Comments

Episode-871- Listener Feedback for 4-02-12 — 40 Comments

  1. With respect to selling stocks at the end of a year and buying it back the next day. To anyone who is going to do this make sure to talk to your tax guy.
    I think there is a rule that you have to wait 30 days before buying it back to take the loss.
    Pistol

    • Correct, its called the 30 day wash rule. Jack maybe you need to confirm this and make correction on future podcast.

      • @bawjaw, I believe it does apply to stocks, I don’t believe it can possibly to gold or silver in phyical form. ETFs yes, phyical metal no. I will check on it though. The reason is if I sell a stock and buy it back I have absolutely purchased like for like. There is no difference in the share of Ford I sell today and buy tomorrow. If I go to a store and sell 50 silver rounds and then buy 50 the next day it just doesn’t seem the same to me. But I will check into it, as always I don’t give legal or financial advice only opinion.

    • The wash sales rule prevents you from taking a loss by selling a stock and re-purchasing that same stock within 30 days. You can however, purchase a similar stock in the same industry. For example, gold miners. You sell the stock in one mining company and purchase stock in another mining company. This can be done without waiting the 30 days.

  2. Crazy colorful money. We got a monopoly game opened the box and there was NO cash! You had to play it with credit cards. “No batteries included” How crazy is that?

    • Last time I played monopoly with the kids, I set up a spreadsheet and used that to handle the transactions – that saved _so_ much time.

  3. Always carry a spare battery with you in your meruse or your purse. This is the reason why I will not buy an Iphone.

  4. Spot on about the diesel gensets Jack, let me add a few things that may help.

    As you said, stockpile parts. You can’t buy most of them locally, and when you need them the internet and UPS may not be running. This is one downside compared to some civilian models. If I get a civilian industrial genset with a Kubota engine, parts places and tractor places have a lot of the parts.

    Military Gensets are way underrated by spec. As an example, the MEP-002A is rated by the military as a 5kw, but Onan sold it on the civilian side as a 10kw, and the MEP-003A is a 10kw that Onana sold as a 15kw.

    With diesel gensets, you must be very careful to match the genset to the load. If a diesel genset is run at too little a load, it will not heat up, and the fuel system will continue to deliver enough fuel to keep it at 1800rpm but due to the cool engine it won’t all get burned, and you end up with liquid fuel going past the rings and into the crankcase as well as out the exhaust- hence the term wet stacking. I am sure many have seen this with a diesel truck that idles a long time- well with a generator running for hours this can cause excessive wear on the piston rings and dilute the oil to the point it stop lubricating.

    The inclination with most people for gensets is “bigger must be better” but with a diesel bigger can cause problems. You want to have your average load at 50-70% of the gensets capacity, leaving the rest for surge use. If you run it under 50% wet stacking can start. For example the 15k you mentioned is really about a 20k. So to keep it at 50% load you need to have a constant draw of 10kw at your home- very few homes have near that draw. So if you get a 15kw and your average use is 3500w, you will wet stack and kill the engine much quicker than it should last, and you are wasting a lot of fuel. So to anyone buying a genset- first step is to do the math on what kind of load you need to power, and determine if you want to run everything, or just important circuits, and match the generator you choose to you needs.

    On GL gensets, my experience is about 20% sold have serious issues that cost a lot to fix making them junk, 60-70% will take minor/major tinkering and $5-300 in parts to fix, and the last 10-20% start up and run right out the gate.

    And when buying a GL Genset, make 100% sure what you are getting, the military also buys 400hz gensets that look identical to the 60hz ones, but are 100% unusable for home backup. Many buyers have shelled out money only to learn they got something that was useless unless you are powering a radar set of B-52.

    Keep up the good work!!

    • Thanks Tim can you reply to @Keith Blazer on the phase issue, this simply doesn’t seem right to me. I ran a lot of crap with a 15KW gen set on the project I mentioned. Most of it was lighting arrays and it was plain jane stuff, nothing you couldn’t go to any store and buy and slap together. What am I or what is he missing here.

      • I posted below, but to add a little more if the project your were doing was running separate loads, they could have run them from each phase- for example a TOC from one phase, the project from another phase, and the living tents from another. Not optimal, but often done.

        Most of the larger military power distribution systems are already set up to properly distribute the 3 phase power, so it is pretty seamless to use when you have all military stuff- for example if memory serves me correctly Wades m820 would be set up for 3 phase power in, and would balance it on the output so you never notice it is 3 phase power. But for household use setting your home up like that would require some major rewiring.

        • Thanks for the links Tim might be something I want to try or might just get rid of it a find a 002

  5. The 15k generators are 3 phase they will not work on a house with out some major electrical work. I found this out after buying one now have no use for it. I do have a really nice running diesel engine for around $1200.

    • Completely skipped my mind! Dandelion is wonderful as a medicinal and the young leaves are good in salads early in the spring as something you don’t have to cultivate or worry about. Just harvest when you need it. Also, it scavenges calcium and makes it available for plants with its great little taproot.

