Government

Inflation prep

On my post about hyperinflation from yesterday, my advice was to move finances into assets like precious metals or real estate. An anonymous commenter had this to say:

I think precious metals are a fools errand. First, when the crisis strikes you will be making your target – meaning that you are going to risk your life for a thing. Second, it is not worth much for day-to-day transaction. I am aware of several who accumulate gold bars and coins. You cannot simply shave off parts of the bar for doughnut, and you are almost invariable going to get a lot less for the coins than it is worth.

I decided that this would be a good time to share my thoughts on this. My wife and I do have SOME savings in physical metals. Metals are not bought as a way to carry out day to day transactions. They are a hedge against inflation, and not meant to be used as currency to purchase things in some sort of a ‘Mad Max: SHTF’ scenario. Honestly, ammo and food would be worth far more in such a case.

No, I am talking about storing your wealth in a medium that will preserve your life savings during the high interest/high inflation economic troubles that will surely follow the idiotic policies that are being put in place by our new communist overlords.

I personally think that more than a few ounces of PMs are a bad idea. There is a loss buying in (a one ounce gold coin costs 5% over melt value), there is a loss selling (another 5 to 10%), and the coin is a nonperforming asset- meaning that it doesn’t make money for you, other than being an inflation hedge.

Real estate is different. If you own real estate, it can make money as rental property, as well as the fact that it gains value at a higher than inflation rate.

My wife and I discussed our options yesterday and have decided to close all of our accounts (other than IRAs and 401k accounts) and use the money to buy more real estate.

In an inflationary economy, you are better owing money than having money. A fixed rate loan for real estate is denominated in pre-inflation dollars, but paid with inflated dollars. If the loan is a fixed rate loan, the Fed increasing rates won’t affect your loan.

There are other pitfalls to owning real estate, but there are ways to reduce those risks. That is an entirely different and more complicated conversation.

By Divemedic, ago

Hyperinflation

AOC and 51 of her cohorts are pushing for the $2,000 checks to be a monthly event. Doing this will cost an astounding $10 trillion a year. This would be on top of the already massive $4 trillion Federal budget.

The amount of US dollars in existence is currently about $19 trillion. This would increase that amount by 50%. Having an additional $10 trillion in the system, most of which would be inserted directly into circulation like some kind of ghetto lottery, would be devastating to the dollar.

With the added stressors of rising petroleum prices and the increased minimum wage that is likely to pass within the next few weeks, we are likely to see a LARGE increase in prices across the entire economy. That will quickly be followed by the Fed moving to increase interest rates in an attempt to cool the economy. All of this adds up to bad, bad news for the US economy.

The policies that have already been put in place are bad enough, but increasing the US money supply by 50% means a straight up financial disaster. Even if the monthly checks don’t happen, there is some bad stuff coming down the road.

My wife and I discussed the situation this morning. The best defense at this point is to put your money in any vehicle that will insulate you from a falling US dollar. Stocks and bonds are a no go. In fact, this leaves only hard assets that have intrinsic value. In our minds that means precious metals or real estate.

I would suggest that anyone who is reading this take steps to secure your finances from the inflation that will happen.

By Divemedic, ago

Government Sponsored

So the DHS has issued a bulletin, warning the nation about Domestic and Homegrown Violent Extremists. You can read it for yourself here.

Various news sources, including the Wall Street Journal, loudly proclaimed that the Domestic Terrorists that planned and instigated the Capitol incursion were the Proud Boys.

So imagine my surprise when I found out that the leader of the Proud Boys was employed by the FBI.

This means that the ENTIRE thing – from the Capitol incursion to the troops occupying DC- has been engineered by the Federal government.

Call me a conspiracy theorist now- I dare you. The events of the past month have been our Reichstag fire.

By Divemedic, ago

Government teat

The story sounds incredible: Researchers at UC San Diego claim to be developing a colormetric strip that you stick on to a mask that will change colors when COVID is detected. The press is all aflutter about it. Researchers in San Diego just received $1.3 million to test the stickers for accuracy from the National Institutes of Health. This makes it sound like the stickers already exist.

So go to the college website, and you discover the truth: They haven’t been invented yet.

The team will create test strips, or stickers, that can be put on any mask (N95, surgical or cloth). They will be designed to detect the presence of protein-cleaving molecules, called proteases, that are produced from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Some clerk at the college managed to secure a grant for for over a million dollars that will fund a project that is in the concept phase and will likely never come to fruition.

