# Ok... bash away at me.. ;)



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

This is something that I have written over the last 3-4 days on and off...

Looking for feedback - Good, Bad, Ugly - Keep Going, Kill It, etc...

Get ready this is around 6500 words... goal is 75,000 

Chapter 1 – The initial conversation
Atlanta, Ga.
Another Lazy Day
September 2012
John was at the kitchen counter surfing the internet on his iPad, when it dinged telling him his Facebook account just received a private message. Quickly switching to the Facebook app, showed he had a message from a friend and former customer. The message was from Matt Whitman the Chief Operational Officer at Trust Partners, LLC and it read: 
“Hey John, care to drive down sometime in the next week and have lunch? - MW” 
John replied “Sure, but I am not coming back as a consultant”. 
“Understood, still want to talk with you over a quiet lunch about something not related to Trust” was the quick response from Matt.
John and Matt agreed to have lunch the following Tuesday. John briefly pondered what Matt could possibly want to talk about outside of Trust Partners. Knowing Matt, it could be poker or another business venture, John gave a mental shrug thinking “I guess I will find out next Tuesday” as he flipped back to Reuters.com and the article he was reading on the announcement of round three of a “Quantitative Easing” program by the Federal Reserve. John wondered as he picked up where he left off in the article – “gee QE3, the first two attempts at this money printing thing didn’t work, why would they try a third time – oh, I see – This time they are saying that it will be open ended.”


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Flashback
2005
John had met Matt at a charity poker event in early 2005, at the time John was working as the network operations manager for a large law firm, and was considering opening his own consulting firm. The day of the charity event, John was seated next to a thin man with short black hair with just a salting of grey starting. The two really didn’t talk much during the first hour of the tournament except for the occasional “nice hand” or “good call” as they battled their way through the different opponents. After 3 hours of play their table was broken up and they both wished each other good luck as they were moved to different tables. It wasn’t until many hours later when they both made the final table and seated next to each other again. This actually started the two talking to each other about business. John found out that Matt was working at an Asset Management firm, and had a need for some IT Assistance. John gave Matt his background and Matt encouraged him to start his IT consulting business. As the final table wound down John would eliminate a player and John would eliminate a player – eventually it came down to just the two at the table. Matt looked at John’s chip stack and John did the same – both were within a thousand or so of each other. Surprising everyone left watching they looked at each other and at the same time said “Chop?” Both started laughing while shaking each other’s hand. Matt gave John his business card and said “give me a call if you do decide to start your business up”. John said he would follow up and put the card in his shirt pocket. Later, when he got home he pulled the card out thinking about the conversation - The card was a simple clean eggshell white card – it read Trust Partners, LLC Matthew Whitman with no phone number or email address. Well, damn, how do I follow up with him thought John as he threw the useless card in the trash.
The very next Monday was a dreary day in Atlanta with ice cold drizzle from the sky overhead as John ran across the street for a quick cup of coffee from Starbucks before his 3PM meeting with the rest of the IT Management team. He was thinking how the day fit the upcoming meeting – more talks about how to manage an IT infrastructure of the 40th largest law firm in the nation with a CIO who had no budgetary control, and an IT Advisory Board made up of a bunch of partners who fancied themselves as “IT Experts” because they had the latest smartphone. As he was coming in the door he literally ran into Matt as he was walking out the door with another gentleman. 
“Hey John, I was just talking about you to Barry. Barry, this is John. John this is Barry Vine, the CEO and founding partner of Trust Partners.” Matt said making quick introductions. 
John was a little surprised to see Matt again, and quickly shook hands with Barry. “Nice to meet you. Matt, I was going to give you a call, but your business card didn’t have any contact numbers.” 
Matt just laughed it off, and said give me yours I will call you tonight.
