Interested in your knowledge and opinions. . .

I'm a new member here, but have lurked on and off for a few years. A week or so ago, my thriller novel, Above Reproach, was released in e-book format (print edition coming Memorial Day). The basic theme and premise is the Second Amendment IS our domestic national defense. Feedback and reviews have been very positive--excluding the reviews and "love mail" I'm getting from the anti-gun groups.

My present project, to be published and released October 1, is about our present financial state and what independent businesses and people who prefer to deal with privately owned businesses and banks can do to to reign Big Business and Wall Street (and thus, a lot of Big Government) under control.

Along with precious metals, barter has been around for the ages and one premise I'm developing with the characters deals with neighbors and citizens in Small Town, USA dealing as much as they can in barter in order to both deny Big Business sales while at the same time, conserving their own cash.

There will always be commodities that are currency/cash-only for the most part--gasoline, for example. But there are services and goods which can easily be traded or bartered for.

This is a novel, so I have "fictional and creative license" to stretch things or imagine things, etc. BUT, just as I did in Above Reproach, I'd like to present scenarios that are very real, very possible, and if we're not careful, very probable.

A lot of folks think survival means being the lone person or lone family out there, living by their wits and little else. Yes, those folks are there but I also believe that entire communities can be "group survivalists" and not just survive, but THRIVE and that is what I'm wanting readers to explore and visualize in this next book.

Any thoughts about this or experiences or knowledge will be MORE than welcome, I guarantee you.

JD

 

Different from Lights Out in that it's small groups staying small, but "colonizing" (for lack of a better word at the moment) in a sense as there is strength (and power) in numbers even in the business environment.

Some would say, "especially in the business environment."

A few examples/ideas I have scribbled down are a doctor trading routine examinations with a mechanic, let's say, in exchange for routine maintenance or a/c servicing; a plumber doing some repairs for a homeowner who is an attorney in exchange for getting a will and trust fund set up and filed; a housepainter doing a house and trading his labor and costs in exchange for the homeowner--a seamstress--making his daughter's wedding gown.

Etc etc.

Not necessarily talking a doomsday or "end of the world" scenario, but rather one in which Small Town USA and Small Business gets over-the-top fed up with the status quo and unholy trifecta of Big Government, Big Business and Wall Street.

There are a few other factors at play all the while as well. For instance, employees of a large retailer (not Walmart, by the way) are fed up with the "executive management" reducing their pay and benefits but driving them to work harder while awarding themselves with seven/eight-figure cash bonuses. So the employees devise a system to begin buying up stock in the company to form a "super-majority" shareholder stake and re-seat the BOD in order to toss the CEO, CFO, et al on their butts.

As small business and small towns begin turning inwards for solutions, growth and financial stability, big gov and big business send their "intimidators" out to harass the small business owners. Big mistake--the intimidators are reminded that there IS a Second Amendment and therefore, "do not effing tread on me or you'll find out why the right to keep and bear arms is so important."

Big gov moves to dilute the First and Second Amendments in response, but the Red counties (as seen on the political map) simply promise to cut off food and harvest to the Blue Cities and all hell starts breaking loose--plus, the elected officials from the Red counties strike down attempts further restrict rights and freedoms.

As this is occurring, States move towards a stronger Tenth Amendment position, further diluting the pork fringes of the federal government.

This is where the outline is at and why I'm looking for thoughts, ideas and examples of "neighbor helping neighbor" in terms of financial survival. The dollar can weaken and crash, but there are still going to be sick people who need doctors and doctors who need their plumbing fixed, etc.

I'm going to go back and study Lights Out again--been awhile and that's a great suggestion.

JD