Advice for Rich: Insure yourself against war...

[PTK]

BridgeWalker,

They're my family, and I do believe them perfectly capable of all you listed (except defense, which is why they've invited me out) I simply find it funny beyond words that they are for the most part abandoning $75+/hr jobs to live on a farm.

 

[rwc]

I'm relying on the community I live in. Our island's emergency response plan is community-based (neighbor helping neighbor). We have a dozen homes on a dirt road and enough redundency of skills and equipment to make it through quite a bit if we pull together. Even without the insta-fort, though I'm sure the neighborhood kids would love it if we built one.

As an aside -

Who makes the money then? Why, the publishers, then the distributors and a small slice goes to the bookseller.

Actually, very few publishers make much money at all, let alone a lot of it. My wife has been in that business for a long time and it's not Wall Street... As Steve Jobs said recently in response to Amazon's "Kindle" electronic book "Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore."

Time for me to put down the laptop and join my 60%.

Night all.

 

[Wes Janson]

All I have to say to Lucky is this:

"It's funny how all living organisms are alike. When the chips are down, when the pressure's on, every creature on the face of the earth is interested in one thing and one thing only. Its own survival." - Minority Report

History teaches us just what a thin veneer society truly is.

 

[mbt2001]

"It's funny how all living organisms are alike. When the chips are down, when the pressure's on, every creature on the face of the earth is interested in one thing and one thing only. Its own survival." - Minority Report

So that explains why parents die to save kids, husbands to save wives... Also explains why dogs have died to protect their family so on and so forth.

Those quotes highlight one thing, postmodernistic thought at work.

 

[mack]

Yeah, I'm rich compared to 95% if the worlds population. Blessed to have been born in a country that is stable and prosperous compared to much of the rest of the world and to enjoy more freedom and oppotunity than most of the rest of the world.

I'm rich because I have a family (children, wife, brothers, ect....) that I love and who love me. I am rich because I have faith and a relationship within it that sustains me and gives me purpose.

I am rich in character because I experienced the death of my father, brother, the loss of a marriage and the near death of my youngest child. Such times tell you the meaning of love. I'll never forget my baby girl in pain and fear asking me as I held her hand - "Daddy, am I going to die?" - and I didn't know the answer - except to tell her that "Jesus is here with us baby."

I am rich because though I struggle to pay the bills week to week, I can work one full time and two part time jobs for 80 or more hours a week. I am rich because my wife supports me with her love and works and goes to school full time in which I have the honor to support her.

Do I wish I didn't have to work so hard or that I could make more money, if things financially hadn't fallen apart and if changes within and beyond ny control hadn't turned the way they did? Sure I do - but then maybe I wouldn't be so rich or prepared for life.

Now I need this book because?

 

[jcwit]

MACK you are a VERY rich man, wished more people looked at life like you & youres do.

 

[che_70b]

If I remember the early part of the thread there was a comment about rich people with high ground and proper ordinance having control of fiefs as far as their ordinance could reach which got the rich verses poor bit started.

The area I live in has a lot of people who have lived hear for generation and not rich people, but we all have land, know how to grow at least gardens and in some cases small commercial plots. Almost everone hunts and least a little and more than one person keeps cattle (beef and dairy heards). The only thing this area would really need for a few still to be put up to purify drinking water. That said , the idea a "rich"* person buying property down in here, and then turning up with a superior "lord of the manor" type attitude would not recieve a very possitive reception.

* Not really sure what kind of rich we are talking about here. I'm thinking like mike bloomberg, mitt romney, george soros, etc rich *******s.

 

[Pushrod]

SoonerSP101 wrote:

As long as I have my guns and ammo I'll never starve. Some rich person with no guns and no ammo will give me his/her food.

I guess your correct, as long as they aren't my neighbor. I don't care how rich or poor they are, if they are a neighbor and in trouble, me and I am sure a bunch of the other folks that are neighbors and live out here in the country will be up there defending that rich guy against the likes of you.
So go ahead, try your best, because you wont succeed!

