Author Archives: matthewgilmanauthor

How to prosper during the coming depression, security

 

Instead of buying another AR-15 we should talk about what real security is. Sure, having that over-priced, easily malfunctioning, scary paper weight might make you feel secure, but you could use that money on something that will actually work. There are several things you should be thinking about long before you buy a firearm.

First look at where you live. Is it an apartment or a place in the country? Do you have a yard or neighbors close by? Is your neighborhood relatively safe or is it a high crime area? These are the things you need to first consider. After that, how secure is your place? Do you lock your windows and doors during the day? Is your car always locked? Are motion lights installed around your place? Are there any places around your property where people could hide? The questions of security could fill a book and there are several out there to check out.

Some people prefer to have an alarm service, and while I have experience in using these systems I don’t know if I trust someone else having access to my home life. Doesn’t the NSA do a good job of spying on everyone already? Why can’t Alexa tell me when someone is in my house? No, I prefer to go old school and make sure my doors and windows are secure. Do things around the house throughout the year to scare the hell out of your neighbors. Butcher a deer in your backyard by hanging it from a tree where people can watch for the hours it takes to disappear. Bury weird random things in your backyard in the middle of the night. I guarantee people are watching. Before you know it, they start to whisper “stay away from that crazy white man’s house.”

Own a big dog. If its big and black that’s even better. Nobody is scared of a golden retriever. Those little ankle biters, that’s asking to come home and finding your dog dead. Get something that people would think twice about messing with. Personally, I prefer German Shepherds, they are easy to train and people recognize them as military and police dogs as well.

Now you own a dog and I still haven’t talked about guns. Fine, lets get to it.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to personal defense and guns. Everyday carry, something you leave the house with and keep on you at all times. Then there is home defense. With home defense you have to consider where you live. Do you have neighbors and could you kill them with the gun you have? If the gun you buy could shoot through several walls before stopping that isn’t the gun you should own. The basic home defense weapon is a shotgun. Loaded with 00 buckshot and you don’t have to aim well when shooting a target to bring something down. Consider that adrenaline is pumping and you will be shaking when the shit goes down. Do you want to use a pistol that is already more complicated to use compared to a shotgun?

I know that some people will argue that thirty rounds in an AR-15 is more than enough to take down a burglar but congratulations you just killed the neighbor next door when you unloaded on a 90-pound crack head and now you are being sued for negligence. Let’s use the old Chinese proverb here, don’t kill a mosquito on your friend’s forehead with a hammer. The same could be said about home defense. Don’t go crazy with it, guns are tools like everything else in the house. What is the job and what will fit it best?

Shotguns are a good start, and considering the depression it serves a dual role. You can defend your home and use it for hunting. There are multiple styles of rounds for it and it is easy to use. There are also smaller pistol versions like the Judge and the Governor that use .410 rounds. If you don’t have time to train on how to use a firearm this is the weapon for you. In countries or states where you might fear there being a limit to firearms sales the shotgun is usually the last to be banned because of the short range and lack of accuracy with this tool.

Next on the list if the pistol. This is more complicated to use and takes training to be effective with. Each design is different and can make it easier or more complicated to use. A revolver has more of a squeeze on the trigger and it is coming for people to shoot high with it, raising the barrel as they pull the trigger back waiting for it to fire. While pistols won’t jam, they have a slower rate of fire and less rounds than the average semiautomatic. Semiautomatics are easier to shoot but if fired too fast they become less accurate if you are in a panic and empty the magazine without realigning the sight. Semiautomatic pistols can jam, needing some training to quickly fix the issue. There is also slide bite, when your hand it pinched by the slide due to improper handling of the firearm. Needless to say, if a person buys a pistol for personal self-defense, they need to have training and regular range practice to stay proficient in using one.

Rifles are our last firearm to discuss and while they are popular with some people for self-defense, they really are the least effective. Keep in mind we are talking about defense inside of the home. A long weapon isn’t the best option for moving around in a small space. A rifle round will travel easily through several layers of drywall and wood making any missed shot able to hit someone other than the intruder. Plus, if you empty 30 rounds into a burglar it is difficult to defend yourself in court with self-defense. Believe it or not there are rules when it comes to self defense and people who think otherwise find out the hard way through years of legal battles and thousands of dollars in legal cost what is acceptable and what is not. The castle doctrine does not protect you from overkill. In my home state of Michigan there is little point in owning a centerfire rifle south of Grand Rapids. Not only is it illegal to use a center fire rifle during hunting season but it is also illegal to use one at a gun range. Only in the northern half of the state is the use of one legal. The only reason I own this style of firearm is to hunt large game in the northern region of the state and would never grab one for home defense when better options are available.

