cash is trash

CASH IS TRASH


By way of panic, unable to think of any nifty filler material to stretch this thing out to an acceptable length ( that’s what she said ), I strolled on over to our brothers over at

http://tslrf.blogspot.com/

and desperately skimmed the last few days. Thank goodness, something about the ethical imperative of paying your debts if you are at all capable of it. Now, this is just basic common sense. You treat others how you want them to treat you. And it is the right thing to do. Having said that, it is never black and white, cut and dried. If you borrow from a crook, a loan shark ( Forgotten Noir 2 (Loan Shark / Arson Inc) ), an unethical or unsavory character it is almost a given that you should screw them over. Let’s just say that you are a crackhead. You go to a corner crook to get a loan. It is of course understood that if you fail to pay back Toni his twenty percent vig every week he will break your kneecaps. So, being a crackhead ( Crackheads Chocolate Covered Espresso Coffee Beans, White & Dark, 1.40-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12) ), you steal the money you need. You, sir, are a scumbag ( as are the politicians that keep the War On Drugs going so that you can’t legally buy cheap safe drugs ). But let’s say that Toni also deals in white slavery, real snuff films and sweat shops. Isn’t Toni pretty much as low as you can get as a human being? Wouldn’t it be cool to kill him and not pay him his money ( I’ll ignore his chain of command for purposes of illustration )?

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No one is going to argue with the above example, since it is painted in such obvious ways. Asshats don’t deserve the same ethical treatment as your uncle John that loaned you the 20% down for a house. Now, why do you think bankers or corporate types are any different than Toni? I wager that a day doesn’t go by that a corporation doesn’t bend you over and screw you hard without lubricant. It might only be a dollar store item that broke after two uses, or a cheap electronic item that you couldn’t find a part for and so had to buy a new item. It might only be a few cents of damage you suffer. But when they do that to millions of consumers it adds up. Corporations ( most of them, anyway ) earn millions or billions from unethical treatment, so don’t think you “owe” them much consideration. Your corner retail bank might be locally owned or a smaller “mom and pop” operation, but they are just the front men for the federal reserve bank ( Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country ). The group of scumbags that have devalued the dollar 96% in the last century. The folks that profited off the Great Depression ( Rethinking the Great Depression (American Ways Series) ). The ones that earn a minimum of half a trillion bucks a year in interest loaning the federal government the cash they “need”. I would think nothing of defaulting on a loan from a bank or a corporation ( say, a mortgage or a hospital bill ) as they are not acting in an ethical manner so neither should I. Yes, I’ve declared bankruptcy twice. Both times in extreme financial hardship. I used to feel bad about it, but after developing a sharpened sense of how those in power work I’m sure that they have still extracted from me in hidden and multiple ways far more money than I ever defaulted on.

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I finally gave up on trying to find a replacement cap for my thermos ( and frankly, to be honest, the suggestion that I use a large cork was retarded since the cork will have less of a lifespan than a hard plastic cap [ unless I’m retarded and they make super strength corks ] ) and just went ahead and bought two new generic “vacuum bottles” ( Stanley 1.1Qt Bolt Vacuum Bottle ) from Wal-Mart. I would have rather just spend ten bucks on two replacement caps but since that didn’t seem to be an option anymore I spent $30 on two new bottles. Refer to the above on corporate practices. Hell, I couldn’t even find something at the official thermos brand web site. Granted, if I had more Internet time I might have found a source. But I don’t. And the difference between what I pay now and what wireless broadband would cost doesn’t pay for such instances. So it is better to take the financial hit at times. Not that I’m happy about it. What I was delighted about was my trip to Home Depot. I bought all needed supplies for a hundred feet of 4” PVC pipe ( TEKTON by MIT 6466 PVC Pipe Cutter ) for the future earth pipe project. The pipe was $12 a ten foot section. It was the couplers and elbows that cost so much ( eight couplings at $4 each and three $6 elbows, plus a cap and some glue ), with the added sales tax as a bit of salt in the wound. It was just two bucks shy of $200.

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If I lose my job tomorrow I at least have the supplies to lay one length of pipe ( I’d like to have another eventually ). This is what helps you sleep at night, laid in supplies. Not a drawer full of cash. I don’t miss that two hundred bucks at all, but I sure get a warm and fuzzy feeling looking out the trailer at the pipe under the van ( to keep it out of the sun ). I used to have two months wages ( net, take home amount ) in savings. I figured worse case I could stretch it out to four months living really frugal ( Frugal Living ). Now I only have one month ( able to stretch to two ). Yes, being out of debt helps you be able to keep so little, but that is just a bonus. My main concern is that sitting cash loses value. If the Fed is going to keep creating money out of thin air it is just a question of time when hyperinflation arrives knocking at the door. I am only hoarding the cash I am willing to gamble on losing. You need money in savings, yet it is a sitting duck. So you minimize what you keep. An earth pipe won’t save me any money, just make it more comfortable to live in a trailer. But I’d rather have money invested in that “luxury” than leaving it up to Helicopter Ben ( Helicopter Ben ) as to how long my money will buy anything.

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Crap will happen. You need rainy day money. But it can become worthless quickly. Think of it as a gamble/insurance rather than an investment. Yet another expense trying to stay ahead of all the thieving bastards trying to kill you.

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