Poor Man Survival
Self Reliance
tools for independent minded people…
ISSN 2161-5543
A
Digest of Urban Survival Resources
How Government Robs its Citizens of Freedom & Wealth -
Preparing for the Global Financial Contraction
Guest
posts from a veteran who owns a business, an investment advisor and a
libertarian in response to Memorial Day - there are many who feel they have
fought for our freedoms only to see politicians strip them away & who are
warning about the pending financial fiasco about to hit.
[Editors Note: Find several highly useful free reports &
resources at the end of today’s post]
Since Americans believe that they live in a free country, their lives are an open book. Everybody and anybody who wants to know can find out all about us. We don't seem to mind until it is too late.
It is time that we stop being so "free" to answer all inquires that come at us. This resolve is especially applicable in matters of disclosure about our personal finances and assets.
What you own is your business except when you tell it, then the world knows.
The world is not nice.
You may not believe it, but others want what you have. Thieves and scalawags don't always break in at night or rob you at gunpoint. The government is the worst of these thieves because they are deceptive and ever greedy.
Be sure that you understand that the government thinks that you and your property are their business. Often those in power think they are entitled to what you have. Bureaucrats don't like the word privacy. Can you guess why? Information on citizens is absolutely essential to governments. The business of government is information on its citizens. Read this over and over. You must understand the implications.
Low profile living should be your rule. You must already know not to drive a Mercedes on a Chevrolet income. The reason is that the IRS sometimes computes a "net worth" assessment of taxes if they think your standard of living (i.e., what you display) is greater than your income.
Don't disclose any more than you need to, ever. All government agencies are tied directly to the IRS through their computer.
Remember that taxes are not for "government revenue" or so that you and everyone "pay their fair share" or any other nonsense designed to obscure the truth. That truth is that the IRS is another enforcement arm of the government designed to reduce the amount of dollars in circulation so that government can continue its deficit spending.
If you think that you are ready for the world of reality, order The Great Money Myth package by clicking here right now. It explains the conspiracy behind ALL government money printing, finance, taxation... and what the dollars in your pocket are really worth.
SIDEBAR:
Why are so many big names in the
financial community warning about an imminent meltdown? I don’t think
that I have seen so many simultaneous warnings about a market crash since just
before the great financial crisis of 2008. And at this point, you would have
to be quite blind not to see that stocks are absurdly overvalued and that a
correction is going to happen at some point. And when stocks do start
crashing, lots of fingers are going to start pointing at President Trump, but it won’t be his fault.
The Federal Reserve and other central banks are primarily responsible for
creating this bubble, and they should definitely get the blame for what is
about to happen to global financial markets.
When Altair Asset Management’s chief investment officer Philip
Parker was asked if a market crash was coming to Australia, he said that he has
“never been more certain of anything in my life”. In fact, he is so sure
that the investments that his hedge fund is managing are going to crash that a
decision was made to liquidate the fund “and
return ‘hundreds of millions’ of dollars to its clients”…
You must also know that although cash is private, the government is trying to do away with cash so that you and your income and spending can be tracked precisely. Credit cards are convenient, and you are offered endless "rewards" to use them, but information about your credit is scattered around the world with total disregard for your privacy. Many people receive several solicitations a week to apply for a new credit card. How do you think the credit card company discovered you might be a good prospect for a new credit card?
Checks are not much better, although there is a loophole I will tell you about in a minute. Always watch carefully as to what you put in writing. You can be hung by the tongue or the pen. On the other hand, insist that everybody else put their "thing" in writing.
When you want to do a transaction and keep it private and out of bank records, consider doing it in cash despite how inconvenient the government wants to make it. Also consider bartering or trade of goods and services, with no record except your handshake. The reason? Governments don't like cash. They are suspicious of cash transactions. Their excuse is the drug trade. What they really want is to control you. So as long as what you are doing is not illegal, you can still do small, private cash transactions and not violate any Treasury reporting rules.
