How I Became a Survivalist and Remained Squeezably Soft

By John Galt

December 3, 2008

In the great year of 1999, I was prepared to hunker down in my humble home with my wife and critters for the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI for all you still learning the lingo). I was cushioned by my vast supplies of rice, beans, canned foods, guns, ammo and the one thousand rolls of toilet paper which I insisted would save our lives one day.

Sadly, the non-event of Y2K shattered so many of my illusions and dreams of leading a “Red Dawn” style movement to liberate the programmers that would save the day. Instead, the only thing that failed technologically in my household was a calculator which flickered off and on, which turned out to be a dying battery and not an error in code implanted by Chinese Communist agents looking to destroy our nation.

This lost dream forced me into a spiraling staircase of doubt that the survivalist mentality was not only wrong but misguided by people who wanted me to buy camouflage and learn how to roast pine beetles with dandelions in my back yard instead of just firing up the Weber Grill and creating my own masterpieces of culinary delight. Events in the coming year would prove my doubts wrong and my desire to resheeple during the year an almost irreconcilable mistake.

When the terrorist struck our nation on September 11, 2001, I feared the worst. I ran to my supply closets and started breaking out the ammo cans expecting an invasion of Islmofacist hordes much like the Mongols stormed the Turkish steppes centuries earlier. As I loaded magazines and watched the horror unfold on television, the realization that President Bush was in our area, speaking to those kids, hit me that indeed we could be at risk. As the President departed Sarasota on television, I had to go out into my front yard and see Air Force One as it ascended from our airport now fully realizing the horror of our new future began to sink in as the fighter jets roared overhead with the Boeing 747. “God help us” I thought to myself. Indeed, we, as a nation needed prayer and guidance more than ever.

As time moved forward, the doubts about the entire 9-11 disaster entered my mind, primarily via shortwave radio broadcasters who started to convince me that all of those years of college and information my professors relating to the fanaticism of the Islamic extremists was indeed a myth. I actually had a little doubt in mind about the events I witnessed with my own eyes on television or if Bin Laden was a real person or not or just a psychotropic illusion induced by a CIA planted hallucinogenic agent introduced into those red berries in my Captain Crunch Berries cereal.

Alas, the whiplash of being slapped back into the real world hit me like a ton of bricks as some personal misfortune made me realize that I needed the survivalist mentality to get by and to succeed. That is why I began to understand that allowing my stash to drop below three hundred rolls was a mistake, and learning to research to find out the truth about so many things became an important part of my life.

So I could help my wife and I and our families survive the coming times.

The tongue in cheek metaphor for so many people in the “prepper” or “survivalist” community is the measure of how many rolls of toilet paper you have stored up for hard times. There are some folks that I know who take that issue dead seriously, even creating spreadsheets measuring usage and cost which is fine unless of course you use more than the average bear which is much more information than I need to know in this lifetime. Alas, that is not the reality though, as freedom and independence are the real story which is what every fine person within this community has always tried to defend and convey.

The mindset in reality is to be prepared for almost anything, and that is what I have tried my best to get my family prepared for. You have to learn to live your lives and balance the day to day needs, practical and emotional, of your spouse and yourself. There is no reason to wake up every morning expecting to put green camouflage paint on your face and play Rambo in the reality of the proverbial real world. Yet letting one’s guard down is not an option as September 11, 2001 so vividly illustrated. That is where learning and dealing with the balance is so important.

I have tried my best to balance my time to prepare with the real world so I do not have my friends and relatives looking to have my household visited by those nice young men with the jackets with lots of buckles and snaps in the back. It is a difficult balance, at times annoying my lovely wife beyond belief, yet you have to find it or you will go insane. The times we are entering are historic for our nation and will eventually lead to the final revision of our system of economic and political structure which means our Constitution shall sadly be drastically revised. To me this means you have to follow the proverbial “prepare for the worst, pray for the best” line of thinking and hope to the dear Lord your actions will take care of those that you love.

I shall always endeavor to seek out like minded souls so I can learn more. The education process is so critical at this time that without it, I might slide back into the Jerry Springer version of America where reality is defined by the insane lack of practical morals and dependence on others to survive. That is not living if you think about it. That is leeching, the process of latching on to others for your existence which requires no moral compass, no spiritual guidance and a total abandonment of the principles which created our nation. The Marxist ideals so carefully infused into our education system and life principles one teaspoon at a time have finally born fruit for those that wished to bring freedom and capitalism down to their knees. The dual concepts of dependence and submission are creating the problems we see now, and unfortunately shall multiply in intensity in the years to come.