A week later, John gave his two week notice and Matt had signed an exclusive contract for John’s new company. John continued to act as the “rent-to-own” CIO for Matt’s asset management firm until 2011 after John suffered a minor heart attack and he decided to slow down on day-to-day consulting, though the personal friendship between John and Matt continued– which included trips to Tunica and Las Vegas for some poker.
Even from day one of the new consulting business – John quickly realized that having only one client was a huge issue, however unfortunately the contract he signed required him to be onsite every day. So, even though John was committed to Trust Partners on a daily basis working 6-10 hours a day onsite, he realized that to grow his company, he needed to expand his business. While John was a highly compensated employee at the law firm, once he started consulting, his income nearly doubled. Slowly and surely John put the additional money he was earning into action – creating a managed service platform as well as putting together an online backup solution using a variety of hardware, software and service vendors. Soon he found an individual who could work sales and sure enough the business grew. In fact, revenues doubled from 2005 to 2006 to over $500K. From 2006 to 2008, the business almost reached $1MM in revenues. The only staff was 1 sales commission person and John, everything else was outsourced – the call center for the managed services, the data center of the online backup solution, etc. After the heart attack and John’s decision to slow down, John was forced to let the sales person go because of some personal legal issues the sales person got himself into. The reoccurring revenue from the managed services and online backup solutions was enough for John to not have to consult on a daily basis or look for new business. Leaving the day to day consulting lowered his overall net income by $200,000 a year, but with some minor vendor changes he was still able to see net margins of 75% on over $400,000 worth of business a year. Not enough to be super rich, but enough to be comfortable and having a wife who was also an executive with a Fortune 50, gave them combined net revenue close to $500,000 after expenses.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Flashback
2006
John remarried in mid-2006 to a beautiful woman named Lynn that had an 8 year old daughter at the time after a whirlwind courtship. Lynn and John met playing poker one Saturday night in the last weekend of January – both just started causal conversation with each other as the game went on. When the game ended and the bar they were at closed down, they found themselves still talking out by their cars as the sun rose at the break of the new day. After the wedding, John moved into Lynn’s house and life was good. During the housing collapse in 2008, they decided to put their house up for sale and started the search for a new “our” house. Lynn being the Director of AR for the second largest staffing company in the world and John’s business revenue allowed them to really take advantage of the housing market collapse in 2008. They were able to quickly get Lynn’s house sold in Johns Creek, GA and find a house in the horse country located in North GA. The new house was a beautiful all brick and stone house with 5 bedroom, 5 ½ bath with 6500 square feet situated on 2 acres of land that backed up to 47 acres of woods that had a fresh creek running through the center. The house also had an unfinished basement with 15 foot ceilings that added another 3000 square feet of potential living space if finished. While the closest grocery store was a small Publix about a mile and a half a way that also had a few locally owned shops connected to it, the closest WalMart or any fast food chain was a good 15 minute drive through two lane roads surrounded by horse farms and past small very upscale subdivisions. Even though Atlanta, GA represented more than 4 million residents, their little piece of heaven was located in the city of Milton, which lies 35 miles north of downtown Atlanta. Milton is comprised of a mix of horse and co-op farms and upper-class homes and a sprinkling of true mansions. There weren’t many if any super subdivisions found in nearby cities like Alpharetta, instead the subdivisions in Milton ranged from 10 homes to 40 homes. The larger cities around Milton like Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Roswell, and Cumming all boasted 100,000 resident numbers but were all more than 15-20 miles away from John and Lynn’s house. Another thing that made this area “heaven” to both John and Lynn was that most of the urban sprawl that was consuming or had consumed surrounding cities lay to the east of GA400, they and the city of Milton were to the west of GA400. Even though the city of Milton had approximately the same area of land represented in the other suburban cities - Milton city council kept the sprawl out of the area, after all Milton only had 30,000 residents and they liked their “small town feel”.


