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Granny, can you give me the URL to the latest terror thread again? I don’t think it would hurt to have it on this thread. I want to post what I found last night here and on that thread. It is completely shocking and I believe an important preview of what our economic situation could become.

The background of the posts is this: the government of Argentina allowed the public treasury to assume debt incurred (possibly in fraudulent transactions) by private companies. Sound familiar? When the debt became too burdensome, Argentina defaulted. Overnight, the Argentine peso lost two thirds of its value (33 cents instead of one US dollar). The money supply collapsed. If you had $2000 in the bank, then the bank decided (i’m sure with the concurrence of the government) that you actually had only $666 pesos, not $2000. The author insists that the banks (perhaps it was also the Argentine treasury, or the IMF, or someone else, in addition to the banks) stole 2/3 of the deposited money. I suppose that could be debated. With runs on the banks, no one gets all their money back immediately. Eventually some of the accounts were settled, but there was a huge cash flow problem. People lost their jobs, crime skyrocketed, goods in the stores disappeared, mobs began to riot and loot with abandon, and no one was safe any more.

I urge everyone to read this account. Especially pay attention to the beginning where he describes the “pyramid” analogy. It will help you understand what follows. It may portray our future:

http://www.rapidtrends.com/blog/surving-argentinas-economic-collapse-part-1-3/

http://www.rapidtrends.com/blog/surving-argentinas-economic-collapse-part-2-3/

http://www.rapidtrends.com/blog/surving-argentinas-economic-collapse-part-3-3/

The author calls himself Ferfel.

His ongoing blog is here:

http://ferfal.blogspot.com/

He has posted a series of videos here, describing the history of Argentina’s descent into chaos and poverty:

http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2008/07/video-worth-watching-argentinas.html

As he says, the videos are written and presented from a leftist point of view, but worth watching to see the result of the devaluation. This happened in 2001 and was a watershed date for the country. Everyone refers to “before 1:1” or “since 2001.” They universally hate the International Monetary Fund.

A couple more videos I found, I have not reviewed them so I don’t know if they are tin-foil hat material:

http://www.anglofareast.com/crash_course.php

http://www.iousathemovie.com/?lk=7659286-7659286-0-34076-fcXszkyoaFuEeycRQu5oKhzRvYTkf764

Thank you BananaSlug.com!!

Now if we could train the young to dig into the corners and make a meal from the what is on hand.

My daughter messaged me yesterday asking what to put in her make-shift stew. I suggested rice, pasta, leftover veggies, miso (I knew she didn't know what it was, I just wanted to pique her interest), bits of chicken/turkey, beans (hmm, refried beans would have been a good suggestion too). She hadn't thought of the rice but the other stuff she had covered. She was using a freezer-burned T-bone steak to start the stew, and had already tossed the meat into the pot. I told her next time to cook the meat in a little olive oil or grapeseed oil and then deglaze the pan with some wine. She said she'd do that.

I do miss stew. Maybe I could start one with some prepared tempeh cooked in grapeseed oil, garlic and onions, deglazed with red wine. I may try that, and thicken the gravy with cornstarch or arrowroot. Yum!

http://www.safetycentral.com/eccolsurguid.html

Economic Collapse Survival Guide

Courtesy Of Safety Central

REDUCE YOUR DEBT: Reducing ones debt to as close to zero as possible is essential. That may involve selling off some of your real estate investment, moving to a smaller home, refinancing your home mortgage to a 15-year loan, and eliminating your credit cards. Stop paying interest.

Do not be dependent on the government for your well-being. Try an be as independents and self reliant as possible for your income.

Take control of your own finances. Read many alternate sources of information. Do your homework. Be careful to understand what is going on. Avoid states of denial. Become as independent as possible.

Make yourself save as much as you can. Most people live above their means. Learn to live below your means. If you save a minimum of 10% per month, you can grow your wealth very safely. Some can save 20%-25%.

Diversify your investments, include investing in Swiss money instruments,gold, different currencies.

