Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

I think the TPTB hate cash because it gives Jo(e) Soap privacy, flexibility and freedom from being 100% under their control.

Which is why it annoys me to see people, particularly the younger adult decades, blithely accepting cash-free living. Oh, and getting stuck in queues at supermarkets behind people making card transactions for a couple of quid........... that annoys the heck out of me.

Things are not going well for an awful lot of people, and pay and working conditions are fast worsening, with the response from the employer to employee disatisfaction being if you don't want to do it, there's plenty who will.

This is one of the many ways where high unemployment hurts even those who aren't actually unemployed. Pay and conditions go up when employers have to compete to gain and retain their staff, and reverse when labour is in plentiful supply. There's a lot of highly-skilled and well-educated minds and hands un- or under-employed.

An awful lot of people have what you might term Potemkin Prosperity; looks good on the outside but no substance behind it. Those people will be in deep trouble when the inevitable correction, the one which as been artificially postponed by central bank manipulation, falls due.

I don't wish it to happen but it will happen whatever my or others' opinions on the subject may be. All the sensible person can do it to make every effort to eliminate debt, reduce expenditures and have some resources by them.

bexster1975

I couldn't agree more GQ. The cashless payment system isn't designed to help the public. It's designed to monitor what people do, where and when. It is the main reason I have I tension of going app!epay etc.

I also totally agree about employers. Even in industries in crisis ( education) government and employers treat staff with something between general disdain and open hostility. The only people ultimately detrimented by this action is the next generation and their education. With zero hours contracts rife, it seems the government are offering big business a " mandate to bully" any staff who dare to suggest they may have rights. The only thing as individuals we can do is reduce our liabilities, and learn to live/live a more simple life that doesn't involve walking around shopping centres buying at every available spare moment. This way we are offered the freedom to choose what we tolerate from a working environment, as we need less money to sustain our lifestyle.

Bexster

COOLTRIKERCHICK

What I have seen and felt first hand .. Is land lords of industrial/ commercial units, trading estates etc.. Once you are in, and signed up to the lease, you have got to pay the landlord, building insurance, what has been happening in 2 diff buildings we have leased, in the first year the insurance is x amount, and then it goes up each year by a huge amount. A few years ago one unit we had went from 2.5 k insurance to 6.5k in 2 years.. They kept on saying they had the units re- valued.

The only thing I can think of, is their are inflating their asset value to make it look as though the company is healthy??? But in the meantime the poor Tennant's are payi g the price with the over priced insurance... Another landlord has just done exactly the same thing told us £700 per year, and actually billed us 3.5 k and a service charge increase if 28%

The both landlords are huge companies which I think have something to do with pension funds etc

jk0

I came across this today which might interest you guys:

http://www.theeuroprobe.org/2013-044-couden/

jk0

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

What I have seen and felt first hand .. Is land lords of industrial/ commercial units, trading estates etc.. Once you are in, and signed up to the lease, you have got to pay the landlord, building insurance, what has been happening in 2 diff buildings we have leased, in the first year the insurance is x amount, and then it goes up each year by a huge amount. A few years ago one unit we had went from 2.5 k insurance to 6.5k in 2 years.. They kept on saying they had the units re- valued.

The only thing I can think of, is their are inflating their asset value to make it look as though the company is healthy??? But in the meantime the poor Tennant's are payi g the price with the over priced insurance... Another landlord has just done exactly the same thing told us £700 per year, and actually billed us 3.5 k and a service charge increase if 28%

The both landlords are huge companies which I think have something to do with pension funds etc

It's a common fiddle. Can't you get your own insurance valuation and quote? Ditto regarding the service charge. I have a lot of these scams occur with my leasehold flats. Unbelievably I am currently fighting a Housing Association who wish to replace the roofs on 24 maisonettes at a cost of £100k. Two local builders have quoted about half that.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Another Tennant had a quote of £200 to add it to his business insurance, but they said no,

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

I came across this today which might interest you guys:

http://www.theeuroprobe.org/2013-044-couden/

Yes this is junk. Agenda 21 for a sustainable development does not have to require mass genocide to work. It only appears that way if you maintain a wasteful lifestyle like the average american or Australian, who have among the highest carbon foot prints on earth. Unless you change how you do things then yes you do have to wipe out 75% of westerners. If you cut your carbon foot print you can have a sustainable lifestyle without killing anyone. If however you cut your use of resources significantly then you do not need to have such drastic solutions as death camps as some have suggested. The ban on incandescent light bulbs cuts electricity use by 90%. Banning low energy bulbs could halve that usage again. All without a drop in living standards. Eating less red meat will also do quite a bit for usage of water and other resource sustainability. A mass switch to renewables and a ban on fossil fuels will also do a lot for a sustainable lifestyle with killing anyone. Plus will create lots of jobs managing the transition.

fuddle

Maybe the reasoning behind a cashless society and the need for surveillance of individuals is as much about national security as it is about conspiracies of X, Y, Z?

I don't know. It's just a theory of mine... like so much on the thread but the difference I pose a question to think about. I don't know. I don't take it as fact because I have read about it somewhere. I don't state it as fact because I have come that a conclusion based on other things read.

I enjoy the topics that are raised but the way in which they come across is really rather matter of fact, hardly ever 'I believe' and therefore the more inexperienced prepper (myself a year or so back) might just take things as read and worry - forcing head in the sand mentality and walking away from a resource that is actually really quite helpful.

All I am saying is the issues raised here are really great but the way in which they are put over as fact and not opinion is frustrating.

Frugalsod

The claims of a cashless society make us more controllable is more of a fear of the very paranoid.

The real risks of a cashless society are that it makes it impossible to avoid a bail in, unless you are rich and can move your money offshore into a foreign bank not about to be bailed in. For the poor cash allows you to avoid the costs of a bail in. The banks would be the prime beneficiaries as they can close even more branches as they will not need to worry about supplying notes and coins to local stores. They could also start to claim fees for every single transaction even buying a newspaper.

thriftwizard

Frugalsod, making us more controllable might not be a cause of turning us cashless, but it certainly would be an effect! No credit, no overdraft, nothing left in the bank with a week to go until payday, no possibility of doing a car boot sale, say, to tide you over = no food for your kids, no bills paid.

I'm relying on my cash supplies & the freezer to tide us over this week; there's been an unanticipated delay in paying out some money we were expecting last month (down to an elderly person not understanding why they were being "fined" for a letter with insufficient postage, and refusing to collect & pay for it, thinking it would only be some kind of advert or charity begging letter anyway) and the cost of the van over-ran somewhat as there were a couple of late "conditions" imposed by my insurance company which meant further outlay. And the upstairs loo has suddenly started to leak badly - not good in a household of 7! I've had to tie the b8llc*ck up - necessitating a visit from a plumber, and probable replacement. So some preps are being used up to see us through, but at least we're not going to get into unauthorised overdraft territory. A minor example of when prepping proves to be worthwhile!