With that desire for the preservation of the original American system in mind, I hope that everyone takes a breath of fresh air and pauses to reflect on what your moral center is and how your own personal Declaration of Independence might help you to survive the trying times we are now in the midst of. I could suggest a list of goods, training and programs to help you start down this path but there is only one thing each individual must do. I feel you must look inward, which in my case was an insightful revelation during prayer, to get the guidance you will need to survive this morbid future our technocratic designers have in mind. Once you have taken that time, that moment to look inside yourself and then seek the knowledge you will need, you are light years ahead of your Playstation Two playing, Jerry Springer lifestyle living, four car and a home in debt over their heads neighbor who has three kids, a wife, a girlfriend and a lifestyle which they model after all those reality television shows.

Come to think of it, when I think about those neighbors which we all seem to have encountered at some point in our lives, it makes me want to take a deep breath and take some action to give me peace of mind:

Excuse my while I inventory the Charmin.

Filed under: Prepetorials — John Galt @ 2:52 am Prepetorial #19: “Preppyers”

July 25, 2008

by John Galt

Tonya and Tony were exhausted. They had hiked for an over an hour to the outskirts of Ellisville, MS after abandoning their X5 SUV just outside of Richton, out of gas and too dangerous to keep driving as it attracted too much attention. They had followed all of the advice of their best instincts reading books on the “new survivalism” but when the time came to bug out of their comfortable north Atlanta suburb, they never dreamed how much work it was to hump a seventy pound Jansport pack into the woods of Mississippi in the heat of August. Tonya said her designer Columbia hiking boots were hurting her feet. Tony snapped back “I told you to wear those more often and break them in. We have at least another fifty miles to go and only a day or two to get to Yazoo City.” Tony was depending on the data from his Garmin GPS as he was assured by the salesman at the Bass Pro Shops it would show him the way in any conditions no matter where he was in North America. Tony hoped that this fact held true as the mushroom cloud which lit up what used to be the city of Atlanta left him shaking some two days later.

Tonya asked Tony if he could get any information and he broke out his I-Phone. “Sorry honey,” he said, “still no signal.” She then asked him about the windup Grundig Red Cross radio and he broke that out of his Jansport pack and wound it up. He turned it on the FM band first but nothing other than EAS broadcasts could be tuned in and only three of those at that. He switched it over to the AM band where the static was horrible between the crashes of lightening in the distance and the buzzing heard ever since the war started. He found a local station which his organizer said was in Jackson, MS but it was broadcasting EAS information only. The SW band gave him some hope as some ham operators were operating in the open and clear in the A.M. mode advising folks that there was safety to be found in Yazoo City but the other hams were in what was called Single Sideband and he could not understand what they were saying.

Tonya started to sniffle then, like she was going to cry again when Tony said “Honey, please, not now. We have to get moving again. Put another pair of socks on and let’s get moving.”

Tonya opened her bag up and broke out a pair of her favorite white Victoria Secret’s exercise socks and slipped them on over the first pair. As she sat down on a downed tree, she casually tossed her boots on the ground landing on what she thought was just a branch when suddenly it hissed and struck digging its fangs into her left calf. She screamed out “Tony, HELP!” He wheeled around and saw the rattlesnake in her leg and as the snake withdrew from her leg he hit it with a large heavy branch, either stunning it or killing it as it did not move afterward. Neither of them believed in guns so they trained themselves by reading a lot about what to use for self defense with their bare hands in the wilderness. Tonya grabbed her calf bawling and screaming in agony as the blood started to ooze from the fresh bite wounds.

Tony instantly remembered some of what the books he read said. He told her over and over again to calm down and to sit down on the log. He grabbed her pack and started tossing things out of it on the ground, digging through it in a panic. She cried out “Tony, it’s burning, please do something.” Tony snapped back “Damnit, I’m looking for the first aid kit and the field manual. Hang in there baby!” About two minutes later after dumping her pack on the ground, Tony took out the first aid kit he bought at the Sports Authority but could not find anything in the little book that came with it about snakebites. He remembered seeing a story on television once and said to her “I remember we have to cut the circulation off so it does not seep up to your heart. Sit down over here and stay calm. Let me cut this stick up to make a tourniquet.” Tony hurridly put a tourniquet on her leg just below the left knee and dug through the pile to find the Army Survival Manual he knew he had packed. Tonya, started to hypervenilate and said “are you sure you didn’t leave it in the Beamer?” Tony said “NO! I know I packed it. Let me find it! Stay put and don’t move!” He then dumped his pack on to the ground, frantically looking for the book among the contents of his B.O.B. “Found it!” he screamed out. he flashed hurriedly through the book to the index and found the page on Snakebites on 3-22. He flipped to the page to read what to do and to his shock it said “DO NOT USE A TOURNIQUET”. Instead of following the instructions of the manual, he rapidly removed the restriction and that of course caused a rush of blood into the wound area and an instant scream of pain from his wife.

