Collapse Preamble or Just More Straw On The Back of The Camel?

There are a number of economic signs or indicators popping up, seemingly unrelated - but I'm not so sure.  These could be nothing more than a string of mutually exclusive events which indicate nothing beyond the fact that they happened.

My gut says differently.  My gut says these are indications of further degradation of our economy, that a whole lot of folks smarter than me see ugliness in our future, and they're fortifying their positions.

The snowball is a-rollin' and growing with every turn.

For example -

Billionaire stock sales - focused in consumer goods and financial stocks.  Warren Buffet sold all or large portions of his positions in a number of consumer product companies.  Johnson and Johnson, Kraft and Proctor and Gamble.  John Paulson sold JP Morgan, Sara Lee and Family Dollar.  George Soros sold mostly financial stocks - JP Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Massive numbers of Insider stock sales

Recently announced layoffs (100,000 total?) in the financial industry.

Eight major retail chains closing between 11% and 33% of their stores.

Economy shrinking or barely growing (depending upon when you read the government, eh, statistics)

None of this sound good.  Yet, you look over the other shoulder, and you've got the stock market toying with record highs.  WTF?

I believe the stock market, right now, is a game of Musical Chairs.  People are looking to earn more than they can get with a bank account or buying bonds.  I think the only reason folks are in stocks is because it's the only thing with any kind of decent returns.

But it's wicked risky.  If the aforementioned indicators are correct - everything signalling 'contraction' - we've got a pretty significant crash ahead of us.  If that happens, the last guy standing will be toast.  Timing is everything.  Is the "smart money" already out?  Or is this a false flag?

For some more head-scratching, look what's happening with precious metals.  Uncle Ben Bernanke confirmed that the Federal Reserve Bank will continue devaluing the dollar via QE3 through 2016.  PMs should be soaring as the dollar crumbles into oblivion.

Instead, the dollar strengthens and PMs are on life support.  Again, WTF?

One of the reasons the spot price of gold has been in a slide is because our friend and socialist, George Soros, sold a buttload of it - worth over $100 million.  But he didn't sell physical gold.  He sold paper gold - Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).  This sale preceded, and perhaps lubricated, the current slide.  Everyone saw Soros dumping gold, and they decided to follow.

I've yet to figure out why the dollar is getting stronger.  I know it's not the dollar getting stronger on its own - that it's other world currencies getting weaker, but still... I have difficulty believing the rest of the world continues to get worse at such an alarming rate.

The bulk of the decline is due to selling.  There are tools available that show how a price drop or increase is affected by the dollar going up or down, and how much is due to buying or selling pressure.  For instance, if gold drops $10, it will show that $3 was due to the dollar strengthening, and $7 is due to selling pressure.

Here's where it gets a bit weird.

With all of this selling, we should be awash in silver and gold.  Yet the exact opposite is true.

In our PM store, we've seen a noticeable shortage of silver, initially, and now gold.  One of our biggest wholesalers has been out of most types of silver for the past couple of weeks.  Silver rounds and bars, American Silver Eagles, Canadian Maple leafs, Morgan and Peace dollars, 90% Junk silver, 100 ounce silver bars.

This isn't some Podunk outfit.  They do half a billion dollars in business a year.  Yet they're tapped out of much of the most popular types of silver.  Now, lots of common types of gold are coming up short, as well.

And premiums (the amount charged over spot prices) are rising, pretty significantly.  Our wholesalers have upped the ante by 10% to 25%, and that's being passed along to our customers.  There's IS a physical shortage, and the laws of supply and demand are kicking in.

What's that tell us?  That the paper PM and physical PM markets are separating.  People don't give a damn that PM spot prices are tanking.  They want tangibles in their hands.  Now.  Because they know that once the dust settles, the US dollar - already only worth 4% of its former self - will join the ranks of the German Reichsbanknote and the Zimbabwe Dollar in the dustbin of world currencies hyper-inflated out of existence.

Other than numismatic (collectible) varieties, I haven't been able to keep an American Silver Eagle in my store for over 12 hours.  They are usually sold to us, then they're out the door to a buying customer - all in the same day.

The only ones I can guarantee for delivery (right now) are customers that walk in with a cashier's check for the purchase of a monster box - 500 ounces in one fell swoop.
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So, is all of this madness a preamble to us going over the cliff to hyperinflation in the near future, or is it just another piece of straw being placed on the back of the camel?

I just don't know.  I guess no one really could know for sure.

What I DO know with certainty is that the dollar will fail.  Maybe next week, maybe next decade.  Lots of things can affect the timing.

