Posted on 05/10/2009 5:42:44 PM PDT by appleseed
In the 1950s and 1960s, bunkers were a feature of many American suburban homes, populated by families fearful of the prospect of nuclear war. That threat has subsided, but now many reasonable people are stocking up on essential supplies in preparation for a new cataclysm.
When you hear the word "survivalist", what image comes to mind?
Or maybe you think of end-of-the-world religionists retreating to a fortified camp with enough food and drink to last them until Judgement Day.
But today there is a new breed of survivalist – and they're well-heeled, well-educated and more likely to wear an immaculately pressed suit than a camouflage flak jacket.
Civilisation breakdown
Barton M Biggs is about as far as you can get from the old John Rambo-style survivalist. Forget long, unkempt hair and a sweat-stained vest. Mr Biggs is a former chief global strategist for Morgan Stanley, who now runs the hedge fund Traxis Partners in New York.
Yet in his latest book, Wealth, War and Wisdom, he suggests that all right-minded people should "assume the possibility of a breakdown of the civilised infrastructure".
"The four horsemen of the apocalypse ride out every two generations, and they come in different disguises," he says. "We are due to see the horsemen again some time in the next 10 to 20 years – and the prudent person with wealth should take out an insurance policy against them."
{Cut}
The price of food is rising dramatically and oil is at record prices. Even brief periods of crisis can have severe consequences.
Blackout looting
Mr Biggs cites the massive power outages that struck north-eastern and mid-western America and parts of Canada in 2003 – also known as The Northeastern Blackout – when for a few hours an estimated 50 million people were without electricity.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Must have interviewed one my neighbors down the road. They don't like loud noises or my private property tresspassers will be shot sign.
a sweat-stained vest.
A squirt of Fabreeze or scented lysol can take care of a nasty vest. Just a little note. Or as my wife says, " Just sayin".
Self Reliant/Survivalist ping list
Good politically correct comment, but not good strategy, especially if you're up against flesh-eating zombies.
> “And possibly AK47s to fire over the heads of any guys, depending on how bad things become.”
Good politically correct comment, but not good strategy, especially if you’re up against flesh-eating zombies.
Plus, one only has to shoot only at useless humans who want everything given to them. Now if a hot blonde or brunette needs some food and water for a warm winter, well...
Goes without saying.
Well, if society collapses... And it gets really bad... I might switch to cannibalism for a while until agriculture and an economic system gets back on its feet. Stave off hunger and get rid of pesky liberals at the same time.
You know how to kill a party don’t you?
Liberals, the other white meat. Works for me.
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Typical weekend at my place. We were shooting 00 buck into a big locust a while back. Trick was to get the biggest piece to fly off. Next time the boys come over, I’ll take some pisc.
W00h00!
They have tapeworms? THey consume alot with no results, so just wonderin’
This is what has been bothering me. It's not like Y2K when a bunch of mostly tinfoil types were ranting and raving whle stocking up on beans and water purification stuff.
What we see now is a lot of smart and respected people very worried about a bad moon rising, and they're worries are often based largely on logic and clear thinking.
It's enough to give even the wise optimist pause.
Do you have a zombie plan?
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