“Sit tight honey, let me put it back on. I know it said not to use one, but if you were not hurting, let me keep it on while I go get some help. I saw a town about a mile away and could run there quickly.” With that Tony tied the tourniquet back on and gave her two Tylenol tablets then ran towards town without even thinking. Tonya, in great pain, laid down, hoping to grab some sleep while he sought help.

As Tony approached the small town of Ellisville,  he noticed it looked like a ghost town. He saw a small church not far from the cemetary and ran screaming towards it “Help, Help, is anyone here?” A tall sheriff’s deputy stepped out from behind the church in full tactical gear and yelled back at him “Halt or I’ll shoot!” and with that Tony held his hands up. He pleaded at the deputy “Sir my wife and I are refugees from Atlanta. She is in the woods about a mile southeast of here and she has been bitten by a rattlesnake. I’m not armed, please don’t shoot me, I came here for help!” The deputy lowered his AR-15 and got on the radio calling for the town’s doctor, “Doc we have another snakebite, I need your help.I’m out here by the graveyard.” The Doctor had a small pack and looked at Tony with a distrustful look and said “I’ve got the anti-venom, where is she son?” Tony, still excited from having a rifle pointed at him and his run into town said “about a mile southeast of here, I can take her to you.”

With that exchange the Doc, the deputy and Tony headed out of town. He was freaking out as the Doctor kept asking him questions like “what kind of snake?” Tony replied a rattlesnake I guess, it was about five feet long and had a rattle on it it’s tail. The deputy muttered “city folk” and kept the pace with Tony while watching the woods with the rifle ready to go in case this was an ambush. As they entered into the forest about two hundred yards deep Tony realized he did not recognize the surroundings. He called out “Tonya, Tonya, where are you honey?” The deputy said “this is not a wild goose chase is it son?” Tony cried back “no, it’s not, my wife is out here dying.”

After about forty-five minutes, Tony spotted some of the material he had dumped out of his pack and yelled to the doctor and deputy “over here” and waved frantically for them to come on over. As he approached the log where he had left her, the mess they had made looking for the manual and the first aid kit was everywhere but she was gone. “Oh God, where could she have gone! Tonya! Tonya!” he started screaming. “Calm down son, that’s not going to help” the deputy said. “Were you two mugged or attacked or something? These packs are scattered everywhere and it doesn’t look right” the deputy asked. Tony, crying now, huffed back “no sir, we were looking for the first aid kit and survival manual. I have no idea where she could be. I put a tourniquet on her leg to keep the venom from her heart and I know she couldn’t walk.” The doctor and deputy both snapped around “you did what?!?” The doctor said “we don’t have much time. Let’s look for blood or tracks, she’s probably dragging the leg and went looking for him” pointing at Tony with disdain. Tony grabbed the I-Phone out of his pocket desperately calling her cell phone but the “NO SERVICE” was still being displayed full color on the little LCD screen. “Where could she be, oh God, I’m so sorry” Tony cried out. Suddenly the deputy yelled out  from a steep drop off into a ditch about five hundred yards west of where they were, “Over here Doc, there’s no hurry.”

Sad? Certainly. True? Not yet, obviously, Atlanta is still there, still hot and still full of yuppies and preppies who think camping consists of a RV with the Dish Network and a generator with a keg cooler, etc. There is a sad reality that there are people who think that having the latest, greatest, most expensive and chic gear makes them the best preppers. The ultimate “new” survivalists because they have toys that others only dream about.

In reality there is nothing further from the truth. This prepetorial is not a criticism of those who can afford the newest, best or ultimate in equipment but more of a focus on knowing how to use it. Most people have enough common sense to operate a firearm with proper training and practice. But how many people would know the difference between the back of a deer’s head and another hunter in the same forest flashing in front of their scope? How many people in a TSHTF scenario have ever treated (yes, I have on my own leg) a real poisonous snakebite or even practiced? Does anyone honestly think the chic yuppies who have all the “coolest” and most expensive gear have ever had to sterilize and purify water in the field or recognize what plants are edible in the wild and which are not?

There is more to surviving than just having a big wallet or credit card. Practice is one thing. Knowledge and experience is another. All of us have let our skills get rusty to some degree or another, as the creature comforts of life and the comforts of living without the actual end as we know it makes us put it off for another day. Honestly, how many of us have put our BOB’s on and tried to hike with it for a mile? Two miles? Five miles?

