Posted on 12/26/2012 8:14:39 AM PST by blam
What Does It Mean To “Prepare For The Economic Collapse”?
Daisy Luther
December 24th, 2012
The Organic Prepper
Last week I wrote an article in response to the media’s vilification of preppers in the aftermath of the horrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. The article was quoted in an article on Yahoo.com, to my great astonishment, and that is when I saw how little most people understand about prepping. You can see in most of the 4492 comments the article received that many folks just don’t “get it”.
My inbox was filled with a barrage of hate mail and a number of people felt compelled to leave angry (and rather ignorant) comments on my website. I got messages from people that called me “batsh*t crazy”, messages from gun control advocates, messages from people who directly blamed me and all other preppers for the massacre, and even one particularly hate-filled email from a person who said “I hope that your kids are killed at the next school shooting.”
All of this leads me to reconfirm my belief that people sincerely do not understand why we do what we do, and that ignorance leads to fear.
People fear what they don’t understand and hate what they can’t conquer. ~ Andrew Smith
If you go back through history, the “visionaries” or “wise ones” were always mocked at best and feared at worst. They were cast out of society to live alone at the edge of the village; children would sneak onto their property to show their bravery; they were burned at the stake as witches and heretics. Anything the larger percentage of people does not understand is treated as something evil and frightening.
Am I saying that preppers are all visionaries and sages? Not in a mystical “Joan of Arc” sense – but I am saying that preppers are willing to see the writing on the wall and search for a deeper understanding.
Many preppers are preparing for an economic collapse and the subsequent social collapse that will be close behind.
If you don’t think this is realistic, then you aren’t paying attention to the world around you.
People have this image of hunger – they see it as the skeletal dark-skinned children in some third world country, bellies protruding as malnutrition sets in.
But the face of hunger and poverty today is as close as your next door neighbor. Millions of North Americans can barely afford to put their next meal on the table. They are living in their cars, if they’re lucky, and without shelter if they are not so lucky.
For many people the economic collapse has arrived. Their “end of the world” event has already occurred in the form of a job loss, the foreclosure of the family home, or an illness that has caused such massive personal debt that there is truly no way out of it. Less than 60% of Americans who are of age to be in the work force have a full time job. When you tally that, it means that more than 100 million people are out of work. More than 100 million people in the United States have no jobs. For more than 100 million people, the economic collapse has arrived in full force.
Meanwhile, as people all over the globe (think Greece, Italy, Spain, Argentina, the UK) struggle with high rates of unemployment, the prices of everything have gone up. People are struggling to keep such simple necessities as running water and electricity. Grocery costs have skyrocketed – the World Bank released a statement that global food prices increased by 10% in ONE MONTH – July 2012.
And it’s only going to get worse – the Farm Bill was blocked by the US House of Representatives, and this means that the prices will skyrocket, as farms are no longer subsidized. This will cause the industry to revert to the Agricultural Act written in 1949, meaning that the government is obligated to purchase dairy products from farmers at a cost that is twice what they are receiving now – this means that the price of a gallon of milk may skyrocket in January to as much as $8 per gallon. This is not an endorsement of government subsidies – this is a simple cause and effect observation to explain the reason people will be shocked when they go to the dairy case come January.
The price of food is increasing rapidly and dramatically. Mac Slavo, of SHTFplan, wrote,
“We’ve seen what happens in countries where the populace is forced to spend 50% or more of their earned income on food. Despite how the media portrays it, the riots we’ve seen in the middle east, Greece and Spain have been largely fueled by cost increases in food and the inability of individuals to provide the basic essentials for their families.
Americans have been, for the most part, immune from these pressures thus far. But the social safety nets are very quickly becoming overburdened and prices at grocery stores are rising consistently and without pause.
With the consumer economy coming to a standstill, continued central bank monetary easing, job losses and wage reductions, and the urbanization of millions of people, it is only a matter of time before Americans are forced to spend 50% or more of their paychecks just to stay alive.”
