Alternative Lifestyles

The Army has seen fit to stop blocking social networking sites. The last couple days my work has been kind of light so I have been fiddling around watching stuff on YouTube a lot. Off The Grid: Life On The Mesa looks interesting to me. I will fiddle around and see if I can find it for free but otherwise I will probably just buy it. I also enjoyed the Les Stroud piece on his move Off Grid. Also saw a lot of interesting stuff on people living off grid, riding the rails, being homeless s and generally existing in a manner that is pretty far from the norm. This has been pretty interesting.


I find this sort of lifestyle worth looking at because these folks have some valuable skills. They are able to travel and exist on very limited resources. Also they are able to travel in a low profile manner. Folks who participate in these kinds of lifestyles get there for many reasons. Some of them are capable and at least semi intelligent folks who for whatever reason choose these lifestyles. Others end up there by various poor choices. These folks are able to get by because they cut their lifestyle and expenses down to the bare minimum. In halfway decent weather you can get by just fine with a blanket or a sleeping bag and a little tent or a tarp. Instead of a spending a lot of money (relatively speaking) at a restaurant you can have a can of something or some rice and beans. For entertainment instead of going out to a show or a club you can sit around a campfire playing cards and BSing with friends. While less enjoyable, cheap booze does get the same job done.

Having seasonally appropriate clothing sure makes things more comfortable. Wide brimmed hats and sun screen are good for everybody, especially pale folks. I am not sure where the balance between having enough stuff to sustain yourself and too much to haul around is. Suppose just like a series of long hiking trips you get a pretty good idea what you would need. This would be a lot easier if you have a home or a place to keep stuff. For example being able to stash winter gear for the part of the year it is unnecessary would be nice. I've heard that hobo's often have multiple caches with clothes, gear and maybe weapons. I think that is a pretty sound policy, especially for someone who doesn't have a "home base". This could be a more traditional cache buried in the ground or just a buddy who lets you leave a duffel bag with a heavy sleeping bag, jacket, hat and gloves or whatever during the spring and summer.

This sort of lifestyle has some real danger. Instead of a lovable albeit lazy and semi drunk hobo of yesteryear reality is a mix of idealistic counter culture type youths and some legitimately dangerous folks (personified by the FTRA) Any time you interact with sketchy people there is a legitimate risk of them acting in a sketchy manner. Personally if I had to interact with these sort of people I would be wearing some old dirty clothes. An old garage sale backpack with some spare clothes, a beat up aluminum pot and a Sterno stove might be about it. In the winter a sleeping bag, a tarp and a poncho would be added. I would carry nothing of value except a concealed handgun.

I would probably still stand out but obviously wearing a $70 watch and carrying a $200 backpack would be a good way to find trouble.

I have no desire to live this sort of lifestyle. As our friend James Dakin has mentioned people who (Initially I find it interesting that a significant amount of these folks are, even if they are not keen on admitting it, on the dole. Some folks are on disability or social security or welfare legally and others are getting government money fraudulently.) exist somehow or another at the very bottom of society fail to realize what will happen if your current fairly solid social network really fails. If homeless shelters close and food banks put their energy toward generally productive locals who have fallen on hard times these folks could go from sort of cold and hungry to freezing and starving.

Peak Oil

World Made By Hand and the writings of our buddy in a trailer in Nevada have made me see peak oil differently over the past few months. I am starting to see why people worry. Though maybe for different reasons.

There is so much hype and "science" around this topic that I am not even going to look at that perspective. Lets just for the sake of the discussion agree that there is probably a pretty finite (or slow repleting) supply of oil and sooner or later we will start to run out of the stuff. Personally I do not think this would lead to a Mad Max type situation.

Human beings have long been able to adapt to a new situation by using technology. I have thin skin, no fur and modest fat reserves but live pretty comfortably in a place where there is regular snow for about 4 months of the year. How do I do this? I live in a warm place and wear heavy clothes when I go outside. Our capacity to create technology that allows us to survive, if not live comfortably in many austere environments.

