Competing Opinions On Gold Prices

I've been, and continue to be, bullish on precious metals.  I think that with what is happening to our economy, coupled with what the Federal Reserve and FedGov have announced they will be doing (QEII and tax increases, respectively), gold and silver will continue to rise in price.

There are others who disagree.

As I've stated numerous times, DO NOT make your investment or retirement plans based on one or two blogs or websites.  Read contrarian views.  Scratch below the surface, especially when it comes to something as important as your money.

MoneyNews.com reports that someone at The Wall Street Journal has an explanation for the recent rise in gold -

Weaker currencies such as the dollar and euro, even weaker these days due to stimulus measures, often send investors rushing to gold.

But there's another reason why prices have risen so high, The Wall Street Journal reports.

It's an exchange-traded fund called SPDR, spearheaded in 2004 by the World Gold Council as a conduit for investors to pump money into the precious metal when prices were a third of what they are today.

No one less than multi-billionaire George Soros has called gold, "the ultimate bubble".

Some heavyweight investors, however, feel gold prices are due for a fall.

"I called gold the ultimate bubble which means it may go higher," says George Soros, according to Reuters. "But it's certainly not safe, and it's not going to last forever."

He could absolutely, positively be right.  But he sure isn't acting that way.  From BusinessWeek.com -

Securities and Exchange Commission filings this month by Soros Fund Management LLC, Paulson & Co. and Touradji Capital Management LP listed investments in gold as their biggest holdings. Exchange-traded products own 2,088 metric tons, equal to nine years of U.S. mine supply, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Precious metals will produce the best commodity returns in the next year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a Nov. 9 report.

A year ago, Soros first made his "gold bubble" comments, yet for the past year, he's been buying the stuff like it's going out of style.  Funny, no?

Read the whole article.  Soros now says he's riding a bubble, and it just depends where you get on.

He's absolutely correct if you think the rise in price is due to speculation or an artificially inflated market, such as we just witnessed with real estate.
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I tell everyone that will listen to me - and some who won't - that I don't see PMs so much as an investment, but as a hedge against inflation.  A maintainer of purchasing power, if you will.

“Gold is the preferred currency right now,” said Ronald Stoeferle, an analyst at Erste Group Bank AG in Vienna who expects gold to reach $1,600 by June. “The Fed can print and produce money, but it cannot produce confidence and trust in the U.S. dollar.”

Amen to that, brother...

Accept The Challenge

I was listening to a radio show where the guy was gushing about how great the economy is performing.  This indicator is up.  That one is down, but better than expected.  Blah, blah, blah.

His main push was for people to buy into the stock markets.  Poised for a great leap, says he.

I nearly crashed my car!  He was talking about how all of these company profits are up - way up.  What he neglected to discuss what that they aren't up because of increased sales, but because of lowered expenses.

They're cutting to the bone, and lobbing off a finger or two for good measure.  Now, that's great for the company and the stock holders - for now - but it does nothing for the economy.

Until sales go up, and unemployment goes down, we're in deep kimchee as a nation.  You've got to have customers with money to have a viable business.  IMO, the stock market is propped up by nothing more than Hopes and Dreams, not reality.

Spend your money on tangible goods and commodities.  If you have anything left over, put some into PMs.

Know that the price of PMs absolutely, positively will go up and down.  You hope you make your buys on the lows, and your sales on the highs, but you'll go nuts if you're an every day price watcher.  Watch the trend, not the hourly fluctuations.

Also remember:  Gold and silver have never been worth zero.  Fiat currencies and stocks have.

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Copyright 2010 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

Name That Critter

No - you're not figuring out which politician is in a picture...

One of my brothers owns a home inspection business.  He was up in an attic, and came across this furry little creature, all snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug -

You can click the picture to blow it up.

He said that the head was about the size of a softball.  That might be a little bit exaggerated, but it's clearly bigger than a normal squirrel head.  The board in front is a 2x6.

Here's a zoom of the head -

It's got an up-turned nose and fairly pointy ears.  A fairly distinctive "mask" on the lower part of the face.

My first instinct was a gray squirrel, but its head is too big.  I guess if it had been up there a while with some kind of food source and limited predator worries, it could grown into an uber-squirrel, but still...

If it is a squirrel, I should send my brother back to go all "GunRights4UsAll" on it. THAT'S how squirrel is prepared...

It's not an opossum or raccoon.  A big rat?  A bat?  Some freakish government experiment gone horribly wrong?

He didn't want to stick around and poke it with a stick and have it feast on his face.  Any ideas?


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Copyright 2010 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

Charity

On Thanksgiving, I did a post on a couple of topics - charity work, turkey and prepping.  I thought the yams and stuffing comments would bring the firestorm  - I have VERY strong beliefs on the subject :-)

Instead, the charity topic got the blood boiling:

Quick overview: My family handed out food baskets, and I noted that a few of the recipient families did not appear to need the assistance. I was having some personal moral issues with being judgmental.

