billrquimby

I was born in Tucson 73 years ago. Although I would not turn down the three bonus points, I am afraid the concept might spread to other states that I hunt. Instead of getting bogged down with the details of the failed lottery process, why don't we hunters and the game department use our combined energy and creativity to search for solutions that might allow us to hunt when and where we want without damaging Arizona's deer herds? Bill Quimby

Best of luck. I had an email from friends in Pretoria today who said they have never experienced such a cold winter as this one in South Africa and both are in their 70s. Bill Quimby

Congratulations. Africa is like a potato chip. One trip only makes you want more. Bill Quimby

I think the reason so many deer were photographed in vehicles in the 1940s and 1950s was because cameras were too large to carry in your pocket to get on-site shots, and nobody hunted with a pack on his back. Only after a deer was in the vehicle was a camera brought out. In our case, film and processing was expensive and reserved only for the most important of occasions. We didn't bother to photograph most of our animals because we hunted for the meat and not antlers. Bill Quimby

I seved my apprenticeship in Camping 101 through 404 years ago. If there is a restaurant and a motel within an hour's drive of where I'm hunting, that's where you will find me at breakfast and dinner. After six decades of every imaginable type of camp, from a bedroll tossed on the ground to $200,000 motorhomes, I have earned a real toilet, a shower, a bed with sheets and blankets, and a TV to help me fall asleep. Lunch, though, is a different matter. A two-hour round trip, especially with what gasoline costs, just for lunch doesn't make sense so we eat where we hunt. I like my sandwiches FRESH, and neither soggy nor dry so, if we're able to get back to our truck at noon, I like to build them on the tailgate just before we eat, and not have them sit around for hours. Here are some of my favorites: Tuna sandwiches -- I store cans of all-white-meat tuna packed in water in my ice chest, one small can for each person to be fed. When ready to eat, I open cans, drain, and break up tuna in a bowl. I then add mayo, hamburger relish and chopped onions and celery (these are chopped at home and kept in ice chest in baggies) and stir until mixed. Next I slice large croissants (I prefer those from Sam's Club),slather a bit more mayo on them and add sliced tomatoes and lettuce leaves (also prepared at home) and the tuna mixture. I serve the sandwiches with Fritos or potato chips and large cups of milk. Fried ham sandwiches -- I slice ham about 3/8 inches thick and fry until crisp at home. For bread, I try to find the freshest subs at a bakery. When ready to eat, the subs are lightly slathered with mayo, filled with generous servings of the cold, fried ham, along with mustard, slices of onion and tomatoe, and a lettuce leafs. They're served with potato salad, also from a deli, and bottles of dark beer (Because I take an anticoagulant, I must drink non-alcoholic O'Doul's). If we've cooked beef in a Crock Pot at home that week, I'll serve it instead of ham and use barbecue sauce instead of mayo. I also sometimes cook sausages on a small fire, and use them on fresh subs. Bill Quimby

Wish I did. I lost most of my early photos (I didn't have that many) in a fire at our home three or four years ago. Those I was able to to save are at my publisher's shop. Bill Quimby

The damage must have gotten worse since I was there last, but we weren't there that long. The pond was full and the two guys we stopped to speak with said they had caught a couple of bass and some bluegills and catfish. We glassed up a herd of hogs on the peak east of the pond right away, then spooked a good whitetail buck climbing to it . I don't think it took more than two hours to fill our tags and get back to pavement, counting changing our first flat. Bill Quimby.

I'm at the cabin and my Sierra reloading book is at home in Tucson. Would someone do me a favor and look up the starting and maximum loads Sierra lists for Winchester 760 ball powder for its 140 grain spitzer boat tail bullet in a 6.5 Remington Magnum, and whether its loads were tested with regular or magnum large rifle primers? I'd appreciate it. I tried to get it off Sierra's website, but they obviously want to sell books and do not list any loads for their products. Thanks. Bill Quimby

I haven't been able to pull a bow since dropping my pickup truck on my arm more than ten years ago, but back when I still could hunt javelinas with bows, my maximum range was the distance between the hubcaps on my truck. Anything farther than that and I couldn't guarantee the arrow would fly anywhere near my target. I did manage to kill a mule deer and lose an elk before I decided that javelinas at close range were all I should hunt with bows and arrows unless I was willing to practice a heck of a lot more, which I wasn't. We used recurve bows and heavy wooden arrows, though, and no one I knew had sights on their bows. We shot "instinctively," which means by guess and by golly. Bill Quimby