Bows and crossbows are alternatives to those who prefer not to use a gun or it is illegal for them to have. If you did something stupid as a kid and have a felony on your record then it is illegal for you to own or handle a firearm. However, you can own a bow or crossbow since these weapons are not registered. This rule also applies to muzzleloaders but do you really want to load a muzzleloader while someone is kicking in your bedroom door trying to kill you? A crossbow might be the best alternative considering the power and ease of loading. The ability to aim and fire a crossbow is no different from a firearm and is just as accurate as a rifle.

It is a good idea to carry some kind of self defense system on you at all times. This can include a pocket knife or a small can of pepper spray. The rules on knives and pepper spray can vary from state to state and even collage campuses as well. The local campus where I live have made it illegal to carry pepper spray while on their property. When it comes to knives in my state it is illegal to carry and concealed fixed blade knife but you can carry a folding knife as long as the blade isn’t longer than 3.5 inches. Each state is different and you should do some research on a reputable site before deciding what to carry.

When all else fails it is never a bad idea to know how to protect yourself if you are unarmed. There are several schools and styles that are available and while people will argue on the internet as to which is the best one knowing a little bit of something is better than knowing nothing if something happens. Even if you take a class where they teach the time-tested ball kick and eye gouge it is better than doing nothing.

Some styles I would recommend looking into include; Krav Maga, Brazilian Jujitsu, Judo, and Japanese Jujitsu. These are more combat oriented styles that won’t teach you how to fight with rules, except for Judo. If these are not the styles for you there are dozens of other martial arts to look into.

 

 

 

 

 

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How to Prosper in the coming Depression, Food (continued)

 

Stocking a pantry is a quick and affordable way to insure you have food in the distant future. We are currently seeing store shelves restocked with items that disappeared for a while. This can give people a sense of security in thinking that things are back to normal when in reality we are looking at a possible repeat of a shutdown in the fall. Keep in mind that factories and processing centers have been closed for several weeks, and commodities such as cattle and crops have been destroyed with nowhere to take them for sale, it is not far reached to consider that the next time a shutdown happens there will be less on the shelves than last time. In the coming weeks and months, it would be wise to buy a few extra items here and there to slowly build a pantry if you are on a budget.

When building a pantry stay away from perishable foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables that will go bad in a short period of time. In the fall it is possible to store long lasting items such as winter squash, root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and onions; however, this involves having some type of winter storage system such as a root cellar of which there are several different variations available to make or build. I have a friend who buys fruit in bulk when it is in season and at its cheapest price, then puts it in the freezer in the basement. When he needs room, he will can those items by making a jam or preserve that last longer on the shelf than the item would in the freezer.

The three types of food to look for to add to a pantry involve canned goods, dry goods, and freeze dried. Freeze dried is the most expensive and while it has a long shelf life of 25-30 years it is expensive. Canned goods will last for years and currently in my area there is no longer a limit as to how many cans you can buy at one time. Beans and canned meat were some of the first to disappear from the shelves so it is safe to say those might be the first to disappear the next time around. When the toilet paper starts to disappear from the stores be sure to grab the items you can eat instead. Try to stay one step ahead of the crowd when it comes to buying supplies.

Some items you might want to consider picking up that never as in short supply include Whey protein powder. This is a body building supplement that has a shelf life of a few years and makes sure you have complete proteins in your system while meat is disappearing from the stores due to a shortage. A large bottle of multivitamins isn’t a bad idea to have around if your diet is compromised and you find yourself on a limited diet without fresh fruit and vegetables.

Yeast and flour were a surprise to everyone when it was in short supply. With bread flying off the shelves those who knew how to bake bread invested in bags of flour and yeast packets to bake their own bread at home. Stored correctly flour can be stored for ten years. Yeast isn’t as easy to store and dies off after a year but there is a way to use bacteria in the air to ferment wet dough and make a sour dough bread.

Most importantly buy items that you will eat and enjoy eating. There is no point in buying cans of Spam because you noticed other people doing it. If you want to stay happy and positive during another Shutdown make sure you have food in the house that you enjoy. If that means having boxes of Doritos lining your walls by all means to that. It is better that you want to eat than dread having another bowl of lentil soup while wondering what the heck a lentil is.

