Should we be pushing for a US, States, Cities, and Municipalities Bankruptcy?

Welcome to another episode of the Be Prepared Channel. Sorry for the big gap since I posted last. I have a podcast I will upload this weekend so stay tuned. Well today the news is just full of great and wonderful things. The word of the day is FinReg(for the Financial Regulation Bill). This was pushed through last night as our "wonderful" politicians think that doing something makes it look like they are actually getting "something" done. What a horrible piece of legislation this appears to be. But before we get too far down into this post maybe a quick backtrack on what this was suppose to be about.

FinReg was suppose to be the bill that was going to be the most serious attempt since the Great Depression to put the brakes on the banks, financial institutions, and even put a leash on the Federal Reserve. They piled in various smaller pieces of legislation that would have been meaningful to accomplish things like the Audit the Fed bill and made is just a component of this massive FinReg bill. From there the bankers and lobbyists have basically gutted and watered down anything of value in the bill. It was meant to eliminate the "To Big to Fail" so that taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook for any more massive banking institutions bailouts(they failed and we will be on the hook for unwinding these institutions). It was suppose to require capital in the banks to back up loans and prevent possible runs on the banks from wiping out the banks(very little was actually in the bill to address capital requirements). It was suppose to spin off the derivatives products to a separate trading platform and provide visibility, transparency, and accountability for these financial weapons of mass destruction. It was suppose to separate out the risky off balance sheet transactions from the banks(again they failed). This bill in short was suppose to push for the de-leveraging and de-risking of the financial system today. Sadly it has failed on all accounts.

What does this mean for us as preppers and modern survivalists? It means that the banks and financial system today is more leveraged and have more risk than when the panic started a couple of years ago. It means that instead of taking drastic action to head this off at the pass and try to rectify what we know is broken they have basically given these banks a pass and the global casino called the economy is now set to be run off a cliff(with congresses approval and regulatory body oversight). Our politicians think "they have done something" and now will pat themselves on the back and congratulate themselves as the rate of financial decline globally accelerates. Don't worry, they always have the "We could never have seen this coming" line sitting in their back pockets as they pretend they didn't understand or blame some "deer in the headlights" bureaucratic regulator as we listen to weeks of news reports that the new agency responsible for monitoring and fixing the system was too busy surfing porn and signing off on cooked books and accounting tricks. Anyone with half a brain tied behind their backs can see what is happening.

So this means we need to prepare for this train wreck to continue and to expect it to be far worse than what we may expect. Over the last couple of weeks I have heard some interesting commentary coming from the few talking heads and analysts that act like they have at least half a brain discussing the states and cities that are bankrupt. Today the topic came up in the context of the US government and spending. The topic that posed an interesting idea was the concept of bankruptcy. States by law cannot declare bankruptcy as I understand it. There is no provision for such a thing. However cities, municipalities, and other government entities can default and declare bankruptcy. At first one would think this would be the worst possible outcome, but then someone said something that was most interesting and possibly the silver lining to an event like this. If a city were to declare bankruptcy their lines of credit are wiped out. They cannot borrow any more money! They are forced to a pay as you go as they have not lines of credit. They also have the ability in the bankruptcy proceedings to renegotiate pensions, union contracts, and other huge financial obligations that they have and possibly if sane and rational people are involved maybe get these budgets back to something that can be covered with the revenues the city takes in.

Now we all know the idea of bankruptcy is a painful one and will come with a lot of pain and suffering, but I have to ask if it wouldn't be better to push these cities into bankruptcy so that they are cut off from all this spending? These politicians apparently don't have the self control or will to stop spending on their own. Today on CNBC Rick Santelli made the statement that when talking about governments today it isn't the governments that seem to have the backbone to make the hard choices it is typically the creditors that force those choices upon these governments such as the "austerity" measures they are dealing with in Europe. I would have to say that statement really just reinforces the idea that the sooner states, counties, cities, municipalities are force to default and cannot pay the bills the sooner they will be cut off from the credit taps and maybe, just maybe we can force our government to live within it's means before they saddle us all with so much debt and taxes that it just doesn't pay to have a job that earns "income".

I am not one to make statements like this and take it lightly. I believe in the handshake deal, that your word is your bond, and that you do what is right and you keep your promises. We wouldn't be keeping our promises if we defaulted on our debts. But one has to ask if promises weren't already broken by our politicians when they chose this path of debt, reckless spending, and ever expanding government roles into our lives far beyond what is reasonable or sustainable? I know some of us have been ranting and raving, and foaming at the mouth for decades now trying to get people to wake up, to stop the insane wars, the ever expanding socialist/communist state, and the clear disregard for our Constitution and the Rule of Law. So I have felt betrayed for many years, but I know for many folks who might be just waking up to this nightmare that this might all seem new to you. It might really be the first time you were aware that it wasn't just the ravings of some lunatics, but that we really were financially broke and that things really were bad. Yes you have been lied to, and yes they are still spinning tall tales to put off the day of reckoning. If this is all a new revelation to you I am sorry to inform you that it is true that things really are far worse off than they appear. So now is the time to start moving with a purpose because the time we have may actually be quite short at this point to get our own personal affairs in order and make sure we do all that we can to be prepared.

So here is your action plan:

1. Get out of debt.

2. Build up an emergency cash fund immediately with at least 3 months of living expenses.

3. Begin copy canning, and building up a emergency kit with your food, medical, water, equipment, and tools to get you through 3 months minimum.

4. Start moving your assets into tangible things like precious metals(physical not some ETF or certificate where someone else holds the metals for you)

Book recommendation:

Making the best of basics - Family Preperedness Handbook by James Talmage Stevens

I found this book informative, and it lays things out in simple charts to help you sort out the things you will need. I am still looking through this book, but I feel it is an excellent place to start. While I don't agree with all of the ideas and suggestions put forth I think you will find that with time and experience you too will see where you can improve upon or modify the suggestions offered in this book. This is like your Scout Handbook. Pick one up!

