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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Save Your Nickels, Beat the Debt Collector, Why You're Paying High Electric Bills


Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources


ISSN 2161-5543

A Free Press is the Guardian of a Free People

In This Issue:

1.       Why you’re paying higher electric bills

2.      The moral underground

3.      Dodging Bill Collector Tricks

4.      Using DropBox and TrueCrypt for added security

5.      Wireless fingerprinting, Save your nickels



Will Rogers
Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even.





Why you’re paying higher electric bills



On December 13, 2011, USA Today released the results of a comprehensive review of government data and discovered that electricity costs have gone up faster than inflation for 5 years straight.

And that means the average household now pays $1,419 for electricity each year -- an extra $300 per year compared to the year 2006.

To put this in perspective, major household appliances now use less energy than ever before. For example, a new refrigerator will use HALF the electricity of a fridge made in 1996.

The same is true for many appliances and devices. They've become more energy efficient with every passing year... yet the price of electricity continues to rise rapidly.



You Can Blame It on Politicians

So why are overall electrical costs skyrocketing even while appliances are using less energy than ever before?

The problem goes straight back to Washington, DC.

High energy taxes coupled with government mandates that require perfectly good coal-burning power plants to be replaced by brand new clean-energy power plants have caused electricity prices to spike.


Our PoorManSurvival.com site offers many DIY energy savers and you can get this guide too…


Get your free copy of this 100 page how to guide,
Getting Started Living Off The Grid
Get your copy here
http://www.off-grid-living.com/living-off-the-grid-volume11-book.pdf



Clean glass and mirrors with coffee filters - they work better and are cheaper than paper towels.



PM’s Compendium of Useful Resources


Wal-Mart has launched an "American Idol"-like contest to find the best new products.

For the first time, the world's largest retailer is giving any small business, entrepreneur or individual inventor a shot at winning a spot on its store shelves nationwide and virtual shelf space through walmart.com. The contest is called "Get on the shelf."

Similar to the popular reality show "American Idol," Wal-Mart (
WMT) said contestants can enter any product category that it already has -- ranging from toys, electronics to clothing and household goods. They then can create and submit videos of their latest inventions at www.GetOnTheShelf.com.

The discounter said the public will then vote online for the top three winners at GetOnTheShelf.com. The three will be sold on walmart.com. But the top winner will also automatically get shelf space in select Wal-Mart stores around the country.



Jefferson War Nickels (’42-‘45) are 35% Silver…
Nickels are the last premium-free hedge against both a stronger dollar and a weaker dollar. The copper/nickel content of these little beauties will go up in value -- like pre-1964 silver coins did -- should the dollar weaken. If the dollar gets stronger, then the value of the metal content may fall below face value... but you'll still be able to use the coins at face value!

As a test, I sold 10 of these on eBay for $18





Dodging Debt Collectors’ Tricks


It’s common for debt collectors to use scare tactics to get folks to ‘pay up.’  Often, the debt isn’t even owed.  Here are some of their tricks and how to beat them:


Collectors Play the Name Game

Even if a debt is legitimate, it may not be you that owes it.  It might be someone else with the same or similar name.  Collectors use public sources to track down debtors and hope you’re the correct party.

Make sure you ask the collector for their address, then send them a certified letter requesting verification the debt is yours.  By law, they must send proof.  If they don’t respond or the debt isn’t yours, they cannot bother you anymore.


They Hope You Don’t Own a Calendar

There is a statute of limitations on debt which varies by state.  The time frame is usually within three to six years, which begins 180 days after the account is officially delinquent.  Find the statute of limitations in your state at:

CreditInfoCenter.com/rebuild/statute limitations.shtml

Then, send them a certified letter saying their time for collection has expired.


They Harass Until You Give In

If the debt is yours and is recent, they may stop at nothing to get payment including threats of actions not legally allowed.  Since many of them purchase old debt at a fraction of the original debt, they’re often happy to make a settlement with you - 25% of the original bill isn’t uncommon.


Keep in mind, if you are harassed with bogus claims of “we’re sending the police to get you,” you can report them and/or sue them for financial damages.  For more information on your rights, go to:



The Moral Underground: How ordinary Americans subvert an unfair economy…book by Lisa Dodson which offers a collection of stories of middle class managers and professionals  who refuse to be complicit in an economy that puts decent life beyond the reach of the working poor…

Whether it’s a nurse choosing to treat an uninsured child or a supervisor padding a paycheck…unsung heroes at the heart of a national state of economic disobedience.  Something more of us need to be doing.



Using Dropbox And TrueCrypt For Maximum Privacy
Privacy of your digital files is simpler than ever. Not only can you store files somewhere that has no relationship to your own computers, but you can encrypt all of your data so that it will be extremely difficult and expensive to break into if it is found.




A wet pumice stone will clean a dirty oven faster than a spray-on product.

The Nanny State Updates…


Higher Fuel Prices - again…yet Obama nixed pipeline deal  Gas prices are at a record high for January and are 28.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. And that's expected to go even higher--some analysts predict that the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded could hit $4 to $4.25 per gallon by the spring.

One might think that given the high cost of energy, the President would be seeking to increase domestic production, especially given
Iran's threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, thereby cutting off a quarter of the world's energy supply. Think again. Under President Obama, oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down by more than 40 percent compared to 10 years ago, 2010 had the lowest number of leases issued for oil and gas production on federal lands since 1984, and the Administration held only one offshore lease sale in 2011.


The Parting Thought – Don't we love Big Brother


Wireless Fingerprint Scanners & other new anti-citizen technology

A new technology being pushed by high tech firms to law enforcement.  Some federal bureaucrats already want to register everyone who travels in order to prevent a major terrorist attach…or because they fear riots from angry, out-of-work people who’ve lost their homes, a dollar collapse, etc.
The US government spends $75 billion on high tech providers, usually focused on American citizens as opposed to real terrorists.  As noted in Forbes magazine, the Department of Homeland Insecurity is developing pilot programs to broaden the use of security type scanners to “allow them to take these technologies out of airports and into contexts like public events, special events, and ground transit.”


The Poor Man previously reported on DHS’s VIPR program, which the government is now using to spy on, stop and interrogate and otherwise harass citizens at highway rest stops, train terminals, bus stations and subway platforms…not even a squeak of protest from the “lamestream” media!


According to InsideDefense.com, the military is preparing to intervene domestically in response to a global collapse of the dollar.  A number of ’non-lethal’ weapons have been designed to be used against citizens.  Those include the new Next Generation Taser (a Taser shotgun with extended range and electronic projectiles); a ’pain ray’ known as the Active Denial System; the “Shockwave Area Denial System,” and the Long Range Acoustic Device (already tested in Pittsburgh).


Federal officials are already implementing SOPA style rules by ordering You Tube to take down videos which display cops-out-of-control situations.


The government has also developed a widely used domestic intelligence gathering unit known as Fusion Centers, which local authorities use to identify anti-government malcontents throughout the country.


Our country is broke and citizen discontent at an all time high, yet using the unPatriot Act and other anti-citizen “laws”, we’re wasting even more of our scarce resources to violate the basics of the Bill of Rights.




“Until the next revolution”, the Poor Man



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1 comment:

MinimalistGroup said...

Among the dozen or so prepper blogs we read, yours is always among the best in terms of useful information, resources and political insights.