Escape the Rat Race-50 Ways to Make $ in Underground Economy

Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin
Your choice for urban survival resources
http://www.PoorManSurvival.com



In This Issue:

1. 50 Ways to make $ in the underground economy
2. Banks consider limiting daily debit card purchases
3. Who owns the USA
4. National ID rearing its head again
5. Recycling cat litter
6. Legitimate at-home jobs from AARP & Rat Race Rebellion


Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the hidden confiscation of wealth."
-- Alan Greenspan
(1926- ) Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (1987-2006)


This n that…

The quality of education, home schooling and the like sparked a bit of a discussion on our face book page. The consensus, the US is unfairly skewed in world statistics. Yes, there are big problems as exemplified by Detroit schools but there are shining spots as shown on this past week’s Jeopardy Teen Challenge…some very bright young people!

Something else that came up…the deluge of non-profits and charities devoted to children’s causes. It’s difficult not to run into different groups asking for donations at supermarket entry ways to street corners.

A thought…would it make more sense to combine some of these charities and pool their fund raising resources? Every week a new charity is created for worthy causes. America is a very giving country, even during dire times.

Got a note from a reader this week…”what sets your information apart from others is you are willing to promote competitive sites and your information is highly practical for us ‘ubanites.’ Your predictions have so far, proven mightily true and your advice has saved us a lot of money this past year. Thanks!”
Our goal is to provide a variety or resources which will save or make money, help lower your taxes, fight government nonsense as well as prepper information!

This week’s issue is a bit lengthy, so I’ll keep this portion a bit brief!

Weekly Resources & Updates

Modular Workbench
This is a workbench for a small space. It features a fold-out work table, a roll-out table saw stand, a miter box table and lots of storage—cabinets, drawers, pegboard and shelves. It’s inexpensive, easy to build and ideal for a garage or workshop with limited space. Build this workbench and organize your shop. »
http://www.familyhandyman.com/DIY-Projects/Woodworking/Workbenches/modular-workbench?pmcode=ILBDZ01Z&_mid=1163032&_rid=1163032.708400.280152

Interesting ideas on recycling cat litter
How can I recycle cat litter waste? Right now, my bags of it end up in trash disposal. I know someone who directly created a slope of it over a cliff, over time! In the past, I've used it to fill holes in my property. The point is, it's not supposed to be used in compost (except for flower beds).
Some clever cat owners have reported using cat litter to fill holes in an asphalt driveway. They have also reported using cat litter to fill other holes on their property. Others have used it to kill poison ivy.
Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-living/articles/30575.aspx#ixzz1FFip0TGf

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf18244887.tip.html
http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Reusable_20cat_20litter_20system


Accounts and Budget Free 6.0.1

Need to balance your home budget? If you have ever searched for software to assist you with this, you already know how expensive these programs can be. Now who has the money for this, if we need to budget every dollar we spend? Well I have located a good program to assist you with this problem. It is a simple program named Accounts and Budget 6.0 and it is completely free!
http://download.cnet.com/Accounts-and-Budget-Free/3000-2057_4-10535752.html


Enter contests to win scholarships. Find sources at:
www.FinAid.org

Shadow Economics-Underground Economy
…Or no visible means of support!

As you can well imagine, governments despise those who work off the books. It makes it more difficult for them to extract money from and it reduces their chances of tracking you in its various databases. If you work for someone, you automatically get placed into the governments ‘New Hire Database.” Supposedly, this is to reduce the hiring of illegal immigrants. In reality, it’s a means of tracking a parent who is delinquent on child support or someone who owes taxes or student loans.

According to the IRS, they were able to collect taxes on everyone from the underground economy, it would eliminate the national debt. At one point corporations shouldered the majority of the tax burden but starting in the 1960s, the government shifted that burden to the middle class.

Since the majority of jobs pay crap wages AND that wage is further reduced by taxes, it’s no wonder the world has seen a growth in the underground economy. Our theory has always been to not tax individuals on the first $25,000 of income…at least give them a fighting chance. Even a babysitter who earns more than $600 is supposed to pay taxes. I started paying taxes at age eleven (hey, the Poor Man was an early starter).

In case you haven’t noticed, there has been a big push in this country for everyone to use debit cards for purchases and to use direct deposit as a means of getting their paycheck. This too makes it easier for government tracking and it is another reason why off-the-books money making is an all cash transaction.

