Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness is the condition of a human or animal that has learned to behave helplessly, failing to respond even though there are opportunities for it to help itself by avoiding unpleasant circumstances or by gaining positive rewards.
--Wikipedia

I think I've mentioned before that Mrs. Chief Instructor is a 5th grade teacher.  Even though she works at a private religious school, they still get influenced by the goings-on in government schools.

You know, like restrictions on competitive activities during recess.  Football, basketball - even tetherball, for Gods sake.  Dodgeball is considered a mortal sin.  Anything where someone wins and someone else loses is verboten.  Only organized, after-school teams are allowed to compete.

We've got 'helicopter moms' to make sure that Bobby or Suzie have the socially proscribed number of 'play dates' each week.  We've got parents - even those who pay out of their own pockets to send their kids to private schools - doing their kids homework.  Every second of their lives is monitored, metered and rewarded with the obligatory, "Good job!" ** for the slightest "accomplishment".

Everyone has equal outcomes.  No one is allowed to excel nor fail.  The seed of "self" is never allowed to germinate.  Peace, love and social conformity dope.

Like the government schools, the big topic of the past few years has been bullying.  No form of aggressive behavior, thought or speech is quartered.  This includes pictures of aggressive inanimate objects (how do you like THAT oxymoron?), like guns or tanks or fighter jets.  We wouldn't want someone to feel uncomfortable because of a picture.

Through all of this process - making parents and government school administrators the 24/7 protectors of our children - we're not allowing our kid the chance to learn how to be independent.  In fact, just the opposite:  We're teaching them how to only be dependent.

As a result, we're producing a nation of frail, brittle, untempered children who break easily.
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A while back, a 12 year old girl committed suicide over bullying.

When this became public, I said to my wife, "This girl isn't dead because of the bullies, but because of her parents and the government schools."

Yeah, that got a reaction.

If she was a typical, government school "educated" child, she was never given the opportunity to learn the skills needed to deal with the assholes she'd encounter in her life.  She's had this imaginary force field around her to protect her from harm.  Real life is full of real bullies, and thinking your child won't be exposed to them - just because you wish it so - is a fantasy.

Bullying laws are the "gun free zones" of government education.  Write a law, look really serious about it, and give those being "protected" a false sense of security.  In actuality, you're doing nothing more than removing the tools the victims need to defend themselves.

We are truly teaching them helplessness.  Whenever there's a problem, run to mommy, daddy or some component of Uncle Sugar, and we'll fix it for you.  It's the polar opposite of what we're supposed to be teaching our kids:  self-reliance.

I'd bet a pile of money that the parents of this girl were the, "Good Job!" kind of folks.  Why?  Because this thing had been going on for nearly a year, and little had been done.  It seems as though it had escalated beyond the, "sticks and stone will break my bones, but words will never hurt me," phase, and was outside of the skill set of a typical 12 year old, so the parents put her in another school.  A great first step.

But apparently, it was their only step.  Why didn't the parents use the legal system to sue the abuser AND HER PARENTS for libel?  How about a restraining order regarding posts and other contact until it had been adjudicated?

No.  They kept allowing the crap to continue, and now their daughter is dead at her own hands.  The daughter - and apparently the parents - have been socially conditioned to keep taking the punishment until someone else fixes the problem.

Don't be aggressive in your self-defense.  Don't take the initiative.  Wait for someone else to fix your problem because that's what you've been taught.

Their daughter is dead because no one showed her how to deal with crappy situations.  How to develop the attitude and skills of, "I'm not going to allow you to push me around anymore."  Her only perceived option for stopping the pain was to take her own life.

Since the girl's death, the police have now arrested two girls for 'aggravated stalking', and the mother of one of the girls was arrested for a video posted to Youtube of her beating one of her other kids.

Too bad the dead girl's parents didn't ACT earlier and bring this band of psychos to the attention of the authorities.
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When my kids were younger, the schools they attended all had the, "no fighting" rules.  Even for self-defense.  I made it crystal clear to my kids that if they were ever attacked, they could - should - defend themselves - school rules be damned.  Tell them, "My dad said it was OK."  I'd take whatever heat the school officials handed out, and if it meant moving them to another school, so be it.

Victimhood has never been allowed in my household.

On the flip-side, they knew equally as clearly that if they were picking on someone, it would not be tolerated.  Their punishment would be both swift and enduring.  (No, I'm not talking about beating my kids.  Previously earned freedoms, sports participation, TV, video games, etc., would be revoked.  Yard work, toilet cleaning, etc., would fill their non-scholastic waking hours.)

Consequences - good and bad - are a direct result of your actions and choices.  They understood that then, and (knock on wood) still understand it now that they're out on their own.

** This past weekend, I was picking up my new hunting license and some wild pig tags at a local sporting goods store.  A father and his son - I'd guess 12 or 13 years old - walk into the store.  Dad asks why there was no garbage can out front.  The clerk explained that punks kept tipping it over, so it was moved inside.  It was behind the counter, and I was standing between the kid and the can.  I saw the kid had a crumpled up piece of paper in his hand, so I stepped back so he could toss it into the can.  He did so, from a staggering distance of, oh, 2 feet.  In to the can goes the paper, and the proud papa gives him the, "Good Job!" praise.  Seriously, I wanted to scream.  Your kid is so emotionally fragile that you must praise him when he throws garbage into the can? At age 13?!?!  We're so screwed.


Accept The Challenge

Look what this Learned Helplessness has wrought.  Able bodied "kids" living at home into their 30's, a "take care of me" welfare state, droves of kids taking their own lives because they have no idea how to deal with the bumps inherent in life outside of the force field.  They have no survival mechanism.

I strongly believe that the role of a parent is to prepare your kids to be out on their own.  To teach them what real accomplishment is, not this idea of, "Trying your best is all that matters," and everyone who participates gets a trophy.  To let them fail and learn from the experience.

Aside from it being the right thing to do, if you were a new parent, think how this type attitude would set your children apart from the scores of drones in their midst.  Teach them independence by allowing them to have independent actions.  Don't micro-manage every aspect of their lives.  Richly reward them with earned praise.  Teach them how to win.  And above all, counter the Learned Helplessness beamed into their lives through government schools, government programs, and compliant media.

Bless them with the skills to thrive independently.


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Copyright 2013 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

Covering Your Ass(ets)

I recently read an article outlining the upcoming Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) session.  It put me into my typical despair-then-anger-then-planning-then-action cycle.

Let me take a step back and explain how the Constitution, the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch and the SCOTUS were taught to me as a kid.

The Constitution is the rule book.  All participants in our nation must follow these rules.  The Legislative Branch proposes laws, the Executive Branch does the work required by those laws, and the SCOTUS assures the American people that both the laws and how they're being carried out follow the rules detailed in the Constitution.

Pretty simple.

A key part of this education was that the Constitution is not a list of suggestions, or a rough outline of how our country is to be run.  It is hard and fast rules.  Its purpose is to limit the power of the federal government and to strengthen the power of state and local governments, and of the people.

My teacher repeatedly pointed us to the Tenth Amendment as the unambiguous declaration of these facts.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The cool thing was, if we decided we wanted to change the hard and fast rules, or we wanted to grant or restrict certain rights, we could do so via the amendment process.  Get enough Americans to agree on a change, and you could make it so.

And we have.  Seventeen times since the first ten were enacted.

