc are $1,000 per month. Food for two is $500 per month. That leaves a slim $250 per month for discretionary spending. I know I have left out something important but doesn’t that show how complicated our lives have become ?

With a real 14% inflation rate, this $250 discretionary income vaporizes in a matter of months. People commonly complain that prices are going up and it is getting harder to live as before. They don’t realize that this is an ongoing process and their best defense is to recognize it early on and to change not only their spending habits but their whole lifestyle too.

Moving to a bugout place would cost for food and maybe a little electric tapped from whoever owned the property. And frugally and wisely eating for two under these circumstances would cost much less, especially if you could grow some of your own food and harvest local wild foods. Maybe $300 per month or less. So, say your total expenses would amount to $600 per month. It seems to me that having to only make $150 per week could be possible by a bit of part time deal making.

Also, if you had brought some savings with you, say $7,800, you would be able to not work for 52 weeks. If you were to bugout in August of 2008, you wouldn’t run out of money until August of 2009. That's if you just sat on your dead butt, watching the world go by.

You are probably wondering where you could bugout to and not pay rent. What would you have to offer the property owner ? Well, for one, security. There is strength in numbers and a man has to sleep sometime. There is also good company and a common goal. Gotta have company to beat at Scrabble or Monopoly. Also someone to guffaw at your pathetic attempts at humor. In my case this is high on the list. So don’t sell yourself short; a wise property owner will see the necessity of having trusted friends living up close and personal. Besides, deep friendships develop from sharing life threatening situations.

For thousands of years, wealth was largely determined by how much money, land and assets someone owned.

Lately, wealth has been determined by the masses by how high your credit score was and therefore how much money you could borrow, how big a house you could afford to make the payments on and what flashy toys you could also afford the payments. This is like a Hollywood prop set; all show and no depth. Illusions to the max. Houdini would have been envious.

I’m old school and don’t have many assets but don’t have debts either. To those of you still in the credit Matrix, let me know how that works out for you.

The emperor has no clothes ? Hell, the people have no clothes ! It’s a giant nudist colony on Valium !

Best wishes and JMHO,

agnut

Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance.

Hi again FasTTcar. Thanks for the thread from Martin. Good one. For years I have seen TB2000 as a sort of sister site to GIM. Lots of good people there and so willing to help with questions. I’m a member there but don’t post because there is so much activity that anything I would post would be lost in a few minutes. It is a HUGE site with many members who seem to be writing full time there. GIM fits me and my time available very well. Besides, GIM is where I began writing again after almost 40 years.

Best wishes,

Agnut

Well I feel the same way about this info. Not wanting to start a panic or be the bearer of bad news I was hesitant to post the situation at the local (west coast) Costco today.

They are OUT of long grain white rice. No 50# bags, no 25# bags, nota, none to be had (at any price!). We often talk about the rising prices but prices do not matter if you can not buy it.



Found a manager and asked when they would be getting the next shipment...."it's industry wide, don't know when we'll get any"
There were some orientals in the isles talking amongst them selves in their native tongue, I don't speak Korean but I knew what they where saying, "where's the f***ing rice!!!"

__________________



The president of a socialist nation (America)..
has to give a convincing speech saying essentially..
“We are not going to do.. what we are doing”

"No exports, No recovery"... Ponce

That rice picture is scary. I was hoping the economy holds together at least until the election. I'm nowhere near prepared. I've got some PMs, some cash, but little in the way of food preps. Unless you count the extra weight I'm carrying. Maybe being fat is a prep, I may get hungry, but I won't waste starve to death for a few months.

__________________
I came to GIM for the Gold & Silver. I'm staying for the crazy.

i think a key here is how long this rice shortage(?) continues for . . .
if rice appears back on the shelves within a few days
people may just put it down to a transportation/just-in-time delivery glitch

but if rice is MIA for 7-10 days, will J6P notice/care ?

__________________

It depends whats on TV surely.

__________________


Less Bad = More Good is not a zero sum according to CNBC.

CNBC say 1 + 1 = 3

CNBC is a tool for total freeking idiots.

Good point Canadian_guerilla. Anyone know when our rice is harvested here in the U.S.? If it is in July or August, we have a long wait. And even then, the rice may be presold. And who knows what the price or availability will be.