----------



## OHprepper (Feb 21, 2012)

ummm... more.....


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

September 2012
Lunch Meeting
On the day of the lunch meeting, John decided to actually go semi-professional, wearing a button down Royal Blue Polo dress shirt, tan Polo kakis, and a pair of Cole Hann loafers that hadn’t been touched in over 6 months. This was in part for the respect of Matt, since John’s typical “at home” outfit was a pair of Levis and a T-shirt that was either from a concert or had a funny saying on it. The other part was because wanted to try out a new high-end Thia restaurant in Midtown. Knowing how GA400 could get congested any time day or night, John decided to take the CTS-V and leave out at 11 AM for his noon meeting. John pulled into the valet, window down, Prada sunglass on, and radio blaring “Further Up the Road” featuring Eric Clapton from Joe Bonamassa’s Live From the Royal Albert Hall album, which was on the internal hard drive of the radio in the CTS-V, along with great variety of artists from Joe Bonamassa and Stevie Ray Vaughn to Black Label Society and Ozzy Osborne. John noticed Matt getting out of what looked like a black 1970’s Chevy Silverado 4x4 that was decked out with a light rack, front bumper guard, jacked up on oversized tires and what looked like an extra gas tank with a hand pump in the bed directly in front of him.
“Ok, soooo what happened to the Porsche?” John asked, knowing how much Matt loved his Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet, which Matt has bought the day after he made partner at Trust Partners.
“Ah, well, I will tell you about it in a few” Matt replied as the door was opened for them.
The interior of the Thai restaurant was as to be expected for the trendy new restaurant in Midtown. It featured oversized booths that were separated with privacy walls decorated in artwork from Thailand, dim pin point lighting throughout the restaurant and sound absorbing decorated ceiling tiles gave off the atmosphere of the perfect lunch spot for the power of Midtown that consisted mostly of lawyers and money men that 80% of the businesses in Midtown represented. The host immediately recognized Matt, saying “Mr. Whitman, a pleasure to see you again. Let me seat you at your normal table” John, just raised an eyebrow at the comment thinking “I thought he said he wanted to try out this new restaurant” but remained quiet as the host walked the two back to a corner booth. 
“So what’s up Matt?” John said as he was handed the menu from the waiter.
“Nothing much” Matt replied, then proceeded to order a Diet Coke to drink, John ordered a Coke Zero with no ice. 
After the waiter had walked away from taking their food orders as well, Matt leaned forward and said “How are you doing my friend?”
“Well, I am a little confused”
“What, why?” Matt said with a slight smile, his left eye floating up and to the right as it normally did when Matt was up to something. Matt had a “floating” eye that would subconsciously shift upward and focus a little to the right when he was “up to something”. John had learned this early on as a poker tell after many years of playing poker with Matt. He was either setting up the conversation or about to pull one hell of a bluff.
“Well, let’s see, first, you PM me out of the blue wanting to have lunch to talk about something, and obviously not about Trust Partners. Second when I pulled in, I see you getting out of a Bubba ******* truck instead of your dream car. Finally, you said you wanted to try this new restaurant, yet the host knows you by name and you have your own table. How is that for starters” John said with a laugh at the end and counting each off on a finger.
The waiter returned with their drinks and took their orders – both ordered Khao Gaeng Ped with Chicken. After the waiter had left, Matt finally replied to John’s statement.
“Well, let’s see – you are correct, this isn’t about Trust Partners. Don’t worry, I still have my Porsche and I am still a partner and the COO at TP, so financially everything is as normal as can be, but I decided to have my truck from Puerto Rico shipped back to the states when I traded the vacation house and land, and” with a shrug “yes, I eat here at least once or twice a week for business meetings. As you can see, it is perfect for high level meetings, you literally can’t hear the conversation in the next booth and the wait staff is trained to respect your privacy during your visit” Matt stated.
“Ok, uh, I can understand we won’t be talking about Trust Partners, since you know that I am enjoying my semi-retired life” John joked, “But, you traded the vacation house? You loved that place. You once told me out in Vegas that it was the only places in the world were you could simply “turn off” from the world and go off the grid. I mean, I can see bringing the truck back to the mainland, but using that thing as a daily driver, especially in Atlanta traffic must be a real bitch. I hate when I have to drive Lynn’s Armada”
Matt laughed at the traffic comment, because John was absolutely correct. The truck was not only a lot larger than his Porsche, but it also had a 6 inch lift kit on it making it a very large vehicle to try to maneuver in the world’s most congested rush hours otherwise known as Atlanta traffic. “Yeah, driving it to and from home is a little bit of a bitch some days. Believe me, there have been times I have thought about shifting into 4 wheel drive and putting it in low to climb over the car in front of me. Especially since my commute has gotten a little longer some days. Are you still keeping up on the financial side of things?”
John shifted in his seat wondering where this was all going. Being the “rent-to-own” CIO for many years at Trust Partners, required John to become knowledgeable in both the fixed income and equity worlds – not only with just the software platform the firms used to make trades, but the actual jargon and aspects of the research required to make good solid trades. This had led John to become more of a news junkie in regards to most aspects of the financial and business world, since he already had a strong passion for understanding business and such. Towards the end of his stint as their “rent-to-own” CIO, John was actually joining some of the internal meetings in regards to the technology segment of the equities area – contributing his thoughts on the wide variety of companies in the segment, their products, and their likelihood to gain strong footholds with their emerging product lines.
“Of course, actually when you PM’d me, I was reading Ben B’s remarks about how QE3 was going to be open ended to help push up the markets, and buy back all the bad debt the banks are holding from the subprime mess” John replied. “Ok, I see this is going somewhere, where, I admit I have no clue, so just spill it” Their food arrived and the waiter quickly left the area.
“See what I mean respect of the business meeting, in and out of our space in seconds.” Matt said with a small smile. “Ok, I see I have you confused a little, let me start with everything goes “pop”. Now, this may sound a little crazy but I am going to assume you know very little about world economics, fiat currencies, and the whole freaking mess we are getting ourselves into with this QE3 ********” John just looked up with a piece of curry chicken hanging from his fork waiting for an explanation.
Over the next two and a half hours, Matt laid it all out for John, while they ate their meals. John would stop Matt and ask for clarification on some items being discussed, but other times he wished he had brought something to take notes with. The waiter discreetly kept their glasses refilled but kept a respectable distance when checking on them. 
At the end, Matt asked “Ok, so do you think I am crazy?” 
John was a little blown away by everything Matt had laid out, and found some of it very hard to believe, “No, not really since you are an expert on the markets and such… but I do want to read more up on it some.


----------



## OHprepper (Feb 21, 2012)

"As the final table wound down John would eliminate a player and John would eliminate a player"...did you mean john would eliminate a player and matt would eliminate a player?


