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Showing posts with label Frugal Resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frugal Resources. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Is a Radical 'Jubilee' Coming to America? Free Money Generating Resources


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 


Jubilee in America-A Radical Measure to Come?

Pending home sales in the United States have now fallen on a year over year basis for 13 months in a row.

 More than 166 billion dollars in student loan debt is now “seriously delinquent”.  That is an all-time record.

 More than 7 million Americans are behind on their auto loan payments.  That is also a new all-time record, and it is far higher than anything that we witnessed during the last recession.

It appears that “the recovery” has finally come to an end.  After seeing all of those numbers, there is no way that anyone can possibly claim that economic conditions are “getting better”.

And even though the official government numbers are highly manipulated, we never even had one “boom year” throughout the entire “recovery”.

The final numbers for 2018 are now in, and last year was the 13th year in a row when U.S. GDP growth was below 3 percent.

The last time we had a “boom year” when economic growth was above 3 percent was all the way back in 2005.  That was in the middle of the Bush administration.

We have never seen a bad streak like this before in modern American history.  The following comes from CNS News

But prior to the current 13-year period when real GDP has failed to grow by 3.0 percent in any year, there has been no stretch (in the years since 1930) when the United States went as long as five straight years with real GDP failing to grow by at least 3 percent.

Even though the Federal Reserve pumped trillions of dollars into the financial system over the last decade, and even though we added nearly 12 trillion dollars to the national debt, the best that the authorities have been able to do is to stabilize the system for a while.  Now it is starting to sputter once again, and many believe that the next crisis will be far worse than the last one.


As many of you know, gold has been stuck in an abysmal trading pattern, moving slightly above $1300 only to be crushed back down toward the $1100 mark. This comes in spite of the fact that we now face the most geopolitical uncertainty we have seen in decades.

However, not everyone has been unaware of these dangers. Central Banks spent 2018 accumulating precious metals in a monumental way, increasing their holdings by the most in one year since 1967. Quietly accumulating while the rest of the financial world happily ignores the alarm bells going off all around them.

Meanwhile, wages and the U.S. economy aren't keeping pace-could that mean…A Major Jubilee Is Coming to America

Jubilee is a radical measure.

The government essentially steals money from one group and hands it to another.

In order for this to occur, four elements must be in place...

1. The wealth gap must be getting dramatically bigger.

2. There must be 
cultural threats
 from those with different values or from outsiders (in other words, minority populations and immigrants).

3. The 
government must be ineffective
 at providing solutions.

4. And there must be 
growing anger toward the "elites."

 


We have the largest gap ever between the rich and poor...

We have huge increases in violent protests about immigration and race...

We have a completely ineffective government [mostly due to an obstructionist Congress, in my opinion-they spend more time trying to screw Trump vs. working on meaningful projects such as infrastructure, power grid, enemies such as China, etc....

And we have extreme animosity toward the "elites" from both the left and right.

There's actually a name for this type of political and social phenomenon.

It's called "populism." And it emerges every 30 to 40 years.

Populist movements are characterized by extreme anger at the government, at the wealthy, at the establishments, and at "newcomers" and minorities.

As the director of an Alabama group that tracks violence and hate crimes around the country told Newsweek in June 2017: "There has been a massive explosion of violence across the country."

From the protests and marches... to the refusals to stand during the national anthem...

From Black Lives Matter to the anti-immigration movements... to the rejuvenation of white supremacists... to the tripling of membership in the Democratic Socialists of America.

It's clear we are in the middle of an extreme "populist" period in AmericaRay Dalio, one of the richest men in America, studied the political environments of the past 100 years and concluded in March 2017...

The last time that it [populism] existed as a major force in the world was in the 1930s, when most countries became populist. Over the last year, it has again emerged as a major force.

So what does this all mean?

It proves that what we're experiencing today is eerily similar to what happened in the 1930s... right before the biggest and most radical Debt Jubilee in American history.

The economic comparison is stunning.

Interest rates hit zero leading up to each of these periods...

Printing money caused the stock market and other risky assets to boom during both periods... boosting the wealth of the rich, but doing nothing for the poor...

During the 1930s, just like today, the wealthy acquired a much higher-than-normal percentage of our nation's wealth...

And in both the 1930s and today, the percentage of the population that was foreign born was higher than normal... causing animosity among the "common man."

Just like today, the economic conditions of the 1930s caused extreme income inequality.

Back then, the top 10% earned 45% of all income (compared with 50% today) and owned 85% of the wealth (compared with 75% today).

Even the political characters are the same...

The 1930s saw a popular socialist presidential candidate just like we had in 2016. Huey Long was a former governor of Louisiana and a U.S. senator. He proposed an income cap at $1 million... a 30-hour federal work week... and 100% income taxes at the highest level.