For further consideration, what equipment you select and train with is more important than any thing else you will learn. Having a shortwave radio is one thing. Having a shortwave radio that you can use and know how to is much more important. Just like the first aid kit in the story above; having is one thing, knowing what to do is another. In the situation above, the yuppies did not plan for a snakebite and in reality if you know the terrain and surroundings you are entering it is very rare to deal with such a problem. A poisonous snakebite need not be fatal and if you have the proper equipment and take the time to read almost any field manual, be it the Boy Scout manual or an Army field manual then practice or simulate treating a wound. Selecting what goes into your BOB and your bug in kits are crucial to your ability to survive. If you live in a desert region with no lakes or streams, buying fishing gear is somewhat of a waste. By the same token, buying desert cammo because it “looks good” when you live in the swamps is not the brightest move in the world either.

Planning to have a Plan

First and foremost, you had best have a plan put together and then a plan to put that plan into action. Sounds complicated does it not? Well it is never too late nor too hard to do this. Your first object lesson should be to study your environment then plan whether or not you can bug out or should. If you elect to leave the comforts of home the next step is to determine where to go. Then you can start to plan the materials you will need, the duration, the people you can or will agree to let you tag along with and most importantly the skills needed to survive in different environs. It does not help to panic when a problem causes a deviation from the plan to practicing for as many different random events is of the utmost importance. For instance, assuming the system does collapse and you are stuck in the middle of the woods in south central Florida, there will be no NOAA or National Hurricane Center to warn you of a hurricane heading your way. That requires having the skill and foresight to determine as survival plan in the wild to endure such an event. The Indians did it for centuries, although with varying degrees of success so you had best learn that also.

In the story above the yuppies had a GPS for a post-nuclear world. If this war was the result of an exchange, what good would such a device do? The military would certainly scramble the signals or turn off civilian access leaving someone with one of those devices blind as a bat. Learning how to read the stars, maps and orienteering will take you a lot further than a GPS in any event where there is a breakdown of the social order. Not to mention a compass and a laminated set of maps is considerably lighter.

So please, make a plan, several of them if need be. Then make a plan to implement each of them as needed. Crazy as that sounds, it is a starting place to survive an uncertain future.

The Latest and Greatest Isn’t Always Just That

Sometimes buying Army surplus for half the price is better than the newest Dick’s Sporting Goods special. A lot of us are on tight budgets trying to make sure you have enough to cover all potential outcomes but at the same time not wanting to break the bank. I fear that those folks who depend on modern technology to get by in a bleak future will be given a slap upside the head in very short order when their MREs run out and to actually have to shoot, skin and cook something becomes the order of the day. The idea of making a salad out of plants found in the wild makes many squeamish, but if you know what to do it can be quite tasty. Try convincing one of your business partners on the golf course one day that possum with Tabasco sauce is not bad, especially over an open fire and see how much interest he (or she) shows. Just sleep comfortable in having that knowledge or experience and do not settle for less. Having the tools and implements to do the job, not necessarily the most expensive tools and implements is what matters.

I can buy a first class First Aid kit at LL Bean for $99. But I can make a better one designed for the environs of Florida, Georgia or Tennessee, my selected bug out locations, for half that price. Please folks, study what you need and acquire that and do not get boxed into the one super kit or tool fits all solutions. I doubt seriously that I will have to plan for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in my region but to say I had best have the ability and tools to deal with snake bites, spider bites or scorpions is an understatement. You have to plan for where you are, where you will be and where you plan to be. Not buying “things” for the sake of saying “see what I got” which means squat when the fan begins to spew that collateral splatter.

Old School v. New School

This should touch off the big debate and of course, I welcome it on the various message boards I reside on. There has always been an “old school” versus “new school” debate about survivalism which I have tended to stay out of. I prefer to just do it, learn from it and make sure that I don’t put myself or my family at risk in the future. The old school point is to just practice, learn a set of skills, master them and teach those willing to learn. The new school, from my point of view, is that having the best money can buy and the books or videos to watch is just enough. Folks, as the fictional story above illustrates, it is my opinion that the new school ideal just does not cut it. If I have to look for a manual, find the pages needed and then react to a poisonous snakebite then what good am I? I would have allowed my wife to suffer needless pain for minutes when the treatment is quick, easy and can easily prevent illness or a fatality. Believe me, I got somewhat ill after treating my own bite but after getting most of the venom out, it passes through your system if you follow the instructions you learned in the past instead of getting excited and freaking out. I could have added an “I-book” to the story above as the location for the manual to give you the idea that some people think that is all they need to get by. In reality experience, knowledge and training will get you further. Knowing what to pack, where you’re going and the critters you could encounter helps more than all the Garmins, I-Phones and LL Bean specials ever will.