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Chapter 2 – Let the research begin…
September 2012
That night after lunch with Matt
Once John got home, let the four dogs out to do their business, he grabbed a Diet Dr. Pepper, his iPad and a pack of cigarettes and went out onto the deck. On the way home he kept going over some of the things Matt had said – traded his vacation home in Puerto Rico for a cabin on 10 acres of land up near the north Georgia Mountains, spending 3-4 nights a week up there preparing it and driving the 70 plus mile one way commute each day to TP. His buying bulk foods, seeds (something called Non-GMO Heirloom), finding ways to properly store water – not to mention preparing the house to be completely self-sufficient and off the grid. What was even more alarming was Matt’s talk about wanting to learn how to not only shoot a handgun and rifle but to clean and care for them as well. Then the why, the “Oh Shit” moment as he put it… 
or as John replied “you mean to say $16.5 trillion dollar (and climbing) balloon, not to mention 2 or 3 others that I have been starting to see more information on in the non-mainstream media sites”. The reply was a single word: “Yep” 
Matt went on to not only explain the harmful potential of Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing 3, the potential failure of the United States Dollar (USD) and economy due to their Keynesian economic policies, but also going into some detail of the potential coming currency wars. Wars fought with currency instead of guns, ammo and young Marines and the how the great USA wasn’t just facing the typical financial enemy of Japan but the Euro-block, the BRIC and the TIMP nations as well. In addition, he mentioned his concerns of moving the USD away from being the world’s reserve currency and why this would only deflate an already propped up fiat currency. He even went as far to open his laptop to show some results that they were running from custom written models written at Trust.
John had known Matt now for almost for 8 years, it definitely wasn’t the same Matt sitting in front of him at the restaurant. Matt was still decked out with the “proper attire” – the $3,000 plus hand tailored suit, the eloquent but expensive Patek Phillip watch, the simple gold wedding ring. However, internally, Matt wasn’t the same. Something had or is literally scaring the shit out of him and with his background in economics and financial matters, John could believe some of what Matt was talking about.
Although John and Matt rarely if ever had spoken about political views, John knew Matt had contributed the maximum allowed to the Democratic Party in 2008 as well as working to raise capital through a SuperPAC to support the potential of the first black President. John wondered if he had as well in the upcoming 2012 elections. Although John was a registered Democrat, he didn’t just vote political lines – he believed everyone should vote for who they thought the best man or woman was for the job regardless of party lines. 
In 2008, John had cast his ballot for the Senator from Illinois – because this young Senator had made three promises that stuck a cord at the time. Balance the budget, “cut up the credit card of China” (reduce the national debt), and bring the parties more together through a transparent bipartisanship. As the election date for 2012 came nearer and nearer, John realized with the assistance from some of the research he was doing that those three items that made the Senator attractive to him hadn’t even come close occurring. After all there hadn’t been an attempted budget by the President over the last three years and the US “budget” ran a $1+T deficit for the last three years. It definitely appeared that the President had become a crack addict himself to the same “credit card of China” he said he was going to cut up – after all the debt level reached by former President in 8 years, this one had achieved in less than four. And finally, thanks in part to a new Healthcare Act forced down the throats of the Republicans by the Democrats – the parties were further apart than they ever had been.
Flashback
Late 2006
John sat on the couch with a Diet Dr Pepper within reach and his laptop on his laptop quickly clicking away and mumbling. He was using a secure remote session into the desktop of one of his backup disaster recovery (BDR) units for one of his clients. The system had thrown an error of a corrupt file during the weekly incremental consolidation and John was having to test each and every incremental for the week, looking for one in 200 potential files to fix. His wife, Lynn, was trying to clean up the den and found a book called “The Audacity of Hope” laying on one of the end tables and asked “who is this by?” 
John looked over an had simply said “Our next President.” 
Lynn, although not racists in any means, but coming from the heart of Mississippi, looked at him and replied “Oh, really? This guy will be the first black President, and it will be in the next election?”
John internally grumbled at the interruption because finding that one file was like finding a needle in a haystack and this was a Saturday, and was NOT billable time. Sighing he looked back over at his bride and replied, “Yes, babe. He will be. He is currently serving is first term as a Senator from Illinois, but come next year he will be campaigning for President, and because Bush is blowing through money, the wars, and the start of a possible recession, he will win it.”
“No way, a one term Senator will win?”
“Want to bet $100?” John said as he looked at his lovely wife with an evil grin.
“Sure, but if I win, you get to clean the house for the next 6 months… and to my standards!” she said excitedly thinking there was no way a no-name single term Senator would become President, even if her beloved Republican Party seemed to failing under the current administration.
“Deal… ah found the damn thing.” John said pumping his fist knowing now he had only a couple of things to do and he could put the laptop down for the rest of the week.
September 2012
Same Night
Once John had cooked a meal for his wife Lynn and his step-daughter Chelsea, he retired with his iPad to his recliner in the den. While his wife and daughter watched singers compete on the latest talent show, John started wondering about everything Matt said. He didn’t really know where to begin with his need to learn more. Should he search preppers, USD collapse, economic bubbles – he wondered. Hmmm – Preppers returned slightly less than 4 million results, USD collapse returned 14.3 million results, and economic bubbles returned 12.4 million results. “Ok, this isn’t going to be easy” John mumbled. 
