Preparing For The Long Rains a blast from the past from December 4 2012
As many of you know, I’m watching Foyle’s War, kind of the way I watch things these days: when I need to iron, or do something else that occupies the hands but not the eyes (much) or the mind (at all) I turn on a couple of episodes (thank heavens for Amazon prime. I remember being very much broke and not having cable – as we don’t now – and not being able to watch anything. With Amazon prime and the stuff free for kindle, I’d have had a much easier time of it.)
I’ve before talked about sudden insights, things I’ve known all along, but which suddenly seem fresh and new. Like “they didn’t know they were going to win.” It also started me reading about the World Wars again, which means eventually there will be some blogs related to that, but I need to be more “with it.”
Today is the first day I don’t feel I’m at least partly dead or about to fall asleep in… over a month. OTOH I forgot to bring my computer to the office, which is why this post is so late. (Don’t even ask.)
The most amazing thing of all, though, is that despite all the restrictions they lived under, the rationing, the coupon books, the collecting of every piece of scrap, most people lived as though the war weren’t happening. (I’ve often considered, too, that while the idea of rationing was completely wrong-headed economically and might have FED scarcity, it might have been the right thing to do PSYCHOLOGICALLY creating that sense of unity of purpose. I’ve also wondered if the problem was that after 9/11 we weren’t asked to plant victory gardens or buy war bonds, but simply to “go shopping.” Yes, I know it was sound in many ways, but it might have made a difference psychologically if people felt they were contributing. Or perhaps not.)
Of course the series is a mystery series, and there is usually something involving the war – because that’s how they sold it to the producers – but you sort of catch glimpses of people around, and you get the feeling most people were… what was it people were doing while Noah built the ark? They were marrying and being given in marriage, having babies, worrying about where to live. Even when the war affected all of those, it wasn’t the main concern. The main concern was everything else: who loved whom, who hated whom, what the crop was going to be, and why the kid was acting weird. All this without knowing if they’d win or lose, or what the next year (or month) would bring.
Right now, sometimes I feel as though this is what the whole world is doing around me. They’re making plans, getting comfy, settling down, fixing what’s wrong with their lives – or perhaps trying to survive unemployment, illness, other life stuff.
And then periodically I get together with a friend, or sit down with an old acquaintance and I hear how much more seriously they’re preparing. It’s all guns and canned food, and why am I still living in an urban area, have I gone nuts? And don’t I realize it’s time to set aside the writing/publishing thing and worry about preparing to survive the collapse.
And then I feel like it’s me who is going about every day life, unaware that there’s something big coming down the pike.
I am aware there is something big coming down the pike. I think even those who “aren’t” or who deny it, know it at some level. There is a … tense feeling in the air, and everyone is sitting on the edge of their chairs. There is a suspended-breath feel – waiting for the next shoe to drop.
The thing is that no one knows what the next shoe will be. A light sneaker? An army boot? A baby bootie?
Each of us has a mental image of disaster, mine formed by experiences (and books, and movies) and other people’s by THEIR experiences and books and movies.
The problem is no one knows. This has never happened before.
And before you start screaming at me, that of course it has happened before, that even recently the USSR folded like a pack of cards, that we know exactly what collapse looks like… sigh. No we don’t.
Oh, sure, we can look back to say the French revolution and see what happened when the leading power of the day got buried in deficit and went mad. We can look at the collapses in Argentina, and… everywhere else in the 20th century. But the parallels aren’t right.
If you go back far enough – the French revolution – you’re dealing with a completely different state of affairs, not just mentally but also at the economic/material level.
You see, America has changed the game, both ways. I remember hearing it mentioned that the USSR still commanded loyalty because peasants STILL lived better than under the Tzars. A similar thing was said here about Scandinavia and socialism. Their life improved. And the same could be said about Portugal under its strong-man regime. People can point to how poor Portugal was, but we thought we were rich. As a child, I always wore shoes, for instance, even if the summer “sandals” were the shoes that had stopped fitting in winter strategically cut. I had winter coats. We had coal delivered. I didn’t have to do what mom did and go, barefoot, along the train line, gleaning coal dropped by the trains. I got Christmas gifts, usually a variety of plastic stuff. It wasn’t just “we’ll have some fruit for desert and that’s how we know it’s a holiday.”
This was because things that started in America – including the improvements in agriculture, the new processes and new materials – allowed a level of prosperity that was still better than anything the world had known before. Even in countries doing their best to slit their own throats, the easier ways of producing things and the abundance of food made a difference. Things got better. (And everyone got used to thinking that was the way of the world. BTW I’m aware this process didn’t start with America. It started with Great Britain and the Industrial Revolution. But then the torch got passed and things accelerated.)
The other part of this – influencing all collapses in the 20th century – is that America tends to support other countries in trouble. This is a double edged blessing, btw. There is reason to wonder if the USSR would have survived nearly as long, with its dysfunctional regime, without the grain we were willing to provide at bargain basement prices… because we had it.
We don’t have an America to bail us out, and we don’t have an America to keep innovating as we collapse. We ARE America, and there is no one to pass the torch to.
Please, please, please, don’t tell me that Brazil or China stand ready… Brazil is in a pretty good place now, partly bolstered by our petro dollars, but let’s not kid ourselves. Until they fix their political culture, they’ll continue going through the boom and bust cycle in a way we can’t even imagine. As for China… China will not survive our collapse, and as it cracks it will show us what a crack up really means. All of those who are my age and were astonished that the USSR didn’t fight like a wounded bear as it died, might yet get to see this process.
