fractional silver and gold are good to have regardless of what happens
i am holding off on the bitcoin rigs till the ati 8000's come down in price, not ready to start the builds yet but its coming, i am planning on building 3 rigs with 3 cards each, platinum certified power supplies have already come down and so have the ssd's
You are forgetting the other key factor in economics - demand. Where will be the demand if the market tanks and new products are more expensive?
Anything is possible, a massive war could break out and oil, copper, nickel and steel could be the most valuable. And the ones stockpiling steel and copper would win. Or precious metals could take off due to new technologies needing them. Thats why its important to diversify into various commodities.
Like ewasted said new products being more expensive. And that is definitely happening, look at what palladium and platinum have done in recent years due to emissions demand. What will happen once the car boom in china is over to the prices of platinum and palladium?
a worldwide depression would cut industrial demand to nothing, along with hyperinflation which would cause people to pull out of currencies and move into commodities
I have no guns so I don't have any ammo
I don't have any gold or silver except the ones on the circuit boards in my warehouse
I don't have freeze dried ready to eat meals stored away somewhere
I don't have any stored reserve source of gas
I do have a yellow belt in karate which I earned at the very young age of 11( purely coincidental that it was around the time of the release of The Karate Kid)
I have a pretty big jar filled with coins( no pennies) so I can survive off of vending machine food for a very long time( Bread and water is overrated)
I have a 2 gallon container half filled with gasoline mixed with some special extra engine performance for my lawn mower so I will be able to keep my lawn looking good for a month or so depending on the time of year a catastrophe happens...
I have a videotape of the 1986 World series to help me get through those times that all seem lost
I have the new Dan Brown book which is just under 500 pages so I am covered on the entertainment aspect for a few days
So if some great collapse happens I am pretty secure in the fact that I am well prepared and will survive it.
The main point of all this is that for every report of doom and gloom there are equal reports of stabilization and hope. We all work our asses off most days and because of that the large majority of us can withstand and survive another downturn....
The key is to live amongst your means.. enjoy and treat yourself to things when you can ... Think positive and realize that as a collective we have very little knowledge or ability to really forecast the extreme aspects of economics on here and remember to spay and neuter your pets
For these events to come forth you still need more catastrophe - terrorist taking out targets - massive drought - power grid failures - getting past that , sure haveing metal stashed away as a means to get what is used to purchase goods ( cash ) will always be the secret bank account of a scrapper . lets be realistic if I had a million pounds of lead ,same for brass, copper - lets not forget 100,000 onces of silver - - - and the room to store it , I would feel like i could ride out any storm .
In reality if bad times really hit ,What 98% OF US HAVE AS A HORDING STASH will get chewed up fast ,then we are done . I guess if I had massive money to play with, I'd get a lot of - lead - copper - silver - gold - but in the mean time I have bills taking most of my money - sure any time i see $25 bucks spent as a waste i say that should of been silver .
I have the family thing every body wants and wants - whats a poor guy to do. I keep finding copper & brass, I try to sell off as little as I can, I buy silver 4 to 5 ounce a month thats the best i can do and it wont be enough , if the banks fail us
PS
why spay the dogs and cats they will help you survive . Some can hunt for you and some you can sell to Chinese restaurants
(look thats an old standing joke , so no one get bent out of shape) In china they do eat cat and dog
If you want a quick and easy way to replenish your supplies after the catastrophe the quickest way to do that is to make an appearance on The Price is Right. If you proclaim you spay and neuter your pets you have a better chance of getting chosen( I have inside information on that but cannot reveal my sources)Quote:
Originally Posted by Copper Head
This seems to have once again turned into a survivalist conversation with a number of really smart tough guys thinking they have it all figured out as to who is going to survive.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tcgs
I may have read too many books or seen too many movies on apocalyptic scenarios but the bottom line is that we scrappers don't control squat at any level in the grand scheme of things.
Life breaks down to some very simple facts.
#1 We need to breath, you can last just a few minutes without oxygen.
#2 We need water, you can live for a few days without H20.
#3 We need food, you can live a few weeks give or take without food.
So whether it is natural or political/economic catastrophe that occurs no amount of wealth or armament stored is going to save an individual for very long.
It has been proven throughout history that there is no defense large or small that can't be breached.
You can have all the gold,silver, guns and ammo and food etc etc that you have room for, but if you live in a standard structure and there are people who want what you have eventually you will lose it.
As far as speculation long term and high volume goes I think it's a waste of time and money when time is far more precious than anything , I am not religious nor am I very actively political.(I have voted every election since I was of legal age, for what it's worth)
I am more philosophical than is necessary most of the time.
My lifestyle is not like most of yours other than scrapping being part of my living and my "hoarding" so to speak is for the most part no different than anyone here.
My conclusion is that the best things I get out of life is doing anything I can to help someone who truly needs it more than me.
