My Blog List

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Just Some Stuff To Think About

I saw an article over at SHTFPlan.com [link] on governments restricting access to precious metals.  Take a peek.

Precious metals directly challenge the authority and control of government at all levels.  It gives you the option to "hide" assets (as if that's a bad thing that only criminals do).  It gives you the option to make a profit without paying a tax.  It gives you the ability to not need government in every facet, in every second of your life.

Here's a for instance:  You can come into my PM shop and buy $10,000 in gold or silver.  If you use a debit or credit card, or a personal check, you walk in and out, in as long as it takes you to choose the PM of your liking.  Bring in $10,000 cash, and you get put on a "special list".  A list that was developed to track drug dealers, terrorists and other ne'er-do-wells.

The difference?  Checks (which are now fully electronic - even the paper ones) and debit/credit cards leave an audit trail.  Cash?  Not so much.  Just like walking into Walmart and paying cash for a 3-pack of boxer shorts, if you buy PMs with cash, there's no need for your identity to be known.

If TPTB don't know who's got the gold, they don't know who to go after for their piece of the pie (or from whom to confiscate if it comes to that.  Again.) if the PMs are sold.

As the SHTFPlan.com article notes - and I was unaware of - some areas of the US are now requiring identification when selling..... PMs.  If they know who sold it, they know who to go after for the tax bite.  After all, people selling now are virtually guaranteed to have made a profit.  If you did, you need to pay.  Evade the tax and you're a criminal, subject to asset forfeiture.  Wanna guess what kind of assets they'll take?
---

The idea is to move to fully electronic "money".  Food stamps are now mostly a debit card.  Checks are scanned at their point of acceptance - be it a bank or a merchant - and often returned right to the customer as their paid receipt.

Think what you can buy with your debit or credit card - any store, any restaurant, any gas station, many vending machines, doctors, car repair, groceries, porn, gambling, utilities - you get it.... almost anything.  Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything other than paying tips for a valet parking kid that you can't do with plastic.

Every book, every gun, every case of ammo, every box of MREs, every pack of seeds, every backpack, every case of water, every single purchase you make as a prepper - a clear indication that you're an anti-government terrorist - can be marked, cataloged and remembered until needed.

"He was a fringe survivalist, with a large cache of guns, gold and a hoard of food - enough for several people for several years.  Clearly, he's an anti-social threat to society, and just a plain nut!  Based on his purchase records, authorities are concerned that a good deal of his ammunition was not present at this heavily-fortified compound in the quiet, tree-lined neighborhood."

Translation:  He had supplies for the bad(der) times ahead, he practiced his shooting, and he had an alarm system and dead-bolt for his home in the 'burbs.

Pay cash, while you still can.  Green, fold-able fiat currency.
---

Question:  What is the purpose of non-lethal self-defense items such as pepper spray or stun guns?  It's to temporarily stop the attacker to allow you to escape.  Nothing more.

This is great if you're a potential mugging victim.  Immobilize the bastard and beat feet.

What if you're a home or business owner "guarding" valuable equipment, goods or valuables (like cash or precious metals)?

Bad guy enters your "space" and you hose him down with spray.  Then what?  If you flee to safety, his friends come in and clean you out ('cause there WILL be at least two of them).  If you've called the police after you hosed the guy down, how long before they get there?  Are you going to wrestle this guy down and hold him til the cops arrive?

If you've fled, jumped into your car and gotten to a safe location, you've burned 5 minutes or so.  Another 5 to ten minutes before the police arrive.  How much gold, guns, equipment, jewelry, cash, computers and other goodies could the bad guy grab in 8 minutes or so (leaving plenty of time to escape)?

Lots.  You may have won the battle but lost the war.

You need to think about why you've set up a defensive plan, and how it will be employed.  If part of that plan is it guard stuff, you almost have to include lethal tools into your plan.

Also, remember to have a layered defense.  You may not be there when the bad guys come calling.  Think "onion" - you've got to peel back a number of layers to get to the core.  Locked door.  Alarm system.  Locked safe/closet/storage area.  Punji sticks. Personal defensive tools.
---

More stuff to cringe about....

This guy [link], a blogger, was prosecuted for, "felony inciting injury and a misdemeanor charge of threatening".  Against public officials, no less.  Thankfully, he was found not guilty on the charges, but is still in custody for threatening 3 Chicago judges.

On the other hand, this second guy openly called for the killing of an entire race of people.  Yet, he goes unprosecuted.




Why dat?  Here's your multiple-choice quiz:
  1. Was the first guy prosecuted because he was white, and the second guy not prosecuted because he's black?
  2. Was the first guy prosecuted because he threatened public officials and the second guy only threatened regular old, common folks (implying that public officials are superior to common folks)?
  3. Eric Holder ('nuff said)?
  4. All of the above.
Thank God the jury for the first guy had some sense of the Constitution.  You're allowed to be offensive in your speech, even when it's directed towards public officials.

---
Copyright 2011 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

1 comment:

Teresita Darling said...

I've always imagined using spray to buy time to get my gun or a heavy vase.