 

[BattleChimp Potemkin]

We have several nice communities here in Indianapolis (convieniently close to the worst parts of town and the ones in the rich communities usually own the companies the poor work in). I feel that I am blessed to have a roof over my head, food, and means to protect myself, but specifically, the means to provide this for myself. But I would be remissed in not telling others how I am reminded of the disparity between the rich and poor. One's wealth should be measured in thier comfort level with thier life, not with thier bank accounts. One should feel rich in seeing another sunrise, not how thier stocks are doing. One should feel blessed to breath yet another day, and not worry about that tiny nick on their Lincoln Navigator.
That being said...
Being a range officer in Indy, I see the rich and the poor at the range consistantly. The rich usually buy guns to compensate for, well, you know. The poor buy firearms to protect themselves, feed their families, etc. The rich are usually the ones bragging about that new case of ammunition, or being complemented about their new supressor, BUT are ALWAYS (yes, in my experience) the worst shooters on the line, using technology to compensate for lack of ability (not skill, ABILITY). I do not have rich neighbors, therefore, I would help them. But one of those on the hill in peril, I would only assist if it would prevent damage/sorrow in my community. That seems very degenerate of me, however, under the veneer of the society that is created through social contract is the will of humanity. This will is shaped by the experiences of those living in the society. Therefore, if I live in a Dekensian (spelling?) society, I will be forged into an instrument of rationality and survival instinct, not of generous good will and selflessness. I help people along the way when the SHTF, because mobility (not manning the ramparts) is my plan. The rich may feel disinterested at leaving their seats of power, therefore, mobility is not in their minds. I wont help besieged folks unless they are trying to G O O D.

 

[Sage of Seattle]

I think many folks wouldn't know what to do, regardless of SHTF.

Having waded through all the crap, there are a few gems in this thread and I'm really of two minds.

The book or whatever really strikes me as being the usual scare tactic, except this time it's aimed at the more fiscally aware among us (of whom I am not one at this point). OMG! Something bad might happen! QUICK! GO BUY STUFF!

Maybe I'm working off of erroneous assumptions here, but my thought is that the wealthier folks in this country ALREADY have invested in land and other property and housing. In fact, the people who need this advice the most aren't in any position to take advantage of it.

My fiancee and I are both on disability due to a work injury (on her side) and massive surgical complications (on my side). I was 31 at the time and lost almost everything, including my life on three different occasions. That's why I know that mack and a few others have it dead on correct -- and I know that, even within my own limitations, I will do everything I can to help me and mine survive by foraging, growing, and SHARING. Yes, I am smart enough to realize that my best chance for survival is by being a part of a COMMUNITY and so is everyone else's chance too.

The funny thing is, is that I know I have a much better chance of survival than some in this thread; not because I'm a crack shot with pistol and rifle, but because people like me. Honestly. Who would YOU rather be cooped up next to all winter long -- a lone Grizzly Adams survivalist, or someone like me who can tell a good story or give a good backrub or play an instrument? (By the way, I also do dishes and clean windows!)

 

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as I have my guns and ammo I'll never starve. Some rich person with no guns and no ammo will give me his/her food.

...I would not under normal circumstances steal anything. I like people and go out of my way to give people a hand up when I can.

I was thinking about if there was the real possibility of STARVING and I was thinking LAST RESORT for me and my children.

I won't tell your orphans that daddy was a looter.

Fair enough?

 

[bill123]

What an complete waste of my life reading this thread. Mack's response was the only saving grace.

 

[Guntalk]

>>Uh, I think you mean John Grisham. Tom Gresham hosts Guntalk, and although I'd much rather spend a day talking with Tom, I'm guessing that John has a few more $$$$.<<

Hoooeeee! I suspect that my distant cousin, John, gives away more books than I've ever sold! I've written a few, but sales numbers which would be a "best seller" in the gun world would be a flop for a general-interest writer or publisher.

