If you don’t, then think of this:

Chase customers who shopped at Target had their accounts limited  to $100 cash withdrawals from ATM’s and $300 purchases until they went to a Chase location and got new cards issued to them.

Now, to begin with, if you use  a debit card that is linked to your main checking account for daily purchases then you are an idiot. Better to either use a secondary account for debit card purchases and transfer money into that account when needed, or better yet, use credit cards for purchases and pay the bills monthly. Ideally, you should have more than one credit card. If someone gets your credit card account number and maxes out your card, at worst you use another form of payment until the card is re-issued and your account is credited. Not so if they get your ATM card information and cleans out your checking account…..Yeah, you’ll get your money back eventually (maybe), but it will take a while, and what do you purchase gas for your car and food for your family with in the meantime? What do you pay your mortgage payment (or rent) with while the system works it’s way to getting you your money back?

And you should have a stash of cash available for times when you cannot access your account. At least two weeks worth of normal spending…. because, at a whim, the banks or the feds can cut your account off….Credit cards too.

Think I am kidding? Chase did it to their customers with no notice when they limited folks after the Target data breach. At a whim, they changed the rules, limiting the amount of money…money OWNED BY THEIR DEPOSITORS…that could be spent until new cards could be issued.

Now, I understand that Chase had to make a hard decision here. Their potential liability was HUGE. Someone got into Target’s computers and had card numbers, magnetic stripe info, and PIN numbers….info that could allow them to duplicate cards and make “legitimate” withdrawals and purchases….money that Chase would eventually have to replace when it was proven that those were  fraudulent purchases. I don’t blame them for making the decision that they did.

But what if the Feds chose to do that? Or if Chase (or YOUR) financial institution chose to cut you off entirely?

They can do that, you know. All it takes is a judge’s signature…or a vindictive IRS agent. Or a bank that is in financial trouble.

Have a stash. And use credit cards rather than debit cards. Or at least use a card that isn’t linked to your main checking account.

Me, I use credit cards. Easier and more convenient.  And I have a stash as part of my SHTF plan.

You should too.

Go read this article. Apparently the author is from some semi-parallel universe.

Take the time to red the comments. about 1/3 of the commenters only know the talking points put out by the DNC folks denigrating the Tea Party. Some of them think that it is a right for the “Government” to take from the “rich” and transfer that wealth to the poor. That people have a right to health care and to free shit especially if they are black or brown….and it is ok to take that from others who have worked for it.

It would seem that there are two versions of reality at play here….the one that I see, wherein the Tea Party folks care mostly about the spiraling increases in the deficit and want to see that cut back, and the other viewpoint, which is that we must give people whatever they cry for at someone else’s expense.

The fact that some people protest increased government growth (and spending) must make us racist because that spending is apparently primarily given to black and brown people (which I doubt).

The point is that I am somewhat scared not only because the author is apparently living in a somewhat distorted view of what I see as reality but also because more than 1/3 of the commenters seem to see the world in much the same way as she does.

Scary

Next time, you fools, don’t wait until the last friggin’ minute to order. There could be delays in shipping

Sorry little Tommy and young Suzy, Mommy and Daddy were too busy to order your gift until the last minute and you didn’t get your dolly or your Blaster for Christmas.

I am trying to find some empathy for these folks, but really, the Christmas Holiday has been scheduled for several hundred years and if you didn’t realize until the last moment that you had to buy presents for your loved ones until 2 days before, well, that is a reflection upon you.

Didn’t know this, and of course, the media doesn’t bother to tell us because they have a bias.

But luckily we have the internet to tell us about it.

I know where I am going to be buying my wreaths from this point on.

Worth reading. 

On the other hand: THIS IS CRAP.

Respect.

There is a muslim family that runs a convenience store where I buy lottery tickets and smokes every Mon/Wed/Fri.

I think they are Palestinian, or at least the father was 30 years ago when he came to the US. He and his sons are now quite Americanized, still holding onto their culture, but yet very western in their views.

And both the father and one of his sons surprised me yesterday by warmly wishing me a “Merry Christmas”. (Not “Happy Holidays”)

I was surprised. “But you are Muslim” I said.

“Yep. We are. But you, my friend, are Christian” came the reply…”So, Merry Christmas”.

I was, frankly, touched. Nice people there.

Amidst the gift giving, the food, the drinks, the laughter and the over-indulgence and excesses….

Please, remember what the day of Christmas is celebrating.

It isn’t a commercial holiday, nor is is a mid winter festival (although many would change it to be one).

It is a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of the Christ child.

And nothing can change that.

And while you are enjoying your cup of Christmas Cheer with your friends or family, take a moment to think about all those who cannot be with their family…your soldiers overseas, the policemen and firemen who are standing guard for you at home, and the other workers doing their jobs so you can enjoy your Christmas celebrations in warmth and  comfort and peace.

Footprints in the snow

Here.

Normally, my family gets together on Christmas Eve and has a dinner, then we do Christmas Morning for the breakfast and then a gift exchange, followed by a sybaritic meal. If people are unable to make it on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, we make it up later in the year or early January

This year, we did the gift exchange a few days early….It was good to see my brother and all, but it was odd.

And this year, there will be no gathering on Christmas Day.

But we did have a gathering and a meal on Christmas Eve, And the fellowship was good….and warming, and fulfilling and helps regenerate my sense of belonging.

Traditions, even fractured ones, are good.

“You’re lucky I didn’t fucking shoot you”.

See, this is an example of cops with the wrong attitude.

He fails to realize that HE was the one in the wrong. He was the one trespassing.

Hope this never happens at my house. I’d not open the door unarmed (probably wouldn’t open the door at all, but rather call 911 and let the police come and investigate the trespassing police), but if I did….likely for one of us the ending wouldn’t be good.

94 years old.

I own several examples of his design.

“I invented it for the protection of the Motherland. I have no regrets and bear no responsibility for how politicians have used it,”

Indeed.

via: Freeholder