Posted on 04/03/2012 11:13:52 AM PDT by blam
Read This First Before You Decide That Preppers Are Crazy
April 2, 2012
Michael Snyder
Do you believe that preppers are a few cards short of a full deck? Do you assume that anyone that is "preparing for doomsday" does not have their elevator going all the way to the top floor? Well, you might want to read this first before you make a final decision that all preppers are crazy. The information that you are about to read shook me up a bit when I first looked it over. To be honest, I had no idea how incredibly vulnerable our economic system is to a transportation disruption. I am continually getting emails and comments on my websites asking "how to prepare" for what is coming, so when I came across this information I knew that I had to share it with all of you. Hopefully what you are about to read will motivate you to prepare like never before, and hopefully you will share this information with others.
Originally, I was going to write an article about the rising unemployment in Europe today. Did you know that unemployment in the eurozone is now at a 15 year high? It has risen for 10 months in a row with no end in sight.
But I have written dozens of articles about the economic crisis in Europe already. So before starting on that article I started thinking of all the "preparation" questions I have been getting lately and I went over and checked out one of my favorite preparation websites: shtfplan.com.
Well, an article had just been posted over there about a report put out by the American Trucker Associations entitled "When Trucks Stop, America Stops".
I went and found that original report and I was stunned as I read it.
The truth is that our "just in time" inventory and delivery systems leave us incredibly vulnerable to a nationwide disaster.
You see, it is very expensive to hold and store inventory, so most manufacturers and retailers rely on a continual flow of deliveries that are scheduled to arrive "just in time", and this significantly reduces their operating expenses.
This is considered to be good business practice for manufacturers and retailers, but it also means that if there was a major nationwide transportation disruption that our economic system would grind to a halt almost immediately.
Once store shelves are picked clean, they would not be able to be replenished until trucks could get back on the road. In the event of a major nationwide disaster, that could be quite a while.
So what could potentially cause a nationwide transportation shutdown?
Well, it is easy to imagine a lot of potential scenarios - a volcanic eruption, a historic earthquake, an EMP attack, a solar megastorm, a war, a major terror attack, an asteroid strike, a killer pandemic, mass rioting in U.S. cities, or even martial law.
If something caused the trucks to stop running, life in America would immediately start changing.
So exactly what would that look like?
The following is an excerpt from the report mentioned above put out by the American Trucker Associations entitled "When Trucks Stop, America Stops"....
*****
A Timeline Showing the Deterioration of Major Industries Following a Truck Stoppage
The first 24 hours
• Delivery of medical supplies to the affected area will cease.
• Hospitals will run out of basic supplies such as syringes and catheters within hours. Radiopharmaceuticals will deteriorate and become unusable.
• Service stations will begin to run out of fuel.
• Manufacturers using just-in-time manufacturing will develop component shortages.
• U.S. mail and other package delivery will cease.
Within one day
• Food shortages will begin to develop.
• Automobile fuel availability and delivery will dwindle, leading to skyrocketing prices and long lines at the gas pumps.
• Without manufacturing components and trucks for product delivery, assembly lines will shut down, putting thousands out of work.
Within two to three days
• Food shortages will escalate, especially in the face of hoarding and consumer panic.
• Supplies of essentials—such as bottled water, powdered milk, and canned meat—at major retailers will disappear.
• ATMs will run out of cash and banks will be unable to process transactions.
• Service stations will completely run out of fuel for autos and trucks.
• Garbage will start piling up in urban and suburban areas.
• Container ships will sit idle in ports and rail transport will be disrupted, eventually coming to a standstill.
Within a week
• Automobile travel will cease due to the lack of fuel. Without autos and busses, many people will not be able to get to work, shop for groceries, or access medical care.
• Hospitals will begin to exhaust oxygen supplies.
Within two weeks
• The nation’s clean water supply will begin to run dry.
Within four weeks
• The nation will exhaust its clean water supply and water will be safe for drinking only after boiling. As a result gastrointestinal illnesses will increase, further taxing an already weakened health care system.
This timeline presents only the primary effects of a freeze on truck travel. Secondary effects must be considered as well, such as inability to maintain telecommunications service, reduced law enforcement, increased crime, increased illness and injury, higher death rates, and likely, civil unrest.
*****
Earlier in the report, the reasons why America's water supply would be in such jeopardy are described in greater detail....
According to the American Water Works Association, Americans drink more than one billion glasses of tap water per day. For safety and security reasons, most water supply plants maintain a larger inventory of supplies than the typical business. However, the amount of chemical storage varies significantly and is site specific. According to the Chlorine Institute, most water treatment facilities receive chlorine in cylinders (150 pounds and one ton cylinders) that are delivered by motor carriers. On average, trucks deliver purification chemicals to water supply plants every seven to 14 days. Without these chemicals, water cannot be purified and made safe for drinking.
Without truck deliveries of purification chemicals, water supply plants will run out of drinkable water in 14 to 28 days. Once the water supply is drained, water will be deemed safe for drinking only when boiled. Lack of clean drinking water will lead to increased gastrointestinal and other illnesses, further taxing an already weakened healthcare system.
Can you see why I always recommend that you make sure that you and your family have access to fresh water and a way to purify it?
This report should be very sobering for all of us.
What would you and your family do if you had no food, no clean water and the stores were shut down because their supplies were gone?
An article by Tess Pennington entitled "Emergency Items: What Will Disappear First" contains a list of 100 things that are likely to disappear from store shelves first. The following are the first 10 things on her list....
