Sunday, December 7, 2008

SWAT team confiscates families food supply in Ohio

On the surface, this could be a hysteria inducing story for an Alpha Strategist, the local county SWAT team raids a small family business and home and carts off food stuffs and leaves no paper work or inventory documenting their actions.

Could your larder be next?

Ewww...scary..scary...like FDR and Gold in 1933

But alas, nothing quite so dramatic:

"On Monday, December 1, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on parents, children, infants and toddlers, from approximately 11 AM to 8 PM. The team was aggressive and belligerent. The children were quite traumatized. At some point, the “bad cop” SWAT team was relieved by another team, a “good cop” team that tried to befriend the family. The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse http://www.mannastorehouse.com on the western side of the greater Cleveland area for many years"

Basically they sold or donated uninspected beef to a college, the beef was free of both steroids and the normal massive doses of anti biotics that some beef are currently injected with, which of course tipped Inspector Cleseau, who was denied membership in the Co-Op so he came back a week later with men armed with fully automatic weapons, bullet proof vests, and flash bang hand grenades...over a paperwork issue.

Spam..it's what's for dinner

A recent article mentioned that sales of the canned meat product Spam have shot up 10% since September.

Spam is sort of a platypus of food, and to be frank, relying on it for nutrition over the long haul is dubious, but that increase in sales when added with the increase in the sales of seeds for DIY food production, America clearly sees some hard times on the horizon.

It requires hundreds of pounds of food to feed a family of four, solid nutrition is actually inexpensive to purchase in bulk, foods such as Barley and Split Peas or even Oats are good values and available in bulk.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

5 best and 5 worst deals at Costco

For using a stockpiling strategy to defeat the corrosive tax of inflation, Warehouse Clubs are hard to beat...in theory, if one watches prices places such as Sams, BJ's and Costco sometimes have great bulk deals, other times, not so much.

So helpfully, MSN money has provided a small portion of insight into the best and worst deals at Costco and presumably the other Warehouse Clubs as well:

The Best, Meat, Electronics, Dairy and Eggs*, Alcohol, Prescription Drugs.

The worst, Designer Clothing, Frozen Foods, Products purchased in Bulk and wasted via shrinkage, Paper Goods and Gasoline.

Now far be it from this humble AS to disagree with the mighty MSN Money, but they are off base, people who stockpile in anticipation of hard times learn the skills needed to make buying Bulk and Frozen foods productive and not deductive.

Bulk Foods are broken down into smaller air tight containers, Frozen Foods are broken up into smaller units and used more quickly, in my area Eggs are actually a dollar more expensive at the local Sam's then they are at the local discount shopping retailer and key storage items like Spaghetti Sauce are also more of a value at the local discounter.

Gasoline is difficult to purchase at the local Sam's as they have a strange pay now, drive over to pumps with the receipt to fill up the tank, with local Gas and Kiosk retailer EnMark doing business in the area, such a inconveinence is not worth the effort and EnMark also has Water and Air to top off your vehicle with.

So as per usual with such articles, knowing local conditions is the key to winning the retailing game, look at prices and inconveince and decide at what point saving money in small amounts is not worth the effort or trouble, and choose accordingly.

Another odd one, Hanging Pheasant

Recently ran across a different Blog about Hunting and found another long forgotten practice:

Hanging Pheasants, or for some Dry Aging Beef.

Basically once the bird is reduced to possession, it is left to err "age" until the tissue begins to break down (better known as rot slightly) in order to enhance the flavor of otherwise a nondescript version of Chicken.

I can recall reading about that practice in James Clavell's Shogun, but thought it was sort of created merely by a lack of refrigeration, apparently I was incorrect:


"

The great Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarindoesn’t give a timetable, but says, “the peak is reached when the pheasant begins to decompose; its aroma develops, and mixes with an oil which in order to form must undergo a certain amount of fermentation, just as the oil in coffee can only be drawn out by roasting it.” Sounds pretty hardcore.

Roy Wall wrote in 1945: “The flesh of either wild game or domesticated animals and fowl can certainly be improved by aging, but it is my opinion that there must be a limit to the aging process…aging in the open air for 10 days or a month, according to weather conditions, is, in my opinion, most beneficial to domestic and wild meat alike."

Hmm...well..mmkay...