If this is your first time creating a pantry take your time, buy items you enjoy and rotate your stock. Make sure items that are going to expire soon are not kept in the back of the shelf. Use what you have over time while constantly replenishing your supply. Before you know it, you can have a few weeks if not a few months’ worth of food.

Fishing was an item I forgot about in my last post about food. When I was a kid, I had a neighbor who went fishing almost every day from spring until fall. He would come home when he caught his limit and spent an hour filleting his fish and storing them in a freezer. During the winter months his family would live off the fish having cost them nothing expect for a fishing license. I know that most people don’t have the time to fish all day and the man I am talking about was on disability from a motorcycle accident. Even if you were to go fishing over the weekend and caught your limit, in Michigan its 25 bluegill a day, plus whatever other species you caught, that adds up over time. If you don’t own a freezer you can also smoke the fillets to preserve the meat. If you already own a fishing pole the rest of the material is cheap to find to start bringing home some food. The most expensive investment is time and if you don’t enjoy fishing then it will be more expensive for you. Honestly, you’re better off finding another hobby and source of food.

With each state being different, check with your local DNR to find out what is legal to catch and when, the fishing methods that can be used, and get your license before heading out to the water. It is better to ask too many questions than be caught doing something that is illegal and put you into serious trouble. Most of the time fishing is easy but do some research first to make sure you are keeping everything legal.

 

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How to prosper during the coming depression, Money

 

There are two huge problems that come to mind when I think about the average American and money, we own a lot of debt and most people could not write a check for a $500 emergency bill if they needed to. We have a bad habit of looking at what we make in a month and figuring out how to spend most of it or more if we can. Currently, being unemployed sounds like a dream come true with a $600 bonus given to unemployment recipients on top of what the state is handing out however as I write this on May 13, 2020 that bonus is drying up in July. After that good luck paying your bills.

I have hopes that this virus gives the average American a wake up call on their personal finances and last month 2.1 trillion dollars was put into savings accounts, something that hasn’t happened since 1981. When it matters Americans will save money but when it counts you quickly learned its not enough to cover what is to come. Back in 2009, people squeezed their wallets and cut out all the things they realized they didn’t need. Vacations were cancelled, kids were pulled out of over priced prep schools, cars were sold or handed back to the bank, less people ate out for meals, the coffee pot had the dust cleaned off of it, cable service was cancelled, and the latest fashion trends were traded for the years prior. People know how to save money, but when the situation is going to be worse than 2009 with little chance of a bail out for the little guy how far are people willing to go to save a buck?

Considering the interest rates that people have on their debts compared to the interest earned on savings accounts we should talk about debt first. If you are looking for a more comprehensive approach to paying off debt check out The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. To sum up the easiest path to getting out of debt, pay off your small bills first. Dump everything you can into getting rid of those debts and move up to bigger items over time. Pay off the credit cards and hospital bills that have been killing your credit. Get the debt collectors off of your back until you have the car and house left, if you have payments on those, then work on the car balance. The quicker the better. If you have a manageable house payment, I would suggest only making the payment during the depression instead of paying it off. The monthly payment won’t go up while the cost of other items will during that time. With your other debts out of the way you now have cash to buy the things you need while keeping a roof over your head.

Cut down your monthly bills as much as you can. I know that during the stay at home orders everyone is watching more television, and if you are smart you pay for internet and a few streaming services which is a hell of a lot cheaper than cable TV. At this point you may want to consider which service you enjoy watching the most and cutting out the rest. How much Hulu, Disney plus, Amazon prime, YouTube red, Netflix, or google plus can you really watch? What shows do you enjoy, who offers the most content and get rid of the rest. Let’s face it, the Mandalorian was the only good show on Disney plus unlike the Star Wars movies they have been making the last couple of years. Cut the rest of the crap out of your budget and start spending more time doing other things besides sitting on the couch.

Cancel your gym membership, you haven’t gone since January and your new years resolutions disappeared along with the rest of your plans for 2020.

Put your Keurig right where it belongs, in the trash. Each box of those stupid pod things only gives you twelve cups of coffee. A bag of coffee will give you 12 pots of coffee with 8 cups in each. Do the math you are getting screwed and NO the coffee does Not taste better.