“What was that dear?” Lynn asked while watching a “has been” pop star acting as a judge dish out advice to one of the singers.
“Oh, nothing, just looking up stuff on Google” John replied, not wanting to let Lynn know what he was researching because he wasn’t sure of her reaction.
So John decided to go slow and decided to use Wikipedia to zero in on quantitative easing, to get a full understanding of it and from there he would move on to other “areas” of “economic concern” as Matt had stated.
Chapter 3 – Breaking the ice
September 2012
A few weeks later
A few weeks after that initial meeting with Matt, every night John had sat next to his wife on the couch, but instead of watching TV, he spent time either on his laptop or on his iPad – searching and researching different topics on the economy. On one particular night Lynn looked over at him and asked “What have you been so interested in lately?”
John, not having told Lynn too much about his meeting with Matt, stated “I am just reading news articles.”
Lynn, not being a “newsie”, looked at him and said, “What type of news? I mean, we watch the news in the mornings as we get ready and every night before bed.”
“Yeah, I know, but what I am reading on is in greater detail than the 2 minute blub the TV gives you.” John said as he clicked on another link that took him to a European news source. John had over the last couple of weeks, found that although CNN’s Money and Fox Business gave articles one certain topics, they both twisted the news to fit their either liberal or conservative beliefs, whereas some of European news sources such as Financial Times or Reuters just filled an article on facts relating to the topic.
“Well, entertain me, or should I say educate me.” Lynn said with a playful smile.
Laughing at the comment, John replied “would love to entertain you, babe, but Chelsea is here”. Chelsea is Lynn’s 12 year old daughter, who was in her room listing to music while probably texting 3 to 4 of her friends at the same time.
“Ok, smartass, out with it, what has been consuming “our” time every evening since… well since you had that meeting with Matt” Lynn said as she reach for the remote and turned the volume down.
Oh gees, John thought – how much do I tell her… I can’t go overboard or she will think I am crazy or some shit. Well, here goes nothing he thought. “Lynn, the meeting I had with Matt had nothing to do with business – well, actually it had everything to do with business, but not between our two companies.” Shit, how do I explain this he thought?
“Huh, that makes no sense, what do you mean, everything to do with business but not between the two of you” she said getting more of a curious look on her face.
“Ok, Matt is seeing things in the economy that are a great concern for him and he shared them with me, I guess you could say as a friend. So since the concerns are economic – it is business related see?” John replied.
“Are you talking insider trading stuff?” Lynn said in alarm and surprise.
“Absolutely not, Lynn, you know Matt is as straight laced as they come, it is true he wants to get 7 or 8 cents every time squeezes a nickel – but that is just the CPA in him coming out. No what I mean in more on a macroeconomics level. You remember me telling you about how they create very complex models to figure out if they should buy or sell a certain stock or fund based on the results of the different models?”
“Yeah, and I remember you working a few long nights when the systems had issues too.” She replied 
“Ok, well their models are literally going off the futures charts” John said, and before she could interrupt followed it up with “but in the wrong direction.” Seeing Lynn’s face as he said wrong direction, he went on “See, we aren’t talking 1-2 year results – we are talking 4-6 years out results, and instead of going through the ceiling, they are going past the vertical 0 line. They have written a few more models since I have been there, he showed me them and gave an overview on what they are monitoring and how they can predict futures – world currencies, commodities and of course equities – both individual and funds.” John then went on to explain that over the next 1-3 years as long as the Federal Reserve kept pumping money into the system through the Quantitative Easing program the equities market is going to go through the roof, they will hit new records – the potential to blow past 15,000 for the Dow Jones even.. but the long term results – well it shows that the Fed is basically setting themselves up for another downturn, and this time it wouldn’t be as pretty as the bubbles that burst in 2007/8.
Lynn had a questioning look on her face. So John continued explaining that not only what Matt had told him and showed him, he was finding true in regards to what he was reading online. That what he was reading had not only opened his eyes at how the Federal Reserve, the US Treasury, and the Central Banks worked, but it actually scared him a little that this house of cards that has been built layer upon layer rising into the sky like the tallest of skyscrapers could in fact come tumbling down on all of their heads without a moment’s notice.
What John considered to be interesting is that there had been a great economic debate going on for eight decades between two economists – one a British-born liberal Cambridge professor John Maynard Keynes and a free market Austrian professor named Friedrich August Hayek. Even Reuters.com held a live streaming debate during this timeframe – where the points of views of both economists were considered and debated again due the recent release of a book entitled Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics by British journalist Nicholas Wapshott. 
Seeing that Lynn was still interested in what he was saying, and feeling himself open up like a running river, John continued on explain that “mainstream” economists of today, or Keynesians believe that Keynes’ theory of economic stimulus by government intervention to manipulate economic aggregates such as demand, public works spending, increasing trade tariffs and lowering employment wages to decrease cost of goods sold - together can bring an economy out of a “downturn in the business cycle”, or more commonly known as a recession or worse a depression. That the Fed Reserve, the Central Banks, and the government were fully behind this approach to economic recovery, printing or creating out of air $85 billion a month to buy bad assets from banks and financial institutions in hopes to jump starting the economy.
