Most Americans take for granted the intricate systems that make it possible for us to engage in seemingly mundane day to day tasks like filling up our gas tanks, loading up our shopping carts at the local grocery store, obtaining necessary medications, and even pouring ourselves a clean glass of water. When we wake up each morning we just expect that all of these things will work today the same way they worked yesterday. Very few have considered the complexity involved in the underlying infrastructure that keeps goods, services and commerce in America flowing. Fewer still have ever spent the time to contemplate the fragility of these systems or the consequences on food, water, health care, the financial system, and the economy if they are interrupted.
A report prepared for legislators and business leaders by the American Trucking Associations highlights just how critical our just-in-time inventory and delivery systems are, and assesses the impact on the general population in the event of an emergency or incident of national significance that disrupts the truck transportation systems which are responsible for carrying some ten billion tons of commodities and supplies across the United States each year.
A shut down of truck operations as a result of elevated threat levels, terrorist attacks, or pandemics would, according to the report, have “a swift and devastating impact on the food, healthcare, transportation, waste removal, retail, manufacturing, and financial sectors.”
So too would events such as an EMP attack or a coordinated cyber-attack that could shut down global positioning systems and the computers responsible for inventory control. Another potential scenario that is more likely now than ever before is liquidity problems within the financial system stemming from currency crisis or hyperinflation. All of our just-in-time delivery systems are built upon the unhindered transfer of money and credit, but when credit flow becomes restricted or money becomes worthless, no one will be able to pay for their goods. Likewise, no one will trust the credit worthiness of anyone else. This is exactly the scenario playing out in Greece right now and the consequences on the health care industry in that country have left many without life saving drugs. When there’s no money, no one will be transporting anything.
The effects of a transportation shutdown for any reason would be immediate (in some cases, within hours) and absolutely catastrophic.
Excerpted from the American Truckers Associations report
Food
- Significant shortages will occur in as little as three days, especially for perishable items following a national emergency and a ban on truck traffic.
- Consumer fear and panic will exacerbate shortages. News of a truck stoppage—whether on the local level, state or regional level, or nationwide—will spur hoarding and drastic increases in consumer purchases of essential goods. Shortages will materialize quickly and could lead to civil unrest. (We’re seeing this in the UK right now)
Water
- Supplies of clean drinking water will run dry in two to four weeks. For safety and security reasons, most water supply plants maintain a larger inventory of supplies than the typical business. However, the amount of chemical storage varies significantly and is site specific. According to the Chlorine Institute, most water treatment facilities receive chlorine in cylinders that are delivered by motor carriers. On average, trucks deliver purification chemicals to water supply plants every seven to 14 days. Without these chemicals, water cannot be purified and made safe for drinking.
Health Care
- Without truck transportation, patient care within the truck stoppage zone will be immediately jeopardized. According to Cook, many hospitals have moved to a just-in-time inventory system. In fact, some work from a low-unit-of-measure system. This means that essential basic supplies, such as syringes and catheters, are not ordered until the supplies are depleted. These systems depend on trucks to deliver needed supplies within hours of order placement. Internal redistribution of supplies in hospitals could forestall a crisis for a short time; however, in a matter of hours, hospitals would be unable to supply critical patient care.
- If an incident of national significance produces mass injuries, truck transportation is the key to delivering urgently needed medical supplies necessary to save lives.
- Hospitals and nursing homes will exhaust food supplies in as little as 24 hours
- Pharmacy stocks of prescription drugs will be depleted quickly. According to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, most of the nation’s 55,000 drug stores receive daily merchandise deliveries by truck.
Transportation
- Service station fuel supplies will start to run out in just one to two days. An average service station requires a delivery every 2.4 days. Based on these statistics, the busiest service stations could run out of fuel within hours of a truck stoppage, with the remaining stations following within one to two days
- Air, rail and maritime transportation will be disrupted.
- A fuel shortage will create secondary effects. Without access to automobile travel, people will be unable to get to work causing labor shortages and increased economic damage. Without cars, many people cannot access grocery stores, banks, doctors, and other daily needs. Public bus systems will cease to operate as well, preventing many disabled and elderly people from accessing these necessities. Without fuel, police, fire, rescue and other public service vehicles will be paralyzed, further jeopardizing public safety.
Waste Removal
- Within days of a truck stoppage, Americans will be literally buried in garbage with serious health and environmental consequences. Further, without fuel deliveries, many waste processing facilities will be unable to operate equipment such as backhoes and incinerators.
- Uncollected and deteriorating waste products create rich breeding grounds for microorganisms, insects, and other vermin. Hazardous materials and medical waste will introduce toxins as well as infectious diseases into living environments. Urban areas will, of course, be significantly impacted within just a couple of days.
Retail / Manufacturing / Economy
- Replenishment of goods will be disrupted. Many of the nation’s leading retailers rely on just-in-time delivery to keep inventory levels as low as possible. Similar to the low-unit-of-measure hospital inventory system, these stores rely on frequent deliveries to replenish basic goods. Often, delivery of a shipment is not triggered until the current inventory is nearly depleted. Without truck deliveries, retailers will be unable to restock goods, including consumer basics such as bottled water, canned goods, and paper products.
- Consumer behavior during emergencies triples the rate of inventory turn-over.Since many large retail outlets typically keep inventories as lean as possible, problems often arise quickly during truck transportation slowdowns that occur from crises such as hurricanes.
- Just-in-time manufacturers will shut down assembly lines within hours. Major American manufacturers, ranging from computer manufacturers such as Dell and Compaq to major automakers such as GM and Ford, rely on just-in-time manufacturing. Without truck deliveries, component shortages and manufacturing delays will develop within hours
Financial Sector
- ATM and branch bank cash resources will be exhausted quicky. In today’s fastpaced, high-technology economy, consumers access cash 24/7 from 370,000 ATMs nationwide. JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s second largest consumer bank, replenishes its 6,600 ATMs via armored truck delivery every two to three days. Given the increase in ATM activity that occurs before and after any type of crisis, ATMs would run out of cash much sooner.
- Small and medium-size businesses will lose access to cash.
- Regular bank functions will cease.