By the time Great Britain started its self-inflicted decline, the US was already well on its way to moving into the lead industrially and agriculturally. There is no country in that position. There are countries that can pretend to be in that position, but not when you look at internals.
So, what will the collapse look like?
I don’t know. And you don’t either. All we know, because we can feel it, like sand grains shifting on a dune in the first movements of something that is not even fully visible, but which will suddenly remake the landscape, is that we’re already in the process of collapsing. For a definition of collapsing.
What I’m betting on, of course, is a collapse that collides full-on with the catastrophic innovation of tech. What this will look like is like an accelerated version of what we have right now, and, to an extent of what Portugal had in the seventies. The old ways and those in control of them at all levels – from education to production; from politics to news – will be collapsing but at the same time they’ll be each day less relevant, as they get replaced.
This is sort of – if you need a visual – like making a train into an airplane while it is running. It’s chaotic, very scary and not painless. Some people will get crushed as gears get moved, and some people will fall out by the wayside and die as the shell is changed. And some others will fall from great height, even, as the plane takes off.
Or, to leave the overstretched metaphor behind:
It won’t be pretty, and I advise to have prep stuff on hand – you know, guns and canned, and such. Whether to move to the city or rural is something else. Yes, I know what you guys hear – and the instinct to “go and hide.” But I’ve read accounts of Argentina’s collapse, and the worst stuff happened in the countryside, where isolated farmhouses were raided. If you were in the city, for the most part, you were all right. (Which I’d say was more likely if your city has military presence.)
But again, there is no way of KNOWING. All you can do is sort of guess and sort of prepare, and of course, ideally you’d have a town residence with a rural getaway, or vice versa, but not if you’re as broke as I am.
HOWEVER because you expect the new to emerge from the old, with preparing for the collapse of the old, for interruptions of supplies, for disruptions in electricity, etc, if you believe this is the sort of collapse that’s coming, you’ll be doing what you can to prepare your profession for the new order. In my case, this means getting as much as I can up electronic, so I might have at least some income should paper distribution collapse. I don’t know what it would be for your profession, but if I were a computer-person, I’d be trying to establish the ability to have different contracts on the side. (If your current employment contract allows it.) As we’ve spoken of before, what you should be trying for is as many and as varied streams of income as you can. If you’re a writer not making much, yet, married to someone in a traditional industry that’s going to get whacked, I urge you to do what I’m doing, and write like mad and put it up as much as you can, in as many genres as you can. (Though I’ll note, for me at least, bubblegum seems to sell best.)
I’m doing this because I don’t believe we’ll collapse totally. Can we? Well, sure. Again, as I said, we’ve never seen anything QUITE like what we’re starting on.
But here’s the thing – if we collapse totally… well… I can’t afford to buy a farm. I can’t afford to store enough food for the next fifty years. The best I can do is buy books on building log cabins and trapping animals, and supplying the kids with bows and arrows. Then if the unthinkable happens, we shall go and colonize the national forest. (No? Why not?) As long as I have some food to survive till a crop can be got in, well, it’s much like preparing for the catastrophic change – except that we never get to be civilized again and therefore all the ebooks count for nothing. Worth trying, anyway because you never know. And what else are you going to do if you’re not massively wealthy and able to prepare for the fall of civilization? Sit around knitting your total collapse blankie?
There is a third option, and for all I know it might be the most likely. It would be the most likely if we had an America to save us. It’s called the “modified hangout.” You slide and slide and slide, and there’s no ending to the slide. Africa has gone through this and Europe is heading into it (though we’re helping it by propping it up – yes, we’re still giving foreign aid to most of the world.) This is a world in which services become worse and worse starting with those the government provides, from supplemental income to mail to (where it does so) electricity. All of it becomes unreliable, untrustworthy, subject to the whims of bureaucrats and how much baksheesh you’re willing to pay. Every year is a little worse than the last. And you just… hang on.
At the end of this is the world of Heinlein’s Friday, with everyone in armored cars and people in guarded compounds, and the rest of it resembling what a total collapse would do, but crossed with the world of Mad Max.
I wouldn’t bet on this last one. It is unlikely. To get there, you need someone subsidizing you, because your society stops functioning long before this to the point where it keeps food and clothing available, much less keeping someone very wealthy. I don’t think America can keep itself on this path without outside help and – get this very carefully – there is no outside help.
At the same time, even if it happens, how do you prepare for it? Well, the best thing is to have some stuff laid by so you can protect yourself and yours and provide in case of shortages.
BUT most of all, the best thing is to be very wealthy and able to afford a private enclave.
My plan – though it’s unlikely it will bring me enough wealth – is to do exactly the same I would do in the first instances. Because if there’s any chance of my being wealthy it is to have a book (or more) hit.
So, right now, I’m very busy – which has the advantage of keeping me from fretting too much. (You should see me when I fret too much.)
The best thing to do when the rain starts falling and you don’t know if it’s just a severe shower or forty days and forty nights is build your ark.
Even if it’s just made of words and electrons.
Do go on with life — it might be important and your “peacetime activities” might yet be the most important thing in making the collapse non-permanent — but keep an eye on that rain. And prepare for any eventuality.
