How to live after going Galt
Posted by ogr8bearded1 11 years, 8 months ago to Philosophy
First, get out of the city. I'm not saying move to the boondocks, but find a place in the county.
Second, find an employer who will let you work as contract labour. Set your wage low...very low...as in under minimum wage low BUT require your pay in silver coins (1964 or before currency.) So instead of $7.25/hr, ask for $0.35/hr with both side able to renegotiate if silver price swings up or down a set amount. Benefit-you pay taxes based on $0.35/hr, not $7.25.
Third, find a small business/grocery who will 'haggle' on their prices. Pay him $0.10 for every $2 of merchandise using a silver dime.
Fourth, grow what you can on your land, raise chickens for meat/eggs. Try and raise enough corn to feed your chickens for the year. Sell surplus foods/eggs at local farmer's market. Haggle with customers who pay with silver(18 eggs for $0.10)
Fifth, write a negotiable instrument drawn on your personal funds to pay your taxes. A negotiable instrument is defined in law as a document which meets the following criteria: Must be dated, must be signed, must state who is being paid, must state who is paying and must state an exact amount. It must NOT be drawn on funds set aside specifically for its payment nor have an expiration date. The amount you owe will of course be small, but make sure you have enough paper to cover when presented with the negotiable instrument by the government. I did this to the State of Alabama and in Administrative Law Court was successful in paying my taxes in exchange for a voiding by the judge of my document(the State had failed to bring the original.) I then called the IRS and informed them they could cash theirs at any time and when they questioned if could do that referred them to my State case and have not heard from them since and that was over 10 years ago. Do this ONLY if you really wish to let them know how you feel about fact their refund checks do NOT meet the criteria of a negotiable instrument.
Grey area-Sell your silver for currency to use where you can't pay with silver (electric bills, tax payments, hunting/fishing license and so forth.) You could sell your silver to your employer so he could use it to pay your contract wages. Of course the government will most likely view the difference as "income," so tread lightly here in your resistance.
Second, find an employer who will let you work as contract labour. Set your wage low...very low...as in under minimum wage low BUT require your pay in silver coins (1964 or before currency.) So instead of $7.25/hr, ask for $0.35/hr with both side able to renegotiate if silver price swings up or down a set amount. Benefit-you pay taxes based on $0.35/hr, not $7.25.
Third, find a small business/grocery who will 'haggle' on their prices. Pay him $0.10 for every $2 of merchandise using a silver dime.
Fourth, grow what you can on your land, raise chickens for meat/eggs. Try and raise enough corn to feed your chickens for the year. Sell surplus foods/eggs at local farmer's market. Haggle with customers who pay with silver(18 eggs for $0.10)
Fifth, write a negotiable instrument drawn on your personal funds to pay your taxes. A negotiable instrument is defined in law as a document which meets the following criteria: Must be dated, must be signed, must state who is being paid, must state who is paying and must state an exact amount. It must NOT be drawn on funds set aside specifically for its payment nor have an expiration date. The amount you owe will of course be small, but make sure you have enough paper to cover when presented with the negotiable instrument by the government. I did this to the State of Alabama and in Administrative Law Court was successful in paying my taxes in exchange for a voiding by the judge of my document(the State had failed to bring the original.) I then called the IRS and informed them they could cash theirs at any time and when they questioned if could do that referred them to my State case and have not heard from them since and that was over 10 years ago. Do this ONLY if you really wish to let them know how you feel about fact their refund checks do NOT meet the criteria of a negotiable instrument.
Grey area-Sell your silver for currency to use where you can't pay with silver (electric bills, tax payments, hunting/fishing license and so forth.) You could sell your silver to your employer so he could use it to pay your contract wages. Of course the government will most likely view the difference as "income," so tread lightly here in your resistance.
Have you actually found an employer that's willing to pay you in junk silver, or is this just a good idea in your head? I think it's a fantastic idea, BTW. I'm just not sure what's in it for the employer. They're going to get in trouble for paying you below minimum wage, aren't they? Or do the rules change for 'contract labor' ?
I decided that if they could pay with a piece of paper they made then I could do the same (especially on a State level as per Article 1, Section 10 clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution it says "No State shall.... make anything but gold and silver coin a Tender in payment of debt..."
Their check isn't drawn on a bank, it is drawn on the State Treasury, it also has an expiration date and therefore did NOT meet the legal definition of a negotiable instrument. So in effect I argued that my payment was in fact more legal than theirs. The State argued no against the legality of my payment, but only that it placed a hardship on them to collect by requiring them to come to me. I countered that I could only redeem their paper at full face value by going to the Treasury.
The tax book says not to send money, in fact my local state revenue office even refused a cash payment though would have taken a check or money order. Also in the past, the local office would not cash a refund check as they have no monies there.
I did work for about 7 months for a man who owned a convenience store/gas station who was willing to pay in silver and issue a 1099 for the face value paid.
Contract labour is a picky thing as it requires a few things to be met to qualify. It has to be for less than a year. It has to be for services performed, so technically the employer cannot 'set' your working hours, however if when you wish to perform your contract duties coincide with when he wishes them done everyone wins ;D
Since you are not an hourly employee per se, you are free to ask and be paid for any amount you contract for with the employer. You are self-employed running your own business, so your pay is the profit of your business. Let's say you agree to be a security guard and provide the business with a set amount of time per week you will be physically 'checking' on the property. Other companies do this all the time, sell a contract to a business or home owner in a gated community and have an employee 'patrol' periodically the area. Now while I am there, if I decide to ring up sales or sweep a floor and he doesn't object to these actions, where is the harm?
