As with “the cases! the cases!” – about which you don’t hear as much anymore – you cannot trust the truthfulness of what the government says about inflation, which as everyone knows is much higher than is being reported.
Here is some on-the-scene data that gives some measure of the actual increase in the cost of things – which is also a way of saying how much less our money buys:
At my local Kroger supermarket the other day (Oct. 14) I bought a couple of pork chops for almost $10. The same two-pack of pork chops cost about $7 just ten months ago. A small container of blackberries that cost $2 ten months ago now costs more than $3. There were raspberries on sale – for $6.99 per pack.
Steaks are unaffordable – and hamburger, getting there.
If it’s even there. Store shelves are beginning to have the Hillbilly smile. Great gaps, I mean.
McDonalds – not that I eat there – charges almost $4 (not counting tax) for a Big Mac. Which is mostly bread, iceberg lettuce and some thousand island sauce. A “meal” for two easily costs $15.
At McDonalds.
We all know what gas costs – which is about $1.20 more per gallon than it cost just ten months ago. This is a great deal more – on all counts – than the government’s claim that inflation is only 4.2 percent so far this year.
It’s not quite Weimarian – or Venezuelan. But it is getting there.
Personal anecdote: When I went pork chop shopping, I brought $100 with me – in cash – thinking it’d be plenty to cover the cost of the handful of items I needed to get, in addition to the chops. They included a bag of cat food for my outside strays, six frozen burritos, one pound of ground beed, a can of anchovies (not for me), a pint of heavy cream, a container of sour cream, a pack of paper towels (six) and a few household-related items. The total for this came to $117 and change. I didn’t have enough cash to cover it. So I put it on the card.
I left the store with three small plastic bags of sundries, a bag of cat food and a pack of paper towels. And $117 lighter.
As I walked to my truck my thoughts turned to people who have families to feed. How are they feeding them? I know what it costs to feed me – a single guy, with no dependents other than a pack of cats. Where are people with kids to feed finding the means to feed them – plus themselves?
I figure the typical family is spending at least $300/week on groceries – just food – as of now. Not counting what they are spending on the gas that they need to get the food and get it back home. And then on the electricity/propane or whatever they’re using to cook the food and keep the food cold (in the ‘fridge).
Plus their pets.
Based on my admittedly anecdotal calculations, the real rate of inflation seems more like double what the government is claiming – and in some cases, higher than that. Consider the proportionate increase in the cost of a gallon of gas. We are paying $1.20 more (average, many are paying more) for a gallon of gas that cost $1.20 less ten months ago.
At some definite point, this becomes unsustainable. As in, people can no longer sustain it. Has the average person’s income increased by even the 4.2 percent claimed by the government? How does the average person continue to economically function when what he earns no longer buys what he needs?
Hugo Chavez, phone home.
. . .
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From Zip Code 92882:
Prices @ Stater Bros 10/16/21 (cheapest of unionized grocery chains)
Bulk bacon: $9.99/lb, up from $7.99 a week ago
Pork shoulder strips: $4.49/lb, up from $1.99 a week ago
Boneless skinless chicken breast: $4.99/lb, up from $1.99 a month ago
Beef: fuhgeddabout it.
Price @ farmers market 10/1621
loaf of bread from Old Town Baking in Rancho Cucamonga: $6/1 lb loaf
up from $5 a month ago.
(I bought none of the above)
Not quite Weimar, or Zimbabwe, but headed in that direction.
Fresh vegetables: prices unchanged
‘We all know what gas costs – which is about $1.20 more per gallon than it cost just ten months ago.’ — eric
Not only did crude oil close at $82.66 a barrel on Friday, but also unleaded gasoline reached a seven-year high of $2.48/gallon … up from just over $1.00 a gallon last Halloween. Chart:
https://tinyurl.com/5w7x2px
“I did that” — FJB
I recently decided to make a big pot of Beef and Vegetable soup, since it is getting cooler in Michigan. What use to cost ~25 bucks 3 or 4 years back to make now costs 45 bucks. The Beef alone was nearly 22 bucks of that total and this is for beef that is normally throwaway stuff intended for stews/soups. Just looking it over it ranged from $7.99/lb (stuff I got) all the way up to 15.99/lb at Kroger. I had intended to make Split Pea Soup but finding the throwaway cuts in pork seemed a bridge to far.
Hi Matt,
Yup; see today’s post about our Soylent Future…
Well, the first thing I’ll say is that Kroger is expensive compared to some other stores. I almost never shop there for myself or family, it’s nearly always for someone else via Instacart. Not sure if you have other, cheaper, options in your neck of the woods.