According To Hoyt 
“You slide and slide and slide, and there’s no ending to the slide.” The Reader notes that almost 12 years after you wrote this we are still sliding and have slid past things the Reader would trip the oncoming unpleasantness. So far it hasn’t, and as with you, the Reader is unable to guess what will.
As an aside, this post tells the Reader he needs to find time to go back and read more of your old posts. This dates from before he found your blog, much less started commenting on it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It will be something unexpected. It will likely also be something unimaginably stupid. Such is the way of things with this species.
Me, I don’t know if I’ll see the other side. I’m in kinda poor shape these days in most ways. But if it makes things better for my nieces and nephews, I can accept whatever comes.
LikeLike
It is amazing what one can do for health with small changes of habit. A bit less refined sugar. A bit more walking. Swing around in varous ways some 5 pound hand weights. Do some very basic stretches and mild squats. Take stairs. Get adeqaute sleep and water. etc.
Habit trumps will.
LikeLike
It’s not so much that I have to “bug in.” It’s more that I am already in a place many would bug out to. It’s not a Big (nor even Medium, really) City. It’s… a rather small town.. rather “rural” by many standards. And, what connections I have (save surviving family…) are here. If anything, I’d wonder if $SISTAUR (& company) would come here (or go to $MA’s) since she is in a Big City – though at least a FAR saner part thereof than a few years back when she was in “da hood” to the point she was thrilled when the nearby STOP’N’ROB was condemned.
That said, I make preparations I can. Nothing super fancy. Mostly it could be summed up “Can ride out the results of a bad storm for a few days.” As I’ve put it, I likely wouldn’t enjoy it, but I’d be alive to bitch about it.
LikeLike
Wait, did your Ma move?
LikeLike
Nope. But $SISTAUR is… 2 or 3 hours east of there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
D’OH! WEST!
LikeLike
woops. I reread and wasn’t rushed, plus daily caff intake was then at closer to optimal levels, and see oh yeah, still Sis’ place of suffering
LikeLike
Life, is a well-shod centipede. There are always plenty of shoes to drop. The trick is to keep on keeping on anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Of late it’s been like pondering Imelda Marcos’ closet in an earthquake.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Be the caltrop, not the bug.
LikeLike
I think people started counting bad things happening in threes because they got tired of counting to 100.
Plus it’s demoralizing.
LikeLike
Before the next shoe drops, we may hear somethign like “Fee Fie Foe Fum!”
LikeLike
Are there any Englishmen here?
LikeLike
nae sassenach. (Okay, about 1/4 of my husband.)
LikeLike
“…I smell the smug, of an Ameri-cun…”
LikeLike
Ah! But I’m an American Dragon!
LikeLike
I decided in the 1980s that I didn’t want to survive the apocalypse (nuclear war was going to end the world, back then, if you don’t recall). I was young and energetic, then. Now, I _really_ don’t want to survive the apocalypse.
I think apocalypse is a rather unlikely scenario – but I’m near a big target, just in case. The long decline seems more likely. There are only two remaining capital investments on that prep list: A top-of-the-line tablet (before TSMC is bombed) and a carbureted ATV (which can be driven on the streets, here). Everything else is day-to-day stuff, which will either be there or not.
Nothing to be done about public utilities (gas, water, and electricity). The kerosene heater will probably keep me alive during winter, assuming one can find kerosene. As for food, this year is building the garden; next year will be first harvests. Not enough to live on, but in-season fresh fruit is better than no fresh fruit. If I must plant squash (yuck), so be it. That reminds me, I need 556 seeds.
Gold is not very good for the apocalypse (how do you use it?), but not terrible for a slow decline. Time for a Costco trip to get some! Yes, one can buy gold bars at Costco. That’s not a sign of apocalypse, but it’s not what I’d consider “normal”, either.
LikeLike
The Reader has taken precious metal sales at Costco as a sign that this coming apocalypse will be much more democratic (small d deliberate) than previous ones. Now when they start selling lead and brass precious metals, the Reader will worry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Especially since the recent lack of such supplies at traditional sellers; including the supplies for non-commercial makers to make their own. Gotten a lot better than it was. But shelves aren’t packed either. Nor are primers easy to score.
On that note. So we finally scored some 25-35. Shot a few rounds. Rounds seemed to tumble. The 124 year old octagon barrel rifle needs rerifling? Right? Um. Hold that thought. Need an expert to examine and calibrate it, and we look it over for a second stamp, but might have been rerifled in ’50s or ’60s to a 30-30. That is what I remember carrying, when I was carrying it, even when great-uncle was alive. There is another 30-30 (which I also inherited) that I initially carried. When next younger sister started hunting, she carried that, I carried great-uncles “30-30”. Pretty sure if the rounds were different a huge deal would have been made about “not mixing them”. Even 56 years later, that wouldn’t have been forgotten (anymore than the rules of handling weapons. The emphasis would have insured remembering.)
LikeLike
The Reader would expect that if Costco decided to sell lead and brass precious metals, they would do only in popular sizes such as 9mm and .556mm. Those are actually readily available at reasonable, if not prepandemic prices.
LikeLike
It would be prudent to have a competent gunsmith examin it, for bore, chamber, serviceability, etc. Take the ammo and fired brass with the gun. Fired brass provides info.
A check they may do is to make a casting of the chamber, and measure the result. Will indicate proper cartridge type.
Another test is “slug the barrel”, driving a soft lead slug through it and measuring the result. Indicates proper projectile size.