Here’s an article on rice production in Australia. They will be exporting about 1/9 th of their usual rice exports this year and probably next year too.

CRISIS - Australian Rice Crop in Collapse

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=285417

And I was bitching because I had paid $17.50 per 50 pound bag at Costco a few weeks ago. Looks like I did the right thing in spite of myself. Now you can’t even get rice at Costco and they don’t know when they will have it again. Maybe some of the oriental food stores still have some but I doubt it.

Time to switch to getting some more pasta, I guess.

Best wishes,

Agnut

Headline in the newspaper this morning in our little corner of Canada shows Philippino Canadians shipping rice back home because of costs and availability.

You can take away TV and video games, you can lose your car, you might even lose your house and have to rent....but if people can't eat...we got some serious doo doo coming to this world!

Well, thanks to that pic of the sign at Costco, I just dipped my toe into the water and bought a case of Cup-O-Noodles. They are my favorite cheap food, and they were 3 for a dollar. Not bad for a meal that only needs hot water.

Might get some pasta this week if I can find a deal.

__________________
I came to GIM for the Gold & Silver. I'm staying for the crazy.

Unfortunately the more the press gets involved the worse the panic will be.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article...227532621.html
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...48C7A6F6EC2%7D

__________________
I was certified as a Forum Master by my score in the GIM Aptitude Test (Score: 72)
With one caveat, the score result stated: Other members immediately recognize your avatar and actually seek out your posts to see what your opinion is on any current subject.
I find that highly doubtful!

Hi RandyMatt. Good catch. I saw that 12 ounce pasta box in my local market too.

Seems the food deals are getting as deceptive as the govt. statistics reporting AND the dollar purchasing power.

Friday I was in the local Dollar store and they has restocked the two pounds of pasta for a dollar. I bought 50 pounds which was about half of what was on the shelves. Every time I make a buy like this I am amazed that it is still available in view of world food commodity shortages. It just hasn’t hit the pasta processors yet but when it does, this 2 pounds for a dollar will become only a memory. I have a few hundred pounds so far and plan to continue picking it up for as long as it is at giveaway prices. This way, I won’t have any regrets later from not having stocked up as much as possible.

How much is too much pasta ? Maybe we should be asking ourselves “How much is ENOUGH pasta ?”

Our willingness to buy large quantities of preps depends upon our perception of just how long this high inflation rate will continue. The same goes for other basic food commodity shortages. I’m treating them as if they will be next. Black beans, lentils and others that many folks wouldn’t think of.

I returned to the Dollar store yesterday and the spaghetti pasta was almost all gone. In the last couple of months I have noticed it flying off the shelves at a quickening pace. I bought 40 pounds of macaroni noodle pasta for a dollar for two pounds. I’m still amazed that it is even offered in view of the continuing wheat shortages. I also got 20 cans of Armour Treet for some meat to go with the rice or pasta. Still need more spaghetti sauce; it is useful on so many dishes.

It will be bad enough when prices double and beyond but it will be tragic when I can’t get any more at any price. Because when the store is out, they are out ! End of story.

Best wishes,

Agnut

P.S. We don’t have a developing world shortage of rice as much as we have a developing world shortage of wages to pay for it. Millions in the developing world spend 80% of their income on food. That seems to be the message in the articles reporting it. And who’s to blame for the inflation ? Guess who

It seems to me that we have a just in time inventory in the U.S. and when the demand goes bananas as a result of a rumor, the thin stocks get cleaned out in short order. The reorders can’t keep up with the continuing increased demand and the appearance of shortage continues. The way to solve this is to bring in truckloads of rice and sell, sell, sell until all demand is exhausted. That is, if the rice wholesalers are telling the truth.

Did the message of food price inflation problems in the developing world somehow get misinterpreted as a worldwide shortage, resulting in a run on rice in the U.S. ?

Hi Randman. Private parties shipping rice thousands of miles ? I wonder what the cost per pound the shipping must cost.

The world has gone mad; we are seeing some curious aberrations now but I think things are going to get a lot more “interesting” in the next 6 months. Olympics, preferential elections; too much to list.