When you read the above information, the case becomes clear for stocking a long-term food storage pantry. It makes personal economic sense to purchase commodities like grains for your family at today’s prices to be consumed when the price skyrockets even further.
It seems, from some of the comments I’ve seen and received from non-preppers, that stockpiling food is acceptable, if somewhat eccentric. But being able to defend that food is strictly out of the question.
For example:
“I have no problem with anyone stockpiling water and food for their ability to prolong their agonizing but inevitable death should this generation experience the “end of the world”. Unless you have a new planet in your back pocket that is complete with a an oxygen supply, food and water, your efforts to live past the rest of us will be the least enjoyable time spent here on earth. I believe it is the preppers’ need for stockpiling ammunition that is the bizarre twist on these so-called survival skills that is the “killer”. Pardon my pun. You see, if your survival depends on killing others than the world in which you will exist will not be worthy of keeping.”
“They are delusional anti-social people. If you try to reason with them, you are attacked in the forums. You try to point out to them the truth, they slander you. These “preppers” should ALL be arrested , their food stockpiles distributed to the homeless, their guns conficated [sic]. Start with the people on the survivalist blogs.”
“With all due respct [sic], many people are missing the point. Our Constitution garentees [sic] us the right to bear arms, but not to stockpile an arsenal. You folks who stockpile food and supplies are wise. It is the guns and huge quantities of bullets that are the problem.“
“Guns dont [sic] kill people. People who have no friends and have basements jammed full of ammo and canned goods kill people.”
“You know…this is just a bunch of gun nuts going out and buying all the guns they can get before the laws become stricter. Just a bunch of weak people living in fear of nothing. I choose not to live in fear and if the apocalypse comes…oh well. Sure, I’ll stock up on food when a blizzard is in the forecast…but do I have an arsenol [sic] in my basement…no. Honestly, people like peppers need to stop thinking all hell is going to break loose, and just live in REALITY.“
So, this leads us to the next misconception about preppers – why do many prepared individuals feel that there might be social collapse to go along with the economic collapse? Why do they feel that in the wake of a disaster that they and their families could be threatened?
There are very good, well-documented reasons for this. Recent history tells us that frightened, hungry people become desperate and often violent.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, CNN reported that the city was under siege.
“Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown said his agency was attempting to work “under conditions of urban warfare.” Police snipers were stationed on the roof of their precinct, trying to protect it from armed miscreants roaming seemingly at will. Officers warned a CNN crew to stay off the streets because of escalating danger, and cautioned others about attempted shootings and rapes by groups of young men.”
A similar experience occurred after Hurricane Katrina struck the East Coast in October. The unmitigated violence and looting had residents terrified, especially after dark. Via Twitter, people actively planned “looting parties” as the storm bore down on the area, according to a report by Infowars.
One resident described the scene to the Huffington Post. “People are turning on each other — they’re attacking each other. Even when there’s no disaster, this building is disastrous. But after the hurricane, it just got crazy.”
Unfortunately, it isn’t just in the wake of a disaster that the need for personal security is rising. As the economy plummets, violent crime is in the upswing. In 2011, the overall rate of violent crime increased by 18%. (The numbers aren’t in yet for 2012. As funding to police departments is reduced, the criminals have a larger window of opportunity. The police are throwing up their hands in defeat – they feel that they cannot protect people. In Detroit, the police department warned people to enter the city at their own risk as budget cuts result in fewer police and shorter hours of operation.
As the economic collapse increases and more and more people are going hungry, the need for proper security and self defense will also increase in a direct ratio, particularly for those who live in highly populated areas. Desperation breeds crime.
People must educate themselves on the relationship between economic need and violent crime. Only then can they make a reasonable (and morally acceptable) plan to protect themselves and their families.
The economic collapse is not some far-fetched, end-of-the-world fantasy. It is the reality that is occurring all around us, incrementally. The collapse that has been occurring since 2008 has been one of 1000 small cuts as income goes down and expenses go up.