While an event that disrupts truck transportation systems may be unlikely, recent history suggests it is fully plausible and the blowback can be devastating. A day after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, panicked government officials stopped all transportation flow into the region, forcing hundreds of trucks loaded with emergency supplies like food and water to wait for permission before they could enter the area. As a result, thousands of residents of the city were left without items essential for survival. It took days before truck routes were re-opened and supplies were allowed to flow. Government officials acting on limited information, lack of knowledge and personal politics were responsible for restricting the flow of goods into New Orleans, potentially killing hundreds of people in the process.
What this incident demonstrated is that when the trucks in America stop, all commerce and delivery stops with it.
Now consider what may happen if the emergency is more widespread, affecting not just a city, but the population of an entire region or the United States in its entirety.
Via SHTFplan
“FIRST” I would live to say- GOD bless the truckers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8vmaj75xzE “I sure could use a vacation from this stupid $HIT”
Kevin finally posts something relevant.
Nice!
+Rep!
Yep. As soon as I saw the headline, I KNEW I could even get my “first” in there also, without to many red thumbs and hecklin. It is a test, see how many people would red thumb the truckers to red thumb the Kev”first”in.
That’s a trap, Kevin. But, a creative one. 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRUjr8EVgBg This was my last “trap”. Ray Charles singing my favorite version of “america the beutiful”. It got many red thumbs. Proves people don’t go to links, just red thumb and move on.
@everyone who thinks the kev is a racist-
Joe lewis- Went to germany and europe, he could eat where he wanted, shit where he wanted, sleep where he wanted. During the war did charity fights for the wounded veterens. Since he came home and opened his mouth about those freedoms in europe, The IRS came after him for taxes on those fights, under orders from the government. He died a poor man due to the IRS’S tyranny. He is a hero of mine, and a hero of america.
@everyone who thinks the kev is “anti-semetic”- Erwin schiff(peter schiffs father) is a freedom fighter against the IRS, sitting in prison. I owe much to him personally, He led me to the constitution when I was in my youth. He is a hero of mine, and a hero of america.
Tool rocks!
The lyrics to that song kind sums up my feelings on it going down. (some days) Thats why I posted the lyrics video.
Classic TOOL. Love it!
While certainly not a disinterested third party, the author raises some good points which I also covered in a sermon series a couple years ago. When I was a child and the grocery store shelf was empty, my mother would ask the clerk if there were any more in the back room and most often there were. Today there is no back room storage. Shelves are restocked at night as truck deliveries arrive as a result of computer generated orders from the point-of-sale systems.
The stores control prices by eliminating the warehousing function so it is prudent to take over that function in our own homes. Some of the things I have done include:
– Food storage
– Store additional gasoline cans at home
– Keep a few thousand in cash (small bills)
– Reduce, reuse, recycle and have a burn barrel
– $8 worth of calcium hypochlorite will treat 20,000 gallons of rainwater
– Our second vehicle is a diesel which is available longer during a crises and will also run on recycled vegetable or motor oil.
Truckers are Awesome!
@ Prepared Pastor. I was reading somewhere in which during World War 2 ordinary citizens would brave battle lines to get supplies to soldiers and people in their own communities. During a catastrophe that grounded truckers it would be so nice if there was some sort of back-up plan to get the necessities to those that needed them. We probably will not be able to depend on the wonderful government for this. I wonder if people out there could start getting some training on driving the big rigs that could sub for truck drivers should the truckers go down because of some reason like a panademic.
I wonder if people could also transport supplies in their own vechicles. I was watching some ants the other day moving all sorts of food debris left on the sidewalk and when enough of the people work together they can move mountains. I wonder if the common person would be willing to all work together towards saving the country when something happens, or would most everyone just try to take what others have spent a near lifetime storing up. I would hope people would look for answers to save each other and their fellow countrymen, but I have become cynical about this as I see all the lack of concern for each other that seems to have taken over for most of the population.
I imagine it is a pipe dream to think that most people would all come together with a trucking disaster or some other cataclysm and try to help each other. At least there are those in the prepper and survivalist philosophy that are trying to get ready. At least when true SHTF there will be some of the human population that makes it through and rebuilds one day. You know, I sure enjoy hearing about all the unique ideas for survival, they all are thoughtful and help us to better prepare.
Be Informed – You bring up some interesting points. In a way, I would be extremely happy to carry goods in my car from a warehouse to the grocery store. However, in a SHTF scenario, I would be worried that the more violent types would care to wait for me to get to the store, opting instead to hijack my car, kill me, and steal my stuff. There are lots of good people out there but all it takes is one bad person to ruin your day.
Informed: If the trucks are not running, personal vehicles won’t either. They all are subject to hijacking and bandidos. Travel will be very dangerous when the population is starving, and everyone is a ‘taker’. Sorry. Nice thought. We love optimism. The threat only of a trucking shortage will clean the food shelves permanently, for as long as one can foresee. When three hundred million people, mostly city dwellers, have three days food reserves, loss of confidence in continuous supply will prompt never ending demand for reserve food multiplying total demand by hundreds of multiples. Even attempts by the ‘authorities’ to broacast that they have ‘restored transportation will have no effect on the fear of another shortage. Hoarding will continue. There will be violence in the supermarket parking lots. Until the weak and unprepared die off.
I know how crazy people get during a hurricane in the last forty some years; which is why I watch when it’s way down south, get to the store ahead of last minute type folks (95%) to buy fresh foods. Even if the hurricane goes elsewhere, the stuff will be used up anyway. I can imagine sick people near me that can’t get vital drugs, insulin, thyroid, heart meds, etc. if the trucks stop. Would make a hurricane look tame.
Be Informed, while I’d like to see that “can-do” and unified human spirit you, and I, seem to remember. However, I think those days are gone.
I think in the small communities and tight knit neighborhoods, you’ll see this type of behavior for a short period. That is, until the extras that people allocated for the stupid and willfully ignorant are gone. As resources continue to tighten, the less civic minded will retreat and fortify. The freeloaders will demand more and use force to obtain it.
In dispensing charity to the freeloaders, it is imperative that they understand that broadcasting their good fortune to other n’er-do-wells will thin out their rations. Quickly.
In my neighborhood, like minded neighbors already know who the problem people will be.
I suggest you prepare contingency plans for dealing with those folks, peacefully or otherwise.