Call me “old school” but if you don’t have the ability to react off instinct, then your time in the wild or hiding from a TEOTWAWKI societal collapse will be short and sweet.

And no, please, do not get out and try to get a real snakebite for your practice. Mine was an accident due to my own stupidity and it was a lesson learned the hard way. Treat the time you have now to prepare like gold, as it can compress and get short in very short order. Make your plan now. And remember surviving ugly looks better than looking good and pretty on a slab in your designer BDUs.

Comments (12)

July 8, 2008

6 Comments »

1. IF THE GOV:T IS GONNA “HELP” ME IN MY OLD AGE REQUIREMENTS AND MEDICAL PROBLEMS I BETTER LEARN TO TRUST THE GOV:T AND THE MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX………… OR PROTECT MY LITTLE BIT OF SAVINGS FROM THEM….BOTH NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE AS MAT BE BEING SELF SUFICIENT IN RELATION TO EITHER OF THESE CONCERNS…..OLD AGEING IS HELL…..Comment by MILO — July 10, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
2. It’s like watching an old person dying in the hospital bed. There is virtually nothing that can be done to stop the process. The US is in its death throws. It has no soul, no vision, no vibrancy, it has lost all of its vitality, its history, its intellect, and stamina.It has been drained of its financial independence by the globalist parasites. Its political will is dominated by those who hate America.It was a grand experiment. And Sparticus would have been proud of the first two hundred years. But slaves are always maintained as slaves by the elites.

   Comment by Warren — July 10, 2008 @ 5:44 pm

3. John: what can we do. If we take dollars from our 401k’s they will tax us heavly. If we do nothing we more than likely loose everything. If we put some or all of our 401k’s in gold, how do we eat – cash in an ounce at a time. We loose this way also. As a retiree, i see no clear cut good option. we are told gold will keep rising – so what. I cannot eat gold or pay bills in gold. It seems these banksters have everything covered; however, I can only see that we have to put our trust in the Lord and make right decisions because nothing I do will change what the banksters are doing and will do.Comment by Dennis G — July 11, 2008 @ 1:26 am
4. Once again the responsible saver gets shafted. The FED may as well get it over with and send everyone a check for 10 million dollars. In a short while ten mil will get you a few gallons of gas and a cart load of groceries. I mean why drag the misery on and on, just bail everyone out at the same time. These evil morons, How much more ridiculous can it get?Comment by Ron M — July 11, 2008 @ 2:20 am
5. I say cash out your 401K regardless of the taxes. Invest in silver coin bullion preferably 1/20 oz coins 1/2 oz coins and 1 oz coins; that way you’ll have smaller amounts necessary for barter trades without loss. If you believe it’s absolutely make sure you cash out enough to keep as cash somewhere safe at home. Otherwise…lose it all when the banks fail…Comment by Chip — July 11, 2008 @ 2:59 am
6. The main problem overall is, 95% of the public is financially illiterate.In spring 2007, I saw the housing bubble starting to crash, and the liquidity/credit problems start to escalate. How? I simply read articles on how much leverage the banks were using, AND, how much gold Russia and China were buying while the US was selling.So, I took my savings and bought all the gold and silver I could. Now, I sell off an ounce or two when I need the cash, and I HAVE control of my security, while it makes money sitting in MY lockbox.

   Also, people NEVER should BUY a stock, or a house when the bull run is in session. During the housing boom, smart poeple would have sold their properties, gone into a Rental house or apartment (which were BEGGING for clients since everyone was buying a house) for 2 years and NOW could have bought a dream home for pennies on the dollar through a foreclosure or short-sale.

   We give our money to ‘professionals’ to manage it and save for our retirements, but your money simply boosts the manipulated stock market so that the elite can cash out on top, and leave you holding the bag.

   I feel for all these poeple being in bondage for their retirement, but I have NO sympathy for anyone who is too lazy to be in complete control of their own finances, and their own futures.