That and creating useful things out of junk that will be my greatest legacy..........
well said re-cycler well saidQuote:
Originally Posted by re-cycler
Quote:
Originally Posted by auminer
I was off by a couple of thousand... but as I recall, I was being facetiously optimistic in that post.
The economy always goes up and down. Yes there will be a huge crash. Eventually. Maybe in one year, maybe in 5 years, maybe in 30 years, maybe 50 years. Nobody knows EXACTLY when or how bad. The trick is to ride the wave as it rises. Cash out your profit little by little before the wave crashes. And after that wave crashes, buy, buy, buy.
The future is uncertain and the end is always near...
The long term picture looks bleak for humanity with automation taking over most jobs. Can you or what you do be replaced by a robot? Nobody is talking about this out here they have two stores with no checkouts you just pick stuff up and walk out and it cost a billion dollars for the first two stores.
In 1870, half of U.S. workers were in agriculture. Today’s figure is 2 percent. True, but how about horses? Back in 1900, we had 21 million working horses. By 1960, it was 3 million. Today? Too few to count.
Are we going the way of the horse? And what about the deep economic question that today’s CEO masters of the universe aren’t asking: Who will buy the goods and services their companies produce if everyone is out of work or, at least, out of good work?
I asked this question in a recent co-authored paper (”Robots Are Us”) posted at kotlikoff.net/research. My three fellow co-authors and I modeled robots as smarter versions of us. In our paper, we showed that robots’ development will make the economy boom as their creators reap large rewards.
Buy a home? Not unless prices fall drastically. Or unless employers feel like actually paying us more. Once the oil fields went under i couldn't even afford to live in some crappy rv I had parked in some crappy rv park. Most of the jobs I was able to get were only around $10 an hour even after having spent 3 years in the Army. Meanwhile we would have meetings in the beginning of the day where the boss would tell us the numbers game. While the company was claiming record profits in the millions, their production force was making $8-$10 an hour no matter how much work we did. And they were still trying to find ways to not pay us as much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Libertytow
Unsolicited old guy advise. Managing your money, Go on line and find Dave Ramsey's web site. If you follow his advise you will love yourself for it, so will your family.Quote:
Originally Posted by ScrapmanIndustries
Ready yourself for the job market. Find a job you can see yourself doing that you will make a good living at and get yourself qualified.
Not all good paying jobs require a college education. My friend is a front load garbage truck driver and gets paid in the 70k area. Like most jobs its hard work and takes lots of practice to get good at it. The really big negative is you have to go to work at O Dark Thirty.
Locally we have a community college that has some great training in HVac and facilities maintenance and the costs are covered by the Pell Grant program. The lowest medical lab tech should get paid more than you are talking about it.
We live in a Capitalist economic system, thank god and the founders, which allows you and I freedoms that others don't have. I can buy my goods and services from whom ever I want. I can take my labor and work for who ever I want.
You will find that as the economy gets better wages go up, why because qualified employees are valuable. If there are less jobs then the pay is lower and benefits are less.
I'll say one other thing that I have advised to my own grown children(they ignored me): Consider Tx, Tn or some other growth state. For some this is scary to do the big move but for me its always been just another challenge.
Never rely on others to make your life better. Enough with the sermon. 73 Mike
No! Don't come to Texas!!! The weather sucks, the women are ugly, and there's no jobs here!!!!!!!!!!!
Yea, my friend in TN was not happy I let the secret out of the bag with TN. His wife is from Illinois and can't get over the fact that there is no state income tax and the roads are better than back home in Illinois. 73, MikeQuote:
Originally Posted by auminer
We jokenly call Illinois "the land of 10,000 toll booths" every time I have to drive through the state ....Quote:
Originally Posted by miked
I actually tried staying in Tx after living in Ft. Hood for 3 years. I don't really mind the weather too much. After awhile you just get used to being hot. I was in Tn for a bit too but only with Western Express so I didnt really get to experience the better parts of town. Only the slums of Nashville. If I was able to support myself financially over the long term I'd go back to Texas. No doubt about it.
Many have posted that we do not know what tomorrow will bring. Tomorrow will bring the ability to make your own decisions, control your lifestyle, and decide how to survive short of getting into trouble with the law. A nuclear holocaust, environmental disaster, or a fall of financial markets may limit our choices, but we still have control of our lives, it is called freedom. Think of how many do not have this luxury.
As far as the best place to live, I believe it is the United States. It does not matter the state, it is the place you can survive and be happy. I live in two different states that do not charge income tax and border a state that does not have a sales tax. As far as the OP's post I am stock piling all of non ferrous material because I have enough space and can survive without selling it. If we end up using the barter system in the future it will be valuable in my retirement. My belief is at the least it will keep up with inflation. This is just an opinion on the subject.