Preacher, I am a ham radio operator and will help in not only getting supplies but work with other hams to get supplies rolling and delivered. I am also a retired fire captain and know how to help in areas of disasters.
Mark
@ prepper. Just wishing for when times were vastly different. The radio show host Art Bell once brought up something about the way people have decayed into a darker state of being. He said “it use to be that when a crook robbed a store he ran away with the money and that was it, but now the criminal shoots the clerk just for the hell of it”. This was something Art Bell said many years ago, as the society has further rotted away since then.
I also would never trust myself trying to pick up a supply of whatever unless I was in an armored something, even then road side bombs are an issue. Things have sure changed since when I was a kid when people actually really tried to help one another because they wanted to. Sad state of being civilization has dropped to. This is one reason I feel time is so short and we all need as much information about prepping and survival we can get. I was just longing for another time that seems like it has long since died.
At least the people on this site and other prepping sites really do want to help each other become more prepared. This little kernel of positive is why preppers continue to come back and share their ideas. People that do prepare seem like the only sensible people left in the world. The meek will likely not be the ones that inherit the Earth, it will be the people that have spent the time and effort preparing to survive.
who’s going to stop the gangs from stealing all of the stuff you stored???
Who’s gonna stop the gangs from stealing from manufacturing plants of food and supplies–it’s not like the city dwellers don’t know most canning operations and their locations; not to mention the frozen food manufacturers when an EMP happens–think of that waste if not handled prpperly–like distributing hopefully by sheriffs and their dept.
That’s why you are supposed to be ARMED!!!
Its a matter for those who wish to steal it from preppers to figure out which is good food and which is poisoned! As for my reserve it is only I that know what it what.
A Firearm
@Prepared Pastor,
Regarding cash, I also keep rolled coins, and here’s why.
I am one of those people who does not carry change, mostly because of the irritating way they fall out of my pocket (and I coin purse is just one more thing that would overstuff my poor pockets).
At first I tried to turn in rolled coins at my bank (one that I no longer patronize), and turn into currency, but the bank started taking my NAME down. I can understand writing one’s name and account number on the tube (in case there are shortages), but TAKING NAMES? I thought that was a little too Big-Brotherish, so I took my coins to the grocery store. At first they were happy to have them, but then they installed one of those machines where you dump in your coins, and FOR A PERCENTAGE taken off, you get a receipt to use on groceries. I was REALLY MAD when I saw that.
Cashless society? How many VENDING MACHINES do you know of that take ATM/credit cards? When the stuff hits the fan, stores will quickly run out of change. Guess who will be sitting pretty?
To those of you who want to set aside some cash: $1’s and $5’s are like pennies now, I always pull them from my currency and bundle them in bundles of $100 each. I really believe that stores will quickly run out of change for the multitude of $20’s they’ll receive, it’s good to be a rescuer.
Also, if you can in your area, have a firepit instead. It can be one you construct yourself, or one of those portable iron ones on eBay. You can burn boxes and newspapers one minute, and have a cookout the next! Great way of keeping the bugs away.
Great post, Prepared Pastor!
Kevin
Youve got spunk!
At the end.. Humor is all we will have left to live on!
This an excellent article, one of the best ever presented. It highlights some important points re: the importance of trucking in today’s society. One thing few people realize, and I do because I used to drive one of those “bad boys” (and loved every minute of it), is that alot of trucks on the road are private operators. In doing any kind of hauling, it has to be cost effective. If diesel prices go up, it becomes harder to make trips cost effective. I mean that rig has a payment on it, besides the normal bills (mortgage payment, family bills,etc) of having a family and the operator has to make those bills or ….he or she cannot operate. Those rigs don’t come cheap, even used tractors. Yes, there are companies out there that are doing the hauling, but there are as many private operators out there as well. Before we criticize the trucker, remember an old saying a farmer friend of mine quotes “never speak with your mouth full.” One final thing, id those truckers don’t get the diesel for whatever the reason (none available, too high priced,etc)…they don’t run, period.
Trucks will likely be converted to natural gas in 5-10 years, like buses.
Old soldier, I have a good friend who is an independant driver, he told me last week that his fuel cost was $2,300 and his final take home was $300. Hard to make a living with costs so high. It’s not gonna take much more pressure for the system to topple over.
I hear that’s common. A lot of owner-operators are just squeeking by.
I was speaking to a trucker friend of mine about this a few weeks ago. He had been contemplating going it on his own but saw how others were being treated and decided it wasn’t worth it. It seems that while fuel costs have gone up, the going rate has actually gone down. Supposedly this was due to the increased need for back hauls and that the shipping companies know they have them between a rock and a hard place.
I think this is true But Most Diesel engines can run on vegetable oil. There are lasana and fish and chicken places that throw hundreds of gallons of oil away in waist container and buckets, if it can burn in trucks engines I would start talking to restaurant operators,as a back up for fuel.
Thanks for letting me reply Mark
AMEN!
This is one thing I have been warning of for years. Not many people appreciate how complex the supply chain of zero days is. Neither do most people comprehend how trucking plays the most critical role in this zero day chain. Any store can be emptied in under 24 hours, and if the trucks stop moving, it could be weeks or months before restocked. Even if trucks stopped for only a few days, stores would be empty for weeks.
Having some emergency supplies on hand for just such an event only makes sense when you understand the fragility of the system. No longer are the days when shops keep a warehouse full of inventory. It goes right off the trucks and onto the shelves. Downright startling when you think about 4+ dollar a gallon diesel and the cuts in pay many truckers have been hit with.
+1^10, at least.
One thing I learned after moving out of the big city is that the just-in-time logistic chain is very, very apparent – and very fragile. The stores out in the boonies are also somewhat dependent on them, but not as much (thankfully). This is because the mountain passes can get snowed in, and rainstorms can wash out roads. This is the same reason most folks who live in small towns and out in the sticks tend to stockpile as well.
In town? It’ll be one very rude shock if/when things stop flowing. Honestly? I doubt that any store that isn’t a big-box (Sam’s, Costco) will be bare of anything useful in less than six hours once a good, hard panic grips a city.