Say goodbye to Starbucks and Biggby coffee. Have they ever made your coffee how you like it? Stop handing your money over to people who can not spell your name right.

Most of the clothes I own I bought at second hand stores. You would be surprised how many new clothes are tossed to your local goodwill and salvation army thrift stores because they don’t fit correctly or they are out of fashion. You can find name brand items for a fraction of the retail cost.

Just because there is a sale, or some kind of deal, at a store doesn’t mean you have to buy that item. There was one black Friday when a co-worker posted the $1000 television they bought for $300. They bragged about saving $700 until another co-worker commented that they saved $300 by not buying a TV that they didn’t need. You can argue amongst yourselves who was the smarter of the two but at the end of the day the second co-worker still had $300 in their bank account.

Cook at home. Don’t tell me you don’t know how to cook. The instructions are on the box. Cooking is like sex; you only get better at it with the more you practice.

So now you are saving money and maybe you have a bit sitting in the bank. What do you do with it?

There are several options available to you. Personally, I like the Ron Swanson approach and have a bit stashed away in gold and silver. Can you make money on buying precious metals, sure. It’s simple math. Buy low and sell high. It’s like any other commodity. The point isn’t to make money though it is to protect your wealth against inflation. Precious metals can be traded anywhere and keep their value. Money on the other hand fluctuates and tends to lose its value when the economy goes into turmoil. Precious metals tend to do better when things are rough. It is never a bad idea to have a bit stashed away in case an emergency comes up.

US savings bonds, don’t expect these to mature during your lifetime with a current interest rate of 0. With a national debt of 25 trillion dollars coming up by the end of this year I doubt any of those will be paid out in several decades if at all.

Stocks, the stock market is the one pyramid scheme that came up with the best sales pitch of the last 100 years. It’s like Amway except when you are about to cash out the market tanks and you are stuck working until 70 years old because all of your savings disappeared while corporations were bailed out. This happens like clock work every ten years.

Savings accounts, I started a savings account for my new born daughter a few months ago. I put $100 in there to start out and three months later I received a statement that her new balance due to interest was $100.01. The current interest rates for savings accounts is under 1%. At this point what is the difference between having cash at home you can access at any time and money in the bank that doesn’t gain any value, while they are loaning your money out to other people I might add?

It is important to have assets. Pay off the house. Own land. Find things that increase in value instead of depreciating over time. When you drive that new car off the lot it immediately loses value. That signed copy of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas sitting in the case at the book shop will continue to gain value over the years. The days that a man enjoys owning a boat is the day he buys it and the day he finally sells it. If you have a hobby besides beanie babies take advantage of the knowledge you have. It is not hard to find things that are overlooked at estate sales and build a collection of wealth under people’s noses. Recently I bought a copy of A Cook’s Tour by the late Anthony Bourdain. I later found out that the $3 first edition hard cover copy was signed by the author. A book that regularly sells for $250 on eBay. I could flip it and take that money to do other things but Bourdain isn’t exactly losing any popularity these days. I think it’s a safer bet to sit on it and wait until I need that money and cash it in later for what will still be more than $3.

To summarize my savings advice, keep money in the bank if you don’t like having access to it and like having other people make money from it except for you. Gold and Silver are safe bets for long term security of your wealth. Invest in things that you know will increase in value over time, except Beanie Babies. Buy land.

Book list:

Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

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How to prosper during the coming Depression, transportation

 

Most Americans own some form of automobile, however only a small percentage know how to maintain them. If you are looking to keep your ride on the road and save some money along the way I highly suggest buying a Chilton auto repair manual for the year, make, and model of the vehicle you own. There are two schools of thought when it comes to not doing your car repairs, it’s too complicated or let the professionals handle it.

I bought a 2006 Toyota Corolla back in 2008 and I have only taken it to the dealership one time after it was purchased. This was for the “free” oil change that came with the vehicle. There are several reasons why I will never take it back there, for anything. The Corolla came with a 250 point inspection that insured it was in like new condition when I drove it off the lots but when I took it there for the oil change three months later the mechanics continued to pile on a list of things it needed besides the oil change. At one point a woman carried the air filter into the waiting room and said it needed to be replaced. The filter was still white except for a maple tree seed, one of those annoying helicopter like blades that fall to the ground every spring, and told me it was clogged. I took the tree seed out of the filter and told her to put it back in. once they started to add things to the oil change, I was done with that place. Either they never did the inspection before selling the vehicle or they were trying to rip me off. I’m not saying that every place is like that but I have heard other horror stories about $90-120 oil changes at those quick lube places from unsuspecting customers who didn’t know better. It has never cost me more than $30 to do my own oil change at home and it takes less than 15 minutes. Sure, it’s dirty and you have to crawl under the car but at least you know the job is done, what it cost, and that it was done right.