Summary:

Regardless if we push for bankruptcy today or if they keep kicking the can down the road all of these governments will default. Mathematically I believe they have already crossed that point at the national level that we cannot recover from the debt and massive piles of IOU's from unfunded liabilities like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. So one way or another they will default, and we will see massive corrections on the horizon. The further down the road they kick the can the worse the correction is going to be.

Don't be fooled into thinking that they accomplished anything other than give the too big to fail banks a free pass and handed even more control of our economy to the Federal Reserve who actually created this nightmare.

Bankruptcy might not just be an option, but it may be preferred to what they are doing today. The sooner governments at all levels are force to pay for things with revenues they actually receive and live within their means will be the day that maybe we can finally start to see what a real recovery looks like. One can only hope.

Are we falling like over ripened fruit?:

In the news:

- Greece so broke they are selling islands? (what will we sell?)

- Ever heard of debtors prisons? Maybe they are making a comeback....

- Upside down on your mortgage and thinking of walking away? Fanny Mae is now coming after you!

- It is all but admitted and the handwriting is on the all that Freddie and Fannie will need more of our taxpayer dollars to bail them out

Sometimes you just have to laugh it is so serious!

Sorry folks it has been a while since I have updated the blog. I took the plunge two weeks ago and relocated most of my personal belongings out to Nebraska and have spent the last week settling in. Unfortunately I still have too many supplies, preps, and equipment still in Colorado so I will be making some more trips back that way. My kids are college age these days and are attending school in Colorado so they will be holding down the fort in our house there while attending school.

Lessons learned when packing up your personal belongings... Don't forget the basics! I will have a podcast for you this week reinforcing getting your basic supplies on hand where ever you are. I think I mentioned previously that the house we are renting in Nebraska really is not setup with supplies and preps. Well that managed to bite me this past weekend and just reinforced what I need to do right away in settling into the house here. Remember our rules of 3 from our earlier posts? You can surive 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. This is how we establish our priorities list. Trying to get settled into a new place just shows you were the flaws are in your plans. So I will post show this week going over one of those basics and things we should all be thinking about in getting our basic kits together.

So while I work on the next episode, enjoy this little video explaining the fine mess the globalist bankers have put us all in... :-)

Episode 8: The Rigged Global Economic Game

Welcome to the Be Prepared Channel. For some reason blogger.com has managed to lose my episode 8 and it is nowhere to be found. So I am reposting it here now. Hopefully they get their technical issues sorted out and don't keep losing my blog posts....
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Episode 8 - Be Prepared Channel - The Game is rigged:

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Sorry for the delays in posting a new episode. As I reported in previous blog posts I have been between locations and things have been crazy busy. So now is a good time to catch up and talk about what is going on.

The Markets Rigged and Cooked Books....
Well folks the recent revelations that have come out over the last month about bullion banks being leveraged 100 to 1 and not actually having precious metals was a bombshell. Then we find out that the government in Greece has been lying through their teeth about how bad the debt problem is and now it looks like it is really out of control. Finally we hear that JP Morgan is being investigated for silver market manipulation after an insider/trader spills the beans a few weeks ago to federal regulators.

Sadly if you analyze the debt to GDP figures for these countries in Europe they are screaming about and they aren't as bad off financially as the US! This really is just a clear example of a financial hit that is taking place. If they can keep everyone focused on the small events someplace else other than the US government debt it appears that they are hoping some miracle will happen and this problem will not follow the bread crumbs home. You cannot fix a debt and spending problem by borrowing more money and still spending it on stuff you cannot afford. Greece will default... The handwriting is all over the wall and it will spread. If you look at the state of CA their debt crisis is worse than all of these countries in the headlines put together and the CA economy is bigger than all of them put together... Yet we don't see CA's budget crisis in the headlines. The rioting on the streets in Greece will spread as people wake up to the fraud perpetrated by their governments and banks and as people will finally say enough is enough. Everyone is so hot to blame the banks, but really it takes two to tango and there had to be willing counter parties to take out these loans, borrow money and invest it in CDO's and the alphabet soup of creative financial instruments. Many times voters didn't get a say, didn't get to vote, didn't have any idea what our local, state, and federal government is doing and how many ways they have leveraged all of our futures. People have a right to be mad, but at the same time lets be honest that we have take charge now that we know the level of corruption and debt that we live with and own up to the fact that we arrived at this place in time because of what we did or didn't do. The events last Thursday showed us even more examples of fraud and these days they are brazen and out in the open about it.

The Greek people are being told they have to give up half of their retirement accounts, and massive increases in taxes. This is a commonly repeated theme. It was done in Argentina as well. And once the politicians get the first half of the retirement fund/pensions they will be back for the rest shortly. This is coming to the US as well. It is only a matter of time at this point.