The process works.
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Well, not really.  It works when used, but the politicians in the Legislative and Executive branches have found ways around the time consuming, onerous amendment process.  They just write laws or executive orders, usually granting themselves or others super-constitutional powers, and the SCOTUS lets them pass.

The Despair Phase

I enter this phase when I read some article that is about expanding government, or a new class of special citizen, or crap along those lines.  I think one of the things that causes the despair is that so few Americans give a damn.  Really, they just don't care - or choose not to care.

I think the term is 'cognitive dissonance'.  You start making up excuses for the crumbling of the world around you.  Eh, Alpo for dinner ain't so bad.... at least I'm not hungry...

Here's an example.  This article on the upcoming SCOTUS session contains this little nugget -

On Oct. 15 -- provided the court remains open -- the justices will consider whether the state of Michigan violated the Equal Protection Clause by amending its state Constitution to prohibit affirmative action.


The case, referred to Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, reviews a 2006 Michigan ballot initiative that bans the consideration of race or sex in public [government .ed] education, government contracting and public [government .ed] employment.


The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Michigan initiative -- because it came in the form of a constitutional amendment -- "reordered the political process" in a way that put special burdens on racial minorities. [emphasis mine]

I'm thinking to myself, "Good Lord.  We've got a state constitutional amendment which PERFECTLY dovetails with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment - everyone gets treated the same by any government entity.  It's being challenged, not because the state amendment unjustly removes a right from the general citizenry, but because it takes away a special right granted ONLY to a specific type of citizen, and is not equally available to all other citizens."

The despair deepens as I continued with the article, and the twisted (il)logic of the proponents of the law -

"Rather than undoing an act of popularly elected officials by simply repealing the policies they created, Michigan voters repealed the admissions policies that university officials created and took the additional step of permanently removing the officials' power to reinstate them," the appeals court wrote.  

Let that sink in:  Their argument is that the state amendment removed the state government officials ability to continue acting unconstitutionally.  And that's a bad thing.

It continues -

"Had those favoring elimination of all race-conscious admissions policies successfully lobbied the universities' admissions units, just as racial minorities did to have these policies adopted in the first place, there would be no equal protection concern."

Oh.

What?!  So if they had put political pressure upon the government officials - like the racial minorities had previously done - it would have been, "all good".  Seriously?  A federal appeals court is saying that constitutional issues are supposed to be decided by lobbying prowess, and not by, well, the Constitution?

We're done, as a Constitutional Republic.  The law and the Constitution are essentially irrelevant.  The despair deepens, but is soon replaced by...

The Anger Phase

I find I'm passing through this phase much more quickly.  Why get angry?  It serves no purpose and does nothing to protect or enhance my personal interests.

I still find myself angry that, regardless of what I do, nothing will change - big picture-wise.  I've accepted that the fix is in, and there's not one damned thing I can do to change it.

Government size and control will continue to grow, regardless of how loudly I protest or how often I stand on the electronic soapbox and scream.  I get it.

All I can do is to make plans to minimize the negative impact.  For me and my family.

The Planning Phase

It all comes down to money.  Virtually every plan I make has something to do with money.  Usually getting more so I can apply it to a new plan.

I've never worked for the sake of making more money than the next guy, but I've always recognized that money gives you options.  The more money you have, the more options you have.  Without money, you're destine to come under the control of the state, at one level or another.

Can't afford health insurance?  We'll give you ObamaCare, but you've got to follow these rules.  No money to feed the 3 kids you had out of wedlock?  We'll give you an EBT card, but we'll restrict what you can buy, and where you can buy it.  No housing?  No problem!  We're gonna pay for it, but you can only live in housing of which we approve.

You get the idea.  I want options on how and where I live my life, and the more financially independent I am, the more choice I have on how to live that life.   By no stretch of the imagination do I have to be rich, but I do have to at least be prudent where I spend my bucks.

I also understand that the various flavors of government want a piece of my personal pie.  An ever-growing piece.  Obviously, prudent tax and asset planning is crucial to minimizing that bite.

Our plan is - over the next 10 years or so - to start tapping into the retirement accounts we've established.  This includes Social Security.  We plan on having a nice piece of property where we'll live and thrive and do as we wish.

We also plan for these plans to go all to hell.  No single part of our plan requires us to "put all of our eggs in one basket".  As I teach in my self-defense classes:  Assume Failure.  If your gun misfires, if your pepper spray is out of juice, if your stun gun is out of batteries - what are you going to do then?  Roll up into a ball and give up?

Sorry, I'm not built that way, and I don't plan that way.  Options B, C  and D may not be as comfortable as Option A, but they keep me out of The System, and that's the over-riding goal.

Staying independent.

The Action Phase

Start doing something.

You've got to know in your heart-of-hearts that the government will continue to grow, and will continue to consume greater portions of private wealth.

A couple of things to keep in mind when building plans to keep the government out of your pockets:

1. Move.  The single biggest reason my family is leaving California is the taxes.  There is a whole list of other reasons, but taxes is the top of the hit parade.  Staying in a state such as California reeks of the earlier mentioned Cognitive Dissonance.  It's really not that bad.  Yeah, it is, and you know it.  It will all get better.  Really?  How?  Face it, man-up and get out while you still can.
2. At least right now, your ObamaCare premium is wholly dependent upon your income.  They don't even look at your assets.  That may change, it may not (I think it will).  If you're like me - nearing retirement age - your health care needs will be going up, but your premium will be going down.  I intend on "banking" that difference, and giving it to my kids at some time in the future, since they're the ones that will be subsidizing my health insurance costs.
3. At least right now, your Social Security checks are reduced based upon how much money you're still earning (link - PDF) from other sources.  Note that they count some sources, and don't count others.  They don't even look at your assets.  That may change, it may not (I think it will - expect heavy 'means testing' in the future).
4. The government can't tax or confiscate what it doesn't know you have.  Ask the people of Argentina if they wished they had more money squirreled away in precious metals.  Ask the people of Cyprus, Argentina and Poland if they wished they has less money in banks when the confiscations started.
5. Right now, the sale of used personal goods is not taxable, unless you have a company specifically in that business.  Have you noticed a whole lot of the same people on Craigslist selling stuff?  
6. Land is the least portable asset you can own.  Don't tie up every dime you've got in land and improvements, because you don't ever really own it.  The taxing authority does.  If you envision a scenario with you heroically fighting off the government goons intent on taking your home, lose that little dream right now.  They've got a lot more bullets than you do.  And money, time and resources.  You still end up losing the property, and being dead to boot.  That's not a plan.  At least not a good one.  There are other ways to peel that apple.
7. Countries that have gone down the path we seem to be taking have all ended up commie or heavily socialist.  That always means that private assets become the property of the state to be fairly distributed or utilized by and among all citizens.  See number 4 from above.
8. Live below your means, at least publicly.  Having income of $20,000 a year and driving a new $60,000 truck between trips to Europe and the Caribbean raises red flags.  We don't like red flags.
9. Build multiple streams of income.  Seriously, get on it.  Placing your future in the hands of the bureaucrats in DC to keep the SSI checks and Medicare/ObamaCare gravy train intact is insane.  Do the math.  It can't last.  YOU are your last, best hope.  You need to look at SSI and Medicare as one of the streams of income you get, not your solitary or primary one.
10. Review, rethink, revise.  Constantly.

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Copyright 2013 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

Old School Sugar Squeezin's

I've recently had a number of questions regarding brewing.  Questions about how to convert corn into sugar to be fermented (queue banjo twang).  Corn IS occasionally used in beer brewing, so I've got some insights I thought I'd share.

