Poor Man
Survival
Self
Reliance tools for independent minded people…
ISSN
2161-5543
A Digest of Urban Survival Resources
"The international monetary system has
already collapsed three times within the last 100 years--1914, 1939, and
1971--and another collapse would not be at all unusual.”
Why Banking at the Post Office Could Be a Better Option Than Payday Loans—and Wall Street
Several years ago while visiting Europe I discovered it
was a common practice in Germany and Austria for citizens to use their post
office for mini-banking services.
Funding options were limited and unlike the US where you must have tons
of ID, it was easy to open such accounts…
USPS used to offer financial services. Proponents say that
bringing them back could buffer us from financial meltdowns and alleviate
poverty. Here's why it just might work.
The U.S. post office on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. is a bastion on its Harlem block. Entrenched beside a pawnshop, a cash-for-gold business, and a commercial bank many in the neighborhood are unable to use, the facility is essentially a fortress. Complete with heavy brick walls, steel screens, vaults, ATMs, and armored trucks, the premises evoke one word: Security. If you’ve followed recent news, they also suggest a second word: Bank.
Post offices are built like banks.
And that’s just one reason why postal banking, a hot idea in economic policy debates, is viable. Physical and operational structures already exist that could help USPS offer basic financial services: prepaid debit cards, mobile transactions, new check cashing services, savings accounts, and even simple, small-dollar loans.
“There’s a post office every five blocks in Manhattan—there’s accessibility in every zip code,” explained Frankie Wright, 32, a USPS Supervisor of Customer Services in East Harlem. “On an operational level, we’re already capable.”
The idea, popularized by journalist David Dayen and law professor Mehrsa Baradaran, would create a public option for credit and help insulate Main Street in the likely event of another financial crisis…Read more at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/the-return-of-the-postal-bank?utm_source=YTW&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=20140808
Very few Americans today remember what it was like to live through our last currency crisis… in the 1970s. Mortgage rates at the time, if I recall, were around 16%. [Indeed, I used a lot of creative financing to purchase properties during that time frame].
During a five-year period, the U.S. dollar lost 50% of its value and inflation jumped 50%. The stock market fell 40% in just 18 months.
Unemployment was over 10%, and the Federal government got so desperate, they issued "Carter Bonds"… U.S. bonds denominated in Swiss francs, since no one trusted the value of the dollar.
I mention all this to remind folks at how easily things can go south and why it is a good idea to have alternatives and backup plans in place…
Mark-Up Savings
When my daughter bought a fixer upper home, she could not
afford to buy repair materials. When she found people who were remodeling their
home, she offered to haul off their used materials for a small fee and then she
used a lot of the materials on her home. She got newer windows, usable wood,
partial cans of paint, a newer bathtub, sinks, new doors, etc. It was a win-win
situation for her. She was paid to haul the stuff off and then she had all
kinds of construction materials to use for her home. She saved several thousand
dollars!
A good reason to store water…You may have heard about the
water crisis which hit Toledo and Monroe, MI due to harmful algae build-ups in
Lake Erie. Friends of ours in Toledo got
caught without water –even after reading about why they should store extra
gallons in the Poor Man Survival site…”We thought you were primarily about
politics, guess we should have paid more attention!”
Here’s a few ways to save those inflation blasted dollars…
Buggy Car?
Put some baking
soda on a wet sponge and gently scrub your car's windshield, lights, and chrome
(if you have an oldie!) to remove bugs. Just wipe it off with another wet
sponge or some damp paper towel.
Find DIY and Homemade ideas here:
The Poor Man has always tried assisting citizens to
survive the assault on the Middle Class-get our free survival package
here:
How
to Survive the…
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Yours in freedom,
Bruce ‘the Poor Man’
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