Thanks, Phil. I'd almost forgotten about the place. Whitey DeVries and I collected a couple of javelinas the last time we were there. It must have been eight or nine years ago. I ran a barrel cactus spine into a tire sidewall back by the pond, and installed my spare. We then had two more flats within fifty yards after reaching pavement. Some jerk had spread roofing nails on the road! A Border Patrol guy saw our plight, and called one of my friends in Sahuarita. My friend picked me and my wheels up, and drove me into Tucson, where I bought new tires. He then drove me back to my truck. It was a memorable day. Bill Quimby

Please email me at billrquimby@frontiernet.net with your address and I'll send a check, along with my address. Thanks. Bill Quimby

Thanks, everyone. WW760 is the only suitable powder for the 6.5 RM Western Drug in Springerville had left. Funny that Sierra doesn't list a load for its 140-grain bullet for it. I'll try the tech support number. Thanks again. Bill Quimby

What type of reticle does the Redfield scope have? If it is a duplex, I'll buy it. Bill Quimby

I am not looking to soley rule the AZGFD just for it to be "fair" to all. When they raise tags to a point which most hunters cant afford them that is not right. It may not be fair, but prices of licenses and tags are governed by elementary rules of economics: supply and demand, and what the market will bear versus what is needed to cover anticipated costs. One way to keep tag fees low is to increase supply. Look the reason the other side has more clout is because we for so long have let them. We kept to ourselfs for the most part except for major issues. They on the other hand have been fighting toth and nail. Imagine if we accually fought back. Our inaction did not allow the other side to steal our clout. We are losing it because our numbers are shrinking . A few of the reasons this is happening are: 1. Hunting occurs in rural settings, and most Americans live in and around cities far removed from wildlife. Comparatively few people have seen even a chicken killed. 2. A lot of misinformation appears in television documentaries and school literature. Much of it is deliberate. 3. Our opponents are better than we are at influencing public opinion. They outnumber us and are better organized and better funded. 4. Hunting is expensive, there are complicated restrictions, and it is hard to learn where to go. 5. Today’s emphasis on hunting for trophies is repugnant to people who have not hunted, even though they may not be opposed to hunting. There are others, of course, but these rank at the top of my list. As for your articles the ones I read were ussually hidden in the back of the citizen. When the other side puts out its "propaganda" its front and center all over the news. The fact is our propaganda is directed at people who are already hunters, we cant get to many recruits from that. I recently took my new girlfriend and her son on a hunt in Texas. They had never been. Both are now hooked. We need to stop making ourselfs look like right wing skinhead radiccals and more like the compasionate people we are. I am not saying we are skinheads but that is the perception and perception is reality. There are a lot more people who would be sympathetic to our cause if it was presented differently. It is amazing that you would remember my stuff in the Citizen. I held that job from 1967 until I retired from it in March 1994, when you were just twelve years old. The newspaper was not my only venue. By then, I also was freelancing articles in international magazines and editing and publishing SCI’s magazine, books and newspapers. As you said, though, I mostly preached to the choir. My guess is most Americans consider us to be rednecks, and not skinheads. That’s the way we come off (even to me) when a typical hunter is interviewed by media. What we don’t need are the “whack ‘em and stack ‘em in-your-face Buster” presentations that at least one self-appointed spokesman for hunters uses whenever he is interviewed. More tags means the possobility of more hunters yes but the logic to price them so far out of reach that most can not afford them means less hunters. If Joe Shmoe cant afford to take his kids hunting they in turn will not become hunters themselves. Then we loose not only Joe but his children and their children as well. That already has happened in Arizona, beginning with the advent of permit-only deer hunting in 1970. John Shmoe (Joe's father) applied for deer permits for a couple of years early on, but took up golf when he could not draw a tag where and when he wanted to hunt. As the years passed, Arizona went from more than 100,000 deer tags sold in 1969 to only about 40,000 deer permits authorized today. John never applied again. His son Joe has never hunted, and Joe's kids think hunting is abominable. A few years from now, they will help promote separate ballot measures to ban the hunting of doves, bighorn sheep, and all carnivores. What they really want is to stop all hunting, but the team of strategists the Humane Society of the United States sends to Arizona for the campaign believes it is best to go after a few species at a time. I understand that there are other sources of revenue out there for AZGFD but I do not believe it would be as lucrative as what they recieve from hunters. I am not sure of the numbers but think one hunter who draws an elk tag pays for his tag, license, app fee, fee to enter the land usually, camping permit, fire permit, gas to drive there and back, maybe a hotel, hunting supplies, ammo, topo maps, extra food for camping, and so on. It is a pretty segnifigant economic boost and I find it hard to believe that our government doesnt realize that. I also doubt if the other sources of revenue are going to provide the state with alternatives for stimulating the economy like we do. We have more clout and barganing power then most relize we just have to use it to our advantage. AGFD operates on our license, tag and application fees, a percentage of the federal excise taxes on the hunting, shooting and fishing equipment that we buy, and some state lottery funds. Everything else you mentioned goes to other agencies and private enterprises. There was a time when the economic impact of hunting led all other types of outdoor pursuits except fishing. No more. Expenditures by “non-consumptive users,” such as birdwatchers, wildlife photographers, hikers, campers, mountain bikers, ORV drivers, etc., surpassed ours several years ago. There are many ways a wildlife agency can be funded, and some could bring in more money than selling licenses and tags. We better hope our opponents never discover them. Bill Quimby