Pay with a check that you received as a paycheck or any other kind of check. In other words, when you get a check from somebody, simply pay it to someone else. Turn it into a third party, negotiable instrument. A check becomes negotiable just like cash when you endorse it. Just write under your endorsement your instructions, such as "pay to xyz." This instrument is a private transaction, as it doesn't go through your bank. It becomes "lost" in the system. This process is legal.
If the amount of the check doesn't match the amount that you want to pay, simply ask them to give you cash or their own check for the difference. This negotiation is called "recycling checks," and it is a form of "private" money. This is also a legal procedure.
You do not have to have cancelled checks for the IRS, or anyone else, although this is what they want. A receipt will do. If they ask, for example, how you paid for a $2,000 overhaul on your automobile, tell them you paid with your endorsed, third-party paycheck, social security check or a loan. Think privacy! Live privacy!
There are many things you can still do that are legal to avoid compromises of your privacy. If you are not involved in a "tax-deductible" transaction, then what you do is "off the record."
Although the lack of privacy in America is a very scary situation, to say the least, you can do something more about it. There is no such thing as freedom without privacy. There is no such thing as privacy unless you use your freedom to make it happen. Privacy and freedom are inseparable concepts. We live in an information society. It follows that we have no freedom left if we do not restrict, impede and stop creating that information by freely giving out information.
"Our" congress has legislated our privacy away. They have thus legislated our freedom away. If you are to have any privacy, it will be up to you and you alone. Admittedly, being private is not convenient nor easy. [the un-Patriot Act was the single most vile set of un-American laws ever passed against the American people…it is treasonous]!
- Try your best to keep your
records private. If you must show a document to your lawyer or
accountant, you go personally with the papers and return with the papers.
- Stay away from lawyers,
accountants, and courts as much as possible. If you can settle out of
court, try to do so every time, whether as a plaintiff or defendant. Use
private or even public arbitration services and arbitration judges
instead.
- Get prepared forms and do your
own legal work. Most lawyers have their secretarys’ fill out these forms
anyway and charge for "professional" legal work.
As long as most people don't feel any direct threat, they relax and let the system run their lives. But if something happens, such as a lawsuit or a serious IRS field audit or even a criminal investigation, your life can become a nightmare overnight. In this way, the government destroys people and families one by one, like sitting ducks. It can strip you of everything you have ever worked for and own. It is true that everything that you say or otherwise reveal about yourself can and will be used against you. Learn low profile living!
>>A wise man once told me that the average American only wants life insurance After they’re dead!
From the Bob Livingston Letter
Part
II
- The repercussions of the Fed's Free Money Machine
- Why debt-funded state control stagnates productivity
- The importance of the 8-year cycle
- What should guide investors' focus and decisions
If
you have not yet read Part 1: How Long
Can The Great Global Reflation Continue? available free to all readers,
please click
here
to read it first.
In
Part 1, we asked these questions: can we just keep doubling and tripling the
economy’s debt load every few years? What if household incomes continue declining?
Are these trends sustainable?
In
the near-term, we asked: is this Great Reflation running out of steam, or is it
poised for yet another leg higher? Which is more likely?
Let’s
start by looking at the mechanism that funds the government’s deficit spending,
i.e. its ability to borrow and spend enormous sums of money year after year.
The Free Money Machine
The
state can afford to continue or increase fiscal stimulus (deficit spending)
because the central bank (the Federal Reserve) has created what amounts to a free
money machine. Here’s how the machine works.
The
federal government issues $1 trillion in new bonds to fund another $1 trillion
in deficit spending. The central bank (Federal Reserve) creates $1 trillion
with a few keystrokes, and buys the $1 trillion in bonds with newly created
money.
The
Federal Reserve earns interest on the $1 trillion in bonds it now owns, but it
returns this income to the Treasury, minus the Federal Reserve’s relatively
modest expenses of operation. Let’s say the bonds carry an interest rate of
2.5%. The government pays the Federal Reserve $25 billion in annual
interest, and the Federal Reserve returns $20 billion annually, so the net cost
of borrowing and spending $1 trillion is an insignificant $5 billion.
