Posted on 04/21/2009 10:01:38 AM PDT by BenLurkin
A grinding depression. Wild inflation. Endless unemployment ... How to deal with what could go very wrong.
So is this just a really, really bad year? Or the end of capitalism as we know it? These days it's all too easy to imagine almost anything happening to the economy. And to you.
You've probably already run the movie in your mind about the day you get the ax. Maybe you've even wondered if there's a point at which you'd just mail your house keys to the bank.
And then there's your portfolio. The words "great" and "depression" seem to be popping up together a lot more often. Is there something you should be doing? Like selling your stocks and burying cash and gold bars in the backyard?
Time to get a grip — not by ignoring the worst possibilities but by facing them head-on. Here, then, are answers to six ridiculously scary (but certainly not ridiculous) questions posed by today's economy.
Should I Prepare My Portfolio for a New Depression?
What if High Inflation Makes a Comeback?
Banks, Insurers, and Investment Firms Are All in Trouble. How Safe Are My Assets?
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Which is exactly what your government is.......
The article for this thread really doesn’t touch on any of what I’d label as a “worst case scenario,” but...
First of all, keep in mind that no matter how bad things get, Mugabe is still in charge of Zimbabwe. Governments just won’t die on their own. There was no Weimar Revolution in Germany. Hyper-inflation, if it even happens (hasn’t in Japan), is no guarantee of a government falling or even of a stock market going to 0.
That being said, prepare first for the idea that a societal meltdown won’t happen. That’s right. The good times might just edge out the bad no matter what. So...
Good job/business, education, strong family ties, no debt, positive savings, etc. Cover the basics. I’d hate for a good person to so over-invest in TEOTWAWKI that she gets crushed instead by society functioning normally. That would be tragic irony.
That being said, this is an awful time to be taking chances in major investment categories likes stocks, bonds, and real-estate.
Get into cash. Sell whatever you can. Drop your asking price to sell fast. And renting is better than owning during these sorts of deflationary downturn panics.
The time to invest is later, after the dust settles. Until then you want ca$h. Trust me, I’m an expert!
With the basics covered, you need to be prepared for a short-term emergency like all banks being closed for an extended period of time. Do you have enough cash on hand if your ATM card won’t work for a month?
Really? Banks are closed. ATMs won’t work. You’ve still got bills. You’ve got that much ca$h on hand? You better.
At the next level, can you survive inside your home without going to a public/government food/shelter depot if a hurricane/tornado/tsunami/volcano/avalanche/earthquake or other natural event renders all stores closed for a month? What if society has a hiccup? Roads aren’t being cleared of downed trees/powerlines. Goods aren’t moving from the country into town, or between towns.
You’ve got your meds? Water? Safe canned food (#10 cans keep food fresh for 25 years). A certain way to start a fire, even in the rain? Winter clothes?
Do you have a 72-hour “bug-out” bag to grab and run if a wildfire or medium-sized meteor puts your home in an unsafe region? Or a plague (e.g. terrorist infection in your area)?
Does each member of your distributed family know how to call you if cell lines are working, and know where to meet up if they aren’t?
Do you have basic first aid available (painkillers, asprin, hydrogen peroxide, bandages) and know where to find a doctor/hospital?
Pause...
Surviving for longer periods of time is an order of magnitude more difficult than preparing for any of the above...and most people won’t come close to having the water or cash handy to handle even expected outages of the comforts of civilization (e.g. sanitary).
A few tips if you are in a longer-term survival situation:
#1: avoid all contact, especially violent, with military and paramilitary groups. You won’t have the firepower of a Destroyer or B-2 bomber, and you won’t have acces to their level of medical care. You want to survive. This is not about starting or winning a war. You’ll likely end up like one of the 3 dead pirates off the coast of Somalia if you violate this rule.
#2: stay put if you can. Once you leave you will become a forager, and that’s a very difficult way to survive.
#3: if you have to leave (e.g. to avoid contact with paramilitaries), then leave. F’in go! A stocked sailboat would be nice at that point. Go fishing. Come back when the crisis is over.
#4: announcements on loudspeakers, radio, TV, posters, and handouts, are not to be believed. But they’ll be out there.
This is important because in a desperate situation various bad actors will have incentive to tell you what you *want* to hear in order to manipulate your behavior.