Long even established 27,000 "Share Our Wealth" clubs around the country and had a radio show that was listened to by one in five Americans.

Thanks to:  Porter Stansberry



Pop Quiz-Dead or Alive

Dead or Alive Pop Quiz
 
 
You are alone in the early morning of a 94 degree day. The soil under your feet is dry and sandy, you notice there is very little green around you, just a few bushes and tree leaves. You see a few sticks, rocks and a bunch of sand. You need water and time is running out.  
 
What do you do - choose wisely your life is at stake.
 
A. Look at where the sun is moving and run fast in that direction to find water. Click here to chose A.
 
B. Stay put, and put to use what is around you to somehow make water. -Click here to choose B.
 
Choose wisely.
 
 

Comfort Items to Include in Your Go Bag


 On-the-Go-Comfort Items

1.   Hard Candy-Jolly Ranchers

We used to suck on Jolly Ranchers in the Army during long road-marches with a heavy rucksack and they really do help you keep your mind off the misery.

(Plus, for survival, they can act as a good bartering item.)

 2. Tobasco Sauce

There's a reason why a small bottle of Tobasco hot sauce was standard in soldiers' MRE's...

... because the food inside these military meals SUCKS and Tobasco can make anything taste at least "good". 

3. Instant Coffee

If you're like me, your day doesn't start until you get a good 'ol cup-o-joe into your bloodstream.

Keeping as much of your daily routine intact can give you the foundation to meet the day's challenges.

Store some instant coffee packets (even Starbucks makes them!) into your survival food kit.

Oh, and these are another good bartering item for the java junkies who are going into withdrawals without their caffeine fix
 4. Powdered Hot Cocoa

Most of us have a childhood love for a good hearty mug of hot chocolate.  

Plus, besides having a little bit of caffeine in it, the chocolate also has some magical mojo for releasing your body's endorphins ("feel-good chemicals" in the brain). 
5. Coconut Oil

Dietary fat is necessary for optimal health and it doesn't get any healthier than raw, organic coconut oil.  

A small jar has an ultra-long shelf-life (so it will store for ages without going bad)... tastes great right off the spoon... and the "medium-chain triglycerides" it contains are powerful brain-boosters that will keep you calm and focused in any challenge.

I make up a small bag containing all of these "comfort items" and put them inside my survival food kits' plastic storage bins.

 


 Invented by the natives of North America

Pemmican was used by Indian scouts as well as early western explorers.

These people spent a great deal of time on the go & depended on having: portable, high-energy, highly nutritious, and filling foods that would last for long periods of time without refrigeration.


 

More Newsworthy notes…


The idea of “FIRE”, which stands for “financial independence, retire early” — has gained traction in the past several years. Many members of the movement live frugally to meet their goals, including biking instead of driving a car, limiting the amount they spend on food and travel and even producing their own food and clothing themselves. But it’s risky. Before “retirement,” many members of the FIRE movement are working full time jobs — often lucrative ones — but they leave all that behind in order to live off their savings for decades. This is what happens when your plans for early retirement are derailed.

Money: Frugal You Say? 30 Ways to Be Cheap Today and Live Richly in Time for Retirement

 

How would you like to get advice from some of the top entrepreneurs in the world

Well, Amazon has just published a series of short videos that does that.  Each approximately 2-minute video is billed as a Two-minute mentorship and they deliver.

The videos cover a variety of topics that sellers will find very helpful.  A few of the featured entrepreneurs include:

  • Mark Cuban from Shark Tank.
  • Arianna Huffiington (founder of The Huffington Post – now owned by AOL).
  • Tim Ferris (Author of The 4-hour Work Week).
  • Amy Cuddy (Harvard lecturer and author of Presence).
  • Angela Duckworth ( University of Penn Professor and author of Grit).
  • Plus six more.

I watched the entire series (takes less than 20 minutes) and found it full of good ideas that I can use in my business and many of the videos were very inspirational as well.  Click here to see the entire series.

25 “Proven” Ways to Make Money Online Blogging with WordPress



 

 

A Final Note…

Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.



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A Safe Space Heater for Your Home!


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·         The envi is cool to the touch. It reaches only 90 degrees F on the front surface.

·         The envi has WallSens Technology. It will not heat without being mounted to the wall.

·         The envi has a built in Automatic Thermal cutoff. If air from the envi exceeds a safe temperature, the envi heater will power off.

·         The envi is wall-mounted. It cannot be knocked over, tipped over, or tripped over.

·         The envi can be left on 24/7 unattended.

·         The envi is fanless. It won't catch little fingers or hair.

With thought and foresight, the envi was born. We have created a safe space heater that will last for many years and keep you and your family safe.

The Envi is also a healthy space heater that is great for those with asthma or respiratory problems.

Save 20% by using this link!


