Bruce’s
Poor Man Survival Bulletin
A
Digest of Urban Survival Resources
ISSN 2161-5543
In
This Issue:
1. Sites to sell off used baby items
2. Economic
Hell for American Families
3. Is
class warfare inevitable – Revolt of the Have nots
4. More
‘Bargain Master’ sites to save money
5. Signs
you got too much sun – a little summer humor
No Man is ever free, and he couldn’t stand it if he
were - William Faulkner
The 4th Most Dangerous Organization Against
Freedom of Choice
ABC reports that 60 million Americans have to abide by
various homeowners' association rules, which "decree everything from what
color you can paint your house to how often your trash gets picked up and where
you can park your car."
Rarely does a week go by where we don’t hear of some
control-freak homeowners association trampling freedom of choice. It fully escapes me as to why anyone would
choose to live under such rules…we have enough dumb rules and regulations
forced upon us by federal, state and local governments.
Most recently, a Macedonia, OH man is being skewered
by an association for flying the American flag from a pole vs. his home. Twenty of his neighbors are sticking by this
war veteran.
There’s little question our freedoms are eroding and
few in Congress (or mainstream America) seems to give a damn.
On
another note…
An entry-level salary often doesn't go very far
these days. According to a study by the Heldrich Center, the median
starting salary for those who graduated from four-year degree programs in 2009
and 2010 was $27,000, down from $30,000 for those who graduated in 2006 to
2008, before the recession. (Try living on $27,000 a year -- before taxes -- in
a city like New York, Washington or Chicago.)
With that in mind, read the short piece below about Economic
Hell in America.
Heal a blister with moisturizer. Even though I do it all the time, you’re not
supposed to pop a blister; instead, apply moisturizer and cover with a bandage
for faster healing.
Pm’s Betty Shocker Compendium of Useful
Resources
Sites for Selling Used Baby Goods
Kids grow
quickly and are always in need of new clothing and other items. Here are a few online sites to sell off what
you no longer need.
>Storkbrokers.com - Designed for parents who
wish to trade or sell their baby related stuff without the headaches of eBay or
Craigslist. Free registration and you
can begin to buy and sell quickly.
>thredUp.com - Essentially an online
clothing swap. To sell, members fill a
medium postal service flat rate box and list the contents on the site. Buyers choose the box they want, then pay a
service fee and shipping costs.
>SwapBabyGoods.com - You can sell or trade
used baby gear through listings under its numerous categories to find items
you’re interested in. Then contact the seller to arrange for either payment or
a swap.
Source: Parenting.com
A Little Recipe to create a great holiday feast
LIME AND CHILI CHICKEN BREASTS
|
2
|
teaspoons chili powder
|
|
2
|
teaspoons packed brown sugar
|
|
2
|
teaspoons grated lime peel
|
|
1/2
|
teaspoon salt
|
|
1/4
|
teaspoon garlic powder
|
|
1/8
|
teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
|
|
4
|
boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb)
|
|
2
|
teaspoons olive or canola oil
|
1 Heat gas or charcoal
grill. In small bowl, mix chili powder, brown sugar, lime peel, salt, garlic
powder and ground red pepper. Rub both sides of chicken with oil, then with
spice mixture. 2 Place chicken on grill over medium heat. Cover grill; cook 10
to 15 minutes, turning once or twice, until juice of chicken is clear when
center of thickest part is cut (170°F).
Signs you got
too much sun
>To your husband’s
delight, the only thing you can wear is a smile
>Your two-year-old keeps
calling you Elmo
>Your friend is trying to
match her lipstick to your arm
Run out of spackling?
Use white toothpaste in its place using a spackling knife. Smooth and let dry and then repaint.
Conquer your debt
This site is highly acclaimed for its focus on money
issues, providing a practical education in practical money matters.
GetRichSlowly.org
Money advice and news you can use
Comprehensive site featuring daily deal alerts, a
variety of useful calculators, financial columns and more.
WalletPop.com
More ‘bargain master’ sites to use…
Inside deals on laptops, GPS devices and more
Have fun on a budget
Free to join, pay half price for sporting events,
comedy shows and more.
Goldstar.com
Daily Deals and Online Bargains
Has an active consumer forum which you can use to
share your finds and cash-back deals
FatWallet.com
Heading outdoors?
Protect yourself from bugs by rubbing your body with dryer sheets -
keeps biting bugs away!
The
Nanny State Updates…
New Executive Order from Obama - White House Rural
Council
Will create public-private partnership (aka: Fortune
500 contributors) to capitalize on rural assets…
Before the federal government "fixes" the
problems of rural America, perhaps it should focus on "fixing" many
of the other problems it has created first....