Our debt will never be paid off with our 4-cent dollars.  It will either be defaulted upon, or our government will officially devalue the dollar as Germany and Zimbabwe (and LOTS of others) have done in the past.  Check out Argentina to see how it's working right now in real-time.

It ain't pretty.

Ferfal - the blogger who lived through the worst parts of the Argentinian crash said that the one common thread of folks in his (now former) country was that they wished they had more precious metals when it all crumbled.

Not dollars.  Not canned soup.  Not toiletries.

Precious metals.

Think on it.  It is unlikely you can store enough of everything you'll need during hard times.  While barter is a skill everyone must master, you will eventually need something that your barter goods won't "buy".  You're going to need money, and the only type that has maintained its purchasing power throughout time, is gold and silver.

Some scoff and say that you can't eat precious metals.  True dat.  But gold and silver have been currency for the past 5,000 years.  I'm guessing they will still be good in the near future.

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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

Mouth-Breathin' Dumbasses

 I'm losing my patience.

I am so friggin' tired of seeing story after story on issue after issue where no modicum of common sense is present.  It seems as though there is no attempt whatsoever to challenge a single word from this administration on virtually any subject.

If they say it, it's gospel, and common sense be damned, we're going to perpetuate the administration's position.  Worse yet, is that when our mouth-breathing population is polled on these subjects, they fall in line with the administration, with a compliant, "yup".

No questions.  No challenges.  No nothing.  "If David Gregory says it's so, well, it must be right."

There are a handful of us who write and read and bitch about what's going on, but most folks can't be bothered to even scratch the surface of these issues facing our country.

Reasonable gun control, drones being used on Americans, "Sequestering" shutting down the government, and just general economic common sense.

"Reasonable" guns control, for instance.  Barry took a pile of crap ideas, flung them against the wall, and it looks like Universal Background Checks and Large Capacity Magazines might be sticking to the wall.

Here is a grammar school-level conversation that every American should be having with themselves on the background checks:

Hey, doing a background check for people that want guns sounds very reasonable.

Why?  What will it accomplish?

Well, by closing the Gun Show Loophole and the Private Sale Loophole, guns won't end up in the hands of criminals.  That's a good thing.

Really?  Criminals, by definition, don't follow the rules.  If one were to be stupid enough to go through the check and be rejected, what do you think they'd do?

Uhm, they'd probably steal one or buy one from another criminal.

Correct.  So, how does performing background checks on law abiding citizens keep guns out of the hands of criminals?

Uhhh.  It wouldn't.

Correct, again.  Oh, and by the way, since this issue is being brought up because of the recent mass murders by insane criminals, how many of those mass murderers failed a background check?

I dunno.

Not one of them.  Placing restrictive laws that will only be followed by the law abiding citizen does nothing to stop criminals.  Still think the Universal Background Check will make anyone safer?

[Crickets chirping]

No matter.  The dumbasses in Congress will pass this law because it feels good.  Makes it look like they're tough on crime, and compassionate towards crime victims, all in one fell swoop.

In reality, they're just pandering mouth-breathin' dumbasses.

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All of these types of laws and statutes and regulations are ultimately for one thing, and one thing only:  Control.  Control of your actions, movement and earnings - reinforcing the idea that you must ask permission of the government to proceed with your life.

I need permission to drive.

I need permission to open a business.

I need permission to carry a concealed weapon.

I need permission to put an addition on my home.

I need permission to ingest certain drugs.

 Tell me how, if I were to ignore any of these laws, would society be harmed?

It wouldn't be.  If by my actions while doing one of these things, I infringed upon the rights of another citizen, THEN I would be justly punished by society.

To reinforce the supremacy of our supposed civil "servants",

I must subject myself to invasive physical searches by the government to fly on a supposedly private airline, though no probable cause warranting the search exists.

My vehicle may be stopped and I can be questioned at checkpoints when I have not exhibited any indications of illegal activity.

If their life is taken during the course of their employment, the penalty for their murder is more severe than the penalty for taking my life while I'm at my job.

The lives of their children are more valuable than the lives of my children, as many of their children attend schools with tax payer-funded armed protection.  My children are afforded no such protection. 

With the mere accusation - not conviction - of certain crimes, I can have my assets seized and sold, and the proceeds are given to The State. 

My home can be stormed by para-military tactical police squads for non-violent criminal accusations.

 And most people are A-OK with this egregious conduct.  They've swallowed the Koolaid administered at our Government Schools decade after decade.  "The government wouldn't do this if it wasn't the right thing to do!" bleat the sheep.

They've got their government cheese, or perhaps are just comfortable and don't want to rock the boat.  Either way, things aren't so bad.

"What's the big deal with a couple of extra rules?  As long as the government keeps us safe from the boogie man du jour, or keeps food in our bellies and a roof over our heads, complying is no great inconvenience."