The donation group from the church that does the vetting of the recipients chose to allow one "family" (quite large - 3 turkeys and boxes) which they knew did not need help, to get a package.
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One of the things I like about private charities is that they can discriminate (unlike the government).  They can pick and choose who gets helped with their limited resources.

I won't participate with organizations that have a policy of helping, "All who ask".  I believe in targeted assistance, not broadcast assistance.

I worry that donors to this church charity will see the poor choice the vetting group made with this family, and will donate elsewhere next year...

As a number of commentors noted, this attitude of, "I take the stuff because I can" is a big reason our country is in this mess we find ourselves in.  Too many of us have come to expect assistance. 

Subsidized living has become a lifestyle.

THAT'S what burns my butt.

Also as a number of folks pointed out, the gift is in the giving.  My family and I are giving our time and money for what we believe to be the right reasons. This whole deal has gotten me thinking, though.

I was talking with one of my employees about this, and he asked me if I were given the proposition that for a $500 donation, I was told up front that $100 of it would go to undeserving people and $400 would go to very deserving people, would I still make the donation?

I said yes.

I've since changed my mind.  If this charity knew that they were pissing away 20% of their resources, that goes against my core beliefs.  It's like having a 20% Stupidity Tax.  No thanks.

I understand that $400 worth of assistance would not be going to worthy folks, but that's not my problem.  It's the problem of the charity. 

They chose to have a vetting process which acknowledges 20% waste.  Unlike the federal government, I am unable to print up more money to fill in the gaps.  I want every one of my dollars making an impact, not just $0.80 worth.

Accept The Challenge

With Christmas coming up, the push for donations will increase.  In our precious metals store, we get people coming in on a daily basis asking for donations to local groups.  So far, we've given, but only to charities we've had prior experience with.

If you are able to donate time and/or money, I urge you to discriminate.  Perhaps do some research on the various local and national groups you know about, and get educated on their process.

Here's an article on ways to judge the effectivness of some charites.

Here's a link to The American Institute of Philanthropy (CharityWatch.org) which purports to evaluate charities on a number of different levels.

As I will be doing with the church group, let your opinions be heard.  Tell them that you will not participate if the group knowingly provides assistance to people that are not in need.

Or perhaps your beliefs are to help all who ask.  You'd want to steer away from charities that target specific persons for help. 

It's your time and money - spend them as you see fit.

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Copyright 2010 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

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Each year, I help out a my wife's church on the day before Thanksgiving.  We hand out boxes of food to folks that are having a rough go of it.

We handed out boxes to about 30 families that had registered with the church.  Another group delivered another 40 or so to families that would not register, but their friends in the church knew they were having tough times and registered them up.  Most of these packages are literally left on the front step and the delivery crew plays "ding-dong ditch 'em" - they ring the door bell and run, as the families would not voluntarily accept the food.

I can respect that.  I'm glad the church handles it in this way.

I was a bit PO'd at some of the folks that came by for pick ups.  I saw a number of BMWs and other high-end cars, and a lot of folks with very nice "bling", fancy I-Phones and Coach bags.

I guess these folks might have recently hit hard times or may be are grasping at the end of their former lifestyle.  I don't know.  I saw the same thing last year, and I told myself I wouldn't be judegmental, but I guess I am being so.

It bugged me.
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The Big Bird is roasting right now.  The house smells great.  We're staying home this year, just relaxing.

I got a 19 pound turkey.  I'm making my World Famous clam chowder, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and homemade biscuits.

For three of us.  I think we'll have some left-overs!

This weekend, I'll take the carcass and make a few gallons of turkey stock.  I'll make 5 quarts of plain stock and 10 pints of Turkey and Rice soup which I'll home pressure can to use throughout the winter.
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No yams - candied or otherwise - or cranberry sauce.  Both are inedible in my estimation.  Nearly crimes against humanity.  I'm cooking, my rules!

And no nuts or fruit in the stuffing.  Apples, prunes, walnuts, pecans - snack foods.  Stuffing is cubed bread, turkey stock from the boiled giblets, some of the giblets themselves, salt, pepper, sage, celery and onions.  That's it.

The rest of the giblets will go into the homemade gravy made from the turkey drippings and turkey stock.  It will smother everything on the plate.

Maybe I'll pop an extra cholesterol pill... ;-)

Have a great day with your family.

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Copyright 2010 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

Brazen Violence

I've been on this earth for quite a few years.

I don't know if I'm simply paying attention more closely or if I'm perhaps even looking for this kind of stuff, but it seems like every single day I read of stories of what used to be rare acts of, "I don't give a damn any more" violence.

Is it just me, or is the violence really escalating?

I was reading the online version of the paper where we have our precious metals store.  It had the usual stuff about things happening around town, upcoming holiday events and the like.

There was a story about a woman who was arrested on drug charges.  It seems that she was the girlfriend of some guy who had just been arrested for a double homicide in town.  He shot three people and two of them are now dead.

What struck me was that shortly after he committed these murders, he staged another attack.

On the local police department.

