Yes, you heard rightly — there’s going to be a catastrophic economical breakdown combined with a supply-chain disruption and chaotic political conditions.
In short, the world is burning, and you can quote me on that.
In the news, you’ll notice a remarkable swing of popular opinion about guns — guns are bad, guns should be outlawed, at least those weapons of mass destruction, the AR-15.
Last time I had one of those Mattel Toys plastic stocked beasts in my hands, it was the switchable semi/auto M-16, while I was training new troops on the use of the M1 Garand and the M-14 Nato rifle, both of which I vastly preferred over the new M-16 the Army had just purchased.
Most of those early AR-16s jammed and had a habit of misloading and just plain not working — they were, in combat, just junk to be thrown away, when you managed to find a Russian version, the AK-47, which at least wasn’t a total loss.
Today’s AR-15 is a thousand times more deadly, and the ammo is explosive, doing far more damage than you’d want to inflict on game meat, like deer.
If you’re a Republican, “game meat” apparently also includes any non-Republican who dares show their faces on the street in the open.
It will soon be a crime to be anything other than a Republican. Just get used to it, don’t try to fight it. Eventually, things will get better.
I have an asteroidal mass on the way toward Earth, and it’s closer every day.
Much as I may disagree with Republicans on most issues, I happen to agree with one radical Republican — the NRA Asshole who first said:
“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun.”
Dammit, he’s so right. Actually, the only way to defend against RANDOM VIOLENCE, which can happen anywhere, at any time, is with a gun, like the early western pioneers did.
You wear your piece on your hip, generally, although there are those who vastly prefer the shoulder-holster.
Myself, I’m a fast-draw expert, so naturally, I’m going to select a Boise low-cut, with a SINGLE-ACTION .45 Colt Peacemaker.
In point of fact, I can no longer draw or hold that much weight steady, although that may improve as I age still further, according to my boundless optimism.
That boundless optimism extends all the way to an idea for a thriving business, when the world has gone totally nuts, and everyone’s a cowboy with a gun on the hip.
Yes, I said “cowboy”, not “cowperson”, because in the New World Order imposed by the bad guys with guns, women will be restricted to the home, pretty much like Afghanistan.
Welcome to the New World Order. I made it just for laughs. I hope you like it. To me, it’s worth the effort, even just for the one joke.
So how can a simple inoffensive nonviolent merchant prosper in the midst of all this chaos?
Actually, you can’t. But the next best thing is to try to sell your merch as survivable in the civil-war climate in which we find ourselves.
Don’t waste your breath trying to talk people out of their madness. Many folks are hoping for Judgement Day, which will come, but it ain’t like they think it is.
In the meantime, enjoy the marketplace as if it were the old-fashioned outdoor market where you sat on a blanket and waved your merch at passing touristas.
So what merch does well in the middle of a civil war? Keep in mind that no war is truly civil, and some are outright rude.
So what you need is a reliable source of stuff to sell. The values don’t matter. It’s the same amount of effort to sell a rare book as a first home. It’s all about the difference between the selling price and the take-home pay.
What if you found a rare painting in the attic? What would you do? Whom could you trust to tell you what it is and how much it’s worth on the open market? What would you do???
There are a variety of first steps you take. First is to get the painting authenticated by someone who knows how to authenticate.
That won’t be an “expert” at Sotheby’s or Christie’s, I can tell you that. They only know what’s on their cards, what’s been traded there before. Nobody can go outside that little box in that corner of the woods.
There are some experts, but there’s a catch — you have to know nearly as much as the expert, in order to determine the accuracy of the report.
Here’s a modest example:
I blundered into this David Teniers the Younger canvas in the original 17th century frame. First thing I did was to have it tested for age — it’s about 1650 A.D.
Then I had the paint analyzed. It matches the paint we know from Teniers’ published works. A lot of his work was done mostly by students, and he finished them with final touches, much as painters today will do, like Warhol and his art “factory”.
The metal tag on the front of the frame was added much later, probably for an auction.
I did a rundown on the probable origin and production of this painting, and I have it on my wall. I’m not anxious to sell it — I enjoy its presence in my dining room cafe, at every meal.
So once I’ve established the reality of the art work, and have lab certificates in hand to prove it, I can proceed on to the next step — getting rid of it.
Well, that’s a rather rough way of saying, it’s time to market the thing — ah, but how???
The price of this painting is $1.2 Million, and it’s worth every penny and I can prove it, but gosh, even knowing this thing has value, whom do I happen to know socially that I might mention it to them with the idea in mind that they’d buy it and then donate it in a living trust to a museum to cover the cost of the transfer of property to their next-of-kin.
You know, the usual Big-Business Shuffle.
Here’s my Million-Dollar Kimono, absolutely a one-of-a-kind. After it’s made, the mold will be destroyed. I can do this on silk or linen as well.
Anyhow, things get donated to museums, and that’s how museums get their collections — every single one of those things you see in that there museum represents money to the museums — the donors are required to also donate maintenance fees to cover the cost of housing them, and they’re not permitted to let them rot.
I’m not making this up. I know dozens of curators who will back me up. Donating is a game played by the very rich. You can have a house full of rare furnishings, and they all go to charity on your passing.
There’s a world of tax devices and gimmicks that the rich take advantage of, and I’m not going to delve into that quagmire — it’s their game, not mine.
HEY, LOOK!!! This is the famous 1796 Large Cent with the 1794 Reverse that I’m selling at only $2,200.00 — it’s an important date and type, and is among the earliest U.S. coins ever struck. It’s one of the best coins I’ve ever collected.
Okay, you don’t know any billionaires, and you don’t go to that sort of party, anyway. So how do you get this thing in front of the face of a bunch of billionaires so they can fight each other to acquire this thing so rare???
Well, that’s a subject for discussion, isn’t it?
I’ll be at the morning meeting at 6:30 am as usual.
See You At The Top!!!
gorby