Woo-hoo, it’s the first day of Spring! Thank God, it’s been a long winter with the snow, heating oil costs, and plowman expenses.
Before I begin today’s post, did y’all read my “Gold – Time to SELL?” post yesterday? Gold fell $59.00 an ounce yesterday! That’s the biggest one-day drop since June 2006. Gold led the decline in commodity prices. Read the article here. Think hard about offloading your 30 bags of gold. There’s a commodities price bubble, and we know what happens to bubbles. *pop*
Buy Low – Sell High
Those are my thoughts anyway.
It’s been over a week since I wrote my post entitled To Hoard or Not to Hoard and How to Hoard for the 2008 Recession. As is often the case, you guys (and gals) end up educating me with your feedback. “Group learn” TEOTWAWKI party peeps! The comments that followed in both posts were interesting. Here are a few:
- It’s not hoarding! Hoarding is taking more than your share when resources are scarce. In times of plenty, we STOCKPILE to minimize our need for resources when they ARE scarce… Remember – stockpile good, hoarding bad!
- I agree with the term “stockpile” not hoarding.
- We survivalist aren’t hoarding we’re just food collectors. Myself I collect hard red winter wheat……… and a little bit of cocoa powder as well LOL
- Hoarding is a word with big time negative connotations. Purchasing all the wheat in town during SHTF and charging 3x what u paid (if selling at all)would be hoarding but going to the local big box tommarow and getting a hundred points of rice would not be hoarding.
- Stockpiling the basics for your own use is “hoarding”, stockpiling so you can make absurd profits is known as “price gouging”, which is illegal in some states after the TSHTF has happened. In a TEOTWAWKI, price gouging could very well be punishable by facing a firing squad.
- If I save all my money and put it in the bank is that hoarding or being frugal with my resources? If I invest in things that turn a profit down the road ie. food stuffs, wouldn’t that be consider a wise investor in commodities? Perception is always the determing factor.
It’s the last comment by “noisynick” that prompts this post, because I have similar questions. I think the general “hoarding” versus “stockpiling” debate is a case of semantics. You call it one thing, I call it something else. My intended meaning was – acquire large quantities of stuff for when you need it (or can’t afford it). That being said, if you “stockpile” goods for bartering purposes, and then sell it for more than what you bought it – that becomes “price gouging” – or so some of you might proclaim. Hmmm . . . . . .
People that buy raw land as an investment love the saying “they’re not making any more of it.” Why is it okay to turn a profit on land, but not food (assuming you wanted to sell some at inflated costs post-TEOTWAWKI)? If someone is facing the firing squad for price gouging, then you’d better not get caught selling a box of .308 shells for a pile of silver coins – price gouging! If you paid 50 bucks for a goat, you’d better not sell it for $800 WTSHTF – price gouging!
I don’t understand this line of thinking. I know people may have different view, but I see it as simple economics. Supply and demand. If something is scarce, and people need it, it’s worth more – period. If you stockpile fuel and food as trading items for ATSHTF then you’re a shrewd “investor” – assuming you timed the purchase and SHTF event – which is, of course, difficult to do. Don’t get hung up hoarding versus stockpiling. Stock up on survival goods and sort out your course of action after Doomsday, which is what – next week? Week after?
– Ranger Man
BTW: You GOTTA read the article sent to me, it’s friggin’ RAMBO – only the Russian, real life version. This guy was a total SHTF warlord of the wilderness. This crazy bastard has lived in the woods for 20 years, coming out periodically to steal boots from locals, potatoes, and to burn down homes. He held a hunter at gunpoint once and since then locals were terrified and for years the police refused to go in there . . . . until the head of the Department of Natural Reserves in Moscow, angered by the inaction of local police, ordered a surveillance operation on him. Read:
After finding out where he lived, six specialist policemen – including Afghan war veterans – from outside the local police and four armed Park rangers went into the forest on snowmobiles to hunt him down and try to arrest him.
But the hermit, who carried two shotguns and a home-made pistol, ambushed them and wounded two. He then set alight a swathe of forest as a diversion, tracked behind the men and was apparently preparing to start firing on them again.
One of the policemen, Andrei Potemkin, said: “He ambushed us and I told him to surrender and that we wouldn’t hurt him. He yelled ‘I’ve nothing to lose’ and opened fire. He hit two of the others and fired at me. My bullet-proof vest saved my life. He then set his place on fire, and everything was covered with smoke.”