It isn’t just stores, either. I went to fill up the tank in town before going home Friday (I never have less than 1/2 tank). Because gas prices keep going up, there was one hell of a line of folks trying to get gas at nearly every local Fred Meyer (think: Kroger) gas station, because it’s 10 cents per gallon cheaper there with the loyalty card. While I was waiting, a gas truck pulled up and began emptying itself into the underground tanks. I had to wonder if it was scheduled, or rung up in a panic from the very busy attendants.
That got me to thinking… if the SHTF truly, I could easily skip gassing up and just get home on as little as 1/3 tank with plenty to spare (assuming I could drive the whole way). On the other hand, I figure that if/when it comes time to bug out, most folks will be lined up at the gas stations… and given the dick moves by some of the drivers there (e.g. pulling up to a pump when their filler cap was on the other side of the car, simply because the lines were shorter on the left side of the pumps)? It wouldn’t take much to turn into a full-throttle riot.
It’s taught me that always keeping at least a half tank of gas no matter what is a damned good thing.
It also teaches me that stocking up hard when grocery shopping is also a very good idea.
typo: “will be bare” should be “will have”.
Sorry ’bout that.
I’ve recently gone to a minimum 3 quarter tank policy. As soon as I use a quarter tank it gets filled up. And as much as a pain as it is, I’m considering going to a every two fill up.
Just figure if everyone keeps a half tank and then tries to fill up all at once when a disruption happens, the on-hand supply will disappear within a day or two.
If we’re lucky, we’re gonna be allowed to get 3 to 5 gallons at the most per any visit.
should be every two day or even every day fill up.
Two words: Jerry Cans
Keep ’em full and keep ’em rotated 🙂
I have a stupid question: my daughter’s bug is a diesel. is it a problem to keep the tank full, or should we let it get low?
and I have a comment on the rx situation: if you can, GET OFF ALL NON-ESSENTIAL MEDICATIONS now while you can! I stupidly allowed my family doc to put me on 2 meds due to pain following back surgery. it was free last year, but when this year rolled around, it was $300 for a 1 mo supply. no thanks! so I went off cold-turkey, not realizing how stupid THAT was. boy, was Feb/Mar hell for me & my family. still have the occasional “brain shivers”. ugh. but I’m on the other side and will just deal with the pain. I can’t imagine dealing with the withdrawal affects in a SHTF situation.
That’s why I now have 6 candor gas and 6 of diesel onhand. 3 of each both locations. Soon to increase that.
Keep my Tundra’s tank filled to the top. 15-5 gal jerry cans filled in the garage. Vespa motor scooter (75 mpg) sitting on stand by as potential primary form of transportation. Two full suspension Mt. Bikes on back up, just in case (just have to make sure I have sufficient fuel in MY system to keep them going).
75 gallons of gas x’s 75 mpg gives my about 5,625 miles worth of local travel, if the gas stays “lively” and, if people aren’t taking pot shots at annoying 2 cycle scooters zipping by in their neighborhood. Now let see, where can I mount my Benelli Super 90?
I use two vehicles; a little 20 gallon tanked truck and a 16 gallon SUV.
I very, very seldom let the truck get below a 1/2 tank and the SUV is ALWAYS full. Like some, I refill when I use a quarter.
So, in any situation, I usually have 30 gallons just in two cars…figure the tanks in the shed, dh’s truck and we’re okay for a few days!!
I saw one of those lines the other day here in PDX, recalled the recent gas lines in Britain, and thought OMG, WTF!? Calmed down when I got to the next station.
Same here.
What part of PDX?
I’m a chaplin at the local truck stop. We interact with 1,000s of drivers yearly. Seen many hang it up due to fuel costs. Fuel increases and/ or availability will have a huge impact which I believe is more likely to happen.. When diesel went over $4.50/gal we all started to feel the economic pinch and the truck stop lots were decreased by 40% of parked trucks. Over the past 5 years we have noticed drivers bused in during the wee hours of the morning(2-4am) to drive trucks out of the lots. Want to guess which side of the border they’re from?
They can live on $10 an hour. US-based truckers need at least double that to pay for their houses and support their families.
Joe Republic, you are right on. If the trucks don’t go, where do we get fuel for our vehicles? Not at the refinery that’s for sure.
This particular risk has driven my every thought for the last three years. It’s the most likely doomsday event, in a system where everything has become so ‘efficient’ it has become unstable.
The illusion of a never ending food supply at the market is a mirage. Before a hurricane or blizzard the stores are picked clean in a day. This will be way worse.
I can tell you that the price of everything is going to be going up…due to the price of fuel to the truckers. I filled up my Ford Diesel F-350 the other day…which has a 36 gallon tank….and it was $150.00 ! So, I can just imagine what the guys filling up hundred gallon tanks are paying. The fuel surcharges will be added to everything you buy…..and it is going to be happening soon. I’m now spending $1,200.00 a month to drive & do my job as an industrial sales rep. Buy all the preps you can today….because they will be more tomorrow !
Montgomery County Texas
vapor carburetors could solve this problem
http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/?page_id=986
Diesels are injected, not carburated
and as far as EPA is concerned carbs. for gasoline engines are out dated..all of the newer cars probably post 94 or so are injected or some form of injected..even if its throttle body type.
the EPA will never allow production built american vehicles to ever go back to a carb.
Right but it appears all this is is a pre-heater of some kind, that takes the fuel to… I guess… MORE (?) of a vapor state than just blowing it through an atomizer…
I have no idea why that would ever work. But for a moment I’m going to blindfold myself and assume it does.
If that’s how it works it should be adaptable to a fuel injector in some form or another. It would be some kind of pre-stage at the fuel rail.
Hogwash.
Modern engine management systems are as efficient as the internal combustion principle can possibly be. I was personally close to some of the people doing R&D on engine management at U of Michigan from 1994 to 2008 when I bugged out. They have the engines leaned out as far as they can without making them undriveable.
BTW “vapor carburetors” were the very first kind used on IC engines in the 1890s. They were obsolete by 1900.
This is why I’m glad I got a good used car that does 33 mpg. It ain’t the prettiest thing on the road, but it can get up a good speed if it has to, and can take a lot of punishment from any impromptu off-roading.
Trucks have a place, but IMHO unless it gets damned good mileage, that place isn’t post-SHTF.
