Thursday, February 21, 2019

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. )
( today's related Amazon link click here )
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note: free books.  Zombies here.  And here. PA here.  Trapped on a prison island with a plague outbreak here.  
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22 comments:

  1. The money economy barring an apocalyptic event (still wishing upon a star though) will slog on long past your life crystal going red. Use the functioning commerce and "spare or excess gained" cash to continuosly upgrade merchandise or supplies. Buy more underwear and towels and rotate out 'in use' stock to rag bag, etc. There will be ample opportunities to rebuild consumable supplies that appear dwindled, or to get yourself some reward items like new boots, etc. This planning and "maintenance regimen" will afford the minion a starting point at collapse kick off time to be smartly set up and not spazzing out scatter assed like the neighbors. Use trade war supply chain stuffing, at cost sales keeping lights on, and retail apocalypse death throes sales to your advantages. "For want of a nail".

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    1. Living poor can be fun right now, turning all your cash into cheaper-than-cost sweet merch. Surely it can't last too much longer, then you are poor without shopping. Buy Now!

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  2. re:
    Federal Reserve Promissory Notes

    Seconded!

    I can't stand the stuff.
    I have to get rid of it... before it turns my skin green.
    I immediately trade it for TANGIBLES IN MY POSSESSION.

    Does food have more value than Federal Reserve Promissory Notes? You bet.

    Fuel, clothes, tools. Books. Real live living relationships with my tribe and community.

    Bankers, not so much.
    Unless you're interested in a good laugh.

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    1. I look at paper currency like people. They suck badly but you still need them. For now.

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    2. Link or GTFO. Sorry for being rude but I've been drinking after a super awesome day at work.

      In all seriousness though, I would like to read that post. I've got my favourites but there's always room for another Bison Pearl

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    3. LOL - that was supposed to be for Anon 10:35 AM

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  3. Yeah, I'm one of those folks who think if you are in more than 20 gun fights with people trying to take your stuff, you are extremely lucky to have survived that long. A well aimed shot - richochet - bad luck and you are toast, your goodies going to the last man standing.

    I remember that Bison Post PISS ON IT some years back and thought it was well thought out. Prep what you can and if you can't get all of it squared away - shrug and don't worry about it, it is what it is.

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    1. I'll have to revisit that post-I can't even remember last months.

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    2. I'm not sure, but I believe it was written by that old curmudgeon Mohave Rat. It has his literary 'style', lol.

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    3. Couldn't find it. How can the blog search engine be so worthless?

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  4. I don't ever plan to live poor. Frugal, yes. Poor, never. More and more frugal all the time. I keep learning new ways to cut corners. Not because I think there will be a collapse, because I don't think that will happen in my lifetime. But because I want to do more with what I have and can get. Speaking of legal tenders.

    I'll say it again. Food is way over rated. I'm reminded of that again as I watch the BBC series, War Farm. All of my life it seems people have been led to believe massive food consumption is the way to go. Seems nobody knows how much food they should eat, so they eat far more than necessary. They make up all kinds of silly skoolgurl excuses for stuffing their gaping mawls. Look at old documentary's from before say 1950. Over weight people were extremely rare.

    Last nights episode of War Farm showed that since wheat is a grass, any grass can be made into bread, then they set out and proved it. They mowed a field than made bread with the clippings. And enjoyed it. Wheat, and other grasses, alone, can not be eaten. There are lots of fields around here. Thousands of acres. So why buy grasses when so much is already available? Just stock the stuff that you add into it to make it enjoyable.

    You always mention "need". I don't need this, or, I don't need that. Do you ever "want" anything? Or are you content to just sit on the exercise bike and watch youtubes? Sorry, that will never be enough for me. And after the imagined collapse it won't be available to you. So why should I spend any time now vesting in youtubes when they will eventually be gone? That, Jim, underscores just about everything you have written in the this post and in many other posts. In 10 years, the diff between your age and mine, this will be very clear to you, and don't even think you have a clue right now cause you don't. Live the way you want and if frugailty is part of the plan, more power to ya! Carpe Diem!

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    1. YouTube is just a shortcut to research. As is other Internet access. I'm content with my books, it is just right now that I'm watching YouTube AND reading books. Just like Kindle won't be around too much longer. But I'll still use it for now. I do NOT rely on them, because unlike you I don't believe I'll be lucky enough to die before the collapse. Not that you are necessarily wrong-each of our beliefs is valid for ourselves. I'm just preaching what I believe. As far as people being greedy trough feeders, no. It isn't because they can't stop eating as much as it is that everything they eat has almost no nutrients. So they are constantly needing to eat more to get any. Yes, gluttony will always be with us. But that is why it is so widespread now.