Best wishes,

Agnut

Quotes :
Hey agnut and the rest,

I have a 1993 Toyota Corrolla with only 80,000 miles on it. The car has some rust around the back wheels and the paint is coming off. I was wondering if there was any easy/cheap way to get rid of it or stop it? I am afraid the body will rust out before the car goes.
Davycoppitt

And :
is your Corrolla mechanically sound ?

IMO
i would leave the rust on as camoflauge to road worthyness
speaking for myself, i could care less what a vehicle looks like
as long as it is mechanically sound - (engine/understructure)
and if any bad guys were to look for something to steal
i would hope they would bypass a rust-bucket, and steal something " pretty "

or you could make some minors repairs to the inside rust spots
but leave the outside rust/bad paint as is,
Canadian-guerilla

Good posts guys. Davycoppitt, your Toyota has only 80K miles on it ? It’s hardly broken in. The Toyota is about the best made car in the world and if you will change the oil regularly, it will run for what seems like forever. If it’s rusty, use this as an advantage for the future. Look at it as a prep you have way ahead of others.

As Canadian-guerilla advised, leave the rusty parts and drive it like it is except maybe repairing the rust underneath where it doesn‘t show.. I keep saying that we as a society are transitioning from form to function. A car with a nice paint job which also happens to be a high MPG car will be more vulnerable to theft in the future. Even if you do not fix the cosmetics, I would still recommend that you install some theft safeguards. Maybe an ignition cutoff switch hidden under the dash so that when you park it you can turn the switch off. The car will crank over but will not start. I did this to a VW diesel Golf and it worked great.

My primary driver right now is a 1981 Datsun diesel pickup truck. I hardly ever have to put fuel in it. The paint is faded, the right rear quarter panel is bent under like someone backed over a boulder, there is rust here and there, the canopy has no rear glass, there is no radio. Hey ! I could go on and on but it would sound like I was bragging about what a piece of crap I drive. Truth is, I am !

I bought it for $500 and the previous owner had just put $700 into the battery, starter and brakes. This is a perfect vehicle for going to gar(b)age sales. Sellers pity me and probably wonder what my home looks like. Cringe. What I have worked hard to do is create an image of not having anything worth stealing. A second point is that someone in such decrepitude would have nothing to lose in defending one’s belongings, aka potential for unbridled violence. So a rusty vehicle coupled with a Neanderthal owner holds little to attract a carjacker. He’d just embarrass himself; even thieves have some self respect. Besides there are too many easy pickings elsewhere. The legal penalty for car theft is the same for a renegade from a junk yard as for a Ferrari. Do the math; it’s a profit thing.

I think it’s wise to live as far below your means as comfortably possible. This includes your vehicle, clothing, food, vacations, entertainment and the rest of the things that concern your time and money.

And speaking of clothing, Ponce has been buying loads of clothes from his local thrift stores. Bags and bags of shirts, pants and other things. Some quality pants for pennies and sweaters too. Most of the clothes are near new. He says that clothing prices are going to rise dramatically in the future. He has been right on so many predictions that I would sure listen to him.

Ponce says that in Cuba, the local restaurants have the dinnerware chained to the table to prevent theft. Can you imagine seeing this here in the U.S. ? The point is that we have been used to relative stability for so many years that we are in denial that hard times and terrible things could befall our lands. There have been a couple of predictions that the coming crash will be several times worse than the last depression. I hope not but facing and preparing for such a catastrophe will,at the very least, serve to blunt the impact.

Just remember that bartering and horse trading works well in both good times and bad.

Gotta go.

Best wishes,

Agnut

P.S. Next post I hope to share a bug out story I came across.

Didn’t plan on posting again so soon but something happened this morning that got me thinking.

My daughter called me this morning at 4:30 A.M. She is on the east coast but knows I am an early bird and would be up watching the financial news and the internet. She was upset and had to ask my advice. She lives with a girlfriend in a condo she owns and the place upstairs had renters who fought all the time. Not just verbally but it sounded like someone was being murdered nightly. They moved out, much to my daughter’s relief. Next tenants were not much better and the guy was missing a front tooth and acted like a drug dealer. A scary character. They moved out too. Now there is a woman who moved in who also has nightly fights and the drug dealer has been seen hanging around again. This woman apparently knows this man and the situation is becoming dangerous.

