Happy is he who owes nothing-Financial Stranglehold Solutions

Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

http://www.PoorManSurvival.com

For Independent Minded People!

ISSN 2161-5543

In This Issue:

1.      Long term survival for your community

2.      Struggling Financially-How to Cut Expenses

3.      New TV Show-Revolution

4.      Compact hydro plant-grow 10,000 vegetables

Felix qui nihil debet." ("Happy is he who owes nothing.")
-- Roman Proverb

We have been struggling financially for over a year now. We make just enough money to pay the bills, but our biggest problem seems to be emergencies. Just when we think we are getting ahead, something always goes wrong (i.e. car breaks down, kids have to go to the doctor (no insurance and I make too much for medicaid) or something in the house breaks and it is always something big). We've cut down on all our expenses, but the more I cut back the more problems we seem to have. How can we get ahead if we are always getting knocked back?

When you think you have no wiggle room in your budget…

When I thought I couldn't cut back in one more place I would always find someplace where I could still cut. I frequently have people tell me, "We just can't cut back any more," but they still have cell phones, Internet, cable, kids in sports or other optional activities and they're constantly spending a dollar here and there for little things like flowers for their yards, fertilizer and even water for watering these things. None of these are real needs.

Once I knew there was no place to cut back at all, I would make do the best I could. If my washer was out, I would wash things by hand until I could get a new one.

Once my car was wrecked so badly that I had no window on the driver side (it was winter), I couldn't open the door and I could only turn left wherever I went. I drove it like this for ages.

For years, my roof leaked so badly that I had to keep a child's swimming pool under the leak to catch the water. I frequently had to stay up all night dumping buckets of water out.

One night, I was beside myself trying to figure out the exact same thing you asked me - How do I save for an emergency when there isn't one penny left and things keep happening?

I finally prayed about it. (Why didn't I do that first? I know better now.) I realized my finances were in God's hands. I had been a good steward of my money but there was still no money available so, if God wanted me to save for emergencies, He would have to provide it for me.

I didn't get any extra money right away but, with each and every emergency that came, He provided a way to take care of it. After a while, I didn't even worry about savings because, as long as I continued to be a wise steward, He would take care of it

I didn't get any extra money right away but, with each and every emergency that came, He provided a way to take care of it. After a while, I didn't even worry about savings because, as long as I continued to be a wise steward, He would take care of it.

When I fully relaxed about it, I started finding myself getting a little extra here and there. Now I have enough saved to cover life's little emergencies and I can save on a regular basis.

The financial gurus are talking to the huge percentage of people who are squandering their money, living like there is no tomorrow, but there is another group of people who simply don't have the money. At one point, I talked to a very good financial adviser. When he first started talking to me, he knew he could find money for me to save. By the end of the conversation, he just shook his head. He couldn't find one penny that I was wasting and finally told me that my only problem was that I needed more money coming in. It does sometimes happen that way but it is usually very rare.

Source:  Living on a Dime Newsletter

NOTE:  You’ll also find plenty of ways to cut costs at our website:  http://www.poormansurvival.com/Pages/pennypinchers.aspx

Free Resource:  LearnVest, online budgeting program

http://www.learnvest.com/s/signup/archive/acq-my-money/?utm_source=liteinvent&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=money_300x600&camp=ev.581&site_id=ev.581

Save money by grooming pets yourself.  Find DIY tutorials at: PetSide.com

PM’s Compendium of Useful Resources

Do you love gardening as much as I do? Here are some powerful tips for growing your own superfoods right at home:
http://www.naturalnews.com/036809_superfoods_home_garden_tips.html

Compact hydroponic unit can grow 10,000 vegetables a year

Japanese homebuilding firm Daiwa House Industry has developed the Agri-Cube, a unit that fits inside a standard parking space and can produce around 30 vegetables a day.

We like to feature startups aiming to aid urban crop growth with innovative hydroponic solutions, from the NASA-inspired Green Wheel indoor rotary garden to Efficient City Farming’s rooftop aquaponic farm. Now Japanese homebuilding firm Daiwa House Industry has developed the Agri-Cube, a unit that fits inside a standard parking space and can produce 10,000 vegetables a year.

Website: www.daiwahouse.co.jp

This Threat Seems Fictional, but It's a Real Danger

What happens to our society if we lose all electricity? A new TV show premiering next month, Revolution, will explore that question. It will be set in a world "where every single piece of technology—computers, planes, cars, phones, even lights—has mysteriously blacked out forever."

Though the cause of Revolution's blackout will be revealed in the course of the show, it certainly points to an electromagnetic pulse (EMP)—a threat that is, in fact, plausible and for which the United States is unprepared.

