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Showing posts with label emergency fund. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emergency fund. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

How to live through economic meltdown; coping when broke

 

 

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

www.poormansurvivor.net

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 

 


How to live through economic meltdown and hyperinflation

What to do when you don’t have enough for food…

 

Financially, it seems as if the end is near. Economic Armageddon is upon us, as the Federal government lubricates the moving parts on the printing presses and new money begins to fly out.

In his special report, Shadow Government Statistics: Analysis Behind and Beyond Government Economic Reporting, John Williams wrote,

The U.S. economy is in an intensifying inflationary recession that eventually will evolve into a hyperinflationary great depression. Hyperinflation could be experienced as early as 2010, if not before, and likely no more than a decade down the road. The U.S. government and Federal Reserve already have committed the system to this course through the easy politics of a bottomless pocketbook, the servicing of big-money special interests, and gross mismanagement.

It is now a decade down the road, and this was written before the U.S. Congress passed and President Barack Obama and subsequently Donald Trump and now Joe Biden signed their multi-trillion-dollar economic stimulus bills into effect.

The amount of money being spent is unprecedented in human history.

So what will the enormous spending program do? It will push simple inflation (a continuing rise in prices due to an increased volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services) into hyperinflation.

That's because fiat money implies by its definition that it self-destructs through depreciation (inflation). Anything that can be created to infinity with political incentive eventually becomes worthless. There are no exceptions. For paper money to work, its issue must be equal to the production of goods and services.

Does anyone think that is the case today? Dream on, if you do.

There is plenty of historical precedent for prolificacy of money creation bringing hyperinflationary chaos which then collapses into depression. The stark reality is that the public has no clue until a collapse arrives and completely destroys their assets and their lives.

A currency collapse is progressing every day with each new dollar that is printed. Now is the time to realize it, rather than later when chaos reigns and everyone is trying to survive at the same time.

We can't have wide open money printing and have a viable and strong currency at the same time. Again I would say dream on if you think so.

So, what are our predictions? Long-dated Treasury’s will show huge losses when interest rates begin to rise. In time, Treasury securities will reach "junk status," and in the long term all U.S. debt will become junk. This outcome is near.

Why would the Federal government leave us vulnerable to such a dreadful occurrence as a spiraling crescendo of hyperinflation?"

Does greed, corruption and general cluelessness sound like a good enough reason?

Even at this time, Treasurys pay less than the rate of official inflation, never mind the unofficial inflation numbers. Millions of retired people are now experiencing a lower standard of living.

The same is true with certificates of deposit, which pay an interest rate less than the rate of inflation. In other words, if you have your money stashed in what you believe is a safe return CD, you are losing money every day.

Though most are oblivious, U.S. dollar savers are being routed. Savings accounts are paying interest rates less than the devaluation of the dollar. This U.S. dollar crash syndrome is an autoimmune disease where people (the rich and the poor) are impoverished because they were thrifty and saved.

But saving your money by putting it under the mattress is no good either. As the value of the dollar shrinks so does the value of your savings.

With depreciating currency comes rising prices. Depreciating currency brings a lower standard of living and equally a permanent loss of asset values. Look to Venezuela as a current example. And Zimbabwe before that. In December 2008, inflation was over a trillion percent and the economy had been "dollarized," signifying that local currency was virtually unacceptable as legal tender. But Zimbabwe is not the only modern example of an economy ruined by government overspending. In fact, there are many other examples:

  • Turkey, 2007 — Turkey has suffered from chronic inflation for decades. In 1980, one U.S. dollar was worth 90 Turkish lira. By 2004, a U.S. dollar was worth 1.3 million Turkish lira. As a result, in 2007 the government simply declared a revaluation of the Turkish lira. One million Turkish lira would, from then on, be worth only 1 lira.
  • Romania, 2005 — In 1998, the highest denomination in Romania was 100,000 lei. By 2005 the highest had become 1 million lei. The Romanian government then devalued its currency, declaring that one new leu would be worth 10,000 lei.
  • Argentina, 2001 — Overspending by the Argentine government resulted in massive inflation in the 1980s and '90s. By 1992, one new peso was worth 100 billion pre-1983 pesos. (Because the old peso had been devalued so much, if Argentines had stuffed their pesos under the mattress in 1982 they would have ended up with nothing.)
  • Russia, 1994 — Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the new Russia saw annual inflation as high as 2,500 percent in 1992. By 1994 it had dropped to 850 percent because of a tightening of monetary policy and the failure to pay wages to workers in state enterprises, a policy that kept prices low by depressing demand. The value of the ruble declined from 40 rubles to the dollar in 1991 to 30,000 rubles to the dollar by 1999.