People talk about how X amount of oil is needed to produce or transport food and a sure reason everybody would die if we got more than 12 fewer barrels of oil next year than we did this one. I just don't see that happening. We have other means of providing energy to do all sorts of nifty things energy does. Most of the reason we use oil so widely is that it is so cheap that other alternatives are not currently cost effective. Interestingly that flows well into my next thought.

I am not particularly concerned that the world will get sucked into endless resource wars to the bottom or everybody will starve to death. However I do have serious concerns about what this would do to our economic model. Obviously JIT delivery and shipping goods incredible distances would no longer be effective, maybe even for the better. However if the price of energy skyrocketed it would drag the price of everything else up as well. From heating a home to buying food and manufactured goods prices would really hurt people. This would in turn lead to more unemployment and pretty quickly a sort of vicious cycle of taxation, increasing costs and rising unemployment.

I don't know what this world would turn out to be but I imagine it would take a serious turn for the unpleasant somewhere.

In the grand scheme of things peak oil is low on my list of concerns. Somewhere in the area of hyperinflation or a global pandemic and just above zombies or the UN invading America. How am I preparing for this? Well the general food, water, medicine, arms stuff covers a lot. Also I am slowly but surely working to acquire the skills (and stuff to make the skills work) so that I can have a couple back up career options.

Thought?

quote of the day

"I preach doom and despair, living below your income to prepare, getting ready for the Apocalypse."
-James Dakin

This Is Why I Believe In High Capacity Semi Automatic Rifles

Watch CBS News Videos Online

I think everyone who watches the news has seen all or part of this clip or the picture of those three fellows holding machetes. This is why I am a big fan of guns. One isn't going to deter or stop multiple machete or club wielding goblins [not saying those guys in the video necessarily are, maybe they are perfectly nice and just happen to be carrying all their belongings which includes machetes that they do not have sheaths for and will not fit in their backpacks] without a gun. One guy you might be able to take and maybe you could bluff two guys into choosing an easier target but 3+ and unless you are Beatrix Kiddo you're toast.

Specifically I favor high capacity semi automatic rifles. They are not the cheapest answer but for multiple goblins I believe they are the best answer. 

I like shotguns for very close range (you could debate the actual distance but 30 yards or so is realistic) and specifically home defense. Pistols are just about useless except for concealable defensive purposes. For serious bad situation defense (LA Riots, Katrina, pretty much every other day in Haiti) I would want a rifle.

Surplus bolt guns are pretty useful in the right hands as noted in this article. However I can not help but question the wisdom of working very hard to make a tool serve a purpose it is not ideally suited for. Practicing reloading and cycling a bolt gun for a very long time will not get the speed of target engagement of a Mini 14/ AR/AK/HK91/FN-FAL/ M1A with half the practice, let alone the same amount of it. These more modern firearms are just capable of engaging multiple targets far faster. They also reload a lot faster and hold at least twice as many rounds as the old bolt guns.

Of course an Enfield or a Mosin with a bayonet is pretty fearsome in the right hands. I would take a surplus bolt gun with a bayonet and an empty chamber against a guy with a machete any day, a point beats an edge. However I would really rather have an AR or an AK and just riddle them with bullets. As noted by the Doughboy's it is safer, easier, more effective and just plain smarter to shoot people then to try and stab them to death. Those guys did anything to get their hands on a gun that could rapidly engage targets.

There are reasons one might go with a bolt gun. They are by far the most economical rifles out there so for people on long term low budgets they have a real appeal. While it might fail the common caliber test (close but not quite IMO) 7.62x54R ammo is currently quite reasonably priced which helps one equip those rifles on a lower budget. Ones in good condition can be quite reliable and rugged. Also these rifles have a certain mystique which appeals to folks of certain viewpoints. Having a budget rifle that you can hunt big game with is practical.

 A big bayonet and knowing how to use it effectively (prior military training or get a book and practice with a buddy) is a good start. Having a bayonet and a pistol is probably a better approach. In the past I made some sacrifices to acquire a semi automatic rifle well suited to the role of two legged varmint because I believe it is the best tool for that role. You may or may not choose to do the same but if you don't get a bayonet and a pistol. Practice using the bayonet and also shifting from the rifle to the pistol.

Worst case if you can't afford a pistol get a machete as a last ditch backup.

