Habitat for Humanity build

I really shouldn't have read this thread today. My girl and I are trying to find a small (for a home loan) loan to buy a bit of land with an old single wide on it but we've both been broke too long, so even though it would be half what we pay in rent we're not qualified.

Finding out that they're giving houses for free to people who trash them.... and here's me trying to buy a trashed home and fix it up on my own dime and being told to sod off. Makes me wonder why I work when it seems to pay better being a bloody leech.
 
B00ger said:
Because selling your dignity is the most expensive loss a man can ever take.
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Honestly to give my girlfriend and her kids and me a home of our own I'd sell my dignity. Sold damn near everything else already.
 
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Rob said:
I tried to "do some good" for Habitat once...
Volunteered a crane & crew to set the roof trusses of a local build a few years ago.
They were very hard to schedule, (putting priority on the 100% unskilled group that was there for a "our social club cares" feel good photo op "work day")
I juggled crane & crew schedule to work for them... we arrived on time to find a house full of kids doing crap, The coordinator requested that we reschedule.
I told the coordinator "I'll call you in a little while"
He may still be waiting on that phone to ring?
I was told volunteers set the trusses by hand, took 2 days.
We would have been in, set up, trusses set & braced and gone in under 2.5 hours.
Oh well, I tried.
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You kinda if you will hit the nail on the head. HFH methods and volunteerism is in my estimation the worst and most inefficient way to do anything. My wife went on a build that was to frame a house in a day including the roof trusses. They had a couple civil engineers on the build with some experience and they rigged something up to hoist them in place. Total waste of resources and dangerous to boot. A Lull could have gotten it done in a very short amount of time. The walls should be prefab off site as well. Get a bunch of people to help prop them up and nail in place. Swing the trusses on and then start sheeting the roof. Instead you get these Americorp kids standing around, trying to hide in plain site or looking for somebody who knows what to do.
 
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B00ger said:
Reminds me of my wife...I love the woman, but she >CANNOT< take care of an automobile. I always end up going in every few months and shoveling stuff out of it to try to get it tolerable. If someone surprised her with a brand new car, I would be happy on the surface, but inside I would be looking at how darn hard it is going to be to clean out.
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OMG I'm married to her sister...
 
Cowboy said:
I've always wondered why people think gold and silver will be valuable if your in the real shtf scenario. Please this is a real question.
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Not so much silver in modern times ( sorry silver stackers... ) but Gold has value that is global, multicultural and historical. I don't think there is a culture on earth that doesnt in some fashion revere Gold over other means of exchange. Not knowing what the "coin of the realm" would be at some future point, or how trusted any paper currency might become, Gold is it.

Of course there are those that say that cornering the market on Tabasco sauce or toilet paper is equally a great move, but...
 
Cowboy said:
I've always wondered why people think gold and silver will be valuable if your in the real shtf scenario. Please this is a real question.
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It WON'T in a real "everything collapses" scenario.... while the zombies are roaming and all. The value comes when people begin coming out of their hidey holes and trying to do what they always do, which is trading goods and services for fungible items. Gold and silver have fit that bill forever. However, you and I will likely be dead, and I ain't worried about that.

The deceptive part of that argument is assuming that any collapse will be a complete hair on fire meltdown with a descent into pure savagery. I am one of the most pessimistic people around on the ability of our economy to avoid collapse, but by "collapse" I don't mean that everything will come completely unglued. That will only happen if there is a nuke war or sweeping plague or something like.

What is more likely is that the inflated fake economy built on printed dollars will collapse, removing much of the fake "wealth" it was built on. In that case, the dollar (and faith in the government which guarantees it) will evaporate, and people will look for alternate means to procure goods and services.

Gold has always filled that gap. It is fungible, divisible, transportable, rare, etc. These are all elements of what people call "money." Heck, people have used all kinds of things for money...... whiskey, salt, spices, corn, tobacco, cigarettes, even big round rocks (no kidding!). The biggest joke in history is the idea that government can "declare" something money and then outlaw other stuff. That is a scam, and all scams come apart.
 
