Posted on 05/14/2010 8:42:21 PM PDT by Travis McGee
(This is from the middle, but go to the link and read it all.)
Get those "sudden stop" plans in place - NOW. If you're in a big city you're in big trouble. Find friends or relatives that aren't and see what you can do about a place to go where you have a reasonable shot at avoiding the worst of this. Look, all-out civil unrest (or worse) is a low-probability event but if you get trapped in a big city and the worst comes that city will go feral within hours and become a free-fire zone. What's worse, many of these cities are openly hostile to citizens having and using effective self-defense; the bad guys don't give a damn about laws - that's why they're called criminals. There really are bogey men in the world - they're called gangs folks, and they would love the opportunity that a breakdown that would come with such an event. In such a circumstance the only way to win the game is not to play. This is all about where you are, not what you have.
If you haven't acquired the means of lawful self-defense in whatever form or fashion you deem prudent at this point, the time to do so was yesterday. You need time and practice as you need competence - the biggest component of self-defense is the thing found between your ears, not the thing in your hand(s)! I know I've harped on this before but if you think you can go buy a gun when things get dicey and be "protected", having invested nothing in practice and/or training you are very likely to have that weapon taken from you and then be shot with your own gun. That's a crappy way to die; if you're unwilling or unable for whatever reason (including legal restrictions where you live) to acquire the means of defense then being concerned about the above (where you're going to go, how you're going to get there, and what you've got for supplies) becomes even more important.
I have plenty of quarters and plug nickels. Thanks for your advice though. /s
I’m effed royal. I’m sure I’m not alone, either.
Please add me to your ping list. Thanks.
Please add me to your CW2 ping list
Thanks
For those who haven’t looked it over you also might like to look at this my Preparednes Manual:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ojmy2z1zfin
A year ago, as Congress was poised to pass the stimulus bill, I called Senator Feinstein’s office and asked what would happen if we could no longer find buyers for our treasury Bonds.
Silence ensued.
IMHO, I think it depends on whether it's a necessity or not. I won't be surprised with inflation for necessities or deflation for various luxuries.
Please add me to your CW2 list.
Thanks for the ping, Travis. Ferfal’s book is looking more and more useful, unfortunately.
For whatever reason, ammo seems more available and prices are easing.
I have plenty of heavy armament in the form of rifles and pistols from the great wars. Pop guns don’t have a place in my safe, but one thing you mention is “fight[ing] like you mean it.” Any suggestions for training? I’ve taken some TKD and can be relative adroit with a blade, but I’d love to get some formal training. I’m a big man but know full well that these punks can be fast. I’m hoping that if some 7.62x54R doesn’t take them out at 100 yds, I can fend them off at close range.
...and check my tagline. This thing works.
“For whatever reason, ammo seems more available and prices are easing.”
Prices for high quality .223 ammo like Winchester Q3131 don’t seem to be easing much.
INFLATION = every dollar in your pocket you don’t spend will buy less next year
DEFLATION = every dollar in your pocket you don’t spend will buy MORE next year.
Without even putting your money in the bank to get interest....every $1.00 you don’t spend will buy you more goods 12 months from now. Because the ketchup that costs you $1.00 today will cost you $.95 in 12 months from now. So you will have $.05 left over to buy a small candy bar in addition to the ketchup
Deflation destroys the incentive to run out and buy stuff. With inflation you have an incentive to run out and buy things because prices are always going up. Since our economy is so dependent on rampant consumerism and consumers buying things....Deflation deals a death blow to this kind of economy
A consumer driven economy needs inflation to propel it forward
“Personally, my preference is that we get our crap together, stabilize the economy, vote a bunch of corrupt incumbent assholes out of office in November, and all live happily ever after.”
Nice dream! Been raising some special crops in NC? ;-)
I think if we completely changed the government overnight it’s too late for the turn-around you are hoping for.
“I guess Karl was suggesting another reason to move out of places where armed self defense is virtually illegal. “Gun free” zones like Chicago, etc.”
I did just that
Arizona
28 miles from the city
Not uncommon to see half a dozen men carrying guns in a grocery store ;-)
One thing for sure is that we are headed for disaster. This is no accident. It has been, they thought, well planned. What they refused to consider is that they need us for them to survive.The plan was and still is, to collapse the United States ecomonically,industrially, and morally and rebuild it as a Socialists paradise.