This is REAL: U.S. banks are now officially being told to prepare for a financial collapse -- and that the government won't be there to bail them out this time:
http://www.naturalnews.com/036813_banks_financial_collapse_derivatives_meltdown.html

Get disaster insurance help-resolve problems after natural disasters at:  http://UPHelp.org/programs/RoadMaptoRecovery

The Nanny State Updates…

Social Security Money Withheld Because of Unpaid Student Loans

From January through August 6 of this year, the government reduced the size of about 115,000 retirees' Social Security checks…these people are often older and have their Social Security benefits withheld - by law, the government must leave them at least $750. They are delinquent on a range of loans, including those federal student loans parents took out for their children…

The National Consumer Law Center in Boston has set up a website to assist borrowers to avoid default and to outline steps to take if they do default on a loan.

SWAT Team Brings TV Crew To Film Raid Against Threatening Internet Critic -- Raids Innocent Grandma Instead

Evansville, Indiana police intent on "sending a message" that online threats against police will not be tolerated organized a massive raid against a forum troll on an online forum. The police decided to bring a TV crew to film their raid against their critic, they also brought a SWAT team. Rather than knock on the accused's front door, which was wide open, the police instead threw two flash-bang stun grenades through their front window and storm door.

Unfortunately, rather than finding the home occupied by a gun-toting cop killer, they found an entirely innocent grandmother and 18-year-old girl, who were both shocked and confused.

Via The Courier Press:

The Parting Thought- Build and safeguard your community

The Redemption Project

PM’s Survival Think Tank

 Long-Term Survival for Your Community

Almost anyone who has given the topic of long-term survival any serious thought has probably come to the conclusion that a family will not be able to survive a serious hard times tragedy event unless their community also survives. There are two major reasons for this:

>If your neighbors are not prepared then they may decide to unite together and attack your family and take everything you have and divide it equally among themselves.

>If your neighbors are prepared then your neighborhood will need to be able to defend itself from roving bands of looters who have no hope of survival unless than can overrun and kill everyone in a small community and take everything they have.

Either of the two above scenarios would result in the death of your family. Therefore some people spend an enormous amount of time and effort thinking about how they can get their community organized before a significant hard times tragedy event occurs.

Examples of nurturing a community…

One should be able to provide some practical information about how to boil water for one minute to make it safe to drink, and how to collect rainwater using tarps (a clean plastic shower curtain could be used as a tarp), and how to make some of the wild edible plants that grow in your area safe for human consumption (such as dandelions, cattails, white oak acorns, and kudzu), and how to skin and butcher a wild game animal and how to soak the wild game meat in some cool water that contains a little salt before cooking the meat in order to make it more tender and tasty. This is information that most people do not currently know and this is the type of information that could extend the lives of their family members and gradually help your community become a productive community where everyone provides for his or her own family's needs but who also shares the responsibility of defending their entire community from intruders from the outside.

Get our short overview of how you can start and develop a community…

From the Poor Man Survival Lecture Series…Creating your own community in a digital age..Four Step Plan for Weathering the Coming Financial Storm

One of the survival topics that is frequently discussed on a variety of internet forums is how to create a community of like-minded individuals, and how to organize and train that community so it has the highest possible chance of surviving almost any type of hard times tragedy event. Part of our plan incorporates this goal - before the storm hits.

Scroll down just a bit to find this folder…

http://www.poormansurvival.com/Pages/consumerhelp.aspx

“Until the next revolution”, the Poor Man

Follow us on Facebook

www.facebook.com/PoorManSurvival

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http://twitter.com/poormansurvivor

Keep our services free, visit our sites…

Check our Resources

New self sufficiency books added weekly

http://www.OldBookNook.com

A Shallow Planet Production

Surviving in a Black Market Economy-Guns n Ammo, Breast Milk, Body Parts



Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

http://www.PoorManSurvival.com

For Independent Minded People!

ISSN 2161-5543

In This Issue:

1.  Will the American Dream Continue?

2.  Can you Survive in a Black Market Economy?

3.  DIY Bicycle Generator Plans

4.  Garden Refrigerator Pickles

Men, it has been well said, think in herds;
it will be seen that they go mad in herds,
while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."
-- Charles Mackay

Will the American Dream Continue?

The global financial crisis is tremendously scary -- but various government leaders, corporate titans and even cable-TV commentators have been trying to assure us that if we don’t panic and we exercise patience, it will pass without much lasting harm. They say our deposits are safe, the stock market will eventually rebound and the American way of life will essentially remain the same

Beware of this smoke screen of denial and ideology. The truth is that our leaders don’t have a handle on how much damage will result, so they frame the future the way they want it to be.

Think for yourself. Wall Street and Washington, DC, have been cooking the books for years and twisting facts to hide the rot eating away at our nation’s financial superstructure. Each time a distressed economic sector fails, it is patched up with bailouts, buyouts and other cosmetic fixes.