Also, weapons, dogs, and body armor are great things (get them!)...but they aren’t going to help you against paramilitaries and they won’t sanitize your hands before eating or after septic disposal. The daily grind can kill you dead.
Likewise, while a gun is nice (and better to have one than not), shooting a deer in a nation that is starving will bring *large* numbers of people toward what they hope will be a deer kill. Drawing attention to yourself by firing a weapon or turning on lights at night...perhaps even a campfire, may be contrary to improving your survival odds.
This might be a great time to have a simple slingshot for squirrel hunting. Very quiet.
Now, just remember that the worst is unlikely to happen. Being prepared for the plethora of catastrophies that are possible is difficult. Moreover, you don’t want to scare yourself silly *or* become so invested in the mental idea of a crash/disaster that you begin *wishing* for it.
It’s unlikely to happen. Many a 1980’s “Reagan nuclear war” survivalist wound up disappointed. So too did the Y2K nuts (e.e. World Nut Daily).
What’s more likely is higher unemployment, limited riots/arson attacks near colleges and ghettos, and some inconvenient bank failures that tie up some access to capital.
You might also consider some redneck car armor for your family/commuter vehicle. Used police surplus ballistic body armor panels (soft armor) can be found online for as little as $25 each. Stuff them behind your door and rear hatch interior panels, plus in front/under your driver instrument cluster pod.
Lower your windows on your doors, remove your interior panels, and insert old phone books. Duct tape them out of the way of the glass windows and electric window motors. This can be done by an amatuer with as little as 1 hour of your time per door.
Lighter calibers of street-thug firearms such as .22, .38, and 410 shotguns won’t penetrate into your interior through your metal outer door panels plus through phone books.
This is a very quick and inexpensive way to help protect your family from small domestic riots where some bad actor in the crowd is likely to have a small pistol.
You can do the above without even alarming your family that an elevated level of threat exists. The windows will still work, after all. Your car will appear normal. If you want to go the extra step, pick up on-line some Llumar or C3 bulletproof window film for your windows.
You aren’t Rambo. You aren’t going to be machine-gunning down whole crowds of rioters before one of them can shoot your car from behind or from the side. TEOTWAWKI is *not* Hollywood! A little armor can thereby improve your daily sense of security without running up a big bill.
Obviously the above is worthless against more powerful handguns, but a rioter is less likely to be carrying around heavy artillery without being picked off by whatever police/national guard forces are still in existence.
For trading materials under riot conditions or TEOTWAWKI, I’m a bigger fan of dual-use materials like liquor.
Cheap Vodka, Everclear, and Moonshine have sanitizing uses, firestarting capabilities, painkilling uses, as well as trading and entertainment value. They also store for longer periods of time than you and your children and their grandchildren will live.
In contrast, you might find that single-use materials like gold hold no luster during actual panics.
“How are you with sharing?”
Sharing lead? In which direction? LOL! Rice and beans? Maybe. Dry socks? In a pinch. Gold? Nope. :)
Actually, the Freepers I’ve met are the nicest, most REAL people on Earth. I would have NO problem taking any of them into my bunker if times were really tough.
We’d certainly find plenty to chat about, LOL!
Good for you!
I have some cc debt I’m tackling for now, then it’ll just be the mortgage ($90K) which is totally do-able within another five years. I plan to be debt free by 55 so I can ‘retire’ and only work from home. :)
Dave Ramsey is a god-send! :)
Just kidding but it sounds like you are well-prepared. I would expect freepers to take care of themselves. Self-reliance and personal responsibility are hallmarks of conservatives. We are fairly well-stocked too. Not sure what I would do with the 1000 lbs of beef in the freezer when electrical is lost for a prolonged period. I did buy a new generator 6 months back but have never started it. The gas to run it is good for only a year of so. We have expanded the garden this year and expect to increase the canning efforts. How will freepers ever remain in contact with the internet dead?
Ask that you might have new ministries from the Lord, having then been freed from debt. I think it will make Him smile.
“Not sure what I would do with the 1000 lbs of beef in the freezer when electrical is lost for a prolonged period.”
Make sure you have a functioning charcoal or bottled gas grill. No problem! :)
Oh...and DON’T open the freezer. You can keep it cold for 24 hours without electricity...so plan a county-wide BBQ two days after power loss, LOL!
I’m invited, Right? :)
Sun-dried Jerky is also an option, so keep your blades sharp. ;)
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