If the annual cost of living increases just 5 percent or 6 percent, the purchasing power of money will rapidly vanish. And because of negative real interest rates, consumer price inflation will accelerate, a fact not known by the public. The real spending power of households whose income depends on fixed interest instruments will be cut, reducing their standard of living.

For example, in 1933 the Consumer Price Index (the price of a basket of common goods purchased by the average consumer) was 12.8. In 2008 the CPI was 225. In other words, that same basket of goods has increased from just under $13 to $225. Currently, it's 271, and that's without goods and services that actually price inflate — because they have been taken out of the CPI. Who knows what it would actually be, comparatively speaking.

But it would be high, as anyone who has gone to the grocery store or to buy gas has figured out. Once again, inflation is starting to outpace economic predictions.

As prices rise and the lower classes find it increasingly more difficult to buy necessities, O'Bidenomics will increase taxes on the producers and savers even more, hoping to spread the wealth around. As the spending kicks in, the formerly profligate-spending conservatives will claim to have had an epiphany. They will kick and scream at the thought of running up more debt than they already have caused. But that's a farce.

We are still trying to understand America in terms of capitalism and free enterprise, when in fact America is now a socialist country with a pretty face called democracy.

All fiat systems in history have been in socialist states, no matter the national pretense, as in our term, democracy. Socialist states have a history of suppressing their own people. And all socialist fiat money states/countries transfer wealth and production to the state without payment. Of course, as in America today, this transfer takes place via the depreciation of paper money. The owner of the money printing press owns and controls all wealth and production.

How to prepare



You don't have to just sit by and do nothing. There are simple, easy, inexpensive steps you can take right now to protect your family.

We’ve prepared a 21st-century survival guide called the Ultimate Hyperinflation Defense Manual that I believe can help you prepare for the worst financial threats America now faces. [You can, of course, make use of this blog and its many free resources].

This manual is chock-full of proven strategies, techniques and information that can make all the difference during the financial emergency that is inflation, or hyperinflation. In fact, my newly-updated and revised Ultimate Hyperinflation Defense Manual can make your life better even if, God willing, we sidestep some of the economic catastrophes that I fear are coming.

You won't find this privately printed dossier in stores. I've developed it exclusively for my extended family of readers, and I've packed it with practical, real-world strategies for coping with a financial catastrophe.

Let me give you some examples:

  • In addition to physical gold and silver, look to invest in companies that mine the metals. Stock in these companies, as well as those that are involved in the extreme push for green energy, which will have an effect on demand for old-fashioned fossil fuel-reliant systems and processes — especially chip makers — are good bets.
  • Consider buying stocks in foreign countries. However, remember that while China is still growing, it is cracking down relentlessly on different sectors, and those stocks are losing 25-50 percent of their value in a day and may never recover. India is still a growing economy in an otherwise dismal global market.
  • If you are getting into foreign stocks, be sure you find a broker that specializes in foreign stocks. There are a few in the U.S. When you think you've found one make sure it's not one that trades through domestic market makers through so-called Pink Sheets, which can cost you money.
  • There are some blue-chip stocks that are great hedge plays against inflation. These are large companies, foreign-owned, that pay dividends and produce products that are not only popular with Americans, but around the world.
  • If you do decide to invest in the stock market, be sure you take delivery of your stock certificates. Don't leave them in the hands of the brokerage house.
  • Although most investment advisors recommend government bonds as a conservative investment and inflation hedge, we have slightly different advice, as well as a different outlook on the keys to investing and the preservation of wealth during hyperinflationary times.