Thanks for the definition, Rick, but I have made my living for a long time by selling words, and I already knew what elitism means. I also know how to spell words such as “ostracize,” “their,” “sympathetic,” “revenue,” “dwindling,” “which,” “everything,” “apathy,” “against,” “recruitment,” “benefit,” “wasting,” “opening,” ”proposed,” “high school,” “weapons,” “business,” “status,” “relevant,” and “agencies.” I also know the difference between “right” and “write” and “it’s” and “its,” and when “accustom” should be “accustomed,” when apostrophes should or should not be used, and that “Coues” should always begin with a capital letter when writing about the little white-tailed deer we all love. Be that as it may, let’s apply your dictionary’s definition to someone who believes his group is entitled to control, rule or dominate a state wildlife agency. He ignores that, by law, the agency must protect, enhance and conserve wildlife for all citizens, and not just his group. I ask you: could not/should not that person be called an “elitist”? >>>>>>>>“Lets not pretend that your smug retort to my original post was not meant to belittle or ostrisize me in any way, it may not have been acerbic but...>>>>>>>>>>>>. Please read my original post again. I did not attack someone named Rick Whatshisname. What I did was indicate my belief his boycott proposal would accomplish little. Although my second post leaves no doubt how I feel about being called an “elitist” and “washed up,” and a fat cat unable to hunt without a guide, I have not stooped to calling him names. As for ol’ Abe, he was right on! Americans do have the right to rise up and form a new government. Problem is, he also should have said we must be careful how we use that right. The bromide about being cautious about what we wish for because we might get it would never be more true than if our game department were to be restructured. Look around, Rick. Hunters are vastly outnumbered, and there are people other than hunters who want more say in how and for whom the agency conducts its business. Sad to say, they have more clout than we do in the Legislature and the governor’s office. >>>>>>>>>”The reason more people are simpathetic to the anti hunters and greens cause is because they are the loudest, they protest everthing, even things I as a hunter would protest ,such as Mike Vick. We must be willing to do just as much as they are to protect our cause and appathy is not going to help. So I ask, are you happy with what you believe is coming? I dont think you are and I know I sure aint. So what do we do about it? Complain on a forum? Right some letters to our reps? If we want to be heard as loud as opposition we must yell as loud as them. We need not worry about recriutment rather stop waisting time fighting against each other and band together to fight for our cause.”>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you are asking if I unhappy with the decline in the number of hunters in America and Arizona, you’re darned right I am. Our numbers have been shrinking for the past forty years, and this needs to change. Just four decades ago, one in ten Americans hunted. Today it is only about one in twenty seven. It is not getting better, Rick. There will come a day when all hunting will be put to a vote, and we will lose unless our numbers can somehow grow before then. Although it didn't help much, in my time I did my part in trying to slow the decline. As a journalist, I attended and reported on for close to thirty years nearly every AZG&F Commission meeting, and nearly every meeting of the U.S. Forest Service, BLM and National Park Service that might affect sportsmen in Arizona. I campaigned in newspaper columns and magazine articles for hunters’ rights, supported hunting organizations and donated my time and money to many causes to protect our heritage. I traveled on press junkets to Washington and across the West and covered wilderness, habitat, access, and wildlife issues as they developed, and earned a few awards and accolades for doing my job. What I learned after chasing all kinds of windmills is that we cannot combat our enemies by yelling louder. We need numbers. <<<<<<<<”Make no mistake about why tags are increasing. It has little to do with increasing reveneu and a lot to do with dwindelling the number of hunters down as to make the fight agianst hunters easier.Why do you think they hold the meetings at the same time as banquets or oppening days? They want to limit the amount of access we have to publicly voice our opinions. Can't you read between the lines of what is going on? Limited ammo production and sales. Preposed tax increases on wepons ammo and hunting permits. They are trying to push us out of our "HOBBY", because no matter how obsessed you are with a hobby its still a hobby, of weapons ,hunting and such. That means the end result will be the end of AZGFD as a tool for wildlife management any way. Would you not rather fight to rectify the situation.”