When I moved out while getting my divorce a few years ago (< 10 years), I had a shopping ritual. First stop, Aldi, where I got most everything. Second stop, Dollar Tree (which is becoming no longer "dollar" tree), so I could pick up sundry items and a few name-brand items that were reasonably priced. Third stop, Walmart for things I didn't want to get at Aldi (e.g. I'm spoiled on name-brand coffee and peanut butter that Aldi didn't carry at the time). Household items? I'd look for sales or just pick up cheap shit at the dollar store, since it was just me and it didn't matter if the item fell apart in a couple of months. YMMV.
Have you looked into farmers markets or food co-ops? No, they probably won't be any cheaper, necessarily, but you can get some decent food from them. I belong to one co-op with no minimum orders, know of another that I could order either 10-20 weeks at a time or single orders, and recently discovered Misfits Market (search for it online), who will send you food, including organic fresh produce (!). Just got my first order today, and the organic Fuji apples were delicious. Between those and the extra food I have stored, I shouldn't starve if they get stupid with the vax mandates.
I likewise have not found Kroger meat prices competitive with some other stores. I do think many of their store brand products are decent enough. In the nearby grocery, in a small rural town, beef prices are OK, but pork is actually cheaper than a great deal of their produce. I can buy pork steaks for less than the price of grapes, per pound. So far.
Eric,
You might consider growing raspberries. As you’ve discovered, they fetch a premium price, and I expect they would be easy to grow where you live. My late grandparents, who lived in central New Jersey, made a tidy little business out of growing and selling raspberries. They took orders from customers, and hand delivered the product, which I am sure the customers appreciated.
My grandfather was a banker by profession, but an avid gardener by avocation. My grandma was a very resourceful woman. When the world handed her a lawn full of dandelions, Gretchen made dandelion wine, which was quite good, IIRC. 🙂
They also kept ducks, because my grandad liked duck eggs. FWIW.
Or thornless domesticated black berries, which are a bit more vigorous than raspberries.
This week an acquaintance quickly approaching retirement was excited that social security payments are increasing by 5.9%. I pointed out that inflation is running three times that. Yes, it was a bit snarky. It’s hard for me to share his enthusiasm because, as an Xer, if I were to get a 5%, 10%, or 15% boost, any percentage increase from zero will still be zero.
I remember that, as a kid in the late 70s, my mom was a rock star when it came to feeding a family of six. She’d clip coupons then plan the week’s meals around what was on sale in stores that doubled coupons. She used to clean up.
We’ve become so spoiled by the good times. We’re going to have to visit the archive section of our memories and knock the dust off the ones that show us how our parents survived stagflation.
Hi Anon,
Fellow Xer here. I have written before that if I and most Xers had the cash value of every cent we have been forced to “contribute” to Social Security, most of us could retire, now… in ours 40s and 50s. Not have to work, that is. Instead, we work to pay for the retirement of people we don’t even know – who will be dead and gone when we are left to provide for our own retirement.
Yeah. We aren’t going to get crap from the SS system. In addition, from my income tax alone, I could afford to buy a 7 year old used car every year. Before CV, that would have been a 5 year old car. It’s absolutely ridiculous. If I am made to take some sort of shot, you can be guaranteed that these payments will cease, one way or another. I don not concent
I suspect that even in my advanced years, the US dollar won’t survive me. Much less the Sociopaths In Charge paying anything out.
It’s been many years, but back when I was getting statements of my SS “contribution”, if I recall correctly, I had paid in 50k or better. Double that to account for the employer’s “contribution”. Hell yes I could have retired on 100k. With ease. What I’ve learned since my retirement 2 years ago, is how expensive it is to work. My $1450 per month SS payment is a saving wage. I could live on half of it. So far anyway.
Not to mention I’m not liable for income tax.
And disposed of my debt more than 25 years ago.
Hi Eric, do you mean Socialist Insecurity? No, you and I are not going to get it. They have other plans for us.
Hi SM777,
I do, indeed.
SS is – along with the property tax – one of the most obnoxious, evil forms of taxation. It is more than merely taking someone else’s money – theft – as is the case with an ordinary tax. It is disguised as an entitlement. You are “contributing” to your own retirement. No, you’re not. The government is taking your money and using it finance government. Government pays out “benefits” by using money taken from other people. There is no “account” into which the SS payer’s “contributions” are put, to be invested and to accrue interest. The money was simply stolen – and spent. But the victim believes he has an ownership stake in his long-gone money and so gets angry when the people forced to repay it (who had nothing to do with the original theft) object to it.
Don’t touch my Social Security! How about Keep your hands out of my pockets!
Mind: I greatly sympathize with the victim of any theft. But my sympathy does not extend to accepting victimhood to make up for it.
Hi, Eric,
Yep, the whole thing is based on subterfuge.
And don’t you want to know WHY it is based on subterfuge?
Simple answer. Franklin Roosevelt*, who established the program, wanted immediate political advantage. Establishing *real* mandatory, government administered retirement accounts would take time, while contributors built up actual assets in their own name. Politicians don’t operate on a 20 or 30 year time frame. So, we are stuck with the consequences.