Avoid weak financial institutions. Get out of harm’s way. Many banks, brokerage house, S& Ls and insurance companies are tottering on the brink of disaster or close to it in the event of a market downturn. And in spite of the perception to the contrary, there is no substantive insurance safety net under these institutions.

Avoid popular investment markets. There are few goof opportunities for conservative investors. Stocks are overvalued. If you own stocks have stops in place. Corporate bonds are vulnerable and will drop as U.S. interest rates rise. Be very selective in investment real estate. Commodities are out of favor and at bargain prices. All things are cyclical and go from being under valued to over valued.

Find investment safe havens. The three best and most conservative investments to put your money into over the next few years are gold and silver, foreign government bond funds, and U.S Treasury bill money market funds. Don’t announce to the world what you are doing; keep a low profile.

Legally bulletproof your business and personal matters. America is the most litigious country in the world, with 700,000 lawyers and 187 million new civil lawsuits per year. Every doctor, professional business person or business owner has a nightmare about being sued into ruin.

Change your mindset about the news, about investments and about your financial security. To survive the coming hard times, you must change the way you do things, the way you think, and the way you invest. You must read between the lines in today’s news reports ... find alternative investments and financial institutions ...and plan for the future.

Purchase a one-year food supply from Safety Central and have a large water source, such as 55 gallon water barrels sold by Safety Central. Own tangible assets or commodities that can be bartered or traded.

Buy real estate in a small town or rural community that can serve as a retreat or place of refuge.

Well they have a product to sell, so you can take what they say with a grain of salt. But much of this information is the same as others are recommending.
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http://www.beyondpeak.com/links-beyondpeak.html

Peak Oil Prep is an expanded, paperback version of this Beyond Peak website. You can order it right now and have your own copy in just a few days.

Order Now!
Peak Oil has been looming on the horizon for a long time. If you just got the word, we hope it was in time for you to be at least psychologically prepared, if not physically. This entire Beyond Peak website is dedicated to giving you as much information as possible so that you can prepare for, or at least deal with, the likely results of Peak Oil and economic collapse. But we are not alone. A number of groups have been working for some time to imagine possible Peak Oil and economic collapse scenarios, suggest ways to prepare for those scenarios, and even to create communities where people can live together in a sustainable, cooperative way—a way of life that doesn't need the threat of Peak Oil to be a good idea.

Peak Oil Prep Websites

Here are some other websites that will give you some ideas for your own living situation and how you can join others to become more self-sufficient.

Dry Dipstick

First off you'll likely want to know as much as you can about Peak Oil and its likely results. This is the site. It serves as an up-to-date, comprehensive metadirectory for all major Peak Oil sites on the web.

The following are sites with useful suggestions as well as specific communities that are organizing.Busby Report

U.K. survival in the 21st century

Community Solution

U.S. organization dedicated to the development, growth and enhancement of small local communities.

Agraria Low-energy-use, small, sustainable community planned by Community Solution in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Independence Journal

Sustainable living news for "exurban living"—getting along at the edge of the Western resource-intensive lifestyle Life After the Oil Crash

Website for the author of The Oil Age is Over

Oil Awareness Meetups

Meet with others in groups around the world

Oil Scenarios.info

An excellent site with detailed information on five different Peak Oil scenarios, ranging from Pollyanna to Head for the Hills

Peak Oil Survival Guide

Step-by-step guide to Peak Oil survival. [ebook]

Permatopia

Permaculture solutions to Peak Oil, climate change and other environmental crises

Post Carbon Institute

Learning to live in a low energy world. An educational institution and think tank that explores what society might look like without oil and gas. Includes community activist effort

Outposts

Community-focused groups being facilitated by Post Carbon InstituteSurviving Peak Oil

Grass roots ideas for survival. Excellent

Transition Culture

Excellent sustainability site based in the U.K. but with information suitable everywhere

Urban Survival.com

Anticipating economic collapse - long wave economic news

Willits Economic Localization

Home page for the Willits, California Peak Oil community activities Past the Peak Article on how the small town of Willits plans to beat the coming energy crisis

Well the "post carbon" stuff is silly, we are MADE of carbon and so is everything else living in the world, but still there might be some good resources here. FWIW.
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