Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin
A Digest of Urban Survival Resources
For Independent Minded People!
ISSN 2161-5543
In This Issue:
1.
Farmageddon-Family farms endangered
2.
Freelance writing opportunities
3.
Market Force Job Resource
4.
Free e-book readers, no Kindle needed
5.
Free ebooks for entrepreneurs
It is impossible to introduce into society
a greater change and a greater evil than this:
the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder."
-- Frederic Bastiat
(1801-1850) French economist
FarmaGeddon…more
anti-citizen behavior from government
In today’s issue I’d like you to pay a
special note to the story in the Parting Thought section about the assault
of small family-owned farms in this country. There seems to be nothing sacred anymore to
our government…they just can’t keep from meddling and screwing the
taxpayer. In too many instances, it
seems the government creates an ‘Us against them’ situation and frankly,
most of us are sick of it.
So taking a bite out
of your food budget is a worthy goal. And achievable – food offers tons of ways
to save. Slice just 10 percent off that food bill, and you’ll free up $600 for
things that are more appetizing – like slicing and dicing debt or beefing up
savings.
Now let’s provide more detail to those tips, and add a bunch more…
Stacy tells the story of years ago standing in a Walgreens with a
camera and microphone and asking people why they’re buying name-brand drugs
like aspirin when inches away sits an identical generic version for half the
price. Note that these aren’t similar items – a quick glance at the label will
reveal they’re identical.
Answer? Either “This is what I’ve always bought,” or “If it costs more,
it must be better.”
We all think advertising doesn’t affect us, but if your pantry and
medicine cabinet are stuffed with name brands, advertising isn’t just affecting
you – it’s costing you. Are there situations where name brands actually deliver
quality or taste that makes them worth the extra money? Of course, and that’s
when you should buy them. But if you’re paying 30 percent more for sugar, salt,
flour, bleach, or other simple staples, wake up and smell the (generic) coffee.
2. Bulk up
If you know you’ll use all of it, buy it in bulk. For example, I can
buy 1 pound of rice at my grocery store for $3.15. Instead, I buy 25 pounds at
Sam’s Club for $9.99. By buying in bulk, I save $2.75 per pound. Can’t begin to
use it all? That’s what friends and freezers are for.
Just because something’s available in bulk, however, doesn’t
automatically make it a smart buy: Generics are often cheaper than
bulk-packaged name brands. Don’t ever buy in bulk without comparing prices…Read
all the tips here:
The percentage of
Americans that own homes is dropping rapidly. According to Gallup, the current
level of homeownership in the United States is the lowest that Gallup has ever measured.
PM’s
Compendium of Useful Resources
To register on our secure website as a Merchandiser/Theatre Checker, go to www.marketforce.com/theatre-checker-merchandiser/
Additionally, Market Force is looking for serious-minded mystery shoppers who are dedicated to quality and professionalism to help meet the needs of all of our clients covering a variety of industries.
Find more interesting job resources and trends at:
INTERESTED IN
FREELANCE WRITING? CHECK OUT ALLENA TAPIA
We see many freelance
writing jobs in our research, often at sites like MediaBistro and JournalismJobs.com.
Another great resource
is About.com's Allena Tapia, a professional freelancer who lists good job sites
and updates her page frequently. She also does a good job of explaining how to
make a living as a freelance writer.
Bonus Tip: Another
great guide to the freelancing / homeworking life is Michelle Goodman. See her
"Dirty Little Secrets of Those Who Work from
Home" and her links
at the end of the article.
Free ebook
readers from Adobe Digital Editions or Amazon Whispersync
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million* Kindle books on your PC with our free Kindle
reading app. No Kindle device required.
More free downloads from the Poor Man Survival Crew!
>6-Figure Rolodex
>How to Make a Living in Your Underwear
>Make Million & Make Change
All in PDF format. Click on the
Folder at:
An online community
of farmers, food producers, and farmers markets. Find
local food near you through our searchable up-to-date directory of
vendors and markets
Share your
Garden Success
Free social network site for
gardeners, making it easy for you to connect, enter contests, swap tips and
more.
The Nanny
State Updates…
It’s almost tiring trying to keep up with
the non-stop BS from government and its efforts at killing our country with
stupid regulation and even dumber laws…
"This is
Big Brother on steroids."