I've been brewing for a long damned time.  Since 1980 - just a few short years after Nanny graciously allowed us to convert four freely available ingredients - water, malted grain, yeast and hops - into a bubblin' brew.

I've also dabbled in wines, mostly mead (honey-based wine) and ciders.

A key difference between my style of brewing, and that of most other folks is that I don't use kits.  You can find a brew store online, and get a kit with the proper amount of malted barley syrup or powder.  Add water, boil, add yeast and drink after it ferments and carbonates.

I go, 'old school'.  I buy my malted grains, grind them, make a mash (converting grain starches into sugars), sparge the grains (rinsing the sugars from the grains in the mash), THEN boiling and everything else.

But what if malted grains weren't available?  And what the hell is malting, anyways?!  And I thought this was about corn!

Hold your water, sport.
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Let's take a step back and understand the science behind brewing.  All grains are made up primarily of starch.  We want to turn that starch into fermentable sugars.

The starches are tightly bound at the molecular level.  We've got to do something to open them up so we can convert them into sugars.

We have two paths to that goal:  malting and gelatinization.

With malting, you take your grain - be it barley, corn, rice, rye, etc. - and soak it in warm water.  You throw them into a sack and place them in a warm, dark place.

The grain begins to sprout.  As it's doing this, the kernel is producing an enzyme called amylase.   Amylase enzyme is what turns the starch into sugar.

Once the grain sprouts (different lengths for different grains, but about equal to the length of the kernel), you usually halt the growth process with heat (you don't want Mother Nature to take over and consume all of the starch).  You roast the grain.  A shorter duration roast gets you a light malt for a light Pilsner beer, and a longer roast will get you a dark malt for a heavier Stout beer.

Now, I said 'usually'.  You can also just knock off the sprouts, grind up the grain, and begin your brewing.  This is what is done very often with corn, for instance.

Now that we've got our malted grain, we're now ready for the mash to allow the amylase enzyme to convert the starch to sugar (more on this later).
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The other option mentioned is gelatinization.  Gelatinization uses heat and loosens up those tight molecular bonds on the starch so that we can add amylase enzyme to convert that starch to sugars.

Let's say you don't have access to whole corn kernels.  All you have is corn meal.  Or maybe you have whole corn, but you don't want to go through the time and hassle of turning it into malt (about a week).

You take your ground, unmalted grain (say, feed corn) or corn meal, and cook it.  The temperature varies by grain.  For corn, it's right around 170f.  You add 1 pound of ground corn (like corn meal) and add 2 quarts of water.  Bring it to temperature, constantly stirring.   You'll end up with a thick corn mush (not mash).  Think grits or polenta.

When you get to the 170f, you need to keep it there for about a half hour.  You can just turn off the heat, cover it, and go get a cold adult beverage while you wait.  You now have gelatinized corn.
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Now, it's time to mash.  Again, mashing is the process of adding a starchy grain to water, and adding amylase enzyme to get the starch to convert into fermentable sugar.

If we're using the malted corn that's just been malted (meaning it's still moist), we pulverize the corn, and add approximately 1 1/2 quarts of water for every pound of dry corn we started with.  If we dried the malted corn for future use, we add 2 quarts of water per pound.

TEMPERATURE IS KEY HERE.  If we bring this corn up above 165f, we'll deactivate the amylase enzyme that's present, and not get any sugar out of it.  The sweet spot is between 145f and 160f.

A trick that beer brewers employ is to bring the water all by itself (no grain present) to slightly above your sweet spot, then turn off the heat.  Add your grains, and the thermal mass of the grains will bring you to your sweet spot.  For corn, I'd bring the water to 160f, then slowly add your pulverized corn while constantly stirring.  You'll end up with a mush.

Cover your pot, wrap it in towels, and set your timer for 30 minutes.  At that time, open the pot, give everything a nice stir, and cover it up again for another 30 minutes.  You'll notice that the mush has gotten VERY soupy.  That's the enzyme liquefying those long starch molecules into short, fermentable sugars.

If we're using gelatinized corn, we need to introduce the amylase enzyme.  Two ways to do that:  First, you can just buy the enzyme from virtually any homebrew store.  Since we're goin' Old School, we're going to add a bit of malted grain (barley) to the gelatinized corn, and let nature do its biz.

So, our corn mush, looks like this after it's been gelatinized -

Think corn mush, polenta or grits.  We need to add malted grain equal to between 25% and 30% of the original weight of the corn.  BUT we need to bring the temperature down to 160f first (remember, we had this at 170f to gelatinize it).  Take the lid off, stir every 10 minutes, and in a half hour, you should be down to 160f.

The grain you use needs to be cracked -

You can buy it just like this from a homebrew store.  Since I brew a lot, I buy it in 25lb bags, uncracked (it lasts longer this way).

In this case, I started with 3lbs of corn meal, so I added 3/4 of a pound of 2-row pale malt barley (tip:  If you only buy grain to do this, buy 6-row, as it has more amylase present, and will get you more sugar).

Cover this bad-boy up, wrap it in towels and set the time for a half hour -

After a half hour, give it a stir, then cover it up again for another half hour.  Just like with the all-malted corn mash, you'll notice the mash has gotten very soupy.  Nature!

After your hour mash, if you try and scoop up your stuff, this is what you'll get (compare this to the previous picture with the mush pre-mash) -

I'm going to use these corn squeezin's in an American Lager beer.  Light body, low hops, high alcohol content.
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Advanced, mind numbing stuff follows.  Even some math.  Proceed at your own peril.

Every grain has a given sugar potential.  It's expressed as PPG - Points per Pound per Gallon.  For instance, 1 pound of white sugar in 1 gallon of water has 46 points.  On a beer hydrometer (a tool that measures the amount of sugar in your mash results), you'd see this as 1.046

It's a linear scale.  Add two pounds of sugar to one gallon, and you'd have 92 points (46 x 2).  This is important, as you want to know how much alcohol your brew is going to produce.  The higher the points, the higher the alcohol content.

With grains, there is a little detour.  Corn, for instance, has a PPG of 39.  BUT, unlike already processed white sugar, it's virtually impossible to get every molecule of sugar out of the kernel.  On average, you can expect to get about 75% efficiency from your mash.  So, I'd expect to get only 29.25 PPG from my corn (39 x 75%).

So, in my example, I used 3 pounds of corn meal with 6 quarts (1.5 gallons) in my gelatinization.  If I take my expected PPG (29.25) and multiply that by the 3 pounds of grain used, I get 87.75 points.  Since I used 1 1/2 gallons of water, I need to divide this number by 1.5.  That gives me 58.5 points.

If I take my mash results (called a wash or wort), I should see a reading right around that on my hydrometer.  Well, well, well, lookee here!

Each of the lines below the 50 are two points each.  I ended up with 56 points instead of 58.5.  I probably should have actually had a little bit more, as the malted barley gave up some sugar as well.  My efficiency was probably around 72% or 73%.  Sue me.

If you do your mash in the low 150f range, and use 6-row malt, you could easily hit 80% or 85% efficiency.

Oh, and I heard once somewhere on the Interwebs that the grain bill for corn whiskey is 60% corn, 40% barley, or close enough to that.