As for the Alpha Strategy, right now prices seem to have stabilized, I would however point out that food producers sign contracts in advance, sometimes years in advance, with the decline in prices of commodities there will be less production of those commodities, meaning prices will rise sometime in early 2009.

Now the other thing to keep in mind is Government introduced scarcity, there are less then 50 days until the real possibility exists that items such as rifles and ammunition and magazines will increase in price even moreso then Alpha Strategists are seeing today, add in the real possiblity of precious metals becoming a safe haven until political leadership sorts out how much inflation they wish to introduce into the US and indeed World Economy...

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A rarity, the lost art of Ferreting in the UK

I always found the idea of hunting with ferrets both intriguing and a bit distasteful, on one hand, they are no different then using hounds to hunt rabbits, on the other, they give a massive advantage to the hunter that uses them.

Anyhow, here is a interesting of one such hunt:

We pulled up in the farm yard and left the jeep at the same spot as we had yesterday. I pushed 3 cartridges into my gun and we put out game bags on over one shoulder and slowly crawled towards the gate. We slipped the guns through the gaps in the fence and picked a target. I picked two big fat rabbits sitting right next to each other. My grandad started the countdown, 3, 2, 1. We sent all of our shots at the rabbits and stood up while re-loading so we could get a better aim. we fired off another 2 rounds each and went to pick up our rabbits. We gutted them and left them to cool in the grass behind the jeep. we netted up all the holes, set the long nets and set some peg snares on the runs to catch any lucky escapees. I put Purdey and Kala into the first bury and Dodge and Stinker into the second while my grandad put 5 of his into one massive bury that went under a tree. We killed 16 in the first ten minutes after putting down the ferrets and another 47 in the next hour. My grandads ferrets sent out a pheasant and he shot it before I.."


Obviously, ferrets are dynamite game animals, these gents apparently had a source to purchase the excess rabbits they had bagged, and since Rabbits reproduce several times a year, no great pressure was put on the local populace.

Ferret hunting in the US is rare, in fact some MidWestern States had banned their use in the 40's and 50's, the ferret is just that effective...

Friday, November 21, 2008

Hard Times...Good Times pt II

The LA Times has a story about Children moving back in with their parents due to the Mortgage Collapse, on the whole, it's a fair story but perhaps overlooks just how common it was in American to have three generations under one roof.:

"...When adult children and parents are forced to live together, they typically experience a breakdown in what Coontz calls "the economy of gratitude." Family members notice only the inconveniences and ignore the nice things that they do for one another.

That doesn't have to happen, of course. Houses are larger now, so family members have more space and more chances for privacy. But beyond that, children and parents can peacefully coexist by approaching the new living arrangement as they would if they were taking on any roommate: Agree in advance on how to handle household purchases, cleaning and other responsibilities. Resolve the question of who is in charge and how the house is to be governed, and the situation may not seem so bad after all."

Now this is a somewhat fact of life, however Common Sense tells me that our lifestyle in the US, extreme self containment, is probably even less healthy, there is no need to learn Coping Skills like Patience and Tolerance of other's foibles.

The story does go on to point out this benefit:

"Hinkle had to think twice about living under the same roof as the son who had been her most problematic child.

"It's been surprisingly wonderful," she says. "He's calm and sensible, and I'm getting a level of contact with my kids and grandkids that has been more rewarding than I could ever have dreamed. Neither of us could have afforded to live here on our own."

Hinkle and her son talked about how they would divide the space and respect each other's privacy. She lives in the former garage, converted into a studio with its own entrance, and the kitchen is shared. When her door is closed, that means she's not to be bothered. No one is to assume that she will be the live-in babysitter.

For her part, Hinkle goes into other parts of the house only when invited.

"If it is getting tense, then I go into my room and close the door and work on e-mails or read," she says. "I know basically they are very good parents, and I made plenty of mistakes. They will make their own mistakes."

Now this in my view will be the "new" normal in the US for a couple of years, as the Economy rolls up tighter and tighter, people will retreat into what Institutions that remain, in this case, the Family, in times past, when one family member with a family of their own went through a Divorce or prolonged Unemployment/underemployment, the Family normally the Parents would offer to put them up "until they get back on their feet". Only in this case, I think we will see the rebirth of closer Family Unit that pools efforts to try and get ahead. There will be adult children who have to return to school to learn new skills, that will take time and humbleness to accomplish.

Rifle prices..in 1988..