The fact my company took in less than the time I put in to working to pay me a salary equal or greater than minimum wage is just 'bad business' on my part. There are several sole proprietorship businesses where the owner makes a profit for the business but has little drawing capital afterwards and no one regulates them or their pay.
I bought a straight run of Plymouth Rocks from Tractor Supply last year. Ended up with 7 roosters and 3 hens, one of which died shortly after started laying. We found a double yolk egg when cooking about same time and think it was just too large for her. Just last week I hatched 11 eggs of which 7 lived, 1 died in hatching and 3 never hatched. I MAY have 2 hens from that batch. I have 12 more eggs in incubator now.
Plymouth rocks are good both as meat and egg layers and just the 2 hens give me about 3 eggs every 2 days. Laying hens usually bring about $10 each, dozen large brown eggs go for around $2(or compare to store $2.50 when on sale around here.)
I worked for a man about 7 months for 'silver' and my 1099 was for around $3,500 leaving me with State taxes of $32 and Federal of $219. State has gotten their money, not heard from the Feds. At silver price back then $3,500 face value of silver was worth around $13,000 paper.
I had a few fast food places the manager would let me buy a couple sandwiches, fries and drink for $1.
Green beans grow well and you will get tons of them from a small patch. Any of the black-eyed pea types grow even in poor soil (did you know these were about the only crops Yankees didn't destroy in the War Between the States as they thought they were cattle feed? Another name for them is cowpeas.)
Potatoes are really fun to grow with a method I found online. Lightly break the soil (not a full tilling) and place the eyes on the ground and cover with sand. On top of this pile straw. As the plant grows, cover with more straw. When it comes time to harvest you barely have to brush back to sand to get them up. Corn did good first year, lost almost all the second. Turnips are good if you like them and the roots keep well in ground unless very hard freeze hits (teens for extended days) though the greens go bad after a hard frost. Lima beans are a pain to pick if get the bush variety so I'm sticking with runners now.
Get you some fruit trees out and learn how to can. Right now I'm just freezing or drying but this year plan on canning.
Where I live now isn't the best place I would have wished, but it is good and the price was too good to pass up and it got me out of the city. If you have the means you can be more choosy.
You may find power, water, decent internet to be expensive if get too far out of the way and it has to be brought to your location.
Since you won't be doing large crops, insects and pests can do damage to your foods/livestock. Birds love my plums, apples, figs(until I put up deer netting on those) and blueberries(this year going to deer net those.) If you have them in the area possums, coyotes, foxes and such may kill your chickens.
Watering your crops is expensive on county water during the dry season so best if can find a place you can dig a well. While not good for power, a small windmill to bring water up to a storage tank to use for irrigation is great.
If you have a place you can put in a decent size pond you can get fish cheap or even free from the government to stock it and have for fishing when you want.
The poorer a county/parish you live in, the less likely you will be bothered by the local government. Don't need a large house? Check out one of those large 2 storey 'storage buildings' at Home Depot. http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/203431903?c...
Fix it up with insulation and inside walls, add some plumbing and have it placed on a concrete slab. Don't know if they still do but they used to build them on site within 50 miles of the store.
If you have a wooded lot, especially with a stream nearby you will find it much cooler in the summers than in a city.
Your neighbours will most likely shoot their guns, at least in the South this is something you just do when in the country, so get used to that. On the otherhand, you will rarely hear a siren.
Get to know your neighbours. They may or may not come to you so don't be afraid to go to them. One of mine grows muscadines (type of wild grape) and makes wine from them.
Oh god, I could go on all day but I better stop now. :)
Like I said, doesn't have to be the boondocks either. I live 3 miles from a Wal-mart near a town of 3,500 on 6 acres. Its hilltop on 3 sides giving a good view with neighbours to the west. 30 miles gets me to a city of 50k to the north and east while 5 miles sw is a National Forest.
Now if you have well armed prepared neighbours you can trust, that can be beneficial, whether in a city or in the country. You will most likely be tested by large groups more often than if lived in the country. Even if in the country, get to know your neighbours. If religious join a small local church, most of them won't live too far away. I live in the South, you can't go too far without some small church every 10 miles or so in the country.
If you can, dig a well for water even if have county water. It will be excellent for watering your crops and good in case of an emergency. We lost power for 5 days after a bad outbreak of tornadoes couple years ago and water pressure was way down by the time it came back on.
We have a propane tank but rarely use it. You would be surprised at how well a small wood heater can heat a decently insulated house. You can go to a ranger's office and get a permit to cut downed trees in a National Forest for free firewood. Do NOT cut standing trees of course.
Where I am no one would really think it unusual to have a 'storm shelter' that could serve a double purpose of course :) If you have at least 5 acres here, you qualify for farm land tax also.
If you really want to get paranoid, you can use electronic motion detectors similar to those many stores in a mall have to let them know someone has entered. Then of course you may go crazy from deer or the neighbours dogs crossing lol.