One of the most important lessons to take away from former financial crises is that you need to do careful planning for your own survival during the tough financial times that are ahead. We are facing an imminent era of hyperinflation and these steps and more, in addition to everything you need to know about buying and safely storing gold and silver, are included in my special report The Ultimate Hyperinflation Defense Manual.

For years now, we've been reporting on health, investment and personal survival strategies the government hopes you'll never hear about. It's a point of view that is fiercely independent and is focused solely on your individual well-being. That's why if you want even more advice, wealth-building strategies and dozens of ideas to protect yourself from what is happening to our economy right now, I urge you to take a moment and visit this page.

I will help you get your assets out of paper money and convert them to real, physical assets. I'm convinced that you can protect yourself and even increase your wealth over the next several years as the government depreciates the value of the U.S. dollar... inflation goes through the roof... and the price of gold continues to skyrocket.

Yours for the truth,

Bob Livingston
Editor, 
The Bob Livingston Letter®

NOTE:  I don’t get any compensation for this…I’ve subscribed to Bob’s letter & books for over 20 years & feel his materials are highly worth sharing!

 

SIDEBAR

 


7 Quick Steps to Build Your Emergency Fund

 

Without an emergency fund you could be forced into life-crushing debt...

 

Or to sell everything you own. Or worse...*

 

You may not have the safety net you need to save your life (and others) in a disaster.

 

Unless you act now...

 

Click Here to Discover ‘7 Quick Steps to Build Your Emergency Fund’ <<

 

 *We kept our Christmas debt very reasonable…BUT, the week after the holidays we got hit hard w/ extra expenses including property taxes [very high in MI] plus our fridge called it quits [these have skyrocketed in the past few years], our hot water tank went, & our washing machine needed repair!  Of course too, all our quarterly bills such as life/auto/property insurances were due…we went through our emergency cash stash FAST! 

 

16 Less Conventional Savings Tips

 

When You Don't Have Money for Food

What options do you have when you don’t have money for food and you need to feed your family? Try these solutions to overcome a family food crisis.

Cheap Emergency Foods We Often Overlook

Prepping food needs for an emergency or disaster does not need to be expensive. Consider these cheap emergency foods we often overlook.

Turn Trash Into Cash with Practical Recycling

Many people are using discards in new ways. They’re turning trash into cash with practical and creative recycling. Maybe you should be on the lookout for reusable items that can save or make you money.

The Ins and Outs of Bartering

Could you trade for what you can’t afford? You can if you know the ins and outs of bartering. Here’s what you should think about when it comes to the trading business.

LIVE BETTER FOR LESS

Food-Rescuing Secrets for Avoiding Food Waste

None of these ideas by themselves will make a big difference in your grocery bill, but taken together, you’ll have more food show up on your table and less in your trash!

 


Why do you need an emergency radio?

 

·         . Just 60 seconds of hand cranking provides more than 45 minutes of radio

Radios: Having a couple small, portable radios on hand is going to be a must. If there’s a disaster, you’ll need to listen to the radio to get news about what is happening around you….grab a TacRight Emergency Radio:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185665101473

 


4Patriots Patriot Power Cell Solar Phone Charger

USE THIS solar gadget to survive an emergency! 

In 2022 alone there have been over 70 attacks on the power grid with reports of six in Florida, five in Oregon and Washington.

And according to national security experts, this trend is only going to continue.

As America's power grid comes under increasing attack and/or disruption…

THIS is your lifeline in a crisis.

It's peace of mind that you can...

·         Call family and friends in an emergency

·         Signal for help from first responders

·         Stay connected to critical weather updates

 

·         https://www.bonanza.com/listings/4Patriots-Patriot-Power-Cell-Solar-Phone-Charger/1419398891

 

 

Free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom!

 

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.

You Can’t Buy Life Insurance After You’re Dead

Not Prepared? 

That's Bad News...


You Can’t Buy Life Insurance After You’re Dead-Prepare NOW for Emergencies…

 

Support our efforts by shopping my storefront…

http://RetroGuy.net

 

 


 

 

A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Americans are unprepared for the next recession...