Levels of fraud:
1. Nasdaq announces that they are cancelling trades that took place between 2:40 and 3:00pm.
2. Mainstream media immediately went into overdrive blaming trading desk error, and computer software glitches(of course no evidence was found that either was the case).
3. No mention of the hedged funds in Europe selling and possibly setting off the price decline that pushed through levels of resistance that fired stops that set the plunge in motion.
4. Plunge protection team to the rescue... Any time the stock market isn't behaving itself the Treasury in conjunction with the Fed have setup a plunge protection team, so any time the market starts to fall out of bed the PTT jumps into action pouring billion and in some caes trillions of our dollars into the markets to push the markets back up. May 6th was a perfect example. The market was down almost 1000 points on the DOW and looked like it was going lower... and like someone flipped a switch the market reversed almost 700 points in a very very short time frame.
5. Who is doing the buying? Trimtabs who follows cash flows says the retail investor, you and I who make up the majority of the market is on the sidelines and not investing. Then who were/are the buyers in this market that have the power to muscle the major averages around like this?
6. Bullion vaults are leveraged 100 to 1 in public testimony, if your buying ETF's or bullion and allowing others to hold your metals you might be shocked when you attempt to retrieve or you need your investment to find that the banks/ETF's don't have and never did have your metals. Your buying paper, instead demand delivery and keep positive control of your investments.
7. Much of the so called recovery news is pure spin and propoganda... and what little growth and recovery there appears to be is fueled by trillions of dollars of stimulus money that the Fed and Treasury have been dumping into the banks and economy. It is a false recovery, so don't be fooled.

The game is rigged at every level at this point. Our local communities, counties, utilities, states have been played the fools and have used creative finance to offset declining revenue, shrinking population, and the massive waves of people retiring. Sadly most of us have been blissfully ignorant of these activities, but now the rooster has come home to roost. Many of these creative financed deals are falling apart. Income that was promised from these CDO's that our communities were talking into investing in have turned into trash so we are left with the bills, debts, but not the income.

Taxes are being raised across the board as all levels of government come to grips with the extravagant and foolish spending. In many cases they are still in denial and somehow think a tweak of the numbers here, and nip and a tuck there and she will be good as new. People don't know the level of greed/fraud/corruption/mismanagement/incompetence we are talking about because for the most part is is pretty difficult to imagine. Yet the debate still rages on over the stupid and mundane spending... over parks, street lights, funding for community centers, and programs. When we finally get past this level of understanding to the bare bones spending needed to keep government functioning we will know we finally are getting serious about how difficult the choice we have to make are. Until that time we are no where near the the bottom of this economic cycle.

Why are we preppers/survivalists, and why do we plan and prepare?
This last week really drove home the reasons why I prepare and plan for the events, environment, and circumstances in which we live. I was out trying to go grocery shopping in Nebraska as our home there is not setup in any way shape or form. I don't think we really anticipated being there this long so we have put off setting up preps and supplies and having a game plan. I have been mostly stuck in CO so NE has been on the back burner. So I head out to go get food and supplies. I get to the cash register and guess what? My debit card is not working! So here I am at the checkout with a debit card that isn't working. I contact the bank and I am informed that Mastercard flagged some sort of activity on the account that lead them to believe my account has been compromised. Specifically they saw a zero dollar charge coming in from a bank in the Netherlands. So they put the hammer down on it as soon as they saw it. Now I didn't lose a penny or even have to refute any charges which is the good side. The downsides are many especially when your on the road and your bank is a local bank in CO. So what is a lost guy in NE who is looking for a homestead and needing groceries to do? I am glad you asked!

Plan for the unexpected:
1. Have emergency cash with you
- In this crazy world of banks leveraged to the eyeballs, global economic crisis, and just plain old emergencies you don't know if your debit/credit/checks will be accepted
- What if FDIC suddenly decides to close your bank and funds will not be accessible for some period of time? Do you have the cash on hand to handle such an event?
- Think about the what if's, and what you would do in a situation where you suddenly cannot get to your bank accounts, or other savings
- Educate and prepare others around you also so that they too can be prepared and will have the cash on hand to help themselves and others if needed

So when I planned this trip to NE I decided I better have emergency cash on hand in case the truck broke down, or an emergency arises that only cash can save the day. I am glad I did. Now sadly I didn't have my emergency cash with me at the store at the time I discovered the debit card crisis so I was not able to complete my purchases and I had to explain my predicament to the cashier and left them with a basket full of stuff. It was embarrassing and reminded me that I should have thought about something like this being a possibility. So I wasn't out of cash and stranded because I had planned. My bank offered to Western Union cash to me if I needed it at no charge to me. I declined because I knew I was OK. Secondly I had already been preaching Be Prepared to my wife and she also had emergency cash on hand so that I could tap into those funds to get me back to CO until my replacement debit card arrives.

How does is all end?
Well the bank just sent me the card yesterday(May 5th) and the pin to activate it still had not arrived. My pin finally arrived in the mail today(May 10th) and I was able to get things back on track. But this could have very well been a long and difficult event had I not had a game plan and the cash on hand to address such a problem. This is where it starts to feel rewarding to be focused on being prepared, taking action, putting things in motion, and having that plan actually get used to address the problem.

Game plan:
1. Get your 72 hour kit together if you haven't done it yet... What are you waiting for? An emergency?
2. Break out(itemize) your bills and debts and figure out exactly what you owe and what your spending.
3. Pay off your debts as fast as possible, pick the smallest debt you have and take every extra penny you have and put it on that debt until it is paid
- Take the money freed up by paying off the smallest of your debts and apply that monthly amount to the next largest debt and repeat this process until your debt free.
4. Get your emergency cash fund together as fast as you can. You should have 90 days of operating expenses set aside to deal with whatever issues may arise. Set a goal and a timeline to get there... What if some of this 2012 horror story stuff is real and something does happen? Set a goal to have your basic emergency cash by 2012 just so you have a target to work toward
5. Do not keep your emergency cash in the banks! This is a rigged and corrupt system, these banks are under capitalized, leveraged to the eyeballs, and and part of a corrupt infrastructure of banks that are rotten to the core. Keep your cash on hand and available.