Click this link to watch and listen to a photo story on what had happened.
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Part of what we have to do with our precious metals business is submit these reports any time we buy jewelry from a customer.  We give them the seller's information from their driver's license and obtain a thumbprint.  The police cross check the lists for reports of stolen goods.

Anyways, we submit these reports right where this guy went nuts.  The lobby of the police department is all secure, with 3 inch thick bulletproof glass between the lobby area and the office workers/police officers that are present.

I'm guessing that this was not the first time this murdering bastard has been to the police department.  Even if it were, any normal person would have to guess that the police department was either well secured, or there would be lots of cops with lots of guns.

Yet this guy walked right in - gun in hand as witness by a citizen who called it in - and tore the joint up.  How did he think this was going to end?  Was he looking for a "suicide by cop" grand finale?

Did he just not give a damn?
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My phone and email have been going nuts from people wanting to register for my gun classes.  When they're scheduled too far in advance, people are are very willingly signing up for one-on-one classes at an hourly rate.  I tell them that if they can wait for the next class, they can get the same training for half the price, but they don't care.  They want training, and they want it now.

I'm giving a young lady training this week.  She's coming into town for Thanksgiving, and her father has hired me to train her for a few hours while she's here.  I've got three others just like her the week after Thanksgiving.

So, to answer my rhetorical question at the start of this post, No, I don't think it's just me.

Accept The Challenge

Serious as a heart attack:  Get some safety awareness AND personal defense training.  If you've already taken some training, get some practice.

Many local police departments offer some version of "Refuse To Be A Victim" training.  Take advantage of it.

Play out some scenarios and do a mental "walk-through" for how you'd react in a given situation.

To get you started, here's one we present in our Pepper Spray and Stun gun class -

Scenario 1 – Public Places

Environment:  A major thoroughfare in a small city. A typical, “roll up the sidewalks” place when the workday is done. There is an all-night gas station ½ mile in front of you and a small strip mall ½ mile behind you. There are dozens of businesses along the course you’re taking, but they are all closed. There are a half dozen cars parked on the street within your field of view. Traffic is very light. You have a cell phone and your choice of personal defense tools.

The Setting: It's 9pm. It's been a long day at work. You lock up the office and start walking to your car, which is parked on the public street. You’re carrying a small cardboard box with some work you need to finish-up at home. Your car keys and other personal items are sitting on top of the paperwork.  The distance from your office to your car is 50 yards. You have walked 25 yards.  There is no one else on the street. Unexpectedly, you see what looks to be a man wearing  a “hoodie” walking towards you from the opposite direction. It looks like the two of you will arrive at your car at the same time.

A potential threat has been identified. You move to Alert level.

What do you do?

Escalation:  This threat is real. The man in the hoodie starts running towards you. You have your pepper spray or stun gun in your strong hand. He will reach your position in 5 seconds. There are two parked cars on your side of the street – one 10 feet in front of you, and the other 20 feet behind you.

What do you do?

What could you have done to maximize your safety?

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Copyright 2010 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

More Skills, Knowledge and Action

Got skillz?  Got knowledge?

We take a lot of what's around us for granted.  We run down to the store or some sort of specialist (doctor, mechanic, plumber, etc) to get done what needs doing.

I HOPE that as preppers, you've already built the skills and knowledge to take care of the very basics:  Make fire, potable water and shelter.

But what about some of the other stuff?  Some info and ideas -

Making black powder.  Careful, boys and girls.  Got salt peter and sulfur squirreled away?

What edible "weeds" (this guy is a wealth of knowledge), fruits, vegetables and nuts are indigenous to your area?  Do you know when they are in season?  Do you know the ones that will make you ill or dead?  Do you know how to preserve your bounty?

Make buttermilk by adding one tsp of vinegar to a cup of milk.  Wait 5 minutes then use/consume.

How to set a broken bone.

Dressing a rabbit (squirrel, too) - GRAPHIC and lifesaving.

Like biscuits but you're out of baking powder?  Make baking powder by combining  2 tsp of cream of tartar and 1 tsp of baking soda.  You've stored up some cream of tartar and baking soda, right?

You know that pine needle tea is full of great stuff, dontch?  Big on vitamin C, antioxidants and lots of other great things.  Be sure to read the warnings, especially if you are pregnant.

How to make soap.  Scroll down, and see how to render the fats and make the lye you'll need.

Every freshwater fish in North America is edible.

Lost your measuring cup?  A quarter cup is 4 tablespoons.  Do the math.  Oh, and there are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon.  Do more math.

Lost your scale?  181 pennies weighs about 1 pound.  Do the math.

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Pain/anxiety management - please, no fist-shaking prohibitionist comments.  No suggestion here to break a law, even one you may find ignorant or unconstitutional.  Prepping is about making do with what's available.

If things get ugly, your stress level will soar.  If someone is injured and medical assistance is not available, whatcha gonna do?  How are you going to "take the edge off"?

Alcohol is nothing more than the by-product of yeast eating sugar.  As I used to explain to my boys when they were little kids watching me brew beer, yeast eat the sugar, then pee out alcohol and fart out carbon dioxide!