Part one was to make worthless the money supply by spending and printing. The situation in the rest of the world has thrown a monkey wrech into that.
Part two was to regulate and tax our industries either outout of existence or into moving to other Countries. They are having success with that. The people who depend on coal and natural gas for their electricity are going to be crying as the price of electricity will skyrocket. But, what the hell, that is what hope and change is all about. Where I live, the EPA has taken the chemicals that the farmers use to produce their crops from them. This will lower the production and cause what is produced to be sky high.
To see how destroying the morality is working, all one needs to do is listen to the news. Most of the animals masquerading as animals do not care about their own lives, much less anyone else’s.
The White man has become the Jew of the 1930s Germany.
That particular situation is not likely to happen.
There are a group of financial organizations called "Primary Dealers" (PD) that are basically, to the best of my understanding, the wholesalers/distributors of Treasury Bonds. They are collectively required to buy whatever the Treasury puts up for sale.
In return for taking on an obligation to buy whatever the Treasury puts up for sale, they are allowed to name their interest rate. Treasury then picks the lowest rates offered.
The real problem is not that nobody will buy the bonds, but that the interest rates demanded by the buyers will start going up significantly. That has already happened to Greece. The Germans are paying ~1% on their bonds, the Greeks are being charged ~6%.
What's interesting is that early last year (March or thereabouts) Karl found and documented at least one instance of the Fed buying from a PD a Treasury Bond the PD had bought from the Treasury just a few days before.
In the quaint old days that was called "printing money".
He posted this a few days ago:
I have repeatedly said (but some refuse to read) The Market Ticker is not, and never has been, intended as a short-term trading vehicle. It is not a newsletter, a tout sheet or anything of the sort. Indeed, if you've been following The Market Ticker I warned in late 2007 and early 2008 that it was impossible at that time, and likely would be for years to come, to be an investor in the markets - and that someone with that view should consider being in CASH . . . continuedUnlike many, he really doesn't play the prophet. He's more, "this is structually where we are and considering that, there is a chance of X happening so be prepared". Considering the debt the USA and the world faces, its difficult to make the case the world will simply recover as in a normal business cycle.
My own personal economic collapse hit earlier than most, very early in 2008. The customers of my business had been dragging out payment and getting weird for over six months. It seemed like many just threw in the towel. Several went bankrupt, leaving me holding the bag to the tune of mid-five figures. No new business could be found, despite eight months of effort. The currency problems, the banking problems, the Lehman thing, everybody just froze up, credit froze up, and at exactly the wrong time for me.
I went searching for explanations and reasons why, and found the Ticker Forum, Karl Denninger’s site. There was amazing information there, that was extremely useful and quite often ahead of the curve by weeks and even months, a very valuable thing when no one appeared to really understand what was happening. For that, I am thankful. That information persuaded me to sell my equipment, get out from under leases and shut down operations. I took what remaining business I had, and continued from home, eventually getting a day job with another former customer, that was in the rare position of benefitting from the chaos. I didn’t try to tough it out and hang on, as so many of my acquaintances did, only to end up spending all my cash reserves and still be out of business a year or two later. It was, I guess, a prime example of “he who panics first panics best,” although I wondered if I wasn’t out of my mind at the time, as did several of those acquaintances.
That said, I don’t pay as much attention to Karl Denninger now as I did then. He’s the Glen Beck of financial web forums. He has his weekly hair-on-fire moment predicting the imminent end of the world as we know it. He was an Obama supporter and still clings oddly to some delusion regarding the administration. He is not the be-all and end-all of the topic, despite his growing estimation of himself.
Are we in big trouble? Yes, clearly so. Are preparations in order? Clearly yes, again. What Denninger seems incapable of grasping is the sheer sneakiness of those who don’t care about the rules, the inventiveness of nations with the power to play games with currency markets and banking in general, in an age where “money” is electronic. “Inflation” hasn’t washed over the broader economy because the increase in the “money” has been restricted to propping up government funding. Government funding funds a great deal of economic activity in the form of subsidy, to the nominally poor, to institutions, to private sector businesses ... this house of cards could hold together for years.
Denninger has positioned himself to profit from a financial armageddon, and he’s now cheering it on for selfish reasons, imho. I remain thankful for the very early information, that was nearly impossible to come by via other means. But he’s doing us no favors now. He’s trying to do himself a big favor. That entire forum is largely populated by “short the phonebook” types, including Karl himself, in case some of you haven’t noticed.
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