Two classic examples where old and new ammo is different: .45 Colt and .44-40 (AKA .44 WCF)
Original Colt “Peacemaker” revolvers need a soft-lead .454 bullet. Modern copies use the same bore as a .45ACP (The GI 1911 pistol). Those take a .452 slug, usually fairly hard lead alloy.
The .44-40 originally used a .427 slug. Modern copies often are bored with the same cutter as a .44 Special / .44 Magnum. Those typically use a .429 bullet.
Both were originally blackpowder cartridges. Modern ammo uses modern smokeless powder. Many original BP Era guns -cannot- safely use modern ammunition.
(above somewhat simplified for non-gun folks)
So if yours is original, and your acquired ammo is modern, it may have undersize slugs. Or the bore is worn badly. Or it was bored out for something ekse. Handloads can compensate for some issues. Getvit checked by someone knowledgeable. (Real gunsmith or serious hobbyist in type, not Gunshop Guru counter Creature)
LikeLike
Ah, there’s a reason to have old reloading manuals sitting around, but even my old Hodgon manual was silent on the .25-35. OTOH, there’s information on the web. The cartridge is essentially a necked down version of the .30-30 (itself a necked-down version of the .38-55*). There’s a faint possibility that a .30-30 cartridge would fit in a .25-35 rifle, but the results would be catastrophic if it were fired.
Yes, a chamber and barrel casting would do the job. Had to do such years ago for an oddball rifle (.32-40). There are quirks to the process, so it’s best to have a gunsmith (or as 11B-M said, a knowledgeable shooter) to check it out.
((*)) Back when I had some money (but less than I should have), I indulged in a small collection of Ruger #1s. A friend and I both ordered the short-run .38-55 rifle, and we set them up for cast bullets. His did fine, but I sized my bullets to 0.375″ and the bullets hit the target side-on. IIRC, he used the same size mold, but didn’t size, just lubed. Those rounds did fine. The Rugers all went away, due to financial conditions, not aquacatastrophic ones.
I still miss the .30-30 built on a #1 Heavy (tropical) barrel. It was originally built as a .458 mag, but the original owner screwed up. It was rebarreled to .30-30 and was the most accurate, and least practical firearm I’ve ever owned.
LikeLike
One article (by Layne Simpson–I sort of trust his word) said that .25-35 factory ammo is downloaded because of the age of most of those rifles. (My uncle inherited a 12 ga with a Damascus twist barrel. Definitely a black power arm, though I don’t know if it was fired once my uncle got it.)
FWIW, faint memory says that rifled sleeves were available in some calibers for old barrels. It might have been the case that a .25 barrel could be bored out and a .30 sleeve installed. The chambers are close enough so that a .25-35 chamber could be re-reamed to .30-30. Whether such was done? Dunno.
LikeLike
Depending on make, you might find a .25 barrel or blank that could be chamber-cut and fitted.
An acquantance has a replica Wincehster 66 in .25-20. It has a very distinctive “crack” when fired, as the rounds are moving at about 1350fps, comapred to most Cowboy Action Shooters firing subsonic loads. (Rifle speed limit under SASS rules is 1400fps)
LikeLike
The plan is to take it to the recommended gun smith. Recommended by 2 different sources. Will, more than 2 if you count the other shooters at one of the sources who also gave their recommendation, but weren’t the range masters making the recommendation. The micro meter hubby used at the barrel business end, size implies 30-30.
55+ years ago, it was custom loads for this rifle, immediate family rifles, and extended family. Source: Dad. (Did ask mom. She didn’t know. Dad has been gone now 15 years. Would ask uncle, dad’s younger brother, but really really do not want him to know I have the rifle. He’d think he should have it. Nope. That bridge sailed when my first child was born.) Current reload source is BIL. But he can’t load for it until he knows what to load. If 30-30? Great. If specialized 25-35, that is more complicated.
LikeLike
If the muzzle is reading 0.308 (ish–measuring rifled barrels can be
interestingdifficult to get accurately, especially without a slug or casting), then it’s more likely been converted to .30-30. I wouldn’t even try chambering a .30-30 cartridge in the rifle until certain. If it fit, but the barrel is .25 and it was fired, the results could result in a Code 3 ambulance run, or worse.Yes, it’s going to be best to have a pro (or experienced enthusiast who has the bits and pieces to get a good check of the chamber and the barrel) look it over.
I sit corrected on loading information. My current Hornady manual does have loads for .25-35, so (assuming one has or can find Large Rifle primers*) handloads could be made. It might be possible to reform .30-30 cases to .25-35. A book I don’t have is The Handbook of Cartridge Conversions that covered such.
((*)) It took a year of searching to get Small Pistol Magnum primers, though such are now in production. I’m still looking for Large Rifle primers in case the dredging operation turns up the relevant rifle. Sportsman’s Warehouse says they are getting the occasional brick of 1000 primers shipped to them, but the 100 packs get sold out immediately. When conditions permit (damned knee issues mean I’m not walking much until it’s fixed), I stop in SW, since one is next door to the grocery store.
LikeLike
The .25-35 and .30-30 are low-pressure cartridges, and it’s generally safe to load them with small pistol primers.
LikeLike
True. And Costco will “buy them back” for what you paid for them (i.e. refund).
But will Costco act as a broker and buy back the gold at the current price?
No. I agree. Not a sign of the apocalypse.
