Posted on 11/06/2012 11:40:32 AM PST by blam
Grid-Down Collapse: Hard Assets Soar In Value
Mac Slavo
November 5th, 2012
By all accounts, the residents of many hurricane stricken areas of the north east are in the midst of a collapse. While FEMA, the National Guard and private relief organizations are in place and providing some level of assistance, the fact of the matter is that for tens of thousands of Americans, the world as they knew it has completely collapsed around them.
What we are witnessing are the immediate after-effects of what is referred to as a grid-down scenario, where utility infrastructure like water and electricity, transportation infrastructure like food and gas delivery, and commerce infrastructure like electronic banking and brick & mortar trade are no longer functioning.
In some areas there has been a total breakdown in emergency response. Without communications it has become impossible for emergency responders to be contacted. For all intents and purposes, law and order broke down within just a few hours of Hurricane Sandy passing over the east coast. Likewise, medical response was unavailable due to overwhelming demand put on the system by hundreds of people reporting simultaneous emergencies.
Almost immediately after the worst of the storm passed, people in the hardest hit areas began to realize how bad things were. Within 72 hours we had complete chaos. People were fighting for gas, digging through trashcans and standing in FEMA supply lines for hours at a time just for a bottle of water and an emergency ration kit.
The hunt for resources had begun.
Looters were hitting grocery and convenience stores, thieves and armed robbers were breaking into personal residences, and tempers flared.
With essential supplies running low and government support lacking, black markets have sprung up to fill the gap.
What has been theorized in previous commentary about what becomes money when the system collapses, became a reality over the last week.
When it hits the fan the only things of value will be the hard assets in your physical possession.
In one report, the cost of a bag of potatoes jumped to $7, up from $3 before the storm hit. The cost of the box of matches appears more than three times the usual cost, and the loaf of bread is more than double the usual cost. (NBC)
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I waited in line for 2 hours to fill up a 5 Gallon gas container. I’m willing to sell it for the right price and will deliver! $25 per Gallon OR Shoot us your best offer!! (The Daily Sheeple)
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Just got back from trying to deliver 2 generators to Long Island. 220 mile drive one way. Deal was brokered, $7000 cash, for a business owner to open his shop. (SHTF plan)
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This is crazy, it’s like post-apocalyptic scenarios, you know with this gas. It’s as important as food and water to people. It’s a dogfight out here (CS Monitor)
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Residents in the Queens neighborhood of the Rockaways are using anything they can get their hands on to protect their homes after Sandy devastated their area, including bows and arrows… Locals say they are arming themselves with guns, baseball bats, booby traps — even a bow and arrow — to defend against looters. (Liberty Blitzkrieg)
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The largest number of complaints are related to increased gasoline prices, he said in a statement, but consumers also have reported possible gouging for emergency supplies like generators and hotels raising rates due to “high demand,” as well as increased prices for food and water. (Huffpost)
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[Editor's Note: During the first economic and financial panic to hit Greece in 2010, citizens of the country scrambled to convert their currency to gold when they thought the system was about to go under... A large portion of Greek commerce has since moved into underground markets.]
Prices at which the Greek Central Bank is selling one ounce gold equivalents are as high as $1,700 (40% over spot), and prices on the black markets are even higher. (Zero Hedge)
Arguing the right and wrong of “price gouging” is off no consequence. What matters is that prices for key supplies will rise exponentially as their supply dwindles. This is a natural effect of rising demand, especially if that demand is driven by panic buying.
Food, gas, clean water, batteries, self defense armaments, shelter, clothing, ammo, precious metals and related preparedness supplies are a must-have in any grid-down scenario. First and foremost you can use these and other supplies to survive or at the very least, remain comfortable. Second, you can use these items for trade as their value soars.
The north east will recover in due time, just as New Orleans did after Hurricane Katrina. This emergency is limited in scope and the government was already actively employing emergency response plans prior to the disaster. However, as we have seen over the week since Sandy struck, there is simply no way for government to be able to manage a crisis that is spread over a wide area and involves tens of thousands of ‘victims.’
What we’ve learned is that when it comes down to it, those in areas affected by a disaster will have no one else to rely on but themselves.
Having key supplies and tools prepared in advance of an emergency is absolutely critical to your well-being and survival.
Preppers!
Preppers’ PING!!
Preppers’ PING!!
ping
Look what is happening right before your eyes and take heed.
You either prepare and stand on your own beholden to no one or you become dependent on others to provide your basic needs and become thier ‘serf’. Me I don’t want to be beholden to anyone for providing what is needed for me and mine. I certainly don’t want to have to kiss some ‘gubberment’ third class bureaucratic to try and coax some help from them, I don’t want some ‘jack booted’ thug herding me in line and telling me where to stand, sit, eat or sleep. And last but not least I don’t want to be shut up in with a bunch of ‘zombies’ and have to worry about not only trying to get basic necessities but having to fight to keep what I manage to get.
Its your choice you can prep or you can stand around on a bridge waiting for FEMA to bring you a bottle of water, a MRE, a warm banklet and a kiss for your boo-boo and maybe you can even get your picture as you stand there on the national news.
For those who are just starting or are old hands at prepping you may find my Preparedness Manual helpfull. You can download it at:
http://tomeaker.com/kart/Preparedness1j.pdf
NOTE! THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOAD. I DO NOT MAKE ONE CENT OFF MY PREPAREDNESS MANUAL!
For those of you who haven’t started already it’s time to prepare almost past time maybe. You needed to be stocking up on food guns, ammo, basic household supplies like soap, papergoods, cleaning supplies, good sturdy clothes including extra socks, underwear and extra shoes and boots, a extra couple changes of oil and filters for your car, tools, things you buy everyday start buying two and put one up.
As the LDS say “When the emergency is upon us the time for preparedness has past.”
Or as the bible says: A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
NIV Proverbs 22:3
I also like to recomend FReeper’s ChocoChipCookie Blog The Survival Mom (Please Blog Police let this one slide!) Where you can get lots of useful information like:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/11/20/8-morale-boosters-for-any-worst-case-scenario/
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/02/02/survival-priorities-the-rule-of-three/
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/12/29/normalcy-bias/
And More
“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger.
Underestimation can be fatal.”
What really ticks me off is,
with all this news coverage and footage,
NOT ONE window shutter did I see!
Here in S FL, I go to great lengths to make sure I have shutters for every opening. And not seeing one shutter, in NJ, just tells me they didn’t do anything to prepare.
Ping.
Well,that’s what you get when you choose to live in a large metro area where your entire existance depends on the actions of someone else.
Dang. You’re already here. Not used to FR working this fast!
Hmmm....
Wonder if I shouldn’t stock up on some items to sell back east?
If someone will pay $7,000 for a generator I could fill a U-haul with some and other items, wait just outside a storm and bring in the necessary items for cash.
There isn’t any law against that is there?
/johnny
now that's just sad. Even a poor person should be able to put together a 72hour kit much less a 7 day kit without much cost. There's still a lot of prepper training needed by this country, that's for sure.
How many would actually take such “training” if it were offered?
There’s really no one that isn’t aware of the need,
they just either don’t want to bother with it,
or it is against their “religion”. The religion of state worship.
Does anybody know if lead foil will protect electronic devices from EMP? Say, about 1/32” thick?
You’d be better off looking up that Youtube video about making an emp proof cabinet out of a standard office supply cabinet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0ggWv_Gz4s
Are you a member of Gougers and Profiteers Local 1313?
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