Comments

Episode-807- What We Can Expect in 2012 — 28 Comments

  1. I’m not sure I agree that Gingrich will fade. I think ‘conservatives’ will look past his hypocracy for his blend of intellegence (vs Perry), religion (vs Romney), and foreign policy (vs Paul).

    Agree completely that we’re in interesting times and that the foundational assumptions are shifting.

    And as a Ravens fan, I’d like to extend my gratitude to Ben for hobbling out there and single-handedly saving my birds from complete humiliation this weekend. We did enough of that on our own so it was a relief to hand on to 1st.

  2. Jack,

    One of the things that I’ve always loved about the way you do the show is your optimism. I get so tired of hearing people moan and complain about how terrible things are without being willing to actually TRY and do something to fix it. Now, understand that I don’t think “fixing it” always means something concrete like writing a letter, picking up the phone, planting a garden, or raising a chicken. Sometimes “fixing it” means that we fix our perspective. Often times, we can make really positive changes by finding opportunities in the adversities that we face. Fixing our attitude is the most effective way to bring about change, I think, and you see to bring that to us most days — with passion to boot!

    Thank you for refusing to let ’em drag ya down!

  3. Happy Holidays to you and all your family and friends. I started listening to your show Feb 2010. Every day I just can’t wait to hear what you have to say. So much has been done since Feb. When you talked about having stored water I went and got water. When you talked about growing your own food I put in a garden plot. When you talked about storing food I went shopping. I felt if you can talk about it I can do it. You are right about learning on the forum. So much info. Of course you have to be careful you can get lost in there and not find your way out for days. Here is what you have inspired me to do and whats new here.
    700 sq ft growing space (turned front lawn into garden)
    3 pigs (that included 300sq ft barn space at $1.00 per sq ft and 200 feet of fencing have much more to do about 4 acres)
    1 wood stove
    4 cords wood 2 bought 2 cut from our property
    generator
    back up propane
    system to get water from creek
    stored 50 gal water in containers
    stored 5 months food
    got 2 freezers now both full of meat (used coupon for last trip to store got $36.50 or 7.62 lbs of meat for $8.25 TOTAL pot roast ground up for burger)
    Have BOB in both cars
    Have 2 fire extinguishers one in house and one in barn
    Got our guns back from in laws 4 of them
    Have ammo stored
    paid off our visa and 2nd mortgage
    put plan in place to have our house paid off in 2 yrs
    have cash on hand in house car and BOB
    Made maps evac plan
    Got important papers together
    got life insurance
    stocked up on canning supplies
    got food dehydrator
    currently building hugle bed and working on chicken /rabbit house
    Shoveled crap our of our house sold some made $2500 and gave tons to good will
    Organized every drawer closet and cupboard in the house and barn
    Stored extra building supplies (bought and freebies)
    Making plans daily and talking with hubby about the future
    Dropped 2 pant sizes
    Built endurance to be able to work for 4 hours before needed a break (in Feb taking a shower and getting dressed wore me out to the point I needed a nap.)
    Built a 6 mo ER savings account
    Oh can’t forget stocked up on light bulbs big time
    Made some fuel (just as easy as making coffee can’t wait to do more)
    Have read 15 books (normal maybe 3 in 10 years)Hubby read 1 which is fantastic I think it was the 2nd book he has ever read.
    Have some meds stocked up
    No gold or silver that will be next year
    I know I am forgetting some things but just wanted to say thank you for all your inspirational ass kicking wake up calls. I have met 2 TSP people in person very nice
    We have done all this on one income of 55k per year and in spite of having what some call a handicapping condition. I can’t wait till next year hedge rows fruit and nut trees so much to do.
    Will also plan on preserving our own food what we grew this year well dogs and piggies had a feast. Note put fence up before you plant.

    The most important thing is, that you have waken us up to realize how important our land really is. How lucky we really are to have it (5 ac) instead of taking it for granted.
    We would have never made it this far without all that you do. We would have still been asleep and in debit. Just wanted you to know how much you have helped inspire us to get off our butts. Thanks again and happy new year

    • I like the forum section that deals with “What have you done to prep today” or something like that

      Good job Roundabouts, for doing it and actually remembering it; quite a list. I find myself starting five or six things and end up taking a weekend to finish it. If one took stock of what was done in a few days, it would be a morale booster. A little each day

  4. @Jack,

    Might be an interesting website to see “Free City Blog” or something that is a clearing house for information and stories about the good and bad examples of this.

  5. Ummm…. hasn’t Ferfal been using a term like “downward class migration” on his blog for several years? In several of his posts he talks about the time he was sitting in an architecture class and the prof described the class migration and everyone in the class realizing they had moved from middle class into poverty for the foreseeable future…

  6. Just gotta say….good riddance Steelers. Go Niners!

    And American Guns is a pretty good show.

    Brandon
    San Francisco, CA

  7. I haven’t listened to the show yet, but I’m on the ground (and involved in Ron Paul’s campaign) here in Iowa and I see no signs whatsoever of Newt having strong support here. I don’t see any of his signs in people’s yards, I don’t hear anyone saying anything about him (anything positive, at least), I don’t see his commercials anywhere near as often as the other candidates and he hasn’t been putting the footwork in like some of the other candidates. I think he’s expecting the fact that the media says he’s the frontrunner to carry him through. There’s been talk of the governor of Iowa being asked to be a VP, I wouldn’t be surprised if Newt drops that on us in the next few days in order to garner up some more local support.

    In 2008 they said that Ron Paul’s support was “an inch wide and a mile deep”. Now Gingrich is a mile wide and an inch deep and we’re a mile wide and STILL a mile deep.