Every now and then someone makes noise about “putting Social Security on a sound financial basis.” GFL with that.
Meanwhile, private pensions and retirement savings accounts continue to get slammed by the market, due to financial market shenanigans beyond the control of the average (small) investor. I know that is true in my own case, and for many other people.
It is quite an experience to wake up and find that your 401k is worth 20% lees than it was yesterday, that all the gains due to compounding over the past five years have been wiped out OVERNIGHT, that you are left with your original investment, LESS losses due to (government induced) inflation. Maybe, just maybe, you would get the message that you, the common, ordinary investor, ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WIN, that THE GAME IS RIGGED AGAINST YOU.
And now, in our old age, the market is offering us “returns” on investment which are less than even the “official” inflation rate, which everyone knows to be DELIBERATELY understated. So, yes, chumps, er, folks, the market offers you a NEGATIVE RETURN on whatever might be left of he money you were trying to “save.”
“Hedge fund?” Umm, yeah, if you have any sense, your “hedge fund” is the gold double eagles in the coffee can you buried under the wax leaf privet in your yard.
Just sayin..
——————–
*the very same Franklin Roosevelt who devalued the U.S dollar from $20 per ounce of gold to $37.50 per ounce of gold, OVERNIGHT, first having the “good sense’ to make it ILLEGAL for U.S. citizens to own gold. A real piece of work, he was. Some even say he deliberately got the U.S. involved in WWII, but that is another story, for another time.
Indeed, Turtle –
I have always been instinctively averse toward and suspicious of these scammy financial programs – all of them. I value tangible assets under my control; land especially. Being debt-free. Owning the things you possess. And – above all – possessing good health, which is of more value than any 401k plan!
Even though I am somewhat dependent upon SS, I would very likely lower my self to go vote, if ever a candidate appeared that proposed to do away with SS. For one thing, my progeny would then be more able to support me, without robbing my neighbors.
Hey, Eric,
Bad Boomer here.
Born 2 Sept 1949 (VJ day, 4 years on) to WWII veterans.
if you want me dead, so you can (theoretically) enjoy marginally lower taxes, you will have to do the job yourself. You have my street address, fella.
Ring the bell. I’ll meet you out front, and we’ll play to Zero.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-18tkr36TbY
You might be doing me a favor, if you beat me.
“To believe in this living, is just a hard way to go.”
R.I.P., John
Otherwise, I respectfully request you to put a cork in it.
Hi Turtle,
I’m not sure what prompted that!
I will say I not only want lower taxes – I want no taxes. I do not see that I “owe” anyone anything who I have not harmed by my actions or with whom I have contracted for services or from whom I have acquired goods. I certainly do not accept responsibility for the retirement funding of people I have never even met,let alone agreed to “help.”
Is that the source of your anger toward me this morning?
I understand the anger of people who want to preserve “their” Social Security.” They have been defrauded. They are the victims of a serial mugging. But the ugly hard truth is that their money was stolen. And then given – to other people. For them to receive “their” Social Security,” money must be serially stolen – again – from other people, like me.
This is wrong. For the same reason that it’s wrong for someone who has just been mugged to mug the next guy who comes along, to make up for his having been mugged.
That said, I’d still support some kind of partial closing down of SS – as a coercive thing.
Those currently retired still get their payments – but younger people are relieved of the mandate to “pay in” henceforth and thus given an immediate 15 percent tax abatement, no small thing.
The fundamental thing being to figure out a way to end this business of using the government to take from Smith to “help” Jones, with government taking power as part of the transaction.
Eric,
>The fundamental thing being to figure out a way to end this business of using the government to take from Smith to “help” Jones, with government taking power as part of the transaction.
Yep.
Please see my post above, as well.
Meanwhile, what, if anything, are YOU doing about it?
Are you refusing to pay your FICA taxes? I expect not, otherwise you would be in deep doo doo with the feds.
So, you are allowing yourself to get mugged (hanging out in a bad neighborhood?) then complaining, NOT that you were mugged, but WHAT THE THIEF CHOOSES TO DO WITH HE MONEY HE STOLE FROM YOU.
Gee, if only all those OLD people would die, maybe Uncle Sam wouldn’t steal so much from me. Guess again. Thieves gonna thieve. It’s what they do.
And as far as killing off the old folks, Klaus Schwab and his evil buddies are working on that right now, because they understand actuarial calculations. Way I see it, one of the main things stopping them is that old folks are a rich source of “raw material” for the medical-industrial complex.
Do I have a “health plan?” Oh, you bet.
1. Don’t smoke or do drugs.
2. Eat sensibly, drink (non concentrated) alcohol, in moderation.
3. Exercise regularly
4. Do all you can to take the “weight of the world” off your shoulders. Stress kills.
5. Avoid the Snake People whenever possible. Doctors & hospitals are the third leading cause of death in this country. “Medicine” is extremely hazardous to your health.