You can make a basic alcohol by adding one pound of white sugar to one gallon of warm water.  Completely dissolve the sugar in the water.  Add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of any kind of yeast you have around - make sure the water is no more than 90F.  Keep the mix in a warm, draft-free area, loosely covered (remember the farting yeast!).  In about a week, you'll have alcohol.

Not tasty alcohol, just alcohol.  It will be around 4-4.5% alcohol by volume.  It has a yeast-y, and for some reason citrus-y taste.  Consume with some sort of mixer if available.

Don't add more sugar to get a stronger alcohol, as most baking yeasts are brewing wimps.  They die from alcohol poisoning!  Beer and wine yeasts are specially bred to withstand the higher alcohol levels.

If you can get your hands on some beer yeast, double up the sugar (NOT the water), and you can get an alcohol of around 6-8%.

With a wine yeast, triple up the sugar and get an alcohol of 10-12%.

Don't have any kind of sugar available?  Learn how to mash.  This is the process of extracting the natural sugars out of grains - usually barely or corn. 

In reality, you're extracting the starches and converting them to sugars.  This requires the introduction of some enzymes to facilitate the conversion process.  Luckily, nature provides a way to do this as well.  It's called malting.

And of course, there are fruit juices - grape, apple, etc - that can be fermented as well.  A simple hard cider might be very well received in a difficult situation...
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Even here in California, marijuana is technically illegal (though greatly de-criminalized).  If TSHTF, even us non-pot smokers might think it a decent option!

Extracting the THC

MJ recipes.  Very interesting stuff, actually.

Honestly, if I were going to use this stuff, I wouldn't smoke it.  Maybe it's just me, but I can smell pot from a mile away.  I figure others are the same, and sending up a Smoke Signal to, "come take my stuff" doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Accept The Challenge

Start figuring out what you don't know, but need. 

Everything seems to be in a state of flux.  The stock market tanks, then recovers.  Gold and silver soar, then sink - and back again.

Ask yourself:  What does your gut tell you?  Looking at the Big Picture (not your own micro-economy), do you think things will improve or worsen in the US over the next 12 months?  24 months?

I keep getting mixed signals.  I see reports that food prices are going through the roof, yet I see prices falling at the store.  A number of big food companies have announced price increases.  My gut says BUY!, so I am.  As much as I can afford.

The Federal Reserve announces to the world that they're going to devalue our currency.  The result:  At least so far this week, the dollar has gotten stronger and precious metals have tanked.  WTF?   The bulk of the reason for the dollar getting stronger was supposedly due to the euro getting weaker.  Big concerns about Ireland again. 

What I see is that the US economy isn't getting better, the rest of the world is just tanking faster than us.  It's all relative.  We're still going to see big inflationary price spikes because of QEII and the coming tax increases.  My gut says BUY!, so I am.

Image credit - Knowledge Mag

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Please click our advertiser links. They pay us so you don't have to. A click a day is all we ask!

Copyright 2010 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

Selling Scrap Gold

New readers:  In addition to owning Bison Risk Management - which produces this blog - Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business in Northern California.

I've gotten a number of private emails asking me how to go about selling your broken or otherwise unwanted gold jewelry.  People don't understand the process, and they've heard there are a LOT of rip-offs out there.

There are.

I figure that very few of the readers of this blog live close enough to our store, so I'm not pandering to you folks!  As they say, "By popular demand" I'm going to re-publish the first newsletter from the precious metals business.

It's a little bit more "sales-y" than I like, but the information is good.  If you're interested in signing up for that newsletter, I've provided this link.  These newsletters will be coming out about every two weeks, with the next issue coming out on Thursday.

	Join Our Newsletter List
	» JOIN NOW

As with all of the businesses with which I'm associated, we do not sell, rent, barter or otherwise reveal any of the email addresses we receive.
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Welcome to the Solano Coin, Gold and Silver  Precious Metals Newsletter.  We will be providing you with regular, up-to-date information on what you should consider before you buy or sell any form of precious metals - be it coins, jewelry or ingots.

Selling Unwanted Gold Jewelry

We've all seen the ads on TV - sell your unwanted gold jewelry and get quick, easy cash. It sounds great. You call an 800 number, drop your jewelry in the mail, and you get a check.

The problem is, this process has a lot of "issues" with it. Here are the things you need to be concerned with when selling your gold jewelry:

1. The Price paid per gram

2. The Trustworthiness of the gold test - valuation and "lost-in-the-mail jewelry"

3. The Timeliness of the payment

4. The Privacy of the transaction

We'll cover each of these items in each of our next 4 issues. First up -

Price Paid Per Gram

It is fairly easy math to figure out the price per gram of gold. Go to a site such as www.Kitco.com and get the current market price of gold. For this example, let's say the price is $1,370 per ounce. With precious metals, a troy ounce has a little over 31 grams per ounce. That means the price for 24 karat (pure) gold is $44.05 per gram.

You won't be paid this amount! Most gold buyers will quote a price for 14 karat gold, as that is the typical quality of much gold jewelry. 14k gold is 58.3% pure. That brings us to $25.70 per gram. This is called the "melt value".