I got a used station wagon and love it. One pal said, in amazement, “A station wagon?? How can you not get a truck?!?!” I said, “Well, you move furniture for a living. You use your pickup truck, as a pickup truck, daily. (He has a bigger truck too.) In my case, for the stuff I do, the station wagon is perfect. And if I need a big pickup truck, I’ll just rent the one from Home Depot.”
I can carry a lot of sh!t, and it’s still pretty decent on gas.
This is a good idea. If it’s pre-1973 or so, it will also be EMP-proof.
In 1998 I got stupid and went to Dallas Peterbilt and bought a new 379 extended hood Ultra cab. Two months later I bought a 1998 48’ 3000r Utility reefer. The Pete had two 147 gallon saddle tanks and the reefer had a 60 gallon tank. In 98, in Oklahoma I couldn’t put $300 worth of fuel on, no matter how empty I was. I got way spooked in 2004 when fuel got to $2.00 a gallon and by March of 2005 all of my equipment was setting at Ritchie Brothers equipment auction and was sold the same day. I have a friend that is still in the business and has the same rig and he tells me that he can stick $1000 in the tanks and not fill them up. If you are a runner you can burn a pair of tanks in two days, and most Owner/Operators are runners, they pay their own bills. Imagine $3000 a week in fuel. That $3000 in fuel automatically transmits to the end consumer/user. There is an old saying; “If you got a truck brought it.” I can tell you from up close experience the 2nd happiest day in a truck owner’s life is the day he is when he picks his new truck up. The “Happiest” day in his life is “when he sells it.”
you got that right, my first new trk was a 1968 Brockway with a 250 cummins and single axle, my last trk was a 1996 Pete. I haven’t even set in a trk in 14 yrs, the happest 14 yrs of my life.I just saved a few hundred by giving up my commercial license last month.
If you bought it, a truck brought it
A friend of mine has a large diesel pickup truck, and really, it doesn’t carry any more than a Ford F150 minivan would. Or a Plymouth Voyager. He got it thinking he’d get the IRS write-off, big surprise, he didn’t. He thinks it’s OK since he paid it off, but I dunno, he took a huge “opportunity cost” hit, money he could have used to pay off other stuff.
My F250 Diesel pickup 4WD cost $1,500 and has never let me down. Since it is older, it was easier to convert to run on recycled vegetable or motor oil. I used to drive a minivan, but it lacked the clearance and 4WD necessary to get to my retreat and the hauling capacity to build it.
Hammerun… I bought an older Volvo a 92 model in 1999 just to start out with and upgrade later. I hauled to Lear Auto Parts all over the midwest from Winchester,Virginia. Then came the $2.00 fuel prices in PA at Breezewood. Well I was only getting .85 mile running under a companies sticker and I was running my ass off. Then I had a breakdown, a flat and a payment. I was broke! Couldn’t pay my mortgage. And that was it for being an O/O. I went back to running milk up to Oneida,NY as a company driver. 2 yrs and nothing to show for it. $3000-4000 a week and couldn’t make it.
Most of our local gas stations where I live (SC) are cutting you off at $50.00. It is getting scary.
Chip, is that using a debit or credit card? That’s the bank and/or the card issuer. If it is cash, I’d really like to know.
I drive a gasoline fueled E250 provided by the company. I go through about $250-$300 worth of fuel per week. I’ve never run into an issue with me being cut off at the pump (corp credit card). A full fillup can exceed $100.00 here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
However, with my personal vehicle, my bank cuts the pump off at $50.00.
Dh has a diesel hauling logs from the field to the sawmill and from sawmills to other locations.
His diesel gets 7 miles to a gallon.
I’m a pizza delivery driver by trade and this has hit people in my industry especially hard. While gas is up nearly a dollar a gallon, our mileage compensation has barely changed. Worse, people have far less discretionary income and are less prone to order delivery and even less prone to tip well when it gets there. I saw all of this coming years ago and started trying to finish my education at that time. However, life got in the way and left me in a sort of limbo. I am trying desperately to cut my living expenses but the dollar keeps dropping and prices keep rising all the while my pay keeps declining.
I am terrified of what will come during the summer dead time and have started trying to prepare for a rocky time of it now. I already have a paid off, 40 mpg (city) car that is mechanically well-sorted (it saves me $200 a month over my last delivery vehicle). I also have a cache of spare parts to keep it running and can do all of my own repairs (including welding). I am growing a garden. I am almost out of all debt outside my mortgage. I have a few months of food storage. I neither drink nor smoke nor do any recreational drugs. I am working on a rain water retention system. I am armed (but have far too little ammo for my taste). However, should it truly hit the fan then I know I will not be prepared. There is just no way to do it when you make around $20k a year and real unemployment is at near Great Depression levels.
We’ve always said we’re a few truckless days away from choas.
Be prepared.
It’s said that the ‘average’ family in the United States USUALLY has somewhere from between three and seven days worth of food in their residences. I guess that after that they decide on which one of the kids to snack on first. Isn’t Bobby just a little bit bit chunkier than Sally?
We keep a two year supply and can shoot deer, squirrel, coons, and rabbits from the back porch if necessary. I think you are joking about eating children, but it happened during the siege of Samaria in the Bible, in China in the past, and in concentration camps in North Korea today.
A problem with shooting wildlife, the wildlife population will be decimated VERY quickly WTSHTF, that is almost everyone’s survival plan. They will shoot more than they need, have no place to store it, and it will spoil.
If the trucks stop rolling I would expect the power to eventually go out for a number of reasons so frozen food (steaks and hamburger) would go bad. Dehydrate some food it lasts a long time in and out of a freezer. I would recommend you start a garden, get a few chickens and maybe a goat, these will help you survive much longer than shooting off of your porch.
I wouldn’t count on any deer,squirrels ect, at least 75 million people are thinking the samething, 6 weeks without the trucks rolling, even an earth worm will not be safe.
Yo GG –
Of course I am joking about eating children! Your four-legged furry family members are also safe from my family and I. We collectively hope/expect to be long since dead before things descend into this sort of a hell here on earth.
God Bless & good luck to all.
The bigger problem is that this planet simply cannot support it’s human population without the factory farm system we have today. We rely on the rapid reproduction of fast-growing, low input, genetically modified (or selectively bred) organisms grown in ideal conditions to feed people in most of the developed world. Take that away and there is simply no way to feed everyone.
