Good and logical thoughts here about self sustained operations. I only have one problem with strato-dreams scenario. When Richard is," sitting on a beach in the Caribbean somewhere (that he purchased), wearing a straw hat and sipping on a tall cold glass of his favorite beverage".

The problem I see is, this would likely last no more than a week or so and then Richard would likely be dragging the gang off into some bush or swamp in the jungle down in Mexico looking for hey maybe silver this time or a Bauxite mine in Jamaica. LOL