My Thoughts on the recent mass shooting in South Carolina

Greece About to Default

The chances seem to be pretty high. The Vulture Funds are looking to cash in on those credit default swaps...

Wall Street bets on 75% chance of Greek default

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Fernando—
You might be receiving questions about the Greek debt situation and concerns about the outcome.
I thought I would share this article with you.
Larry

Why Greece’s pension problems are also ours…

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Nilus Mattive

It’s looking more and more like Greece will not be able to reach an agreement with its creditors by the end of this month. That’s when more than $1.8 billion in debt comes due.
A last-minute deal is always a possibility. After all, a so-called “Grexit” event would have huge implications … especially for bond markets.
But even if negotiators suddenly come up with a grand bargain, there’s something every single U.S. citizen should take away from this ongoing crisis …
I’m talking about the fact that Greece’s unsustainable pension system is one of the biggest sticking points between Athens and its creditors.
Essentially, the International Monetary Fund is asking Greece to:

•  Cut its pension promises by the equivalent of 1% of the country’s GDP
•  Quickly address the fact that loads of Greeks are taking early retirement, and
•  Enact other cuts to things like state-funded supplementary pensions.

Meanwhile, Athens says it’s unwilling to take any of these steps.
According to an article from the BBC yesterday:

“[Prime Minister] Tsipras rejected demands for pension cuts, citing his country’s dignity.”

And Mr. Tispras himself was quoted as telling a Greek newspaper,

“Further cuts to pensions after five years of looting under the bailouts can only be viewed as serving political expediency.”

Wait — a country preserves its dignity by defaulting on its debts? And making budget cuts to stave off bankruptcy is considered looting?

(Continue reading over at uncommonwisdomdaily.com )
Thanks Larry, interesting read.
I’d say yes, defaulting may preserve the dignity of the people if not doing so means you’ll drop further into poverty and misery. Defaulting isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While some look to make legitimate business, other “investors”, (yes, lets be kind and call them that) that “lend” money to a country that is falling apart and has no way of repaying have other things in mind. Lets look at it from a capitalist point of view. If I invest money with some shady company looking to sell ice in the north pole, and this company I just invested it suddenly fails, who’s fault is it? It’s mine of course. Mine because I’m the one that made a poor decision and invested in something that had little chance of success. That’s the nature of capitalism, sometimes you lose money, sometimes you make it. If you’re always in a win-win scenario, then you’re unfairly rigging the game to your benefit.
The problem you have in countries such as Argentina isn’t that politicians tried to get rid of the corrupt IMF, but rather that they did so only to steal money themselves. In many ways, Argentina did well on its own all things considered after the crisis. The problem was the massive amount of money stolen by the ruling government.
Greece would do well to put its own people ahead of the interest of companies, foreign or domestic. That you don’t bargain with, the lives of your people, their health and dignity comes before anything else. If they can’t come to an agreement with the EU, then they should default and leave the union.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Thrunite TN36: 6510 lumens Monster light!

It wasn’t that long that a good friend of mine sent me a Surefire G2 flashlight from USA to Argentina. OK, maybe it was almost ten years ago, but I do remember how amazed I was by it. This “tactical” flashlight used two CR123A batteries, it had a hi-tech Xenon light bulb and it produced… 100 lumens! It was incredible. It put to shame the large Maglite I had back then that used 3 large C type batteries and yet it was so small that the G2 fit in your pocket.
Today, the flashlight world is a completely different universe. My keychain LED light produces 162 lumens. The Thrunite TN36 that I’m reviewing in this article? The turbo mode produces 6510 lumens. Yes six thousand.

The Thrunite TN36
Let me explain what its like to handle a 6000 lumen flashlight. The Thrunite TN36 bright. As in, really bright. As in, it doesn’t matter so much that it doesn’t have a lot of throw, with 6000 lumens everything in front of you just lights up as if the sun just came out. 6000 lumens is so bright that it will burn your hand if left in front of the reflector. It’s so bright that the reflection on white or pastel colored walls hurts your eyes, and direct expose with dilated pupils will cause permanent eye damage. How’s that for “tactical” applications?
If you want to put out a wall of light in front of you that will turn night into day this is it. 6000 lumens will get the job done and even though it’s a flood light, being so bright objects a couple hundred yards away are still illuminated.

