Awesome post, IM!
I was nervous around 2008-9 when I thought our debt was unsustainable. Meaning the county’s. Like you, we scrimped and saved and saved up money for purchases instead of going in debt. Worked on paying both the house and the rental off in 10 years. And only then did we move up to a bigger house, one that we could easily afford. While most of my friends started off with the huge house and crushing debt.
I thought that sacrificing was good enough for us, then the country should be willing to pay off its debt as well. Now it’s so much I think it is unavoidable that we will have hyperinflation to make the debt cheaper.
In 2009 I got food storage, ammo storage, lol, water filters, whatever else we might need, adding to it while rotating. So I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.
In a way the one good thing that came out of Obama's selection and his immaculation in 2009 is the fact that it prompted many of us to start prepping in a serious way!
We were raised in the post depression, post WWII era when people still had "Victory Gardens", home canned their own food and stocked the larder in case of hard times.
So as adults we followed tradition and kept extra food and goods on hand in case of an emergency but not in a serious, organized manner.
However, like many others, the "Obama Scare" caused us to start prepping in in a more thoughtful way.