 

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A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production

 

Monday, September 24, 2018

Worried About Rising Prices? Use These Frugal Resources!


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 


15 Frugal Habits You Need in Your Life


We live at a time when the middle class is shrinking and most families are barely making it from month to month.  The cost of living is steadily rising, but paychecks are not, and that is resulting in a huge middle class squeeze.  I really like how my good friend MN Gordon made this point in his most recent article

The general burden of the American worker is the daily task of squaring the difference between the booming economy reported by the government bureaus and the dreary economy reported in their biweekly paychecks. There is sound reason to believe that this task, this burden of the American worker, has been reduced to some sort of practical joke. An exhausting game of chase the wild goose.

How is it that the economy’s been growing for nearly a decade straight, but the average worker’s seen no meaningful increase in their income? Have workers really been sprinting in place this entire time? How did they end up in this ridiculous situation?

The fact is, for the American worker, America’s brand of a centrally planned economy doesn’t pay. The dual impediments of fake money and regulatory madness apply exactions which cannot be overcome. There are claims to the fruits of one’s labors long before they’ve been earned…Below you’ll find a variety of useful tips and resources we’ve garnered that will save money for your family.  Remember to take advantage of our special FREE report featuring more than 110 ways to save and/or make extra money!The economy, in other words, has been rigged. The value that workers produce flows to Washington and Wall Street, where it’s siphoned off and misallocated to the cadre of officials, cronies, and big bankers. What’s left is spent to merely keep the lights on, the car running, and food upon the table.

Frugal living used to be practiced from necessity.  Now?  Frugality is almost trendy as more and more people embrace a less wasteful, more mindful existence.

Living frugally doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice everything you love, however. Truly wealthy people often embrace frugality while also enjoying the finest things in life. These things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Looking to be more frugal in your daily life? Ahead, find some easy frugal tips anyone can copy.

Use everything until it dies


Have you ever seen someone with a six-figure salary driving a beat-up Toyota Camry? There’s a reason for that.

People who practice frugality as they build wealth know that using an item to its full potential is crucial. That’s why spending a little more on a high-quality item is usually cheaper in the long run. Whether it’s a car, a cup, or a couch, using things until they wear out is an important part of being frugal.


Whole Foods' Prices Barely Reduced One Year After Amazon's Hype to Lower Them


It is now exactly a year after Amazon promised to lower prices at Whole Foods. According to a new survey by the man who has been tracking prices there, a basket of 108 items purchased just before the takeover last year cost $412.76. Today, those same groceries only dropped in price a total of $3.39. And, if you are a Prime member, you would only get an additional $1.50 in savings. [Note, the NY Post story has factual errors - they compared the cost of the March 2018 basket to the current one, rather than the August 2017 basket.]

 


More Older Americans Are Turning to Marijuana: Members of the generation that came of age in the era of marijuana are reaching for weed in their golden years. NPR, Sept. 12. 

5 Great Gig Economy Jobs for People 50+:Here's how to match your personality with the right side hustle. Source: Next Avenue



 


U.S. consumer confidence for the year is the highest it's been in more than a decade. Unemployment is as low as it's been in almost 20 years. The stock market is once again approaching record highs, bouncing back from its correction early in the year. 

Listening to talk radio, you hear people talk about how strong the economy is now. And this confidence is being reflected in consumer spending. 
Americans spent more than $12.8 trillion in July 2018, a new record. 

But this consumer confidence is coming with a price. Even though 90 percent of wage earners saw an increase in take-home pay after the recent tax cuts, real wages remain low. The average hourly wage today, though almost 10 times what it was 40 years ago, has the same purchasing power as it did in the 1970s.
 But the reality is different…

 

The Average American's Income Is Falling

 

There is compelling evidence that the average American family is still in worse economic shape than in 2007 and that income is falling.

 


 

If you’re worried about higher prices…

if you've been worried about inflation, stop worrying. Inflation isn't coming. Inflation is here! And it looks to heat up going forward.

Gas prices, housing and transportation costs all jumped in the past year, taking a bigger bite out of people's paychecks.

Speaking of camels nosing into tentsLet me give you something to really worry about. Adjusted for inflation, wages are going down …

 

·         Roughly 75% of Americans are still living paycheck to paycheck, with essentially zero savings (according to a recent study by Bankrate).

·         JPMorgan Chase has just predicted that economic growth in America over the next few years will be a paltry 1.25%.

The world is changing very fast, and for many it’s scary.

 

Wealthy people own valuable assets.
The middle class and poor simply rely on salaries.


 


Household debt has never been higher, corporate debt has doubled since the last financial crisis, state and local government debt is at record highs, and the U.S. national debt is wildly out of control.

U.S. consumer credit just hit another all-time record high.  In the second quarter of 2008, total consumer credit reached a grand total of 2.63 trillion dollars, and now ten years later that number has soared to 3.87 trillion dollars.  That is an increase of 48 percent in just one decade.