Ask the people in Greece whether they regret not having stocked up on food supplies when those supplies were abundantly available. Ask the people in Argentina whether they feel the need to be armed against roving gangs and home invaders - violent crime increased by 35% in one year. One study went so far as to call property crime a tool of redistribution: ”Overall, these results suggest that property crime has been used as a redistributive tool for the poorest to compensate for their impoverishment during the last decade and in particular during the ultimate crisis in Argentina.”
This stuff is not fantasy – I have provided links to support every fact I have mentioned in this article. Hunger, cold, crime and fear are the daily realities in many countries that once enjoyed a similar standard of living to that of the average North American. That debt-based standard of living is unsustainable, though, and you must be able to connect these trends with what is happening in your own country in order to see the need for preparation.
For those who say it is selfish for me to plan to take care of my responsibilities, I respond that it is selfish of you to expect me to take care of your responsibilities. You have the same opportunities that I do to prepare. I am far from wealthy (our income is actually below the “poverty line”) but I make room in my budget by eschewing foolish expenditures like twice-yearly vacations, new cars and the latest I-gadgets.
I don’t live in fear – I live in security, knowing that through my personal responsibility, my trust in my own instincts and my faith, I have done everything possible to protect my family from poverty, hunger and crime. If you aren’t currently prepared, I hope that the facts and statistics I’ve provided cause you to consider doing the same thing.
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Contributed by Daisy Luther of The Organic Prepper.
Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca
I have obtained the necessary food, water, medical supplies, ammo and tools and am now purchasing gold and silver coins. There is a different strategy for return on investment than preparing for a financial and economic collapse when paper currency will be useless. For instance, a 1 oz gold coin has a smaller premium than a fractional, but in a collapse it would be like carry around a $1000 bill. It appears that silver bullion coins are more liquid in such a scenario.
Really? Care to give some historical examples where there was monetary collaspe without civil unrest? Greece isn't one, btw.
Who would have thought that 3 days after Sandy that people would be digging in dumpsters for food, or taking a crap in the hallways of their apartments?
/johnny
Look what is happening right before your eyes and take heed. There’s a Great Storm coming you can feel it.
Listen to what the bible says: A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. NIV Proverbs 22:3
This is a quote from the article:”If you don’t think this is realistic, then you aren’t paying attention to the world around you.”
One of the things that will hurt is the fact that many will not except that a breakdown is occurring even as they watch it happening before their eyes. Why don’t they realize it?It’s caused by a condition called ‘Normalcy Bias’ a mental state people enter when facing a disaster.
It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.
A good article on ‘Normalcy Bias’ is on our own ChocChipCookies Blog The Survival Mom:
http://thesurvivalmom.com/2010/12/29/normalcy-bias/
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 their ‘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 blanket 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 helpful. 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.”
Again I 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/
And More
Also there is Ferfal’s Blog a survivor of Argentina’s first collapse:
And there is Selco’s Blog a Bosnian War survivor at:
“There is no greater disaster than to underestimate danger. Underestimation can be fatal.”
Underlings following orders, of course. The ones who must be made to pay are those GIVING the orders. Make a list, spread it to all like-minded individuals and have a plan for those priority targets.
Preppers’ PING!!
Here in deep SE Texas there are places LE are reluctant to go even on a good day.
They’re not about to go in there and try to take something from someone on a bad day.
The good news is that when the dust finally settles, the vast majority of these unprepared bed wetters and re-distribution control freaks will kill each other off in search of the very things Preppers have worked at to remain self reliant and the vast majority of Preppers will survive and even thrive long after the mob has died out.
“Everyone is written off as a nutjob until it actually happens.”
True, but I think the thing that everyone is missing is the rage these people have toward those they disagree with. Whether a person preps or not does not effect them but they have a viceral hatred for those that do. Such hatred makes them capable of anything.
bflr
Those who are armed but not prepping will find you.