So as to achieve this, the TN36 packs some serious hardware under the hood: You’ve got three Cree MK-R LEDs powered by 4x 18650 3400MHA Li-ion batteries. The flashlight is well machined out of aluminum, displaying a quality high end finish all around. The user interface is classic Thrunite, which I’ve learned to appreciate due to its simplicity and quick access of modes. If you just want a bit of light, a long press turns it on in moonlight mode (1.6 lumens for 33days) while double clicking turns it on in turbo mode (6510 lumens for 119 minutes). Double clicking again goes to strobe, also 6510 lumens but for 137 minutes. A 6000 lumen strobe will definitely be highly disruptive for anyone glancing your way. A simple click will turn it on in either low (116 lumens for 54 hours), medium (785 lumens for 587 minutes) or high (2280 lumens for 194 minutes)depending on which one was last used thanks to the memory mode. To cycle through these three simply keep the side switch pressed. The maximum beam distance is 299 meters and the TN36 is also waterproof to IPX-8 standards and drop tested to 1.5 meters.

At 390gr. the TN36 isn’t exactly light, it feels more like a can of coke. Thankfully, the holster (included) makes it easy to carry around. Other accessories include spare 0rings, a lanyard and spare switch cap.

The Thrunite TN36 is simply a monster of a light capable of blinding anyone in front of it. The different modes allow you to use it for extended periods of time if needed but this flashlight is clearly intended for those looking for maximum brightness in a still relatively compact form factor.
At $199.95, the TN36 presents a great value, including a 24 month free repair warranty and lifetime limited warranty.
http://thrunite.com/
Thrunite TN36 in Amazon
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

Giveaway with 26 great prizes

Our good friend Tess Pennington over at Ready Nutrition is doing a pretty neat giveaway, which includes the Wonder Junior Grain Mill, SOG knives, Mountain House food, and several books including “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” written by yours truly.
Here’s the link to sign up for the Giveaway.
http://readynutrition.com/resources/10000-facebook-likes-epic-giveaway_08062015/
Good Luck!

FerFAL

What to do with gold/silver?‏

Ferfal,
This subject has come a couple of times and I was wondered how this was handled in Argentina.
You go to the grocery store to buy some things. When the cashier talleys the amount you hand her s couple of ounces of silver? Did/do stores keep track as to what the conversion is for precious metals - maybe a silver Maple Leaf or Golden American Eagle? Or maybe there are laws in place that force the stores to reject the precious metals or coinage?
Gary
..
Hello Gary,
Thanks for your email and sorry for taking so long to reply.
Gold became an instant hit right after the economic collapse of 2001, the business of buying gold went up 500% the years after the collapse. All of a sudden every jewelry store and every kiosk, every new shop that opened was all about buying gold. With terrible rates of unemployment and inflation people became desperate, and the first thing they did after running out of money was turn to belongings they could sell. Of course, selling jewelry meant you could go to any of these stores and walk out with some cash to put food on the table.
Here its important to notice that in spite of its popularity, the real business was for the person buying the gold and melting it, rather than the desperate person selling at a big loss, often for a spot price that was well below market value. For those that had gold coins, the loss when selling was generally not as bad if they went to a reputable precious metal dealer or bank.
Answering your first question, no, you wouldn’t pay in a grocery store with any kind of precious metal. You could although go to one of the many dealers looking to buy precious metals, which could be found all over town, sell your precious metals for whatever the price was that moment, and then with the cash now go to the grocery store. People that had gold and silver coins would sell a little bit at a time so as to preserve it from inflation. Answering your second question, yes, knowing the ongoing price of precious metals and especially currencies was very important. For years and still today, for any Argentine catching the price of the US dollar that day before leaving to work is as much of a ritual as checking the weather forescast.
Regarding your last question, there’s many aspects to it. First, when things get really bad what the law says sometimes isnt taken that much into consideration. Expect a big black market to rise if regulations restricting the use of precious metals is imposed. Second, precious metals aren’t as much of a deal in Argentina as they are in USA. A restricting to precious metals in USA would be hugely controversial. Lots of Americans keep and understand precious metals very well. Any attempt to restrict the use of gold and silver would be met by an opposing effect. This would probably increase the value of precious metals.
In the past I have recommended having some “junk” gold for selling without attracting much attention. I still think its a good idea to have some as the precious metal equivalent of pocket change but only when paying spot metal price. Simple rings such as old wedding bands or broken jewelry, mostly simple chains and necklaces are good choices. As for the majority of your precious metals, stick to well recognized bullion coins.
One last tip, keep in mind that you can only go into the US or leave America without declaring the money you have if it is bellow 10.000 USd. This goes for precious metals as well.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.