One last thing:  If you're going to use rice as your fermentable grain, its gelatinization needs to be at 195f.  There are charts all over the Internet for the gelatinization temperatures of most grains.  Corn and rice are both used in lots of commercial American lagers (Bud, Miller, et al) because they're cheaper than barley, and pack quite the punch per pound.

One more one last thing:  If you're a wimp and don't want to gelatinize your own corn meal (hey, learn a skill, will ya?!), you can buy flaked maize from homebrew stores.  It's corn that's already been gelatinized, and is just waiting for the addition of the amylase enzyme.  At two bucks a pound, it's much more expensive than corn meal from the bulk section of your store, or feed corn from the feed store (make sure your feed corn is hormone- and pesticide-free).

As noted before, this corn juice is going into an American Light Lager.  I'll let you know how it turns out.... in about 4 months!  Cooler weather is lagering weather!


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Copyright 2013 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

Emotion versus Logic

What are we gonna do?

Every damned time there's a mass shooting, the MSM and Talking Heads on TV start the parade of family members that had a loved one shot or killed.  Almost without exception, the family members plead for more strict gun laws.

Last Sunday - after the DC Navy Yard shooting - that chimp-faced bastard on Meet The Press trotted out the mother of some young woman that was killed in the Aurora movie theater.  These "interviews" - more like gun control infomercials - all go something like this:

Chimp-faced bastard:  I have to ask you, when you were here, and you heard about what happened at the Navy Yard, can you describe your reaction to it?

Mom:  [sigh] ...any time you've been a victim of gun violence like we have - when you hear news like that - it takes you right back to what happened when you heard your news.  And unfortunately, we got our news in the middle of the night - from the young man who was with my daughter - who called me from inside the  theater twenty minutes after I'd been talking to my daughter... and told me - with screaming going on in the background - that my daughter was dead.

 Chimp-face tossed her a couple of softball questions which she answered with the tried and true MSM-approved responses.  More background checks.  Close the gun show loophole.  More guns aren't the answer.  Blah, blah, blah.  Chimp-face then finished the infomercial with another request about feelings  Lots more sighs and gentle head shaking.

I got all dewy-eyed.  But that was from the force of my projectile vomiting.

Earlier in the show, Chimp-face had interviewed Wayne LaPierre of the NRA.  Unlike his pity-party with mom, he asked LaPierre tough questions, and got back tough answers.

Including the fact that the crazy bastard in Aurora - the criminal who gunned down gun-grabbin' momma's daughter - went through a background check.... AND WAS CLEARED!

Holy shit on a shingle!  The very system mom is saying we need more of, was used and failed.   If mom had half a brain that held a wit of logic, she'd see that any "system" can be beat. 

Criminals have known and exploited this for years.  Build a set of laws, and let Mr. and Mrs. Jones get all snug and comfy in the knowledge that the law is out there protecting them.

Then beat them, rob them and kill them once they've let their guard down, and given up their ability to protect themselves.

Without exception, all of these mass shooting occur in Gun Free Zones.  These are like salt-licks to deer.  If you were going to blow away a bunch of people, where would you do it?  In a highly-armed location like a police station or gun range, or in a place where possession of a gun is a crime?

Logic SCREAMS that the way you fix this problem is to arm anyone so inclined to defend themselves.  To make our laws to promote personal defense and responsibility.  To empower, encourage and enable every decent American to be willing to defend themselves and others in peril.

But, on Meet The Press with its millions of viewers, emotion carried the day.  Again.
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To win a point in the public arena, you need to think like an advertiser.  With few exceptions, emotional tugs are more successful than logic.  Mini-vans are sold using images of a helicopter mom loading junior into the van with enough straps and binding to withstand a moonshot.  Women are the shot-callers for auto sales, so getting those innate protective mommy genes all riled up will result in a sale.

They use the same schtick with guns.  Ban guns so you don't end up like me - an empty, childless shell of my former self.

That's some powerful shit.

How do we logical types win the advertising battle?  How do we interject the same kind of emotional angst the gun grabbers use, into our fight?

Here are the basics of our logical arguments -

• Since recorded history, there have been human beings that are either insane, anti-social criminals, or both.  That will never change.  These people will continue - until the end of time - to kill, maim and brutalize other human beings, regardless of the number of laws put on the books stating that these acts are illegal.
• We can hope.  We can wish.  We can dream.  We can get down on our knees and pray to Almighty God to let the violence end, but it never will.  The best we can do is to manage the violence - keep it to a minimum by not allowing it to spread.  
• Insane, anti-social criminals don't give a shit.  Logic and compassionate reasoning rarely work.  They've got to be put down like feral animals.  Wrap your brain around that.
• Gun laws restrict access to guns, not by criminals and the insane, but by good people.  This works perfectly into the plans and actions of the anti-social criminals and the insane.
• Every single recent mass shooting event was extended because the means to repel the criminal were removed from the law abiding citizens present at the event.  
• Every single mass shooting event has been ended by people with guns either using, or threatening to use, those guns.

 Saying something like, "My first grader was killed by a crazy person.  Just one teacher with a gun could have stopped my child's death at Sandy Hook," just doesn't carry the same emotional baggage of, "My first grader had her brains blown out by a gun.  Ban guns so your baby doesn't have her brains blown out, too."

Yikes!  Sign me up for a donation to Brady!  [Hey, hey, hey!  Holster that weapon!]

If you notice, the grabbers place the emphasis of their wrath, not on the person responsible for the act, but on the inanimate object used.  It's the gun that's the problem, not the poor, pitiful, crying-for-help, I'm-just-another-victim-of-the-system that pulled the trigger.  They were almost forced to kill all of those people.  If we'd only removed all of the guns from the world...

They make a mental picture between a gun and splattered brains.  Kids brains.  What would we do, make a mental picture between a gun and an intact skull?

Obviously, I'm not a marketing genius!

We (that means you, NRA and GOA, et al) need to get some PR hacks and marketing dweebs on this.  We need a theme that ties guns to long life.  And kids being able to grow up.  And families staying together.  Honestly, it should probably stay away from the self-reliance angle, as way too many Americans are now very willing to hand over their personal responsibilities to the government.  Our goal with these types is to either keep them neutral or leaning our way, and not be anti-gun.

How do we emotionally convince these types that it's in their best interest to leave the rest of us alone with our guns?  That they will actually be better off with us with guns, instead of in danger as the gun grabbers would like them to think.

We need to have pre-written press notices that extend and reinforce this positive mental picture every time a person uses a gun to save or protect a life.  And every time a crazy bastard takes one.

We also need a female talking-head for our side.  Someone who is passionate, articulate, well-spoken and knowledgeable enough to hit the Sunday news show circuit.  Someone that's equally attractive to men and women, but whom you believe would punch you in the head if you got out of line.  Sorry, Wayne, we need someone that the women can get behind.  And that ain't you.  Thank you for your service, but it's time to step out of the limelight.
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We're not controlling this debate.  We're defensively counter-punching.  This topic only comes up after a mass shooting, and when that happens, we look like the bad guys.  We bob-and-weave with facts and logic, and they throw hay-makers with dead children and Assault Rifles.

Seriously, who do you think will win, "the hearts and minds" of America with these tactics?  We're toast if this same road is followed.  We must get out in front of this and guide the conversation.  We've got to interject emotion into our fact-filled arguments.

Fear, love, hate, sorrow, glee, pride, joy, safety, contentment.  Which best get ALL of our emotional juices flowing?