For years I have been telling my daughter to move to a safe area outside of the city. I have also told other family members and friends the same. But none have moved an inch. Why ?

Simple. A turkey isn’t aware of Thanksgiving coming around in the fall. Everything appears safe and sane; that is, until the hatchet gets sharpened. The nature of a crisis is that it catches almost everyone unawares.

My daughter and her girlfriend plan to visit me this August but the airfares are now $500 for each of them. She thinks that she may come later because the tickets will be less in the winter. You see, this is the way most people are thinking. Things will get better several months down the road. I told her the opposite would be most likely to happen; air fares will be higher as fuel prices continue to rise and inflation in general continues. I told her that our dollar was losing purchasing power and was expected to for the foreseeable future. I also told her that a market crash was very possible in the next few months and that she should stock up on food and hold cash outside the bank.

If you haven’t read James Turk’s prediction of a collapse this summer and into fall, you should. It is on www.goldmoney.com entitled “The Dollar Hasn’t Bounced”. He also wrote a book coauthored with Jim Rubino about the future of our markets. These guys aren’t lightweights and therefore their warnings should be taken with the most serious consideration.

You’re probably asking yourself what this post is doing on a bartering and horse trading thread. I have recently come to the conclusion that the most important “deal” amidst our current financial mess is to barter for your security with whatever you can. Within reason, that is.

Look at Tn…Andy’s thread, “ Get Your Ass Out Of Town” in the survival section of GIM. Please read all the posts. The one by RiverRat is especially to the point. No more mister nice guy.

t=257371


This post is a warmup to a change in our world situation. Things are changing faster and faster but I’m not privy to what is going on behind the curtain. You may have noticed my avatar of the Wizard Of Oz where the curtain has been pulled back. It is like Ponce’s saying, “The government will only tell you what they want you to know AND what they can no longer conceal”. Feeling like a mushroom about now ? Fed shit and kept in the dark. Until the harvest, that is.

Now all this may sound negative but if you will think about it, we all have been forced by circumstances to make changes in our lives. Some have been easy and some gut wrenching. To find and equip a bugout place takes time and determination. This may be the best investment in time and money that you ever make.

And if you do succeed in this, what have you lost ? Some time and some money in buying preps. But the preps like food are going up all the time; so what you are doing is making a huge profit in stocking up now. Not to mention that you don’t pay sales tax when you buy AND you don’t pay income tax on the profits. You would be crazy to not take advantage of this opportunity. It is a win-win all around.

I have read many bugout scenarios over the years and have done my best to head in that direction. Responsibilities and finances always held me back but I have a wonderful family that got the 10 acres for my sons and me. There is a much less costly way that is possible for anyone with the determination. Find someone who you can trust and is in the know about our world situation. Someone with rural property that you can get to when the flags go up. There is strength in numbers, particularly with a common goal of survival through tough times.

What do I mean by the flags going up ? What will be the signs ? Well, it can come from an up close and personal experience. Say you and your wife have good jobs and on Friday the boss tells you that he has to lay you off. This is already happening all over and will only get more pronounced as our economy gets worse. Continuing to milk a job may seem like a good idea at the time but the price is not already being in your safe bugout location.

Now you are operating on a half income and the bills, even if they haven’t risen, seem like an anchor around your neck. If you and your wife had prepared a bugout location and prepped it, you could leave relatively gracefully and sell off and move personal belongings. Just because you lost your job doesn’t mean that the world around you is in chaos. This is what I call a “push event”. You are being pushed out the door to have to act.

The other type of flag going up is, you guessed it, a crash in the markets and the dollar. The type James Turk wrote about. This type is fraught with danger and uncertainty. It is what Tn…Andy’s thread is about. You will have little time to get your ass out of town. If things crashed on Monday morning, there would be confusion still mixed with hope for a recovery. But as days passed, it would become apparent to even the I.Q. challenged that things were only going to get worse. It is these few days that will hopefully provide a window for those with a bugout location to escape to before the masses stream out of the cities.

