There are people that have made a living thus for all their lives. There have been people living in the shadow economy every generation since time began. I suspect there was a cave man named Og who sold rocks to Ug, and never bothered passing the "Give me rock or I hit you in head" share to cavemaster Arg.
Saturday I purchased an elderly used reloading press from someone who answered my Craigslist ad. Today I tore it apart, cleaned it, and restored it to reloady goodness. Next week I will probably sell it at a modest profit.
Our financial masters had nothing to do with it, nor will they see a penny of their "Give me a cut or we'll shoot you" demand.
Welcome to the shadow economy. Land of the uncharted dollar, money uncounted, and exchanges untaxed. It will always exist. The money grubbing scum may close down Ebay and Craigslist, they may monitor every newspapers classified ads, and they may even post armed guards at the bulletin board in front of the Piggly Wiggly.... but they will NEVER defeat human nature.
Now.... I have a really nice Lyman turret press for sale... and I happen to have a few pounds of Pyrodex I can let go cheap if you are local.
5 comments:
I believe it was the shadow economy's existence that irritate(d) Obama the first year of his admin. If I remember correctly at one of his speeches he subtly made mention of people who made money and didn't pay taxes on it, some being cleaning people, day laborers, servers,etc. This was before he decided to rip the rug out from under WS, which he had just finished bailing out.
I wonder if that was the mainstay of the Russian populace during the Communist reign. Yes, we did see photos of empty shelves, but people can't exist on empties, so there had to be another system they used, which leads me to think it was yours.
It's my first time here and I'm poking around. In addition to everything else, I really like your wallpaper.:)
It seems to me, as things keep going the way they are going, that purchasing on the grey market becomes my first option, rather than the last. As an added plus, buying used means there is less time needed to "break in" things.
I have been holding my breath for 11 years, waiting for the gooberment to get their mitts into what you call the Shadow Economy and I call, "I get to buy, sell, and trade however I want, with whomever I want; it's call liberty, mo'fockers." eBay, clothing consignment shops, local barter--it's all been very good to Moi.
For generations my family has lived most;ly off the grid. My grandparents did not have social security numbers. They worked until they died. They bartered and sold excess produce and moonshine and other things for cash. Almost no book keeping was done, and at the end of the year, it was a good year if all the bills got paid and nobody starved. If you cannot live in this way, the odds are good, you are coming in for a real eye opening couple of years.
To og, yes. I believe that, too; but it will be very hard, because we're not used to that type of living anymore. I'm an old dog, though, and flexible. The next two or three years are going to be very interesting not only here, but in Europe.
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