Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 12/05/2010 10:28:56 PM PST by djf
We all have to admit there has been increasing talk of doom and gloom. Danger lurks around every corner.
America has, for the most part, enjoyed fairly tranquil at-home circumstances. Hopefully, that will continue.
But what if it doesn't? What types of breakdowns do FReepers think are possible/likely?
The power grid going offline? No more welfare checks causing disruptions? Food inflation/unavailability?
And what do you do under these circumstances?
Part of the reason I ask is that I have a pretty good food/fuel supply. But driving around this afternoon, I was amazed at all the subdivisions that have sprung up all around me. Even if fifty percent of these folks were prepared for hard times, that would leave many thousands of very, very desperate individuals.
Could society recover? Could law and order be maintained?
FReepers are, in general, some of the most thoughtful, insightful and creative people on the planet, so I thought this was a good discussion thread.
Thanks for the ping. I found these videos this morning.
Every American should watch this..... monetary system collapse
While the 8th video is an advertisement for investments, I think the videos are spot on with what many have been saying about devaluing the dollar and how this will play out with regard to affecting Americans’ everyday lives.
Stansberry’s Investment Advisory - 1/8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuAdnlfKbvw
Stansberry’s Investment Advisory - 2/8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60DrMUNHyYo&feature=related
Stansberry’s Investment Advisory - 3/8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkIEeU47IPg&feature=related
Stansberry’s Investment Advisory - 4/8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1_mhezelI8&feature=related
When I was "active duty" and had to stay current on "our portion of "Operation Garden Plot", they kept the plan compartmentalized, and we only got to know on a "need to know" basis. We didn't get to see the "big picture". In 1975, we knew that the government outlawed food storage of a food supply of more than 6 months, and could confiscate any supply over that amount.
But in 1999, that information had been removed from our "knowledge base" on the ideal that it wasn't relevant to the actions we needed to take.
As an air traffic controller, our knowledge base was more focused on allowing certain call signed aircraft and vehicles automatic clearance through our airspace, without question, and without delay.
Now on a different point of view, the Bible is clear on what will happen and why it will happen.
I can only say that the Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared" and I might add to that, that knowledge is a good start.
But sooner or later, we WILL be REQUIRED to make a choice, and to either FIGHT OR FLEE.
Plus all the critique of the idiots and what they should have done in a zombie situation. The screaming I do at my TV is good advice for the people who are trapped in the box in my living room, but,they never listen to me, but I listen to me.
Like on the walking dead, I don’t know why they didn’t sleep in their danged vehicles. A walker banging on my car door at 3:00am in the morning would give me enough time to get a weapon ready. A walker breaking into my tent, not so much.
Jericho was good, they were a little better on the intelligence factor, but they still made some dumb mistakes.
Or set up a perimeter of unoccupied vehicles surrounding the vehicles that they are in themselves. Walkers would have to break through the outer perimeter (i.e. they'd break glass) first, giving those inside even more time. Plus you have someone awake (preferably 2 or 3, to check on each other) at ALL times, and have even more passive warning devices such as empty soda cans attached to strings.
The biggest point here is that the vast majority of people are absolutely unprepared for any kind of emergency. The average person has maybe, maybe a week of food in their pantry and frig (and I think closer to 3 days, especially considering that your frig food will be a smelly mess from 24-36 hours after the juice shuts down). If every single family simply stored a couple extra cases of bottled water, or kept a dozen empty 2-liter bottles filled with water, together with enough canned food and other easy-to-prepare (i.e. ready to eat, not really needing cooking) food around for a week or so, then the vast majority of food panics would never occur.
In the event of a real grid-down situation, we're all f'd anyway - except those very isolated and with large food stores, and those in small rural farming communities - since our entire food industry depends on petroleum for fertilizer, harvesting, processing and transportation. ALL of those systems will break down, except PERHAPS for a couple of isolated enclaves where the gov't or some very wealthy individuals (Forbes 400 wealthy) had ensconced large amounts of supplies and had a small army at their disposal.
Me, I'm trying to build up food and medical reserves slowly over time. There are many other things on my list, mostly related to food and water. Bangsticks are taken care of, though more ammo is never a bad thing. A box or two of ammo per month for each caliber gets me where I'd like to be in little more than a year, though you can virtually never have too much.
Something for all to consider: what will be good things to use for trade in a SHTF situation? Here are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head:
Salt (1200 of the little fast food packets for under $2 in Sam's), cheap otherwise in larger quantities
Pepper
Coffee
Fish hooks
Gloves (preferably leather)
Nails, nuts, bolts
Coffee filters (to use in getting solid matter out of water before purification
Band-aids
.22 LR ammunition
Silver coins
Seeds (non-hybrid are best)
Shovels, hoes (the tool, not the other kind)
Water filters (good ones, like Berkeys)
Calcium Hypochlorite (powder to make bleach, to purify water - 1 pound cleans about 10,000 gallons)
Rechargeable batteries and solar panels to recharge them
Feel free to add to this list.
Worth repeating.
If everyone reading this thread goes out every week and buys a case of Ramen noodles, a few cans of fruit, and a water filter or water storage to put away, the grief and discomfort and possible *death* they would otherwise experience would be replaced by a moderately inconvenient impromptu camping session.
This is really depressing if you are British. Densely populated island, most of our food is imported from abroad, guns have the bejaysus regulated out of them (I’ve got two crossbows, a couple of edged weapons and assorted cudgels instead). The worst part is, some people in my family depend on medication to stay healthy/alive. What are you supposed to do about that?
You have 3 options:
1) Leave (come to Texas, we need patriots, and apparently don't care about immigration status. Just tan before you get here)
2) Spend as much time with them now as you can (the "I give up" option).
3) Stockpile medicine - use the "going on a world cruise for a year" explanation to get around limitations (at least that works in the US, not sure how the NHS does things).
The stockpiling option seems so obvious now. Fortunately, they don’t account for each and every tablet taken, so it shouldn’t be too hard to run out of meds ‘early’...
“It took about 12 hours for things to completely fall apart after Katrina passed in NOLA.”
Who would you want for neighbors, if you lived below sea level?
New Orleans folks, or the Dutch?
Oh, c'mon ... who among us can't do partial differential equations?
Does anyone remember the series “Connections”? It talked about a major power outage that occurred in the northeastern U.S. back in the 1970s. People have been trying to think of what kind of disaster it would take for things to completely break down. Here’s my opinion:
The United States is such a vast, diverse country. Americans have a tradition of being independent but also wanting to help each other. Based on that, I think any local disaster would result in people from the outside coming in to fix things. As long as that spirit remains, I can’t imagine anything but the most widespread disaster having a lasting impact. So essentially you’re talking about a truly nationwide disaster.
The only thing that fits that description, in my mind, is a full, nuclear attack. Otherwise I think the country would heal itself.
It's a different country today, Katrina showed that.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11937654
This would be the first phase of warning signs right here.
They eventually decided to just get prepared in general – That’s probably the best course of action, general preparedness but taking special measures for certain things like fallout and other NBC warfare threats.
Obtaining and maintaining the means to defend yourself and your family unit can be applicable to most disaster situations.
The same holds true for making sure you have enough Food, water and medical supplies to sustain your family.
There are specialized preparations that need to be done for specific threats, but most preparedness programs will get you ready for most circumstances.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.