Granted there are things you can not do on your own. Changing tires needs to be done by a professional. The exhaust system, unless you know how to weld, should be done by a professional. Things like, replacing a headlight, changing the air filter, replacing the battery, checking tire pressure, topping off coolant, even replacing your own brake pads can be done at home if you know how to do it. That is where the Chilton’s manual comes in, showing you step by step how to work on your own car so that you aren’t paying somebody $50 an hour to do it for you and charging you extra for the parts that you can get from your local Auto Zone.

Don’t have tools? Instead of buying what you will need brand new for a premium look for these things at garage sales and estate sales in your area. There was a time when people worked on there own cars and it was a common practice. Many of those tools have a life span that will outlive us and can be handed down for several generations. Craftsman, Mac, and Milwaukee tools are top of the line and come at a high cost brand new. To find these at a discount is a steal when they come along.

Junk yards are a gamble and you have to be careful of what you are buying if your try to buy used parts for your vehicle. There will be times when you don’t have an option, especially if you have an older car, but often there are new parts still sitting in a warehouse somewhere waiting to have the dust brushed off them.

Spend a little extra to increase the life of your vehicle. When I change my oil I put full synthetic in instead of the cheaper generic brand options on the shelf. I find that the engine runs smoother and studies have shown that it increases the life span of the motor. You can decide to do this if you want but I don’t plan to have another car payment for a long time to come.

Protecting your investment is important. There are a few, simple ways to make sure your vehicle is never broken into. The common sense approach is to make sure there is nothing valuable left in the car that can be seen from people walking past. Keep your car clean and boring and nobody will think to smash a window to steal that phone, GPS map, or change in the cup holder. What they can’t see they won’t know about. Add an NRA sticker to the back of the car regardless if you are a member or not. Thieves will think you are a gun owner and will be less likely to brake into it. Of course, the next step to freak people out is to leave old copies of magazines like Guns and Ammo in the back seat to make thieves think you are a gun nut. At the end of the day always make sure your car is locked. At the first apartment complex I lived in it was common to walk outside at 6am and find most of the cars with their doors open and everything removed from the glove box and cupholders. Some thieves will simply check the door handle to see if it is unlocked and then go to work removing everything and throwing it into a bag.

So, you don’t own a car. If you are one of those people who use public transportation you can save money by ride a bike or walking to work. I know this is frowned upon by a good portion of our society but think of the benefits that come from these practices. You don’t have to fit in working out because you are doing it twice everyday going to work. The cost of good shoes or a bike is a fraction of what you will pay in a year for bus or train fare. Don’t talk to me about Uber, it is the Keurig of public transportation. It will cost you more per trip than just transporting yourself from point A to point B.

If you own a bike take the time to learn how to do your own maintenance. Purchase a flat tire kit for a few dollars. Wear a helmet. Unlike the rest of the body the brain does not heal when it is damaged. For the sake of your own sanity buy a kryptonite lock. I have seen too many bikes stolen in my home town because people either ran inside a place for a split second only to find their bike gone when they walked out. Even chains and padlocks don’t work. spend the money on the one time purchase of a lock that bolt cutters can not remove.

Overall, not having a car will save you more money in the long run, that is true. Freedom of mobility comes at a cost and if you want the option of getting out of a bad situation quickly it will pay to own a car. Owning a car also helps if you were to lose your job and future employment is only available at a farther distance than you are accustomed to. When you increase your availability, you become more employable. A common question asked at job interviews is “do you have reliable transportation?”

 

 

 

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How to prosper during the coming depression, food

 

As I write this there is the beginning of a food shortage happening in the United States. Many of the thing we are witnessing happened before during the great depression with farmers dumping milk they can not sell and food rotting in the fields. At the moment this only applies to meat and milk, however fruit and vegetables will be next since those seasons have not started and this virus in nowhere near finished with its agenda.

The last time I was at the local supermarket I saw the empty shelves and freezers wondering where my Cornish hens were and the cheap cuts of beef that I know how to turn into a $50 steak. Everything was gone except for some ground turkey that had been pulled out of a deep freeze.