With the current Rifle buying frenzy in the news, I think now would be a good time for some nostalgia courtesy of the July 1988 Shotgun News:

Sweidsh M-38 Carbine...90.00

Fr-7 .308 bolt action carbine...115.00

FN-49...126.00

Chinese (Norinco) Ak-47's...275.00

M1 Garand...299.00

M1A..w 4 magazines...325.00

AR15...325.00

Belgian FAL...595.00

Steyr AUG (w25 magazines)...870.00

Belgian paratrooper FAL's...875.00


The M1A is a real bargain, AR's start at 600 dollars these days, clearly if and when the Obama Administration bans military patterned rifles, today's prices will seem like a real bargain, other good items to buy in the current 60 day window are Full Capacity Magazines for handguns, as well as Rifles, and Ammunition, sooner or later, today's prices will seem quite cheap in comparison to even two years from now.

I can remember clearly the zoom upwards in prices after the 1994 ban, one month a magazine for a Glock cost 12 dollars, the next month...45 dollars...

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

It's Catching on in San Francisco...

San Francisco is a prosperous town, with the HQ's of several major corporations there, and a vibrant community type feel to it, this story comes as a surprise:



" The goodies in the pint jars and the carboys come from the Joseph Daniel Wilson Memorial Garden, which the Worleys founded across the street. The fresh produce is a huge final delivery from a Community Supported Agriculture farm in Orange County, which they used all summer. Packed in sand and stored at 55 degrees, the potatoes should keep at least until the New Year. The squash could still be palatable on Groundhog Day, and the onions should survive till spring. Cynthia Worley, who counsels and teaches adults for the New York City Department of Education, and Haja Worley, a neighborhood organizer and radio engineer, will let their basement-deprived friends store vegetables, too"

Middle America apparently does not like the smell of what is coming down the river and at least some folks are taking steps to prepare, though it should be noted, a Community Garden is at best a supplement, scores of people trying to make do off of a couple of acres food plot is not tennable.

What surprises me is the attitude to what once was thought simple prudence on the part of "Joe and Jane Average" in America:

Root cellars have long been the province of Midwestern grandmothers, back-to-the-landers and committed survivalists. But given the nation's budding romance with locally produced food, they also appeal to the backyard gardener, who may have a fruit tree that drops a bigger bounty every year while the refrigerator remains the same size

So the article sort of casts stones at self sufficiency, yet goes on to offer advice:

People who squirrel away vegetables tend to be resourceful, and they do not limit themselves to the subterranean. Anna Barnes, who runs a small media company and coordinates the Prairieland Community Supported Agriculture in Champaign, Ill., says squash hung in a pair of knotted pantyhose stay unspoiled longer than others.


This is a typical American reaction in my view, disparage, "only nutcases or grannies do that" to offering advice on how to do what they just disparaged.

The real problem is, if one is laid off or out of work, and has a family, grown food will not be enough, 365 days x 3 meals a day, and you will run out of pantyhoused squash before you run out of dinner to prepare.



Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Hard times....good times?

Ahh, Mr. Obama won the election, the Fed could care less as the pump trillions of dollars out of nothing but thin air, and the bailout was a massive bait and switch...

Gas is down to 2.30 or so a gallon and it looks like hard times will sweep across the US and the Globe over the next few years...Nice...thank you Wizards of Smart!

Anywho, being the optimistic American that I am, I have to wonder if such a contraction will bring families closer together and perhaps still some of the foolish bickering that goes on during fat times, there is nothing like being the lifeboat to silence the squabbles. Such a renewed comittment to core values can only be a good thing.

To me, this is also to hone some skills and perhaps learn new ones, as our new found sincerety begins to take root, perhaps people will relearn some of the habits that made America successful in the first place, things like Frugality, Thrift, Work, Family, these are the things that make America livable.

As for the Alpha Strategy, a vignette:

A close friend, who is also a Strategist, lost his sole source of income, his rent is fairly cheap, and includes utilities and internet access, his larder is quite deep, and slowly he has been drawing down on his supplies to keep himself afloat during these times.

If he had purchased Stocks, or even Metals instead of stockpiling goods, he would face selling expensively purchased assets at a discount due to market downturns.

This worked well for him, and he also does not have to bother with tax paperwork, or the upcoming boom in Global Inflation that is on the horizon, buy now, store here, pay less down the road...works everytime it is tried..