>>>>>>>>>>> I’m not certain what you mean. You say tags are increasing because Game and Fish is purposely “dwindelling the number of hunters down (so) as to make the fight against hunters easier.” There must be some logic there, but I can’t see it. I always thought more tags meant more hunters. As for the threats you seem to believe have appeared only recently, if you read through this post you will see I spent most of my life fighting to "rectify the situation." Incidentally, someone needs to tell you that it is hunters who are considered a tool of wildlife management. The AZGFD is our state's wildlife management authority. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Don't mistake my age for naivety I understand that what government angencies do best is survive and expand. So what must we do? Threaten the means as to wich that agency has grown accustom to using for survival. The benifit from being loyal to an agency is only reaped when you use it to your advantage, like when questioning said agency. If you dont you are just one of the people they are after. Willing to go with the satus quo and pay whatever they ask. A tool so to speak.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< What will it take to make you realize that the response of an agency to a loss of funding is to seek money from other sources? There is a huge constituency waiting to replace us. Threats from hunters will only force a wildlife agency to embrace that constituency sooner. The Arizona Game and Fish Department is not yet our adversary. At this date, it still is one of the few state agencies on our side. I>>>>>>>>>I feel no need to sign any post as it says who wrote the post on the left of the page, but apparently that makes the post more relevant and less offensive if you do. As for little info in my profile I didn't know this was a dating service. What would you like to know. I am a 27 year old mechanic born in the hill country in Texas moved to Tucson when my parents divorced. I run a small buisness and am in school to finish what I should have done right after highschool. I have been hunting and fishing since I was in diapers. I am six foot two two hundred pounds and a Libra. I have shot 2 coues deer none of wich are big and helped a friend shoot one that was also small. I try and go out hunting or fishing every weekend. Rick >>>>>>>>> Glad to meet you, Rick. You have your peeves, and I have mine. One of mine is not knowing who is hiding behind the pseudonym calling me names. Now that I know your first name, I suppose you're entitled to know a bit more about me. I was born on my grandfather’s ranch in Tucson in 1936, attended K-12 in Yuma, worked my way through the UA, and have lived in the same home in Tucson for more than forty years with my wife of fifty-two years. We now divide our time between Tucson and a cabin we built with our own hands in Greer. After graduating college, I worked in public relations and advertising for a few years before spending the rest of my life as an outdoor writer and columnist, editor, publisher and author of hunting titles. I shot my first mule deer near Prescott at age twelve in 1948 and since then have taken all ten Arizona big game species. I was six feet, four inches tall when I was your age, but may have shrunk some with advanced orneriness. Hunting has not been my hobby, but the source of my livelihood directly or indirectly for the majority of my life, even in my retirement. After heart problems caused me to leave my post as SCI’s director of publications in 1999, I have written and sold thirteen books about international big game hunting. Nearly all of my book income and a portion of our Social Security checks and 401K withdrawals have been spent sending our grandchildren (one of whom is your age) to universities. Undoubtedly I would have made more money by following what my education trained me to do, but I was and am obsessed with hunting. This led me to an occupation that ultimately took me to twenty-four countries on six continents. I not only hunted in a number of those countries, but I also met or interviewed some of the world’s best-known hunters, conservationists, politicians, celebrities, and wildlife experts -- as well as several founders of major anti-hunting organizations. I also served as a member of a daily newspaper's editorial board in the early 1990s, and when Arizona's politicians sought our board's endorsement for their programs I was able to sneak in a few minor, behind-the-scenes victories for hunters. You may be correct in saying I'm all washed up now, but I still remember a few things. Chief among them is this: As our numbers decline, so does our clout. Bill Quimby