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Copyright 2013 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

Bug Out Plan Update: Guns

About a week ago, we got a public alert notice on our TV to be prepared to evacuate.  My area of Northern California has a dominant peak:  Mt. Diablo.  Well, it had a hell of a fire.  Not as big as the Rim Fire near Yosemite or a couple others further north, but it was a bigun.

As soon as we got the alert that we might have to evacuate (about 70 homeowners, ranchers and farmers did have to bug out), I broke out our Evacuation Plan.  What?  You don't have one?  You should be drawn and quartered!  Go here for a 3-part post (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) on how to make your own.

Anyways, part of our plan is, "grab the guns".   So I started ticking off - in my mind - the rifles and pistols I wanted to bring, and staged them to be quickly loaded into our vehicle should the evacuation alert turn into a mandatory evacuation order. [BTW, the posts above discuss the concept of tripwires - events or news that happens, which then move you to action.  We would have voluntarily evacuated well before a mandatory order had been given, as one of our tripwires  - wind direction and speed - would have been tripped earlier.  I'm more aggressive in my self-preservation acts than those dictated by government officials.]

It then dawned on me that my wife would not know which to bring, and what needed to come with them.  I had a BIG hole in my preps by assuming I'd be home when an emergency hit.

So, in addition to updating the evacuation plan to mention specific guns, I wanted to have something that was fully self-sufficient, and easy to grab.

Ta-da!

 Huh?  A tool chest?

Yes, but a very special tool chest.  First notice the front area just to the right of the yellow latch.  It's a lock.  A combination lock.  Here in the late-great state of California, if you're transporting a gun, it must be in a locked case.  I didn't use a keyed lock, because keys get lost.  The combo used on this lock is the same combo used on all of our locks.


What you can't see from this picture is a label that says, "FN-P9, 9mm pistol" on the end of the case.  In this way, I know all of my stuff needed for that particular gun is in a single case.

This case is a Stanley tool box.  It comes with a removable tray, which was removed and discarded, as I want to be able to pile as much crap into this box as is possible.

Here's what you see when you first open up the box -

Everything I need to use and maintain the gun in a bug out situation.

The pistol, 3 magazines, paddle holster, mag pouch, 130 rounds of hollow point ammo (two boxes of 50 each, 3 magazines with 10 each), a universal gun cleaning kit, 225 gun patches, a dozen Remoil gun wipes, and a can of Remoil aerosol.

I believe I will be able to squeeze in another 50-round box and a couple more magazines if I jostle stuff around just right. I think I'll add some Q-tips and a rag as well.

Each pistol I own that might be taken during a bug out now has its own box.  If we are forced to evacuate on foot, this still gives me the ability to grab what I need for a particular gun and stuff it into a BOB, and not be searching high and low for a needed item.

The box was $7, cleaning kit was $8, Remoil patches were $4, Remoil spray was $5 and the cleaning patches were $3.  It won't cost you an arm and a leg to put these together.

Another thing about this is that it doesn't scream, "GUN!"  If we were forced to evacuate and our public servants decided to take an non-Fourth Amendment compliant looksee in my car, it would look like a regular old tool chest used to fix the car.  A tacti-cool case and 5.11 gear would be like calling a buzzard to road kill.

Yes, part of our updated plan is to remove all labels from the box as it's placed in the car.

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More on tripwires:  My area of the country is subject to 3 major types of natural disasters:  Flooding, earthquakes and wild fires.  The tripwires dictate the direction and timing of our evacuation.  Flooding - which levees are at risk, where are they in relation to our home, when are high tides?  Earthquake - where is major damage to infrastructure, where are bridges?  Fire - how close, what direction/speed of wind, in what general direction is the fire burning?

Other tripwires include civil unrest and toxic air releases (I have refineries, power plants and chemical plants all within 15 miles, some within 5 miles, and train tracks within 2 miles).


Accept The Challenge

Putting together an evacuation plan will take you a bit of time, but is well worth the effort.  Your neck of the woods may be concerned with hurricanes or tornadoes.  Perhaps ice storms or a nuclear power plant emergency.

The point is, every place in this country is subject to some sort of event that could result in the need (or order) to evacuate.  Your success in dealing with - and recovering from - such an event is predicated upon the idea that you will do everything in your power to not become dependent upon the good graces of some government agency for your well-being.

Go read the three linked posts on putting a plan together.  Ensure the 12 Impacts are all addressed.  Tweak and upgrade when needed.

Go on, git!  You've got some work to do!

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Copyright 2013 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

The Cost Of Using A Gun - What Ya Gonna Do?

Disclosure:  I have a new business venture which will be announced in a week or so that pertains to this issue.  I found this article, and it was just too perfect not to discuss.
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You've got access to a gun.  You see a crime being committed.  This Daily Caller article titled, "Should you use your gun to stop a crime?" poses an important consideration -

Before carrying your gun again in public, ask yourself whether or not you are prepared to go to jail to stop a crime.  Most concealed gun carriers will risk their lives and freedom to defend themselves and their immediate family.  But defending others, even when the use of deadly force is warranted, ups the ante.  Is it your moral obligation to step in and help when a crime is in progress?

Defending others.  Where's the line between self-appointed wanna-be cop and publicly spirited citizen?  What will a jury think?

In my firearms training classes, I tell my students to get their heads ready, now.  If you shoot someone,  regardless of the circumstances, expect to be arrested.  If you resist, you're going to be bound and gagged, and hauled away with additional charges piled on. 

You will have gone from good guy to bad guy in the blink of an eye.  Is it your stated intent (after you've been arrested) or your actions that will carry the day in court?

In my advanced, Practical Defensive Pistol class, right in my class description, I tell my students that I want no part of their decision on when to discharge their weapon - 

We will not make any recommendations regarding WHEN to use a firearm for self-defense.  The laws in California are simply too vaguely written.  We will provide each student with a copy of the California DOJ Firearms Law Summary section titled, "The Use Of Firearms In Defense Of Life And Property".  Students are strongly encouraged to read and understand this information, and to consult their own attorney if they have any questions.

I've had this in my class description since 2009, well before incidents such as the Zimmerman/Martin case made the headlines.  The Zimmerman/Martin shooting could not have been a more clear-cut case of self-defense, plus it occured in a pro-gun state, arguably the most pro-gun state.

Yet George Zimmerman was put through an emotional and financial gauntlet - because of politics, in this case.  What would have happened in an anti-gun state such as California, New York or Illinois?

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There is the legal concept of curtilage.  It's a very important one, especially in a state such as California where guns are so highly regulated.  In short, curtilage is the physical space which defines your home.  This is hugely important in a state where the only two places you can carry a gun without a CCW permit are your home and your business, AND where obtaining a permit is near impossible.

Scenario:  You're sitting in your back yard, sippin' a cool one - all safe in your curtilage bubble -  and hear some yelling from across the street.  You have no idea what's going on.  Sounds like some sort of screaming match between the folks that just moved in a few weeks ago.

It rapidly escalates.  Plates and glass start breaking.  You and other neighbors call 911.  Suddenly, the wife from across the street comes running out of her house, screaming unintelligibly.  She has blood on her face and hands.  The husband is in pursuit, also covered with blood.  He grabs her, and drags her back into the house. 

What do you do?

You know - hope - the police are on the way, but you don't hear any sirens coming.

The sounds of breaking glass continue.  The screams get louder, and at least to your ear, become more desperate.

What do you do?

She starts screaming for help.  It sounds like she's losing strength.