Lynn, finally finding a break in the conversation broke in with “Well, isn’t that good for us, I mean we need to see an upswing in this economy soon, or we are going to see more small businesses closing their doors.”
“Well, I can agree that we need to start to see an upswing soon” John said, he continued with “But you need to understand the other side of the coin. See, the more conservative economists or followers of Hayek, believed any business or economy came in cycles of booms and busts, which were caused by unnatural credit creation. Hayek and his followers believed that unnatural credit creation setting in motion productive processes that in the end do not pay off, given people’s real desire for future goods versus present ones. That while additional credit (or government stimulus for shovel ready jobs) has short-term stimulus providing “bubbles” within the economy, however in the long run, when a structure of production doesn’t match actual saved capital it will collapse (“bubble popping”).”
Lynn said, “well this is all interesting but we need to get to bed, hon, it is after midnight” as she turned off the TV, put her own laptop on the coffee table.
“Ok, give me a few minutes, I will make sure the doors are locked and the outside lights are on.” John said as he heard Lynn say ok with a yawn as she climb the steps up to their second floor and their master bedroom.
While Lynn didn’t think much about what John had said over the last couple of hours, it really didn’t interest her. She spent her days talking with businesses who were all in bad shape financially. However, she figured that the government knew best, and would watch out for its citizens.
Chapter 4 – A mentor’s words…echo Matt’s…
October 2012
First Monday of the Month
John hadn’t always owned his own IT Consulting firm, in fact where he learned the most about consulting (and a lot about the banking world) was while he was the IT Director of a small boutique consulting firm in Atlanta whose clientele were banks and credit card companies from across the globe. The original co-founders were known for great strides made by them personally in the banking industry, including the introduction of ATM machines and how they interconnected. One of the three co-founders was Stefan Wexler, a dignified gentleman of strong German decent, who held a position on the board of directors and a title of Executive Senior Vice President within the consulting firm. Stefan had been a consultant of 20 plus years – all of them in the banking industry, plus he had also been the CEO of two regional banks in Florida many years in the past. During John’s five years of employment with Stefan as an IT Director, John openly called and has ever since called Stefan his mentor.
So on the first Monday of the month when John received an email from Stefan announcing not only his departure from Bullett, Alderman, Wexler & Associates, Inc (simply called Bullett in the profession) and the grand opening of a new consulting firm that he and several former members of Bullett. John was first a little shocked at Stefan’s departure, but knew of the seemingly constant battle between Stefan and Richard Bullett – the CEO and main shareholder of Bullett, so his thought was simply “good for you Stefan” and replied as such in a quick email back to Stefan. 
The reply was almost instant from Stefan – Hey John, you free for lunch this week? – S.W. 
Having nothing planned for the week, John and Stefan actually made plans to meet that day at Cabernet Steak – a 5 star steak house located in Alpharetta, GA. One that they had had many a lunch at over the last 6 years as John and Stefan had met for either lunch or dinner to just simply catch up having become friends during John’s stint at Bullett.
John walked into Cabernet exactly at 12:30 to see Stefan standing at the bar lighting a cigar. The décor of Cabernet was screamed typical high-end steak house, with a dedicated enclosed cigar bar. The rooms had coffered ceilings with chandelier type lighting hanging in the center of each square in the main dining area, while the walls were a deep cheery wood. In the bar, dedicated personal humidors where available along one wall, on the back wall, a large hand carved bar ran the length, while the rest of the room was set aside with tables, booths and a small area for live music and dancing.
“Well, right on time! You want one?” Stefan asked holding a second cigar up in the air.
“Well, that depends, is that one of their cigars that you just bought, or is that one you have brought back from one of your many trips to South America?” John replied grabbing Stefan’s other hand which was outstretched to shake hands and give him a firm and friendly handshake.
“You think I would actually smoke something other than a Cuban?” Stefan said with a smile as he blew out a ring of smoke and handing John the cigar so he could enjoy a good smoke.
Their waiter, Fernando came in – “Ah, Mr. John and Mr. Stefan – Good to see you two again! Your table here in the bar is ready for you if you would like to be seated.” Both John and Stefan always requested Fernando as their waiter when they visited Cabernet. Fernando was in John’s opinion one of the best waiters he had ever had serve him – and obviously a lot of customer’s agreed by the fact that he wore a yellow gold Rolex Yachtmaster on his wrist. 
After being seated and both men having recited what they wanted to eat without a single glance at the menu, John started in with the question he was dying to know “So, old man, what made you finally leave Richard?”
Stefan gave a belly laugh and said, “It’s been a long time coming hasn’t it?” but not waiting for the reply – he started straight in on the story on how Richard had lost his wife to his pastor of all men, and she had also taken him to the cleaners – seemed that prenuptial agreement wasn’t as “Bullet”-proof as Bullett thought. Then the downward spiral that Richard had slowly started in the company.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