Homestead Search update:
The homestead search continues. We hoped to take advantage of the buyer tax credit, but sadly others had the same idea and anything that was worth making an offer on turned into a bidding war! Believe it or not the kind of land and homestead we are looking for is in demand. We didn't see the same kind of rush to buy other properties that we saw for land with acreage and a workable house. So we begged off when we found out the property we were interested in had turned into a bidding situation. It was just nuts. The land was great, the outbuildings were good. There was a need for fencing(existing fence was toast, and most of the property didn't appear to have any fence around the perimeter. The house however was a wreck. I needed to be gutted and just start from scratch it was so bad, but it had the bedrooms, baths, and workable space we wanted. However knowing the amount of work and money that was going to be needed in the house we felt it wasn't worth the asking price. I guess others were caught up in the tax credit mania and lost their minds... Only in an auction or bidding situation will seemingly sane people pay more for something than they would if they were to walk into a store and buy it new. In this case the price went up over $30k over what it should have sold for all in the name of trying to save $8k for first time buyers or $6500 for others who have owned property. So these people were willing to pay up in a fit of frenzy buying to get that credit. Well sadly we were watching a couple of different properties and they all sold this last day of the tax credit. Do we have any regrets? Yes and no. We regret not getting this place due to the great land and the way it was setup. It is very hard to find good land that is usable. The price was still affordable for us, but it was the principal of the thing that people were willing to throw away 30k that will be needed to make this place livable. That is the hard part, but the positive is that we know given enough time we will find what we are looking for and it just gives us more time to continue saving. Where there is one property like this there will be more. The other part that sticks in our minds is that property prices will now come under even more pressure as the buyers will have moved their purchases forward to take advantage of the credit. So we feel there is the real possibility that as prices continue to decline this will help us further. Now the challenge will be to find the right land for us.

My wife has brought up an idea that I hope might pan out and that is the option of buying a small affordable home in a small rural community that we could afford to pay for with cash. This way we avoid the debt is cancer discussion in the house and can make the repairs, upgrades, and preparations out of pocket while saving more cash for the land that we are looking for. So we are currently exploring this option and will be giving this some serious thought as the current state the economy really does not bode well for the future. Having your home paid for as meager and modest as it might be could be a better option for us in the long run. We will keep you posted.

Episode 9 - Flashlight Technology Compared - Old hotness, new hotness

Welcome to another episode of the Be Prepared Channel. Well today's episode is going to be something that I had planned to do a little later after I have had some time to play with my new toy flashlight, but I am so impressed already that I felt I should go ahead and do a quick mini comparison of the new breed of flashlights and how they compare to lights of the days gone by.

I am not really a flashlight junkie per se and I have been pretty much a traditionalist(you buy something that produces light, and stick it in a drawer, glove box, or in your pocket. In the past I bought and liked the old Maglight Flashlights. A co-worker brought in a newer Surefire flashlight to work and was showing it off and that was pretty impressive that used the small CR123 batteries. The size, weight, and light output were impressive. However at that point I was not willing to cough up the money for the Surefire and was satisfied with my mini Mag I was carrying. I did go ahead and buy a newer AA battery LED Mini Maglight that I carry with my Leatherman as a everyday carry(EDC). It works pretty well(or so I thought). When you don't have something to compare it to it is hard to know how much better it can be and just how big an impact/difference there is by upgrading to a better quality light.

So today I will share with you a simple comparison of the past and the present as we demonstrate in a very simple comparison the old and newer technology in flashlights. I have to admit I wasn't expecting a huge difference. I was simply looking for a tactical light for a weapons mount. I went searching for leads and info on a possible light for that purpose and wanted one of the newer technology LED lights out there that would be able to stand up to the rigours use and abuse when mounted on a weapon. What I actually found was that the new technology appears to be a game changer in flashlights. So I will try to get some good pictures to post with this podcast so that you can see what I will be talking about in the podcast and here in the blog.

The purpose of this podcast is not to recommend a specific product, but to demonstrate the difference between the incandescent, early generation LED, and current generation LED technology. The brand of light that I purchased for the latest technology is far from the only game in town and there are many competing products in the market. The new generation light I purchased was based on good reviews on the Candle Power Forums(link posted below), but there are many good products out there.

Have I become a flashlight junkie because of this purchase? Possibly! I may have to upgrade my mini Mag I carrry with my Leatherman after seeing the new flashlight technology in action so I will post an update some time in the future when I finally get the funds to replace my EDC light.

Episode 9 Flashlight Technology Compared - Old Hotness, New Hotness:

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Technology Compared:
Incandescent bulb Maglight (3 D cell) full sized billy club and tire thumper flashlight
Off the shelf LED Maglight (2 D cell) full sized flashlight
Off the shelf LED Mini Maglight (2 AA cell) flashlight
New comer in my stable of lights: Eagletac T20C2 Mark II

Here is the lineup shots of the flashlights:
Left to right:
3D Cell Maglight - Incandescent flashlight
2D Cell Maglight - 3 watt LED Flashlight(commonly found in Walmart)
2AA Cell Mini-Maglight - 3 watt LED Flashlight(commonly found in Walmart - part of my EDC)
2 CR123 or 1 18650 battery Eagletac - T20C2 Mark II

Newest LED technology:
R2 Cree XP-G (Pretty much the current leader and commonly shipping technology)
R5 Cree XP-G (This is the newer technology that is shipping now in the Cree lineup and brighter than the R2)
SST-50 (This is one of the new technologies that are starting to ship now, and appears from the reviews to be very bright)
SST-90 (This is the latest to hit the scene and it is just breaking into the reviews forums being posted online now)

Differences in lumens and run times:
Various brands of lights drive the LED's harder than others. This results in higher lumens(light output) from the flashlight where the same light technology is used, but the only real difference between the two lights might be how hard the LED is driven. There are pros and cons to this methodology and it results in a compromise. The harder the LED is pushed to produce more light the shorter the run time from your batteries. So ultimately you have to decide what is the best mix for you as you have to decide what the tradeoffs are in run times vs light output. Speaking for me I can honestly say it should probably be weighed on the role of the light and it's frequency of planned use as to how much compromise I am willing to make in the tradeoffs.