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 



Americans are unprepared for the next recession...

 

 According to a 2015 Federal Reserve survey, one-third of Americans reported they couldn't cover their expenses for three months if they lost their income. That's even if they used their retirement accounts as a lifesaver.

Part of that could be the result of consumer debt now approaching its 2008 levels, when it reached its all-time peak. Plus, debt is growing fast. Americans added $460 billion in debt this year alone, the largest increase in 10 years.

But financially sound Americans are not immune from a recession either, especially those with retirement investments and 401(k) accounts. After all, recessions do the most damage to the stock market.



 
Though our economy has seen its share of recessions, one of the most damaging downturns in history was none other than the fairly recent Great Recession that lasted from 2007 to 2009. During that time, the housing and financial markets collapsed, and countless workers lost their savings, jobs, and even their homes. The Great Recession was so bad that a large number of Americans have yet to fully recover even to this date.

Given the number of current workers who lived through that ordeal, you'd think more folks would be taking steps to protect themselves from a recurrence. But a recent study by GOBankingRates shows just how unprepared for a recession the majority of us are.


Cartels, state-corporate governance. Structurally, large banks and corporations have aggregated wealth and political power to the degree that they can enforce cartels and quasi-monopolies with a combination of market heft and regulatory capture (a complicit state enforces monopoly under the guise of consumer protection or other cover). The owners/managers of the cartels skim enormous profits while providing poor-quality products and services to consumers who have little choice in a rigged market.

 

The Pie Is Shrinking So Much The 99% Are Beginning To Starve


How much longer until the pitchforks come out?

by Charles Hugh Smith

Social movements arise to solve problems of inequality, injustice, exploitation and oppression. In other words, they are solutions to society-wide problems plaguing the many but not the few (i.e. the elites at the top of the wealth-power pyramid).

The basic assumption of social movements is that Utopia is within reach, if only the sources of the problems can be identified and remedied.  Since inequality, injustice, exploitation and oppression arise from the asymmetry of power between the few (the financial and political elites) and the many, the solution is a reduction of the asymmetry; that is a tectonic realignment of the social structure that shifts some power—economic and/or political—from the few to the many.

In some instances, the power asymmetry is between ethnic or gender classes, or economic classes (for example, labor and the owners of capital).

Social movements are characterized by profound conflict because the beneficiaries of the power asymmetry resist the demands for a fairer share of the power and privileges, while those who’ve held the short end of the stick have tired of the asymmetry and refuse to back down.

Two dynamics assist a social, political and economic resolution that transfers power from those with too much power to those with too little power: 1) the engines of the economy have shifted productive capacity definitively in favor of those demanding their fair share of power, and 2) the elites recognize that their resistance to power-sharing invites a less predictable and thus far more dangerous open conflict with forces that have much less to lose and much more to gain.

In other words, ceding 40% of their wealth-power still conserves 60%, while stubborn resistance might trigger a revolution that takes 100% of their wealth-power.

History provides numerous examples of these dynamics.  Once the primary sources of wealth-generation shifted from elite feudal landowners to merchants and industrialists, the wealth (and thus the political power) of the landed elites declined. As the industrialists hired vast numbers of laborers drawn from small farms and workshops, this mass industrialized labor became the source of the wealth generation; after decades of conflict, this labor class gained a significant share of the wealth and political power.

The civil rights and women’s liberation movements realigned the political and economic power of minorities and females more in line with their productive output, reducing the asymmetries of ethnic and gender privileges.

In broad-brush, progressive social movements seek to broaden opportunities and level the playing field by reducing the asymmetric privileges of dominant classes defined by power and privilege.  The core mechanism of this transition is the recognition and granting of universal human rights: the right to vote, the right to equal opportunity, and rights to economic security, i.e. entitlements that are extended universally to all citizens for education, healthcare, old-age pensions and income security.

Again in broad-brush, these movements have largely been categorized as politically Left, though many institutions deemed conservative (for example, various churches) have often provided bedrock support for progressive movements.

