screw gold & silver; buy lead & brass
Friday, August 6th, 2010
so far, over the past 4 years, I've bought 91,000 rounds of ammo in 8 calibers — .45cal ACP, .308cal (NATO round), .223cal (NATO round), .357 Magnum, 12ga slugs, .00 buckshot, .50cal Beowulf (not BMG), and my Glock Model 32 .357 SIG — primarily as an investment, but also as a safety measure. I'm still waiting on a case of 1,000 .50cal 360gr rounds for my Beowulf. With the spiralling price of brass worldwide, it made sense a couple of years ago to begin stockpiling. I guess I was one of the ones who helped to cause the "run on ammo", nationwide. It was plenty cheap, back then.
The US "economic recovery" will remain slow and deep into the next 3-4 years, held back by shoppers reluctant to spend and employers hesitant to hire, I predict. In other words, there is no recovery, despite the Trillions (that's a *T*!) by Øbummer's Regime of communists and fascists. Personally, I believe that we have a *Real Depression* coming — instead of the 'Little Recession' we've been through since 2007-2008 — along with a large dose of Hyper-Inflation, but I've said that here before. I hope I'm wrong. If I'm not, my small business is long gone, as are all other garden centers & nurseries in the PA area. Maybe throughout the USA.
We're a "discretionary spending industry" — as are 35-40% of all small businesses — and we'll all be affected. But I digress.
How, you ask, is stocking-up on lead and brass, aka ammo, going to be better than buying gold and silver? Well, if TSHTF (the shit hits the fan), and the economy get much worse, marauding gangs of people will be raiding houses looking for food, money, jewelry etc to sustain themselves, and the smart ones will be those who can defend against those acts. The police and Nation Guard will be overwhelmed. "Be Prepared" is what I was taught in the BSA, since 1958, and I still hold that truism to this day.
Around The Garden Center™
Friday was a pleasant day — temps in the low 80s and low humidity — and my 2nd full day back from food poisoning. We had a few retail sales through, had our Key Staff Mtg, and closed around 5pm. I was glad to get home, shower and watch some TV on my computer, and get to sleep early. I had to be into work at 7am on Saturday morning.
Well, Saturday sure sucked. Lots of people through and few sales. We also lost an almost $11,000 landscape job at a "summer farm" for a wealthy couple's son's wedding. I was counting on that job to give my men 3 more days of work, not to mention the income. The couple-to-be-married wanted the money as a wedding gift, instead of what his parents were planning for them, through us.
I slept-in until 11am on Sunday, went food shopping and watched some movies I have on my Western Digital 1-Tb External Hard Drive. There was nothing but crap on my computer's TV CATV. I was still bummed-out from losing that $11,000 job and losing 3 days of work for my men.
Lo and behold, the wealthy couple called and resurrected the job, cut back to $7,000, on Monday morning. Mirable dictu! I didn't waste any time revising the estimate to allow them to purchase the plant materials at the 50% Off Sale Price, and have us do the drainage, soil and sod-laying work.
Gas prices are edging-up every day, it seems. In just 2 weeks, they've climbed 25-30¢ per gallon. Gas prices in the York (PA) area have risen 20¢ in the past to weeks. Unleaded Regular (87oct) is at $2.79/gal, Unleaded Premium (90oct) is at $2.80/gal, Unleaded Premium (92oct) is at $2.99/gal, and Diesel is at $2.99/gal. Maybe the "BP Mess" is/ isn't having an effect, but dozens of oil drilling rigs are leaving the Gulf, for other jobs, and the corrupt, criminal Øbummer Regime is getting what it wants: $4-5/ gal gas prices, all too soon.
I spent all day Monday calling prospective customers, whom we've done design/ plan and estimates for, to try to get them to "move off the dime", and get the work scheduled. I picked-up another small job ($1,200) and am waiting on hearing from another customer about a $7,200 job. I've got to keep my employees working. Rich, my Staff Registered Landscape Architect, is now on vacation with his wife in Washington State, until August 25th, so I have to follow-up all the many, many active leads he's left to me.