A factory worker has a second job driving an unlicensed taxi at night; a plumber fixes a broken water pipe for a client, gets paid in cash but doesn't declare his earnings to the tax collector; a drug dealer brokers a sale with a prospective customer on a street corner. These are all examples of the underground or shadow economy—activities, both legal and illegal, that add up to trillions of dollars a year that take place "off the books," out of the gaze of taxmen and government statisticians.

It's not just illegal immigrants fueling the growth of the underground economy. It's also corporate downsizing, which has forced many workers to go out on their own. "We have had an 85% taxpayer compliance rate," says Nina Olson, the IRS's taxpayer advocate. "I expect the number to decline," because the portion of employees who have taxes withheld from regular paychecks is falling. Such employees are 99% compliant with tax laws, she says, but in today's economy, "more people are being treated as independent contractors. We are losing people from the withholding environment."

The major driving forces behind the size and growth of the shadow economy appear to be an increasing burden of taxation and social security payments, combined with more pervasive state regulatory activities

The underground or “black” economy is rapidly rising, and the fault is mainly due to government policies.

Here is more proof.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said last week that 7.7 percent of U.S. households, containing at least 17 million adults, are unbanked (i.e. those who do not have bank accounts), and an “estimated 17.9 percent of U.S. households, roughly 21 million, are underbanked” (i.e., those who rely heavily on nonbank institutions, such as check cashing and money transmitting services. No surprise here given the hoops one must jump through to open a bank account, not to mention the violation of privacy and fees associated with a conventional bank account.

50 Ways to earn cash under the table

Men pay $600 for James Norton’s tips on picking up women. You’ll find this list and other useful ideas and resources at our site:
http://poormansurvival.com/BootStrapBiz.aspx

Be sure to check Steve’s new money making site…he’s always got interesting and useful ideas and resources. I thought I was busy, but this guy has me beat!
http://www.everywaytomakemoney.com/money-making-ideas.html


Learn about how employment laws might adversely affect you
Thanks Stacia for submitting this useful information.
http://www.employmentlawtraining.org/Top_10_Employment_Law_Mistakes_Made_by_Business_477.doc

Legitimate, work-at-home sources from AARP
http://www.aarp.org/work/working-after-retirement/info-01-2011/great-work-at-home-jobs-for-retirees.4.html

Rat Race Rebellion-more useful at-home job resources
http://www.ratracerebellion.com/index.htm

5 Ways to Generate a 7 Figure Income
It’s safe to say that everyone would love to make $1 million. But is it really possible?
“Absolutely,” says Christine Clifford, CSP, CEO and president of Christine Clifford Enterprises, a speaker and entrepreneur. Clifford owns five businesses and is the author of You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself. She says any average Joe can hit the jackpot if they follow these five simple rules. Read the full store at:
http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/money/article/5-ways-to-generate-a-7-figure-income-katie-morell?cid=em-smartbrief

Americans should brace for a "disastrous" 25 percent decline in the standard of living if the U.S. dollar’s reign as the global reserve currency ever ends.

More Consumer News…

Banks contemplate limiting use of debit cards to $50-$100
Chafing under new financial regulations, some of the nation's biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America, are mulling limits on the size of debit-card purchases, The Post has learned.
Such a move would cap the amount of money -- banks are weighing between $50 and $100 -- consumers could shell out on individual transactions using their debit card
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/banks_swipe_snipe_O56uv3oJMDaK5JS4nra2RP#ixzz1FGEF7uqS


Who Owns the U.S.?
While most of the country's $14 trillion debt is held by private banks in the U.S., the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board estimate that, as of December, about $4.4 trillion of it was held by foreign governments that purchase our treasury securities much as an investor buys shares in a company and comes to own his or her little chunk of the organization.
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/112189/who-owns-the-us?mod=bb-debtmanagement


Experian to add rental history to your credit file
Renters who need to build their credit histories are getting a leg up from a major consumer credit-reporting firm.
Experian is incorporating rental payment data from its recently acquired RentBureau unit into its traditional credit file, which the company says will make it easier for college students, recent graduates and immigrants who pay their rent on time to boost their credit scores.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-rent-credit-20110223,0,4979481.story


A recent Rasmussen poll found that a whopping 67 percent of Americans do not want the U.S. to get more involved in the unrest going on in Arab countries and only 17 percent of Americans do want the U.S. to get more directly involved.
But the American people don't get to decide whether we go to war or not. Our leaders in Washington D.C. do.