You're not going to be paid this amount either, but we're getting close!

Now, this is where you will see the difference in your buyers. The guys on TV, on the Internet or the "Road Show" guys that roll into town on weekends generally low-ball the offer price (see this Wall Street Examiner article). They have been reported as paying between 18% and 22% of the melt value -sometimes much lower. 

That means they would pay you between $4.62 to $5.65 per gram for your 14k gold!

These buyers have the right to make a profit - we make one too! But that seems like a lot of profit on the backs of the sellers. I guess someone has to pay for those million dollar TV advertising budgets...

Here at Solano Coin, Gold and Silver, we would pay you $16.70 to $17.53* per gram of 14k gold (with a spot gold price of $1,370).

How can we afford to pay so much? Quite simply, we don't have the overhead they've got, and we can pay you more for your gold.

Don't Be Fooled! Some gold buyers will quote a price based upon Pennyweight instead of grams. It is a much higher LOOKING price.

For instance, the $16.70 price per gram we would pay you would be represented as $25.97 per pennyweight. Be sure you're quoted in grams, not pennyweight when comparing buyers.

* How can you get that extra payment per gram? Bring your gold jewelry into our shop and mention this newsletter, and we'll pay you the extra 5% bonus. It's that easy!

Next Issue: The Trustworthiness of the gold test - valuation and "lost-in-the-mail jewelry"

Accept The Challenge

Most jewelry is stamped with the purity of the gold - 10k, 12k, 14k, 18k being the most common.  To determine the pricing, simply take the stamped purity and divide it by 24 (pure gold).  Do the math as described above, then shop around for your buyers.  Call them and ask what they're paying per gram.

Insider's Tip:  Our best referral source - the slimy competition across town (yes, I'm biased!) - always asks his customers, "So, what do you think your gold is worth?"  He may have tested and weighed out the gold, and saw that market prices were $400.  He asks the question, and the customer says, "Oh, I don't know.  Maybe $75 or $100."

He then says, "Well, you're going to be pleasantly surprised!  I'm going to pay you $250!"  The customer is thrilled because they're being paid way more than they thought it was worth.  The slimy gold buyer is going to pocket an additional $150 from the customer.

These folks are not very happy when they find out they've been scammed.   Word gets around quickly...

We ask the same question, but we have written down the $400 price and placed it face down on the counter in front of the customer.  They make their guess, then flip over the paper, and freak out!  It's very cool.  I've told a couple of people that I'm going to take the footage off of our security cameras and make a TV commercial with their reactions!

Get educated so you don't get scammed!

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Copyright 2010 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

In Search Of: A Complete Protein

I've been seeing quite a bit in the news about how prices for food have been soaring.  I guess I've been fortunate - so far - but I haven't seen it.  I've read that a number of the processed food manufacturers have been absorbing the increases, but they're about to start passing them on.

So I've been thinking about food preps.  When the raw materials have gone up in the past, it "trickles down" into other types of foods.  I'm thinking about Proteins That Move in particular - beef, pork, poultry and fish.

I like my meat, and look for deals whenever possible.  I have been able to get very good deals on big pieces of pork tenderloin.  I buy a 10 to 12 pound chunk, cut it into 3 pound pieces, and vacuum seal them.

But what if fresh meat becomes cost prohibitive, and we're forced to dig into our prepper food stores?  What if we have to go veggie (gasp!)?

Non-meat protein (plants:  legumes, nuts, vegetables, grains/seeds), for the most part, does not contain all of the amino acids we humans need.  If we don't get them from some other source, our body will literally cannibalize itself to get the protein.  Eww.

But, we can combine different types of plant proteins to build a complete protein.

This chart (PDF) give a good listing of plant proteins and the specific amino acids that are missing.  The last column tells you what to eat with it to help get all of the amino acids you need to stay healthy.

This article, from the same site, states that you don't need to eat complete proteins at every meal.  Your body will store the amino acids it's not using, and apply them later.  They've got a bunch of quotes from Medical Doctors attesting to the fact.  YMMV.

Don't rely on some website or this blog for your health!

Accept The Challenge

Interesting stuff.  I can't conceive of not having meat.  I don't have a steak every day, but we have pork and chicken a lot.  Fish, probably not as often as we should.

At a minimum, this will get you closer to a complete protein than just winging it, especially in a SHTF or some similar circumstance.  Knowing that you need to combine plant proteins will make you more likely to do so.

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Please click our advertiser links. They pay us so you don't have to. A click a day is all we ask!

Copyright 2010 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

Your Contribution Is Appreciated

Have ya heard about the latest bailout?  It hasn't gotten a lot of press - strange dat (not) -  but was just reported in of all places, the LA Times.

It seems that 32 states have borrowed a total of $41 BILLION to pay state unemployment claims.  Not surprisingly, California is leading this borrowing parade, having sucked up $8.6 BILLION of the money.

For those of you without a calculator, that equals about 21% of the money.  California only has about 12% of the US population.  Oops.