The differences between competing technology appears to be substantial in the light output. I think the real challenge next is to figure out how to balance the output with battery run times. With each of these newer technology we see the light output increasing dramatically, however we are also seeing the battery run times decreasing just as dramatically. So the fine line will be in juggling the tradeoff's, and watching to see if we begin to see a shift in focus into efficiency as well as the light output. Today it appears that there is a high emphasis placed on lumens, but considering how good these lights already are it wouldn't surprise me to see the competition begin to shift emphasis from output to longer run times. Considering the break neck pace this is moving I don't imagine it will be long as these all appear to be pretty amazing breakthroughs in LED lights.

Types of Light output:
You will see right away that the light output from the incandescent is not nearly as bright as the others and has a yellow color to it. The LED's appear bright, white to maybe slightly blueish color. The newer LED's can output a natural looking light vs the very bright white/blueish color and this is done with a different LED light technology. So far from what I have read the natural light LED's tend to not output the same brightness and same lumens level. I don't have a natural light LED in my possession at this time to compare it to, but I do recommend that you check out the flashlight experts forums at Candle Power Forums. They test and show off the latest and greatest in lighting technology so you can get a better idea how the light technology compares, and they do the full range of tests with light output, run times, and overlays so you can see how the different flashlights compare in various reviews I have seen posted.

What about poor Maglight?
Well even Maglight is not sleeping at the wheel. The Maglight versions I show you here are the older technology that is available. Maglight has released a newer generation that is now getting good reviews for the price and performance and the pictures shown of the light output compared to my trusty 2AA LED Mini Maglight on Candlepower Forums show the newer XL100 from Maglight is a big step up and performs better than the previous generation of the Mini Mag. So even Maglight is upgrading to newer technology to offer better products at a good bang for the buck price ratio.

So let's get into the comparison of the different lights and see just how all this rambling on and mumbo jumbo stacks up.

Maglight light output compared:
Left to right:
3D Cell Maglight - Incandescent flashlight
2D Cell Maglight - 3 watt LED Flashlight(commonly found in Walmart)
2AA Cell Mini-Maglight - 3 watt LED Flashlight(commonly found in Walmart - part of my EDC)

The big dog in this lineup is the 2D Cell Maglight. Clearly showing that the upgrade from an incandescent flashlight to the off the shelf LED models is a big step up. Even my little AA Mini Mag gives the old incandescent flashlight a run for it's money. Now let's compare the best of the Maglight to the newer technology available.

Maglight LED vs Eagletac:
Eagletac in Turbo Mode(it's brightest setting):

Eagletac in it's General Mode(the standard setting):

Some things to know:
The Maglight has the ability to focus the light into a nice tight pattern(by turning the head of the light) which is great for throwing the light out at good distances and the light pattern can be widened into a little wider more flood like pattern. This is a nice feature that the Eagletac does not have. The Eagletac has an advantage in that it has multiple modes for low power consumption, a strobe function, a SOS function, beacon function, general output, and turbo output modes. So there are a variety of modes to provide additional flexibility in the light output.

The Eagletac is a small palm sized flashlight that bests a regular size 2D cell flashlight even with a much smaller power supply, and reflector. The fact that such a small light outperforms the larger one by such a wide margin really makes you wonder what an apples to apples comparison of these lights would look like with the new LED's compared to the older in the same size/format light. I think it is fair to say that it will probably warp what we think and know about flashlights going forward!

The Technology Race:
It looks like this LED flashlight space is very rapidly changing and the competition is fierce. From what I can see so far the products are already pretty amazing and I don't really see any reason for someone to hold off making a purchase at this point since the products are just that good. We only have even better stuff to look forward to as the race is on between these companies.

Summary:
As you can see from some of the pictures of the light output these new LED lights are absolutely amazing and take lighting to an all new level. The pictures hardly do these lights justice and is hard to capture just how big a difference there is between them. I hope it is clear from the shots just how bright the LED's are vs the incandescent and just how bright the newest generations of the LED's are and how they have already dwarfed the commonly available LED's on your store shelves right now. If your still working with that old incandescent flashlight it is time to try something new. These LED bulbs last longer, potentially can use less power depending on the power settings and type. These have the potential to be far more reliable over the long term life of the flashlight. There is no substitute for a good flashlight when you need light.

So don't hesitate. If your lugging around one of the old incandescent bulb flashlights then come on in the waters fine in the LED light camp, and from the looks of things it is only getting much better as time goes on.

LED Cons:
- More costly than the conventional lights, and the newest technology is even more costly still. So weigh the tradeoffs in cost vs the light output.
- Can be more difficult to find replacement LED's if for some reason you should need to replace one

LED Pros:
- You can have a very small flashlight put out as much or more than a much bigger tire thumper size flashlight so size and weight advantage goes to the LED's
- Power consumption can be lower with LED's depending on the flashlight and settings
- More durable than the incandescents(I have been using the LED's for years and have not had an issue)
- The light output is very good, and newer lights are amazing

The purpose of this comparison is to highlight the technology differences and the advantages of going with the LED vs conventional, and to show the even bigger jumps in the more recent LED products now entering the market. If you would like a more detailed review of the Eagletac T20C2 I can do a follow-up review showing the light in more depth and how I plan to use it, but the purpose of this comparison was to give you an idea how these technologies stack up and give you an idea weather these new lights are worth your hard earned money. So far from what I can see they are very good, but can be spendy depending on what you buy.