And therein lies the problem for the rest of us.

Accept The Challenge

How do you prepare for your future when society has this mindset - this desire - to be compliant with unjust and unconstitutional laws and regulations?  The assets you've acquired from your labors are not yours if the government thinks otherwise.  "Fair Share" laws - frighteningly similar to those in Atlas Shrugged - require that all get an equal share of the pie, regardless of past and present effort or lifestyle choices.

If you've got more than the next guy, that's just not fair, and you need to give some of yours away.  By force, if necessary.  Our government has done it in the past with gold seizures, is doing it now with high taxation, and is eyeing your retirement accounts like a hyena ogles a newborn gazelle.

And know with every fiber of your being that "Whisleblower" laws will be extended to place a bounty on the head of folks that scoff at future Anti-hoarding, Anti-gold and Anti-gun laws.

So, what do you do?  The long and short of it is:  You've got to hide your shit.  And not all in one place.

For instance, if you're eligible (or will be) for SSI, you need to ensure your other "outside income" is below levels considered sufficient to survive.  SSI will be "means tested" in the future.  Guaranteed.  No other way for the government to even consider keeping up appearances.

Unless you really want to live in poverty, you need to have other easily disposed of assets available.  Long-term food stores, farmland, precious metals, skills with which you can barter for other goods and services, ammunition, weapons, quality tools.

Multiple caches in multiple locations.

You must also keep your head down and mouth shut.  Claiming poverty then buying a new car every other year is going to set off the BS meter with the authorities, and the jig will be up.  Chat up your hefty silver stash, and rest assured you'll soon be making a donation to the state.

Get out there right now and develop some productive skills.  If Nanny is able to take all of your stuff, you can re-build.  Learn how to brew, how to distill, how to forge metal, how to weld, how to repair engines, how to sew clothes, how to plant a garden, how to load ammo, how to split logs - whatever.

Assets can be seized, skills cannot.

And learn how to cut a deal.  Negotiating starts with information.  What does the other guy really want?  For instance, someone selling a home you want may not be willing to budge an inch on the price.  Most folks would assume that meant the seller didn't really want to sell.  If you asked him why he's selling, you may find that he's just tired of the upkeep and property taxes, and the money is just going into the bank so he can draw an income from the interest.

You can offer to pay him his full price, as long as he carries the loan and accepts a small down payment.  Win win.  He gets some cash in hand, interest income and no property headaches, and you get the property.

In the previous post about canning the grapefruit juice, my employee looked at the bushels of grapefruit on his property as a nuisance.  He was thankful for me to take them off his hands.  I sweetened the pot by giving him a pint of the juice as further thanks and so he'll think of me when he's got more fruit.  We both benefited from the transaction.

Be creative.  Be tenacious.  Be consistent in your efforts.

Now go on - get to work on your very private future - mouth-breathin' dumbasses be damned!

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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

Canning Fruit Juice

I've got an employee who has TONS (literally) of grapefruit.  This past summer, he gave me a grocery bag full of these massive fruits.  They had very thick peels, but even when the peel was removed, the fruit was still the size of a softball.  Big, juicy and sweet (for grapefruit).

I had been reading an e-book by Jackie Clay of Backwoods Home Magazine that contained instructions on how to home can fruit.  I was thinking I was going to have to wait until all of the U-Pick orchards in our area opened up to be able to can some fruit.  By luck, my employee noted that one of his grapefruit trees was ready to snap limbs with it "winter crop", as it was so heavily laden with fruit.

I said I'd take some off his hands.

Well, he shows up the following week with 3 garbage bags full of fruit!  The grapefruits were considerably smaller this time around.  Still as sweet and juicy, though.

The Jackie Clay recipe said that you had to section the grapefruit before canning.  Otherwise, the white membrane gives the fruit a bitter taste.  I jumped online and found a couple of videos on sectioning grapefruit.

Uh oh.  Looks quite laborious.

I took one grapefruit and started sectioning away.  The first one took me about 10 minutes, and left me with about a half cup of fruit sections!  This is not good.  I decided to do a test of how many I could section in a 15 minute period.  I'd go all Edward Scissorhands - blades a-flyin' - going for speed, not beauty.

I sectioned 4 fruit and ended up with perhaps a cup and a quarter of sections.  Crap.  I'm looking at 60 or 70 grape fruits, and it's going to take forever to get them prepared, let alone canned.

Time for Plan B:  Juice.

I cut each grapefruit in half across its horizon (grasp with thumb and middle finger on the stem and flower indentations on the fruit, and carefully slice between them).  This will give you a cross section of the sections, making juicing MUCH easier.