As a final thought bolt guns are great because you can affordable keep a few extra around to arm your friends.

I think this post might win the award for most labels and pics in a normal post to date.

Thoughts?

Enfields, Still Killing People

I am having a pretty quiet morning of a bit of coffee and some news. Just saw a piece about some problems in Sudan. On a tangent is there anybody left alive in Darfor? Or did that humanitarian disaster get resolved by everyone dying. I try to keep up with the news and such but Africa is always in such a state of turmoil that it is difficult to do so with any accuracy. Anyway while they were giving the spiel about this group not being happy with the peace and getting ready to fight that group or whatever they showed some footage of some sort of military or paramilitary group. They were at least semi organized because they had uniforms, some level of drill and ceremonies and an obvious leader. Also they were all armed with the same weapon. The good old Enfield bolt action rifle.I can't say which side is which and they are both probably bad but it is interesting that Enfields are still killing people.

Just thought it was interesting. I would like to own an Enfield some day. Who knows what will happen though. Some of my most favorite guns are ones I would never have though of purchasing and I still don't have a few I would conceptually like.

Prepper Myth Busters: Dropping Out To Your Land

Mayberry wrote a great post today. I enjoy his blog a lot, enough so in fact that I read it daily. However today's post had me thinking all day long. So here we go. The whole dropping out of society idea (to your little piece of land to grow stuff) is probably second only to Batman in the Boondocks in terms of ideas which need to be examined. I don't think any sane people consider Batman in the Boondocks a good plan so that one is already taken care of.

I do not think this idea so much needs to be busted as tempered to reality. It is often followed by a series of what are IMO unrealistic ideas. Some of them are just a touch foolhardy and others are slightly dangerous.

The idea goes something like this. Quit your job, buy a trailer and a chunk of land and live there to grow stuff happily ever after. Since you can grow your own food you need almost no money and thus can just do whatever suits your fancy and be left alone by the government and out of the system.

Well the first problem is that you will still need money. At a minimum you need to pay property taxes. For a couple acres of junk land this isn't generally a huge issue but it just goes to show very clearly that you are going to have to earn at least some cash. Also you will probably want a vehicle for getting around. In order to be legal and not get hastled by the cops you will need insurance which costs something also.

The price, quality and water access of land is a big wild card here. Often the 'junk land' that we speak of in this context is well, pretty junky. If it was nice prime land with water people would probably be growing something there. This of course depends so wildly on region and can vary significantly even well below the county level. The cost of a few acres of productive land is often going to be higher than for an acre of unproductive land without water.

It is worth noting that zoning varies widely throughout the country and even in individual states. In some places you can do a lot without any permits or restrictions but there are still almost always some rules. Sorry. 

So I don't think anyone would argue that they will need to have some income. I think if you make less than 5k a year there is no need to pay taxes. Going 'underground' [I pay my taxes and suggest you do the same:] also goes with the whole unplugging from the system vibe. The first thing to consider is "the wedge" but also consider what going underground will do for your situation. How would you imagine your take home will change, sort of a personal wedge. For example quitting your job as an ER Doc because you pay too much in taxes to make 10 bucks an hour driving fence posts would be false economics. Yeah you avoid taxes but your take home income dropped 85%, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Some jobs and skill sets transfer to the underground economy far better than others do. I can't go into work tomorrow and say I want them to pay me cash instead of direct deposit. As noted above quitting a good paying job to take a huge cut in pay and save a few bucks on taxes doesn't pass the smell test as a strategy. I can note that in my observations the skilled trades go to the underground quite smoothly. Many contractors, plumbers and electricians are basically one man shows anyway. Also the people they deal with tend to often be other one man shows (hiring help when they need it) and for a variety of reasons often deal in cash or are at least open to doing so. These folks tend to be either somewhat involved in the underground economy, or at least sympathetic to it. I once knew some guys who worked for a tree service and their boss was nice enough to loan them tools (mainly stump grinders) to do small size jobs on the weekend for cash.