Monday, October 13, 2008

Iceland going through Alpha Strategy Blues in currency meltdown

Iceland always seemed like a wonderful place tucked into the middle of the N Atlantic, the people are friendly and until recently, life was cheap.

With an isolated location, and little food production capacity, our Icelandic Neighbors are no confronting empty store shelves and little food to purchase with a no worthless currency.

Alpha Strategy is relatively cheap to pursue while times are good, a family of four needs 3 meals a day, 7 days a week for at least 365 days, or 4,300 meals at about 2 pds of food per meal, give or take, or 8,000 pds of food or 160 bags of Beans and Corn or what have you.

Depending on how much your family consumes and how much food can be acquired via fishing or hunting or domestic production....

Icelanders, whose per capita gross domestic product is the fifth highest in the world, according to the United Nations 2007/2008 Human Development Index, will have to tighten their belts.

Shoppers are paying more for the goods they do get. The cost of fruits and vegetables, nearly all of which are imported, have gone up about 50 percent in recent months, said Steinunn Kristinsdottir, a 33-year-old Reykjavik resident who was leaving the Bonus store with her cart full.

``This situation really has been a bit troubling for people,'' she said. ``They don't know what's going to happen.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Stock market crash was forseeable, now comes Inflation

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/08/inflation.banking



This is the "best case scenario"


Monetary authorities around the world are now focused on trying to ensure that we avoid the fate of the United States in the Great Depression of the 1930s, when output fell by over 30%. Instead, their hope is that the recession to come is more like the early 1970s, when western economies shrank by 5% to 10%. Painful but not catastrophic.

One of the benefits of the venerable strategy of stockpiling is such inflation is avoided, by buying in quantity now, the Alpha Strategist will miss the pain of losing 10 dollars on every 100 dollars.

The real irony of this is, people who are "savers" the few and far between people who put their money in the bank, are about to lose their shirts from both inflation driven loss of purchasing power AND the increase in Capital Gains taxes.

Truly, inflation is a Govt best friend, and "Joe or Jane Average" worst enemy.

And what is the largest tidal wave to hit, Seniors on fixed Social Security incomes will not have their benefits increased 10%, try 4% maximum, literally, Seniors and the Retired will face the hawk and buzzard for a couple of years.

Buy, Buy Now, Buy in Bulk, Avoid all of this by using the Alpha Strategy.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Never...never..take things for granted

As an Alpha Strategist, I'm afraid I let my gaurd down this week.

Hurricane Ike decimated the Houston Energy infrastructure, in response I filled the tank to the brim, the crisis seemed to pass, facilities were back and operational fairly quickly.

Alas, that is true, but not the whole truth, it would seem that my region was at the bottom of the list to have gasoline delivered to the pumps, after two weeks, I'm running on empty, there is no gas to be had without a 1 hour wait time.

Needless to say, I'd be out of gas long before I made it through the line, so in a counter move, it is shanks mare and a ten speed bike to make up the difference, if a real emergency hit, I'd be reduced to Fourth World level unable to transport to the hospital or the pharmacy.

The lesson from this one is, never trust what the media says, or what is "normal" that is a huge mistake in a crisis, and failure to forsee these sorts of things will cause inefficiency.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Fire! Death! Murder! Well...not exactly

The Wizards of Wall and Broad have finally cooked their own gooses, to many years of high risk, medium profits and bad loans...they got burned, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and a cavalcade of others, all no longer exist..

Hundreds of Billions in value....gone.

The Death of those Noble Houses of finances were no surprise, the effects will be felt for decades, centuries...eons...err...no it will not, the weak fail, that is one of the laws that cannot be legislated against, like gravity and God's Laws of personal behaviour, sure you can violate them, for a time, but the end result is...bowing to the inevitable (eww...grim...).

Murder! Which is what will happen to the average Go-Go 2000's family, their budgets are about to murdered in the contraction that will take place, we could see some minor deflation of commodities as losses in the US scare money out of the market and deflate prices.

Of course, as that money flees jobs go along with it, meaning if you have stocked the larder in your affordable dwelling and kept your bills low, the Alpha Strategy will pay dividends in the event of job loss/lowered income.

I see the Gurus on TV proclaming this a short term adjustment, they are quite wealthy enough to make that statement, but don't buy it for a second, this event will take time to be swallowed up in the rhythms of life, the easy credit Big Screen TV gas guzzling SUV life is about to face some attitude adjustments.