   Comment by Kenneth Schortgen Jr — July 16, 2008 @ 8:43 pm

6 Comments »

1. IF THE GOV:T IS GONNA “HELP” ME IN MY OLD AGE REQUIREMENTS AND MEDICAL PROBLEMS I BETTER LEARN TO TRUST THE GOV:T AND THE MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX………… OR PROTECT MY LITTLE BIT OF SAVINGS FROM THEM….BOTH NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE AS MAT BE BEING SELF SUFICIENT IN RELATION TO EITHER OF THESE CONCERNS…..OLD AGEING IS HELL…..Comment by MILO — July 10, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
2. It’s like watching an old person dying in the hospital bed. There is virtually nothing that can be done to stop the process. The US is in its death throws. It has no soul, no vision, no vibrancy, it has lost all of its vitality, its history, its intellect, and stamina.It has been drained of its financial independence by the globalist parasites. Its political will is dominated by those who hate America.It was a grand experiment. And Sparticus would have been proud of the first two hundred years. But slaves are always maintained as slaves by the elites.

   Comment by Warren — July 10, 2008 @ 5:44 pm

3. John: what can we do. If we take dollars from our 401k’s they will tax us heavly. If we do nothing we more than likely loose everything. If we put some or all of our 401k’s in gold, how do we eat – cash in an ounce at a time. We loose this way also. As a retiree, i see no clear cut good option. we are told gold will keep rising – so what. I cannot eat gold or pay bills in gold. It seems these banksters have everything covered; however, I can only see that we have to put our trust in the Lord and make right decisions because nothing I do will change what the banksters are doing and will do.Comment by Dennis G — July 11, 2008 @ 1:26 am
4. Once again the responsible saver gets shafted. The FED may as well get it over with and send everyone a check for 10 million dollars. In a short while ten mil will get you a few gallons of gas and a cart load of groceries. I mean why drag the misery on and on, just bail everyone out at the same time. These evil morons, How much more ridiculous can it get?Comment by Ron M — July 11, 2008 @ 2:20 am
5. I say cash out your 401K regardless of the taxes. Invest in silver coin bullion preferably 1/20 oz coins 1/2 oz coins and 1 oz coins; that way you’ll have smaller amounts necessary for barter trades without loss. If you believe it’s absolutely make sure you cash out enough to keep as cash somewhere safe at home. Otherwise…lose it all when the banks fail…Comment by Chip — July 11, 2008 @ 2:59 am
6. The main problem overall is, 95% of the public is financially illiterate.In spring 2007, I saw the housing bubble starting to crash, and the liquidity/credit problems start to escalate. How? I simply read articles on how much leverage the banks were using, AND, how much gold Russia and China were buying while the US was selling.So, I took my savings and bought all the gold and silver I could. Now, I sell off an ounce or two when I need the cash, and I HAVE control of my security, while it makes money sitting in MY lockbox.

   Also, people NEVER should BUY a stock, or a house when the bull run is in session. During the housing boom, smart poeple would have sold their properties, gone into a Rental house or apartment (which were BEGGING for clients since everyone was buying a house) for 2 years and NOW could have bought a dream home for pennies on the dollar through a foreclosure or short-sale.

   We give our money to ‘professionals’ to manage it and save for our retirements, but your money simply boosts the manipulated stock market so that the elite can cash out on top, and leave you holding the bag.

   I feel for all these poeple being in bondage for their retirement, but I have NO sympathy for anyone who is too lazy to be in complete control of their own finances, and their own futures.

   Comment by Kenneth Schortgen Jr — July 16, 2008 @ 8:43 pm

Filed under: Old Posts — John Galt @ 9:07 am

By John Galt

June 20, 2008

Nope, sorry Bob, not your C.S.A.

But you were a fine man for your time in an unfortunate intersection in history.

This is the story about a nation which some three hundred years ago was a colony. Not since this map below from circa 1710 have we ever had to consider America as a colonial territory. Based on the amount of debt, the monies we owe and the souls we are willing to sell, it is this writer’s opinion:

The C.S.A. (Colonial States of America) Shall Rise Again.

If the reader takes a moment to ponder what we have done to ourselves, simply reflect back on the past century of world history. The precursor to World War I was a rapid colonization of the so-called “primitive” areas of the world. The exploitation and securing of natural resources was the name of the game and if that meant stepping on the toes of the nearest power every now and then, so be it. The United States engagement with Spain in 1898 was our first taste of expansionism and sadly, not our last, despite the warning just a century before from our Founding Fathers. The same could also be said of the European powers who for centuries before engaged in expansionism via the tools of militarism and imperialism, something we learned from our colonial ancestors.

After nearly destroying themselves militarily, the European nations decided to seed their own return engagement through economic suicide, creating massive burdens of debt while destroying or maiming future generations during the war, which only impaired their ability to rebuild and renew the soul of their countries. The decades of incessant open and colonial proxy warfare and the complete annihilation of their continent finally caused the citizenry to reach the end of their rope, militarily and financially. World War II had finally depleted their ability to start expansionist wars and engage in the exploitation and protection of their colonial empires. A new way to expand had to be found for resource acquisition, but with the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. as the overwhelmingly dominant world powers it would not be a simple process. This too would pass as neither of the new major powers knew what to do with their dominance but piss it away as empires are prone to do.