Costco has always sold gold. Otherwise known as jewelry. They are also known to sell what people want if they can break event to just a little bit more than even. They don’t make much money on what they sell. Way less than traditional retail. They make money on membership.
Now what Costco is now doing that wasn’t “normal” is cracking down on membership adjacent. i.e. Family (or not) borrowing another’s membership, and using it. Even self checkout. Regular checkout it was the checker’s responsibility to check. At the self checkout, they have a gatekeeper. Even going with the cardholder, the non-member cannot use their own credit card to pay after the member has swiped the membership card. One way to get around this is to not be a member but have a Costco Cash Card.
Someone could make a mint going in and getting bulk Costco Cash cards at a discount (Christmas Costco does this), and then selling the individual cards for amount of cash on card + a small fee. Win Win. The buyer still wins because savings on goods at Costco would be greater than the fee paid.
LikeLike
I suspect The Powers That Be -might- call that “money laundering”
LikeLike
Blink?
Isn’t “money laundering” taking illegal earned funds and making the funds clean. Granted, this type of idea would be ideal.
Wasn’t planning on doing this. Regardless. But buying the Costco Cash Card bundles and giving to the kid for Christmas, so he doesn’t need a membership (since we can only have 2 cards on the family plan)? Guilty.
LikeLike
Being the egspurts that they are, money laundering is what they say it is. If they say a lemonade stand is money laundering, or withdrawing more than 600 of your own money, or making too many transfers between your own accounts, then you must accept their definitions. After all, it’s for your safety.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s not how that works.
At all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, that’s not how it’s supposed to work. Welcome to the ugly reality.
LikeLike
Just like the “humans are not rational” nonsense, I am objecting because in point of fact, that is not how it works.
But it’s a comfortable lie that makes it so folks can throw their hands up, say all is lost, and not do the hard work.
LikeLike
Then why am I limited to 6 withdrawals a month of my money from my savings account? Because more than 6 is deemed to be ‘money laundering’. Hell, Trump is being tried on 34 felony counts including ‘money laundering’ for one private business transaction.
LikeLike
https://www.investopedia.com/faq-what-are-the-withdrawal-limits-for-savings-accounts-4589981
:quote:
The Fed’s Regulation D defined savings deposits, in part, as those limited to six convenient withdrawals monthly. This prevented banks from classifying transactions accounts as savings deposits in order to potentially lower the amount of reserves they were required to keep on deposit with the Fed.
In 2019 the Fed announced it would conduct monetary policy in a regime based on an ample supply of reserves.
4
In 2020 it eliminated the reserve requirements entirely, noting they no longer played a significant role in the ample reserves framework.
5
Federal Reserve System. “Federal Reserve Actions to Support the Flow of Credit to Households and Businesses.”
LikeLike
I have experience with all three of those. The experts make the rules, enforce the rules, and in a sense they also profit from the rules.
If that’s not how it works, please explain why that’s how it does work. Banking and business have hundreds of rules that (according to bureaucrats) are designed to prevent money laundering.
I am not allowed to withdraw more than 599 without the bank reporting it. I have to keep receipts to show that I pulled the money from my own accounts. I am not allowed to make more than 2 transfers in a week, or 10 in a month, even between my own accounts. If a savings account is inactive for a certain time they pull part of the money and send it to the government. No one knows who or why, just that these rules are supposed to stop money laundering. No one knows where the fees and fines go, but the bank complies.
These rules do nothing to stop money laundering. They penalize certain groups, and nothing is set in stone.
LikeLike
Both Foxfier and Ian suffer from a rather common delusion: that things defined on paper translate to reality one for one.
The whole reason for the legal term “de facto vs de jure” is lost on them, and they don’t like to be reminded of it, especially when examples are provided.
No point in arguing; just keep providing the examples and let other readers decide.
LikeLike
That’s a rather long way to say “will go look at your claims and point out when they are exactly backwards of reality.”
Since you openly stated that you stopped giving enough information for people to go look at your de facto claims because they kept getting shown to be other than you claimed, it suggests your judgement is less than well supported.
LikeLike
In order:
the 600 TRANSACTION rule is to avoid tax dodges, part of Biden’s “American Families Plan”. Nothing to do with money laundering.
On receipts, no idea why you’re doing that, the bank’s records would do so.
Can’t find anything at all on the number of transfers limit, or by month; you should probably get a better bank, I do more than that regularly with both Navy Fed and USAA.
Savings account being yoinked for inactivity– Washington State will take accounts that are ‘inactive’ for a number of years, and the financial institutions are supposed to contact you, but some don’t. The idea there is that they don’t want bank banks closing accounts and claiming the money, but also that it’s silly to have 150 year old checking accounts that have to be upkept forever.
However, nope, have quite a few low-level checking accounts, which sit there getting factional interest on their five dollar to open an account selves. Can’t find anything on it, either.
It sounds like your bank is making a bunch of rules to charge you for, and then saying “money laundering!” as a get out of jail free card.
LikeLike
Agree. We don’t regularly make many transfers out of savings, although we could. No reason, now, why we couldn’t park money in savings, instead of checking, to earn maximum monthly interest. Don’t write checks except to individuals (and those could be cash). Bill payments triggered online could come out of savings. The way we do things, baring cash withdrawals, still under six transactions / month. Our credit union doesn’t have limits. Guarantied we’d be moving banks PDQ, if there were limits.