OHprepper said:


> "As the final table wound down John would eliminate a player and John would eliminate a player"...did you mean john would eliminate a player and matt would eliminate a player?


Yes, sorry - I haven't proofed anything yet... just started typing and let it go... first time - I got in around 2500 words, and I looked up and an hour had gone by...


----------



## OHprepper (Feb 21, 2012)

thats cool. i just wanted to give you a heads up...it's going beautifully by the way.


----------



## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

If you could post this as a PDF that I could download and read when Roo is asleep...


----------



## MDsapper (Mar 12, 2013)

looking real good


----------



## biobacon (Aug 20, 2012)

I think its good too. At first I wasn't sure about all the econ but you make it easy to read, keep it coming.


----------



## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

So far so good. A very good read. I agree with Grimm if you have it done a pdf would be great.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Ok, bash me for the "artwork" - trying to play with it to see how it would be as an "Ebook"...

Attached is the PDF per requests...


----------



## MDsapper (Mar 12, 2013)

pretty cool


----------



## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I don't know, the reviews seem positive but I am just going to wait for the movie to come out.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

LOL Sentry - Ok, who wants to buy the movie rights?!?!?! PLEEEEASE!


----------



## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

Intersting start! Can't wait to see where it goes.


----------



## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Interesting read.has an air of "Atlas shrugged" to it for some reason.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Hmmm never read that book...


----------



## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

Dang it invision. I seen your post and thought you had another installment of your book!


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

hiwall said:


> Dang it invision. I seen your post and thought you had another installment of your book!


Ok... I am over 10,000 words now... Will get something up soon.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Ok, reposting... I had posted the one with 10,000 words... but I started writting over the last hour... new word count is 12,000... and is a good stopping point IMO... at least for tonight 

All feedback good bad and ugly is welcome...

Want to thank some of you that have sent me encouragement through PMs... greatly appreciate it, and you know who you are.. :beercheer:


----------



## machinist (Jul 4, 2012)

This is the book I wanted to read back about 2006 when I was looking at our retirement possibilities. I had to dig and sift through mountains of internet garbage over a period of a couple years to get what you have said so far. By the time the 2008 Lehman collapse came about, I had some idea what it meant and was busting my butt to get properly positioned. 

I just managed to get out of Mutual Funds before they began to have trouble paying off, and ducked into Treasuries, then out of that some months later for a significant gain. Dumped some into $13 junk silver and the rest into paying off the kids' mortgage, plus whatever we needed for ourselves to get the place in shape and our small business topped off. We didn't need the business income when we started Social Insecurity so we closed up shop for now, albeit with a full stock of everything on hand. I figure it is just a matter of time until the SS goes away (or gets inflated to oblivion) and we will have to reopen the shop business. Luckily, it is a farm repair thing, and pretty much counter-cyclical. When times are hard, the repair business booms. That is, IF there is any business AT ALL to be had. The rest of our funds went toward self reliance. 

I'm looking for that crystal ball view like everyone else, to know what exactly is coming down the pike. This tale looks like it has some real promise to get a peek at that crystal ball.... :crossfinger:

Keep up the fine work! I just gotta know what happens in this tale. I noted that John's wife has a lot to learn about JIT delivery.


----------



## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

Keep posting invision! I only access here from my phone and can't download PDF!! Click and paste bro.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

mojo4 said:


> Keep posting invision! I only access here from my phone and can't download PDF!! Click and paste bro.


If I posted a link to a website, that allowed the download of the PDF would that work for you? I"m now over 15,000 words after writing most of the night (wife was away at a sleep study and I couldn't sleep) finished the next chapter.... Or could I email you the PDF?

Let me know...


----------



## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

a link would work. I think........


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

mojo4 said:


> a link would work. I think........


Ok, I am going over the chapters again right now... Probably finish tomorrow, will create a new PDF and send you a PM with a link to the file.


----------



## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Invision, this is fantastic, keep writing! When it's all done, you should edit it and publish it on kindle!


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

gypsysue said:


> Invision, this is fantastic, keep writing! When it's all done, you should edit it and publish it on kindle!


Thank you so much... I am heading for Vegas for the next 5 days so I doubt I will get time to type much... I would love to have it published... Looking at both self and going with an agent.. Or small publishing company...


----------



## hillobeans (May 17, 2012)

You got me sucked in too, but from my phone I can't do any pdf downloading. If you could hook us up with a link, I'd be much obliged. Lovin' it.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

http://net-flowsolutions.com/Ohsh!t.pdf


----------



## SouthCentralUS (Nov 11, 2012)

invision said:


> http://net-flowsolutions.com/Ohsh!t.pdf


Not found on that server.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Try this...

http://www.net-flowsolutions.com/OhSh!t.pdf

sorry - don't know why I needed the www... and the S needed to be capital.


----------



## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

Thanks, invision!
Good story.


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Ok, here is the next chapter of the book - took a few days off for a trip to Vegas... right now the story is in the early parts of prepping ... Also, the daughter starts getting involved in the storeline - as well as her "boyfrined" and his dad will be a part of it as well. (Per the request of my daughter).

Also updated where you can download the PDF - http://www.net-flowsolutions.com/OhSh!t.pdf


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

*Ok, some major writing accomplished today... 4,000 plus words.*

Please let me know - do you like the direction I am taking... any negative feedback???

http://www.net-flowsolutions.com/OhSh!t.pdf


----------



## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

I like it! I think you should cut off all ties with the world and people until you finish it(that MAY be a little selfish on my part).


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Hahaha... I wish I could just cut off all ties with the world to finish it... but I do have clients, and I do have a wife and a step-daughter and other responsibilities... However, if I could find 3-4 hours every day just to sit back and type, I think I could have it done in a weeks maybe 2max... although I am hoping for end of June at this point... but who knows...


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Quick update... I just passed 40,000 words on the story... Here it is... also uploaded it to my website for those wanting to view it there...

For me this is a personal milestone... I have never before taken an idea of writing a non-fiction book past a couple of pages, right now although I am probably 60% into finishing the first book, I am actually blown away personally that I have gotten this far and kept with it.

Also, question for those who have published works before... what do you consider is a good target for word count? I have been reading online everything from 50,000 to over 80,000... I personally was thinking between 65,000-70,000 words.