A bit of adivce though, if one is a Alpha Strategist, do not simply turn your back on Opportunity and gaze at your Alpha Savings Account, yes, it is nice security, now is the chance to go bargain shopping with that cash that is horded via bulk savings.

For myself, I can see some solid opportunities really solid ones, now that the preplanned Alpha Strategy is in effect, the next step is to look at one's own strategy for the next three years out in the face of Market that is cash strapped but value enhanced.

In 2002, I saw some historic lows, I still kick myself today for not dropping at least some money on companies that will not only pay a dividend, but also will appreciate.

Alpha's have won this round, it's the next round that should be looked forward to, don't fight the last war.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Consumer prices rise quickly

From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer prices shot up in July at twice the expected rate, pushed higher by surging energy and food costs. The latest surge left inflation running at the fastest pace in 17 years.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that consumer prices rose by 0.8 percent last month, twice the 0.4 percent gain that economists had been expecting.

It marked the third straight month of oversized inflation increases following jumps of 0.6 percent in May and 1.1 percent in June. And it leaves inflation rising by 5.6 percent over the past year, the biggest 12-month gain since January 1991.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.3 percent in July, slightly higher than the 0.2 percent increase that economists had expected. For the past 12 months, core inflation has risen by 2.5 percent, the highest 12-month change since February.

The inflation surge presents a major problem for the Federal Reserve: Will inflation force it to start raising interest rates even as the economy struggles to avoid a recession?

Some economists said they believed this could be the last truly horrible inflation report, noting that energy prices have been falling since hitting a peak last month. Others worried that the July report could be a signal that inflation is not going to moderate as quickly as had been expected because the surge in energy prices is now starting to spread to other sectors of the economy.



So basically "core" inflation has risen, and the statistics do not track the costs of Alpha Strategy key items, food and fuel and the products made from oil, with a JIT inventory system, some makers of those products may only suffer a small rise in costs, manufacturers typically sign futures contracts for their raw materials, however once those contracts run out, the producers will have no choice but to raise prices on everything from Oatmeal to Toothpaste.

For myself, I hit on a mini gold mine of savings at a Industrial Paper Supplier, 200 rolls of generic Toilet paper for 40 bucks, a similar amount of a name brand toilet paper would cost 150 dollars plus taxes of 11 dollars, or about 25% of the cost for the 200 rolls.

It's small ball somewhat, but it reaffirms the saver mindset, and 200 rolls of TP will last almost two years at my home.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Dressed up ye old Blog with a Sykes Fairbairn

Decided to add one of my favorite knives as a header on the blog.

The Sykes Fairbairn is a beautiful knife with a controversial design, tested in combat, but if you abused it, the blade would fail at the tip.

The tip of the knife would just snap off if it was abused, and yet the WW2 paras and OSS used it throughout the war with good results, but like most things, the newest and latest "obsolesced" this fine blade.

After WW2 there were barrels full of issued Sykes Fairbairn knives exported to America and sold for 3 dollars or so, today they would be worth hundreds of dollars if they had been used in combat.

The lesson is, what is cast away if it has intrinsic design value will always be useful, if not currently sexy...

Monday, August 4, 2008

Beauty Supply stores as Alpha Strategy enablers.

Happened to be out and about in the heat of the day today, ran across a Discount Beauty Supply store of the type that author Pugsley mentioned in the Alpha Strategy.

I am a bit low on shampoo at the moment so I dropped in to see if Pugsley was correct, and not surprisingly he was quite correct, a 1 gallon bottle of professional shampoo concentrate sold for 8.99 which on it's face would seem steep, but the 1 gallon is a concentrate, it makes 5 gallons in total, or 2 dollars a gallon, the average bottle of shampoo is maybe a quart or less and costs 2.00 to 3.00 bucks.

5 gallons will make 20 quarts of shampoo if not more, or 2.00 x 20=40.00 and the concentrate avoids state sales taxes on the 20 or more bottles that you would normally buy over the course of time.

So a 5 minute visit to Beauty Supply shop has acquired enough shampoo to last for 2 years at least...

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Hydrogen Peroxide's many uses

Peroxide was invented during World War II to help army troops in their various needs. Nowadays, this same chemical can be bought in almost any drugstore for as low as one dollar! However, not everyone is familiar with the uses and benefits one can get from a cheap bottle of peroxide.