As far as the $600 reporting limits? Let them. Just transferred $800 from savings to checking to cover the shortfall for April to pay CC. Next month I’ll “pay it back” (like to keep the emergency cushion at $X). The $800 will be added to the shortfall for May (given Bidenomics, there will be one) which is normally covered from one of the IRA’s (distribution not required yet, but using it, when needed, is what it is there for, and we can). I guaranty when distribution is required, it’ll be more than $600.
Which is why NY state charges are a pile of stinky turkey dung, all of them. Of coarse it is a flock of turkeys making the charges …
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kero is like diesel, and PRI-D (for diesel.. there’s a PRI-G for gasoline) is supposedly a great preservative, if you have the ability to store in useful quantity. Note: NOT stabilizer, preservative. I do not store that much kero, but what I have gets the PRI-D treatment.
LikeLike
For post-economic collapse, you want a mix of large and small precious metal coins. Start with Silver if on a tight budget. One can also find bullion sheets that easily clip into one gram squares of fine gold.
For non-collapse hard times, keep on hand a mix of large and small banknotes. Have a few hundred in small assorted bills. Better to pay for stuff in a handfull of fivers than flash a wad of C-notes.
Use a “working pocket” with just enough cash/coin, and kleep the rest of one’s walk-around money stashed in another pocket. Also makes it easy to throw-down the small-stuff as a distraction while evading a robbery. I keep some assorted bills in a flashy money clip as my weekly allowance, also as the throw-down distraction.
LikeLike
and used gold jewelry, because that doesn’t advertise there’s more at home.
LikeLike
Silver for small transactions.
Then we get into other trade goods, such as bars of good mild soap, TP, Liquor. Tobacco (smokes, dip) etc, Salt, Spices, etc.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is very interesting to look back and see just how long this descent has been going on already.
No wonder the natives are getting restless and the horses are spooked.
Don’t know when the lightning strikes will come that start the stampede but the thunder clouds have clearly been gathering for a while.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This descent into barbarism has arguably been going on since the end of WWI, 1918. The old world monarchs finally showed themselves utterly unfit to rule, and since then they are all gone. Only a few monarchies still exist, and those are in name only.
The “early adopters” of socialism in its various forms suffered buyer’s remorse pretty quick, that would have been WWII.
Currently I feel we are experiencing the last, dying push of socialist tyranny, trying to gain control by trickery, barbaric terrorism and the corruption of Western institutions.
But, thankfully, the vast majority of people are no longer persuaded.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/pierre-poilievre-corporate-lobbyists-keep-sucking-up-to-high-tax-anti-resource-liberals
Today, in the National Post, Pierre Poilievre, Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, had this to say:
“Obviously, my future government will do exactly the opposite of Trudeau on almost every issue. But that does not mean that businesses will get their way. In fact, they will get nothing from me unless they convince the people first. So here is a how-to guide for dealing with a Poilievre government.
If you do have a policy proposal, don’t tell me about it. Convince Canadians that it’s good for them. Communicate your policy’s benefits directly to workers, consumers and retirees. When they start telling me about your ideas on the doorstep in Windsor, St. John’s, Trois-Rivières, and Port Alberni, then I’ll think about enacting it.”
Then he said “Want to stop the latest tax hike? Or get bureaucracy out of the way to build homes, mines, factories, pipelines and more? Then cancel your lunch meeting at the Rideau Club. Fire your lobbyist. And go to the people.”
That’s a hell of a message to send to corporate Canada. More like a shot across their bow than a message of support, given that everything in corporate Canada these days is a corrupt monopoly. Nobody is going to ask government to protect monopolistic BS in the telecom industry, the food retail industry, the logging and mining industries. Everybody is going to scream to have these corrupt old-boy networks defanged and defunded.
You will know that the rule of bullsh1t is over when a guy can start a new car company in North America and sell cars without massive government interference. Or God forbid, a gun manufacturing company. Or even sell milk, for f- sake.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Things started to get sketchy even before that Gaius Julius Caesar fellow got the Senators’ togas in a wad.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Post 2020, I predict a turnaround will occur when the vast middle class can’t get toilet paper, and overthrows the Government in a mass rage.
Apart from that? All I can do is plant a garden. The fruit trees I planted two years ago are doing well, but still too small to count on. But it’s a place my family can come to, if they need to.
And realistically, all I can do is keep writing.
LikeLike
Apparently part of the reason Scandinavia has managed mostly not death spiral socialism so far is the countries are fantastically wealthy. They’re sitting on one of the biggest natural gas wells known, and have been slowly siphoning it to pay for their social programs.
And I think the only reason they haven’t gone full nuts and blown up the market is because using it is Evil Climate Change, so they’re balancing draining and selling it with meeting greenhouse quotas.
Which is also a large part of why Russia has the money to kick off the Ukraine war too.
And for all that, they still live like lower middle class, even with all the per-capita they’ve got because of the gas wells.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like some here, I “grew up” with the idea of nuclear apocalypse but now I view most of the older nuclear apocalypses as “WTF”.
A world where because of the bomb, we lose all technology including fire arms? No way!
Now in some ways, I think “Alas, Babylon” by Pat Frank was more realistic. Tragedies happened, but life went on.
But as for “On The Beach”, NO Way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Damnation Alley”
“Zardoz”
Nuff said.
LikeLike
“Please, please, please, don’t tell me that Brazil or China stand ready… Brazil is in a pretty good place now, partly bolstered by our petro dollars, but let’s not kid ourselves. Until they fix their political culture, they’ll continue going through the boom and bust cycle in a way we can’t even imagine. “
Brazil proving this out now that the commies got a bit of control back. Now they’re trying to go after Elon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’ll go well for them….