Some of the more common brands that seem to be very hot right now and shipping with some of the latest technology are:
OLight
Fenix
Four Sevens
Eagletac

Plus many many more... Take some time to check out the reviews section of the Candle Power Forums: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=19

Check out NutnFancy's YouTube Channel for some great reviews on various items that a prepper might find useful:
NutnFancy's Channel

I hope you found this informative and helpful. So with that I will wrap this up, be thankful, be safe, have fun, and we will catch ya next time....

The Road Trip - What to have

Welcome to another episode of the Be Prepared Channel. Well I am about to hit the road this morning for Omaha and thought I would make a quick blog post about road trip preparedness. I have another load of preps to take out to Omaha, and we will be spending another weekend looking at homes for a possible homestead/retreat and will be in Omaha area for a couple of weeks. The bad news is all the driving that is involved with this and I can see there will be at least 3 or 4 more trips like this minimum before I am have all our excess gear out of our home in Colorado. So I will be getting plenty of practice doing this! So let's quickly get into the preps you should have for the road.

Things to know:
Know your route - Be familiar with the road and possible fuel points and alternate routes. A GPS is no replacement for good maps, and you should have familiarized yourself with the route before leaving.
Know the condition of your vehicle - A vehicle inspection before leaving is needed, check your vehicle fluids, tire pressures, and do a general walk around and look things over before hitting the road. Make sure that anything that needs attending to is addressed before leaving.
Know the condition of your gear - Make sure your things you have with you are there and are in the condition you expect, make sure cell phones and other devices that use batteries are fully charged.

Things to have:
Emergency phone number list - Make sure you have phone numbers of family, friends, AAA or towing service.
Communications - A cell phone, CB, or some way to communicate in the case of an emergency.
Supplies - I carry a road kit that has coolant, oil, jumper cables, basic tools, rags, electrical tape, bungie's, rope, windshield washer fluid, and basic vehicle supplies, fire extinguisher, good quality flashlight
Emergency kit - first aid kit, emergency supplies like water, candles, space blanket, road flares, reflective triangles, and some food.
Cash - You should have emergency cash on the road incase of a breakdown or problem. Don't depend on credit cards or checks as you may not be able to use them.

Summary:
Sorry this is so short today. I have to finish up loading the truck and getting on the road. We will go into more depth going forward and I will show you my own road trip kit and the things I carry with me in my truck for these trips. Of course what you carry with you may vary based on the length of the trip, where your going to be, and what space weight constraints you might have. So we will be visiting this topic in greater depth in the near future.

I think I have what I need to do the podcast and blog from the Omaha location so if things work out as planned I will be posting a couple of shows this trip out. I will do a audio podcast on our homestead search and we will be circling back to Energy Self Sufficiency, and start talking about our "Plan". So until then I will see ya next time!

In the News:
As you know from my previous posts on Precious metals investing that a prepper or survivalist plan includes precious metals. Well the last few weeks have been shocking with revelations of massive fraud and corruption manipulating the precious metals markets. So I wanted to post a special note here on metals and some links.
- When you buy metals take possession of them. DO NOT hold them in bullion holding vaults or in accounts. The banks are leveraged 100 to 1 and do not have your metals even though they are charging you the fees for holding them for you. Demand delivery.
- Do not buy metals ETF's or IRA's, or other "paper" gold, silver investments. It appears that there is no gold backing these things and those who think they have precious metals will be rudely awakened when they realize they have been robbed.
- Manipulation in the markets has finally be verified by whistleblower traders and we know just how badly they have manipulated the market and the regulators have been told, acted shocked, and then have done nothing. JP Morgan is hiding behind statements that they are acting on behalf of the Federal Reserve and acting as an agent for the US Government so any fraud or manipulation facts we have they are trying to say this information is classified.
- Given what we know now the physical gold and silver markets are very very tight. The banks are using naked shorts contracts to hammer metals down, but yet prices are still rising in the face of trillions of dollars of fraudulent money being thrown at it to keep prices low and extending massive leverage. The game is up as this info is getting out to the world.
- It is time to step up your metals investment plan if are considering buying precious metals. Keep them safe and in your possession. It looks like time is running out for the criminals and manipulators and when this fraud finally breaks thier backs metals are staged to soar.

Bombshell - Whistle Blower comes forward with proof of price manipulation
Audio Interview with Andrew McGuire - metals trader whistle blower
Audio Interview with Harvey and Lenny Organ - demanding to see their gold and it was not there

Forclosures only 1 in 10 homes saved by loan modifications and other measures
Massive jump in forclosures the first 3 months of the year - Ghee isn't recovery great?
Govt stimulus - Multi trillion dollar free lunch

Income Tax vs Consumption Tax:

Detour - How to find your personal retreat/homestead

Welcome to another episode of the Be Prepared Channel. Sorry I am LONG overdue to post a podcast and blog post. So I thought I would give you a quick update on where I am, and what I am doing. I don't want to leave people hanging as we have a lot to cover over the next few weeks with our kits and things we need to get done.

Unfortunately my computer I use for doing my podcast has suddenly decided something is not right. So I have ordered some replacement parts and hopefully will get it back in operation soon.

But today I want to post an article that specifically relates to what I am doing at the moment and why I am late getting anything posted here. I am in search of a home in Nebraska. We are in the process of moving this summer if the plan holds together and as part of this move we are attempting to find a home that will qualify as our own personal retreat/bug in location. So I have been driving back and forth between Colorado and Nebraska and will be taking another road trip again this weekend. So I have been spending a lot of time on the road and out looking for a house. So I thought I should share what I am looking for in a home and give you an idea of some of the things that might be of help to you if your thinking about your own personal retreat or bug out/bug in location.