What do you do?

They come tumbling out of the doorway, both covered in blood.  You can now hear sirens in the distance.  Perhaps 45 seconds away.

What do you do?

The husband throws the wife on the ground, sits on her chest, and starts open-hand slapping her face.   You see a pistol tucked into the back of his waistband.  Police are 30 seconds away.

What do you do?

Remember, step on to the street with a gun, and you've lost your legal protection of curtilage.

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If you interject into this argument, you have the potential to end up in jail, particularly if you use your gun in any way.

If you don't interject, the wife may end up dead, but you're off the hook legally.

From the article -

These questions get to the heart of how prepared you are to stop a crime, even when your life may not be immediately in danger but someone else’s is.  In Arizona, for example, people are legally authorized to use deadly force to stop a crime in progress if another person’s life is at risk.  What about your state?  Does your state offer protections to “Good Samaritans” that use their gun to stop a crime?  Does your state provide you with legal protections, or will it leave you with the risk of being thrown in jail for the rest of your life, for the crime of protecting someone else’s life?

Again, as Zimmerman/Martin showed us, even when clearly acting in defense of yourself - let alone in defense of someone else - you risk being tried for murder.


Accept The Challenge

We make mistakes - sometimes mistakes which will result in the forfeiture of our personal wealth and liberty - most often when we act impulsively.  Most folks gut, primal reaction would be to go club the bastard to death.  If he had a gun, blow his brains out.

Conversely, too much hesitation in defending yourself or another because you're worried about lawsuits and liability can result in your death or injury, or the death or injury of others.

Think through scenarios before you're put into a real-life situation.

What are you going to say, what are you going to do, if:

Someone breaks into your house
You see a hold-up happening at a gas station
You see a woman being raped in an alley by one man.  By 3 men.
You see 4 teens beating someone unconscious with bats and fists
You see 4 adults beating someone unconscious with bats and fists

The laws are different for different states with regards to the "good Samaritan" laws.  How does your state stack up?

Get informed on your state's laws, and walk through some scenarios now, while you're cool, calm and collected.  To do otherwise could result in the loss of your freedom and fortune.

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Copyright 2013 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

Some Projects For You To Labor Upon

Happy Labor Day, by the way....

Maybe a couple of these ideas found at Instructables.com will click in your head as a way to make a couple of bucks on your way to developing a second stream of income, or to help your preps be more productive or and less costly.

This is a great example of using a bit of elbow grease and only a little bit of money to seriously upgrade and improve an existing pile of crap.

This smoker went from this $5 garage sale find:

To this - dare I say - smokin' work of art:

Think you could make a couple of bucks selling this?

If you've got some welding skills and a bit of artistic flare, this Instructable details how to turn a bit of square tubing and flagstone into some remarkable - and unique - tables.

Based on the information in the Instructable, the materials for this table cost less than $50.  That's an easy $500 table, and some of them online go for north of a thousand bucks.

Perhaps you're like me and you work with wood.  So make an oak base!

On the prepper's side, one of the big contributors to Instructables is this guy named the King Of Random.  This guy is unreal.  He has posts on everything from homemade stuff that goes 'boom' to a post like this that shows you how to very easily make a water pump from PVC pipe.

Finally, this last one is a big time saver for those of you with gardens.  Many of you may already know of this trick, but it's a new one to me.

Get your seeds to sprout faster  - as in overnight - by abusing them!

Using a technique called, "scarification", you remove part of the seed hull before you apply water for them to sprout -

He claims he gets a 60% overnight success rate....

Now, get a-laborin'!

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Copyright 2013 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

But On Building The New... Streams Of Income

I just saw this quote on the site of a newly-minted Sister-In-Law -

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
--Socrates

With all due respect to Socrates, I'd replace the word, 'change' with 'success'.  

 I recently returned from a working vacation in a nearby state.  Primarily looking at property to purchase which isn't encumbered with a California zip code.  I've lived in California my entire life.  I've seen it go from an economic powerhouse that was a siren to the best-and-brightest, to a socialist sink hole unworthy of contempt.

No mas.

It genuinely hurts my heart to think of the disaster that is now California.  With the last election cycle, the statehouse is now veto-proof Democrat, and they are not letting the opportunity to create emergencies - which only they can solve - go to waste.

An example, via a recently received email from the NRA -

Vital for you to contact the Chairman of the state Assembly Appropriations Committee Now

This Friday, August 30, the Assembly Appropriations Committee will be casting a series of historic votes on gun rights in California.  Currently the following bills are in this committee suspense file due to the excessive cost of MILLIONS of dollars for implementation being imposed on YOU and the other citizens of California.

Senate Bill 47(Yee) would ban the use of the "bullet button" on semi-automatic rifles to comply with current law and classify firearms with "bullet buttons" as "assault weapons" and ban their future sale or transfer.  Continued legal possession would require that you REGISTER and pay a FEE (TAX) on ALL of your semi-autos with “bullet buttons.”

Senate Bill 53(DeLeon) would require Californians to obtain a permit BEFORE purchasing ammunition, require a background check before every future ammunition purchase and require registration of ALL ammunition that you purchase.

Senate Bill 374(Steinberg) would ban the future sale or transfer and classify ALL semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine or holding more than ten rounds of ammunition as "assault weapons."  Continued legal possession would require that you REGISTER and pay a FEE (TAX) on ALL your semi-autos newly classified as “assault weapons.”

Senate Bill 396(Hancock) would ban the possession of ALL magazines over ten rounds, including the millions of "grandfathered" standard capacity magazines currently legally possessed by Californians.

It is essential that you express your opposition to these nonsensical bills that would only affect and punish law-abiding citizens.  Please contact Mike Gatto, chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, tomorrow, Tuesday, August 27 and ask him to keep ALL anti-gun bills in Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file and NOT move them to the Assembly floor for a vote.

Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairman Mike Gatto

Phone (916) 319-2043
Fax (916) 319-2143
E-mail – assemblymember.gatto@assembly.ca.gov

In addition, please urge your family, friends, fellow sportsmen, gun owners and Second Amendment supporters throughout California to contact Chairman Gatto and tell him to keep all anti-gun legislation in the Assembly Appropriations suspense file and not move this legislation to the Assembly floor for a vote.

 No. Simply put, I won't, "fight the old" any more.

Not a single person in public office at the state or federal levels received my vote.  Not one.  Neither US Senator (Boxer-D and Feinstein-D), US Representative (McNerney-D), Governor (Moonbeam Brown-D), State Senator (DeSaulnier-D) or State Assembly (Frazier-D).

I've written them.  Nothing.  I've added myself to their mailing lists.  Deleted.  I've called them.  Never there, never a return call, even from a flunky.

Why in Gods name would I continue banging my head against this wall?  I won't.  We all have limited resources - time being one of the most important.  I'm not pissing any more away worrying about what will become of this magnet to mediocrity.

Want a 50 cent tax per bullet?  Go ahead.  Want to put biometric sensors on rubber band guns?  Knock yourself out.  Want to place a tax on the greenhouse gas farts of elephants in the zoo?  Tax away, boys.  Want to build another Bullet Train To Nowhere?  Let's make it two!

I don't give a damn.

Instead, I've been busy - very busy - "building the new" (I do apologize for the lack of recent posting).  I'm finishing up two new upcoming extensions to this business, and exploring two other wholly unrelated ventures.  All will produce income.  All will produce jobs.  All will produce taxes revenues.

