Posted on 03/08/2009 9:01:08 PM PDT by Perseverando
Booming preparedness industry says Americans are stockpiling
To some, the term "survivalist" conjures images of camouflage-clad men stockpiling freeze-dried food in a mountain cabin, but in the current economic crisis, the people quietly preparing to survive catastrophe may just be your next-door neighbors.
In his column in last month's Financial Times, business and technology expert Ade McCormack writes, "The world is in crisis and with it the world of business. Many of us have two plans. Plan A involves President Barack Obama performing some economic magic. Plan B involves a revolver, a vegetable patch and a subscription to Survivalist Monthly."
And while McCormack was writing with a hint of jest, dissent over the president's trillion-dollar spending approach to the economy has left many average, everyday Americans considering something looking suspiciously like plan B.
Discover the shocking truth about the U.S. economy – and what you can and must do – with "Black Hole," the most recent edition of WND's acclaimed Whistleblower magazine!
Bill Heid of Survival Seeds, a company that sells "banks" of high-yielding vegetable seeds sealed for long-term storage and awaiting a family's need to grow its own food, says business is skyrocketing.
"It's been dramatic, nothing short of dramatic," Heid told WND. "The survivalist mentality used to be considered a fringe element, but now that economic times are such as they are, many more average, regular folks are adopting the same set of preparations."
Heid told WND what's most notable is that his boom in sales isn't coming from just the usual survivalists stocking up for a Y2K-like event.
"Ninety percent of our increase in business is new business," Heid said, "people who have never thought about surviving in case of emergency before."
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
I'll check back in the morning. I'm interested in finding out what real Americans have to say about this.
Plan C is trust in Jesus Christ and keep working (if one has a job) or get to looking for work(s) to do. God will provide.
ping
I believe we’re about to put it to the test...
Lots of folks have always been seeking a self-suffcient lifestyle, or as much as you can in today interconnected world.
Alaska, Nevada and Utah come to mind as places that lots of folks have made the decision to “go their won way”.
Nothing sinister, just sensible.
what most survival stories fail to suggest: get in shape!
Nah. Read this one here
* Civil unrest will break out before the end of the year. The Military and Guard will be called up to try to stop it. They won't be able to. Big cities are at risk of becoming a free-fire death zone. If you live in one, figure out how you can get out and live somewhere else if you detect signs that yours is starting to go "feral"; witness New Orleans after Katrina for how fast, and how bad, it can get.
The bad news is that you won't have a job, pension, annuity, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and, quite possibly, your life.
BTTT
No kidding. How many people die of heart attacks when hunting because it is the only time they get any exercise all year? I was sent to an aviation survival school. I hadn't been in a swimming pool for 20 years. Swimming in boots, a flight suit and helmet was right at my level of fitness. I was thankful that I didn't have to do more.
My goodness - that’s - well, breathtaking.
Even when the CCCP (USSR) fell apart, there was little in the way of violence.
TO be sure, I will be very careful in my travel plans, but have managed to avoid East Coast cesspits (err, cities).
Moscow did have roaming bands of “Gypsies” when I was last there, but those were mostly bands of feral children from the poorer pasts of the old Soviet.
Dress down, watch your mouth and no problems.
I suppose we’ll see what happen 3 days after the welfare checks bounce.....
No 9mm JHP or 00 buck. No magnum either. One guy came in and bought all of the .45 ACP
Sumthin is definitely in the air.
I noticed that, too. Being physically fit must be important to survival, too, but these types of articles rarely mention it.
(I was fit all my life, until just recently, now I'm out of shape, and that has been my biggest worry. Two years ago, I could've run and beaten the crowds to the food, if necessary. But now that I may need to...) :-(
We are in very serious trouble.
i work out at home. the P90X system. it's amazing. anyway, even taking a walk, lifting light weights can be beneficial.
We'll just print money like the Brits
Retirement Plans Of Millions Of Britons At Risk After Bank Of England 'Prints Money'
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.
That being said, prepare first for the idea that a societal meltdown won’t happen. Good job/business, education, strong family ties, no debt, positive savings, etc.
Get into cash. Sell whatever you can. Drop your asking price to sell fast. And renting is better than owning during deflationary downturn panics.
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?
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?
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?
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.
#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...but they aren’t going to help you against paramilitaries and they won’t sanitize your hands before eating or after septic disposal.
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. Duck 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. For that matter, .5” Lexan will stop Colt .45 shots cold...a cheap replacement for your car and home windows if you don’t mind cutting your own window shapes out of standard Lexan rectangle sizes.
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. 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.
Where’s the picture of the ‘Jeez, not this again’ guy?
We Americans lived though the Cuban Missile crisis and the Carter years and survived...
... so the new, improved Carter years (Obamanation) aren’t going to be the end of America either.
We do have an elliptical machine and weights, but my husband is the one who uses them. He’s in good shape. I’ve always taken being fit for granted. Now I can’t do that anymore. ;-) Walking might be my best bet. Thanks.
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