diminishing options

DIMINISHING OPTIONS

Just a heads up, something to look forward to, a reward for being loyal minions- I've ordered the book "Surviving Off-Off Grid".  As soon as I get it in my hot little hands and read it I'll review it for you.  Henceforth and forever more you will then love me even more, if that's possible, for either saving you money or turning you on to the next must-read.  You're welcome.  Also ordered was "The Ultimate Guide To Homesteading".
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I know you were all tossing and turning all night long, thrashing about and annoying the spouse, screaming in abject terror in your night sweats, your brain trying to shut down from overload, how was Jim’s vacation? Was he all right? Are all his pre-posted articles going to conceal the fact that a CIA assassin sniped at him from a desolate hilltop fifty miles from the nearest settlement causing his rental car to skid out of control off a cliff? Well, you can sleep a lot sounder at night now. I’m just fine, thanks for asking. The trip went fine. It wasn’t as nice as I would have hoped, as everyone seemed sort of preoccupied with their own issues. I’m far away from my comfort zone ( it felt so nice driving back into town after visiting one hostile Yuppie Scumsville after another ), and even though I haven’t left Bisonia Country ( the Great Basin, northern Nevada ) I like my two hundred mile buffer zone from the rest of the world. Going down the edge of the Sierra mountains is just the dredges of the gas tank away from loads of welfare collecting, butt crack showing, rap listening, don’t-prepare-for-the-future-cause-uncle- Arrrrnold-and-Big-Daddy-Obammy-will-magically-pull-resources-out-of-their-asses scum sucking mouth breathing oxygen wasters. Get one away from his X-Box for three minutes and he will fall to the ground into the fetal position from withdrawals and you can kick his soft marshmallow head in, but get them ALL pissed off collectively and they pose a threat. Plus, the Internet here at work went down Thursday and I’m Jonesing for news on the Collapse. The parental units, after the last two years of the dog and pony mortgage show seeing back to back property tax increases ( now equally 25% of their payments ) just now officially saw themselves underwater on their mortgage after their assessed value dropped further still, along with increased medical problems ( and they are just as obtuse as the rest of the population for the need to radically alter their lifestyles to survive ) are obviously stressed to the hilt. My daughter is doing great, her college almost finished ( with a total under $3k of loans- survivable even if the job market crashes ) and just engaged to her long standing boyfriend. But while a positive mental occupation, her mind really wasn’t on the visit. I needed to see everyone, especially in light of the fact that travel might be impossible next year, but it was a bit sad.

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Over at our buddies Rawles ( I don’t dislike the man, just the school of Yuppie Survivalism that is either impossibly expensive short term or calls for an impossibly long time frame for the rest of us Po Boys to accomplish ) site there is a cool ad. This is from our Dawg over at Prepared.pro that is also hosting the guest article contest, officially to be referred to as “Safecastle Freedom Awards Program” upon pain of disapproval or disqualification or worse-Stink Eye. I have no dog in that race ( I don’t benefit financially ) other than them listing my blog link on their site. I just think the contest is a nice benefit to my Legions Of Loyal Minions ( I need to refer to my minions at least once a day now since we got our troll back that is so horrified that I don’t lick his fecal encrusted backside and drool over his free readership- when you hate me for X action, you defiantly get more of X, just out of spite ) and I really like the advertisement. Most ads don’t have that edge, having to satisfy said trolls as mentioned above. Not a huge fan of mail order prep companies if they are used for your exclusive supplier, but they definitely have their place in moderation. So if we must endure ads from them, at least make it pleasing to my extreme paranoid reptilian mind. “Every Day Now Your Options Diminish”. How cool is that?

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Yes, I’m preaching to the choir. You all know that you have ignored my ranting, drivel, warnings and paranoid wailings far too long and now everything you want costs twice as much. And, just like the earthquake scale where every one tenth doubles all previous combined force that isn’t noticeable at first but suddenly really adds up ( like the rice on the chessboard that is easy until suddenly it become impossible to find enough grain ), you know that every period brings higher prices in far less time intervals. The snowball is both picking up speed and size. It isn’t that we will run out of resources so much that you personally will. Even as land prices drop your taxes go up as your work hours decrease as food goes up and utilities skyrocket. That junk lot is half the price as two years ago but since your disposable income went down also, you don’t have the option of buying it. The increase in the price of firearms is below that of general inflation ( over a long period of time anyway ) but again, you don’t have the option to acquire them. No more second part time jobs are available. No one wants to buy your used do-dads. Your credit card interest rates doubled so you can’t buy on plastic. It isn’t impossible to buy firearms, but it is getting harder all the time. Global oil production is only down slightly. But the US share of that oil is down drastically. We are running out of wiggle room to do anything to even slow the rate of our fall. That is why I love that ad so much. One short sentence pretty much sums up our situation. Personally and as a nation. Especially as an empire. We dump a few hundred million to a couple of billion in high tech ordinance on Libyan pro-government forces. The rug prayers just run away on their free tire sandals carrying their $200 AK’s and fight in another location, probably setting fire to an oil refinery or two in the process. But what other option did we have? We can’t even afford low cost military actions.

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If you keep your eye on the big picture, as important as that is, to the detriment of the small details, you start running out of options. So what if the collapse is, say, five years away. If you fail to act now, one of those incremental small dips on the down graph means a local, personal inability to act. It seems options run out before resources.

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The Official Bison Web Site http://www.bisonpress.com/
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My e-mail is jimd303@netzero.com
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Anyone can submit a guest article. No minimum word length, no writing skill necessary ( just get the idea across ). You retain copyright ( this must be your original writing ) and I’ll just use the once. I’ve yet to turn down an article, just don’t use the N Bomb or libel another that can sue me. Send by e-mail ( please, label as “guest article” so I can find it easily later ). Payment will be your removal from my enemies list.
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By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there.
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