“Fat, Drunk and Stupid is no way to go through life son”

Dean Wormer said it best in the 1978 movie “Animal House.” Apparently the American people did not listen. Since President James Earl Carter and his cohort in the creation of economic misery, Federal Reserve President Burns worked hand in hand to eliminate American preeminence in this world while that movie was making America laugh, you would have thought that by now the statement would have sunk in and we would not make the same mistakes.

Alas, here we area again, with just more plain “stupid” than we should be forced to deal with in one lifetime, much less one hundred..

It only took thirty years to find a President of the United States and a Federal Reserve President that makes me pine for the days of Soviet nuclear death facing us at any moment. At least during that period of time, we had some prudent and prepared future leadership to at least attempt to redeem our nation’s soul and prevent the death spiral of our national identity. Unfortunately, unlike that time period, this one has Jimmy Carter’s black reincarnate and a senile old fart who should be wagering on the mechanical rabbit at the dog track or playing bingo as the nominees waiting in the wings to save the free world from certain disaster.

God, we are so screwed.

Since that period of time, we have engaged in so many of the same mistakes our European friends did earlier in the twentieth century that it makes one’s eyes water. In my lifetime, we have taken national surpluses and turned them into record debts unseen in the history of capitalism, much less world history. A currency once regarded as “good as gold” is now viewed as a burden as nations around the world seeks way to rid themselves of it and obtain tangible assets which their countries can actually use instead of promissory notes which give ownership of American debt or assets to their central banks.

Our banksters have engineered a “new way” thanks to the greatest criminal enterprise in history, La Cosa Nostra (that’s Latin for “Federal Reserve”), and their outstanding manipulation of financial instruments using new technology and creative accounting standards. We should be proud to have the only Central Bank in the world since Batista’s Banco Nactional De Cuba that not only institutionalizes corruption but turns it into an art form.

If it’s Thursday, it Must be Time to Change G.A.A.P.

Welcome to America in 2008. The land where accounting and banking rules change more frequently than Al Bundy changes his underwear. A market where honesty in accounting can be summed up by what your definition of the word “is” is.

Okay, so that picture is gratuitous, then again, so is the author.

Ever since Bubba’s adventures in White House decorum, we have, as a nation, come to accept abhorrent behavior in the private sector, public sector or religious sector as one big “oh well, happens all the time” instead of showing outrage and demanding punishment for the acts they have engaged in. Is it of little surprise then that we had so few analysts and banksters convicted to the great Dot Con bust in the late 1990’s and just six short years ago? And now we have our new world odor, stinking it up again. The current economic circus was as easy to forecast as what shade of orange Angelo Mozillo’s tan will have in his next Senate testimony and mortgage closing ceremony.

When Glass-Steagall was repealed by the November 12, 1999 signing of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act by President “Is Is” it was so easy to see the subprimeAltAjumbocommercialCDOCDSRMBSCMBSARSDoh! problem ready to explode in the future. Giving your neighborhood bankster the ability to create, rate, sell, resell, hedge, hype, advertise, fold, press and starch any piece of paper they desire was bad enough; giving it to every bankster and blessing it on a national level was an invitation to national suicide. Now that we have given everyone the ability to create debt, sell debt, buy debt, sell and create debt they do not own, hedge against it, wager on it, bundle it and call it AAA and convince foreign powers to buy it, the end result is the same:

The bills are due and the “investors” around the world wants  their money.

Weimar Germany elected to print their way out of the mess. It would appear we are trying to do the same also. Of course there is another more attractive alternative which the banksters and political class might just want to consider. We’ve mortgaged everything off, so let’s let them have it.

All of it.

Deal of the Century

Why not? Why not just start dividing the nation up and giving OPEC, Russia, the UN, the EU, Japan and China, etc. various states and regions so the debt can be called “even” and the resources divided among the world? In this manner the deal can be cut so the banksters get to keep their assets, their system and their ill gotten government structure by calling the resource reallocation a repayment of debts incurred by those incompetent fat lazy middle class Americans who really don’t work enough anyways. It will be struck as the deal of the century, which will allow the mercantile class to retain a semblance of free enterprise and capitalism while having a political structure to keep the peace and tell us schmucks to shut up and eat cake because it is all for our own good. Just think about the happy happy world where rice farmers in Arkansas work to grow foodstuffs to keep their families alive in local trade but help to pay off our national debt by providing dedicated trade at a price level which eases the burden of the debts we owe Communist China. It’s an outstanding idea. And one which enables Senator Dodd to keep his VIP Super Deluxe mortgage deal via Countrywide/Bank of America at a reasonable interest rate while us serfs toil to bail their butts out after forty years of incompetence.

