Thursday, August 28, 2008

FINANCES, MOVIES, PREPS, AND GOVERNMENT

It's looking like the same old game in the financial system. Gold was up. the stock market is up. Oil is down. The Daily Reckoning is saying that things are returning to normal because prices are down, getting closer to where they should be. So prices are down but jobs are down also and though things are cheaper no one can afford to buy. There ain't any money to loan anyhow. But that is how it is in our dress rehearsal for the real thing. We will get a few wake-up calls and then we will get our asses blown up. And you have your choice. I know that I have typed out warning after warning to any and all who would listen that it is going to be bad. And if this sleazy government can pull the wool over your eyes one more time then so be it. The real dollars are stored overseas is big vaults in Asia and the Middle East, with some in India. Trillions of dollars in cash. So when the Presidential Plunge Protection team goes to work jacking up the value of the dollar you know who they are working for. And it ain't you, my friend. It's our brethren around the world who have made a killing off of us, and Uncle Sham is making their dollars safe and secure as he can. All we can do is wait for the next bubble and try to cash in on it. It's a pity that our government has let us be put in this position but we must face it as realistically as we can. I doubt that we represent 1% of the population so there isn't too many politicians trying to pander to us. With our numbers we are bullshit in the American economy. We are invisible. The only people who care about us are Chinamart and her brothers and sisters in the market place. How is that for irony? The company who has done more to bring American mercantilism into a global exercise turns out to be our greatest ally in the food and gear department. Strange bedfellows.

We are gong to have an American pig-out supper tonight. The Handmaiden found frozen shrimp for sale and she is going to fix Shrimp Cocktail and serve it with a tomato and avocado salad. They still let us little guys have a treat every now and then. Ain't that sweet. The real treat of the evening will be starting to view the complete first year of Deadwood. The Handmaiden got the 6 disc set for $2 for 5 nights. Sensational. That is about the best show I have ever watched. It ain't as good maybe as Godfather I or the Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman, but it is a damn good bunch of viewing. The cursing is startling if you are not used to it but they tried to make it as realistic as possible. Folks were crude back there in Deadwood. But it tells it like it was. Great cast, great script, and excellent filming. I am pleased as punch that she found those CD's for rent.

I was just discussing the difference between Green Beans and the other beans we eat in this country. 90% or more of our bean eating is shell-puts. Pork and Beans, Bean Soup, Re-Fried Beans in Tacos, Chili Beans, Bean Salad, etc. They all come from shell-outs. I don't think we eat that many Green Beans. People ask me about my beans and I tell them I grow Ripe Beans, not Green Beans. I let them dry on the vine and shell 'em out. Simple as hell. But I feel like the Handmaiden that anyone who is trying to put up ANY extra food ought to be encouraged. We haven't seen the end of this economic mess as yet and cheap food, already paid for, will be a precious item. And Gustave is picking up power down there in the Gulf. If it tears out a bunch of oil rigs and refineries then our asses are mud. We will see very high priced gasoline for quite a while. Think $6 or $7 a gallon. Think having to buy gasoline to go to work. I talked to a guy yesterday who drives a mile and a half to work every morning. Sometimes he even rides his horse to work. Lives out on 60 acres in rural Tennessee. He's in the publishing business and does pretty well at it. Maybe I missed out on a better way to make money than logging and sawmilling. We'll see, I reckon.

For those of you still interested in American politics, Putin of Russia said that America fostered that attack by Georgia to influence the presidential election. There never was a snowballs chance in Hell of Georgia taking over that little country. Dubya was trying to rig the election. And guess what? I trust what Putin has to say more than I trust what Washington and Big Media has to say. I know damn good and well that the fedgov and the media are lying whenever I see their lips move.

My friend Bruce Burdick is getting some ground in a county just below us here in southern Indiana. Just an acre but it has possibilities. Surrounded by State and National Forest. Could be interesting. I'll see if he is into raising a couple hogs! I could use some whole hog sausage.

I'll stop now and wish you to to live on and stay alive. Do what you have to do to make it.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

1 comment:

Terrence Maddox said...

Preps!

I have not perused your entire volume of posts and you may have talked about this already, but I have had tools on my mind today.

A fellow will need more than wood working tools.

Fasteners, or the ties that bind.

I tend to use alot of fasteners in one line of my work and most of them will be worthless without the proper hand tools to install them , hell, most of em' won't be manufactured or even make it to a fella out in the woods.

I've been thinking of hand powered drills with auger bits, bellows, portable spoke shave benches, draw knives, adz, anvil, files, mattock,....

As far as raw materials, a man might want to start collecting steel. Leaf springs, angle, pipe, channel, angle, bar stock, sheet steel, wire.....

String, rope, cordage, tape....


Anyway, just thinking...