3.
Hi Turtle,
I do pay the damnable tax – because at least they allow me to live, in return. It is why I will not accept the Vax – because that comes at the cost of my life.
I can’t help that they steal from me – assuming I want to live; assuming I want to be able to work (no way I could keep this site going without earning the money it takes to keep it going).
But, I consider it money lost; as I would were I mugged. I would not mug the next guy who comes along to make up for my loss.
I’m not sure why you impute the following to me: “Gee, if only all those OLD people would die, maybe Uncle Sam wouldn’t steal so much from me. ” I don’t recall ever having said or implied such.
Do you?
I see us all as victims. I wish only to not be victimized, nor be the cause of it.
I think I see one who regrets the net loss of their allocation of resources, and so is defensive about their SS payment. The stock market has long been a casino, owned by the bank cartel, and the house always wins. I too am receiving SS payments, but, as I mentioned above, I would vigorously support any candidate who proposed to end SS, as I did Ron Paul. Until such candidate wins, and my progeny and neighbors are no longer being robbed, I will guiltlessly continue to receive reimbursement for the tens of thousands stolen from me, at gunpoint.
>I wish only to not be victimized, nor be the cause of it.
>I would not mug the next guy who comes along to make up for my loss.
Yeah?
So, when your time comes (as it likely will, given your attention to you own health, which I applaud, being of like mind), will you refuse SS benefits “on principle?”
I expect not. Most likely you, like everyone else, will say, “F* it, I paid in all these years, time I got some thing back from the bastards,” thus perpetuating the cycle.
I am not ragging on you personally, Eric, so much as I am attempting to point out that we (all of us) are trapped by “the system.”
Clearly, no sane person wishes the death of any *INDIVIDUAL*, but the “elephant in the room,” if you will, is that, collectively, people are living too long.
Hell, you are even squeamish about killing your own food, so I’m fairly certain you wish no harm to any individual human, but I venture to say that you, and many others, are laboring under the delusion that somehow, if the demographic problem were solved, taxes would be lowered.
It ain’t gonna happen, my friend. As you (and many others) have pointed out, there is no “pile of money” with your name on it down at the SS office. There are only TAXES, which all go in the same pot.
Those of us who are self employed are more acutely aware of this than those who ere “employed” by others. I assert that, without “withholding” taxes from peoples’ paychecks, the shit would have hit the fan a *LONG* time ago…
More later…
turtle, the thing you’re missing is that many of us gen x-ers have known for a few decades now that the SS system will go belly up long before most of us are able to collect a single cent from it. We have NEVER expected to collect back what we put in to this government enforced ponzi scheme, thus, we have already surrendered to the idea of being mugged for most of our lives and then working through retirement age to continue supporting ourselves.
BTW, your outrage and anger shows more about your character than you would like to really reveal about yourself publicly. You may want to reign that in a bit.
Instead, we work to pay for the retirement of people we don’t even know…
And many who draw pensions in addition to Social Security. Neither of which we Xers will ever see.
It’s the truth and the facts, Anon – as our original Clover used to put it.
I think the Millennials and Gen Z have it worse, though – as they never had it better. We Xers grew up when America was still a not half-bad country. We weren’t strapped into child saaaaaaaaafety seats; our schools were boring and bureaucratic but nothing like the literal prisons they’ve become. The culture wasn’t poisonous. We were able to afford college – which still had real value, then. Could “get away” with things inconceivable today – such as driving a beater $500 car without insurance to save money – and not wasting money on health insurance in our healthy 20s. If you were a man, women were still appealing. And the reverse.
These poor Millennials grew up in a cloistered, cluster-fucked culture obsessed with “safety,” riddled with fear and crippled by the unaffordable cost of cars – and houses. With servility demanded as the price of a shit McJob, if you had a McJob. Most of them have never known freedom of any real kind. It probably explains why so many of them don’t want it.
And in fact fear it. How dare you expect me to be responsible for my own welfare.
I was born in ’87 and would take trips in the family minivan with seats taken out and no seat belts. I would run around the neighborhood unsupervised and my friend’s mom always told us to get the hell out of her house and go play. It all changed around 2001. Something happened… hmm… that scared the masses. Ah well. So Eric, I think I do know SOME freedom. But most my age don’t apply it to today and if they do, they get stuck in nostalgia loops.
And I don’t feel too much empathy for old folks today who rely on SS and DEMAND that I stop talking about ending the wicked program. It isn’t the government’s responsibility to care for you when you get old, it isn’t my responsibility to care for strangers. It’s a great idea to invest in gold/silver, land, skills, FRIENDS and FAMILY so that if you don’t have money late in life (things happen), you have people that care about you to rely on. Ya know… how things used to be. Isn’t that what the Boomers always say?