Alfred said:
Not so much silver in modern times ( sorry silver stackers... ) but Gold has value that is global, multicultural and historical. I don't think there is a culture on earth that doesnt in some fashion revere Gold over other means of exchange. Not knowing what the "coin of the realm" would be at some future point, or how trusted any paper currency might become, Gold is it.

Of course there are those that say that cornering the market on Tabasco sauce or toilet paper is equally a great move, but...
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I dont' think you have done a very thorough job of researching the relative scarcity of silver. The implication that there are cultures which value gold and do NOT value silver is simply false.

Silver is, in fact, more rare than gold. I have both, by the way, but more silver than gold. If you wanna know why, I will be happy to tell you, but I have too many "wall of text" accusations here to volunteer why without a request.
 
Alfred said:
Of course there are those that say that cornering the market on Tabasco sauce or toilet paper is equally a great move, but...
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I would say a wise prepper would not limit himself to gold and silver, or guns and ammo, but would certainly include WATER (and how to purify it), vegetable seeds, Mountain house meals and lots of canned goods (rotated, of course), toilet paper, condoms, kotex, spices, alcohol (moonshine is the best, whiskey second), durable clothing, FOOTWEAR, alt-energy methods, oils (food and auto), a woodgas generator, basic medical equipment, antibiotics (fishmox, powdered), and several more items. The more of that stuff you can produce yourself, the healthier you are (besides having great bartering resources!).


I am not wealthy enough to be wise yet, but I am moving that way.
 
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easternnc4me said:
I watched that about three years ago and thought it was a great movie. The person that Christian Bale's character was based on was a genius in that market at that time.
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Peter Schiff and Ron Paul and Tom Woods were all screaming their heads off about a coming collapse. Like I said, I shorted the bank stocks and did very well. I also had my silver go from an average price of 6 dollars or so to just shy of 50 dollars. I thought "this is it" and did not sell. Well.... it wasn't "it" and I saw a lot of gains evaporate.
However, I, like Michael Burry, believe that I was not wrong on the event, just early on the timing. People will either say I was a "genius" or just an arrogant stubborn schmuck. I am, in fact, still building a position to reflect that belief. We will see.................
 
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tanstaafl72555 said:
I dont' think you have done a very thorough job of researching the relative scarcity of silver. The implication that there are cultures which value gold and do NOT value silver is simply false.

Silver is, in fact, more rare than gold. I have both, by the way, but more silver than gold. If you wanna know why, I will be happy to tell you, but I have too many "wall of text" accusations here to volunteer why without a request.
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I did not say that cultures did not value silver at all. I said that Gold historically is number one. Give anyone a choice around the world if they prefer to be paid in silver or gold ( equal values of each) gold is simply more likely to be their preference, other than making small change. Not my opinion, but reality- Gold speaks, silver needs an interpreter. Yes silver has value, it is also an industrial metal and demand at times exceeds supply, but it is also an expensive proposition to mine and process ores, especially the low grade ores that are typical today. Energy costs are a major factor, as is environmental compliance. That said, other than the $50 price spike, I find the premise that the global financial markets , mining industry and consumers of silver worldwide collectively are "missing the boat" and not "understanding" how rare silver is or isn't, etc. is a very unlikely scenario. There are no super-secret strategies. And the price languishes - even beyond ending the London fix, Morgan Stanley etc. it still goes sideways.

https://sdbullion.com/blog/how-much-silver-gold-is-there/

http://sprott.com/media/1834/the-silver-institute-world-silver-survey-2018.pdf
(Note that all silver coin and bullion is less than 15% of global demand )

BTW, Like you, I did not sell during the spike and frankly very much regret that. I have stacked silver and also have about 200 pounds of high grade silver and gold ore and have crawled all over the American west visiting both operating and inactive gold and silver mines, metal detecting, mine exploration, picking mine dumps, etc. so I believe I have pretty good handle on metals.

Since this is all a tangent on Habitat etc. I'm gonna end here.
 