I had to become crafty in finding places that would not be affected by the current shortage and if you have any granola eating, tidied wearing, “I only eat local” friends you may have a good idea where you can score some food in the coming years.

Two places came to mind in my town. The first is a small market where the owner is middle eastern and has local sources for meat that butcher it in the Halal style that Islam requires. This type of meat is not going to be produced by a large corporation and therefore the majority of his meat is also from similar, smaller, outlets. To this day his coolers have been filled with fresh meat and poultry with no problems in supply.

The second place that I started going to is a newly opened market downtown that is smaller and more expensive but there is an advantage to shopping here. One of the owners is a third-generation rancher and has access to beef all year round. The beef is butchered and processed by the owner cutting out any middle men. This place also has connections with local Indian tribes for smoked fish and Amish farmers who supply them with chicken and pork. These are the places I have found so far for my own food but here are some ideas for where you can look for your own food in your area.

Farmers markets are opening and it wouldn’t hurt to make friends with your local farmers who like having regular customers they can depend on for income. Even better than a farmer’s market is joining a CSA and having your share of a farm delivered every week for a majority of the season. The lump some up front might hurt but not needing to buy fresh produce over several months takes a burden off your grocery bill. While other people are struggling to find produce that might not make it to the shelves of the grocery stores your food is set aside and waiting for you because somebody grew it specifically for you. Some CSA farms also offer meat and poultry as well as vegetables, expanding what is available and making the hunt for good quality food easier.

Growing your own food is always an option even if you have limited space. For those of you who own your own house you have a huge advantage over the millions of people who don’t. That nice green lawn that you might be proud of, you can tear that up any time now. The luxury of having a lawn is an idea that needs to go the way of the dodo. In Europe, royalty would flaunt their wealth by having vast, unused fields of green grass showing the public that they had no need to work that land for their food. It was a gross mismanagement of wealth that continued to the united states and unfortunately didn’t die along with the control over the country by the British. Some of their bad habits stayed with us and now it’s time to kick it to the curb.

Victory gardens are springing up again, a tradition from WWII that kept the publics need for food down and meant more resources could go to the war effort. This time around the Victory garden could make sure you have food on the table while items are limited at the stores and harder to find. Several books are available for new gardeners and I will include a list of titles are the end of this article for those people who are interested.

Foraging is a favorite pass time for quarantine victims looking to get outdoors these days. On recent fishing trips it was common to see people walking through the woods with their heads hung low looking for morels. Mushrooms might be one of the few things to look for in the spring but other times of the year there will be berries, various greens, maple syrup, and nuts. I have spent many afternoons in early July collecting raspberries and black berries to freeze at home or turn into wines or jam. There was that time I collected dandelion leaves for salad and every year I make a batch of dandelion wine from the flowers. Foraging is a great way to learn how much food is located in your own yard.

Hunting is the last subject I will discuss in this post. Living in Michigan, hunting is a part of our culture. This was a subject that I was introduced to later in life, heading into the woods for the first time at 33. I have had some success and while I can’t remember how many squirrels, I have taken home, I can tell you that I bagged two turkeys over the years but have yet to drag home a deer. Hunting is a complicated subject and one should check their state laws before marching into the forests to bring home some meat. The cost of starting to hunt can be high for those who do not already own the equipment for it. Firearms, bows and arrows, muzzleloaders, boots, blinds, warm clothes, calls, bait, the list goes on and on. There is an investment of time to consider as well. We have all heard those stories of the guy who walks into the woods, kills a deer in five minutes, loads it into his truck and drives off. Odds are that will not be you. The years I have spent going to the same public land I know where the deer are, how they travel, and where to be. I have sent guys in telling them where fresh tracks are and the kind of deer in area. Later I get a thank you and find out they bagged a deer either that day or the next right where I told them. They had the time to spend waiting, I did not. It can be as simple as that.

Hunting is a long and vast subject in which I will cover in future posts, but for the moment it is a place to consider getting protein when it is difficult to find in the store. The amount of meat you can get from a deer for the cost of a few hours and a $1.50 shotgun shell doesn’t compare to the cost of a T-bone steak.