I see that every time I post I am getting 30+ people looking at the attached PDF... I hate to sound like a broken record, but please give me feedback on it... am I screwing anything up, anything not accurate, room for improvements, any criticism besides "it stinks"  is actually welcomed... 

Another question for those published authors out there... do you all read other works as you write? I am a 2-3 book a week reader and I am almost afriad that it might influence my ideas by reading other works right now...


----------



## machinist (Jul 4, 2012)

No criticism here. It is accurate as can be so far, per my observations. I can't wait to see what happens when the crunch comes. From where we are now, it looks like it will get pretty ugly. 

I anticipate that Bendover Ben may have a few tricks up his sleeve, yet. At least he could "nuke" the problem by printing with even more enthusiasm than he has so far. It buys time, but not much. I am convinced that TPTB will pull out ALL the stops to react to such a problem. It is those reactions that concern me.


----------



## Kenny78 (Jul 12, 2011)

Invision, I love the story! Besides minor autocorrected words ie: thier-there I feel it a ready to publish great story and very readable. I do have one minor suggestion.

In my unprofessional, unpublished(or writer for that matter) the story does need a hook in the beginning. A good one came to mind: a flashback to John absentmindedly watching a rambling news report of Argentinas collapse, without mentioning until the end that it is Argentina. John could think how unreal and remote the situation seems. Again I am not a writer. However, maybe if you included the email and lunch in the first couple paragraphs and embellish the drastic character change that might peak interest. Maybe I just have ADD. 

Can't wait for more story


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Kenny78 said:


> Invision, I love the story! Besides minor autocorrected words ie: thier-there I feel it a ready to publish great story and very readable. I do have one minor suggestion.
> 
> In my unprofessional, unpublished(or writer for that matter) the story does need a hook in the beginning. A good one came to mind: a flashback to John absentmindedly watching a rambling news report of Argentinas collapse, without mentioning until the end that it is Argentina. John could think how unreal and remote the situation seems. Again I am not a writer. However, maybe if you included the email and lunch in the first couple paragraphs and embellish the drastic character change that might peak interest. Maybe I just have ADD.
> 
> Can't wait for more story


Not a bad idea... Will have to think about it...


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Ok... Here is probably the last update post about my book before I complete the final 2 chapters and start sending it off to a few publishers or self publish (still thinking it through). The last two chapters will be when the SHTF. So I know these will be the largest two chapters with the most action packed stuff of the entire story as it reaches the boiling point. I have also added in two other plot lines besides John and the group.... So, the story line develops beyond just the group... as well as a few other things thrown in...

I am at a 55,000 words right now with 2 big chapters to go... definitely gonna hit my 65,000 goal... probably hit 75,000-80,000 

I want to thank everyone for the feedback and encouragement!!! I am actually talking book 2 out with my daughter as she has been giving me a few pointers on how she would see her and her mom reacting to different situations - an example is when the group gets together to learn how to butcher a pig and deer - she was like "No Way!" so we talked about it and her and mom were in the house learning to can... difficult to write that was for sure... She also has helped a lot with the dialog with those two characters... She has been a cheerleader for me, which is very cool..

the download PDF can be found here: http://www.net-flowsolutions.com/OhSh!t.pdf


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

Ok, well sorry no updates for over gee has it really been since mid June since my last post on this book?!?!?

First - sorry I haven't been around on here... I have been trying to finish this thing... and I am proud to say tonight I typed the last word in it. 82,632 of them total... I sent it off to an editor tonight, and I get to spend all Labor Day weekend reviewing her comments and suggestions. I will have it published within the next 2 weeks on Amazon, my first novel.

Also - yeah, I know most of you aren't on Twitter but if you are - give me a shout @michaelkayebooks

also tell me what you think of the website for the book - www.michaelkayebooks.com

Anyway - I wanted to say thank you to each and everyone on here that has read the story, given me feedback. I wouldn't have gone past the first chapter if it weren't for you guys and gals. Also, I do have a special mention for everyone on PS.com in the Author's notes. I mean every word which reads:

To all the members of PreparedSociety.com - You guys & gals rock! IF this nation would ever to fail, it is comforting to think there are a lot of likeminded individuals out there who know how things work off grid - canning, starting a fire, growing crops, wood fueled generators, etc&#8230; and that you so openly share that wealth of information, plus the fact that you are NOT just a bunch of MALL NINJAS. I am honored to call you all my virtual friends.


----------



## baldengr (Aug 27, 2011)

I have not finished the last chapters but have enjoyed reading it. I guess I qualify as one who reads but does not comment but the quality was good and kept me on the edge of my seat. The job of a good book. Keep up the good writing!


----------



## invision (Aug 14, 2012)

baldengr said:


> I have not finished the last chapters but have enjoyed reading it. I guess I qualify as one who reads but does not comment but the quality was good and kept me on the edge of my seat. The job of a good book. Keep up the good writing!


Thank you for the feedback baldengr! Greatly appreciated!

Publishing Goal Date on Amazon - 7.6.2013

Giving myself a couple of days then will be starting Book 2... where book 1 was more informative on Economics, Prepping, etc... Book 2 I want it to be filled with more action... plus Politics will enter more into the picture.


----------