Our current, ongoing borrowings?  $40 MILLION A DAY!  This is just for the shortfall in unemployment payments.

There are reasons for this, of course.  None of them good.

Up for consideration for The Understatement Of The Year award -

"You can increase your contributions, decrease money going out of the fund as benefits, or do a combination of both," said Employment Development Department spokeswoman Loree Levy. "But the hole will keep getting bigger the longer that we go without addressing the problem."

Indeed.  And we do like our holes here in California.  We've got Pot holes, Deficit holes and A-holes - the latter are running the joint.  Spineless A-holes.

The solution never seems to be paring back the government.  It is always to raise taxes.

Our state has one saving grace:  To increase any taxes, it takes a 2/3 vote of both of our state houses, or a 2/3 vote by the citizens.  So far, the handful of Republicans in our state government have held firm.  But the special interest groups are hard at work -

Getting any tax increase through the Legislature is a daunting task because of the constitutional requirement that it be approved by a two-thirds vote in both the Assembly and the Senate.

"It's a high bar," said Angie Wei, a lobbyist for the California Labor Federation. "But, somehow the system has to get more money into it."

Angie, how about this?  Let's cut, oh, 20% of the 284,000 state employees (PDF) (state workers and CA State University workers) and see if we can still function.  Our tax receipts have dropped around 14%, so let's do the extra in anticipation of more hard times to come.

This group is getting paid about $1.5 billion a month.  That's $18 billion a year.  Twenty percent would be $3.6 billion.  In salary.  It's a start.

Look at Corcoran State Prison.  It holds about 5,800 inmates.  It has 2,150 guards.  Over three shifts, that would be about 700 guards per shift, or an 8.25:1 guard to inmate ratio 24/7.  Kinda high, no?  The guards have guns and cell blocks and all of that, right?

On top of that, there are an ADDITIONAL 1,994 Substance Abuse Treatment staff.  93% of which are full time employees.  WTF?  Clearly, you don't hold drug treatment classes for EVERY inmate, and you only hold them during one shift.  Even if every inmate were in the program every day, that would be a ratio of 2.9:1!  Bigger classes, maybe?

We could move on to dropping special interest stuff.  The Afro-American Museum.  The Native American Heritage Commission.  The California Commission on Aging.  Why would the state pay for these things?  Guilt?  Get over it.

And we can slash pretty deep in a bunch of other areas.  The Department of Motor Vehicles has 9,300 employees.  Would service go down if one third of them were jettisoned?  What is less than zero service?  Maybe it would add a bit of "job insecutity" like the rest of us have and they'd actually provide some customer service (dreamin', I know).

We've got nearly 2,000 in something called, "Rehabilitation".  If it's about drugs as I suspect, isn't that something that should be handled by the counties?  Nope, gotta build a bigger bureaucracy...

Our Transportation department has around 22,000 employees, over 5,000 of which fall under "Headquarters Operations" or Administration.  Really?!  Any private business of that size that had nearly one-quarter of its employees in management and administration would not last long.

But of course, state government isn't private business.  No incentives to be efficient.  In fact, the only way you advance is by growing your budget.  It's designed to fail.

And by that standard, it's incredibly successful.

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Copyright 2010 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

Sunday Grouchy: Call Me A Skeptic

I don't believe in coincidences.  OK, OK, sometimes they happen, but most of the time they are in response to a prior event.

For instance, there have been a couple of fairly widely reported stories about an airline pilot who refused to go through the body scanning machine at the airport.  His belief - of which I share - was that it was an unwarranted invasion of his privacy.

These things don't take an x-ray of you, they essentially produce a very vivid nude image.  Our laws say that you cannot be subjected to an invasive body search unless you are in police custody or the LEO has a warrant.

Since virtually Day One of the TSAs existence since 9/11, we've all heard the stories about how little old ladies are being put through the "secondary searches" - even though there's never been an incident of a little old lady being a terrorist.

The TSA and their handlers - from the Bush and Obama administrations - have used the "we won't profile" BS as their reasoning for doing this.  That's absolutely insane and a horrific waste of limited resources (our money).  Not a problem when you look at taxpayers as a bottomless bank account.

If you know that white-looking males between the ages of 55 and 70, or Arabic-looking males between the ages of 18 and 35 are likely to commit some sort of a crime, the police now have reasonable cause to pay a little extra attention when people that fit that profile go to the airport.

It looks like the boys and girls at the TSA now have reasonable cause to do as they please.  Everyone is a suspect now.

It appears as though a young Asian male dressed up - very convincingly - as an old white guy.  He boarded a plane as the old guy, hit the restroom mid-flight and departed as the young guy.

My whoop!whoop!whoop! alarms went off when I saw these pictures.  I've flown a lot in my life.  Much of it recent travel.  I've NEVER had my photo taken at the airport.  Ever.

Both of these pictures are clearly posed portraits.  Why dat?  Obviously, you'd get an "after" photo if you arrested the guy, but why the "before" picture?  This makes no sense -

The Canadian Border Services Agency said the passenger ''was observed at the beginning of the flight to be an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young-looking hands''.