I sure as hell won’t see a dollar of SS and if I did, it would buy a single peanut. But I suppose it would be okay to gradually end it so as not to disrupt people who need it now.
Good stuff, Andrew…
I think you’re right that something – a lot – changed after Nahhhnnnnlevven. For that reason, I will always loathe and despise The Chimp. It was that cross-eyed little cretin who set the stage for everything going on now. The fear… the hysteria… and most of all, the god-damned idiocy. I am old enough to remember when at least, politicians and such spoke in complete sentences and were usually stopped in their tracks by contrary facts. Even Nixon. Who – to his credit – wasn’t an imbecile.
But The Chimp? He lowered the standard such that not even a tapeworm could make it under the bar.
RE: “But I suppose it would be okay to gradually end it so as not to disrupt people who need it now.”
Your intuition is excellent! This is exactly the position Ron Paul put forth.
I hope you can continue further picking up the baton of The Rebel Alliance & advance!
“Social Security” is and always has been a fraud; an illicit pay-as-you-go Ponzi scheme that needs to be phased out. This 1984 book has the skinny on the Socialist Insecurity swindle, but ignore the part about “dropping out” of the system – it doesn’t matter what the law says and you don’t want to directly confront these gangsters, just consider this for educational purposes only:
https://constitution.org/1-Activism/tax/us-ic/schiff/ss_swindle.pdf
More books on related issues:
https://constitution.org/1-Activism/cs_taxes.htm
Hi Jason,
I consider it worse than a mere swindle. SS is coercive; the swindled hasn’t even got the dignity of having been freely swindled – and himself to at least partially blame for it. We know it’s an intergenerational wealth transfer scheme that pits one generation against the next; yet we are forced to “contribute” and subject to punishment if we refuse… this is incredible, astonishing. “Jones” simply wishes to retain the money he has earned, to provide for his own “security.” But “Smith” leverages the government to force “Jones” to pay for his. Naturally, “Jones” resents it – and his resentment is used to keep “Jones” and “Smith” at loggerheads, while the government laughs at them both.
About seven years ago, I was dating a woman whose full time job at a major financial services firm was converting private industry defined benefit retirement plans to defined *contribution* plans.
IOW, what you get when you retire will be whatever the market washes up onshore, *NOT* what the company promised you when you signed on as an employee, years ago.
Turtle,
When I was looking to get my foot in the door of the working world circa 2012, I interviewed at a LOT of companies (and applied to a lot more).
Only ONE company offered a defined-benefit plan, and it was privately-owned and has a virtual monopoly on the caramel food coloring that appears in sodas and basically all the food products. (they are located next to one of ADM’s HFCS plants, and literally ran a pipe over to it).
I learned a lot in that particular interview process, but did not get that job.
Everyone else (except maybe government jobs) is defined-contribution. Most of them will match contributions, but lately it seems that the employer match keeps going down whenever they think they can get by with it.
As a group, Millennials and Gen Z are royally fucked. Most of us don’t seem to know it yet–but some do.
Publius,
>Everyone else (except maybe government jobs) is defined-contribution.
Yes, these days.
Liz & I were dating back in 2014.
Her actual job responsibility was liaison between the company’s attorneys & actuaries, with particular attention to U.S. government regulations, of which there are an enormous number.
As I said, converting existing defined benefit plans to defined contribution, without running afoul of gov’t regs, was *BIG* business, at that time.
As you have noted, government parasites are the only ones with defined benefit plans these days, which many are privileged to start drawing in their early 50s, whilst we peasants work until forever to support them in the lap of luxury which they have built for themselves.
I’ve had two pensions plans canceled from under me because I didn’t have enough time at the companies. .
I think that at least in my area the only people of my generation and younger with pensions are government employees. We are forced to pay them these big pensions through high property taxes. And get this, the government employees usually move out of state when they retire.
Illannoy-like typing detected.
I live in downstate Illinois (Champaign); I have two daughters, 18 and 20, both living at home while they go to school in the nursing program at the local junior college (to save on expenses). We have been spending between $250-300 per week for the past couple of years. And that is buying basic food items so that we can prepare most of our meals from scratch, otherwise our bill would easily breach $300/week.
At my local Food Lion, there are two different sized shopping carts. The standard sized one (I call it the EBT cart) and the little one (the working man size). Just recently, fedzilla announced increases in EBT accounts (food stamps) for recipients. Those people are plush with funds to shop for as much as they desire while I and responsible others have to budget and scrimp while shopping; hence the small cart. On more than one occasion, after the irresponsible ones pay with our confiscated taxes, they will whip out a roll of cash to purchase their beer and cigarettes while adorned with tattoos, body piercings and bad body hygiene. The whole thing pisses me off and I feel like a sucker for being responsible.