I used a wooden juice reamer.  The pitcher for the juice had a very fine strainer on top to catch the pulp.

The Jackie Clay book also had instructions for canning fruit juice with the water bath method.  In short, you juice your fruit, heat it to 180F, and pour it into your pint canning jars (also having been heated to 180F along with the rings and lids).  Ensure the water in the canner is at least 2 inches over the top of the jars, bring to a boil, THEN start a timer for 15 minutes (adjust if you're at altitudes over 1000 feet per your canner instructions).  When the time is up, pull them from the canner, let cool, then check for proper seal on the jars.

I got 8 pints of the best grapefruit juice I've ever had.  Seriously awesome stuff.
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I'm actually very anxious for his summer crop of grapefruit to come in.  Being much larger fruit, the sections should be big enough to justify the time needed to prep for canning.

If not, I'll have more juice in my future!


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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

So God Made A Liberal

An instant classic....






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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

Front Row Seats

We're getting a front row seat on how to wage a one-man, asymmetrical warfare campaign.

We've got a former sailor and  LAPD officer that's running amok in southern California.  It is his belief that he was wrongly discharged by the LAPD.  It is his desire to correct those wrong doings, and regain his good name.  It is his belief that he has taken every available avenue through the legal system, and the system has failed him because of lies from members of the LAPD.  You can read his "manifesto" here.

So, I'm guessing this guy figured he had two basic options on how to exact his revenge on LAPD.  Option 1 was to enter a police station or LAPD headquarters, guns a-blazin', and kill as many people as he could.  He would get a body count, but he would assuredly die in the attack in fairly quick fashion, and be forgotten almost as quickly.

Option 2 is to terrorize his enemy.  He understands that taking the LAPD head-on would accomplish little.  But pick them off slowly, individually, methodically, and publicly, well, you kill two birds with one stone.
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What tactics is he using?

• Pre-position supplies to allow your terror campaign to be extended
• Publish your intent - a general list of grievances and specific targets
• Kill some folks to show that you're serious

 So far, his plan is working like a charm.  Kill your enemies and humiliate them very publicly.

How much manpower and how many dollars are being sucked from all of these police agencies due to one man?  He is running them ragged.  Bleeding their coffers.

Perhaps more importantly, he's making them look inept.

Just like the NYPD cops that shot 9 civilians in Manhattan last August while trying to apprehend a bad guy, LAPD shot two old ladies in the town of Torrence because they were in a truck that looked like the one owned by the ex-cop.

 Holy crap.  No muzzle flash.  No defiant roars from an attacker.  Just a couple of old gals delivering newspapers.

Not as widely reported was another shooting by Torrence PD officers.  Same deal - the truck matched the description of the bad guy.  No one was hurt in that incident.

They look scared.
They look undisciplined.
They look untrained.
They look vulnerable.

As a study in what one determined, well-trained person can accomplish against a vastly superior force, it doesn't get much more vivid.  It will indeed be interesting seeing how this whole episode plays out.

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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 Mindset Of Taking A Life

There was a recent story here in the SF Bay Area where an undercover Oakland cop was shot by some gang members.  He was an unknown person in the wrong neighborhood, and was about to be executed.

The fact that this officer lived is amazing.  He was shot as the gang bangers heard the sirens of approaching police cars.  They knew the cops were almost there, but it didn't matter.  They still attempted to execute the stranger in their midst.

He moved, the shot hit him in the arm.  He's already been released from the hospital.

Four days later, a guy shot another Oakland PD officer in the leg.  This time, the bad guy knew he was shooting at a cop.

No matter.

The Chief of Police responded to these shootings with an almost comical statement:

"You cannot shoot at police officers when they are out there in the line of duty trying to protect the community," a visibly angry police Chief Howard Jordan said at the scene of Friday's shooting.

Apparently, the bad guys didn't get that memo.

Obviously, these scumbags don't care if you're a citizen or a cop.  If you get between them and their business, expect to be dealt with very quickly and very violently.  If you don't have the means and the mindset to protect yourself, you'll be dead.
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A scenario:  Three armed, masked bad guys enter a police station.  How do you think the cops should respond?

I think most people would say that the cops would start shooting at the bad buys until the threat was eliminated.  The bad guys would either be dead or would have surrendered.

I also think virtually every person in America would say that that was a proper response to the situation.

Another scenario:  Three armed, masked bad guys enter your home.  How do you think you should respond?

I made a horrible assumption.  I believed that everyone would answer the question the exact same way as they did with the police station scenario.  Your most primal instinct would kick in - self-preservation - and you'd do anything and everything possible to stop these bad guys and save your life.  If you had a gun - just like the police - you'd shoot until the threat was eliminated.