Alfred said:
I did not say that cultures did not value silver at all. I said that Gold historically is number one. Give anyone a choice around the world if they prefer to be paid in silver or gold ( equal values of each) gold is simply more likely to be their preference, other than making small change. Not my opinion, but reality- Gold speaks, silver needs an interpreter. Yes silver has value, it is also an industrial metal and demand at times exceeds supply, but it is also an expensive proposition to mine and process ores, especially the low grade ores that are typical today. Energy costs are a major factor, as is environmental compliance. That said, other than the $50 price spike, I find the premise that the global financial markets , mining industry and consumers of silver worldwide collectively are "missing the boat" and not "understanding" how rare silver is or isn't, etc. is a very unlikely scenario. There are no super-secret strategies. And the price languishes - even beyond ending the London fix, Morgan Stanley etc. it still goes sideways.

https://sdbullion.com/blog/how-much-silver-gold-is-there/

http://sprott.com/media/1834/the-silver-institute-world-silver-survey-2018.pdf
(Note that all silver coin and bullion is less than 15% of global demand )

BTW, Like you, I did not sell during the spike and frankly very much regret that. I have stacked silver and also have about 200 pounds of high grade silver and gold ore and have crawled all over the American west visiting both operating and inactive gold and silver mines, metal detecting, mine exploration, picking mine dumps, etc. so I believe I have pretty good handle on metals.

Since this is all a tangent on Habitat etc. I'm gonna end here.
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Just sayin' I can end your regret quickly. I will take all you have. at spot
 
The financial realm is full of the biggest braggarts, ego vaunting chest pounding twits in the universe. I know that and so does everyone who has spent any time around these guys. I want to avoid that, but I will ask a simple question in the "gold or silver" thing here:

Can anyone, anywhere, show me a gold rally ANYTIME, that has not been accompanied by a silver rally at least 300% MORE? That is, for every 1 dollar rise in an ounce of gold silver has not risen at least three times that in percentage gains?
That is my first reason. The volatility on the upside gives the potential for staggering gains. The other is simply the base cost. You can buy an ounce of silver at a few dollars over spot, as you can gold. An ounce of gold is just over 1300 and an ounce of silver is about 15 and a half dollars. On a pure financial speculative play you can look at the historical ratio on these and see that it is between 25:1 and maybe 40:1. At that ratio, leaving gold stable, the price of silver on a historical basis "should" be around 50 dollars, but right now the ratio is actually almost 84:1. There are only two rational explanations for this: either "something has changed" or this is a crazy out of alignment market, driven by paper naked shorts on the exchanges by a federal reserve which is manipulating these markets to support the dollar. You choose.

Also, strictly from a prepper perspective, you can buy a silver (90% dime) for around a dollar 20 cents. If things are unwound and you need bread, eggs, milk, some drugs, gas, some ammo rounds etc etc, do you really think you are going to find "change" for a $1300 value American Eagle, or Krugerrand? (that is assuming prices on these don't skyrocket, and they will). I had rather have something small, fungible, portable and unit that can be used for smaller purchases, myself. Even a 1/10 oz of gold coin is not going to be much help, unless costco is open for big purchases!

Again, that is just me, but silver is going to be the rocketship here. I have gold so I can flee the country (in line with your objection), mostly because I dont' think I will be able to get 2kg bars of silver thru the border.
 
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Another way I have heard it described is that silver is for during SHTF, and gold is for after.
 
JimP42 said:
Another way I have heard it described is that silver is for during SHTF, and gold is for after.
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Silver is gold's crazy PMS little sister. When gold sinks, silver CRASHES. When gold rises, silver ZOOMS. After 40 years in the markets, I had rather trade APPLE than HALIBURTON, AMAZON than DUKE ENERGY. I am a volatility junkie. I realize that may just be me.
 
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tanstaafl72555 said:
Silver is gold's crazy PMS little sister. When gold sinks, silver CRASHES. When gold rises, silver ZOOMS. After 40 years in the markets, I had rather trade APPLE than HALIBURTON, AMAZON than DUKE ENERGY. I am a volatility junkie. I realize that may just be me.
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You are taking about speculating with gold and silver trading in and out of it as an investment (or gamble). I am talking about it as SHTF insurance. Two different things entirely.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JimP42 said:
You are taking about speculating with gold and silver trading in and out of it as an investment (or gamble). I am talking about it as SHTF insurance. Two different things entirely.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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You are correct. I am an inveterate dice roller. It is a good thing I have never been to Atlantic City or Vegas. I would be hopelessly addicted to gambling.
 
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