In this scenario, you would want to be ready to move in a few hours notice. Minutes might also be important. Leaving familiar surroundings to points unknown. A good idea is to have already “vacationed” at your bugout location several times. The mental stress of this transition will be much less this way. Consider your family and try to make it as easy as possible on their psyches. Children don’t have to know you aren’t planning on returning; to them, it is just another fun filled weekend in the country.

If you know and have your bugout location securely set with the property owner, you won’t have to haul tons of your “stuff” as George Carlin says. Bugout bags need to be ready at all times. It may be a wise idea to have some of your mail sent to your bugout address. Or even to have your driver’s license addressed changed. This is in event of roadblocks that are checking for local residents and turning back outsiders. This happened to me when we had the huge fires in California a few years back. If they do this with fires, imagine what they would do with a societal breakdown. I read of the military practicing roadblocks on major California freeway exits. Anyway, something to think about.

It’s a mixed bag right now with what we do know. To just pull up stakes when you have a job would risk things not crashing in a short period of time. It is important to get all the money you can for additional resources for later. Yeah, that’s right; there will still be bartering and horse trading going on after a crash but it will be in a different world. Best to be able to hunker down until the dust settles and you can make some sense of the new lay of the land.

About now you may be wondering what you will bugout into. A tent ? Well, if that’s all you can afford, that is the best answer. But if you can afford a motor home or trailer, that would be the best I can think of. Self contained and a rolling home.

Think about it; right now motor homes are a glut on the market. With fuel prices so high, all everyone sees is a great big gas hog ! But right now might be an opportunity for a higher use; a bugout home. I can’t say what prices will be for these highway behemoths when the shit hit’s the fan. Or availability for that matter. Buying a steal right now might be the smartest thing and you will be congratulating yourself someday. I also recommend getting the biggest one you can find since you will not be driving it all over Hell and gone. So who cares about the gas mileage ? This is a big negative for others without the vision but is a great positive for you.

If you do decide to buy a motor home to put in your bugout location, know what electric, water, phone and septic is available. There are several things to look for like security, a place to garden and others. Most developed places with acreage have a septic tank and it can be tapped into without too much trouble.

Now on to the finances. With moving to a bugout place in a collapse, you obviously don’t have a job any more. So suddenly no income. Yikes ! BUT (and this is a big butt here) you also have little outgo at the same time. You have extricated yourself from the system. No more rent or mortgage or property taxes (sorry fat goobermint employees). Not to mention all the costly things that seemed necessary at the time.

Ask yourself this : How much are you making per month and how much is left over for savings after all expenses ? Because all the money you are spending is for your financial survival. Your savings, if any, are what you are building up for the future. And I’ll bet it isn’t much with the inflation we have been experiencing. Is your discretionary money getting less and less as the years pass ? If you agree, you are a sitting duck anyway.

You could even get an old boat and outfit it for a bugout place. Not my cup of tea but it may appeal to some of you. At least, you may be able to catch dinner sometimes. But forget the garden unless you want to look like Kevin Costner in “Waterworld”; one miserable tomato plant. Should I mention that he drank his own pee ? Naah.

Hey, I want to see all you barterers and horse traders to come out of this so that you can continue to be on top of the game. I mentioned Ponce buying used clothing at thrift stores and garage sales. This may be a side business someday since clothes wear out and prices are predicted to go up in the future. That’s our fiat dollar doing its thing; worming its way down into the dirt. As in taking a dirt nap like all other fiat currencies have through the centuries. If you think this will be different for the first time in history, let me know how that works out for you.

Money is a tool. Gold and silver have been, by far, the most fundamental and reliable tool for thousands of years. Mankind decided on this long ago but the temptation of creating currency out of thin air has been too powerful a temptation for the greedy. That is why we are in the mess we are in right now. Few people alive today can remember living before the Federal Reserve controlled what we call money. They would have to be over 100 years old to remember it. Just a thought.

The overview here is that I recommend that you have an attitude of happily setting up a vacation spot which also happens to be a bugout place. It can be done with the realization and determination. Set it up, enjoy it and know that it will be there for you when the need comes. I think you loved ones will appreciate your foresight. They'll probably think you're a friggin' genius.