List of gardening books:

Gardening when it counts by Steve Solomon

Square foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

Crockett’s Victory Garden by James Underwood Crockett

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How to Prosper during the coming Depression, introduction

 

The following series will be about how to prosper, or at least do well, during the coming depression. Times are again changing and we must do so with them. The current situation with Covid-19 and job losses is revealing huge problems in our economy and our social structure, problems that will not be solved with a magic bullet and will likely last for years to come.

The following post will cover various subjects such as, saving money, various ways to find food, new hobbies that will help you save money, new ways to think about economics, and much more. Things may be tough in the coming years but there are many things you can start to do now to prepare yourself and your family to weather this event. The biggest thing to prepare yourself for is the amount of work it will take to live a better life in hard times. Work has a bad connotation with it and that mindset must change as well.

There was a time in this country when a person could pride themselves on the amount of work they did and how well they did it. Over the years that mindset has been replaced with “work is for suckers” and now people consider themselves too good to do the hard work that is needed to stay afloat in this world.

Many people look for quick fixes for problems including our government and in return we learn that same problem was just kicked down the road to be dealt with again. This would include the stimulus checks that were sent out to keep the economy afloat but ignored that it this payout added 4 trillion dollars to the national debt with no plan to pay it back. During this time, I would like to think that bill is not my problem. What is more important is knowing that my family has a roof over their heads, food in their stomachs, and are safe from those who wish to do us harm. It’s all anyone can ask for and that is what this blog is about.

If you are looking for advice on how to prepare yourself for what is on the way this is the place for you. It is a work in progress so if you find anything that isn’t accurate or think something was left out please mention it in the comment section. The information will only help others who are interested in the same thing.

 

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Corona virus, a blessing in disguise

 

There is this myth called the American dream, or at least it has been for most of my life. What has been pushed on the public is a need for debt and over abundance to the point of crippling citizens into an endless cycle they will never crawl out of. When there weren’t enough people maxing out credit cards the next scam was to tell everyone to go to college. When there weren’t enough people going to college with student loan debt the need for an over priced house was sold to us. When the housing market crashed and people refused to invest in the market, car loans became the new get rich quick scheme. People in all of these categories are now out of work and behind on payments. The American dream, what was sold to us as that dream, came crashing down, again.

After 2009, I learned what was real and what wasn’t. This fascination with expensive cars, shoes, watches, cell phones, houses, jet skis, and all the other shit people don’t need no longer caught my eye. These were things I could not afford before and afterwards I knew that the majority of the public was not supposed to have them. There is a trade that takes place with owning things that we are told we should have. My step-dad always had to have a truck. He didn’t have a job that required a truck. He rarely ever hauled anything in it. The most he drove these things was to work and back, the most expensive ride to work one could ask for when it came to gas mileage. When I was growing up there were things that the family needed that we didn’t have, because of the cost of that truck. When people buy things they cannot afford, they trade what their family needs and the future for that item. Trucks came and went but the debt never went away. I hear about people getting married and finding out later that their new spouse has a ton of credit card debt. Again, future happiness was traded for long forgotten drinks, nights out on the town, shoes that were donated to goodwill, you get the picture.

With the unemployment numbers skyrocketing eyes are starting to open to what people have been doing since the 1980s. the version of free market capitalism that the US is dependent on will have to disappear. This desire to watch the stock market as a meter of the wealth of the country is a crummy system to use. It only accounts for how rich the rich are and leaves out the little guy who’s only option to buy into this pyramid scheme is to invest for their retirement which is stolen on a regular schedule.

Around me more people are panting gardens. They are looking for local sources of meat and poultry. Backyard chickens are becoming a new lawn decoration. People are starting to learn and while the stock market will cringe at this, I can only hope that the people pushing this old system will have their own eyes opened. Slow growth is manageable and to expect anything else is playing with fragile house of cards. There were old no nonsense rules of finance that people once followed and those had been traded away for greed in the form of fast wealth. It wasn’t just people but the government as well who started to live this lie, taking the future wealth of the country and charging it on a credit card knowing that someone else down the road will have to deal with it. Who cares as long as their families are taken care of? What matters beyond the rich having their fill and the rest of us being left with the bill?