Apparently, not everyone shares that view.  With whom did I make this bad assumption?  My mom.

Just before Christmas, my brothers and I took her out to dinner.  We were chit-chatting about things and got on to the Sandy Hook School shooting.  I was saying how the only thing that could have been done to stop the slaughter at the instant the crazy bastard started shooting, was for an armed person to shoot and kill him.

My mom said she could never use a gun to take another life.

WTF?  No circumstance at all?

She then said that she could maybe do it if one of us or her grandchildren were being threatened, but only then.  If someone with a gun (or a bat, or knife) broke into her home, she would never defend herself with lethal force.

After I brought my blood pressure back from, "She's gonna blow, Captain!!" levels, I asked her why she felt that the life of this scum bag - this maggot who had entered her home with evil intent to do her harm - was worth more than her life.

She started crying, and my brothers gave me the, "Nice Christmas present, you asshole!" looks, so I stopped.  I can be a teeny-tiny bit intense about this subject....

So today, somehow, the subject came up again while we were talking on the phone.  We got to the point of her placing a higher value on the life of the scumbag over her own, and she just said, "Well, I guess I do value their life more than mine."  She obviously didn't want to continue with this discussion, and just cut it short.

But I'm still dumbfounded by her attitude.
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I get this once in a while when I teach one of my safety awareness classes.  Someone will state that they could never take the life of another - that all life is equally precious - and they won't be a party to such madness of having the God-like powers of determining which life is more valuable than the next.

If you've got people in your life with a similar naive, Pollyanna outlook on life, take them through these questions that I ask my hesitant students.

Part 1:

I'm not here to make you feel warm and fuzzy that you took a class on safety awareness or self-defense, then praise you with, "You go girl!" or a "You da man!"  I'm here to help you save your life.  And sometimes, that process is unpleasant.  Here goes....

Ma'am, do you have any children or grandchildren?

Yes.

What are their ages?

Two grandchildren, four and 6 years old.

Great.  Picture this:  You've taken them to the park, and one of those White Panel Vans pulls up.  They grab you and your two grandkids.  You are punched in the head, and knocked unconscious.

When you awake, you see your grandson being raped by one of the attackers.  The other one is readying himself to do the same to your granddaughter.

The badguys, believing you to be unconscious, have left their guns within your reach.  What are you going to do?  Are you going to grab the gun and shoot them, or are you going to tell yourself that their lives are just as valuable as the lives of your grandchildren and allow them to continue with their rape?


[If they say they'll shoot, I go on to part 2 below.  Some say they will point the gun at the bad guys, and hold them for the police.]

OK, being badguys, and having done this before, they don't believe you when you say you'll shoot if they don't stop.  The way you're shaking and crying, they know you won't do a thing.  They actually laugh out loud as they continue their rape.

What are you going to do?  Allow them to continue with the rape of your grandchildren, or shoot them?

[I have yet to have a student say they would allow the continuation of the rape.]

Part 2:

I'm very glad to hear you made the decision to place a higher value on the lives of your grandchildren over the lives of the rapists.  You've acknowledged that all human life is NOT of equal value.  It may make you very uncomfortable coming to that realization - and that's not a horrible thing in itself.

What's important is you recognizing that there are some horrible situations where the decision of life or death may be thrust upon you.  You've shown that, as unpleasant as it may be to your intellect, your ethics, your humanity or your morality, you do have the ability to place a higher value on one life over another.  That, at times, it is more moral to take a life in defense of another.

That extends to the defense of your own life.

What I want you to do is to acknowledge that your life is more valuable than the life of someone attempting to end it.  That this animal has no right to decide when your life should end.  That the world will NOT be a better place with them in it, and you in the ground.

Your life IS more valuable than the attacker's.
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I'm not so naive as to think that even after putting folks through that very emotional gauntlet, they all suddenly take up arms for self-defense.

What I AM very confident about, is that they are thinking about it.  Every one of them.  They're thinking about something they may have never considered before.  That's all someone in my position can do.  As the saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."  True dat.

I can't force someone to defend themselves, I can only show them why they should do it.

I've clearly got some work to do on my mom.  You think I should do it just before her upcoming birthday? ;-)

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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

Gold, Guns and Gall

In case you weren't aware:  There's a bit of a gold and silver rush going on right now.  In our store, when we get gold or silver in, it goes out within a couple of days - tops.  Many times, it's in and out in the same day.

One of our primary wholesale sources (they do about half a billion in business a year) flat ran out of generic silver rounds.  Not a one to be had.  They ran out of Krugerrand one ounce gold coins as well (still had American Gold Eagles, and Canadian Gold Maple Leaf's, though).