 

[mbt2001]

Thread is one year old almost... Barton Biggs (big time Hedgefund manager) obviously knew the virtual collapse of credit markets and financial crisis (possible depression) was coming...

Wonder how much worse it will get. Just a friendly reminder...

 

[John828]

much worse...look back on today and consider it a walk in the park on a sunny Sunday afternoon with a basket of fried chicken under you arm

 

[Sinixstar]

I didn't read this whole thread - but this isn't anything new - it's just new that somebody's coming out and talking about it in public like this.
You look at a lot of people up in the "upper rungs" of society in the states, and you'll find that the a lot of them have been quietly buying up huge parcels of land for the last few years, (10s sometimes 100s of thousands of acres) in South/Central America - and doing exactly what is being proposed in this article.

Hell - even my girlfriend and I, we're not rich - but we've considered buying up some cheap land down there "just in case". If you look in the right places (avoid places like Columbia obviously) you can get a pretty nice setup (100 acres+, access to water, etc) for the cost of an average suburban home here in the states.

 

[mbt2001]

When one of the largest, richest and most influential hedge fund managers writes a book and gives press interviews that are tantamount to "STOCK GUNS AND AMMO NOW" and then 1 year later the economy does a tailspin into the largest financial crisis ever experienced in this country and the globe it only vindicates people like us.

That is the point.

The other point is (based on the last chapter of said book) that he expects it to get worse.

So the OVERALL POINT is that there is still time.

Thought I would throw that in for a bit of Christmas cheer.

 

[JDoe]

Bah!

Common folks where is your google fu? Check out the other predictions Barton Biggs has made this year!

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Barton Biggs, co-founder of hedge fund Traxis Partners LLC, said he's ``gradually increasing'' his holdings of U.S. equities because he doesn't expect a recession and shares are ``very, very cheap.''

It's official: Recession since Dec. '07 and the market is only down a little since then.

March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Barton Biggs, co-founder of hedge fund Traxis Partners LLC, said U.S. stocks may advance 15 percent in the next two or three months, led by banks.

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- The decline in U.S. stocks is ``way overdone'' and the Dow Jones Industrial Average may rally 1,000 points, investor Barton Biggs said.

He was right, sort of. By May 2008 the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen just over 1,000 points. Since then things haven't been so good and the market is down over 4,500 points.

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. stock market is ``pretty close to a bottom'' and may mount a ``powerful'' rally, hedge- fund manager Barton Biggs said.

``This is not the end of the world,'' Biggs said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. ``There's a possibility out there that with oil down as much as it is, we're going to get a push in consumer spending.''

Wrong and wrong again. The Dow is down about 3,000 points since that story was published.

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The biggest slump in U.S. consumer spending since 1942 will extend the recession and push the jobless rate to the highest level in a quarter century, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

What Does All This Mean?: Monkeys are better than humans at predicting the markets

In the four years since Mr. Monk, wearing an NFL shirt in support of the Bears, has chaired and inspired the Sun-Times stock-picking contest, his stocks have posted annual returns that beat the major indexes each time.



On the other hand Peter Schiff has a track record...

 

[MagnumDweeb]

SHTF, if the rich are already predicting it, than it may not be too far off the grid to start thinking about it ourselves...oh wait I have, after Christmas me and the fiancee are going with a friend of mine up to his faimly's land holdings in West Virginia for fishing and camping. Also the land is good 'bottomland' by what he told me, his grandpa who is in his eighties still grows all kinds of stuff and has his greenhouses. Supposedly 1600 acres of land so I'll have to see.

SHTF it's either sit tight and hope you have supplies and see what way the wind blows or bug out and run for the hills. Trouble is it is West Virginia so there won't exactly be an absence of gun owners and folks who know how to use them.