1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy…target of thieves; maintenance etc.)
2. Water Filters/Purifiers
3. Portable Toilets
4. Seasoned Firewood. Wood takes about 6 – 12 months to become dried, for home uses.
5. Lamp Oil, Wicks, Lamps (First Choice: Buy CLEAR oil. If scarce, stockpile ANY!)
6. Coleman Fuel. Impossible to stockpile too much.
7. Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats & Slingshots.
8. Hand-can openers, & hand egg beaters, whisks.
9. Honey/Syrups/white, brown sugar
10. Rice – Beans – Wheat
You can find the rest of the list right here.
Most Americans just assume that they will always be able to run out to the supermarket or to Wal-Mart and buy anything that they need.
But if the trucks stop running that will change almost overnight.
After reading the information above, does anyone out there still believe that preppers are crazy?
The truth is that there are good, solid reasons why millions of Americans have been storing up food, water filters and other supplies.
Our world is becoming increasingly unstable, and all of us need to get educated about how to prepare for the difficult years that are coming.
One nightmarish event can change everything that we take for granted in a single moment.
Just remember what happened after Hurricane Katrina. Even though that was only a regional disaster, millions of people had their lives completely turned upside down by that tragedy.
Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because the U.S. has always known tremendous peace and prosperity since World War II that things will always be that way.
Our lives will only continue to be "normal" as long as the trucks continue running.
When the trucks stop running in America, there will be mass chaos.
Are you prepared for that?
Ur was a sea side town when Abraham lived there. Today, it is 100 miles inland. Silting.
Didn't help their irrigation techniques brought solvent salts to the surface.
We need a sea-level rise to bring life back to the former great fertile crescent. And fewer goats, and more trees.
/johnny
” Salt? A few thousand pounds. I own a plow truck - the stuff is everywhere. “
Is it ‘food grade’ salt? (and not Halite or some other salt-like ice-melting variant??)
Is ‘food grade’ salt necessary for the brining->smoking process??
I have ready availability of salt blocks (for livestock) - would this be acceptable (if I can figure a way to grind it up) for brining->smoking and/or salting->drying meat and fish??
Would there be some variation of these techinques for vegetables??
(I’ve just recently become interested in this tried-and-true method for food preservation, and I’m beginning to realize how woefully inadequate is my knowledge on the subject... ;))
I would like to year your defense of amassing money for years and years because of a belief that some day you'll be too old to work when the Lord asks you how you used their resources and time and talent for Him.
Good thoughts/advice. Thanks folks. I’ll bring this up at our next meeting.
>> It’s not necessary to run it continuously <<
If we have any type of extended event, we will only run our generator to draw water from the well. By my calculations, we could make our propane last up to six months.
It will still be noisy when running though.
We are going to get a hand pump for our well. My worry is that the well is too deep for a hand pump. From what I’ve seen, hand pumps are only good to depths of 60 feet.
It was probably 15 years ago that we has a neighborhood meeting after a huge flood. I was running the meeting and had off handedly mentioned I'd filled every container I could find with water. Even old timers asked how I knew to do that. Really?!? It's not rocket science to look at the sky and watch the evening news weather reports. All services out here are iffy so every time there's a big storm, I'm filling water bottles just in case. On Tuesday, the electricity went out for no reason and the first thing I thought of was no water for the garden.
Some is plain old rock salt, some halite, some other stuff.
None of it is “food grade.”
Some water softener salt is considered “food grade” - I don’t know which. But, if you sort that out, you can buy salt in #50 bags for a few bucks.
Halite is salt. Livestock salt blocks (not mineral blocks) are safe enough for human consumption. I'll eat them, even if I couldn't use them in a restaurant.
/johnny
Big no-no in the FDA manual, but I personally think it's better than the other nitrates for curing.
As a free man, I've decided that the benefit outweighs the potential downside. I don't need government telling me what I should consume within my own home.
/johnny
I guess that in all of your Bible “reading” you skipped over Jesus’ parable of the 10 Virgins, their lamps and the wedding feast.
LOL - I didn’t know you can buy saltpeter in bulk anymore.
Besides, not much is required for meat preservation.
That's the point to stockpiling stuff, so you can have it when you need it, regardless of why it's not available.
/johnny
.” I actually used potassium nitrate (saltpeter) in the cure brine. “
From the reading I’ve been doing on the subject this afternoon, it seems that saltpeter is an essential ingredient for curing pork, especially hams and bacon...
J, you seem pretty knowledgable on the subject — is there any reasonable method to extend shelf life of cured meat (dried, salted, smoked) beyond the 90-100 days that the articles I read seem to agree on??
I keep dried sausages and meats for up to a year, regularly. The longer you keep them, the dryer they need to be. Keeping them cool also helps. I have a 54F special fridge for making/aging sausage/cheese/beer.
The other thing is local molds. If it gets fuzzy, cheese or meat, it can be wiped down with vinegar.
The bottom line is that you are trying to keep bad bacteria from growing. Bacteria need water, most of the nasties need oxygen, though some are anerobic, acidity and temperature also affect them. And finally, so does time.
The trick is to bind up the food so the nasties can't get to it and reproduce.
/johnny
” The other thing is local molds. If it gets fuzzy, cheese or meat, it can be wiped down with vinegar. “
My late father - son of German Wisconsin farmers - taught us that cheese and sausage weren’t fully ready until they had a good layer of mold...
Not sure how that applies to modern store-bought products, though... ;)
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