I took the liberty of researching on this topic. Below are some of the less known but definitely great ways to maximize that small bottle resting in your medicine cabinet!

  1. Heal wounds and infections by soaking the affected area in peroxide from five to ten minutes. Do this several times a day for better and faster results.
  2. Kill fungus on your feet by spraying a mixture (fifty percent peroxide and fifty percent water) of peroxide and water on them everyday. Don't wipe with cloth, just let it dry.
  3. Rather than keeping your toothbrush in your bathroom cabinets, soak it in a cup of peroxide. This will kill bacteria and germs that may have accumulated due to residues from your teeth.
  4. Use peroxide as mouthwash. Take one capful and gargle for about five to ten minutes. You'll be surprised to see whiter teeth and sore-less gums.
  5. Following the same idea as with your toothbrush, peroxide can also be used as a spray cleaner for countertops and tabletops. You may also put a small amount on a dishrag and wipe it on the surfaces to kill bacteria and germs.
  6. Spray a 50/50 mixture of peroxide and water into your nostrils whenever you have colds or blocked sinus. Hold it for a few minutes and then blow your nose into a tissue. Peroxide kills the bacteria that cause colds, coughs, flu, and sinus infections.
  7. Use peroxide as a pain-reliever! If you're suffering from toothache and the dentist is still several miles away, gargle peroxide for about ten minutes several times. This shall lessen the pain and give you ample time to get to the dentist without having to suffer more.
  8. Half a bottle of peroxide mixed with your bath can cure mild and recurring skin infections such as rashes, boils and fungus
  9. Use peroxide as a substitute for bleach. Apply a small amount on stains or mix with your laundry to whiten clothes.
  10. Clean your mirrors with peroxide! You'll love the smudge and smear-free surface!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Die Hard II and an oil change...

Summer, man it is warm out, it was also a good day to change the oil in the ol' Honda, and good lesson was learned about actually "using" your stockpiled goods.


Sam's Club had 5 qt bottles of motor oil for the low price of 9 bucks or so, motor oil is a great item to stockpile as the price will go only upward for quite sometime even with the recent oil price reductions, it takes time for the quarts of oil to deflate in price as the old expensive quarts are moved through the system.

On to the oil change, my Honda takes five quarts, it is an old car and I like to use oil treatments such as Slick 50, I'm sure there is some website somewhere that would reply "Slick 50 is garbage, a scam", well perhaps, I drive old cars and have yet to lose an engine that I've used Slick 50 in.

Well, 5 qts (+) in the oil pan, a 5 qt large bottle of oil, and 1 quart of Slick 50...I'm one quart of oil over the 5 I need....to try and eyeball the large bottle of Castrol and "guess" when a quart is left is a bad idea, to sloppy.

Then Die Hard II arrived for inspiration, pour the quart of slick 50 in first, then pour 1 quart of oil out of the 5 quart jug and voila! 4 qts of oil with one to spare...just like Die Hard II...

Point being, Alpha Strategists buy in bulk to save money on packaging costs, handling larger amounts then what are called for in an application is one more minor skill one must learn to make it work.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Hunting and fishing to save on costs?

On the face of it, Hunting or Fishing for some steroid free protein would seem to be a money saver for the average Alpha Strategist.

I would say hold up for a moment, let's look at costs:

"Sportsman's License" (Allows for both Hunting and Fishing and Trapping)

40.00

Firearm to hunt with

Moison Nagant 100.00
Box of ammunition 5 dollars per 20 4 boxes needed for proficiency 20.00

Now unless one lives in a semi rural region, or near Hunting Land, we will have to drive to shoot our deer (or elk or bear) say 50 mile round trip at 20 mpg 3 gallons used so we are at 12.00 for gas.

Now you also will need "Blaze Orange" gear for safeties sake, you can ditch the camo as wearing a blaze orange vest makes camouflage...pointless...a Vest will cost right about 18.00

And the final problem, a Alpha Strategist can go through all of those assets, and not reduce to possession a deer, you also have to either be lucky, or very skilled as the North American Deer is far ahead of "Joe Average" in using their senses.

So let's look at fishing, pole, tackle, license, bait and time.