You can say hello to the rabbit hunters heading north out of Tucson. Bill Quimby

>>>>>>"This is the exact elitist attitude that will ruin this country. The reason our gorvernment is so screwed up is because we as citizens are to lazy, uneducated and frankly selfish to stand up to what they do. They know they will get away with pretty much whatever they want because as citezens we stand by and let them rape our rights, squander our tax money and pretty much run this country into the ground. They do all this as we sit by and say well I can still afford it or I am to old to see the benefits of change or even what can I really do ">>>>>>>> If realizing when others have fallen off the deep end is a criteria, then I am guilty of possessing an elitist attitude, Mr. Texas Hunter. Boycotts do not change government agencies because boycotts do not threaten the employees who make the decisions, Mr. Texas Hunter. When an agency's income source is threatened, it simply seeks another. Arizona's Game and Fish Department merely would develop a different base of support among non-hunters and anti-hunters, and go after other types of funding if hunting license revenues were to drastically decline. With the wisdom that comes with a few more years under your belt, Mr. Texas Hunter, you may realize that loyalty to an historic source of funding means little to a bureaucrat. What government agencies do best is survive and expand. >>>>>>>>."If I am going to organize a boycot I surely wouldnt want to steal what good days you have left waisting time trying to make a difference for future generations. Besides how much help can a washed up marketing exec who "knows" economics because he took a couple classes once fifty years provide any way.>>>>>>>>>> Washed up? Mr. Texas Hunter, I still know more about public relations and how to get the news out than you could ever hope to know. My offer still stands, and please don't worry about the time I have left on this planet. If you want to lead a boycott, there's still enough time to get your story to Arizona's hunters through our state's newspapers and radio and television stations, and I still know how to get them to use it. As for those future generations you speak about, Mr. Texas Hunter, I would require anonymity if I were to publicize your cause. I don't want historians to know I was even remotely involved in what will become known as the demise of hunting as a tool of wildlife management in Arizona if your boycott succeeds. You can be certain I'll see that you get all the credit you deserve. >>>>>>>>"O by the way to the "it is going to hurt us on a fixed income the most" statement. When is the last time you whent hunting without a guide. Wish I had a "fixed" income.<<<<<<<<<< Mr. Texas Hunter, I have hunted whitetails and mule deer in Arizona for all but one of 62 consecutive seasons. The best I can figure, my 2008 mule deer was Arizona deer number 50 or 51. I have never needed a guide for an Arizona deer or for the 45-50 Texas whitetails I took back when I hunted the Hill Country regularly. If I'm lucky in the drawings this year, Mr. Texas Hunter, I expect to kill another buck north of Willcox in November, and I won't have a guide. Please know, Mr. Texas Hunter, that I've also taken eight bull elk, more than 50 javelinas, more turkeys than I can remember, and seven or eight pronghorns in Arizona, and all were taken without guides. Nor did I need a guide when I shot a whitetail and maybe a dozen antelope in Wyoming, a mule deer in New Mexico and an elk in Colorado. I also hunted plains game without a guide on land owned by friends on my last three trips to Africa. I also have successfully guided friends to deer, elk, javelinas, turkeys and antelope in Arizona and Wyoming on many occasions, Mr. Texas Hunter. As for my income, Mr. Texas Hunter. It's none of your business. I don't know how much you earn, but I suspect it's more than my wife and I have to live on in our retirement. However, whatever you and I have is unimportant, Mr. Texas Hunter. Your income can be expected to increase as the inevitable Bush/Obama inflation comes about (I may have studied economics a half century ago, but mark my words: inflation definitely is coming) and as you progress in your career. Mine will not. >>>>>>"Sorry if I offended anyone but I hate nothing more then sarcasem when it comes to the future of not only our favorite hobby but our great nation.">>>>>>>>>>> I accept your apology for your odious offensiveness, Mr. Texas Hunter. You obviously cannot help it. However, please note that hunting is not my hobby, and never has been. It has been my obsession, the source of my livelihood, and my way of life for more than twice the years that you have breathed. If you truly want to protect our hunting heritage, Mr. Texas Hunter, you would not call for boycotts. You would search for new ways to provide more hunting for more hunters all across America and the world. Without numbers, we hunters surely will lose what we now enjoy. Incidentally, Mr. Texas Hunter, I have pet peeves also. High on my list are those who offend and belittle others but are unwilling to sign their acerbic posts, or even provide the barest details about themselves in their member profiles. Bill Quimby