Along the same lines, the US Mint has already sold out of their 2013 American Silver Eagles.  Two weeks into the year!  Not enough silver around to keep the mint running.

I'm just sayin...
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It's all about purchasing power.

I get asked virtually every day I'm in our store, "How high will gold/silver go?"  They're trying to get insight into when to buy and, perhaps more importantly, when to sell.

They always get the same answer:  "I dunno."

I tell them that if they're not willing to hold onto their PM purchases for 3 to 5 years, they shouldn't be buying.  They should be in the stock market if they're looking to gamble with their money.

Here's what I know:  Until our government commits to a balanced budget - tax receipts equal expenditures - they MUST either borrow more money, print more money or do both.  All of these actions weaken the dollar.  All of them strengthen precious metals.

Now, the price of PMs will go up and down - like the teeth on a saw.  BUT, that saw is pointed upwards.  You may have short-term price drops, but over time, the value of PMs will increase until the US government stops using inflation to pay its bills.

When they actually produce and adhere to a balanced budget, that's when I sell my PMs.
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Maybe not even then.  Honestly, I'd think it was a scam.  I'd want to know how they could possibly cut enough cost and/or raise enough tax dollars, PLUS ensure Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid were fully funded.

I just don't believe it to be possible.  They may 'nut up' for a year or two, but there's no way all of those unfunded liabilities are going to be funded for the long term.  It IS a Ponzi scheme, and those always fail.

I'm guessing that folks like me - Baby Boomers, soon to enter the pay-back period of our forced SSI retirement participation - will get short-changed.  Congress will either remove the COLA increases while devaluing the dollar, or will subject us to Means Testing, and cut our payments.  It will be a de facto default to us, but not a political one.

My kids ain't gonna see squat out of the government-run retirement program.  THEY will pay for our financial sins.
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 I'm sure it's totally unrelated, but ever since Sandy Hook and Obama's plea for "reasonable gun control", my gun classes began selling out.  Quickly.

I posted my first quarter classes in mid-December, and by the second week in January, I'm sold out through the end of March.  Plus, I have two private classes scheduled, each full to the hilt.

I had an introductory class this past Saturday.  I get to the range/classroom a half hour before the range opens to set up for the class.  There were more cars than normal parked out front when I arrived.  I popped out at 10am when they opened, and the line of people wanting one of the 12 lanes was out the door.  Easily 30 people.

Even here in the Land of Fruit and Nuts - perhaps the bluest of blue states - we're not swallowing the swill Barry's serving.

Our state legislature is busy crafting more Look Busy/Feel Good/Accomplish Nothing Gun Regulations.  They're talking about the whole fingerprint for ammo gig, licensing ammo sellers and adding many more guns to our already lengthy Assault Weapon list.

I need to look into a gun storage business in, perhaps, Nevada.  If the idiots in Sacramento make currently legal guns illegal, most people are not going to give them up.  We've been through this crap before.
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But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.

Those words were spoken today by the same man who had just sworn to uphold the Constitution of The United States.

Translation:  Principles must not be principled, and giving up personal freedom will help to preserve those very same personal freedoms.  Ouch, that hurts my head.

It's all about the hive.

Orwell would be jealous of Obama's ability to twist the meaning of words and concepts.

Arrogant bastard.
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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

Post Traumatic Stupidity Syndrome

[H/t to Bruce Schneier of Crypto-Gram fame for introducing me to this term - which dates back to 2001]

 Post Traumatic Stupidity Syndrome (PTSS) - the over-reaction to a disaster or significant event with actions which provide little or no resolution to the event.  Nor do they prevent future occurrences of the event.  Most often, the actions that are taken are nothing short of excuses for the expansion of government into our lives, and/or a usurpation of our rights. 

The kicker is, most of the time, most of the American public gratefully accepts and supports these actions.  "You're not free if you're dead," is a common refrain.  They willingly trade freedom for safety.

At his Monday press conference, Obama used the tried-and-true, "If it only saves one child's life, it's worth doing," when talking about his upcoming assault on our gun rights.

PTSS has people lapping this up.
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In my lifetime, I can think of only one of these disasters that resulted in a positive outcome to society:  The 1991 Luby's Massacre in Texas.  As a direct result of that shooting, Texas citizens got a shall-issue concealed carry permit law enacted.

Texans recognized that crazy bastards exist, and that the only way to stop their rein of terror is to put them down - quickly - like the rabid dogs they are.  Texans codified their God-given, natural right to self-defense.

In 1993, Californians faced a similar opportunity as a result of the 101 California Street shooting.  This state took the opposite tack - instituting draconian and ineffective "assault weapon" bans.