If you catch your limit of Trout, and are fortunate enough to catch mostly 2 pd fish, after cleaning you will have about 5 pds of low fat, steroid free protein, Trout also sells for 6.00 a pd in my area, and those are farm raised, so 30.00 worth of Trout is a good deal in terms of assets used.

Now it should be said, if the Alpha Strategist is a skilled hunter, and already posses the gear, then it could pay off to take your tag limit (if you do not have to miss work to do so), in NC, you can bag up to 5 deer, that would fill a freezer and then some.

The real good deal from a Alpha Strategists view is small game hunting, squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, these are the land equivalent of trout, a high return for a minimum investment.

I hunt and fish, and completely enjoy it, however that is a hobby, to hunt or fish to fill a roll in the Alpha Strategy, I would have to watch costs like a hawk, perhaps combining hunting during the day, and fishing during the evening, perhaps even having to run a trot line to get a good harvest of fish as a single line and hook is just not efficient enough unless the fish are literally jumping on the bank...

I've seen fish do that at my favorite fishing spot, but like any fishermen worth his salt, I'm not saying where that spot is....

Friday, July 25, 2008

Costco to raise prices...hope you Alpha'd already

Courtesy of ABC news:

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Story?id=5445433&page=1

"...Costco has announced that it will have to raise its prices, on some items by as much as 15 percent...."

a 15% return on your investment would be a good feat in today's Stock Market, yet if you bought ahead of such a predictable event, that is exactly what you would have "earned" in savings still in your wallet.

It pays to stockpile needed items ahead of time in these inflationary times, in fact, it is the one investment with the least amount of risk..

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

If you are an Alpha Strategist, the time to buy is now

Con Agra and Kraft Foods will raise prices on their food products by 20% this year, meaning that jar of cheese whiz will go from 2.80 to 3.20 or so:



Here is the list of ConAgra products that will rise in price 20%

Wesson Oil would seem to be a good Alpha Buy, as would LaChoy Soy Sauce in the 1 gallon size.

Now it should be mentioned that the parallel "generic" brands of similar products actually come from one of these two companies, only in a different package, meaning even the "Cheapy" versions will rise in price.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Tha Alpha Strategy, what it is, how it works

In similar economic times, the mid to late 1970's, a Economist, John Pugsley wrote "The Alpha Strategy", a book on economics and more importantly, how to protect the purchasing power of your hard earned monies through a reviewing of the role of the goods we use in our lives.

Pugsley's Alpha Strategy basically eschews investments in liquid assets in favor of banking on inflation growth outstripping returns on investments in typical consumables such as Dry Good foods, Home Cleaning Products, Personal Care Products.

A good example of the Alpha Strategy in practice is found in the common light bulb, the same Light Bulb is mandated to be replaced with mercury filled toxic light bulbs in 2012, currently a 4 pack of generic light bulbs costs 1 dollar + tax, currrently a single mercury light bulb costs 3.50 a piece.

The average American Family uses 24 light bulbs a year:

Incandescent Light Bulb Cost per year........6.00

Mercury Light Bulb Cost per year.....84 dollars

A 78 dollar difference per year, if a ten year supply is purchased via the Alpha Strategy, incandescent bulbs would cost 60 dollars, a mercury bulb 10 year supply would cost 840 dollars.

The Alpha Strategy would turn 60 dollars in cost today, into 780 dollars in cash over a ten year period..

Wheat prices have doubled, that will work it's way down into the price of familiy staples such as Rotini, when price checked, the average cost has increased 37 cents on a box of pasta, with three pasta based meals a week, or 1.11 per week in additional cost, over 52 weeks, a 50 dollar + savings can be realized by bargain shopping and stock piling a supply of pasta now, before the poor wheat harvest and additional energy costs raise prices even higher.

The Alpha Strategy is a Contrarian one, instead of trying to increase the yield from an investment, it seeks to attack Future Costs by using today's dollars to cheat inflation down the road.

The additional benefits are that your Savings is Tax Free, and having a larger then average Larder (The Average Family has about two weeks of food stored) will help to protect one's loved ones in the event of a social disruption.

The Alpha Strategy is quite old, thousands of years old in fact, it comes from a time when there was no money per se, there were however goods such as shoes or swords or food herds that wealth was based on, Desert Dwellers have practiced this for a very long time.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Winter is ending, the sun is warm is again, my illness has passed, this year I feel renewed as the plants that surround me.