Same here. A few years back, I was in line behind an able-bodied young couple, with body adornments, etc. They were “purchasing” shrimp, steak, and other lavish goodies. My few items were sale/clearance type stuff.
As they were leaving, I turned to them and said, “You’re welcome.”
Forgot to mention the key point – they “paid” with an EBT card. No more food stamps, that would cause them to experience the unheard-of emotion of SHAME.
Anon,
I don’t think a little properly-placed shame is a bad thing. I know that life can be hard, but everyone has a responsibility to provide for and take care of themselves & their families first & foremost. If they can’t do that for whatever reason, well, that’s different. Ideally their family would take care of them at that point, although not all families can or will.
But if they could, and don’t, they should be ashamed of that, and should be doing whatever they can to rectify the situation. And they need to stop making excuses and find a way to get by.
Yes, Allen, and let me guess… Those standard size carts are filled with absolute garbage: Copious bread, high-fructose corn syrup solutions, various chips and snacks, pastas, hot-dogs and hamburger, mainly, right? No fruits or vegetables (other than potato chips) to be found? Am I close?
Good Point. That being the case and when they are told “Your future benefits are dependent on you getting the (death) vaxxx…..” they will not be living off of us for very long.
Folks,
I’m not sure how to PRESERVE my assets! I have most of my stuff in mutual funds. The banks, with 0% rates, aren’t an option. I don’t see Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies being the answer, because governments are already moving to take them out; cryptos undercut too many of the tyrants’ objectives, so they cannot and will not be allowed to stand. I’ve thought about gold and silver, but they could either confiscate it, a la 1933; or they could institute a “windfall profits” tax on it. Cash isn’t the answer, because it loses value. What to do then?
Regardless of what the economy does, someone always prospers. Whether it’s up or down, someone always makes money. How to do that? What I’d like to figure out is how to prosper during this inflationary environment; there HAS to be a way! Unfortunately, there’s not much material out there to figure this out…
Luck helps a lot:).
Don’t be afraid of gold and silver- the beauty of them is that they are valuable, portable, scarce, and anonymous. Pay cash for it while you can- stash it in a private place where you and your spouse know and keep quiet about it.
Don’t worry about profiting, be more worried about not being wiped out.
I personally suggest draining mostly or completely any 401k/IRA/etc while you can, before they take them in the rapidly approaching emergency.
Mark, it doesn’t matter what your assets are stored in, the state’s goons with guns can take it from you, if they can find it. Much easier to find your bank account than the hole you buried your Gold/Silver in. At this point in time, keeping the value of your assets is about as lucrative an investment as you can make. Wall Street is a casino, owned by the bank cartel. The house always wins.
Dogs can’t stand the smell of your urine. So piss on Gold.
Buy standard gold coins like American Standing Eagles. You want coins that are in demand, now and in the future. They sell at a premium, but it’s important to consider the future. Converting them to currency later will be a big deal and you will want the least hassle.
Buy now! Gold is on sale.
And IMO in small denominations. The 1/4 and 1/10th ounce Gold Eagles are key.
‘Cause when it comes to that, there will be no “change”.
Just got couple more pounds of AUsome myself. Depressing how small in volume that is….
Hi David,
I’m very new to precious metals. Silver seems more practical to me – as a medium of exchange – because of its lower lesser value per unit than gold. A one ounce coin is currently worth about $30. A one ounce gold coin is worth many times that sum and for that reason very hard to use to make smaller purchases/exchanges. But a one ounce gold coin is small – a way to store/carry a lot of value without a lot of bulk (and weight). Silver, on the other other hand …
I think Silver is a much better investment than fractional Gold coins, which carry a very high premium, for future small payments/exchanges. It depends on how much you can afford to buy which you buy, and how much of each. For example, if 10k is what you’ve got, I would buy silver. If you have 100k+, I would think more like half to each. It’s somewhat of a crap shoot, but not nearly so much in the house’s favor as dollars are.
Hi John and Eric,
If you have some silver and gold you are pretty secure. Even with the bid/ask spreads and the beat downs from the fiat fraudsters they have a great track record and can save your bacon in a pinch.
Platinum looks undervalued right now. If you can keep the premiums to around 100 bucks a coin (10%) then you have a fair amount of upside if you hold. If it goes down (800 an ounce seems like the floor) dollar cost average in. Not as good as gold, but like gold its a good way to port wealth to a new land.
Have always been partial to silver as I was a hodler at 5 bucks. If it ever reaches its true value it should be at least 100$ an oz. If you never need it or spend it its a great gift to pass on to kids, grand kids, whatever.
