Posted on 04/27/2011 6:08:52 PM PDT by blam
Americans Are Preparing At Unprecedented Levels
Author: Mac Slavo
April 27th, 2011
Do you have enough larder to feed your family and some friends if grocery stores ran out of food? How about several assault rifles and a few thousand rounds of ammo? Solar panels, a water filter, medical kits, bug-out bags, fire starters, tents, sleeping bags, some junk silver and reserve gasoline?
Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
It’s becoming apparent to many Americans that depending on our local, state and federal governments in the event of an emergency, catastrophic societal collapse or widespread disaster will not be sufficient to meet the needs of your family. Residents in Colorado (and likely the other 49 states) are stockpiling in droves and preparing to live off the grid if it comes to that:
Four families in Yoder are building a sand bunker and stockpiling ammunition and weapons.
A Black Forest resident has erected a geodesic dome on her 5-acre spread to grow vegetables, keeps horses for emergency transportation, in case she can’t get gasoline for her car, and plans to acquire chickens and goats as food sources.
A husband and wife who have a cabin on 100 acres of secluded land in Park County have weaned their property from the electric grid, acquired a three-year food supply and taken other measures to become self-sufficient.
While there’s little threat of the earthquake and tsumani that rocked Japan last month in landlocked Colorado, other epic crises on the home front are possible: A flood or fire. A terrorist attack. A nuclear weapons launch. World War III. Or an apocalyptic-type scenario.
An increasing number of people say they are getting ready.
“More people are getting into the survivalist mode. I’ve been in business 30 years, and I’ve never sold so many assault rifles as now. The last year was the best we’ve ever had,” said Mel Bernstein, a Class III weapons dealer and owner of Dragon Man’s shooting range east of Colorado Springs.
Israeli gas masks, helmets and sand bags also have been selling well, he said. “People are putting stuff away in case something big happens,” he said. “I think it’s superstition, but it’s been good for business.”
Interest in the survivalist movement has been heightened, many say, by global turmoil.
The ongoing strife in the Middle East, the lingering possibility that the Obama administration will enact stricter gun laws and the sustained economic downturn, coupled with political unrest in Libya and Japan’s nuclear catastrophe, have made people uneasy.
In addition, doomsday prophesies by Nostradamus and the Mayans pinpointing 2012 are distressing for some. There’s also a group of Christians who say they’ve determined that the end of the world will begin on May 21.
“People are afraid, and they want to be able to protect their families,” Bernstein said.
Y2K — the dawning of the third millennium — brought forth a fury of survivalist instincts, as many believed the nation’s network of electric connections and computer systems would crash.
The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, raised concern among even the complacent.
But this time in history feels more urgent, say those who identify themselves as “preppers” — people preparing to have all they need to sustain a catastrophe.
“There’s a distinct possibility that some other country could wipe out our electronics and computers, and the U.S. infrastructure is not ready — it would take six months to rebuild a transformer,” said Bob, a retired engineer who said he designed airplanes, power plants and aqueducts for the government.
He asked that his last name not be used because he shares a philosophy common among preppers: the desire for anonymity. Not everyone understands why they’re doing what they’re doing, Bob said, and there’s the possibility of others looting their stockpiles. “Preppers will give someone a pound of rice and a bowl of soup, but we’ll defend ourselves against people who are going to take everything we have,” he said. “We’re doing this to make sure that we can live the way we’ve been living and we’re not going to be out there scrounging or stealing food from others.”
There are any number of scenarios, both natural and man-made, that could lead to what preppers refer to as TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as We Know It), be it an electro magnetic pulse attack, a US dollar hyperinflation, economic collapse, an earthquake along the New Madrid Fault Line, Yellow Stone’s super volcano, or the purported Mayan end of days.
While some may be more likely to occur than others, and some are improbable outliers, the fact that the possibilities exist, and that there are a whole host of reasons why life as we have come to know it could be halted from one day to the next, makes preparedness that much more reasonable.
We’ve seen how governments respond to disasters. Recent history in the modern age suggests that there is simply no way to meet the needs of millions of people if a far-from-equilibrium situation were to arise.
Americans spend thousands of dollars per year on insurance for our homes, our cars, our health, our lives, and even our mortgages.
Is it really so crazy to insure ourselves from unforeseen black swans by stockpiling some food, water, supplies and a means to protect them?