The possibilities are endless and the map above is just a pot shot dart board approach to dividing America up. Who knows, maybe Nigeria does not want to trade oil for North Dakota and the agricultural riches of that region. They might settle for a six pack and the city of Mobile, AL if we can convince them the server farm in City Hall is large enough for them to spam the world from there. And the Russians would easily trade uranium and oil for Puerto Rico as their legendary exploits while in the ports of Latin America would translate to San Juan with little if any difficulty. Alaska might as well go back to them also since the environmentalists have a strong desire for protection of the elk to return to the control of their Marxist motherland. The map as a whole is a work of art in this writer’s opinion as it provides Singapore and OPEC with the ability to obtain more oil from the Gulf of Mexico in ten years than we have extracted in over sixty and thus they can get rid of those pesky bonds we are dumping on them at an accelerated pace.

If the readers of this blog do not enjoy the map or feel they might live in under the thumb of an unacceptable colonial power, well, too bad. You had your chance to move and applications for citizenship in those nations will be highly restrictive as more Americans attempt to move from colonist to citizen status when the opportunities arise. On the flip side of it all, you could always imagine your own state’s best new master and petition  your governor to seek the colonizing by the nation your fellow citizens desire as quickly as possible. Resource domination and allocation will be the key to America’s future as it was for Europe and their colonies before and after the two world wars.

This time, let’s avoid a world war to divvy up diminishing resources. Let us all take the peaceful, big picture approach of working within a world system for a brighter future where we get to keep our current economic and political structure. You may return to your Wii or Playstation whatever now and do not worry about that late credit card or mortgage payment.

Hope is on the way.

Or at least another government program called “hope.”

Down here in Dixie, we’re “hoping” that the EU takes over our region; we’re too danged old to learn Chinese.

Comments (7)

June 16, 2008

By John Galt

I wish to thank the Federal Reserve crime family cartel, the US government and all of us stupid dumb sheeple voters for creating the mess in the photos above.

Before you jump ugly and blame me for putting your name into the hat for those responsible for my hot dog buns costing a dollar now when they cost 15.4 cents in 1967, your name as well as mine belong there. We voted for idiots for decades who refused to manage, oversee or control the government’s debt creation machine and denied responsibility, despite that piece of paper called the Constitution, to audit and maintain oversight over the Federal Reserve. The oversight of that institution was needed since 1913 when it was created by an act of corrupt politicians bought off by the banksters yet we the people have held no one responsible for their actions nor the now institutionalized inflation which is a part of our economy. The price we shall pay is huge.

So why 15.4 cents you ask? Simple. That is the figure that the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides on page 2 of the May 2008 CPI release from last week. It is a figure I have neglected to mention but is well worth promoting. The BLS puts it under the Special Indexes portion and calls it “Purchasing power of the consumer dollar” with with 1967=$1.00. According to their own figures they are admitting the dilution of the US Dollar by some 85% in just the last 41 years. While that seems like an irrelevant piece of data to some, if you take a step back and think about the price you are paying for various goods and services now compared to then or heck, even twenty-five years ago, you realize that perhaps we have been mislead by our government leaders as to the strength of our economy recently. Inflation can be used to mask economic weakness, especially since our government has elected to measure national economic growth using consumption as opposed to production statistics. Sadly, the Emperor’s new clothes are not only ignored, they are adopted as the fashion statement of the year by the sheeple. That cold draft you will feel this winter as utility prices increase some 30% in some markets will not just be from the warmth of your emperor line of clothing; it will be the generated also by the energy shortages some localities will experience as our society takes it turn at attempting to Argentinize the total debt of our society. It did not work out well down there and with the moral compass of our society spinning like a drunken teenage Hollywood star (or starlet) I fear that the consequences of the coming storm will prevent any solution other than a Leninist one from being implemented.

Six items for a dollar in 1967, six items for six dollars in 2008. The math is simple. The consequences are obvious. I hope all of you have taken the prudent steps to preserve your capital and securing long term food storage for the future. Both will be in severe and various stages of shortage in the years to come. And despite the promises of Mr. Government, their ability to deliver has already been proven lacking in many cases.

Got Gold?

Got Food?

Got a new slate of candidates to vote for other than the two party clowns?