I’m looking to do a mix of gold and silver coins. I’m going to try buying a bag of what they call “junk silver” to get started.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi6gM1THMYU&t=1s
This guy can teach you a lot about silver. I highly recommend you watch his videos on that subject. Some of his stuff, especially the newer stuff is ‘out there’. This link is about how they won’t be able to confiscate your metals. (and he does push HIS silver designs, which are cool. But buying ‘junk’ silver or apmex rounds are PERFECTLY fine. I’ve gone to many dealers and sold them to see. I’ve talked to dealers and they say Apmex, Golden State Mint, Silvertowne etc are all legit.)
Silver. Is. Free. right now. It is used and abused and destroyed more than gold is (which is hoarded and used for jewelry, meanwhile silver is used in f**king underwear), and it comes out of the ground at around a 10:1 or 8:1 ratio to gold yet is priced at 77:1 to gold. Uh…. what? We use silver for EVERYTHING today. And we used it as a great form of currency that tptb cannot abuse. If it were priced at an 8:1 ratio, assuming gold’s price is the same, silver should be around $220 an ounce. But the true value of silver is that it is silver. An ounce is an ounce, not a dollar amount. Hard to mine, relatively rare and has tons of uses. And psychopaths don’t want us to use it (The Crime of 1873) It’s intrinsic, historic, and I would love to work for silver.
Not dollars. Not cryptos. Take the dollar away from Bitcoin and you have… what, exactly?
Hi Mark,
I dabble a bit in silver…mainly currency. I have a variety of currencies – American, Canadian, South African, Chinese, Australian, etc. I like the currencies a little better than rounds or bars (although I have a few), because of the dual functionality.
As for where to put one’s money I am a real estate girl. It is something they don’t make a lot of and can be used for many purposes. Farm land can be rented out to farmers for crop harvesting or grazing. Not every piece of property needs to have a home on it to be useful, but renting out property, does offer a pretty easy supplemental income. Real estate right now is too expensive. In about six months I expect to see a significant drop as more houses become available, likely flooding the market.
Along with the FL home I am also looking at land parcels with a running spring or water reserve and fertile land for growing. I am eyeing WV, but Western MD is also an option. Might as well get my hands on it before Gates does. 😉
Unfortunately, real estate is even easier to confiscate than your dollar or your Gold and Silver. It can’t be moved. Watch Doctor Zhivago again. Whatever the state’s goons with guns can find, they can confiscate. It all depends on how far they will go. True, they aren’t making land anymore, not in any great quantity anyway, but they aren’t making Gold and Silver anymore either, just finding more of it.
Key point, John, and well-made.
In addition, the government doesn’t need to outright confiscate real property in order to oust you from it. With lawfare and regulation, the Big G can convert your asset into a crippling liability overnight.
For instance, it is now being reported in British Columbia that a law passed five years ago will become effective March 1, rendering 15,000 private wells “illegal” just like that.
https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/les-leyne-15-000-water-wells-could-be-declared-illegal-in-2022-causing-economic-chaos-1.24362080
(There appear to be nominal “grandfathering” provisions, but even those are dependent on enormously expensive assessment, licensing, and application processes.) Undoubtedly, this will amount to an eviction-through-the-back-door for thousands of formerly self-sufficient water-users.
Similar results can be achieved by the Big G with steady ratcheting of property taxes, zoning impositions, etc. There’s also the famous story of the Adamson House eminent domain, where the state claims ownership of your property “because it’s pretty.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rindge_Co._v._County_of_Los_Angeles (Indeed, the Adamson House still stands, like a game-head trophy writ large, proudly flaunted by the big-game hunter that is the Big G.)
If they want you off, they’ll get you off. Real property “ownership” is an illusion unless you are a nation-state militarily capable of repelling or deterring an outright martial assault. That’s just reality.
MM,
Preserves are typically made with chopped fruit and sugar, then canned in glass jars. A water or steam bath should do the trick. Your state university extension, the USDA, many cookbooks, and a simple Internet search should help you to find recipes.
Good morning Eric,
4.2%? Lol… More like 13%.
On a brighter note, you can still get hamburger for ~$3.50/lb at Costco (in Georgia), if you don’t mind buying 7 or 8lbs at a time.
☮
And that my friend is what makes a deep freeze a good investment. Break it up in the portions you want, bag it, and freeze it. Information abounds to the contrary, but I’ve eaten venison that’s been in the deep freeze for 6 or 7 years, with no ill effects. As long as we still have power of course.
Bought an old freezer years ago from a co-worker who was downsizing, a chest type manual defrost. Stuff does last a couple years even though I try to rotate everything and defrost it once a year. By stocking it with whatever meat is on sale I can keep a good variety of beef, chicken, pork, etc. and avoid shopping for weeks at a time
What it does is allow you to buy meat ONLY when its on sale, when you buy a lot of it. Also, they are typically remarkably durable.
I have 5 kids. I easily spend $300+/- per week on groceries. This figure doesn’t include beef and eggs which I supply from my own source.
