Hot and humid. Sweaty like a fat guy’s thighs.
I did move some stuff from the house to storage yesterday. Not enough. Not nearly enough. I’ve got so much loose stuff laying around that I can only hope we don’t actually get high winds, or whale oil beef hooked.
Both of my auction contacts pushed me off on taking them loads of stuff. Jeez. I can’t get rid of this stuff.
I did spend some time in meatspace chatting with my buddy and his wife at the gu– toy store. He’s gonna consign a couple of things for me. He’s still doing a brisk business in transfers, but what happens when ALL the inventory is gone and no one can buy anything that needs transferring, and there is no new inventory? Other people have commented elsewhere that in the short and medium run, gu— toy stores are in economic trouble, despite high demand and prices.
There was a steady stream of people looking for ammo, and not finding it. I’ll drop a small box by today if I get a chance to sweeten the deal on one of my items.
School is cancelled for today and tomorrow, with Friday still up in the air. It all depends on Laura, and what she leaves in her wake here in Texas. I’m hoping for a non-event. Prepping for a big one, but hoping for small.
And I’m watching the insurgency spread.
At some point in the not too distance past, the move toward ‘officer safety’ started. Cops began training to avoid going ‘hands on’ to prevent them from being injured*. At the same time, someone decided that it didn’t look good for cops to be hitting The Usual Suspects(tm) with their fists or ESPECIALLY with sticks. So someone made a change to policy, and the end state of that is cops are trained to shoot rather than grapple or fight. Guns are stand off weapons. Nightsticks, batons, etc, are close in weapons. The cops can now keep their distance, but changes in doctrine let to changes in tactics. Policy changes led to us being where we are today. The same people that don’t want to see a cop with a stick hitting a suspect now cry out when the cop uses the tools and tactics he’s been trained to use, and shoots instead of strikes. How’s that working out? Ripples turning into waves….
Speaking of that, John Wilder throws out a number in his recent post, saying ” the dollar losing 7% of its value in three months”. Without knowing where he got it, I was caught off guard because it was the first time I saw it put so starkly. It’s what you’d expect when .gov makes the money printers go “brrrrrrr”. It’s what you see when you’re paying more for everything, especially metals like gold and silver. But upon reflection 7% seems way too small. TP is almost double. Gold went from $1500/oz to almost $2000. Silver went from $17 to 26 (with higher spots in the last week). Ammo and gun prices are sky high. Granted that a lot of the increase in consumer goods pricing is due to scarcity, the metal pricing is more purely inflation for monetary reasons. Either way, it looks like the dollar is buying a LOT LESS than 93% of what it did in March or June. Taking a step back, that ripple looks like it could be a really big wave if it gets going. Ask yourself why it isn’t front page news. And why no one is framing that decline in purchasing power in terms of inflation. Venezuela here we come. Everyone will be shocked when they realize we’re suddenly there “without warning”. Consider this (and the last couple of years) your fair warning. **
Everything’s better with bacon. And butter. And a full pantry. Keep stacking.
nick
* also about the same time, physical fitness standards were relaxed, and the recruiting pool was broadened. A whole lot of cops were produced that couldn’t go hands on if they wanted to.
**I’m no financial guru and nothing I say is “financial advice” but I’m certainly taking a hard look at what my condition would be if all my cash and cash equivalents bought me half as much stuff, or one quarter as much, next year. It might be a good idea to turn some of that cash into something that holds value a bit better, especially if there are bargains to be had. Assuming I had any cash tucked away…