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    2. Yes lord Bison, youtube is a great research tool. I have saved lots of money using youtube to find fixes for my pickup, garden, etc.

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    3. The last time I had real broadband, about 13 years ago, I would agree that you could cover some serious territory on youtube and the entire internet. Since then, and our broadband had been severely limited to a hughes satellite, when I look at youtubes I just see the massive intrusions into my bandwidth. When I was researching the building of my AR 2 years ago I was knocked flat by the stunning amount of bullshit everywhere and especially in youtube. I cranked up 1 youtube that was very highly rated regarding the assembly of the AR15 and it was almost an hour long. Well, the first 10 mins, along with all the ads, crawlers, pop-ups and other silly nonsense, all the dood said over and over was all the things he was NOT going to talk about. WTF??? I tried to look at maybe 200 diff youtubes during that period and was mostly disappointed. I covered much more quality material from reading stuff and spending some serious time thinking and dry fitting. It ended up being much easier than I thought. Money, and time, is so tight around here that I was terrified I was going to fuck it up to where big dollars would be the cure. I was overly paranoid.

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    4. I won't argue it is a bandwidth killer, which just shows you how quickly we became acclimated to it ( in my case, it took from April 2015 to May 2015 ). It didn't take me long to discover that it is MOSTLY a waste of time. The nuggets make it worth while. But the day it dies? All said and done, the worst thing will be the loss of a cheap instructional for everything ( the only cost really is the time wasted ). But no where near an insufferable loss. If you're good you can sell cheap to produce DVD's as instructionals. That will weed out most crap. Yeah, sorry, I forgot about your bandwidth issue. Not trying to ignore anyone, just way too much on my mind. All that clutter from watching too much YouTube, partially :D

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    5. Ghostsniper wrote:
      "Last nights episode of War Farm showed that since wheat is a grass, any grass can be made into bread, then they set out and proved it. They mowed a field than made bread with the clippings."

      Yes wheat is a grass but the wheat you buy to eat is the seed at the end of a ripe stalk. You are not eating the grass blades of wheat.

      Grass blades of grains are high in fiber and only edible by ruminants such as cows and goats.

      The wheat grown commercially has been modified for thousands of years to produce large seeds. I am talking about pre-GMO modifications.

      Living off the land is hard work.

      You can not go to some random field of grass and survive on it. And to get the seed harvested and dried it is a lot of work when done manually.

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    6. Feel free to post on current article, just reference back to original article commenting on, for future reference

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    7. The quote is a comment in this article (its worthless so send it all to me):
      "ghostsniper February 21, 2019 at 11:25 AM"

      Delete
  5. Nothing wrong with a good machete, especially one from elsalvador, if anyone knows machete's it's a salvadorian.
    Note to GS, I'm the same way, but once I've bought something I always seem to want the next best.

    2:48

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  6. I’m personally of the opinion that a Mad Max style collapse is likely something that no one reading here will likely ever see. But I don’t think it really matters, because if you anticipate being alive in another 10 years, you’re probably going to see enough dramatic transformations in our civilization that it’s going to suck plenty.

    In the case of the total collapse, I’ve seen some express concern that the US will be conquered from the outside. I also don’t see that happening. The elites will wait it out in their well stocked bunkers, and we still have plenty of nukes, and always will. But you as a citizen will be completely on your own. That’s why a remote retreat (in an ideally unwelcoming and hostile terrain, such as the desert) will provide you with a decent chance of survival. I also don’t see the scenario as described by the Argentinian survival dude as plausible here in the US. That is, I just don’t see roving bands of marauders driving around out in the middle of no where, burning up what will by then, be precious fuel, in hopes of finding something good. Unless of course they know who you are and what you have, due to your being a fool, and having loose lips (Speaking of loose lips, I’m reminded of a certain hollyweird whore, of Italian ancestry, with a rather religious sounding name :D ).

    Also agree with the poster above about gun fights. I’m the other poster that believes that it would be a miracle to realistically survive more than a few of these encounters (Thank you Matt Dillon, and all the other television western bastards, for creating this totally unrealistic scenario).

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    1. Yeah, another ten years and not only won't we be talking ( Net failure on some level, censorship or lack of energy or budget to support ) but we probably won't believe the amount of suck. Even if we are still united as a nation. All Californicated, with none of the nice weather.

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