Maybe next year I'll get to take a "vacation"; haven't had one since 2004, when Cheryl from Boulder (CO) visited for 1 ½ weeks. That a long time, IMO. I've only had two monthly paychecks since last November: employees always come first, and vendors come second. I come last, if at all. That's how a small business / Sub-S Corp runs. If you own one, you know what I'm talking about. In these difficult financial times, there are *priorities*.
It's Wednesday morning and my 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo's transmission still isn't fixed. It's been at Broadway Transmission since last Monday, and the rental car charges are piling-up. I keep calling and just get their answering service; no call-backs. No one answers their phones until after 9am, it seems. They finally answered, said it'd be ready around 4:30pm, so Lee followed me in his car to the Rent-A-Wreck dealer, I turned-in the car and paid the tab, and we drove to Broadway Transmissions, where they'd just completed "the road test". I took it on my own road test, shifting between 2WD, 4WD, AWD, and everything seemed okay, so I paid the bill, minus tax (I'm a farming-nursery operation and thus, tax exempt). I was home by 5:15pm, but the car was filthy and felt grimy & greasy after 10 days, so I decided to get it washed at Cloister Car Wash, in East York, the only car wash left who does inside/outside cleaning, on Sunday or earlier, if possible. I hate a dirty vehicle. On Thursday morning, I'm headed to Walt's Barbershop in Red Lion, to get a haircut. I haven't had one since April and am starting to look pretty "scruffy".
On Wednesday evening, I watched History Channel's "Chasing Mummies"; a fascinating series of documentaries about Egypt's Pyramids. The Egyptian PhD host, Dr Zahi Hawass, is a typical lowlife muslim asshole, but the scenery is fascinating. Watch the series, if you can. Ignore the musliM pigshit Dr. I also watched History Channel's "Sniper", a great movie about 7.62 x 51mm sniper rifles in Nam, Fallujah & Iraq. And "Day After Tomorrow". Wowser!
The “Virtual Cabin” – A Novella™
I didn't even make it to The Cabin this week; just too many things to do around the garden center complex and my condo. I'll be going up Saturday after work to spend the night relaxing and stay all day Sunday, but for now, it's not in the cards.
I've got a long list of "chores" to do up there, not least among them is the felling of 20-30 diseased/ dying large trees, and the planting of 15-20 "Princeton" American Elms, this Fall. I have a local sawmill lined-up to do the work, in trade for the useable lumber, for their sale, and bark, to make mulch for the local garden center.
Things Which Make Your Head Explode™
President Hussein Øbummer on Saturday accused Republicans of holding American small businesses "hostage to politics" after Republican senators refused to back a $30 billion small-business lending package. What?
Where's the Duct Tape®?
"Support The United Negro College Fund" TV ad? Fuck NO; YOU Negroes Support it! I'm not paying a frisking dime toward it. It's YOUR problem, not Whitey's problem!
You can be fired for not spending your employer's money, if you work for the government.
Sacrifice is something that many Americans are becoming all too familiar with during this economic downturn. It was a key theme in President Obama's inaugural address to the nation, and he's referenced it numerous times when lecturing the country on how to get back on its feet. While many of us are struggling, the First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her "closest friends." To be clear, what the Obamas do with their money is one thing; what they do with ours is another. Transporting and housing the estimated 70 Secret Service agents who will flank the material girl will cost US, the taxpayers, a pretty penny.
Some People Just Need Killing™
This will do it!.
Yes, I agree with the premise of this article, that "the death penalty is a Noahic Covenant with God, in a post-flood world". Well said, Joe Farrah.
In the isolated town of Stoneville, N.L. (Toronto), population less than 500, residents are starting to wonder what to do about an eight-year-old boy whose behavior has long concerned them, but has now grown violent. First, it was a dog bludgeoned to death with a barbecue utensil in June. And now it's a dozen ducks, hens and chicks kept in a backyard as pets, found beaten with gardening tools on Tuesday. The kid needs killing; he's a serial killer in the making.
Stand the treasonous, corrupt, hate-America, racist Waters and Rangel filth against a wall and execute them.