#2 Student loan debt has surpassed 1.5 trillion dollars for the first time ever.  Over the last 8 years, the total amount of student loan debt has shot up 79 percent in the United States.

#3 According to the Federal Reserve, the credit card default rate in the U.S. has risen for 7 quarters in a row.

According to Professor Larry Kotlikoff, our unfunded liabilities are well in excess of 200 trillion dollars right now.

If individuals, corporations, state and local governments and the federal government all stopped going into more debt, we would plunge into the greatest economic depression in U.S. history immediately.

David Stockman warns that the global economy has reached an "epochal pivot", a moment when the false prosperity created from $trillions in printed money by the world's central banks lurches violently into reverse.

Stockman's main warning is that there's no bid underneath this market -- that when perception shifts from greed to fear, the bottom is much farther down than most investors realize. In his words, it's "rigged for implosion".

  • The Signs Of Limits Are All Around Us
    • Depleting resources, stagnating wages, weakening economies
  • Few See The Signs Though

·         Happy, Healthy Economy 

·         There was a dark side to the Progressive Era—middle-class reformers often adopted patronizing attitudes toward the poor; in their zeal to root out corruption in elections, white, native-born Progressives overturned political machines that were among the few ways immigrants achieved power; they supported literacy tests that disenfranchised black voters; and many backed eugenics, helping to legitimize the forced sterilization of tens of thousands of “unfit” people. The evils done in the name of social improvement should remind us that the voices of the most vulnerable must always be heard when developing policy geared toward making everyone’s lives better.


·         California today provides a model for America as a whole. This model of politics and government is by no means perfect, but it is far ahead of the nation in coming to terms with the inexorable digital, global, sustainable transformation of our era. It is a thriving work in progress that gives hope that America can pull out of the political mess we’re in. California today provides a playbook for America’s new way forward. It’s worth contemplating as we enter 2018, which will be a critical election year.


·         The mood in America is arguably as dark as it has ever been in the modern era. The birthrate is at a record low, and the suicide rate is at a 30-year high; mass shootings and opioid overdoses are ubiquitous. In the aftermath of 9/11, the initial shock and horror soon gave way to a semblance of national unity in support of a president whose electoral legitimacy had been bitterly contested only a year earlier. Today’s America is instead marked by fear and despair more akin to what followed the crash of 1929, when unprecedented millions of Americans lost their jobs and homes after the implosion of businesses ranging in scale from big banks to family farms.


·         As a result, the rate of bankruptcy among Americans over age 65 has doubled over the period studied by the researchers. "For an increasing number of older Americans, their golden years are fraught with economic risks, the result of which is often bankruptcy," their report noted.

·         Consumers are on pace to end 2018 with over $4 trillion of debt. And $1.5 trillion of that is student debt (more than credit cards and auto loans).

·         According to the latest stats, the average student loan debt in the US is nearly $40,000.

·         But that’s just average…

·         There are more than two million former students in the Land of the Free with more than $100,000 of debt… around 415,000 people have more than $200,000 of student debt.

·         Yet while the cost of a college education and student debt loads are soaring, wages are stagnant.

·         So you’re paying more and more for something that delivers stagnant value.

·         It’s the definition of a bad deal.

·         Still, every year, hordes of young people line up for this punishment. Then they graduate, indebted to the state, with no clear path forward.

·         Luckily, students have options.

·         You don’t have to be a debt serf for the rest of your life to receive an excellent education.

·         Going abroad is one option.

·         Enrolling in a foreign university will definitely spice up your resume. But it also gives you a global network, exposure to new cultures and it vastly expands your job search.

·         But one of the biggest benefits of international study is the low cost.

·         There are plenty of countries where you can study at a top-tier university for a fraction of the cost back home.

·         And, as an added bonus, studying abroad is a great way to obtain foreign residency and perhaps even a second passport.

 

Certainly gives one points to ponder…

 
Your Free Middle Class Survival Kit

SAVE & MAKE Money

Researched by our editors and include 100s of tips, tricks and insider methods of saving money, earning extra money [many from the comfort of your home], the best places to live,  How to find little-known freebies, discounts and other benefits-over 2,000 programs!


 

or…


 



 

BONUS REPORTS

11 Unusual Uses For Milk That Can Revolutionize Homestead Life 


Milk can provide other benefits beyond its use as a beverage. Here are 11 unusual uses for milk if you’re a homesteader.          

 


Essential Survival Prep You Can Do Right Now For FREE


Gear is great, but knowledge and practice are more important. Here are five free survival prep practices you can do to be better prepared.         

 


 

 

A Final Note…

Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.

 

Support our efforts by shopping my storefront…


 

 

 

A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production