For many people going completely underground isn't an option. However the one foot in one foot out approach could work and in many ways is more desirable anyway. Unless you live really dirt cheap being able to say you make no money will not stand up to any IRS scrutiny. Though if you report 30 and take home 40 by forgetting to report that you work for cash on the weekends it would be hard to notice without serious investigation. Maybe your spouses stable over the table job stays but your business goes all or partially underground.

My other big concern is that people think they can almost eliminate the need to bring money in. They thing, I have a rifle and a truck and the trailer/ land are paid for so I just need a few bucks for propane and taxes. In reality they have cut their housing costs dramatically and may have eliminated some bills by going off grid. The smart money folks say that housing should cost 25-33% of your take home which is a lot but doesn't eliminate the need for income. Of course you can cut in other areas but will still need income above and beyond that super low subsistence level. The need to have savings (cash and in the bank) and a fundamental surplus in income are not escaped by getting an acre and a travel trailer. Of course living gentile poverty style does mean it doesn't take a lot to get by. Maybe you need $400 a month to live, so you need to earn $600. Stuff is going to break and you will need to fix or replace that stuff. In most of these super bare bone budgets there isn't much slack (preps could cover this here or there but that's not a long term solution) and I wouldn't want to have to choose between not getting enough propane to cook and not freeze at night or getting fewer beans. 

I guess in closing you can drastically seperate yourself from 'the system' by having a paid off residence where you can grow your own food and earning your income partway or totally underground. Following this train of thought will let you get by earning at least 1/3rd less money and not worrying about food. You can not however completely drop out of 'the system' because of the inescapable need to earn at least some income and local zoning regulations. So you can't escape the system but you can sure visit it less often.

Thoughts?

quote of the day

"If you are serious about surviving you need food, and lots of it-guns don’t feed you, and historically control was always through food."
-James Dakin

Very True

"We have an inflating money supply with decreasing retail prices. It won’t last long."
-Dakin

quote of the day

"A lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes. But you gotta do it right. I mean, you gotta have the hole already dug before you show up with a package in the trunk. Otherwise, you're talking about a half-hour to forty-five minutes worth of digging. And who knows who's gonna come along in that time? Pretty soon, you gotta dig a few more holes. You could be there all fuckin' night."

-Nicki Santoro
 Casino

A  recent conversation reminded me of this quote so I had to look it up and see the whole correct version. I tagged Hermit because he was involved in said conversation and Dakin just because the desert in Nevada is his neck of the woods and it reminded me of him.

quote of the day

"Whatever you do, don’t skimp on firepower or boobs!"
-James Dakin

I couldn't have said it better except some beer would be nice.

quote of the day

"come the collapse, a hundred million idiots are trying to camp out in the pathetically small mountain chains of New York and the South. I give it a month and they are all eating each other."
-James Dakin

A Man's Got To Know His Limitations

On a non preparadness orriented note Wifey and I are degenerate movie renters. We habitually return movies several days or even a week and a half late. Or course we pay the fees but still it is pretty lame. At our last place the movie rental store would have been in easy rifle range if the line of sight was clear but we still could not seem to consistently get them back on time. We have decided that renting movies in the conventional way just is not for us. We are probably going to get Netflix in the near future. It is only about $16 a month for 3 movies and since we are rather short on chill evening entertainment here it will be money well spent.

The most common limitations in our area are probably money, space, mobility, health and time in no real order.

Though they aren't really in order money is number one simply because without having some to spend you can't get anything done. I write a bit on this topic and some of my bestie blogger friends Mayberry, Dakin and Creekmore write regularly on this matter. For me currently money is currently not a particular issue. Of course we have a budget and I can't pick up an M1A this month and a couple Krugerrands next month but between what we can put toward this and the adsense revenues it is going fine.

You've got to be realistic here. If you make 20k a year a productive 100 acre farm with a big brick house, several outbuildings, a spring and a nice wood lot just isn't going to happen. However if you are able to move and really search 5 acres with a little fixer upper or a mobile home could be doable. 

Space is a somewhat common issue, especially for those who live in alternate housing like a travel trailer or an RV. Commander Zero wrote recently on this topic; their plan of mans land and no mans land is pretty hilarious and the part about border skirmishes made me laugh my ass off. For awhile I lived in a single 12x10ish bedroom and had enough arms to start a civil war, 3 weeks worth of water for two people and a couple months of food in there. It can be done if you make it a priority.