Mike: if in your search you come across an enclosed trailer whose axle is no wider than a standard size pickup truck and are not interested in it, and the price is right, please let me know. I want on that is 8 to 12 feet long but I don't want its track to be wider than my truck's. Bill Quimby

\ Right on! In my case, it's a 7mm Remington Magnum that has served me well on six continents. As in real estate, location (bullet placement) is everything! Bill Quimby

I wish we could shoot game on our own property. There were five bull elk in my yard at first light today. Bill Quimby

I wear a 14D also. How about posting what you have? Bill Quimby

After hunting many "a" and "b" places -- and a lot of places in between -- all I want is the opportunity and the ability to hunt. The size of an animal I might bring home (or not) is unimportant. I've taken my share of so-called "trophies" in 62 years of deer hunting, but I long ago stopped using measuring tapes to judge the quality of a hunting experience. Seeing my name in a record book is an ego trip I don't need, and I also stopped submitting my better heads. I had to mature as a hunter, but I eventually realized that bigger is not necessarily better. Bill Quimby

Thanks. Count me in the group of hunters who will not be standing in the streets fighting the good fight. With heart problems at age 73, I may have only two or three seasons remaining that I can hunt so boycotts are out for me. Bill Quimby

I hunted the Texas Hill Country for more than 15 consecutive years many years ago, and during the wet years chiggers were a major problem. DEET did not work for us. What we did was apply clear nail polish to the red welts that appeared where our socks and belt gave them places to hide. It seemed to suffocate a chigger, and the itching stopped. After a week or so, we peeled off the nail polish and the wounds had healed. Bill Quimby

That's a wonderful idea! Everyone else should stop buying licenses and entering the drawings so the AZGFD "Burocrats" will "loose" capital. If you do, maybe I'll be able to get another elk tag before they pat me on the face with a shovel ... It has been a half century since I took all those political science, statistics and economics classes at the UA, but it seems to me that we very soon will see inflated prices on everything we buy, and not just hunting licenses and tags. It's the only way out of the mess that the politicians from both parties have brought upon us. A $69 zillion deficit won't seem as large to voters when gasoline costs $100 gallon, bread is $18.00 loaf, a box of .22 ammo is $175 and a pair of jeans is $2,350. Not to worry, though. Minimum wage will be $700 hour, and wages of everyone else will be proportionally higher as it always is. Unfortunately, the first people to be hurt by runaway inflation are those of us on fixed incomes. Although I have a Pioneer's license, I and other retirees won't be able to afford the $14,950 price of a resident elk tag, to say nothing about the $1,100 application fee! If you think I am exaggerating, consider this: In 1948, I bought my first hunting license for $3 and my first deer tag for $1. A new Chevrolet or Ford pickup truck cost $750, gasoline was $0.11 gallon, cigarettes were $0.12 pack, minimum wage was $0.50 hour, and union construction workers made $4,800 year. I bought my first "deer" rifle -- a used .303 Model 99 Savage -- with two boxes of ammo for $35 that year. In 1969, my wife and I bought a new 2,150-square-foot house on an acre in the foothills above Tucson for $21,500. Five years later, we bought two acres on a creek in Greer with forest service land on two sides for $7,500. We also bought new 1,100-square-foot townhouses for rentals in Green Valley in the 1970s for $10,000 and $11,000. Two years ago, we bought a 40-year-old, 500-square-foot home three blocks from the UA for our grandson to live in while going to school for $165,000. I tell you this to show that the per-square-foot cost of homes grew from $10 in 1969 to $330 in just 40 years. Mark my words. There was a time when a million dollars would buy what a billion dollars does now, and it won't be long before a trillion is worth only what a billion is now. Everyone who has any equity at all in a home will be a millionaire. Let me know if you need any help in organizing your boycott. I have a degree in Marketing and worked for several advertising and public relations agencies early in my career, and I will gladly help you get the word out pro bono. Bill Quimby