The US government is spending billions of dollars to prepare for unlikely events like war, catastrophic collapse of society, and even asteroids – maybe you should consider a little end-of-the-world insurance as well.
Calcium can prevent the uptake of strontium.
Potassium can prevent the uptake of cesium.
Copper-jacketed lead can prevent the uptake of looting.
Does anyone know if spray paint would ruin the fabric of a tent? I’m looking at a nice 6 person tent that comes in a very light color but if we ever wanted to camouflage it, the only way to do so is with paint.
Thanks, I do that.
I buy quart jars at ten cents each or less. My friend bought a new case with lids and rings for $1.00...the case had never been opened. It looked like a younger woman's mother had died and left the jars. The younger woman had zero interest.
My husband just asked your opinion, if you have one, on using Sea Foam motor treatment?
If you’re stocking up on canned goods for the apocalypse or whatever, make sure to get a variety. Nobody wants to be stuck eating green beans for the next ten years!
What kind of leadership inspires such confidence?
What kind of leadership makes the individuals have such expectations of the failure in government?
.... at unprecedented levels
Thanks for the info. =) I nned to work on fuel supplies next.
That is my biggest worry! In Texas, in a SHTF moment, we will get an onslaught of illegals, both good and bad flooding across the border like a Wal-Mart half-off sale. There are a lot of bad dudes in the drug cartels, and double that with opportunistic looters. I have heard of multi-vehicle caravan raiders that hit small communities in Mexico, like Mad Max.
I’m thinking acrylic paint shouldn’t but if you can find some old ripstop nylon (which is what I’m guessing it’s made out of) you can test it and see what happens.
Watch out for solvents. That’s what’ll eat the nylon if anything does. Spray paints tend to have some pretty aggressive solvents in them.
Short answer: Yes. Don’t spray paint it. Tents are naturally hidden by their proximity to open areas. Keep them in the woods and you’ll be fine.
Her loss.
I wish I could find deals like that.
OTOH, sometimes if you have befriended an older widow, it’s useful to ask if they have any canning supplies around that they don’t use any more. I’ve found that often they do and they’ve never had the heart to just throw it out so it sits around in their attic or basement.
They’re more than happy enough to give it to someone who is interested in canning.
Now that I think of it, I’d be better off buying some of that camo netting and throwing it over the tent. Maybe even two layers of it to be on the safe side.
Now, a tip for you. They make a fixture for refilling the smaller (the green ones that are about a quart in size) propane bottles from the larger bottles. And of course...if you look in the right places you can find fittings that allow you to run the larger bottles directly to the coleman appliances.
BTW, I get the 20# butane/propane tanks at yard sales for as little as $2.00 each, empty. I got a full one recently for $8.00.
“I certainly haven’t been able to figure out how to store useful amounts of gasoline. Gasoline degrades pretty quickly”
Use Sta-bil it will give you 2 years on gas. You can get it anywhere. they also make one for diesel.
It also depends on what you are trying to burn old gas in.
I had some five-year old stuff that was starting to get tiny specks of brown stuff in it, almost like a lacquer.
Dumped a couple gallons in my 66 Chev w/350 V8
No problem!
But I would never burn it in a small engine like a generator or a modern car with high-tech injectors, that’s just askin for trouble.
Obama's saying that everyone needs to buy hybrid or electric cars. (so he can make sure his GE crony Jeff Immelt gets even richer) Okay. So we go off gas vehicles and reduce the need for oil. Are we prepared "electrically" or will we have a new phenomenon called Highway Brown-outs? ;-)
Everyone I know is saying the same...even my sister who used to mock my prepping is now a prepper, lol.
Sorry, don't know what that is...no opinion.
Ditto.
I just wish I could convince the rest of the metmom family to take it more seriously. Mr.mm just doesn't think it's going to happen and my kids just roll their eyes about it all.
Sigh.
How sad, that this is how we all have to spend our time. We have such a weak president, such immoral leaders — life used to be so easy.
I feel very nervous, as we are only starting to prepare. It’s also hard to scrape the funds together to prepare as well —when you’re still putting kids through school, paying high bills, high fuel prices, etc.
But we’re going to do our best.
We have a farm — out in the midwest. Hubby’s mom owns it, but keeps threatening to sell it. She’s a dyed in the wool dem, and you can’t talk any sense into her. I am BEGGING him to get her not to sell it, as we all may need to go live off that land at some point.
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