I threw this post together this morning without much thought so please excuse the rambling. It’s my style.

Best wishes,

Agnut

P.S. I have to give credit to my son who stealthily bought 300 pounds of chicken feed. He said he needed money and didn’t tell me why. By the way, we don’t have any chickens but plan to get some as soon as the coop is finished. Is that preplanning or what ?

A few goats may be next. Milk, offspring, fertilizer and nature’s lawnmower. Ahhh

great post agnut

A person that "Bugs out" with No Pre-stocked place to go is called a "Refugee" - alpharubicon.com

BackPack Survival

Don't become a Refugee with a 3 day "Bug Out Bag" on your back. - alpharubicon.com


PLAN NOW, co-ordinate with family members/friends who live in the country


after wandering around for 7-10 days with your 3 day BOB
when the gov't forces say, " follow the signs to free food/water/shelter "
people may just be to worn out/depressed to say no

__________________

Hi Canadian-guerilla. Good point; a three day backpack is for a bugout to nowhere. Who would welcome someone who only brought an empty backpack and a hungry mouth to feed ? This is why we write so much here about gathering preps as much as possible.

Remember what I’ve been saying about the coming “Great American Garage Sale” ? Well, here it is. Especially read Shane’s post #4. Right now may be the time to get rid of some items before they become unsalable and hold the cash for bargains later.


ECON - Americans Sell Possessions to Make Ends Meet


http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=286441

I have a collection of enamel on copper paintings that should go on Ebay but I’ve had too much attachment until now. It took me years to collect them. As I look at each painting I think what they would sell for and what preps I could buy. Or even hold the cash for better deals later.

In March 2004, I posted Silver Musings VI, Think 10 Times. It might be interesting to reread it to give some perspective regarding your assets sitting around on their collective asses doing nothing.

t=9021

And Silver Musings XXV is about thinking 100 Times. Only go there if SM VI didn’t bore you to tears. :

t=33962

And lastly Silver Musing XXXIX which I shamelessly offer for your perusal :

t=134615

I know, I haven’t written a Silver Musing in a year but I don’t have writer’s cramp. Mine is more like writer’s constipation. Those of you who are familiar with my writing know how appropriate this description is. Let’s see, was that self deprecating or self defecating ?

************************************************** ***********
There’s a lot of other stuff I could sell but advertising takes time and they aren’t worth much. Maybe a garage sale would be in order for these cheaper items.

I’m keeping the three VW diesel Rabbits because they are far more valuable rebuilt than in their present condition (not running). I could probably sell them as-is for three or four times what I paid 18 months ago. Not everything is going down in price. Items that have the capacity to save money like my 50 MPG VW diesels are one example.

Motorhomes may find a resurgence of interest as the sheeple wake up to their necessity as a fall back roof over their heads. Their supply/demand as well as price factors will dictate the price changes in a future collapse. A complex decision but a great motor home bargain right now may be greater bargain later. And be mindful that if it is used as a bugout home, it will quickly pay for itself when rent or mortgage no longer has to be paid. It can be a great liberating situation. Both financial and securitywise.

If you do decide to buy a bugout motor home, be very careful. Much depends on your financial situation. It would be foolish to pay $100K for a motor home that was a million bucks when it was new. A 35‘ motor home built around the mid to late 1980s can be found for about $10 to $15K if you are careful. Some of them cost well over $100K when new and with inflation since then would be $200K or more. They are well built with solid wood cabinets and American quality equipment. Forget the later motor homes with slide out rooms; they will cost multiples of the ones I recommend. What you are looking for is the most value for your money. Right now it is a buyers market. Not to say that it will become more so in the coming months. I believe that there is a window of opportunity that will close as people who are going to lose their homes suddenly wake up and either don’t sell the motor home they have or will be trying to find one for their families. I can only guess here as to the supply/demand dynamics but as Ponce is famous for saying, “If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it”.

In other words, it may be better to take the plunge now and not worry if the used motor home prices drop even further in the future. That is something you will have to decide for yourself.

Shane’s post #10 talks about motorhome and boat bugout possibilities……………..