Mobility is an issue if you are attached economically, socially or culturaly to an area that is not ideal from a preparadness perspective. If your skills allow you to make a good living in a larger area but you would be working minimum wage out in the sticks then you're not going to move to the sticks. On this specific issue I would encourage people to avoid an all or nothing perspective. Just because you aren't going to move to a rural farm in the inland mountain west or a cabin in the woods in Maine doesn't mean you can't improve your situation. Maybe there is a little town 45 minutes away from work where you could move to. Worst case if communing isn't practical getting a little camping site and building a "hunting cabin" on it is an option. If your position isn't to your liking look to better it.


In the area of mobility I find myself traveling all over the place to areas where I would otherwise not choose to live. The military certainly has its challenges in this area. Don't have any amazing answers here and much more would be its own post.

Health is a truly limiting factor. For those with real physical limitations and or specialized medical needs it is going to limit what you are able to do and where you are able to live. Of course if you are just a discusting fat body and or have medical issues stemming from said fat bodyness that can be fixed but otherwise this just has to be accepted.

Time is the limiting factor that I have been having the biggest issue with. My normal work week (no ranges and no field time) seems to be right about 60 hours a week. I haven't been getting the stuff I wanted to get done completed over the past couple weeks. Getting everything done on the weekend isn't a long term plan as I want to relax and stuff plus also sometimes we will travel. Then again I get home from the gym at almost 6 and go to bed around 9 so not a ton of stuff happens then either. I know that I am going to trim back my daily reading some. Going from more like 12 to more like 7 will help. Also I will think about taking some of the stuff which comes into my head and throwing it into posts for other days and taking that time to get stuff done. Still not sure how it will play out and maybe I need to temper my expectations to my schedule a bit better.


Anyway I think it is just unrealistic to ignore your limitations. 

Raiding the Emergency Fund: When and to What End?

First of all don't worry things are fine here at the TOR household. No need to raid the emergency fund, in fact we will add to it this week on pay day. I have just been thinking.....

Under what conditions should you raid the emergency fund?
1. If you are married, domestically partnered, living in sin, coupled up or really in any other situation where you share money with another person only get into that account with both people being involved. This isn't the way to cover up (not that you should be covering up anything but that is not the point) that you spent a bit too much on naked dancing girls, designer shoes, poker night, handbags or whatever. Obviously things are really bad (not borrow a few bucks from a friend bad but ski mask and handgun kind of bad) or you would not be wanting to raid the emergency fund. Do you really want things to be that bad AND have an incredibly pissed off spouse? I certainly wouldn't. Sit down and have a serious conversation about what is going on and what the two of you are going to do to get through it. Make this decision together.

2. What are you going to raid the emergency fund for? First of all if married, etc all read above again. Second this is personal and you might have a different answer than I. To me it is for covering sudden unavoidable expenses (think broke down car or sudden plane ticket home to bury a close relative, not a deal on a .308 or a boat or a diamond ring), job loss or something else completely lame and unexpected like a house fire or needing to flee a natural disaster and spend a month in a motel in Nebraska. I think it is good to keep it open because you don't know what sort of crappy thing is going to happen to you but the odds are over any given decade at least one probably will.

To what end will you use these funds is the more unique thought I have been mulling over.

One of my low probability (lower than being mugged but higher than say a lightning strike) concerns is something getting completely fucked at work. My job is very stable, like prostitution and gambling stable. As long as our Federal Government exists in anything near its current state my industry will be safe. For the foreseeable future given our current world circumstances (two conflicts, various threats on the horizon) we will probably be a growth industry. Given said current circumstances there isn't really much of a worry about job stability because people are leaving left and right, if you stay in you will move up.

However just because things are pretty stable doesn't mean they are 100% guaranteed and reliable for every person. Anything can happen in life (everything is just fine at work don't worry) like sometimes a boss gets a serious case of the ass at someone and crushes them in evals or a subordinate does something stupid and they crucify the first officer and NCO in line so I have thought about it a little bit.