Personal Retreat/Bug In Location:
Now the term personal retreat or bug-in location could mean many things to many people. In my family have a very limited budget and with the economy being bad and getting worse we are looking for something that meets our needs, has the resources and things that we feel will be essential going forward to be prepared and be able to produce food and possibly income for our family.

When I started this search back in Nov 2009 I had this romantic idea of what I wanted and that it would be away from people as far as possible with a fair amount of land. Well reality is a bitter pill to swallow as the search has worn on I have learned a thing or two about "need vs want", and the budgetary constraints of trying to do what I want. We experienced some pretty harsh weather this winter and we realized that the idea of being "out in the boonies" wasn't going to work when you have to commute daily into "civilization" for jobs and things. So we have learned we have to compromise and to come to grips with what we can afford. The closer you get to "civilization" the more expensive land and homes get. So we have had to downsize our expectations.

I prefer something outside of the city, but not some huge distance away from the city/communities. I am not ruling out an acreage in the city however if I thought the property might meet our needs. I know you will hear many in the survivalist or prepper community talking about bug out locations that are back in the sticks or up on a mountain. I think in a world of cheap energy for transportation something like that would work, but I don't personally believe that will be the case and that fuel will skyrocket in cost and could be difficult to obtain or afford. This limits the effective distances that we can realistically live from family, friends, neighbors, and local communities. We will still need to be able to access local communities and towns for our own needs we cannot meet and to still possibly have access to medical facilities if needed. The next consideration is that we would like to make this a mini hobby farm where we can grow a lot of our own food and still have access to local farmers markets and things like that where we could sell/barter our own excess for things we need with other farmers and to sell into the cities and towns. Obviously your mileage may vary and only you can judge your own needs and what you think is going to work best for you. In our case I think rural but still within some reasonable proximity of the local communities will work best for us.

We started looking for acreages. What we found right away is good land is hard to come by and is very expensive. We are finding that if you can find good land then the house isn't workable or very old, dated, and has it's own share of things that complicate what we are hoping to do. Large acreage is out of the question at this point. The land is just too expensive where we are looking. So as the search has worn on since last fall we are finding that it is hard to find anything that is usable, and is very expensive, or too much of a compromise to achieve our objectives. So the amount of land we have been willing to consider continues to get smaller. So we are still in the thick of the hunt for a place that will work.

We have seen a few that would be an acceptable compromise over the last month and I will be going out again this weekend to look at a couple more places and to visit a few we have seen before to decide if these are still worth considering.

Something else I learned from Jack Spirko over at The Survival Podcast is the concept of permaculture. He mentioned the Dervaes family who have turned 1/10th of an acre of tillable land and turned it into a business and it feeds their family. It was this revelation that opened my eyes to the possibilities, and also helps relieve some stress in our search to find a place with a large acreage. We can do a lot with very little space. If you have not checked out Jack's site and podcast give it a look. Jack is very knowledgable, and like all things in this lifestyle we are all learning together and Jack does a good show.

Here is a sample of some of the info you can find on the Dervaes Family:

Homegrown Revolution:



What's really required?
What are we looking for then you might ask? Well lets go over some of my basic search criteria in our homestead search. You have to remain flexible, and be willing to consider your options and what is the best compromise to get you what you need.

Location:
1. Prefer outside of the cities or towns, but within a 30 or 40 minute commute of jobs and shopping.
2. Prefer to be somewhat close to smaller towns and places where we can barter, trade, and sell our wares from our hobby farm.
3. Prefer to stay off of highways, or heavily traveled roads if possible.

Desired Characteristics:
1. Has good southern sun exposure for solar power and for gardening.
2. Has a well, or cistern for reliable water supply that does not rely on public utilities.
3. Has a septic tank, again do not rely on public utilities.
4. A good site for installation of wind turbines for power generation and for pumping purposes.
5. Prefer flat or gentle rolling land that can be easily gardened or farmed.
6. Enough acreage that we can produce enough to feed our family and be able to possibly sell, barter, trade for other things we need from the things we produce on the land. At this point we have compromised down to a least 1 acre minimum for this home, but more would be better if the land follows number 5 above which is usable land.
7. Needs to have a basement or cellar for food and supplies storage.
8. Prefer land with outbuildings(ie barn, sheds, garage, shop)
9. Enough room that a group or extended family can stay at our home comfortably if needed.
10. Fireplace, wood stove, or other alternative source of heating and cooking in the home.

Wants but not essential:
1. Water feature like spring fed pond, creek, or other water feature that could be used in an emergency.
2. Would like to have natural gas or propane for cooking.
3. Would like to have a home that has been modernized with energy efficient windows, doors, furnace, water heater etc.
4. Would like to have updated appliances and kitchen if possible.
5. Would prefer a home with mostly wood, tile, or other hard surface flooring... ie no carpet if possible.