Such hatred makes them capable of ATTEMPTING anything, but it doesn't make them capable of doing what they mouth off about.
They are all hat, no cattle, all sound and fury, signifying nothing. (to quote the original Wm. Shakespear)
/johnny
Reminds me of Noah as he was building his arc. He, too, was written off as a nutjob, I would guess.
I think Marco calls this "Suicide by prepper".
/johnny
We are hearing that constantly and upgrading our defense capabilities this week. The hard part of the planning is that the more fortifications we acquire the herder it is to travel if the time comes.
/johnny
From what I’m seeing, the takers don’t even know how, or have the means to, take. Government has to do it for them.
“the more fortifications we acquire the herder it is to travel if the time comes.”
Just remember you can only shoot one gun at a time so you don’t need an armory. Just enough to protect you and yours; a good handgun, an MBR(main battle rifle) and a good tactical shotgun. Plent of ammo to match.
I’m almost wary of continuing to use this as I get older, but, I’ve never had a liberal taker (pun intended) on this challenge -
“You want to redistribute my wealth? Why don’t you come over here and take it out of my wallet then.”
I walk everywhere, and particularly when I go the stores or the grocery Obama’s beggars seem lined up.
I tell them “I don’t have a dime, man...just The Card.” Seeing that I’m on foot, they assume that to mean the EBT, I’m sure...but I use my bank card for everything, never carry cash.
Yes, a prepper will be ready for those who “think” they can take the prepper’s stuff. If a bad guy(s) come around they are totally stupid if they don't think they are committing suicide by prepper.
About helping people:
One trouble maker can ruin your day and days. The trouble maker doesn't have a gun - the trouble maker is just a trouble maker. Here is an example:
I was on call (volunteer) as a first responder in my gated subdivision (not where I live now). I got a call from our front gate that “x” had called 911. So, I go to that house wondering why that house where a trouble maker woman lived, had called 911.
I go in the house and there is a very thin man I had never seen who looked like an AIDS victim. I did not touch him. I asked what his problem was. He said he was a diabetic and the woman wouldn't feed him if he didn't perform certain sexual acts. During this time, I was putting on my medical gloves.
(About medical gloves - don't use plain plastic gloves like you might use to garden or cook. Buy a box of MEDICAL gloves so bacteria/virus can't get through the gloves.)
I was taking his vital signs during this time. He said he hadn't eaten in many hours because she wouldn't let him.
About this time, the ambulance shows up and in comes a woman EMT. She took one look at the guy and said, “I don't have any gloves with me.” I gave her a pair. We gave him glucose in a tube and stayed until he was able to get around.
So, that is one lesson - the person you help may have a dangerous illness and you won't know it. You must take precaution before you help someone.
So, days go by and I have other calls, then one day I get a call that a woman had been bitten by a dog. I go there and the dog has bitten her face, including her left eye. If a person has a wound in the eye, you must bandage both eyes so they cannot open, as the damaged eye will follow the movement of the other eye if it isn't bandaged and maybe cause more damage.
I explained to the lady why I had to put a bandage directly on both closed eyes so they could not open. As I was doing this, I asked her what happened.
The dog belonged to the woman who makes trouble. She let this big dog run free and he had jumped on this woman and done this to her. I took all her vital signs (packaged her)so the ambulance could have that paperwork, immediately know her vital signs and what was wrong with her, and leave.
The woman who causes trouble later went to this woman's house and threatened to call social service and tell them to take away her welfare benefit because there was a man living with her. If the hurt woman didn't try to get money from her, she wouldn't call social service.
As I said, one trouble maker can make your life miserable if that person is around you in an emergency situation. You have to know about a person before you extend your service. You wouldn't think this particular trouble maker was one just by talking with her. You would find it out later when she did something terrible to you.
This trouble maker sued everyone she could think of for anything - she stayed in court more than she did anywhere else. Be aware some people look/talk just fine but that is on the surface. Look under the surface.
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