Your government hard at work-more ways to infringe on citizens

When the Police Question Your Child
Know your rights.
“If they had known that their son’s cooperation would be used as evidence against him,” reports Julie Hayden, “they would have hired a lawyer at the beginning and exercised their right to remain silent.” Read more at:
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/headline/police-question-child/

>>>

National ID Rears its unConstitutional Head again-damned government…The PM has railed against this for years-contact your Congress critter and tell them NO WAY!
A Fox News article from a couple weeks ago confirmed that "national ID cards" will be required to board airplanes and enter federal buildings....
States must be in compliance by May with the regulations laid out in the 2005 REAL ID Act. The law, a recommendation of the Sept. 11 commission that investigated the 2001 terror attacks, creates a national security standard for state-issued identification cards to be used for purposes like boarding airplanes and entering federal buildings.

U.S. Representative Bob Barr wrote the following about how not having one of these new national ID cards will automatically strip us of some of our most fundamental rights....
"A person not possessing a Real ID Act-compliant identification card could not enter any federal building, or an office of his or her congressman or senator or the U.S. Capitol. This effectively denies that person their fundamental rights to assembly and to petition the government as guaranteed in the First Amendment."

We do not need a national ID card to have a nation that is safe and secure.
Please contact your representatives in Washington D.C. and let them know that you want the Real ID Act repealed once and for all.
Related Note: Homeland Security is shifting its focus from terrorists to ‘domestic extremists’…what’s next-those who speak out against the government?

Many local colleges now offer partnership, apprentice-like programs with industry. Usually free of charge...check with your school to see what’s available.

Continuing signs of turmoil-Civil Unrest, rants & rumblings

In a discussion with friends over the weekend, we all wondered about the civil unrest in the middle east and here. How will it all play out? Is America going to see the same kinds of events unfold here? There are many indicators that it could. Of course, all fortune telling has variables which are subject to change.

If you’re like most of us, you can sense something isn’t right and that dramatic change could take place…perhaps without warning.

Think a minute about all the upheaval we’re seeing. Though minor by some standards they still give rise to speculation. Consider:

No one has had a real raise in 20 years (except Congress)

This is the 2nd year no COLA raise is being given to seniors

The cost of everything is skyrocketing, especially food & fuel

Middle class jobs are not returning

The housing market still sucks & more will be foreclosed upon

Both parties still spend the country into oblivion

Even state and local budgets are being hammered and government workers are beginning to squeal at the thought of living like the rest of the country.
Despite some holiday blips, retail sales are not good and many have gone bankrupt.

Washington has no more money to bailout anyone-including states
A significant number of Americans will completely exhaust their unemployment funds this year, this will further hurt local retailers.
From the many to the few…the gap between the rich & the poor has never been higher…and the inequalities will worsen.

Most college degrees are over priced and few good jobs exist for grads
Record numbers of Americans are on public assistance

I could go on but you get the idea. We have all the signs, especially a very frustrated public. The dismal numbers are in many ways, worse than during the Great Depression as our country has been financially raped by Wall Street. The Depression saw a strong rise in socialist and communist parties in this country. More than 54% now say they think we should become more socialist - redistribute that wealth! And unlike the past, American no longer produces anything.

As a group, we’ve guesstimated an 18 month to two year time frame. A revolution may not erupt as an armed conflict as it did with our Civil War, but major upheavals are more than likely. After all, how long can we as a nation continue while our government continues to violate our liberties and denigrate our national treasury?

Who knows…the big change could even take place as a complete takeover of the United States, a la martial law by the White House? There are many who believe our economic collapse has been engineered purposely.

The biggest variable…we’re also a nation made up primarily of sheep who don’t know when to bleat! I am an optimist by nature and historically, our nation has been able to always pull itself back up by its bootstraps…perhaps I am overly concerned and perhaps there are a still a few miracles which can be pulled from the hat!

That’s it for this week, please share with friends…the Poor Man

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