Those of you who plan to take the first steps toward preparing for emergencies may feel a bit overwhelmed at where to begin. After all, there is a lot of food to choose from at the grocery stores. To make the most of your emergency food supply, keep these essential food pantry rules in mind.

As more Americans than ever before join the ranks of the unemployed, and with insurance benefits starting to dry up for many who have exceeded the 99 week maximum, homelessness across the country is quickly becoming an issue that can no longer be glazed over by politicians.

You read that right. The worst year since records have been kept – a trend we warned of back in 2009 when green shoots were reportedly popping up all over the country.

The CATO Institute responds to President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address on issues that include job creation, taxes, small business policy, education, Iran, the energy industry, Congressional authority to wage war, and even addresses secret assassination lists.

The system is already in breakdown mode, and we are just trying to hold, doing anything we can to keep it afloat. Printing more money to fund our spending needs, bailing out failed institutions that threaten to destroy financial confidence, supporting welfare programs to maintain social stability – all of these are clear cut signs that the paradigm as we have known it is crashing.

We could always chalk this off as standard military training, but considering the warnings coming from financial insiders, the chairman of our central bank, and world leaders, we suggest that these soldiers are being trained to deal specifically with scenarios recently outlined by the Pentagon, including civil unrest and large-scale economic breakdown right here in the good old USA.

As another Presidential election approaches, inquiring minds are starting to wonder whether all of this has been a pre-planned effort to enrich the elite politicians, central bankers and corporate insiders who would like nothing more than to impose their will on the people, and to do it by force if necessary.

One of the leading financial minds and policy influencers in the world has just outlined the best and worst case outcomes for this crisis, and both of them are disastrous. We cannot stress enough to our readers that, despite the many criticisms, Mr. Soros knows what he’s talking about. He is connected to all of the major players on all levels – economic, financial, political – you name it.

Despite what TSA leadership and officers may think, or what our views may be about how the situation was or should have been handled, the Constitution of the United States is very clear on these matters.

Enemies of the people of the United States and our Constitution should take heed. We’ve got guns. Lots of them, so just back off.

If the worst were to happen, and all of the systems on which Americans depend – things like just-in-time food transportation, law enforcement, medical response and the normal flow of commerce – were to suffer long-term disruptions, how long would it take for the relative peace and safety in America to devolve into complete pandemonium?

The Texas Congressman whose proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) prompted dozens of websites to go dark or run protest messages this week said Friday he is pulling the measure from consideration “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

The lesson here is that if you plan on bartering, illegal or not, keep it a private matter.

Some may not want him to be President, but for those concerned with provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act which allow for the detention of American citizens without trial, consider supporting Ron Paul’s latest legislation.

Confidence in the stability of credit and equities markets around the world may very well be evaporating.

For those excepting a hyper-inflationary destruction of the US dollar at some point in the future, you might consider hanging on to your US dollars – at least some of them. There may still be a use for them post-collapse, as highlighted in the following real-life survival story…

As the economic crisis deepens and the US dollar progressively depreciates until its eventual demise, enterprising minds that act ahead of the masses can come out ahead – sometimes at little or no up front cost.

The tragedy of it is that they will spend everything, believe everything they’re told, and do whatever their elected masters tell them, until they are eventually left with nothing. No financial stability. No accumulated wealth. No liberty.

Imagine an internet where access to the free flow of information is strictly controlled by government and their corporate partners.

Soon, any activity deemed contrary to the ideas, purposes and principles of the ruling class and the plutocratic elites will be grounds for detainment, imprisonment and expulsion.

It only takes one country, one sociopathic leader with his finger on the button, to get the ball rolling. Then there is no stopping it.

All we say to America is, “Be true to what you said on paper.”

We aren’t one bit convinced that this veto was done in the interests of free expression, as the administration may claim. In November, the President issued a similar veto threat about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which allows for the detention of American citizens who are determined to be a threat to national security and/or public safety on the domestic (U.S.) battlefront. He flip-flopped on the veto just a couple of weeks later…

As we approach yet another debt ceiling and require an additional $1 trillion just to keep the system afloat, we urge our readers to consider the distinct possibility that we remain on the brink, and are closer than ever before to a total breakdown in the financial, economic and social stability of the world.

With the success of robotic ‘soldiers’ on the battlefields of the middle east and north Africa, and the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act solidifying government’s seal of approval for domestic war-time operations, Americans can expect that our own law enforcement fleets will soon see marked increases in the use of these weapons and surveillance technologies.