Of course, I don’t do food stamps which I’d easily “qualify” for if I applied. With 5 kids I think you’d have to make over $150,000 per year to not “qualify”. Maybe more. I remember reading years ago that a family with 4 kids had to make around $110-20,000 per year to not “qualify”.
I just got the last of my 5 out of the house. The reality is you and I don’t qualify. That is pretty much reserved for our beloved single welfare mommies and dirtbags who never tried- their incomes are nonexistent because they get about 80k/year equivalent in various welfare bennies.
On Fox, where most of the time (except for “I want to talk about climate change” Chris Wallace & some others) they have opposition viewpoints to the current propaganda being played, you will see a pundit- like a Larry Kudlow- seem mystified how the Bite-me regime is driving off a cliff with inflation, boarder control, mandates, and losing a war. These pundits seem like pointing out the forced error in the regime’s ways will bring about change? Look at the situation a different way….if the Bite-me regime were never going to lose another election ever again…isn’t this the way they should behave?
Funny, especially because Kudlow was in the room when they turned the printing press up to 11.
Yes and I often point this out to deaf ears. Most people i know seem unable or unwilling to accept that the people in power have nailed the ability and fully intend to control every election from here on out.
Inflation is the PURPOSE of fiat currency. There is no other reason to use it. I’ve been through similar before. Late 1970s, just a few years after Nixon closed the Gold window. Inflation, unemployment, and interest rates were ALL in double digits. Of course if inflation was calculated now as it was then, we would have that double digit figure now. Unemployment likely the same. At one point the prime interest rate was 25%. “It’s not quite Weimarian – or Venezuelan. But it is getting there.” A few years ago, few being relative at my age, I read a collection of correspondence from Weimar Germany. There was a thing they ALL had in common. This did not happen slowly. They had inflation, and dealt with it. A few months later, workers were being paid twice a day, with wives picking up the lunch break check, and going out to buy groceries before the prices went up. History may not repeat, but it does rhyme. We could easily get to Liberian levels. Could be part of the plan to dispose of cash, if you can’t carry enough of it.
Regarding families, remember the “advance child tax credit” for those who “qualify.” That’s a lot of folks. It began in July. This is putting $250 directly into the bank accounts of families each month for EACH child. I know of families with 4 kids getting $1K or more a month this way. Then, these same folks are ALSO going to the local “food bank” for free shit. Stigma or shame, or even a vague understanding of what is happening or being done to them, doesn’t even figure into the equation with these people. Things are crazier and much further along than many realize.
Thanks, Anon – I’d forgotten about that…
You’re right. It’s a lot of “free” (and compensatory) money, sufficient to offset inflation, to a significant degree. I know if I had an extra $250 each month I could occasionally buy a steak again, instead of another cube of hamburger…
The local food bank in the nearby big town accepted donated produce from me. On distribution day I would arrive with a good 75 pounds of cucumbers, the size and shape weren’t sale-able so I took them to the food bank.
All kinds of people lined up to receive good produce and canned goods, many were tattooed with all kinds of dermagraphic art.
Can afford to be tattooed to the hilt but want free groceries.
I stopped donating. Why am I growing food to feed people capable of feeding themselves I asked myself. Doesn’t make much sense to me. Also donated to the Salvation Army, on days I donated, the customers were there collecting free produce from the shelves and I could load them up with unsold produce.
Back in 1989 Corn King bacon was 88 cents per pound. Tyson owns them now, last I bought some it was 4.88 per pound at a Walmart store. If you had income of 20,000 USD, ten dollars per hour full time, bacon at two dollars per pound was the price at the time. You’ll have to earn 80,000 – 100,000 per year now to match the price increases of today. Bacon is now 7 and 8 USD per pound and more, you need even more money to catch up to that.
These days, I donate to neighbors and friends, plenty of produce still out there in the one acre turf. Poor year for potatoes, unfortunately. You want dry land potatoes. If it doesn’t rain, plants don’t grow. You can water and water and water to maintain the plants so they stay alive, but optimal growth relies upon rain first and foremost. If it dries, it dies. A great year for tomatoes, though
Now it is constant snafu, fubar nonpareil, your TEOTWAWKI taking place all of the time.
The trick to watering is wait until you see stress, and then water deep. As in make your garden look like a rice paddy. Frequent watering makes plants lazy, and they don’t put down deep roots for dry weather. You don’t have to do it often.
+1 Mr. Kable.
This is a guy who knows what he’s talking about.
Everything is increasing, and not the partly 5% the officials claim.
I’m sure it will be blamed on the unvaxed.
This is an economic lesson that the MMTers should learn from but won’t.
Scarcity determines value and dollars are not scarce after the last two years.
This is what happens.
It will not end soon. The only silver lining is that it should wipe the democrats out of office, but they will be replaced by impotent republicans.