We must consider the possibility that our lives and our futures will be very different.

TREND: DECLINE OF THE DOLLAR

America’s going broke, and the whole world knows it. We are burdened with $10 trillion in debt, and that’s a credit risk global financiers are less and less willing to take. Since early 2000, the sickly dollar has lost about 25% of its value against the euro despite recent gains. Government economists explain that the dollar collapse is “beneficial” because it attracts tourists to the US and makes our exports more attractive overseas, but the weaker the dollar gets, the more it costs you and me to live. When incomes do not rise as much as the dollar drops, our standard of living goes down

The government’s massive bailout packages and rescue plans will not work. It’s a fundamental rule of both reason and economics -- the more dollars that are created, the less they are worth. One result: Foreign countries with sounder economies will accelerate purchases of big chunks of US businesses and premier properties for dimes on the dollar.

TIP:  Regardless of what happens, people will still shop and they’ll seek out goods which can be reused, lower income folks will still buy food.  With medical costs sky high (it’s doubtful Obamacare will do much good at containing costs and many will still be without care)…people will increasingly seek alternative medical resources such as chiropractic treatment, naturopathic treatments and medicines, mass therapy, etc.

Source:  Gerald Celente

Gardening is a workout.  Pull weeds for 60 minutes and burn 200 calories.  Shoveling dirt and moving rocks can burn 600 calories an hour.

PM’s Compendium of Useful Resources

Free DIY BYO BIY plans for Pedal Power Bicycle Generator Car Alternator

http://video.ezinemark.com/free-diy-byo-biy-plans-for-pedal-power-bicycle-generator-car-alternator-45ba63b9298.html

Grab Gift Cards for Playing Video Games

Put your teens to ‘work’ playing video games and get rewarded with points redeemable for gift cards and other prizes. These sites show a few ads during the game and share the revenue with you.  Check out:

GamersGold.com

Points2Shop.com

QuickRewards.net

Garden Refrigerator Pickles

Don’t like to can?  Try this recipe, no canning needed.

In a Dutch Oven…

Combine 6 cups of sugar, 6 cups white vinegar, ¼ cup each mustard seed and celery seed and 2 Tsb canning salt; bring to boil.  Pour over cut vegetables: 10 halved and quartered carrots, 3 sliced cucumbers, 3 cut-up sweet red peppers, 2 sliced onions and 8 cut-up green onions.  Cover and refrigerate 6-8 hours prior to serving.  Stores for 30 days.

The SBA offers a nice package of preparedness reports for small businesses - all free to download and quite useful.

http://www.sba.gov/prepare

Get more from old clothes that you cannot donate by harvesting buttons, zippers and laces from shoes.

The Nanny State Updates…

The police state is well under way in New York City, where NYPD has just unveiled a $40 million supercomputer spy system to watch everything and everybody:
http://www.naturalnews.com/036770_surveillance_supercomputer_police_state.html

Privacy invasion - Police and firefighter drones raise huge concerns
(NaturalNews) Lawmakers and privacy advocates are becoming increasingly concerned about the rising number of drones used by federal, state and local governmental entities, an effort that is being coordinated through the Department of Homeland Security...

ReasonTV: 10 Years to Life for Medical Marijuana

"This is a Constitutional battle, and we're going to defend our rights," says Aaron Sandusky, the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Upland, California who now faces federal drug trafficking charges even though he was operating within California state law.

Get cleaner windows for less by dissolving 1 tablespoon of corn starch into 1 quart of water.  Soak and wring out a cleaning cloth in the mixture and use to wipe the glass.

The Parting Thought- Life in a Black Market Economy

Could you survive in a Black Market Economy?

Black market human fat, breast milk, body parts and more…

My former mother-in-law grew up in Manheim, Germany during the war and post-war years.  Life wasn’t easy and she often told me about the black market…their only source of yeast, cigarettes, nylons, liquor and meat.

“To compensate for our worthless Reichsmark, merchants raised prices to the point where nobody could afford to use real money. Inflation hit very hard. Barter became the method of the day. As hard as it is for you to imagine, salaries were eventually paid in food and clothing.”

She admitted prostitution was widespread among the German women, who sold or exchanged their services to GI’s and other occupying forces in order to survive.

The Weimar Republic. Serbia. Zimbabwe. Bolivia. Argentina. Over the decades there are many examples of how hyperinflation has decimated economies and destroyed people's savings and ruined their lives. In every case the common denominator is a loss of confidence in the country-government.

What would it be like here in America if we had to survive in a black market economy?

A transaction can be illegal is if it is an otherwise legal good or service that is bought or sold in such a way as to avoid proper licensing or taxes. This is the case with unregistered firearms and cigarettes, which usually include a hefty local, state, or federal tax.  I have plenty of friends who obtained tobacco products from Switzerland, Indian Reservation stores and low tax states and resold them locally.