    • @Ryan Lewellin,

      I’m also in Iowa (despite my name) and planning to support Paul in the upcoming caucus. Let me know (via the forum) if you want to plan any Iowa TSP events.

      –RH

  8. I expect in 2012 to have a much better harvest from my patio garden. This was my first year trying to garden and, while it started off rough, things have begun to pick up! We finally got to eat our peppers and kale in a small salad… it’s a really different feeling when you know exactly what it took to get them ripe and ready for consumption, makes you appreciate the whole process much more! Here’s a picture of the salad

  9. Here’s to being contrarian!

    BECAUSE so many people think 2012 is gonna be terrible, i.e:
    – Stock market will crash
    – Economy will hit a deeper recession
    – Euro will become worthless
    – Nukes in North Korea
    – World going to end, etc.

    THEREFORE: my prediction is this may be the best year in a long time.
    – Housing market will improve relative to recent years
    – Jobs market improve
    – Stock market will soar
    – Dollar will soar
    – Oil/Gold will drop in price
    – Hell, we may even get to travel to Cuba again!

    • What you’re saying doesn’t necessarily make it the best year in a long time if one’s investments are: short the stock market, short the dollar, long oil, and long gold. Everything is relative… 😉

    • I can go to Cuba now. 🙂

      There is a video out that shows how Cuba survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and Peak oil.

  10. Jack you are so right that government aid traps people.

    I was called to work with some new members of my church who were on aid to help them out. That is when I learned how hard it is to get off. You can earn up to a small amount each month, with an annual cap that was less that the small amount times twelve. After that amount is reached, you lose benifits at a dollar for dollar rate.

    This means if your getting $1,200 a month and you’re allowed $350 before the reductions means you have a $1,550 a month. But if you earn $351 you lose $1… Except as we know, earned does not mean take home. You get $0.82. So instead of having $1,550 ($1,199 and $351) you get $1,549.82.

    Now that does not seem like much, but like debt it becomes a cost. You get a job $240 a week, after the cap you “lose” $610 in aid. Take home $500. So your total becomes $1,440.

    What does that teach you about working? That you are worse off working unless you can get that $70,000 a year job.

  11. Top is absolutely correct. I have taught at a local college for the last 12 years. Almost all of my students are “nontraditional”, i.e. coming to college after many years out of high school, and are on government grants and/or student loans. Many are either getting some kind of public assistance or working minimum wage jobs (hence the extreme debt levels). Their stories are all the same: it’s almost impossible to get off welfare since the kinds of jobs for which they qualify pay such low wages that it takes very little mathematical skill to conclude they are far better off suckling from the public teat than working for any amount of money. How sad that even if folks are motivated to attempt to escape, the system is designed to keep them dependent.

  12. Thanks for a great podcast Jack especially for your common sense discussion on Iran. It’s amazing how you perfectly explained Iran better than any of the current candidates that lobby for war in Iran.

  13. Excellent discussion of Iran.

    To me it is math. No, I don’t mean it is just math, I feel the emotional aspects too, and we can talk about principles too. But to do the cost-benefit you don’t have to get past math. we lost more people in Iraq and Afghanistan than on 9/11. So, we were told that these wars were to fight the global war on terror. So, math says that we had to prevent at least as many deaths as THE MOST SUCCESSFUL TERRORIST ATTACK EVER on our soil.

  14. @Jack,

    Thanks for what you are doing. After studying politics and the world for many years I have become almost despondent but then I discovered you and others like you. I just started listening a few weeks ago and even though I haven’t even got a BoB yet I can say that your words give me hope. I want to live better and I want my family to have a better life. I know I can do these things and I know my community will be better for it.

    Keep up the good work.
    I look forward to TSP in 2012.

  15. @Jack,

    I think “The most important election in history” is going on RIGHT NOW. It’s going on in the media, at family gatherings, etc. We’re building up an epic showdown between RP and the rest of the GOP in Iowa and New Hampshire elections in January (2 and 3 weeks away!) and then beyond.

    You said last week that when we get into the election we can talk about it but until then it’s a bunch of polls and crap. You’re right it is, but RIGHT NOW is what matters. The states start voting in a few weeks and many of the state’s registration dead lines have already passed (Kentucky on the 30th). If we wait too long we’ll miss the bus.

  16. FINALLY someone called out Gerald Celente for his “can kicking”. That guy gets WAY too much leeway from preppers and doomers. I’ve been hearing his predictions about bank holidays, Mexico-style kidnappings, food riots, and crime sprees since 2008 and he still sticks with his assertion that that it will happen “next year”. That’s not forecasting; it’s just “guessing”.

  17. A prediction come true already:
    Big Ag companies will change their marketing (environmentally friendly)
    From yougrowgirl.com:
    Yesterday, I learned that the National Wildlife Federation has aligned with Scotts, the company responsible for manufacturing several garden and agricultural toxins, including Miracle Gro and Roundup. Those of you who are familiar with this beloved environmental protection group will likely have the same reaction that I did. How? How can they champion for the environment with a massive environmental polluter as a beneficiary?

    Article is here: http://www.yougrowgirl.com/2012/01/25/what-were-they-thinking/

    • @Eriko, just one correction there, Scotts doesn’t make RoundUp, they distribute it, Monsanto makes it. Kind of a demon vs. devil comparison I know but jsut want to be fully accurate.

  18. You are correct – luckily I didn’t write the article on yougrowgirl.com
    I will pass the info along to the author of article.
    Thanks Jack!
    Cheers,
    Eriko