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I can't imagine how many conversations were had this weekend like the one I had with the others on our management team. We keep our company's working capital in several different banks. Within each bank we have several bank accounts. I spent some time this weekend moving money around to try to make sure no accounts have over the 250k FDIC limit. It is a hassle keeping money spread over so many accounts. Some companies are not going to be able to make payroll this week because their money disappeared. We are a small company. I have no idea how all the medium size companies are going to manage their working capital.

SIL and G-son, they sent me movies yesterday where they went to indoor range and burned 400 rounds of ammo. Had a Glock 19 gen 3, a new max 9 Ruger SIL just purchased last weekend, and a practically new Remington 1911R1. Said nothing burped and all went well. I gave grandson the new 1911 and Glock last year. They had trouble with the 1911 first time they took it out. Told them to clean and lube it good and take it back. They live in Mt Pleasant S Carolina and mom was out of town. Them boys are really getting into hunting, fishing, guns and the outdoors. Grandson has his own boat, 16' flat bottom fiberglass, with a 50 HP Honda motor. Mom's boss gave it to Parker. Said he did not use it any longer. Dad has a 27' sea worthy Carolina fiberglass w/ a 150 HP Yamaha. Doing it together. You gotta love it. They fish Charleston Harbor for the giant RED Fish. Grandson caught a 38-pounder last season. Makes me wish I was young again. Got 5 more visits with Cardiac Rehab for me. Will have finished 36 visits. Looking forward to getting finished. Really sapping my energy, for sure, since I am on a no carb diet. Lost 8 pounds so far and need to loose 40 pounds. Edited to add; grandson is 14 now. Being bullied in school because his ears are large. Wouldn't want to be a kid now.

I missed this fact, as some of you may have as well. Silicon Valley Bank wasn't the only one to tumble last week. Signature Bank was also cut off from additional funding and was taken over by the FDIC last Friday. After Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, fears of more banks collapsing grow: Live updates (msn.com)

Excellent

I'm not suggesting anyone drain their bank accounts, but I would (if financially feasible) keep some additional cash on hand just in case a run happens to your bank.

I though I’d post this here just to put a stake in the sand, because this may turn out to be one of the most important charts we’ll see this year: What you’re basically looking at on this chart is unrealized losses in the hundreds of billions. Mortgage backed securities (remember the other time in recent memory where you heard/learned this term) are trading way lower. The underlying cause is essentially that mortgages closed in 2020 and 2021 are now basically trading at 65 cents on the dollar. It turns out that interest rates go up, too. And, a lot of our venture backed business models simply don’t work when money isn’t free. There are a few “bloggers” who have been talking about this. A lot of people read their newsletters. You probably saw Thursday that a a few venture capitalists told their portfolio companies to move their money from one of these banks and caused a bank run that wound up collapsing the 18th largest bank in the country - Silicon Valley Bank. Panics are a funny thing - and I think there’s a non-zero chance of seeing some much larger collapses this week. Ought to be an awfully interesting week. I hope I’m wrong.

The problem is: The bank borrowed money from depositors at 1% with a 2 year CD. They then loaned the money to you for 30 years at 3%. That gives them a 2% profit for two years. The catch is now they have to return the money from that two year CD and borrow the balance owed on your 30 year mortgage from a new CD investor that they will have to pay more than 3% for. Now they are in the hole and it will get deeper as rates rise.

The key word is trading here. The real number value of the mortgage payments are still what it was closed at. But in 2020 and 2021, a lot of people buying homes did so under some very favorable interest rates, and more people were on their heels to refinance. That's a lot of money locked in a the low end of the spectrum, the value of that money having gone for a roller-coaster ride in three years. With inflation eating away the value of the dollar and interest rates going up, holding those assets is at best money in a tar pit, and at worst, seen as a loss when adjusted in real terms (ie: after inflation). So, if a financial organization wants to get them off the books and free up capital for better use, they sell them at a discount to entice a buyer and move on. After all, who would buy a mortgage no matter how secure returning 3% when you can buy a T-Bill that is the safest investment on the planet returning 5%, or a corporate bond above that even. They're doing this because money isn't essentially free to borrow anymore, so they have to gin it up from their own assets and returns. Think of it as selling a gun you bought during a Republican administration that was cheap, but you're not using it anymore, to get money that partially funds your next purchase when a Democrat is in the White House, and guns are more expensive. That's about as TGO friendly a parable I can use for this situation, but it's a bit imperfect. Last year the big deal was inflation gut punching the consumer. For at least now, the big deal is inflation gut punching the financial institutions. Corporate bonds are probably on deck for valuation hits.

Everyone except .gov. It always seems to emerge bigger and stronger after such an event.