“Funny thing is, depending on one's situation, especially if looking to downsize in a big way, like selling your house, and/or becoming more mobile, it might be worth keeping an eye out for some of those coming super-cheap distress sales of RV's or live-a-board sized boats.

Some of those who will lose their homes regardless of everything they sell might wish then that they still had their RV or big boat then to live in, that you are now living in, and that you'd bought from them earlier for pennies on the dollars.

When they sold it they never could imagine, or admit to themselves or family, that things would ever get so bad they'd lose their house and have to live in their RV full-time for who knows how long.”


A stocked home in a city with means to protect it may work out for some, but a bugout place in the country ? Priceless !!

The government has once again let us down; we are on our own. Get used to it and make it work for you.

Best wishes,

Agnut

P.S. I’m already booked up with family reservations since I am the only one in my family with acreage. It might be a good idea to begin looking now for friends, family, places you might bugout to. The Country Mouse Visit’s the City Mouse in reverse. I wrote about this in Silver Musing X.

My older brother has left his motor home parked in the back, out of the way, behind my house, since 2002. He keeps say he is going to come out here, (in the country), and fix it up to where it will make it back to Houston. I hope he never does. All it needs is a water pump and the old gasoline run out of it. That's probably where he, and his family is going to live one days. I think that is what he is really thinking, all things considered.

...snip...I know, I haven’t written a Silver Musing in a year but I don’t have writer’s cramp....snip...

:D
Yeah, bit some of us have withdrawals from waiting for the next one.
Good stuff as always Agnut..

Here’s an article from FasTTcar at RTM Chow-Chow :

Now it is cool (and good for the environment) to fire sale your possessions. :-)

Overabundance of 'stuff' sends consumers scrambling to clean house

Economy, environmental concerns spark urge to cut back on new purchases, pare existing possessions

By Sandra M. Jones
Tribune reporter
May 5, 2008

The economic downturn is putting a new twist on spring cleaning.

Tamme Wisinski discovered how much unnecessary stuff she had amassed after losing her job in January. Looking to raise some money, the 36-year-old Chicagoan began going through her closets, discovering clothes and books and jewelry that she says she "went nuts purchasing" before she found out that her company was shutting down.

She is selling the goods online at Craigslist, marking her first foray into the secondhand marketplace. And the experience is making her rethink they way she shops.

"In the past, I'd go crazy," said Wisinski. "Instead of buying one top, I'd buy several in different colors. Or if it was on sale, I'd buy it whether I needed it or not. Now I've learned to be much more reasonable about what I need and don't need. Even after I do get a new job, I'm going to be a little more reserved in my spending than in the past."

Americans love to shop. Indeed, an entire industry sprouted to handle the clutter amassed in American households: colorful bins from the Container Store, woven baskets from Pottery Barn and a profusion of closet organizing services. Now economic and social forces are combining to stifle the decades-long buying binge.

Not only is money tight with food and gas prices rising, but credit is tougher to come by and homes are no longer available as an ATM. At the same time, the spread of eco-consciousness into mainstream culture is shining a spotlight on waste and prompting many consumers to reconsider how they shop.

"Early 21st Century America is the most materially saturated society in global history," said Jeanne Arnold, an anthropology professor at the University of California in Los Angeles in a study of how working families use housing spaces. "It's no wonder that clutter jams so many of today's homes. Americans are bombarded with opportunities to buy."

In fact, finding a place to store all their material possessions has become "an overwhelming burden" for most middle-class families, the study found.

More

++++++++++++++++++
Great American Garage (FIRE) Sale starting to sound familiar ?

In fact, you should read all of the thread. Great charts, stats and posts :

t=262518

Best wishes and thanks to RandyMatt for pointing it out to me,

agnut

Hi and welcome to GIM Txkstew. Sounds like your brother knows what he is doing; or at least his subconscious does. If he starts to visit and fix up the motor home, you will know that he thinks the time is fast approaching that some serious changes are in store.

If you really love your brother (which I’m sure you do), you could “fix” a few things yourself. Get my drift ? HaHa

Sabotage is such an ugly word.

Under no circumstances should that motor home be moved. It’s where it belongs due to our precarious world situation. Now is the time for you and your brother to communicate regarding this bugout motor home. He will need stocks of food and other items prepositioned at your place. Otherwise, he is a refugee and will be a tremendous burden on you preps.