Texas believes in personal freedom.  California believes in government control.  The two decades since these two states acted have told an interesting tale.  Texas is a thriving, vibrant, safe economic powerhouse.  California - which has seen a massive migration of its citizens to.... Texas - is a shell of its former self.  We've become a crime-ridden, oozing pustule that has squandered our bountiful natural and human resources.  We're the well deserved laughingstock of the nation.
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Tomorrow, I expect Obama to act much as California has acted in the past.  He will use the power of Executive Orders to make it more difficult for us non-insane mass murderers to protect ourselves.  He will also use his bully pulpit to pressure congress to pass additional draconian and ineffective laws towards the same ends.  He may or may not succeed in the latter pursuit.

No one in the compliant media will "do the math" and ask whether any of these new restrictions or laws would have stopped or slowed the insane shooter at Sandy Hook.

They won't ask why judges, politicians, bureaucrats and movie stars rate high enough for armed protection, but our children do not.

They won't note that from first shot to first responder was a 20 minute window.  He had approximately 1 minute per kill, so he could have accomplished his head count with a muzzle loader rifle. 

Or a spear. 

Or a sword. 

Or a crossbow. 

Or a lacrosse stick. 

Or a tire iron.

We can only be thankful that the shooter, upon entering the Government Mandated Hunting Preserve For The Criminally Insane - also known as 'Gun Free Zones' - was as incompetent with firearms as he was mentally ill.

The only thing that could have saved the lives of those children would have been having armed citizens on campus.  Police, guards or CCW holders.

It is the only thing that will prevent such massacres from occurring in the future. 

Yes, we MUST examine our mental health system - very carefully - to come up with a way to identify these lunatics, but that is a long-term project.  Right now, we need to protect our children.

No matter.  Post Traumatic Stupidity Syndrome will carry the day.  And America will be less safe.  And, I fear, more kids will die.

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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

Insane Acts

During the Christmas season, we sold a number of these bills -

 It's a Zimbabwe $100 Trillion bill.  We sell them for six bucks.  These are not counterfeits or made on a printer in the back office.  They are real currency that was used in Zimbabwe during the height of their hyperinflation driven economy.

Supposedly, at the time, they would get you an egg or a cup of coffee.

When we sell them, we kid with the customers that they should buy an extra, send it to Washington, and our nation's financial ills will be solved.  No federal debt, no unfunded liabilities in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.  Hell, you might have a couple of extra bucks left over to do something fun with the family!

In yet another example of our own government's surreal, tenuous grasp on economic fundamentals, a proposal is floating around that would create a new $1 trillion platinum coin.  This coin would be minted by the Treasury department, then given to the Federal Reserve to increase the Treasury's account balance so we can pay our bills.

With a $1 trillion coin in hand, Treasury could deposit the money into Fed accounts, and pay its debts in that manner, instead of relying on bond issuance.

And none of this requires Congressional consent. Talk about an elegant solution.

The White House unsurprisingly hasn't commented on the idea. But Rep. Jerrold Nadler is on board. "I'm being absolutely serious," he told Capital NY. "It sounds silly but it's absolutely legal."

 Silly?  Not even.  It is nothing more than another example of the inefficiency of government. 

The Treasury prints up our bills and mints our coins.  A new coin will require new costs to design and manufacture.  Plus, you'd have to acquire something with actual tangible wealth - platinum - to spit these babies out.

They should just start adding zeros to existing currency.  Problem solved.  It's not like anyone thinks the dollar has much value anyways.
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In case you were curious, at the current price of approximately $1,550 per ounce of platinum, the $1 trillion coin would need to contain 654,161,290 troy ounces to actually be worth $1 trillion.

It'd be a bitch to make change for a cup of coffee at Denny's....
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Most folks have heard Einstein's quote about insanity - it's along the lines of, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome."

Has no one in DC ever heard of the Wiemar Republic in Germany?  Or Zimbabwe?  Or Argentina? How about ancient Greece in 400 BC?

Dionysius ordered all money handed over to the government upon pain of death. He then reminted every coin, turning each one-drachma coin into a two-drachmae coin. The tyrant was then able to pay all his debts in full; maybe no one noticed that the real value of the coinage had been halved.

Hmm.  He minted coins worth less than their face amount.  My bad - apparently Washington HAS been reading their history.
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You know what's sad about this trillion dollar coin idea?  Common Americans aren't going nuts over the fact that their government is even considering such a scam.  We, too, have a surreal, tenuous grasp on economic realities.

We just don't give a shit.  Hey, there's nothing in it for us to rock the boat, so why put forth the effort?  As long as the Bread and Circus' continue, we don't give a damn.

It would be insane to resist.  An individual can't change our national economic path, just as we can't stop the outcome.

