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The Alpha Stategy book review
The Alpha Strategy by John Pugsley has been recommended by many for years in the preparedness movement.
It's a fairly hard to find book, although I believe I've heard there is a .pdf or download for it. Someone knows about that and it's LEGAL, feel free to post it. :)
If not, or if your the type like me that wants a hard copy of the book in hand, then check Amazon and Ebay for a copy of it. Be patient, then can go for big bucks, bide your time and get a deal.
Written in 1980 the "strategy" in this book comes out of the lost decade of the 70's and while that was 40 years ago (OK, I feel old now), a lot of the info relating to causes, etc. is just as relevant today.
He starts out and spends over half the book discussing the problems with the economy. He uses simple illustrations- "You and Maynard on a desert island" type of thing- to illustrate the true nature of inflation, and goes from there to include other economic "problems" including things like farmers getting subsidies, doctors having to be registered/approved by the AMA, etc.
Now I should stop here and say this is no "conspiracy" book and reading it, at first you assume that Pugsley is a survivalist also. He is not and he makes it clear that he is advocating stockpiling simply from a "beat inflation" and make a real "investment" point of view NOT from a "societal collapse" view.
OK, I'm fine with that part, not exactly me, but I see the main benefit of stockpiling- saving money on purchases in the future by using things bought today. The side benefit of that- knowing that you have what you need for if TSHTF. Doesn't that mean I'm not planning for survival? No, that means that after almost three decades I've rotated enough stuff to realize that you usually can "beat inflation" buying rice in 1987 and eating it in 2007 when it's 2 1/2 times the price.
The second half of the book details his approach to beating inflation and having a "real investment".
I agree with some of what he's written and I've been doing some of these things for decades, first just thinking "this is ONLY for SHTF" and then later realizing that it's actually a good way to LIVE- be ready now and save some money in the future.
I'm just scratching the surface of this book, but I highly recommend it.
He is what I would consider a PURE CAPITALIST, he squarely puts the blame for the economic problems on the individual. The individual seeks a free ride and "lobbies" politicians for it, the corporation lobbies for a tax break, some profession seeks to limit the number of people entering into that profession, etc. in this he sees the gubmint not at fault but the individual. He sees the solution being education. The publix edumacation system has long since been controlled by the hippies, so that's not a realistic answer in my opinion. And it's only about 1 in 10 parents that actually do TEACH their children these things about their country. So honestly, the only solution I see over the long term is either tyranny or collapse. I don't want either of these two but I'll take collapse over tyranny.
Good book, 5 stars, go buy it.
Robert Henry
It's a fairly hard to find book, although I believe I've heard there is a .pdf or download for it. Someone knows about that and it's LEGAL, feel free to post it. :)
If not, or if your the type like me that wants a hard copy of the book in hand, then check Amazon and Ebay for a copy of it. Be patient, then can go for big bucks, bide your time and get a deal.
Written in 1980 the "strategy" in this book comes out of the lost decade of the 70's and while that was 40 years ago (OK, I feel old now), a lot of the info relating to causes, etc. is just as relevant today.
He starts out and spends over half the book discussing the problems with the economy. He uses simple illustrations- "You and Maynard on a desert island" type of thing- to illustrate the true nature of inflation, and goes from there to include other economic "problems" including things like farmers getting subsidies, doctors having to be registered/approved by the AMA, etc.
Now I should stop here and say this is no "conspiracy" book and reading it, at first you assume that Pugsley is a survivalist also. He is not and he makes it clear that he is advocating stockpiling simply from a "beat inflation" and make a real "investment" point of view NOT from a "societal collapse" view.
OK, I'm fine with that part, not exactly me, but I see the main benefit of stockpiling- saving money on purchases in the future by using things bought today. The side benefit of that- knowing that you have what you need for if TSHTF. Doesn't that mean I'm not planning for survival? No, that means that after almost three decades I've rotated enough stuff to realize that you usually can "beat inflation" buying rice in 1987 and eating it in 2007 when it's 2 1/2 times the price.
The second half of the book details his approach to beating inflation and having a "real investment".
I agree with some of what he's written and I've been doing some of these things for decades, first just thinking "this is ONLY for SHTF" and then later realizing that it's actually a good way to LIVE- be ready now and save some money in the future.
I'm just scratching the surface of this book, but I highly recommend it.
He is what I would consider a PURE CAPITALIST, he squarely puts the blame for the economic problems on the individual. The individual seeks a free ride and "lobbies" politicians for it, the corporation lobbies for a tax break, some profession seeks to limit the number of people entering into that profession, etc. in this he sees the gubmint not at fault but the individual. He sees the solution being education. The publix edumacation system has long since been controlled by the hippies, so that's not a realistic answer in my opinion. And it's only about 1 in 10 parents that actually do TEACH their children these things about their country. So honestly, the only solution I see over the long term is either tyranny or collapse. I don't want either of these two but I'll take collapse over tyranny.
Good book, 5 stars, go buy it.
Robert Henry
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