None will benefit California.
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I've talked a lot about having multiple streams of income - how I believe you're out of your mind if any individual relies on a single income source.  You must assume you will lose your job, or your business will fail.

I don't care how much smoke the .GOV blows up my boxers, I know - with my own eyes - that the economy sucks.

A week ago, 177 of the S & P 500 companies were at their 52-week lows, but the index as a whole was up.  A couple of high-fliers were keeping up appearances for the whole index.

One of the more common stories we hear is like what Cisco Systems announced the week before last.  They reported their earnings were up 18%.  Oh, and they were laying off 4,000 workers.  Wells Fargo made a similar announcement.  Companies are making their profit nut for Wall Street by first cutting costs, and now, like Cisco, Wells Fargo, and hundreds of other businesses, cutting workers to the bone.

You can only do that for so long, before the company dies because it just can't perform at any level of competence. [check out DailyJobCuts.com for a listing of announced cuts and closures]

You've got to get those secondary streams of income flowing.  Now.

The ventures I mentioned earlier are all in different fields.  Two in finance/money, one in self-defense and one in health care.  All of them use the internet as the primary (but not sole) delivery mechanism, and all are portable, meaning they are not geographically dependent.

This concept of "geographic independence" is important.  My firearms training and precious metals businesses are based upon relationships built with local folks.  I primarily do the training at a single range, and my PM store has a physical location.  If I want to move them, it means rebuilding my customer bases from scratch.  I'm financially constrained by only having local customers.

Obviously, very limiting.  And very risky.  If the local economy gets any lousier, everything could just go, "poof!"

These current businesses are also, "me" dependent.  I'm the sole trainer, marketing rep, content creator, etc., for the gun training biz.  For the PM business, I do have two other partners, and half a dozen employees.  Each of us partners have specific jobs we do aside from our time in the shop.

These new businesses - and the MANY more to follow - use a concept I got from a book I've talked about before, The 4-hour Workweek.  The concept is to design a business so that you're the owner, and not the boss.

You bust ass for some period of time building a business with the intention of handing over the reins to someone else.  Your four hours a week are spent monitoring the business, and ensuring that your ownership interest is (literally) paying your dividends.

This "bust ass" period may be a few months, or a year.  The key is to build the business, and incorporate systems that allow you to monitor progress, and only interject yourself into the operations if things seem to be going astray.

Similarly, you may be a subject expert, and write a book, or make a video.  You bust ass, churn it out, and sell it on Amazon or elsewhere.  Your four hours a week are spent marketing your intellectual property.

They same idea would apply if you have programming skills, and can write a program or an "app" for Apple, Microsoft or Android products.
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You may be thinking to yourself, "That's just great on paper, Chief.  But the only thing I know how to do is mow lawns and clean yards (or some other skill that is "you" dependent).  I'm living paycheck to paycheck.  How can I translate mowing lawns into a business where the business isn't the 'boss of me?'"

You open your eyes and start looking for opportunities.  Use the "you" dependent business to build a war chest of cash, which you'll then use to build your "owner" businesses.

OK, our guy from above works 5 days a week as an employee at some job.  He only has weekends available to start.  He owns a truck, a lawn mower, a broom and a trimmer.  He goes out and buys an appointment book, and a stack of 250 simple business cards from Vistaprint.com for $10 (put a list of what you do in place of your address, city, state and fax numbers).

Fresh and early on Saturday morning, he loads everything into his truck, and starts driving neighborhoods.  He goes house to house, knocking on doors telling all who will listen that he'll mow their lawn, right now for $10 cash (or whatever would amount to about half of the going rate).

Everyone he talks to, and every door he knocks, gets a card.  No exceptions.

A brief interlude:  This is where most people crash and burn.  They are unwilling to knock on doors.  Fear grips their very soul.  Cold calling sucks!  They figure a flier in the library and "word of mouth" will git 'er done.  Not gonna happen.  You get referrals - word of mouth - after you've established yourself as a high-value service provider, not before.  If you're going to do work on a house, you go to houses.  If you're going to do work with businesses, you go to businesses.  Period.

Back to our story....

If they say they just mowed their lawn, he pulls out the appointment book and asks if they'd like him to come back next weekend.  He also tells them that he does whole yard clean-ups.  He looks at their front yard and gives them a price a little over minimum wage per hour, PLUS the cost of the dump fees.  "Sir, would you like a bid on the backyard as well?  It will keep your dump fees to a minimum if it's all done at once."  He makes sure he separates the labor cost from the dump fees, so they know his time is a great deal.

After some time, our friend Bob has got steady business.  He's even getting referrals from his current accounts.  When he's not mowing, though, he's back knocking on doors.  He charges a bit more for his new customers - but not too much more.  Every dime he earns either goes into the business for new equipment or marketing materials, or into an envelope in the drawer.  It DOES NOT go into the household budget fund.

All the time he's doing these yards, he's looking.  Looking for opportunities.

When he cleans backyards or garages, he takes the old washers and dryers to a local scrap metal dealer instead of the dumps, and makes a few extra bucks.  He does the same with the bottles and aluminum cans he "harvests".  Nicer furniture and clothing go to the local consignment shop.  He's into this stuff for zero dollars, so he's VERY flexible on his sales price.  Camping stuff, fishing gear, tools and other high-demand items get held for a garage sale his wife runs for him every couple of months.  It's all pure profit!

He's getting close...
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Everyone's story or path will be different at this point.  While you're building your war chest, you need to be thinking about your "owner" business.  What is the product or service?  How will you design it to be a business you can hand over to a manager to run?  How do you make it "geographically independent" so if you want to move, it can move with you?  How do you make sure you can sell your product or service to any corner of the US (world?) so you're not reliant on local customers?

You've got to have it in your head that the time you're investing in yourself right now, is going to pay dividends in the future.  Each future income stream means more time for you to do as you wish.  As I preached to my boys when they were younger, Money Gives You Options.  Don't work just for the sake of making money itself (like some sick scoreboard), but as a means to an end.

Build The New...


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Copyright 2013 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

That's Devaluation For You

A snippet poached from The Woodpile Report (you do read it EVERY week, right?) -

By simple compounding, all fiat currencies should become effectively worthless about 85 years into their use through the mechanism of compounding. At the end, the accumulated compound debt behind the money simply overwhelms its value as debt goes nonlinear at the end.
--George Ure at peoplenomics.com 

So, good old President Roosevelt effectively took us off the gold standard in 1933 - 80 years ago.  We've been saddled with a fiat currency ever since.

Before the dirty deed was consummated, an ounce of gold cost you $20.  Today, that same ounce of gold will cost you $1,368 (at the time I'm pushing these keys).

Let's do some math:  The gold standard cost of gold divided by today's cost of gold will give us the current value/purchasing power of a US dollar.

$20 / $1368 = $0.0146

Yep, your all-mighty dollar is now worth a penny and a half.  If you round up.  Help you to understand precious metal's ability to maintain purchasing power?  Let's say gold crashes to half of its current value.  That means your dollar is actually worth three cents.  Livin' large!

Using George Ure's calculation about a fiat currency lasting for 85 years, that leaves us 5 years for that final penny and a half to be pissed away.

Don't spend it all in one place...

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Copyright 2013 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

Confiscation: The Coming War On Gold

I was doing some research on the 1933 federal gold confiscation.  I wanted to know why they did it.