Look at how we raise beef cattle. These animals were never intended to eat corn and grow to maturity as fast as they do. They are force-fed food their systems were never designed to digest and given antibiotics and hormones to make it all work. Take away any one part of that infrastructure and we cannot produce enough beef.
Also look at what happened during the Great Depression. Forests were denuded of game animals in many locations due to non-existent regulations and people hunting them to near-extinction because they could no longer afford to buy food in the conventional way. Fast forward 80 years and the population has tripled, as has the demand for food. There is no way nature can supply enough of it to satisfy demand. Thus, there will be a starving time and a mass die off until the human population drops to a sustainable level. Until that happens though, hunting with a gun will just get you killed.
You will have to be skilled in killing game using quiet methods. These would include a bow and arrow, trapping, and any other way you can devise that does not give away your location.
Mac…
Do take a min to read this and if you can get the rights to …. repost it… great article… Alot of people are saying this.. but this guy can write… and clearly lays out the reality of the next few years…
http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=32217
Thanks SC — definitely a good read!
Great article. Scary to think that 70% of people have little to no savings.
Remember folks, when the SHTF, these companies are going to be gone overnight. Many of them are very poorly run.
Prepare yourself and your family.
That was posted on zerohedge this morning, too. Great read.
The author of the burning platoform describes our leaders and the media as clueless linear thinkers and therefore missing the point of what is happening. But I believe that they do not miss the point, they seek to obscure the point. When the Nazi Germany wanted to kill the Jews, they rounded them up and moved them to camps. Once there they told them to disrobe, shower and then rerobe after their long trip. The quietly herded them into the undressing rooms, then into the shower rooms. And once the doors were securely locked, the gas was turned on and there was no escape. And fighting was confined to inside the “shower room” as the Jews tried to find a way out.
Our founding fathers created a three legged stool of government to provide a system of checks and balances but they also considered a free media to be a critical, unofficial fourth leg of that stool. A free media would seek to find any info it could on government wrongdoings and runs a blockbuster story to boost sales and protect the democracy.
But the socialist/commiunists knew this and after repeated attempts at getting the uninterested American public interested in their new system of living, they decided to go Trojan Horse and work from within.
The politicians, econimists/bankiers, and media are NOT linear thinkers. They are enemies of democracy and freedom and deliberately feed the American public created news stories. By omiting a story or some of the facts they can redirect the opinions of this nations citizens. They can control our opinions and our behaviors. That is NOT linear thinking, it is psychological war. They know exactly what they are doing.
Agreed, they are indeed thinking several steps ahead of everyone.
Just imagine what will happen when after the crunch, when it’s the government that’s bringing in food to the sheeple. They’ll really have full control at this point, so I fully believe the rise in fuel prices is at the very least being partially implemented by the FEDS.
WOW! thanks for the link! nicely ties it all together…
Yes. That is an excellent blog. I found the book by Strauss & Howe – The Fourth Turning on that blog, checked it out of the library and read it last year. Very eye opening indeed. Explains a lot about our generations and where we are headed.
That is an excellent article well worth the read. This guy nails it completely. Thanks for sharing the link.
Pretty good article with many good points, but just a little too OWS-centric for my tastes…
the food in your house on average travelled 1500 miles to get there….Truckers are a crucial part of our system.
Hey lets not forget only a few ways across most large rivers, and how many main bridges cross the mississippi? a very few Imagine how goods will travel without those easy crossings When gas hits 8 bucks things will get very strange!!!!
I was in Naples Italy during its very prolonged and embarrassing garbage strike can attest to the fact that there is nothing like piles of garbage literally EVERYWHERE to make you feel like the SHTF.
Im kinda of lucky where I live. We have a plenty of oil and a refinery, a coal fired power plant that is sitting on top of its own coal, Lots or cows and farms, Plenty of mineral resources both in the ground and sitting in the junk yards.(EPA hasent cleaned them out yet)and a whole bunch of people who would just say good riddence when the trucks stop.
To us it would be a good thing. But I do feel bad for the city folks…..
Sounds like Hickville, USA and indeed it is a fine place to be.
I am a 3rd party logistics professional who moves freight all over the country every day. the spike in fuel prices have started to take affect the last week or two and everything is much more expensive. i would say that at a certain point in fuel prices, this transportation collapes can happen. im my opinion, i would say when diesel is at 8 or 10 dollars a gallon. i can imagin at that point shippers and trucking companies will start to not have the cash to keep up with rising costs. everyone is already on a very thin margin of profit.
Reginald denny beating. This video has to do with this topic, bug out topic, race relations topic, and gas lines topic. Whats that saying gerald celente says about future trends???????????
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc_SgpyJWRY
Guys like that give me hope. He was like, “WTF?? He’s a trucker, I’m a trucker, I’m not letting a fellow trucker down”.
Thats why I posted this one, instead of just R.D.’s beating. My little message, in a message, whithin a message. He is a HERO.
To all truckers…well, actually, to everyone.
Does everyone here carry a handgun in your vehicle, at all times? I would think everyone here does. I do. In fact, sometimes I carry two handguns. I also carry my BIB (Bug In Bag). It’s a small backpack that contains numerous provisions in case I need to abandon my vehicle to get home on foot, e.g. water filter, ammo, clothes, food, matches, etc., and in that bag I have at least 100 rds of .45 ammo.
The area that this truck driver was driving through before he was attacked, is probably one I would have avoided in the first place. But some dedicated drivers probably feel obligated to get the shipment through as a matter of pride. I was thinking that if I was in his seat and had my trusty “BIB” with me, what would I have done? Today, many of those rioters might be carrying, but back then it appeared they were not. Obviously shooting at the mob might just create a frenzy that would bring certain death. My MO is to take the path of least resistance, lay low till the storm passes over, but in his case, had he had a weapon, I wonder what might have been the consequences?
I’d like to think I could have “contained” myself, but with two .45’s and 100 rds and rioters trying to break in to my vehicle, I might having falling prey to my “assertive” side.