By Divemedic, ago

Graft and corruption

Microsoft President describes the bribery that makes our government work.

It (cash) plays an important role. Not because the checks are big, but because the way the political process works. Politicians in the United States have events, they have weekend retreats, you have to write a check and then you’re invited and participate. If you work in the government affairs team in the United States, you spend your weekends going to these events; you spend your evenings going to these dinners, and the reason you go is because the PAC writes a check.

Smith added that the relationships built at these events make it more likely lawmakers will be receptive when he calls them to ask for their help on employees’ immigration cases, as well as “issues around national security, or privacy, or procurement reform. Or the tax issues our finance team manages.”

When legislation controls what gets bought and sold, the first thing that is bought and sold are the legislators themselves.

By Divemedic, ago

How much did that cost?

Wharton did a study that found people are happier when they make more money. No shit. They needed a STUDY to know that people making enough money so that they can pay bills, live in a nice house, and buy nice things makes them happy?

I am betting that this study was done at taxpayer expense. I wonder how much it cost, and how happy that made the people that had to pay the taxes to fund it.

Up next: The government lowering taxes and leaving people the fuck alone makes them happier, too. Right after that, they can study the last election to figure out how Biden got votes in the middle of the night while no one was looking.

By Divemedic, ago

Reasons I carry, #2,332

OCKLAWAHA MAN CHARGED WITH SEXUAL BATTERY AFTER BURNING VICTIM’S HAIR AND LEAVING HER IN A PARKING LOT
On Wednesday, April 29, 2020 Detective Jessica Galler of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit arrested 28-year-old Efthimios Michael Zachary Mikedis of Ocklawaha for Sexual Battery.
On January 10, 2020 the Orlando Police Department responded to Waterford Lakes Emergency Department and made contact with the victim who reported that a man known as “Zak,” later identified as Mikedis, offered to give her a ride from Orange County to her aunt’s home in Marion County on January 5, 2020. When Mikedis arrived at the victim’s home, the victim observed what appeared to be a gun in Mikedis waistband. The victim described Mikedis as someone you would “instantly be scared of.” Mikedis arrived in a van driven by his mother, Shannon James. A second male, Robert McDaniel, was also in the vehicle as well. The victim told Mikedis she did not want to go, but Mikedis told her she had to. Once the victim was in the vehicle, Mikedis forced an unknown substance into her mouth and forced her to slide between the seats, forcing her to remain down when she attempted to sit up. The victim was transported to a residence, where she was led into a camper on the back of the property. When the victim asked if Mikedis was going to take her to her aunt’s home, Mikedis said “Why don’t you just stay here?” The victim began blacking out, and believed she was on the verge of unconsciousness. The victim recalls being sexually battered by Mikedis, as well as a secondary object being used to sexually batter her. During the sexual battery, Mikedis said “Go, go,” and a second person began sexually battering her.
When the victim woke up she attempted to call an Uber, but before she was able to Mikedis woke up and forced another unknown substance into her mouth. Mikedis then began burning her hair with a cigarette, and held a pair of scissors to her throat. The victim began hallucinating due to the unknown substance. Mikedis grabbed the victim by her hair, dragging her across the property. Mikedis punched her in the back of the head, grabbed her by her hair again, and forced her into a vehicle driven by his mother, Shannon James. The victim was driven to a Winn Dixie parking lot and forced out of the car.
Detective Galler arrested Mikedis on one count of Sexual Battery and he is being held in the Marion County Jail. Anyone with information about the second male, Robert McDaniel, is asked to contact Detective Galler at (352)-368-3535.
More arrests and charges may be forthcoming as the investigation continues.
This douchebag has Felony convictions for: Forgery, Grand Theft, Dealing in Stolen Property (six convictions), Domestic Violence by Strangulation, Vehicular Burglary, Grand Theft (five convictions), Possession of Methamphetamine (two convictions), Burglary of a dwelling, Burglary of a structure,  Giving false name and ID to pawnbroker.

Misdemeanors include:  Domestic Battery, Petty Theft, Driving while license suspended (two convictions), DUI, possession of cannabis.

In all, 22 criminal convictions and many, many traffic violations from 2009 to 2016, just in Marion County. He was arrested in January for uttering a forged instrument, and was out on bail awaiting trial when the rape occurred. How is this guy not prison for life with a record like that? The justice system has obviously failed the victim here.
By Divemedic, ago