“He’s a real professional. While we were helping the wounded, he made a circle around us, hiding in the smoke, and cut us off. It was pure chance the sniper suddenly saw his figure in the trees and pulled the trigger. He shot him right in the head and he died in a flash.” Police later found in his semi-destroyed lair more weapons, dozens of furs, hundreds of traps and books about hunting and survival.
There’s more to this wacky story; read it right here. Note that he had books about hunting and survival. I’ve stressed the importance of this before – read. There are books there that will teach you how to set snares and ambushes. YOU could be Rambo!
11 comments
The debate over Hoarding and Stockpiling is totally redundant. The only thing that counts is what the facist Uncle in the district of corruption call it and act upon thier own defintion. You are hoarding if they say you are. They have the guns and many more than you. The Powers That Be will feed themselves over your dead body and then use your body to scare the living do-do out of any others they define as hoarders. We are thier slaves.
Oldman – You are correct in that it is what THEY say it is. As for being their slave; I’d rather DIE than be their slave. The group ‘Pokerface’ in their cd ‘Sex, Lies & Politiks’, cut 10, says it best ‘Rather Die Than Be Your Slave’ (www.pokerface.com) Greg
Ranger Man: All I was trying to say is that “Price Gouging” is illeagal in some state ie: FLORIDA=FS 501.
Sorry About interuption, my router went down’ To finish post FS 501.160-states.It is unlawful during a state of emergency to sell, lease, offer to sell, or offer for lease commidities, dwelling units, or self storage facilities for an amount that
grossly exceed the average price for the commodity the thirty days before the declaration of the state of emergengy or the seller price for the commodity the thirty days before the declaration of the state of emergency unless the seller can show increases in its market trends justifying the price. Examples of necessary commodities are food, ice, gas, oil, and lumber. This is a civil crime enforced by the Attorney General, The Department of Agriculture, and Consumer services and State Attorney.
Now then do I agree with above statue, NO!, but this is the U.S.S.A now, which means that “Absurd” or “Grossly” can be defined by the state and not the “Free Market”.
They did call it hoarding in Fla. but to me it was just good business, no matter what I would have thought of it at the time, especially if I were the hoardee and not the hoarder.
Simple strategy, no sales until TEOTWAWKI+31. By then, you will have a better idea of the market and you can charge what you want…
I was in Oklahoma City this december during their ice storm and paid 2X regular price for propane and was glad to get it.
Isn’t pure capitalism and hoarding one in the same? I see a stock that looks cheap I buy all I can to sell to the next person ie.(victom) Lets quote Warren Buffet ” when everyone else Is running for the exits I get GREEDY.” So if I prepare well when TSHTF I should profit from the lack of prepartions of others Thats capitalism and it wokrs great if the Govt. doesn’t mess with it. When propane is 20 dollars a gallon we’ll put on a coat and the price will retreat to more reasonable levels………….
Reminds me of a guy during Katrina: he saw on TV that there were no generators left in NO, and bought a bunch in his state and drove them in to sell. He paid something like $100 each, and sold them for $200. He was promptly arrested.
Why did he sell them for $200 each? Because he drove them in from a state or two away. gas ain’t cheap. He also neded to make enough profit to do it again- which would have brought in MORE generators into a area that desperately needed them.
After he was arrested, guess what? No more generators coming in. I find it bad policy to arrest people trying to bring supplies to those that need them. Maybe he was arrested for making FEMA look bad.
But they can’t do a damn thing about what you grew in your own garden, unless they are just going to get ruthless and we go to the 12 gauge method of protecting our survival food. I can barter my home grown stuff for whatever the bargain brings. I ain’t going to try to rip people off but I am going to keep enough for me and mine. ‘Nuff said.
It’s hoarding if anybody else is aware of it. It’s stockpiling if you know where it is and are very judicious about advtertising your extras. Just like budgeting, you’ll be eking out your resources to survive, not making a killing on the rice market. If Miss Daisy has some extra coffee and I want some, she’ll get first dibs at my extra rice. If I need to put some gas in the stealth van, I’ll pay for it with worthless money anyway. When peak oil slides down the other slope, money will be your last problem. Definitely, don’t advertise your assets or they’ll be seized. Don’t make anybody jealous that you appear to be “doing better”.