I make pretty good money but it is our only income. [Wifey is looking like crazy and hopefully will find a job that will make her happy soon.] Also there are not a whole lot of places where my current skill set would be valued without a real change in scenery and job conditions. It isn't exactly like I am a plant manager in a town with 8 plants.

Odds are we would get home and spend a couple months with relatives but it could be awhile before we were back to around our current income. Lets say that before we got back to meaningful work things came to a head at the relatives place (doubt it would but lets say it did). Right now we have more than enough to buy a piece of junkish land in the general area we want to settle plus get some sort of a functional shelter (travel trailer, mobile home, etc) to put on it sitting in the bank. We could live all Dakin like on around minimum wage for a long time in this sort of situation. Heck we could do this on what I would get in unemployment.

The reason we (might potentially ) choose to take this extreme course instead of just getting an apartment or whatever then looking for jobs is that we would not know when real jobs could be had and the odds are it would be awhile. In two years time things would be fine but there would probably be a rough 6-9 months before then. There would be a high probability that things would come to head in terms of finances (if we kept more or less our current budget) before jobs could be had so we would need to drastically change expenses to survive.

Some folks say to have a 6 month emergency fund, some say 12 months or maybe even 18. Heck why don't you just have a 96 month security fund as well as 400 ounces of gold, $100,000 face in 90% silver, a dozen M1a's and a 12,000 acre retreat! The simple answer is that we live in a world of unlimited desires and limited resources. Most folks need to scrimp and save and sacrifice just to bank a little bit each month and keep it there till it adds up to much of anything.

Also money that is sitting in an FDIC insured account (or a safe) is money that can not be put towards anything else. To me as a relatively young person the idea of saving up 12-18 months wages before starting to save for a home down payment doesn't make a lot of sense. I would rather have less in the bank (say 4 months) and be paying myself instead of some other guy.

My point is that it might not be bad to have a contingency plan for radical long term or even permenant changes in income. You might (depending on your funding,age, levels of risk, etc) not even need to do anything toward putting this plan in motion unless your personal circumstances really change but it is probably wise to think this one out for awhile and discuss it with the spouse.

Thoughts?

The Single Income Household

This one has been kicking around in my head for awhile but it really has been picking up steam over today.

I am going to discuss two fundamental questions:
1. Is a single income household the right thing for you?
2. Is it a realistic way of life for people these days?


To the questions at hand:
1. Is a single income household the right thing for you? Well that depends a whole lot about you, your spouse, your family and what you really want out of life. You and the spouse being on the same page fully is probably the most important thing, far more important than what I or anyone else thinks.

As to the broader question I think the answer is often yes. One person being at home to take care of the kiddo's and even potentially home school them can often have positive effects on their development and such at least unless you are crappy parents then they are screwed anyway. In terms of raising children to school age a single income household is probably a desirable thing.

Unless the second wage earner makes pretty decent dough it is often a wash between having them working and earning a wage but paying child care, car payment and or assorted costs of needing a second car, eating more convenience foods and such.

2. Is a single income household a realistic way of life for people these days? I have heard people say it just isn't realistic to have one wage earner and I certainly disagree.

For instance my in laws are a single income household with a fine standard of living, because FIL makes a lot of money. This is however not to say that unless you make a whole bunch of money a single income household will not work. To a certain degree saying 'just go out and make more money' would be a bogus excuse because it will not work for everyone. Most folks could figure out a way to earn a bit more if they really tried by getting a little bump in pay, picking up a few more hours or trying for that promotion but often this is not enough to radically change your lifestyle.

To all those who say you have to make a bunch of money to be a single income household I have two words, the Dakins.

Simply put if it is really important to you to have a parent at home with the kids then make the choices necessary for it to work in your financial situation. This is almost invariably going to mean some sort of sacrifice even if it is relatively modest. If you say you want to have a parent at home but are not willing to give up the ski boat, the two new vehicles with loans, assorted other keeping up with the Jones's crap and quite possibly that house you can't really afford anyway then you don't really want it! The degree of sacrifice will depend on your income but in almost every case you will have to accept a different lifestyle than has become the norm.

You can do it if you want to bad enough.

Thoughts?