There is safety in numbers and your brother needs to hear that you will need him for security. Bugging out is a sharing situation with a common goal; security and survival.

For some time now I have been pondering just how bad the psyches of the populace would be damaged amidst a collapse. And what the results would be. Those without a clue would suddenly find themselves like a three legged gazelle on the Serengeti. Or for you rednecks out there, a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. Happy now ?

I don’t mean to make light of others’ tragedies but after warning those around me for several years, I am just plumb out of sympathy for those who refuse to get it. There will be plenty of time later to say, “Oh, the humanity !” like what the reporter said as the Hindenberg blimp crashed and burned.

The point is, I won’t be surprised at a huge increase in suicides. I believe that suicides occur when people lack any hope for the future. And if things get bad enough, the light at the end of the tunnel will be so far away that they won’t be able to see the light. We are talking years, maybe decades until some semblance of prosperity returns. Our last depression had quite a few suicides but things then were very different.

Today we live better than kings of the past. No ? Did kings have good medical care or supermarkets or entertainment (except for the court fool) or electricity or the internet or telephones or…. Good Lord, the list goes on to the absurd. The point is, we are so incredibly dependent on our conveniences that we have a long, long, long way to fall. Remember that in the last depression, people were buying radios and cars on time and buying stocks with 10% down. Only a small fraction of citizens were in the stock market then as opposed to today. I could go on and on but the stark contrasts between life just before the last depression and now are humongous. Expletives fail me.

Say there are 300,000,000 Americans and only 1 in a thousand is prepared. That means that there will be 299,700,000 running around like a chicken without a head. Do you really think the city or suburbs will be a good place to be in a collapse ? Whoops ! I think I’ve just scared myself.

And what of this 1 in a thousand who are supposedly prepared ? How many are living in the cities or suburbs ? How many have a reliable bugout place ? And of those, how many will be able to get to their bugout location ? How many will stay in the cities and suburbs and survive an onslaught of hungry marauders ? Reminds me of the horror film “Night Of The Living Dead”. I was in the cemetery in Zelienople, Pennsylvania where it was filmed back in the 60s. Spooky.

Look, just because I am living in the boonies on acreage I am not feeling all cocky and superior. I feel a great sense of humility and gratitude for my situation. There is no finger pointing coming from me but only a heads up to what possible risks lie ahead. I take James Turk’s prediction of a dollar collapse this summer with the utmost seriousness. Time is short and each day is therefore precious.

We must steel ourselves to outside opinions and know what is vitally important; our own survival and our loved ones. Those who can focus on helping loved ones will fare best. We truly are our brothers’ keepers. There will be much need for those who can keep their wits about them in chaotic times. Counseling, consoling and guiding our loved ones should come as no surprise. The responsibility will be on our shoulders and we should take it willingly and with a spirit of calm resolution. Everyone will be looking to us for guidance and stability. There are many followers and few leaders and our knowledge from GIM and other websites puts us in the driver’s seat.



Best wishes,

Agnut

Love will get you through time without money better than money will get you through time without love.

got nothing to add, but would just like to take the time to thank agnut along with ponce and all the other contributors for this wonderful thread. Have learned about some great ideas and unique perspectives about , living cheap, life, etc

thanks!!!

Thanks Hystckndle; I have a couple of pages written but the next silver musing is a story and it goes on and on. Maybe good for a miniseries (or a series of miseries). HaHa

Best wishes,

Agnut

made this post in another thread, thought i'd put it in here too

we have been programmed to " consume/buy "
with the explosion of dollar stores
we've become a disposable society
it's easier to just throw something away and buy a new one
and the " buy a new one, it's only a dollar " mentality
has slowly worked it's way up to more costly items

i could buy a new 17" flat panel monitor ( that's a 10oz silver bar )
but i'll stick with the 15" CRT monitor i'm looking at


so when the Great American Yard Sale gets rolling this year


what is valuable is not always new, and what is new is not always valuable

to buy what you do not need is to pay too high a price

shall we work to get more of what we want
or
slow down and enjoy more of what we already have

do we own material goods or do they own us ?

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