That is how Rep. Mike
Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,
described an amendment offered by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to the "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and
Protection Act" (CISPA).
The amendment would
have authorized the Secretary of Homeland Security "to acquire, intercept,
retain, use, and disclose communications and other system traffic that are
transiting to or from or stored on Federal systems".
Rogers said, as reported by CNET.com's
Declan McCullagh, "This
would be the government tracking communications, your medical records from the
Veterans Association, your IRS forms coming in and out of the federal
government. This is exactly what scares people."
Herrin - An Illinois woman recently found herself under arrest and put
in debtors' prison over an unpaid $280 medical bill she didn't even owe in the
first place.
Breast cancer survivor and Herrin, IL resident Lisa Lindsay had
received a $280 medical
bill by mistake according to the Daily Mail. However after inquiring about the charges
Lindsay was told she didn't have to pay but somehow the bill still made its way
to a collection agency.
Thinking the matter was put to rest, the southern Illinois teaching
assistant surprisingly received a visited from Illinois state troopers one day
and was promptly taken from her home in handcuffs and whisked away to jail.
After all was said and done the arrest ended up costing Lindsay more
than $600 in total after legal fees were added to the original amount.
"I paid it in full so they couldn't do it to me again," said
Lindsay.
Cases such as Lindsay's are becoming increasingly more common across
the country with one
third of the fifty states currently allowing debtors to be imprisoned for the inability to pay
their debts.
Barack Obama and his family continue to live the high
life at the expense of the
U.S. taxpayer.
Even many Democrats
are starting to get very upset about this. The following is from a recent
article by Paul Bedard....
Blue collar
Democratic voters, stuck taking depressing “staycations” because they can’t
afford gas and hotels, are resentful of the first family’s 17 lavish vacations
around the world and don’t want their tax dollars paying for the Obamas’
holidays, according to a new analysis of swing voters.
See the mapped
results of the latest Census
The Parting Thought – Farmageddon in the USA
Intrusive government agencies and regulation,
fuel prices, Big Corporate crushing tactics are all killing small farmers in
this country…
Less than 25 percent
of all farms in America bring in gross revenues in excess of $50,000. The
following comes from the EPA website....
It has been estimated that living expenses for the
average farm family exceed $47,000 per year. Clearly, many farms that meet the
U.S. Census' definition would not produce sufficient income to meet farm family
living expenses. In fact, fewer than 1 in 4 of the farms in this country
produce gross revenues in excess of $50,000.
Today, there are 10
corporations that control most of the things that Americans eat and drink on a
daily basis.
Thus, we have a rerun of last year’s incident, in which anyone who drives a farm vehicle would have had to get a commercial driver’s license. The Transportation Department had to back off that one too.
But every time public opposition makes the bureaucrats back off, you can count on them to come back with something different... or perhaps stealthier.
But that is where the
federal government comes in.
In recent years, the
federal government has become absolutely obsessed with going after small
farmers.
“Structuring,” explains Overlawyered.com, “is the federal criminal offense of splitting up
bank deposits so as to keep them under a threshold such as $10,000 above which
banks have to report transactions to the government.”
While being questioned, the Sowers were finally
presented with a seizure order and advised that the feds had already emptied
their bank account of $70,000. The Dept. of Justice has since sued to keep $63,000 of the Sowers’ money, though they committed no crime
other than maintaining their privacy.
Without funds, they will be unable to make purchases
for the spring planting.
When a similar action was taken against Taylor’s
Produce Stand last year, the feds seized $90,000, dropped the charges, and kept
$45,000 of Taylor’s money.
Knowing that most farms operate on a very thin margin,
such abuse of power wipes out a family’s income, and for a bonus, the feds
enhance the monopoly power of Monsanto, Big Dairy and their supply chain.
At many other small
farms across America, the feds have conducted military-style raids at the crack
of dawn over the smallest infractions.
Some examples of this
were detailed in a documentary entitled "Farmaggedon".
“Until the next
revolution”, the Poor Man
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1 comment:
Farmageddon...probably a big reason why food prices are so high. I don't know how families or small businesses make it anymore. Regulation and red tape are choking this country to death.
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