it's worthless so send it all to me

IT’S WORTHLESS SO SEND IT ALL TO ME

Money, that is.  For some time now I’ve preached ( as in, my unprovable faith was given as science ) that you should live as poor as possible because one day you are going to wake up and your paper currency will be worth not much except as barter for two things-dingus and squat.  “Oooooh! Dollar Most Valuable!  Global Currency!” is usually the attitude I get in response ( it helps to embrace your inner anti-diversity and picture a stereotypical Asian peasant with squinty eyes talking in a falsetto, to get my intended comic effect ).

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The issue at hand is that everything from family loyalty to love and fighting off the Grim Reaper has been monetized.  We mostly have little talent for surviving without money, or even conceptualizing life without it.  Simply witness the prepper movement which is nothing more than a paid guide helping you through a giant shopping mall, and helping you plan your personal warehouse full of the macho equivalent of pairs of shoes.  I justify it as “equipment to get you through to a self-sustainable life”.  Mostly though, it is buying a security blanket.

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It won’t help you survive, because you are too close to people, but you sleep well at night now, and that ain’t chicken feed.  But let us be honest with ourselves.  Most prepper purchasing isn’t going to really help all that much because it is just a continuation of earning and spending money.  People can’t even surrender the idea of shopping after the collapse.  Precious metals and barter items are just as important as food, in their minds.  And no, I’m not trying to heave stones in glass housing units.  We all do it because money is natural to us all.

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You cannot divorce yourself away from the money economy, if for no other reason than trade is mandatory in any Agricultural society.  That is just the way it has always been.  Even your intrepid mountain man needed furs for salt, flour and powder.  Unless you are a Bush Bitch in an equatorial jungle, you belong to the money system ( and if those jungle dudes get a chance, they join also because metal is pretty darn awesome.  Not to mention Johnny Walker, to help you forget there are really nasty things living on your skin and in your intestines ).

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So, living poor isn’t about NOT buying crap.  We all need booze and machetes.  Even if you are a teetotaler, the first time a tooth needs to come out after the apocalypse, you’ll be glad to have some.  And by “machete” of course you know I mean “bayonet” for your bolt action equine shooter.  No one can avoid the market economy, nor hope to trade furs for your property tax bill. The monopoly monsters must be bribed.  I think the trick that is hard to pull off but vital is to buy your way to not buying, as close as you can.

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Isn’t that what we talk about all the time?  Investing in Oil Age products now, so that we need less money later.  The passive solar home now to avoid heating bills later.  Building up a garden to avoid some food bills later.  But we never stop there.  We spend more on chicken feed now than what store eggs cost, for food security.  Thousands of rounds of ammunition now, because gun laws will prohibit that shortly.  We buy security by buying insurance.  Which is far more costly than just investing towards the end of the money economy.

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And that NEVER ends, because it can’t.  You can’t be secure enough.  You cannot put enough concertina wire up, lest Charlie worm his way in.  You can never have enough ammunition because, duh, diversity armies.  Or black helicopters.  Or FEMA camp rail cars.  Hopefully you’ve been around long enough to realize that I am NOT an optimistic person.  Anyone who tells you to not worry and be happy is-you guessed it-Charlie in disguise.  They want to use your guts for garters.  They want you to die.  Am I hateful, cynical and untrusting?  You bet!  Am I miserable? Nah!

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Why do you think anyone that isn’t beaming like a high voltage searchlight is miserable?  You are so busy trying to look at the bright side of a flattened turd ( “it’s great for camp fuel!” ) that you have gone sun blind.  Your happiness is a cruel delusion that forms a protective bubble around you that lets in no pictures but that distorted one you desire.  I’m happy everyday, because I assume far worse than what I normally experience, and am then pleasantly surprised.  Anything less than torture and cannibalism, slavery or starvation, I’m happy in its absence.

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That is how I look at money.  I don’t need much.  I can live with less.  I’m still happy when I get extra even though I don’t need it except to go shopping for crap I don’t need.  I just had some extra funds, as I had panic withdrew most checking account money in expectation of Wells Fargo to lead the way in bank runs ( what?  Is everyone living on credit instead of debit? ).  I had no idea what to do with it.  Silver? Meh.  Guns or ammo?  Why?  I just scored more ammo.  More cash sucked.

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I hate having cash on hand.  But what the heck am I going to do with more hard assets?  I have more wheat than I have years left to live, most likely.  How am I ever going to use 10k rounds of ammo through a bolt action?  Why get more silver? I can’t use it.  The Dark Ages will last hundreds of years and the county won’t be around getting property tax all that long ( the main reason to have some silver around ).  I’ve duplicated everything I can think of on equipment.  Even land has a back-up.

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That is not to claim I’m perfectly prepared.  I have plenty of projects to complete ( water catchment, solar oven, bury the trailer?, etc ).  I just don’t have overwhelming panic attacks needing to rush out and buy stuff.  I’m far from free from money.  That will never happen.  I just have few needs left.  Need I remind you on how little salary I did all that on?  Not being blinded by happiness or optimism, I panicked early and avoided the rush.  I did that by living poor and by trying to train myself to need far less.

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Needing less, my Year’s Worth of savings is less than what you need in a month.  So stop envisioning a huge safe stuffed with cash.  I could still live okay on $150 a month.  Not great, but okay.  I still like to eat dead animals every night, and the only critters out in the wild are stringy coyotes or worm filled jack rabbits.  The only thing keeping me from putting up years of canned meat is the worry of transportation or theft.  I need to work on that.  But then, I would need almost no money in savings.

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Don’t just live life with all the modern luxuries.  Strive towards less all the time, no matter what form that takes.  I know a lot of you are already there, watching TV from an antenna, driving an old clunker to town just once a month for shopping.  Only buying prepping crap you don’t need more of because you need to spend the surplus somehow.  Good for you.  You can already lose most trading units with little adjustments.  The rest of you?  Living poor ( living UNDER your income ) is great training.  And it leads to freedom.  Start now.

( .Y. )

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