A trump check was deposited into my bank account and that money was used to pay bills in advance and make sure my family had a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. The economic stimulus that the politicians thought they would see didn’t happen. The trick that was supposed to fix the problem failed and now the only other option they are left with is opening the economy and having more people die because of their fucked-up priorities. The rate of incompetence in this matter is astounding. The Chinese government had people locked in their apartments with the doors welded shut and somehow these people in suits don’t appear to understand what this disease is. Natural or not it is a weapon and its job is to kill. Horrible diseases like this one once plagued the planet on a regular basis. Smallpox wiped out the majority of the native population on North and South America. The black plague swept through Asia, Europe, and Asia again. Polio, typhoid fever, malaria, and measles were common enough to have known someone that had died of it during your lifetime. This is a fear that several generations have not experienced and now it is back. The party is over. The adolescent age of man is over. It is now time to grow up.

Everything has become too easy in our lives. Television has us clicking our next show with a remote to watch at any time. Phone calls are too inconvenient replaced with texting. Relationships have been replaced with quick hookups and relationshits. Money is no longer earned but given to the most recent meme to hit the internet. People who were deadbeat bums are now referred to as influencers. The last person to create a life changing invention is forgotten over someone who plays sports ball.

The president told people at a news conference that one way to cure Covid -19 was to inject themselves with Lysol. This is the level of intelligence that is running the country. It is safe to say we are on our own.

Several people I know are either at the same level of preparation or they are heading that way. Gardens are being planted. Chickens are being ordered. Sources for local meat are being found. Gas tanks are left full. Bills are paid in advance. Weapons are carried at all times. The only person we can rely to save us is… us. The message from the government is clear, they have no idea what the hell is going on. “its just a flu, nothing to worry about.” “As of today, we are on lockdown.” “there is no need to wear a face mask in public.” “it is illegal not to wear a face mask when in a public place.”  If there was a sign that they have no idea what they are doing, I hope this would be it. Down play, over react, repeat.

Along with a disease that nobody knows anything about there is a Great Depression that everyone is forecasting for the future. If there is one thing that this country has completely forgotten it is what being poor is like. Our poor people are obese with diabetes. We don’t know what hunger is. As for jobs, we have outsourced all of our work to foreign countries, buy their products at the local Walmart and then bitch about how they ruined the country. Come to think of it, we deserve this. We had this coming for a long time. Our lack of foresight will be our undoing. We talk about the future of the country only to keep pushing the same ball of debt up a pile of shit that will one day crumble underneath us. Our sins are catching up with us and we can’t deny that we deserve what is coming. I see the litter covering the side of the street, the needles littering the parks, the homeless that joke about scamming people, the politicians who keep their jobs by winning a high school popularity contest, the cash advance centers around town, the liquor stores on every corner, the churches taking their 10% (a nice even price for the cost of a soul) the piles of belongings sitting on the side of the road from the latest eviction, the road kill left behind because someone was to lazy or too stupid to clean what they killed and fill their freezer, the morons who check Twitter before bed instead of reading a book, and the lazy assholes who would rather scam unemployment instead of applying for a fucking job.

There was a man who lived by himself in Alaska for over thirty years. When asked about his own safety he replied that if the water on the lake was rough, he didn’t take the canoe out. When you are responsible for your own safety you tend to be careful about what you do. These days everyone expects a bail out and someone else to flip the bill when they screw up. Those days are over. They have been for a long time and now the bill is coming due for everyone. Governments are in debt. Citizens are in debt. Companies rely on debt. The entire world owes someone and it is the poor that will be stuck with the tab. In Michigan, a person on unemployment can make more in the system than they did at their previous job. Why would anyone want to go back to work after this? When the hammer falls things will be rough. People will panic and try to play the blame game but that bill will still be sitting there and those who it is owed to will want something in return. We have become slaves to debt and for some reason we agreed to it. Those who didn’t follow this example will be caught in the crossfire. Those at the bottom of the ladder will want to be supported and the government will tell the middle class to pay the bill. All hell will break loose and it is only then that all involved will figure out that the system is broken. Something needs to change and unless those above us are smart enough to know this nothing will happen and that big ball of debt will continue to be rolled up that pile of shit.

My bills will continue to be paid. The garden will grow. The chickens will provide breakfast for years to come. I see canning in my future. Hunting season is coming in the fall. Tin foil can be reused if it is cleaned. I’m sure my Toyota has another fifteen years in it. I could care less about the last sports game, who was given a rose on the bachelor, which Kardashian called another useless person a bitch, where the stock market is, or who is running for office. I have my priorities set and my family comes first. If anyone tries to tell me otherwise, heaven help them. I’m tired of people trying to force me to play the same stupid game because they say so and I am not the only one.

 

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