  6. I use the same method for adding a little extra silver to my holdings every month – save up change and turn it in for junk silver. Just picked up $200 in “junk” halves last week. 🙂

    Also bought a gen set this weekend with junk silver – Comes in handy all the time.

  7. Top 5 medicinal herbs I planted first in my garden.
    Garlic (bulbs can be divided 2x per year)
    Echinacea
    Calendula
    Comfrey (divides easily by root cuttings)
    Nettle (be very careful with spreading nature and wear gloves it hurts!)

    Watch out though. You may start with 5 but. Before you know it you’ll have over a hundred different species like I do!

  8. My wife is one of those who has struggled with Fibromyalgia. For years she has had a lot of pain all over. For the past few months she has been on a herbal supplement called Protadim. This could be another option for people with this diagnosis. She now only has a little pain when the weather changes. No guarantee it will help everyone, but it has made a world of difference to not be in so much constant pain.

    • Theres some annecdotal evidence a Paleo diet may also help here. Again, there are likely multiple causes so it probably wouldn’t work for everyone, but if all it takes is a diet change it would be worth it.

      • I was going to mention low-carb/Paleo as well. I first got into the low-carb scene back in 1997, and not only were people turning to plans like Atkins for weight loss, but they were finding those plans helpful in treating PCOS, seizures, and fibromyalgia. Having observed “the scene” all these years, I feel in my heart that these conditions are almost exclusively linked to grain (ESPECIALLY wheat) and pro-inflammatory oils. Eliminating these foods is life-changing for many, many folks.

  9. Before people freak out over the 450m rounds over 5 year if you consider DHS (in all its branches) has over 200,000 employees that is 450 rounds per employee per year. Even if you assume 25% of the people who work for them are gun carriers that’s only 1800 rounds per year. If they do much training at all 1800 rounds is not a lot. And remember, that’s a maximum contract size, not what will actually be purchased.

  10. Monopoly Money colors: I guess the $100 and $500 didn’t match so well.
    Pete

  11. Re: DHS Ammo buy

    Why should DHS being buying any bullets? This is the point lost in this discussion. They are not a police department. They are not in the business of engaging in fire fights like local police.

    The Department of Homeland Security is not even a military function, so again I ask while we get lost in the numbers game in how much ammo the DHS bought, why are they buying it in the first place?

    Who is the DHS expected to get into firefights with?

    Please read us the DHS Report on who they are targeting.

    The DHS is targeting American Citizens.

    If you believe in the New Testament of the bible, if you stockpile food, support the second amendment, support the US Constitution, stockpile ammo, weapons, or believe the government isn’t doing everything it can against illegal immigration; then you are a target of the DHS.

    • @Sage,

      That’s not correct in at least one area. The Coast Guard, which is an armed force is under DHS, so that could be a major part of this.

  12. Jack,

    I think you hit the nail on the head when you were talking about voting. No, you never “told us” not to vote, but your comments over the last bit could certainly help someone to infer that their vote doesn’t matter. That being said, if someone chooses that route, they can’t really blame it on you. If they pick that path, it’s an individual choice, and none of us should put that choice on someone else’s shoulders.

    Keep up the good work!

  13. Hi Jack ~ I had a similar experience as the listeners wife a couple years back. Two men were fighting, one obviously being a bully. I stopped very suddenly – my purse and cell phone went flying out of reach – but I yelled “I’m calling 911 right now!” The bully then took off. In my opinion this woman did a good thing, but revealed her weakness, in not having communication. I would have acted as if I had a working phone, then as you said, I would have found someone that did if the situation did not stop. Just my humble input…. Oh, and I learned to include the straps of my purse when I connect my seatbelt! Had that been a real emergency, it would have taken a lot of time to retrieve my phone…

  14. how does government liquidators work on the bidding? there is increment bid associated with a range cost. what does that mean?

  15. Monopoly money! In Canada, we may be getting all coins replaced by the MintChip.

    “MintChip is being touted as the evolution of currency, which it hopes will become the digital equivalent of coins.*

    The Mint hopes to hold a competition with North American software developers, to both vet the technology and challenge developers to identify innovative ways of using and integrating MintChip.”

  16. Well I went and voted in the MD primary today. I voted for the one I wanted- not playing the what if and but games, just put down the person I wanted. It felt good, not choosing the better of two evils, not worrying about who the media says can or can not win, but just voting for the one I chose. Anything else would have been a wasted vote. I even convinced my mother in law to do the same, rather than vote for the ones her husband highlighted……
    ~Pete

  17. Funny money, I believe these colors are based on the traditional colors used to determine the value of poker chips, and on a side note poker chips are used to mentally separate you from your cash before you ever play your first hand lol.

  18. The U.S. Coast Guard’s Budget is independent from the DHS.

    “In January 2010, the Obama administration decided to freeze all fiscal year 2011 nondefense and homeland security discretionary spending—a category that does not include the Coast Guard. This exemption was believed by many to mean that defense- and homeland security-related funding could increase or at least would
    remain constant. Yet when the administration’s FY 2011 budget proposal was unveiled in February 2010, the Coast Guard’s total funding was cut to $10.1 billion, or nearly 3 percent less than the amount appropriated for the current fiscal
    year ending September 30, 2010.”