I knew they did it.  I knew how they did it.  I even knew what they did after they did it.

But I didn't know why they did it.

Clearly, the government believed that it was to their advantage to control all of the gold, rather than having it out among the little people.  But why?

Lots of opinions on what brought it on.  Most revolved around how the limitations of the gold standard restricted the flow of credit into the economy.  Since anyone could walk into a bank, give them a bank note and get a stack of gold coins, banks had to have real, tangible reserves in their vaults.  If they either made too many loans, or made too many bad ones - thus exhausting their reserves - they failed.

If people lost faith in the dollar, they would also convert their paper into gold (sound familiar, my fellow Gold Bugs?).  If enough people did this, you had a run on the bank, and they failed.

The biggest driver, though, was the federal government.  It, too, was restricted on what it could borrow (and thus spend) based upon the amount of gold it held in reserve.  In emergencies, such as wars, they would unilaterally come off the gold standard, and print up currency to pay their war bills.  When the war was over, they'd voluntarily revert back to the gold standard.

The statists in our government saw this off-the-standard model as the goose that laid the golden egg.  Drop those pesky gold standard, uhm standards, and print up currency as needed.

A series of events happened in 1927 which started this ugly, debt-laden, massive welfare state in which we now find ourselves.  Then, as is true now, the statists understood that you never let a good emergency go to waste.

Remember:  Before the 1913 creation of the Federal Reserve bank, the government could only borrow up to the amount it held in gold reserves.

This snippet is from an essay written in 1966 by (future Federal Reserve Chairman) Alan Greenspan for an Ayn Rand book (click here to read the entire, short essay.... seriously, do it!).  Also note that this was written before 1975, when American citizens could once again own gold bullion -

When business in the United States underwent a mild contraction in 1927, the Federal Reserve created more paper reserves in the hope of forestalling any possible bank reserve shortage. More disastrous, however, was the Federal Reserve's attempt to assist Great Britain who had been losing gold to us because the Bank of England refused to allow interest rates to rise when market forces dictated (it was politically unpalatable). The reasoning of the authorities involved was as follows: if the Federal Reserve pumped excessive paper reserves into American banks, interest rates in the United States would fall to a level comparable with those in Great Britain; this would act to stop Britain's gold loss and avoid the political embarrassment of having to raise interest rates.

Uhm, what?  Create paper reserves and inject them into banks in the hope that they'll stimulate growth?

Can you say, "Quantitative Easing, 1920's Style"?

So, how did this injection of cash into the economy work out [emphasis mine]?

The "Fed" succeeded; it stopped the gold loss, but it nearly destroyed the economies of the world in the process. The excess credit which the Fed pumped into the economy spilled over into the stock market -- triggering a fantastic speculative boom. Belatedly, Federal Reserve officials attempted to sop up the excess reserves and finally succeeded in braking the boom. But it was too late: by 1929 the speculative imbalances had become so overwhelming that the attempt precipitated a sharp retrenching and a consequent demoralizing of business confidence. As a result, the American economy collapsed. Great Britain fared even worse, and rather than absorb the full consequences of her previous folly, she abandoned the gold standard completely in 1931, tearing asunder what remained of the fabric of confidence and inducing a world-wide series of bank failures. The world economies plunged into the Great Depression of the 1930's.

Let me just make sure I'm reading this correctly:  The Fed pumped money into the economy, which artificially pushed down rates.  Since investment dollars had no where else to go, they all jumped into the stock market in hopes of getting ANY kind of investment return.  The Fed stopped their money printing, and the stock market - floating on nothing but cheap money - crashed and burned.

With the exception of the final result - so far - does any of this sound familiar?

So, what do we do?  How do we protect our accumulated personal wealth from these insane federal actions?  Greenspan had some insight into this (remember, this was written prior to Americans once again being permitted to own gold bullion [emphasis mine]) -

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. 

This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard.

Hmm.  If gold goes against the grain of socialism/big government, why did the government allow Americans to again own gold?

My guess is that someone screwed up.  Perhaps we had enough folks in congress that hadn't been read into the program, and it just slipped by.  It's hard to say.

Regardless, we can buy and hold gold.  Right now, we can do so without registration or reservation.  The only time Uncle Sugar directly becomes aware of your actions is if you want to make a single purchase with $10,000 or more in cash (actual green backs), or if you sell and make a profit (your gain is taxable).

Accept The Challenge

How Modern Gold Confiscation Will Happen

Current law and regulation leaves WAY too many opportunities for individuals to protect their earnings from the government - the statists.

For instance, right now, if you sell your bullion to a coin shop, nothing is reported to the government unless it exceeds certain large volume limits of certain types of bullion.  That means if you make a profit on your sale, no one in the government knows you made that profit unless you choose to self-report.

I'd expect that to change.  I expect that at some point, bullion stores will be required to report all of our purchases from individuals.  Name, address, social security number.

The statists took a shot at this with ObamaCare, where they required all businesses - not just bullion stores - to report any time they paid out more than $600 in a year to an individual.  That meant that if a business paid you $10 for any reason, they had to get all of your information, as there was no guarantee you wouldn't be back later in the year and exceed the $600 aggregate reporting limit.  The uproar from small businesses got that law revoked.

I'd expect to see it reintroduced in the future, but this time, specifically targeting businesses that buy bullion from the general public.  There aren't enough of us in the bullion business to cause any kind of significant uproar, and it will become law.

The government won't need to do a physical confiscation of your bullion.  It will tax it from your possession.

So, if your intent for buying precious metals is to protect your capital from the clutches of the statists, how will you be able to convert your PMs into spendable cash should the need arise?

Hello black market.

An "unregulated secondary market" will emerge for precious metals.  If the statists will be taxing you 20% on your 'profits', the black market will give you a 15% haircut, for instance.  Some sort of free market equilibrium will be created.

As always happens in centrally controlled economies, individuals will emerge who are willing to risk imprisonment because of the opportunity the onerous law provides to make a profit.  The higher the tax, or the greater the scarcity due to government intrusions, the higher the profit potential.

The War On Drugs will be replaced with the War On Gold.  And it will be equally unsuccessful.

Now, it is legal to now buy any sort of mind- or body-altering drug from government authorized sources.  Yet people choose to buy other unapproved drugs from unapproved sources.  The government paints the illicit sources as anti-social, self-focused individuals who care about nothing but their own greed.  They point to the violence associated with these drug sources, but never acknowledge that it is the prohibition created by government that precipitates the violence, not the drugs themselves.  See the US alcohol prohibition if you need further clarification on the concept, and the benefits society gains when the prohibitions are eliminated.

Expect the War On Gold to be similarly waged.  You will be villainized if you choose to operate outside of government authorized channels.

If you own precious metals, expect a future requirement to provide an annual accounting of your holdings, as you must now do with your retirement accounts.  If those balances drop, Uncle Sugar will be there with his hand out for his cut of the profits.

You can still acquire precious metals without leaving a trail:  Smallish purchases with cash.  Use a debit or credit card, personal check, bank wire or cashiers check, and you've been tagged and bagged.  You're in the system.  At the very minimum, an inference can be made as to what was purchased.  Trying to convince an IRS agent that your check for $5000 deposited at a bullion store was for coin collecting books which were subsequently burned up in a tragic backyard bonfire, won't fly.

Assets can't be confiscated if they don't officially exist.  Plan your purchases wisely, with an eye towards future changes in the law.

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Copyright 2013 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