Quit Bitching- First Rant in Awhile

I am tired of people bitching and griping about bankers and 'the elite' plus of course the trilateral commission or some other such junk. [Now if you are complaining about how the derivative collapse and or government bailouts affected you fair enough. That isn't what I am talking about.] People who claim to be pro freedom but bitch about how someone else (legally) makes a lot of money are fucking posers at best. These folks want to have their cake and eat it too but do not have the guts to live in a truly free world where people are allowed to borrow and loan money at whatever terms both parties agree to. If you want to be a communist that is fine and good but at least be honest.

First of all class warfare has nothing to do with libertarianism or freedom. Don't begrudge anyone else the ability to (legally) earn a lot of money. I am sorry their skills are more valued than yours and their business sense is better but tough shit. If you want to make more money get better skills and make better decisions, nobody is holding you back but yourself.

If you don't like the terms a bank will offer you then don't borrow their money. As for bitching about how they just jacked up the rate on your credit cards I ask why are you carrying a credit card balance. If you don't want them to be able to change the interest rate on a loan then do not take a loan with an adjustable interest rate. This ain't fucking rocket science.

The bankers are not ruining your life, nobody forced you to take their money. I am honestly sorry if you got a [reasonably priced fixed rate] mortgage and now you can't pay it because of a job loss or whatever. That is a sad situation but it is not 'bankers' fault that you lost your job or whatever.

Running up a bunch of debt you can't service and then blaming bankers for your shitty financial situation is like eating 3 big mac's for lunch every day and complaining that 'donalds made you fat. YOU ARE AN ADULT WHO MADE CHOICES so fucking own up to your responsibility for those choices.

If you don't want bankers to be involved in your life then don't have any debt. Fuck don't even have a bank account, keep your earnings in a coffee can. Do like Dakin and Creekmore and get yourself a couple acres and a travel trailer (purchased with cash) and live off grid but stop fucking bitching.

quote of the day improperly attributed

Panic now, and beat the rush which I quoted Dakin as saying (thought to his credit he did not say it was unique thought) can be attributed to Jim Rawles in this previous post at his site. I knew I had heard that somewhere and unless confronted with evidence otherwise that quote (or direct variations thereon) should be attributed to Jim Rawles.

I stand corrected.

quote of the day

"panic now, before the rush"
-Dakin

Been Wasting Time Reading

Some would say that reading is never a waste of time. I would say that reading random fiction doesn't make me any smarter or dumber than watching random sitcom reruns. In any case we have been using the library here a lot. Just reserved a copy of Dave Ramsey's book. Not sure if I will learn any thing huge or redefining from it but it could be interesting and I can't see it hurting me.

Also recently Dakin had a good point about buying useful non fiction reference type books and working through the library to get your miscellaneous entertainment reading for free.

Living in Germany 1: Initial Impressions

This doesn't have a whole lot to do with any of the blogs core topics but since it is also an extension of my life and life experiences it is going to come up here. At the end of the day I write about what I want to. I move a lot for work and this has trickled into the blog starting with the rv living series and then going to my chronicles on living in The South. I will stick with the tried and true good, bad and ugly format TOM suggested so long ago. Well maybe not so long but I have moved 4 times since then so it seems like forever. This post is just going to be initial impressions as I've been here for a few days.

The Good: Lots of trees, very clean, the people are nice, the food is great, the beer is great, the houses and stores are cool looking. It is set up so walking is practical. It is all new but I am really enjoying it a lot so far.

The Bad: We are at least temporarily out of the loop on most everything as we do not speak German. It is a lot better now that we've got an internet connection. On the tv at our hotel there is only one channel in English and it is CNN. Sort of a random international CNN I think. They use the Euro here and at about 1.4 dollars to 1 euro things are more expensive than in the good old USA. I make a good living so it will not be a big issue but we will probably notice it. (much more on this later) The 19% VAT tax is sort of lame also. The time difference will also be a barrier for communicating with folks back home.

The Ugly: Nothing really.

quote of the day

"The lesson here is that if you don't plan ahead for a drop in income, you revert to less desirable emergency actions."
-Jim Dakin

While I am not planning to do the whole gentile poverty thing I do advocate living significantly below your means.