Seems to me that 18 wheels are a hell of a weapon against a mob…just sayin
what im going to tell you isnt going to make you feel any better..
facts are that probably more then 60% of these trucking companies are running on a wing and a prayer. (Im sure if i dug harder and longer I’d find that the 60% is probably very light)
Money problems, equipment issues, and piss poor management..
As it is anymore these days if it breathes they will put it behind the wheel of a 80,000 pound killing machine..
the driver experiance is at an all time low..watch yer self out there.
yeah lots of em are hangin on by their fingernails.
@all truck drivers- Since they have disarmed you (depending on where you are trucking to)) I suggest you start carrying 5 bottles of bear(pepper)spray. Not that small size for humans, get the ones that can turn back 3-4 people in 1 shot.
Bear spray FTW. Also, good idea to keep some carb cleaner for that carbureter you don’t have any more. It’s pretty stingy.
LOL. I used to haul up to the Bronx and Queens NY. I kept a loaded SKS w/ 30 rnds and 3 extra mags under my bunk. I wasn’t going to be outgunned.
Was there enough room to aim it at stuff from the bunk? I’d think a handgun would be better.
Interestingly, I saw a kit online today that replaces the upper of a Glock and turns it into a carbine. Costs around $400, unless you want a collapsible M4 stock too, then more like $480. At http://www.mechtechsys.com/glock.php – I think they have a kit for a 1911 also. You can also get picatinny rails etc. I’m not sure why someone would take a $400 handgun and spend another $400 on it to make it too big to conceal, when one can get an SKS for around $225-250. Perhaps the ammo being more common?
especially if equipped with a bic
Hornet spray. Shoots twenty feet and once they get it in their eyes game over.
http://askthetrucker.com/cdl-federal-gun-law/ A good article on guns in 18-wheelers going across country
my Grampa was a trucker all his life….carried a double barrel loaded with buckshot on the seat beside him most of those years….
… whats gonna really “BAKE EVERYONES NOODLE” when they finally wake up from their debt slavery state of mind … is ameriKa has over 200 years of oil reserves in its territories , oil fields already tapped and capped. just waiting for a truck to pull up and suck it out. not to mention 1000 of years of clean coal and the technology to use it safely. as well as other Tesla electro generators fuel free energy patents locked away by the oil and auto industries!!!
none of this is even necessary … NONE!
YOU are all suffering so a handful of rich YALE cia SKULL-n-BONES homo pricks and HARVARD fairies can tell each other they’re so much better than the common goyim debt slaves , as they play in the gay bath houses in chicago , new york and in wash d.c.!!!
This is who RUNS zionist fascist AMERIKA!!!
And they want you All Dead!!!
p.s. global warming is a scam. a complete fake eugenics population control scam!!!
@ninao- my noodle is already “baked”!!! Google is seriously starting to piss me off. Information getting harder and harder to find. Key words are throwing me around to useless bull$hit more frequently, Also, narratives on some videos getting changed to propogandized commie agenda bullshit. Storm clouds approaching, with the distinct smell of $HIT comming our way.
The fucking storm clouds have been coming forever now and this shit has always been headed our way! As far as I see it I will be an old man before any of this crap happens so at that point WHO GIVES A SHIT!!!!
Quote-“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations”-Iroquos.
You need to start thinking a little smarter. Things quite often take a long time to unfold. A nation as strong as the US was takes a long time to kill but eventually the death of a thousand cuts starts to have an effect. When that happens just like in a bull fight where the Picadors take their time weakening the bull the final act comes quickly.
@kev ;0) lmao … wow kev tell me how you really feel … i don’t even use cia nsa controlled google , facebook , myspace , yahoo , microsoft any more … they’re all working for The Man – Banker Illuminati and BILDERBOYBUGGERS!
try out startpage.com as a search engine ( i use three separate ones when searching for info ) , and then get a few anonymous encrypted email accounts around the world and also learn how to hide your i.p. address , mac address … FREEWARE Ubuntu is a solid ops also for your puters.
;0) frustration is a good sign kev… means your thinking!
Stay in the fight Kev! keep learning… keep feeding your mind… keep pushing the boundaries of your mind… the knowledge will save your life in the End! When they finally crash the markets to bring in their new world order (mark of the beast) RFID electronic carbon credit tax debt slave global money system!
remember @kev – There is a group of men in the world who cia puppet presidents an other captains of industry are very scared of… so scared they only whisper their names quietly in fear of Death!
These men do exist… they have their own private assassin army and literally own the world!
These are the men we must Fight!!! The Illuminati and their BilderBurger underlings!
KEEP LEARNING THE TRUTH!
I’ll See You on the Line!
Startpage pisses me off also because their “image”(so to speak) of some web sites and searches are 8-10 hours old sometimes, and by the way, they are “powered”by google. I am learning ways around the cencorship, google’s power can be “confused”.
Wilson spoke of group A. Andrew Jackson prevailed against group A’S assasins. Unfortunetly not many have prevailed since. Wilson sold us down the river, I hope he rots in HELL. *kevin yells*- I will wipe my A$$ with a 100,000 “dollar” bill one day* and I HOPE he TASTES IT!
Try ” ixquick” for a search engine its not bad
Ah, I see the FBI agent provocateur ‘bot has awakened.
I must respectfully disagree about the oil reserves in this country. Yes, we do have some available, and rather small quantities of oil, that is easy to get. We have lots, and lots of capped wells, very true. BUT…wells are capped because they are not economically viable. It costs money, and oil, to get oil out of the ground. Currently, the expenditure of 1 barrel of oil, will get roughly 3 to 5 barrels in return. Heading towards diminshing returns…
Sorry, there is no such thing as “clean coal”, the extraction and processing of coal is resource-intensive. Very messy, lots of water, and oil, used in the process. Natural gas is no better.
One thing people don’t want to hear about, and this is a very real concern, is the contamination of our fresh-water aquifers. This is a very real danger to us all. All the cheap gas in the world will be worth nothing, if we have no clean water to drink…
Um, it’s easy enough to distill drinking water using leftover process heat.
Getting coal out of the ground and running it straight to a powerplant as is common all over the country isn’t particularly resource-intensive at all. I live within 50 miles of several such operations. Other than the steam that emanates from the cooling towers, you’d have to be within half a mile to even know they were there. I’ve also observed the open-pit operations in Wyoming. Again, from a mile or two away you wouldn’t know they were there, save for the tall buildings.