*Growing numbers of military veterans cannot find jobs
once they leave the U.S. military. In fiscal 2008, the Pentagon spent $450
million on unemployment benefits for military vets. In fiscal 2010, the
Pentagon spent almost twice as much - $882 million. According to
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for military
veterans between the ages of 18 and 24 is more than 30%.
According to a recent CNN poll, 48 percent of Americans believe that "another Great
Depression" is likely within the next 12 months. Americans have been
waiting for almost three years for a "recovery" to materialize, but
instead there are all kinds of signs that the economy is about to get worse yet
again. Inflation is rising but wages are not. There are millions of Americans
that would do just about anything to get a decent job. The "misery
index" is the highest it has been in almost 30 years. All of the recent
polls show that the American people are more pessimistic about the economy than
at any other time in recent memory.
Economic Hell For American Families
My husband lost his long-term job in 2009 due to
budget cuts. Don’t worry, I said. I’m still working, and we have a year of our
salary in savings. You’re smart, you’re educated, you’re a hard worker. You’ll
find a job soon.
Two months later, my long-term job was sent to India.
I still wasn’t worried. I’m smart, I’m educated, and
I’m a smart worker.
A year and a half later, I haven’t found new career
yet. I’m 50. No one is going to hire me. I am working – at a Home Depot. At a
79% pay cut from my prior position. But it doesn’t pay for anything. My husband
found a new position in his field – at a 62% pay cut from his prior position.
We lived off unemployment and our savings, until both
ran out. We put our house and investment property on the market the day after I
lost my job.
We haven’t had one offer.
We just had our Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharged. Our
foreclosure is still pending. No word yet when that will be done.
To add insult to injury, we owe Federal income taxes
on the penalties we used to make withdrawals from our 401(k)’s to live off. My
husband took a job in another state, and we were SHOCKED to learn that we owed
NEW YORK STATE taxes on the income he earned in Mississippi – to New York
state! Apparently there is some loophole that if you are a property owner in
New York, but earn income in another state, you have to pay New York state
income taxes on out of state earned income.
We’ve been told once our foreclosure is finalized, we
may owe taxes on that as well.
What happened to our country
"Strictly
speaking, it probably is not “necessary” for the federal government to tax
anyone directly; it could simply print the money it needs. However, that would
be too bold a stroke, for it would then be obvious to all what kind of
counterfeiting operation the government is running. The present system
combining taxation and inflation is akin to watering the milk; too much water
and the people catch on."
-- Ron Paul
-- Ron Paul
The Parting Shot - Is Class Warfare on the horizon? Revolt of the Have-nots
I’ve written extensively on the huge income inequality
gap, the decimation of the middle class and our jobs, falling values of homes,
inflationary ravages on our buying power and more.
The economic plight and frustrations of the middle
class barely get a sound bite on the national news and even less discussion in
Washington (they won’t bite the hand that feeds them). Corporate controlled media rarely even
mentions the new wave of violence being perpetrated by gangs of young people
who attack and rob stores and citizens in such cities as Chicago.
The failure of our political parties to address the
true needs of the nation has soured almost everyone on our system of
government. Politics is more about
divisive cultural warfare than problem solving.
All of that leaves most of us feeling disconnected and with a sense that
the middle class has been shoved over a cliff, now the forgotten class.
Yet, during the past three years, all of the
corporations below made a lot of money. Yet all of them paid net taxes that
were below zero for those three years combined.
How is that possible? Well, it turns out that instead
of paying in taxes to the federal government, they were actually getting money
back.
What U.S. corporations are able to get away with is
absolutely amazing.
The following figures come directly out
of a report by Citizens for Tax Justice. These are
combined figures for the tax years 2008, 2009 and 2010.
So for these corporations, their rate of taxation was
actually below zero.
If you have not seen these before, you are going to
have a hard time believing some of these statistics.....
*Honeywell*
Profits: $4.9 billion
Taxes: -$34 million
*Fed Ex*
Profits: $3 billion
Taxes: -$23 million
*Wells Fargo*
Profits: $49.37 billion
Taxes: -$681 million
*Boeing*
Profits: $9.7 billion
Taxes: -$178 million
*Verizon*
Profits: $32.5 billion
Taxes: -$951 million
*Dupont*
Profits: $2.1 billion
Taxes -$72 million
*American Electric Power*
Profits: $5.89 billion
Taxes -$545 million
*General Electric*
Profits: $7.7 billion
Taxes: -$4.7 billion
Plainly, the Washington-Wall Street Cartel don’t give
a damn about the country! Keep in mind the revolts in the middle east were
started by a pissed off, unemployed younger population.
Yours for the ‘forgotten class’, the Poor Man
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