If
this isn’t entirely free money, it’s extremely close to free money.
So
in ten years, the Federal Reserve owns $10 trillion more in federal bonds
(assuming the bonds are long-term and didn’t mature).
It's
no wonder that some economist propose...
Part
III
An open letter written by
a small business owner
in the Land of the Free named Don Chernoff.
Chernoff imports and sells luggage, and he pulled no punches in voicing his disgust for the phony support and failed policies that constantly make his life more difficult.
I’ve edited his letter for length below; the full version is available here.
----
You all love to talk about how much you support small business; the reality is the opposite. The economy is changing rapidly and is vastly different than just a few years ago. Many of the factory jobs in this country have gone and will not return.
Computer technology and automation will soon eliminate thousands more jobs (think truck drivers, taxi drivers, office workers, etc…).
Because there will be fewer middle-class jobs, many people who never considered working for themselves will be forced to become sole proprietors or open a small business. It is therefore critically important that you make it easier for these people to do so.
Right now instead of creating incentives for people to start their own small business, you create nothing but hurdles, allow me to give some examples.
Excessive health care costs
Chernoff imports and sells luggage, and he pulled no punches in voicing his disgust for the phony support and failed policies that constantly make his life more difficult.
I’ve edited his letter for length below; the full version is available here.
----
You all love to talk about how much you support small business; the reality is the opposite. The economy is changing rapidly and is vastly different than just a few years ago. Many of the factory jobs in this country have gone and will not return.
Computer technology and automation will soon eliminate thousands more jobs (think truck drivers, taxi drivers, office workers, etc…).
Because there will be fewer middle-class jobs, many people who never considered working for themselves will be forced to become sole proprietors or open a small business. It is therefore critically important that you make it easier for these people to do so.
Right now instead of creating incentives for people to start their own small business, you create nothing but hurdles, allow me to give some examples.
Excessive health care costs
I work for myself and have to pay my own medical expenses. Before the “affordable care act” I was paying about $200 per month for a high deductible policy. It was far from perfect but it got so much worse under the “Affordable” care act.
I now pay over $400 a month, my deductible went from $5,000 to over $6,000 and my out of pocket costs for care have skyrocketed. [ed. Note: My wife’s Obamacare premiums quadrupled and her deductible is $6,000 but we’ve never heard anything from Democrats offering to help]
At this rate, I will go broke soon, and I am healthier than average. I don’t know how any normal working family or small businessman can possibly afford these rates without going bankrupt.
Income Tax Filing
I have to spend dozens of hours and thousands of dollars for a tax accountant each spring to prepare my taxes because I cannot possibly understand how to do it myself, and I have a master’s degree in engineering.
I also have to remember to pay quarterly estimates, even if my income in not predictable or fluctuates (which it does for most small businesses) or else I get dinged with penalties.
This is a time and cost burden that makes it very hard to run a small business. . . The current tax code is an abomination and should be scrapped.
Excessive import duties
There is a lot of talk lately about a “border adjustment tax” (BAT), a fancy name for an import duty on imported products. I design luggage and I need to contract out the manufacturing to companies that specialize in making luggage. All of these factories just happen to be in Asian countries.
Because of this I am charged almost 18% on my cost of goods for all my imported luggage. Last year these fees came to over $100,000.
The only reason I can see for these fees is government greed.
There is no luggage manufacturing industry in the USA that is being protected. This is another huge burden that makes it difficult to survive in the ultra-competitive luggage business.
Congress and President Obama had a chance remove this burden last summer, and they did what they do best: nothing.
If you do impose a border adjustment tax, will it be on top of the 18% I’m already paying? If so you will put me out of business.
Excessive customs inspection fees for imported products
My company designs luggage that is made in Asia and imported by ship to the USA. It is sold at all Men’s Wearhouse stores and Jos A Bank stores.
A recent shipment was delayed for almost 2 weeks at the port of Los Angeles for extra customs inspections.