    Coast Guard has their own budget

    • @ Sage,

      TheUnited States Coast Guard — and its budget — is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security. Here is an excerpt and link to Janet Nappytano’s 2013 budget request to Congress:

      “To secure the nation’s maritime borders, the budget invests in recapitalization of Coast Guard assets including the sixth National Security Cutter, Fast Response Cutters as well as the renovation and restoration of shore facilities. The budget also includes resources to ensure that the Coast Guard’s aviation fleet is mission-ready and provides operational funding for new assets coming on line.”

      http://tinyurl.com/85d4u5r

  19. @Sage,

    I believe you are mistaken.

    The bolded section you are quoting isn’t saying that the Coast Guard Budget has a separate budget. It is saying that the category they are freezing does not include the Coast guard.
    Secondly, the document you link to is from a political-advocacy group, not a government document. However, it refers to the coast guard budget—as part of DHS.
    From the document You linked to (Page 7):
    “In fact, according to the administration’s FY 2011 Homeland Security
    budget request,
    the USCG’s total budget will in fact decrease by nearly 3 percent from its FY 2010 funding levels to $10.1 billion.”
    This is the same figures you’re linking to earlier in that document, which later (as referenced above) listed it as part of a Homeland Security Budget Request.

    Further, if you look at DHS Budgetary documents, it includes the Coast Guard. Fiscal Year Request lists “USCG” (United States Coast Guard) as 17% of DHS Budget.
    See: http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/mgmt/dhs-budget-in-brief-fy2013.pdf (Page 23)

    So, I think you are incorrect. If the USCG budget is outside of DHS, you’ve not provided documentation that this is true, and in fact have listed references that state the opposite.

  20. I gotta admit that I used to for-go the friday and monday shows due to the randomness of the format. I’d alwasy go find older episodes and learn about a specific topic. But the last month, I’ve really really loved going back and listening to all the Firday/Monday shows. It’s interesting how our Prepper Learning curve changes as we grow. Keep up the good work!

  21. That’s some pic there Jack. I feel like the shoe. Or maybe the thimble, because I KEEP GETTING STUCK!!!!!!!

  22. Jack,

    You are correct with your logical assessment regarding the rediculous conspiracy hoopla being made recently regarding the 5 year DHS contract for 450 million rounds of .40 caliber ammunition. The U.S. Government doesn’t buy its ammunition monthly — it buys its ammunition with current budgets to sustain its supply for years in advance.

    There are 22 federal agencies within DHS, such as US Secret Service (USSS), Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), US Customs & Border Protection (CBP), Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE), Federal Protection Service (FPS), Office of Inspector General (DHSOIG) and the entire United States Coast Guard! DHS now has more sworn law enforcement officers/agents than any other department in the United States Government, second only to the Department of Defense!

    Also, keep in mind that the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), the “Police Academy” that a majority of federal agencies send their agents to for training —- is also under DHS jurisdiction — which means all academy training ammunition for all federal law enforcement agencies, would also be part of that 450 million contract. Even the armed pilots designated as Federal Flight Deck Officers fall under the jurisdiction of TSA/DHS (and they too carry .40 caliber weapons). And also keep in mind that most federal law enforcement agencies mandate its officers/agents to train with the same ammunition (hollow points) they carry for duty.

    There are over 105,000 armed and sworn federal law enforcement officers/agents, and most federal law enforcement agencies use the .40 caliber handgun for their duty weapon. A conservative number would be that 70,000 of those agents/officers are employed by an agency under the jurisdiction of DHS. So, if you actually calculate the numbers, the 450 million rounds of ammunition purchased over 5 years is not that extreme at all.

    Using the conservative number of 70,000 federal agents in DHS, the 450 million rounds would be 90 million rounds per year, for five years. 90 million rounds distributed to 70,000 DHS law enforcment officers/agents would give each individual 1,286 rounds per year — or 107 rounds per month. And this calculation does not even take into account the thousands of rounds used by the FLETC training facility!

    Do people really think giving federal DHS officers/agents 107 rounds per month for both training and duty, is really something to be afraid of? There are far more important things to be worried about then this meaningless distraction.

    “Trust, but verify” — Ronald Reagan

  23. Sadly, in 2005 the Nevada legislature ended the allodial title program – you’re still grandfathered in if you got an allodial title before June 13, 2005, but you can no longer apply. This probably happened because the real estate market was soaring in Nevada at that time and they got greedy and though they were giving away the farm with respect to future expected real estate tax revenue. Actually it turned out to be a pretty good deal for them as tax valuations & revenues are now back to 1990s levels. I would not be surprised to see a future Nevada legislature remove the “pre-June 13, 2005” requirement and re-establish the program. I for one would love to take advantage of it.

  24. fibromyalgia is diagnosed by elimination. So no test for the “condition”.

    Also been saving pennies my self for a couple of years. Worked at a gas station for about a year, pulled a lot of copper and silver for face value.