asshattery 2

AMIDST A SEA OF ASSHATTERY 2

In the United States, living in the city is no more advantageous than living in the suburbs, economically speaking.  The old city centers are either in old Rust Belt cities which have jacked up their taxes in order to survive, or in newer cities such as Phoenix or Los Angeles which were never meant to be a city and have inflated infrastructure cost leading to higher taxes.  The suburbs are cheaper tax wise but once commuting is factored in provide little advantage.  Remote areas, the boonies, usually don’t have either high cost-there is no jobs within driving distance ( I’ve been told of people living in some remote parts down South commuting with gas costs at near $1k a month due to distances between employment.  With this arrangement, making $30k a year is below poverty level, take home pay wise ) and while very few people pay taxes, there isn’t much cost in governing them.  After costs of shelter and commuting and taxes, urban dwellers are usually are as poor as rural folks earning only casual income but with a paid for home.  The trick is to get casual employment.  There lies the rub.  Without that, there is no rural survival economically.  It is my theory that the Survival Blog Rawles Rangers in the Redoubt are mostly those few folks with telecommuter skills that are actually trading up by leaving behind taxes and commuting costs.  Even paying extra for Idaho land, they come out ahead.  They leave zero luxury behind, with less bills.  Well, how else to pay for all the semi-auto’s, right?

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That leaves the rest of us.  The best we can hope for is small town employment ( okay, correction- small CITY employment.  No small towns have any of that any more ).   No matter how you slice this pie, without employment there are no preppers, just poor folks one hospital visit away from starving.  So, survivalists must trade no work in a safer zone for city living and a job.  We can’t escape nearby populations.  I just moved back six miles into town, and while I feel less safe, that is just emotional hysteria, not rational logic.  There will be enough warning to get out, and six miles is nothing on foot if all other transportation options crap out.  Also, six miles is nothing if the town crowds branch out.  Even if the entire town is vaporized by an asteroid that magically avoids wiping me out, I have enough neighbors to pose a danger anyway ( about five times as many as when I moved there-and let that be a lesson to you ).  I was less safe there than before, so moving back doesn’t really magnify my risks all that much.  It just feels like it.  Rationally, there is only zero danger if you have zero neighbors with zero nearby villages, and that is none of us.  We should be maximizing safety, not trying to totally eliminate danger, because that isn’t possible.  Preaching country retreats without recognizing the danger is silly.  More next article.

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