He’ll soon be in a position to toss some rice…
LikeLike
I saw an article about some True Conservatives(tm) in the UK voting against all the Tories so that the Lefties will get full, overwhelming power. The underpants gnome theory of governmental (emphasis on the last two syllables) at work.
In other news, the EEOC is mandating that calling a tranny by their birth sex is sexual discrimination.
In still other news, the regional club store has 5.56 freedom seeds on pallets, on the main floor. Too bad such (and dispensers) aren’t readily available in the UK. I think they’re going to want them…
LikeLiked by 1 person
The conservatives in the UK are voting for Farage’s party, which I’ve heard is doing well. Sunak and his Tories have basically been everything that Blair was.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t find that article (suspect it was one found on a site once removed from my main set of bookmarks), but the writeup was analogous to “The GOPe are horrible, let’s vote for the Commies.”
Looking at one-party rule on the Left Coast (at least at the state level; we have some sanity in the flyover counties), one can see the horrors of that approach.
LikeLike
But they blame those horrors on ‘Teh Eeevul Conservatives!’ and pretend that even more left-wing lunacy and centralized authoritarian control will make everything Perfect.
LikeLike
The Tories *are* pretty horrible these days. From what I can tell on this side of the pond, Sunak’s basically giving away the house.
The good news is that Farage’s party – which was started for Brexit, but has stuck around – appears to be a viable alternative as far as British conservatism is concerned. There’s a good chance that it will replace the Tories in the near future.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just hope the lefties don’t get total control in the interim, what with the habit of all true progressives to attempt to do away with (or do in) any opposition.
LikeLike
The RomCom “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain” is similar in its outlook toward the war. It’s in the background, but you could almost be forgiven for not realizing it’s going on. The main exception is one of the young male characters who’s home because he’s suffering from long-term shell-shock. And late in the movie, Hugh Grant’s character explains that the reason why he’s not fighting in Europe is because he was… but got sent home when he ended up just like the aforementioned shell-shocked character.
As for now, well…
What exactly are you going to do to prepare? This piece was written twelve years ago. People were claiming it’s already too late back then, but they clearly had the time scale wrong . No one knows what will work and what won’t, or what the timing will be. The right action at one time might be the completely worst action at another. You can plan ahead and anticipate. But even then you might be wrong.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Canukistan needs the dispensers as well. Justine would love to go full Fidel, instead of Half Fidel
LikeLike
Fidel might be his daddy, but Stalin is his guiding spirit.
LikeLike
and Che
LikeLiked by 1 person
So is Australia. And the latter is being even more aggressive about it.
LikeLike
New Zealand too.
They could use a good scouring of the Shire.
LikeLike
Remember, outside of a Colonial Outpost at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and maybe American Samoa, Guam, Wake and Midway, (OK, some far Aleutian Islands), America wasn’t Under Attack. No bomber raids on Pittsburgh, no Messerchmidts attacking over Minnesota. OK, there was that balloon bomb that made it to Oregon and killed a few people having a picnic. So outside of that this country didn’t experience WW2 or WW1 directly. Other countries weren’t so lucky. (The luckiest continent was South America.) No. I know where to go if I need to read up on WW2. Sorry, but to me WW2 is like a Nazi killer whale fighting a Soviet Shark over which of them gets to eat me. Everyone is yelling “Look! That Soviet Shark is saving one-eighth you from that Killer Whale! Go Soviets!!” and I respond “Look! Your Soviet Shark just tried to bite my legs off!”. (I will tell you about Hitler’s personal editor for Mein Kampf only if you insist.) WW2 is Something That Happened, like the East Palestine Train Accident or the Portuguese Inquisition, a close cousin to the Spanish one. Like I said, I know who lost and who supposedly won and where to look for any necessary details if need be. I also know how we today are affected by decisions our predecessors made. You’d be surprised how many Americans today feel the US should have stayed OUT of WWI!!!
LikeLike
The Philippines was also an American territory at the time.
LikeLike
Apropos to today’s post, I have started reposting the Youtube blog at https://www.youtube.com/@a2h_on_audio
I ran some text cleanup code that fixed the most common errors (bad characters, no spaces after punctuation, that sort of thing. I also reduced to background music volume and reduced the midrange frequencies by about half to allow the voice to come through better.
Sorry it took so long, it’s been a week….
LikeLike
“I am aware there is something big coming down the pike. I think even those who “aren’t” or who deny it, know it at some level. There is a … tense feeling in the air, and everyone is sitting on the edge of their chairs. There is a suspended-breath feel – waiting for the next shoe to drop.”
This was written in 2012, while Obama and his friends were ‘transforming’ the country. When I read it, I was reminded of how I felt in 1967, when LBJ was ‘transforming’ the country. But then Nixon was elected in a landslide, I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. Then I felt it again when Carter was ‘transforming’ the country. Reagan was the next reason to relax. Then I felt it again with Clinton and Hillary as they were ‘transforming’ the country. Bush Jr. seemed like a reason to relax, but not so much as it turned out. Then Obama and the 2012 quote above. Was the first Trump administration a reason to relax? Now the current moron in charge and all his anonymous handlers -transforming again.
It might seem that the moral to all this is not to stress yourself over it – the Political Pendulum and so forth.