The container was first x-rayed, and since that apparently wasn’t good enough, it was then opened and inspected by hand.
There was nothing in the container but the same luggage I’ve been importing for 15 years. I was then charged over $2,000 for this “privilege,” in addition to the 18% import duty I already pay.
This is not the first time I’ve had to pay for extra inspections that were unnecessary.
I understand the need for security but I’m a known importer of the same products for almost 15 years, and this is a terrible cost burden for my small company.
Excessive Social Security burden
Many years ago when I quit a perfectly good job to start my own small business, I was shocked to learn that I had to pay both my share and what had been my employer’s share of Social Security.
If you wanted to create the perfect disincentive to discourage people from taking the leap to start a small business or become self-employed, it would have been difficult to invent a better one.
Capital Gains taxes
So you’ve busted your butt for 20 or 30 years running a small business or sole proprietorship, now you’d like to retire and enjoy life.
Between state, federal and local taxes you’ve probably paid 50% or more of your income in taxes, but that’s not enough for politicians.
If you’ve been lucky enough to have created a business you can sell, now you’ll get to enjoy paying another tax on the capital gain from the sale.
It’s just another penalty imposed on hard-working folks by politicians who don’t think we are paying “our fair share.”
The word “entrepreneur” is endlessly tossed around by politicians who know nothing of how hard it is to be an entrepreneur. You all love to say you encourage entrepreneurship, but the reality is you stand in the way.
Most small businesses either fail or stay small because it is really hard to grow a business, and because of all the burdens you put on us – the United States has dropped to 13th place in the world in terms of entrepreneurship due to its massive red tape, taxes and other obstacles the government has in place.
An important postscript: Always keep in mind that all socialism involves slavery…
The seeds of the destruction have been sown.
Calamity is overdue.
The Obama administration doubled our national debt in an effort to blunt this cycle’s disastrous blow to our economy.
Donald Trump has been tapped to be our nation’s new leader, but can he help us safely navigate these treacherous waters?
On the surface, everything in America seems OK.
But if that’s the case, why are so many wealthy and
well-connected people quietly preparing for a collapse of the federal
government… and complete social disorder?
The list of folks who’ve established some type of escape
plan or “bolt-hole” is startling…
Steve Huffman is the founder and CEO of Reddit… an
internet firm worth at least $500 million.
Huffman says he’s getting ready for, “the temporary collapse of our government and
structures…”
More Resources:
It’s TIME to take back control of your life,
and the lives of those you love.
You see it at the checkout counter in the
supermarket. You look at groceries on the conveyor and your head says
“…about $50 or so.” Then the cashier asks for $85.
You’ll see it in the rising cost of commuting through
tolls, taxes, and gas (which is due to skyrocket very soon).
You see it in your children as they are
indoctrinated to believe that climate change is the greatest threat to
humanity, and socialism is actually OK.
You see it in popular media and culture as the United
States, the only hope for liberty on the planet, is diminished, demeaned, and
quietly erased from the history books to make room for a new global order.
What can you do
about it? Take advantage of my free
report and its bonus materials NOW…
How to Survive the War on the Middle Class – FREE!
14 of the best reports I’ve assembled on protecting your freedom…Here is the download link.
http://1drv.ms/1d9kfiU
- How
to Escape From Zip
Ties
- Mad
Max Apocalyptic Workout: Top 10 Exercises (Video)
- Planning
an Off-Grid Weekend for Survival (Video)
- Simple
Tips for Starting Your Survival Garden
·
A Cataclysm Awaits Us: Experts Warn Of “Worst Case
Scenarios” Unfolding With “Danger Zone” From Summer Through November
Things are aligning socially and politically for what could be a very difficult summer
Things are aligning socially and politically for what could be a very difficult summer
·
7 Improvised Defense
Weapons That Could Save Your Life
The problem is that emergencies are not able to be “compressed” into a format: they arise.
The problem is that emergencies are not able to be “compressed” into a format: they arise.
Yours
for better living,
Bruce,
the Poor Man
A Final Note…
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