Posted on 06/25/2013 3:02:39 PM PDT by Kartographer
#1 According to a survey that was just released, 76 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. But most Americans are acting as if their jobs will always be there. But the truth is that mass layoffs can occur at any time. In fact, it just happened at one of the largest law firms in New York City.
#2 27 percent of all Americans do not have even a single pennysaved up.
#3 46 percent of all Americans have $800 or less saved up.
#4 Less than one out of every four Americans has enough money stored away to cover six months of expenses.
#5 Wages continue to fall even as the cost of living continues to go up. Today, the average income for the bottom 90 percent of all income earners in America is just $31,244. An increasing percentage of American families are just trying to find a way to survive from month to month.
#6 62 percent of all middle class Americans say that they have had to reduce household spending over the past year.
#7 Small business is becoming an endangered species in America. In fact, only about 7 percent of all non-farm workers in the United States are self-employed at this point. That means that the vast majority of Americans are depending on someone else to provide them with an income. But what is going to happen as those jobs disappear?
#8 In 1989, the debt to income ratio of the average American family was about 58 percent. Today it is up to 154 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at theeconomiccollapseblog.com ...
Preppers’ PING!!
There’s a Great Storm coming you can feel it and the great cities of Europe are on the edges of it now, soon it will consume them.
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.
Any one with half a brain can look around and see for themselves what is happening right before their eyes.
So 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
One of the things Selco covers in this article is the fact that many will not accept 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.
There is a Great article in my Preparedness Manual on building your on Bug Out Bag titled: A Highly-Mobility 72 Hour Kit-by Ward Dorrity. You can download the whole manual 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, cash (I myself have been putting up change for the past few years both for the metal content and the fact that using change places to make what purchases you can will move you down the the list of possible marks during shtf), 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.”
/johnny
Johnny I would imagine the fishing should be good right now! Johnny fried catfish and hushpuppies!
I keep cash on hand in a fire box inside my gun safe.
#1 Most employed Americans receive their incomes directly or indirectly from government debt/revenues without producing anything useful.
When disaster hits, Obama won’t interrupt his golf game to ask about it. He’ll just play through and get briefed later (or not).
ditto
“Squirrels are a getting a little scarce around here, though.”
Feral cats are a good substitute.
Thanks for posting. This is one of THE most valuable sites on the entire Internet (found it through FReep, BTW).
I’ve learned more from Michael’s site than from anywhere else, he explains economic issues clearly and succinctly and cites his sources.
How do savings help in an economic collapse? Not a depression, I'm talking about an actual Thunderdome-style collapse.
ping
It wouldn’t, but historically collapse tend to be more like Argentina rather than Bosnia, but I think we will soon see one that will be a mix both, it will just depend on where you live.
Please add me to your ping list. Thanks for the great work/info.
Yep, in that case you need barter items; ammo, food, water, clothes etc.
But that’s what the guvmint be for, to take care of us, to teach us, nurture us, heal us, feed us and shelter us. Oh and don’t forget our phones!
There are various forms and levels of collapse, and toward savings as well.
Some use money as a metric, then there is the type, gold, then there is food, supplies and other necessities.
The whole idea of preparing is full of different rabbit holes ya can go down.
Silver coins would be better... just in case...:-))
You be might be surprised that there are even FReepers who believe that and absolutely hate with a passion anyone who doesn’t.
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