I don’t think so. In most stable systems, there is an element of negative feedback that keeps them from flying apart. It is easiest to see in an electronic circuit that can be looked at as an input and an output. If a little of the output can be flipped to its opposite (its negative) and fed back into the input where it will slightly oppose the rest of the input, the circuit can be prevented from running wild. On the other hand, if a little of the output is not flipped (positive feedback) and is fed back, the worst tendencies of the circuit are encouraged. Sooner or later, voltages will start swinging back and forth, positive to negative, harder and harder until it tears itself apart.
This happens in all sorts of systems and situations. If you have ever gone into a skid on an icy road (and you didn’t know how to properly steer into a skid -which is actual negative feedback), you would react to what you saw out your windshield. The front of the car is going right so you steer left (increasing the skid of the rear wheels). Then when the rear wheels skid around to the right, you see the front going left, so you jerk the wheel to the right. It gets worse and worse until you wind up in the ditch.
I suspect our economic-political system has no negative feedback, or worse – has positive feedback.
What are these feedback mechanisms? I don’t have anything but speculations. As far as how the next shoe will drop, if it isn’t another violent swing (best case), then on this next oscillation we are going into the ditch.
LikeLike
Problem is, the RINOs don’t swing the pendulum back. They leave it more or less where they find it, and then the Democrats push it more to the left.
LikeLike
it is very good to ‘look back’ and see what we/you were thinking 10-12 years ago and compare/contrast with today. I’ve done a bit of that myself within my own little bubble lately and it has caused me to re-think some change is needed, but very little.
I had, and still have, the traditional “get home bag” in the car but will be redoing it in the next couple of months to better reflect my current life and our local environment. Along with that, while we “stocked up” at the start of the flu crazy, we have been thinning that out and shifting what we now think should be on the shelf and on-hand as a buffer to the Murphy’s law segment of life. I still think/feel that this summer will be a pivot point (August and the Dem convention anyone?) and additional shoes will drop. I’m still thinking local, local, local and if it goes totally FUBAR in Chicago this August – well, I ain’t there and will only need to judge the ripple effect and deal with that as it unfolds.
So, with the ‘mind dump’ above – the GHB in the car is being substantially reduced (hey, I’m retired and usually home anyway) and will be more focused on my perception of local conditions, my limitations and personal needs. I will also now build a small “war/go bag” that will have some iron rations, ammo, first aid, water element and self-sustainment stuff, radio, old gps etc. for an unholy crazy bail out now and fight back to survive situation. I don’t really think I’ll need it but better to have it and not wish you did. With that I’ve already set up a “minute man” gear idea where rifle, ammo, old duty belt and gear is ready in a couple of minutes. I may be in my PJs or sweatpants but by gumption I’ll be dangerous!
Thanks to one and all for their reactions and input – it really helps me to look at myself and stay rational and not become fearful. Yup, something is still coming so I’ll do the best I can to be ready to meet it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You can make it modular. Have add-on bags you can move to the vehicle, etc. With a few snaplinks, or some cord, you can usually attach a small “gym” duffle bag to a day-pack, for example.
One does have attachment points on ones ruck, yes? If not, you can usually improvise attachment with 550 cord and some thought.
So you have the “light” Get Home Bag always, but can add the “heavy” bag if the weirdos/martians/gremlins/nature run amok in your area.
LikeLike
Thanks! While all good points a factor I also have to consider is that I’m a broken down old fart in his 70’s with bad knees and a minor heart thing going on so I’ll need to think some more. Having a “big” bag isn’t a bad idea and with a car can work – if I’m on foot, lighter, smaller is better.
LikeLike
It can’t rain all the time.
LikeLike
Doesn’t need to, 40 days and 40 nights should be enough.
😂🤣😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
HE promised to not use that method again. 😉
LikeLike
oh no..
the story, it’s in my head, it won’t go away, someone take it…
LikeLike
Bill Cosby’s Noah?
Bill Cosby – Noah – YouTube
LikeLike
“How long can you tread water?”
LikeLike
next time the fire.
LikeLike
Yes he did. However I doubt that 40 days and 40 nights of fire will actually be more fun.
Noah, you need to build a bomb shelter, 80 cubits by 120 cubits. And a Faraday cage. All 80 cubits deep.
And load up two of every animal, all their food and enough water for 6 months.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“It can’t rain all the time.”
lol. Infantry Sunshine!
LikeLike
Why is the Sky Blue?!
LikeLike
The problem, if broken feedback is the cause, is that the amplitude is too high and getting higher. The RINOs don’t have to push it back -consequences will do that, but they do need to dampen the swings and get the thing to settle down.
They don’t even do that.
LikeLike
Well, that was pretty prescient for twelve years ago. Universities are aggressively making themselves flagrantly useless, for one thing.
And if we can just wrestle control of the economy away from the idiot government types (this is what crypto was designed to do, but alas, seems to be wandering away from) we might survive as a society with relatively little friction. (Seriously, crypto is money that government cannot just take from you, like they can your bank account. And will, as Justin Castreau proved.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Even though this was written 12 years ago, I do not think anyone would argue we are in a substantially better position now than then – and given the last four years at least, preparations might have served well in some situations (looking at you, toilet paper).
All we can do is prepare as we are able and live. And trust that at some level, our actions are overseen by A Greater Power that can intervene in ways we cannot imagine and at times unknown to us.
LikeLiked by 1 person