Social movements which seek to limit the excesses of state power tend to be categorized as conservative or politically Right, as they seek to realign the asymmetry of power held by the state in favor of the individual, family and the traditional social order.

The Expanding Pie Fueled Expanding Entitlements


Writer Ugo Bardi recently drew another distinction between Left and Right social movements: “Traditionally, the Left has emphasized rights while the Right has emphasized duties.

As rights manifested as economic entitlements rather than political (civil liberty) entitlements, rights accrue economic costs. As Bardi observes: “Having rights is nicer than having duties, but the problem is that human rights have a cost and that this cost was paid, so far, by fossil fuels. Now that fossil fuels are on their way out, who's going to pay?”

I would argue that the cost was also paid by higher productivity enabled by the technological, financial and social innovations of the Third Industrial Revolution, roughly speaking the interconnected advances of the second half of the 20th century.

These advances can be characterized as expanding the economic pie; that is, generating more energy, credit, technological tools, opportunities, security and capital (which includes financial, infrastructural, intellectual and social capital) for all to share in a socio-political-financial allocation broad enough to make everyone feel like they were making some forward progress.

This long-term, secular expansion of the pie naturally generated more demands for additional entitlements and rights, as the economy could clearly support the extra costs of allocating additional wealth and resources to the many.  From the point of view of the few (the elites), their own wealth continued expanding, so there was little resistance to expanding retirement, education and healthcare entitlements.

But in the 21st century, the expansion of the pie stagnated, and for many, it reversed. Adjusted for real-world inflation many households have seen their net incomes and wealth decline in the past decade.

Despite the endless media rah-rah about “growth” and “recovery,” it is self-evident to anyone who bothers to look beneath the surface of this facile PR that the pie is now shrinking. This dynamic is increasing inequality rather than reducing it.

Part 1: The Pie Is Shrinking So Much The 99% Are Beginning To Starve, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.

 

Special Offer for our Readers

 
 
 72-hour Emergency Meal kit that's being offered contains 16 total servings of such delicious meals as Blue Ribbon Creamy Chicken Rice, the always-loved Granny's Homestyle Potato Soup and the stick-to-your-ribs breakfast favorite Maple Grove Oatmeal.

This kit normally sells for $27, plus shipping and handling and is rated 4½ out of five stars by customers.

While supplies last, these kits are available for only $21.95 and that includes Priority Shipping [we were force to increase prices due to another round of USPS price hikes]. Go here for this deal:


 

Yours for smarter living,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

 

 

Additional FREE Resources

 
How to Survive the War on the Middle Class

14 of the best reports I’ve assembled on protecting your freedom…Here is the download link.

http://1drv.ms/1d9kfiU

 

The Poor Man’s Essential Survival Package

--The Doctors Protocol: Secrets of Survival

--How to Survive the Coming Economic Collapse

--Guide to Self Reliant Living

--Becoming Self Sufficient for Six Months

--How I Found Freedom in an Un-free World

http://1drv.ms/1d9kfiU


Living Frugally In Suburbia
You live differently than your neighbors.

 

Food Storage Inventory Spreadsheets You Can Download For Freehttp://prepared-housewives.com/food-storage-inventory-sheets-lists/

 


 

14 Frugal Food-Rescuing Tips from Grandma
These depression-era frugal tips still work today!

 

8 Simple Ways to Put More Money in Your Pocket
Have more money without working harder!

 

Other notes of interest…

 
Arguably as exciting as Halloween or Christmas, January 28th, was Data Privacy Day. A creation of the National Cyber Security Alliance, a consortium that includes ADP, Cisco, Google, Visa, and a lot of other groups that make money with your private data, it's a good reminder to shore up your digital privacy. PCMag can help. First, set up two-factor authentication on the services that support it. Next, hit your social networking accounts and perform privacy checks. If you want to go the extra mile, sign up for a VPN service. If all of this is too much, just delete your accounts from the internet entirely. Sometimes, it's only the way to be sure.

 

The Dutch security service known as the AIVD reportedly spied on the Russian hacking team Cozy Bear as it breached the Democratic National Committee.
 




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A Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production