What's your plan?
Next thing that needs to be touched on is your plan. We have been working on our kit up to this point on the blog and podcasts, but we also need to be making our plan. What is the plan if the stuff hits the fan(SHTF)? Are you planning on grabbing your stuff and bugging out? Getting out of Dodge(GOOD)? Bugging in? I know we haven't talked about the plan yet on the podcast or blog but it is coming in an episode soon. I had the good fortune last year of attempting a bug out drill from Maryland to Colorado. I won't get into the details here, but I took an opportunity as we were moving to Colorado to use it as a drill to treat it as a bug out. So all of my planning was put to the test. All I was taking with me was just the essentials and my prepper supplies. Needless to say this is very educational and eye opening. Anyone who is thinking they will use the GOOD plan needs to do some dress rehearsals to see how realistic this is. For me personally I figured out pretty quickly that this was not a good plan and thank God there wasn't a SHTF situation or it would have been UGLY. So our primary plan will be to bug in and our property search will have this plan in mind. If you do plan on bugging out then learn about caching, and pre-staging as much as possible to increase your changes of getting where your going and having what you need. So our bug in plan means the home needs to be as self sustainable as possible. It needs to be able to provide as much of it's own heat, energy, and food as possible. So in buying a place we are looking for a way to make our home more sustainable, more resilient to the economics and variation that can happen in an emergency. While the property most likely won't have all these things at the time we buy it we do pay attention to those details when shopping so that we can attempt to get as much as we need and want right out of the gate. For example renewable energy needs to have a good southern orientation and a clear path for sunlight to get to solar panels. Wind generation needs to have ample space for tower sighting and enough room so that towers can be taken down and tilted up for maintenance. Distance to the home is important as you want to keep wire runs as short as possible. Water catchment and collection is important. The ability to get water even when power is off is essential and most homes with a well use electric pumps. So when considering the power requirements for your home don't overlook your power needs for your well. You might even consider the idea of adding an old fashioned hand pump to your well as a backup.

The ideal vs reality:
We initially started this process last fall and were looking for a geothermal home to address what is going to be a long and ongoing concern with energy and energy prices. We found exactly 2 geothermal homes in the area for sale. One we were very interested in and it was our mistake for not making an offer right away and it sold before we circled back to reconsider an offer. The second geothermal home did not offer adequate space in the home for the needed storage and preps. This makes it a compromise on too many levels. We have not completely removed it from the consideration, but it is lower on the list until we feel we have exhausted all other options. The size of the land is more than adequate. It does not offer the best terrain for gardening or larger scale food production. The property does have a pond on it which would be good for possible stocking with fish to supplement our food needs. There are exterior buildings, but not in great shape and have dirt flooring. Someone had attempted to build a root cellar but it is so small and has been neglected for decades that it is for all intents and purposes useless. So while the home design fit what we wanted the implementation of that design in conjunction of the other features make it challenging and would require a substantial additional investment to make the home and property useful.

So this has left us searching conventional built homes for the right combination that will best meet our needs. So far we see that to find something that meets all our criteria is starting to appear to be impossible. So we are learning the art of compromise and trying to best prioritize our needs so that we make the best choice possible. We have been looking since Nov 2009 so we are trying to be patient, but this is challenging. One of the challenges is recognizing a decent compromise when you see it and acting quickly. We have seen a couple of places now that were a good compromise and by the time we recognized that fact those homes were gone. Funny how that works even in a down economy and buyers home market that people recognize a good thing and jump on it quickly. Those that don't have that right combination of things languish and sit on the market. So we know that there are others out in the market place looking for the same things that we as preppers are shopping for. So we are slowly coming around to the point of learning that hoping for something better when your looking at something "pretty good" will hurt you and you will miss an opportunity. Hopefully we will have the smarts to recognize the next "pretty good" home that we see and make an offer.

Being prepared for what?
The last thing I want to touch upon when looking for our personal retreat/bug-in homestead is what kind of scenarios are you preparing for? What kind of emergencies, disaster, or situation are you preparing for? What is likely to happen vs what "might" happen? As much as we would like to think we are prepared for anything the sad reality is that everything we do is a compromise. We are forced to give up things in order to get other things in the trade off. So deciding what your priorities are is a personal choice and what is most likely to be the things you have to address in your situation.

Check with your local authorities, long time residents, FEMA maps to determine if you are looking at flood plains, fire hazards, or what are some of the things that have happened in the past in your area. Those are the things you need to be aware of and prepared for. Granted we could be preparing for global thermonuclear war, pandemic disease etc, but let's properly weight those threats in your priority list and use that info when selecting your next home(or even prepping your current home). Sometimes the things we choose to prepare for may not be realistic and could frustrate you personal plan and preps. So make sure you do a reality check periodically and make sure your not too close to the situation, and are still looking at the situation with the proper perspective. Emotional involvement is sort of like going to the grocery store when your hungry... Your not going to make a lot of good decisions when your attached to the decisions from a position of weakness/need. So do your prepping now while we have some sunny days to make some hay.

Summary:
Prepping your current home, or looking for a new home that is more geared toward prepping is not an easy task unless you happen to have an unlimited budget. Finding what we are looking for has been challenging, fun, and educational. I hope at the end of this search we will have something good to report back to you and maybe even some sneak peaks at what we decided to buy and what we will be working with out of the gate as we try to setup our prepper homestead.

I hope you found this interesting. I will post a followup to this over the weekend to let you know how things are going and shift gears back to some of the things we have started on in this blog. Over the next week or two we are going to circle back around to our first aid kits and I will show you what I have been assembling for my First Aid supplies kit, and we will be following up on the Energy Self Sufficiency series and taking you into home energy saving tips and things you can do to put more money in your pocket. So keep us in your prayers, and your fingers crossed for us as we continue our homestead hunt this weekend.

In the News...
The Raping and Looting of Main Street
Morgan Stanley - The Gold Ponzi Schemes at the banks
Bombshell MUST HEAR Audio: How one family demanded to see their gold in the bank vault, and there was none there!
The Canada Bullion Vault empty
Foreclosure - Here comes the tax man
The banks setup the bankruptcy, the Federal Reserve makes the bets to profit from it!

Dylan Ratigan - Exposes the Federal Reserve Con - Part 1


Dylan Ratigan - Exposes the Federal Reserve Con - Part 2

Be Prepared Channel Podcast now on iTunes!

Just a quick note. I finally got around to setting up an account on iTunes and going through the application process. That has been approved and you can now find my podcast on iTunes. You can subscribe there and have them automatically downloaded to you iPod, iTouch, or iPhone just to make it more convenient.

To find my podcast on iTunes just search for: bepreparedchannel