Family is what it’s all about, my friend! One of my kids is in college in another town. The other married and moved off. We love the fact they and their wife and girlfriend see fit to go to church service every Sunday and then come to our house for Sunday dinner. It is the highlight of my wife’s week. I enjoy it as well. We are the old folks now.

By the way, I want to thank each of you for your kind sentiments as I shared my past with my mom and cornbread. I am always awed by the care I find on TGO.

The end goal, based on the groups pushing for the code, isn't benign. Step one was to create the new code. Check. Done. Step two will be to track purchasers. Step three will be applying political & social pressure to the credit card companies to stop processing payments for that code "to save the children" or whatever the cry of the day will be. It is not innocuous. And it won't be an issue...initially. But it must be stopped before it can ever be used as a defacto database of gun buyers and then used as a lever of the antigun groups to shutdown financial services to "gun dealers", a la Operation Chokepoint (Obama era-style.)

That's going to be a problem. Most people do not read books and they are no longer teaching how to write.

Oh, I've got some four letter word laced opinions on this whole mess. How the risk of rising interest rates wasn't considered is the first problem. For all the issues people have with Jerome Powell (JPow), he speaks a concise English on macroeconomic topics. These rate hikes were neither a surprise nor at a pace people didn't know was coming. I guess risk management is a nag when it lowers EBITDA and EPS come bonus time. Next, while I realize the need to stop a contagion of bank runs at the speed of wire transfers...we've pretty much set the standard that FDIC insurance limits are now...well, all deposits in the country. They can say taxpayers aren't on the hook...what they really mean is not yet. After the FDIC piggy bank from funding of the program by banks runs dry, they tap the "full faith and credit of the government of the United States of America." Congrats, America. We all in on making sure all the depositors of SVB are safe. While we did save the paycheck flow for everyday people (I have a friend who's company banks with SVB), we also prolonged the stupid companies keeping up operations. I get we only had the weekend, but I'm not jazzed about saving the 7th app based scooter rental company just because their account was in a bank connected to a lot of very rich people with their VC money tied to those companies as angel investors. The cash outlay here will be minimal at the end; SVB had a liquidity problem, not a toxic asset problem. But the bar has been set. Buckle up...this is the intro, not the story. One of Warren Buffet's often used aphorisms is about to play out and we're about to see some people hanging brain. It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked. So many businesses, plus their CFOs are not ready for this lesson. It's going to be painful. Like learning the lessons all over in Iraq, just with red dollar signs and numbers instead of flag draped caskets. $250k isn't enough for companies. It works for everyday people, but not business accounts. It used to be $100k, then we raised it to $250k, during the '08 GFC, so, it's just a number we make up after getting some data points. We need to raise it for businesses so there are reasonable operating parameters and we don't have to backstop all of the cashflow accounts and lockboxes across the financial sector. Then we can let bad companies fail through their own financial mismanagement. That's a feature, not a bug. Conservative/Libertarians got a gut check this weekend, and a lot were found wanting over on Financial Twitter....looking at you, David Sacks (yup, real name).

If you don’t have eggs, it doesn’t matter what happens to the basket!!!!

Fun stuff! My younger son is currently taking a college economics course. I told him he’s about to get a real time live course in it. This is the type thing preppers are born for.

Welcome to TGO from Lenoir City. Commenting on existing threads is correct, or starting a new thread will count. Once you have 10 comments restrictions are lifted.

These clowns are damaging my calm.

I think I’ve seen this movie before.

Start with a skillet of the cornbread I posted earlier. 2 cups boiled yellow squash, drained 1 med onion (diced) 1 can mushroom soup 2 cups crumbled cornbread 1 stick butter salt and pepper to taste Combine all ingredients. Place in greased 2.8 liter (8x11) dish/pan and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. We’ll boil excess squash during growing season and freeze 2 cups each in ziplock bags. This is great sautéed with onions, and for this recipe.

I love cornbread but please Lord keep the sugar out of it

I've got a CMP M1 GARAND. They rebuilt it using USGI SA Pars, Reciever, OP Rod, Bolt, Trigger Assembly are all SA. The Bbl. is a Criterion that they used, also they used a new Stock and remarked it with the the correct markings, the Leather Sling is not included because I had that custom made with my name on it. Asking $1500 or OBO CASH. I live in the Whitehouse area but can meet locally around Goodlettsville, Hendersonville, Gallatin, and Nashville area, I can drive a little way to meet and make a deal, this one dosen't have the CMP Case, the older gentleman I bought it from his wife cleaned out the basement and garage and tossed it away when he was in the hospital I've bought several guns from him over the years. This is a nice one I don't think he ever fired it. Please PM me any questions.