WTF?!  If you were suspicious of the guy, why did you let him on the plane?!

As the story notes, the TSA wasn't involved in this incident, as it was an Air Canada flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver.  But the US administration is wasting no time jumping on the bandwagon -

Napolitano said the U.S. was actively trying to protect air travelers, including working on an agreement with the European Union that would provide advance information on airline passengers.

"Good security is layered security. It begins with information sharing, information collection . . . good screening and scanning techniques at the airport gates themselves," she said.

Ahhhh.... Americans that are respected by the public - people such as airline pilots - are pushing back because of invasive screening and scanning techniques and POW! an international incident presents itself that lets the administration justify its actions.

How lucky is that?

Accept The Challenge

An oldie but goodie -

Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.

--Benjamin Franklin

Don't fall for this stuff, folks.  No one wants to die on a plane blown out of the sky by a terrorist bomb.  No one wants to die from any cause other than old age!

But we can't keep acceding our rights to the government.  Eat this.  Don't eat that.  Watch this.  Don't watch that.  Smoke this.  Don't smoke that.  Exercise this right.  Don't exercise that right.

Life has risks.  If we allow the government to manage these risks for us, we're no more personally responsible than a child.  Our Constitution lays out what the government is expected to do for us, as well as what they are not allowed to do for us.  They are not allowed to trample one right (unreasonable searches, per the Fourth Amendment) in pursuit of enforcing another (uhm, the interstate commerce clause?).

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Copyright 2010 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

Financial Balloon

As expected, gold and silver have soared after Bernanke told the world it was his intent to purposely devalue the American dollar.  At this moment in time, gold is up over $44 an ounce the day after his announcement.  It is rapidly approaching my guesstimate for a year-end price of $1400 an ounce (it's at $1392 right now).

Take a look at this screen shot from Kitco.com.  It shows where the price spike is coming from (click to enlarge):

Seven dollars of the increase are due to the dollar being sold - weakening it.  The remainder is due to gold buyers gobbling up everything they can get their hands on.

I got a call from a woman today that had taken one of my gun classes.  She wanted to know where gold was selling.  This was around 11:30 this morning, and gold was only up $30 an ounce at that time.

I told her that we can't keep PM's in the store.  For the last two weeks, people have been going nuts.  Silver especially.  Our PM biz has been open just over a month, and we're already on our third Monster Box.  These are boxes from the mint, each with 500 Silver Eagles.

Technically, we're on our 4th box, as one guy bought an entire box.  He came in, gave us the cash, and we ordered him the box.

This is what we're having to do with our customers that want large orders (and most gold purchases over 3 ounces).  They come in the store, we contact our wholesalers, lock in a price, and have it delivered in 3-5 days.

For some reason, our competitors aren't offering this service to their customers.  God Bless 'em for their short-sightedness!
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I wrote this on August 28th of this year -

Also, the price multiple between gold and silver has been narrowing. Just a week ago, the multiple was 68:1 (68 ounces of silver cost the same as 1 ounce of gold). As of today, that ratio has dropped to under 65:1..

As of this moment, that multiple has dropped to 52.82 ($1392.90/$26.37) in 9 weeks.

Dollar for dollar, right now, silver is a better bargain.  It's appreciating faster than gold.
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I'd expect to see some profit-taking in the next few days - maybe even tomorrow.  Or maybe not.  It's impossible to tell.

What I do know is that the underlying cause of the devaluation of the dollar will continue.  Taxes and inflation will continue to rise.  We may see price spikes and valleys on a day-to-day basis, but the trend will be upwards.
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Best "bargains" - at least here in Northern California:

1 oz gold Canadian Maple Leafs.  They'll cost you about $30-$50 less than a gold American Eagle, and are virtually as easy to resell (if need be) as the Eagles.  Krugerrands are another $25 below the Maple Leafs, but are a little more difficult to resell.  Not by much, though.

90% silver.  Very low premium over spot prices right now.  This stuff disappears within a day when we get some in the store.  Here's a tutorial I did back in January ("Buying 90% Silver Coins") on how to buy the stuff.

Volatile:  100 oz silver bars.  Early last week, I was buying them at a pretty steep discount to spot prices.  As I told a customer, it was like they had leprosy!

This week they're on fire.  One of my partners had a customer for 3 of them.  He called one of our wholesalers for pricing, then he called back the customer who placed an order.  When my partner called back the wholesaler, 9 of the 10 bars had been sold!  Ten minutes had elapsed...

My personal outlook is to stay with silver bars of no more than 10 ounces or one-ounce rounds/bars.  Prices and demand for both of these are much more stable.

Accept The Challenge

Has the "Financial Balloon" gone up?  I don't know about that, but they're clearly hooking it up to the helium tank.

Let's assume so.  Remember:  Even if it hasn't, nothing we do prep-wise will harms us, as long as we're using our heads.

> Get your housing, food, supplies and equipment squared away.  Then add a bit more.  Exchange the money you were going to spend going to the movies and dinner for some preps.  One month of no "date night" won't kill anybody.

