Friday, October 16, 2009

PREPPING AND PROPAGANDA

It's sort of a "yawner" today. Not much going on. Just hanging out and taking a nap and eating Kimchee and taking my Vitamin C and D-3 and Elderberry tincture and the rest of those mundane things. I don't have to pull guard yet nor cook my meals outdoors. That will all come soon enough so I ain't getting into any panic to begin. The wife looked for popcorn today at Wally World and couldn't find any. But some one mentioned they got theirs at the Amish store and we can swing that, probably Saturday. My secondary effort in getting bulk popcorn is to get another one of those big, huge cans it comes in. They are great for storing the Handmaiden's dehydrated fruits and vegetables. Ain't any mice going to get into one of those cans. No way. And that is a real concern of a prepper. You spend too much time and money getting your act together to then turn around and feed it to the mice. Metal is the answer, or glass. The rodents don't like either one. So, safe keeping from rodents is a function of inedible material. And plastic is not safe from these creatures. Do not place your faith in plastic containers for food storage. Too many chances it won't work. We keep a couple cats out on the porch and they seem to keep the gnawing little bastards out. Gotta get something from those furry little catfood eaters. I have threatened to use them for bait on my trout lines if the shit hits the fan. Wife gets a little dark when I say that but the thought is still there. Lots of fish out there and I ain't going to starve while some cat gets away for nothing!

I just read a piece on Bloomberg about how manufacturing is surging in New York State. Really kicking ass. Helping to pull New York out of the slump brought on by the Depression and yada, yada, yada, blah. blah blah. When you read down a bit of the article you then find that manufacturing is 6% of the states economy. What the hell! 6% of their total economy? That won't fill a cavity in the states teeth. But Bloomberg is a big media joint and they want to blow smoke up everyone's butt and preach the gospel according to the fedgov. And I hate this crap. If you don't dig into the article you never find out that what they are talking about is plain old propaganda of the oldest order. You can go to http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWeZ2LklA00g and read the article yourself.

I keep reading about the $250 Obama is going to give all of us "seniors" for a substitute payment to our lack of COLA this year from Social Security. The news media acts like it is a foregone conclusion that we will get the money. My wondering is will there be a bank with the money to cash the damn thing if and when we get it and will a Quarter Pounder with Cheese cost $17? And why ain't it $2500? Now that would really do some good. I would spend a lot on American made goods if i had that kind of money. American made canned food and American made ammunition and maybe some American made firearms. I could get real "Buy American" for such a deal. And it would be only a half a dozen times what they are going to see the handful of people on Wall Street get for their bonuses this year. But $2500 would put most of us in the black as far as prepping is concerned and maybe they don't want to see that. But I want to see that. Oh yes. Just let me get my hands on that much cash at once and I will show you some preparing that will make your head spin. $130 billion ain't that much more that $20 some billion that the rich are going to divide up, compared to the rest of the country. But, there are just some things that don't just seem right anymore. I was taught not to be jealous of other folks and for the most part I am not. But the "Days Of Preps" has overtaken me and I could use some of the fedgov's money. Sho' nuff. And some of my readers could use it too. I know Ernie would have a place for it and so would Treesong. Mayberry would dance a sailor's jig to get that much money in cash. Dragon could do some good things with it. It would make Mike Kemp's life a lot simpler And others I ain't mentioning. Just seems like there are a whole lot of people who cold use this kind of cash. Well, we will just have to go on like we are and paying attention to what pops up in front of us. Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net

9 comments:

Andrea said...

My husband works for a major truck manufacturer, and for the first time in nearly 3 years, they've been offering a LOT of overtime. I don't know if the demand for trucks is way up because the price of diesel is down; or if they're trying to beat some sort of fiscal year deadline. Who knows. We've been very very lucky so far...the only layoffs have been very short shutdowns. Praise God.

What's interesting, regarding the percentage of production jobs, my husbands company had more than 6000employees 15 years ago. Now they're down to 700. Moved the majority of production to Mexico. Thanks NAFTA.

Dr. Richard said...

If they are offering a $250 lump sum instead of a cost of living increase, you can expect the cost of living to increase by a lot more than $250 - probably an order of magnitude.

Personally, I'm skeptical whether this will even get paid sometime next year. The nation is already in the early stages of collapse. Don't know if we are going to make it past Thanksgiving without collapse and if we do it is simply a blessing to buy us more time to prep.

Dr. Richard

Mayberry said...

Hell yeah I could do some damage with $2,500. Mayberry's "stimulus plan". I'd spread that dough around pretty good, to folks like Big John for more seed, the local grocery where I'd wipe out the can aisle, somebody's blog that pushes Berkey water filters, clothing, boots, tools..... Now just think if every prepper could do that. Recession? What recession?! Heh heh heh.... Unfortunately (or maybe fortunaely) it would be just another little bubble, and when the money dries up it goes POP...

$250, what a slap in the face. Kinda like the $800 Bushie "let us have back" a couple summers ago, then wanted back come tax time. More and more I feel like that indian who sold Long Island must have. Freshly screwed....

Dr. Richard said...

Mayberry,

The $250 is only for those 62 or older on social security. Nothing for either of us or anyone between the ages of 18 and 61. Nothing for families with kids.

All of us could find something useful to buy with $2500 for preps - for me a Eotech 3X magnifier for the AR-15, an oxy-acetylene welding/cutting rig, a chainsaw to cut firewood, some parts for the geodesic dome greenhouse I'm planning to build, and more firewood and food.

Richard

Mayberry said...

Richard, I understood that. Was just speaking in general...

Staying Alive said...

That figure, $2500, sure can get the imagination soaring. It would get a lot of us over the top, I am sure. Ain't nothin' like bein' absolutely ready, as far as ready is concerned. You are never 100% but you keep trying. Okay, back to dreaming!

Michael

Pete Smith said...

That $250 is just to keep some of the people quiet. Most of the people will take the $250 and like it, and not knowing the cost of living will go up a lot more that $250. And when hyperinflation hits that $250 will be like $2.50 or less.

http://patriotsagainstthenwo.blogspot.com/

Dr. Richard said...

Give me any number -- $250, $2500, $25,000, or $250,000 and I can find a way to spend it on preps and other wise investments...

It is nice to have a spreadsheet listing various things on a future want list along with priorities that is constantly updated every several weeks. I do this and have watched my level of preparedness slowly increase across ~15 dimensions over the past two years. When ever I have excess cash to spend on preps, I can quickly follow my list and allocate it. We're never perfectly 100% prepped but every month we're better and better off.

laurie said...

Hey, Dr. Richard, would you be so kind as to share the 15 dimensions on your spreadsheat?

Thanks!