Due to man’s inherently entrepreneurial nature, coupled with government’s pesky tendency to regulate, black markets can and do exist everywhere. They do, however, tend to develop more readily in states or countries with especially heavy regulation, such as the United States. Even though a good or service becomes outlawed or heavily regulated, the market may continue to demand it. As a result, the black market springs up to meet the market’s demand. This is the case when governments place price controls, rationing or complete prohibition on a good or service.

During wartime, black markets tend to thrive due to rationing or short supply. During World War II, many countries had a hard time importing basic goods to meet demand, thereby driving up prices on the black market. Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union had and most likely still have a healthy black market despite the introduction of capitalism.

Consumers are often willing to overlook the illegality of a black market transaction if they feel that the good or service is “harmless.” This is often the case with illegal prostitution and also applied to alcohol sales during prohibition. Although some people think that most black market transactions are relatively harmless, the money generated on the black market is often used for nefarious purposes. The mafia in the U.S. thrived during prohibition, resulting in bloody battles over turf and profits. Governments combating black markets waste vast taxpayer fortunes fighting organized crime and racketeering, and lose millions in tax revenues from the prohibited goods.

The variety of goods traded in this market is enormous and the most commonly traded black market items are:

weapons

currency

electronics and watches

fashion goods (perfumes, jewelry and bags)

clothes and accessories

pirated media (CDs and DVDs for music, films and software)

drugs

Alcohol, certain food items

tobacco

Factors that Support Black Markets

The stricter the government regulations are in a country, the great the impetus is for a parallel economy. Corruption, shortages and monopolies also act as catalysts for the black market.

Parallel economies are further encouraged by periods of war or any other crisis. During harsh political conditions or natural disasters, scarce goods are rationed by the government. People have the tendency to violate restrictions or rationing laws to secure the products they desire.

Human Fat on the Black Market-The oddest thing I’ve heard of…

CBS News - quoting the AP -- reports that Lima police officials arrested a Peruvian gang of black market profiteers that allegedly killed about five humans and then drained their fat. The human fat was collected - sometimes in soda bottles - and supposedly sold for as much as $60,000 per gallon to cosmetics firms located in Europe.

It’s been reported the Chinese sell body parts, taken from executed prisoners, on the black market.

Black Market Breast Milk

Earlier this year, Daily Telegraph writer Xanthe King exposed the Australian New South Wales black market for breast milk. Desperate women unable to produce their own breast milk -- but unable to receive any supplies from mothers' milk banks - opted for buying unscreened breast milk from private parties. Of course, the United States also sees its own private sale of breast milk, frequently to the tune of about $1.90 per 20ml.

What Sells in an Underground Economy?

Havocscope - a data gathering organization that compiles information on illegal black market activity - reveals that America leads the pack with a black market economy valued at $310.6 billion. It is interesting to note that Italy comes in second, with Japan, China and Canada filling up the top five spots. The United States', Japan's, China's and Canada's underground economies thrive on counterfeited and pirated consumer goods. Italy's black market is dominated by illegal drugs.

Worldwide, Marijuana ranks first in the underground economy. It is closely followed by counterfeit technology products and also pharmaceutical as well as prescription drugs. Fifth on the list is cocaine. Organ trafficking brings in roughly $50 million worldwide, with kidney donors making about $5,000 per organ. Human body parts rank lower but still bring in a tidy profit.

Alarmist Reporting?
...Or a Prudent Wake-Up Call

What would happen if America chose to default on its massive debt; although the implications are too terrible to really contemplate. As America is already the largest debtor nation on the planet the problems would begin immediately. Within hours of announcing debt default, the worth of the US dollar would plummet. Within days, no one would trade with America and no one would lend the US a dime. Around the world there would be a virtual stampede to dump US dollars.

Learn more at:

http://www.poormansurvival.com/Pages/citizenpreparedness.aspx

“Until the next revolution”, the Poor Man

From the Poor Man Survival Lecture Series…Creating your own community in a digital age..Four Step Plan for Weathering the Coming Financial Storm

One of the survival topics that is frequently discussed on a variety of internet forums is how to create a community of like-minded individuals, and how to organize and train that community so it has the highest possible chance of surviving almost any type of hard times tragedy event. Part of our plan incorporates this goal - before the storm hits.

Scroll down just a bit to find this folder…

http://www.poormansurvival.com/Pages/consumerhelp.aspx

Follow us on Facebook

www.facebook.com/PoorManSurvival

 Twitter

http://twitter.com/poormansurvivor

Keep our services free, visit our sites…

Check our Resources

New self sufficiency books added weekly

http://www.OldBookNook.com

A Shallow Planet Production