It would be equally insane to NOT prepare for the economic storm that's coming our way.  You know it's coming.

The usual "If", "When" and "How Bad" of risk management have been streamlined.  "How Bad" will be a function of time.  The longer it takes to stop our current economic policies - either by austerity or collapse - the worse the outcome.

"When" it will collapse is the biggest unknown.  It will be driven by the actions of the government.

The "If" is a done deal.

So deal with it.  You'd be insane to not act.

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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

Skills: 12 For '13

 Like most folks, when the end of the year rolls around, I start making lists of things I want to get done for the coming year.  I personally find that if I make lists, I tend to do much better hitting my marks.

So, in the spirit of giving, I'm not going to give you a specific list, but some guidelines.  Using our "12 Impacts" approach to prepping (there are only 12 possible impacts from any sort of emergency or disaster), here are some ideas for skill building everyone should consider for 2013.

Note, it's skill building, not going out and buying a gadget.  Gadgets can get lost, stolen, or fail.  Skills give you the ability to adapt to your circumstances.

Come on - it's not that tough.  Build one new skill once a month.

Push yourself!  Develop skills in areas where you suck.  If you're a big gun guy, don't learn 6 new ways to hide a pistol on your person.  Instead learn how to set a broken bone, or make a shirt from cloth and thread.

I've got posts on a number of these items, which you can read by clicking here.

Broaden your horizons.  Try to do one out of each category.  For most folks, number 10 will be the most difficult, so make sure you do it!  Barter and negotiating are outside of the comfort zone of so many people.  Remember:  The worst that will happen is the person you're negotiating with will say No.

Or would you rather try dumpster diving, or gathering recyclables?   I've got to tell you, we have a growing number of folks coming into my precious metals store doing the whole, "hunting and gathering" gig with all types of recyclables, including gold and silver trinkets they find.  Most are earning a couple hundred dollars a week through all of their finds.  Great skill and a great way to build your war chest for buying prepping gear you can't negotiate for.

Here's the list and some suggestions to get your juices flowing...

1. No Potable Water - build a sand and charcoal filter; make charcoal; make a solar still; learn how to locate water in all types of terrain;
2. No Food - learn the local edible "weeds" and other flora in your area and make a salad; learn how to make 3 kinds of snares; learn to kill and clean a fish; learn how to kill and clean a small mammal;  ferment food scraps into alcohol;
3. No Shelter (from elements) - build and test a debris shelter; learn the knots necessary to set up a tarp shelter, then set one up; sew together a simple hat from some simple cloth;  learn to water proof cloth;
4. Lack of Safety and Security - learn to accurately shoot one handed;  learn to shoot with your weak-side hand; learn basic striking techniques for quickly disabling an attacker; learn about boobie traps and early warning devices; learn to load your own ammo
5. No Public Utilities (electricity, gas, sanitation) - learn 2 ways on how to make fire without using matches or lighters; learn how and where to make an outdoor toilet;
   
6. No Communication Services - learn about and practice a "dead drop"; become a ham radio operator; learn Morse code;
7. Toxic Airborne Contaminants - make a homemade gas mask; learn to "air proof" a room in your home;
8. Restricted Travel - make a drag sled; map a route through a city that bypasses all public and private cameras; hike 10 miles with a pack equal to 50% of your body weight; learn how to siphon gasoline;  learn how to use a compass;  learn how to read and use a topographical map;
9. No Access to Professional Medical Services - learn indigenous medicinal plants and how to prepare them; learn how to set a compound fracture; learn how to clean and close a wound; learn how to stop bleeding; learn how to open a breathing channel;
10. No Money - practice bartering (without using cash) at garage sales and flea markets; learn how to dumpster dive;  identify and collect the most abundant and the most valuable items in your area that can be gathered and sold to recyclers;
11. Lost Records - make a "Survival Bible" and put it in paper and electronic media; make copies of your most important documents - driver's license, birth certificate, mortgage papers, etc. - and put them in a geographically distant location;
12. Mental Health/Spirituality - learn and store games that need no electronics (dice, cards, board games);  learn games that need no tools (hide-n-go-seek, for instance);  memorize important passages from your religious text of choice;  learn about and gather flora that contains calming/soothing properties;  learn 5 yoga poses;

Everyone's list will be different.  None of us knows what kind of emergency or disaster may hit.  We don't know the breadth and depth of the impact.  We don't know where we'll be when it hits.

So we look a probabilities, at least in the beginning.  Once we acquire some skills, goods and equipment, we tend to increase our resources to cover more dire events.  It never seems as though anything is enough.  I don't know if this is good or bad, it just is.


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Copyright 2012 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