> Get yourself as healthy as possible.  Dental work, doctor's visits, elective surgery - anything you've been putting off "'til later".  Later has arrived.

Again, even if the Financial Fairies magically fix everything, you're no worse off for getting yourself patched up now.

> Look hard at your monthly and annual budgets.  What services do you pay someone to perform for you?  Oil changes?  Tire rotations?  Lawn mowing?  Housekeeping?  At the very least, make sure you know how to do all of these things yourself.  Better yet, start doing them yourself, and put the extra cash you're saving into debt payment acceleration, prep supplies or PMs.

> Take some sort of safety awareness or personal defense class.  If you remember, the Administration just froze the payments for Social Security and other entitlements.  The states are freezing welfare payments as well.

With the dollar being devalued, a buck is not going to go as far.  If you're a "lifer" on the welfare system, you don't have any skills to support yourself.  When your CocoPuff money runs out, you're going to need to fill that gap somehow.

Guess where they're going to be looking to make up the difference?

Get Thee To A Class and then to the range on a regular basis.

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Copyright 2010 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

Worry Warts

What's with all of this terrorist luggage and mail bomb stuff that's all over the news? I saw some graphic showing the path of the bombs from Yemen to Great Britan to Chicago. I think. I'm not paying that much attention.

Are we supposed to be clutching our breasts, trembling in fear that some terrorist is going to pick our house as their next delivery point?  Really?

Or maybe we'll be on the plane that just happens to have a bomb on it that just happens to explode while we just happen to be high in the air?  Has anyone pulled out the old calculator and run the odds on this?

The word, "astronomical" comes to mind.

I'm not worried. Not in the least. I am more worried about price of bread, or gasoline or Jack Daniels than I am about a terrorist bomber.  It is so far down on my list of worries, it hasn't even been numbered.

I worry about stuff which I can reasonably predict.  There's a high likelihood that another earthquake will hit sometime the Bay Area.  There's a high likelihood that inflation will soar.  There's a high likelihood that housing prices will crater even more.  There's a high likelihood that our federal government is beyond repair.

I can make plans for all of these things.

I've only got so much capacity for "worry".  My Worry Index has topped off.  I'm full-up right now.  The airmail bombers are going to have to get in line and wait their turn like everyone else. 

And don't look now, but Lindsey Lohan and Charlie Sheen just cut in line in front of you.
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Global "martial law"? A few weeks ago, we got the, "don't go to Europe" warning from the State department.  Lots of "non-specific" terrorist rumblings, and boogie-man-under-the-bed stuff. 

Are they laying the groundwork for, "Well, the terrorist threat is just too big, so - for your protection - we're going to temporarily restrict your rights to movement, guns, food and speech. We're sure you understand it's for your own good."

Is this why we're getting all of this terrorist bomber stuff right before the election?  OK, now THAT'S something I might add to my Worry Index...
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The next couple of days will be interesting. The election tomorrow, and the Fed getting together to chat up the devaluation of the dollar (quantitative easing - QE2) on Wednesday.

It seems fairly certain that the R's will take over the House, and have an outside chance of taking over the Senate as well. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that this alone might temporarily strengthen the dollar.
 
"Adults are now in charge" kind of thinking. "Fiscal responsibility is returning to Washington."

It's dead wrong, but when you put a shiny object in front of most network news-watching Americans, they become mesmerized.

If this does cause the dollar to rise, gold and silver will take a hit. A buy opportunity, I think.

The following day, if the Fed does as planned - and hit us with QE2 - this will trash the dollar, and gold and silver will climb.  A sell or hold opportunity.

And of course, there's always the possibility that everything will be dumped on its head! 

But if logic prevails (how's THAT for a long shot!), precious metals should be rising by the end of this week.  We shall see...

Accept The Challenge

As I noted, the R's will likely win in the House.  D's and their dependent followers might be in for a rude awakening.  Chances are good that we'll have a stalemate between Congress and the White House so nothing new will be added to our burden, at least after the new R's are sworn in.

In early 2011, Congress will need to vote on raising the national debt ceiling.  We'll get to see just how deep the "fiscal conservatism" runs in the new R's.

But that also means it is equally as unlikely that ObamaCare will be scrapped/amended or that the Bush tax cuts will be extended.  Also, during the "lame duck" period between the election and the swearing in, all kinds of crap could be piled on.

For the Californians that wander by here, starting in February of next year, we'll have to be "printed and processed" to buy ammunition, and it will no longer be available to us through the Internet.  Take your dollars out of state - along with the accompanying tax revenues - while you still can.

Bottom line:  For all goods and services you need, get 'em now.  Crunch Time is just around the corner.  We can't yet know if at this time, this devolves into full-blown TSHTF.  But we can be pretty certain about a number of things.

Your taxes will be rising.  Your dollars will be devalued.  You can't change any of this, but you can prepare for it.  Come on, this is what we do!

Photo credit:  Google Images

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Please click our advertiser links. They pay us so you don't have to. A click a day is all we ask!

Copyright 2010 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