Ruger alaskan 454/45 2in barrel. Less than 10 rds shot. Comes with speed loader and 3 full boxes of 454. 1500 obo. Will trade depending on what you have, can tradr up or down, willing to add boot if needed. Looking for a staccato c2.

Beretta 9mm Compact, 15-round mag (only one) for sale. Lots of shallow scratches on both sides of slide, otherwise excellent condition. Double/single action, ambi slide stops and hammer-drop safeties. It has a steel slide and hi-cap mag, so it's a bit heavy for concealed carry in my opinion, but it would make a tidy package for household defense or as a car gun. $350 no trades. FTF in Murfreesboro.

Upgrades include an oil finished stock, Timney Trigger, and Tally quick release 30MM rings. Ready for a Safari. Some small spots of wear and use on stock. Mechanically excellent. Comes with box, papers, original trigger. SOLD

Roll Tide

You're welcome. Looking back at my emails Kinfe Rights presence here at TGO was back in 2013. At least my emails to the State Reps were in 2013. Time flies!

I never even think of knife laws. Thanks for the link.

New to the site. Saw this thread and thought I'd leave this: http://www.mytargets.com/ These are free targets and are all printable and downloadable. They are in PDF format to ensure that they print to scale.

Amazing how people built and engineered stuff back then. No computers or electricity to help and much of it is better made than stuff today!

Chili beans and cornbread. Sometimes we would put jalapeños in the corn bread.

Darn daylight saving time; had to fix all my clocks . . .

As a general rule, with the excessive financialization of our economy, only a select few benefit when things are on the way up. The real problem is that everyone, and I mean everyone gets hurt on the way down.

It is going to be a rough ride. This has been coming for a long time. I just hope most people learned from the past and protected themselves as much as possible. As @KahrManshowed above. NEVER have all your eggs in one basket.

Deerslayer, You may have seen this movie before... But it's a new cast and are any of the Hollywood remakes worth a crap these days?

The year ahead is going to be a rough ride, financially speaking.

That’s right. Those are totally different animals.

Well, I was set to go back to Bill’s Outpost in Maryville and work a trade on a Girsan today or tomorrow. But the best made plans oft go awry. I won an auction on Harvey’s Auction site for a very nice pencil barrel S&W Model 10-7 yesterday afternoon. So I will be working on getting that instead. Woe is me. Please don’t throw me in that briar patch!

Interested in this. Richard, I have an 1892 (1905) 25-20. One of the nicest shooting guns I have. When you can find some ammo you’re looking at around $85 a box.

Yes Sir it is. FM Argentine Detective Model. I stumbled across this NIB locally a few years ago and jumped all over it. AFAIK FM was the only company to ever offer a regular factory version of the HP Detective model. The barrel and slide are approximately 1" shorter than the standard HP. Its my personal favorite and if I were to carry a HP, this would be the one.

1/2 cup unsalted butter melted or bacon grease 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup yellow cornmeal or polenta 1 tablespoon sugar (optional - doesn’t make it sweet) 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cup buttermilk 2 large eggs This is for your big cast iron. Half it and use a smaller 6” cast iron. Buttermilk is the key ingredient. If I’m being particular- use King Arthur all purpose flour and the best cornmeal you can find. Pro tip - stick your cast iron in the oven and melt your butter in the cast iron. Pour the rest of your batter over it once hot. Don’t mix it. You’ll get a great crust that way. Made this the other evening along with a big pot of red beans and rice for several homeless guys. Several mentioned that it was the best meal they’d had all season. There is joy in good simplicity.

After riding in CA for 35+ years before moving here, I miss that aspect the most. It mitigates traffic, but you nailed the main opposition. You could see the cagers fuming when you looked back in your mirrors at lights, some even yelling at their windshields. The biggest danger I see would be those that had no idea of it becoming legal (if by miracle it passed), then feel its their duty as a traffic vigilante to do something about it. Even in CA you'd get the occasional chucklehead who didn't know who would swerve over at you or jump out of his car to scream at you. Too true. Riders are all stereotyped as 'bikers', no help from the media who likes to propagate the stereotype. I see it very similar to how gun owners are perceived by non gun owning people who are easily made to support anti-gunners. Gun owner and a rider? Man, what bad seeds are we.

I guess my wife was ahead of this credit card coding, hence why I haven't used credit cards to fuel my passion in decades. She watches those statements with a microscope. If I were to guess, a bunch of wives got together and made this new policy.....jokes aside, this is a dangerous slope, imagine if this is successful, what about other politics, and if you do not align no food purchases? Hmmm where I have I read about that before........