quote:

ORIGINAL: Aneirin

Seeing as it is becoming common knowledge that the bankers are the ones pulling the strings in this world, and they seek to go from strength to strengh by influence, can the little people fight back against them, or at least protect themselves from bankers influence and control ?

I am talking what we as individuals can do aside from make plaintive noises at our political representatives to be lost in the conspiratoral silence of governmental control.

What would it take for bankers to start noticing the little people are on to them and not going to let them have their way?

Paid in cash, conduct business in cash, squirrel cash away under the floorboards perhaps ?

Could it be credit transfer is favourable because it allows governmental and there taxation access to one's earnings ?

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ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

DYB, your pic displays attitude but your post displays a brain.

I think the problem here is that we need to go much further than just using cash. Most can agree that money in the bank is one of the worst things to have. You get 2%, they have the shell of the FDIC etc. to bail them out when they use your capital for high risk investments. In that way they can reap the profits of success and be isolated at least somewhat from the consequences of failure. Nice work if you can get it, but it is nothing but gambling really. They are in a position to do it, why aren't we ?

A couple of friends of mine almost started a new bank a while ago. Their initial capitalisation would've been about two million, which was enough. I don't know exactly why they didn't but the one would be partner was the absolute best lawyer I have ever met. They ended up sticking the money in real estate and rode the bubble up for some time.

But to just keep the money in a private place is not the best solution. One guy had many thousands of dollars in quarters, he said go ahead and take it. It weighed a fucking ton at least. Fireproof as well. These were not stupid people.

But big stockpiles of money are not the best answer, because it's value is influenced unduly. It's better to have tangible assets. Anyone with money now should be buying houses in this market. Left and right, as many as they can afford. What is surprising to me is that there is not an explosion in the rental market, with all these foreclosures I expected one. But it's true that in certain areas of the country a house payment would be cheaper than rent. It's just that now fewer people have the requisite credit rating.

Unfortunately the way I see it, forget land contract. That is by definition renting to lose. If I sell you a house I want all my money now. That's what makes it worth it to sell a house, rather than monthly payments. Then you take that money and get rid of it, put it into something useful. Otherwise you might as well rent the joint out. That lump sum is purchasing power, it's just a matter of what to purchase. If you can flip a couple of houses great, but that is more easily said than done in this market. Right now it is a buyer's market such as we have never seen. You have to be able to afford to sit on the property for some time, years actually. And in the end, your gains might just be enough to offset inflation. So it's really lose or break even. But it is still better to break even.

But we are getting into a time in history when basic necessities are going to come into play - their availability and price. We got a house for sale. You can have it for sixty grand or so. We paid seventy five and stuck about ten into it. But right now the purchasing power outweighs the other factors. Those other factors of course include liabilities, even though noone lives there we have taxes, insurance and utilities.

What would we do with the money ? Well perhaps another house but only if we can pretty much steal it. Other options include land out in the stix, deisel generators, solar panels, all kinds of other things. Water - perhaps dig wells on the other properties. Big tanks of propane, and the parts to rejet the furnaces. Then some absorption based refrigerators or freezers. Older car and plenty of spare parts. Non perishable foods. Mineral supplements. All that, it's all worth more than money and you don't have to take my word for it.

Just think of inflation, which is actually deflation of the currency if you look at it from the other side. The prices of all these things will go up, of that there is no doubt. But once you have the goods, you have the value. Locked in. It is crucial to understand this. The value of things does not change, it is actually the value of the money that changes.

Getting out of the banks is easy, getting out of money is not. First of all no matter what there will be a certain overhead which requies FRNs. Utility bills, propery taxes, plates for your car(s), many other things. You can barter for damnear anything else, but there are those certain things.

But if we only feed the beast enough to survive, rather than to thrive, I think we will do alot better. There are just some things. For example you are now reading my highly whatevered post on a website. What happens if your monitor takes a shit right now ? Do you get offline until someone wants to trade you a working monitor for a bunch of junk you have ? No, you have to dig up about a hundred bucks and feed the monster. No choice. But most of this wasted money is your choice.

You can now buy a generator that can feed your house for 5-8 years without fuel. The life is finite. Once you start it you get that much time, and it'll run your electric furnace, stoves and AC, and even charge your electric cars. But it cost upwards of a million dollars, your electric bill would never be that high. It comes out to about ten grand a month.

Getting off the grid has been a high priority for those who would recuse themselves from the money game. But as in alot of things, it is simply not practical.

The politicians and PTB are not the only ones who would like to maintain the status quo. It is also us. We The People. None of us want to go back to herding sheep, wearing mocassins and wielding a staff. We want our Cadillac, internet and cable. We want our phones and who knows, ipods ? We want these things otherwise we wouldn't have spent the money on them.

In the end we can win, but it is going to take some sacrifice to do it.

T