The days of fouled water from coal mining are OVER. There’s plenty of evidence of where it WAS, (again, I live near some of it), but the mining process has been massively cleaned-up in the last 40 years, as has the combustion process that makes it into electricity.
Finally, let’s start talking about coal, and thorium reactors. Thorium extracted from coal fuels the reactor, the coal is converted to liquid fuel using some of the reactor energy. The thorium reactor was tested and proven at Oak Ridge forty years ago, but was ignored because it doesn’t breed plutonium.
You are still under the impression of the Peak Oil myth. There are huge supplies under Montana and Utah. There are just under 4000 wells sitting off the coast of Texas in the gulf, many capped. Why? to control the value of oil to consumers. Follow the $$. Question everything you read.
I was in the oil business 25 years and capped a lot of wells; NONE of them were profitable to produce, ; most made nothing, none made 1/2 a bbl per day; you are full of sh
…where I am you can find lots of old wells…pumped dry supposedly 100 years ago,with oil flowing out of the old pipes again…lots of wells are capped that blew the rigs apart when they came in….youre correct about there being lots of oil,and more gas and coal than we can use but this generation bought the enviro-kook song and dance about scarce fossil fuels not understanding that this earth is making more all the time!
——————————————————–
In reference to food its similar… people buy into the lie that this modern factory food system is what will save us …and that somehow this earth just cant support all these people,especially using honest farm methods and seed….the only shortage I see for real is a shortage of common sense and of people willing to call BS on all the establishments lies!
Its ALL about control…both the food and the fuel disinformation propaganda the PTB put out there for us to believe….how about a new rule(one I practice) If the govicorp and its sponsors say anything …reject it…look for the hook,its always in there somewhere!
It’s article after article of WHAT IFS…… what if all of this is bullshit and they are just making a living through sponsors…… What if? Here come all the negative ratings because I wouldn’t want them to THINK ABOUT IT!
What if you had a car accident? – car insurance.
What if you had a house fire? – home owners insurance.
What if your home was destroyed by a tornado? – home owners insurance.
What if you had a medical problem? – health insurance.
What if you were being sued for negligence? – liability insurance.
What if there is a disaster in your area?
What if there was a large scale disaster?
What if The Shit Hits the Fan?
Yup, article after article of possible “What If?” scenarios. Prep accordingly.
I have never understood the comparison of prepping to buying insurance. I have owned several homes without insuring them because I am not a debt slave and not required to do so. I only have health insurance because I was added to my wife’s policy when we got married.
With the possible exception of whole life, when insurance expires we are left with nothing, but food storage consumed before it expires and the costs of everything else is lowered. Silver alone has doubled since I bought it in 2010 and the price of everything else is going up.
Those who prepare properly are not buying insurance, but adopting a lifestyle that not only makes them more independent, but wealthier in the long run.
Risk is a probability or threat of a damage, injury, liability, loss, or other negative occurrence that is caused by external or internal vulnerabilities, and that may be neutralized through preemptive action.
Risk Management is the identification, analysis, assessment, control, and avoidance, minimization, or elimination of unacceptable risks through preemptive action.
Insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss through a commercial contract that creates a pool of insureds.
Prepping is a form of risk management wherein preemptive action is taken to mitigate, minimize and eliminate unacceptable (yet predictable) contingencies.
Preps are close enough to insurance to draw a comparison.
FWIW – as long as a person can afford to replace everything their possessions if they are suddenly gone (health, shelter, clothing, personal items, etc.) they don’t need insurance. But, insurance is a very inexpensive way to replace losses through shared risk… pennies on the dollar.
You missed the entire point that prepping is not risk management if done correctly because it can be a lifestyle which builds wealth that empowers one to pay cash for homes, cars, etc.
If you multiply the odds of an incident in any given year by the premium amount, you will usually find the total to exceed to value of the item being insured making it a poor financial decision. This is because you are paying the administrative costs and profit margin for the insurance company.
.
“Those who prepare properly” ARE INSURING themselves and their families against being cold, hungry and defenseless.
Prepping is precisely practicing risk management. Some stores may be a good long term asset, even for retirement purposes and even if those items only have value for barter, there is no argument there.
Striving for total off-grid self sufficiency is an excellent goal, but beyond the reach and scope of the average novice prepper.
The following statement applies only to extended warranties, “If you multiply the odds of an incident in any given year by the premium amount, you will usually find the total to exceed to value of the item being insured making it a poor financial decision.” Nice platitude until a disaster occurs on your property.
Average US homeowners insurance premium $680 per year. Paid for 30 years = $20,400.
US average construction cost = $150 per square foot. 2000 square foot home $150 = $200,000.
Average value of US household possessions = $75,000.
Replacement cost for a total loss of 2000 sq. ft. home and possessions (such as from a fire or weather like a Cat 5 hurricane or tornado, like in Joplin, MO, Tuscaloosa and B’ham, AL, Homestead, FL, New Orleans, LA) $275,000.
Is $680 per year too much to spend against the risk of a $275,000 loss? Don’t worry, FEMA will come to the rescue!
Mirbach: Your info is good except for that “average construction cost of $150 psf”. That looks high.
Is that from Marshall & Swift?
DK – new construction $85 – $150 psf depending on region and quality per M&S. Rebuild costs can go over $300 psf for tear down, debris removal, smoke/water damage mitigation, structural engineering, code upgrades…per Insurance Research Council, they also state that the average home is under insured 25 to 36% because materials and labor costs exceed the market price.
If material and labor costs are greater than the market value is it any wonder why housing starts are down?
Mirbach, FEMA will only ‘come to the rescue’ if you’re uninsured and as such, there are $-limits depending upon the damage. Most damaged homes that are owned and not insured won’t be classed as “destroyed” unless they’re essentially leveled. And those that are “destroyed” have a dollar-cap. Last time I checked it was $86,500. And you have to wade through red tape, then get-in-line.
Then there is the alternate issue of having an insurance policy with a small company that can’t handle the filed claims and goes belly-up. That takes years and years of waiting.
Best bet is to live debt free and be as self-reliant as possible. And never keep/maintain a home you cannot easily rebuild. But few people think this way and so it goes….
the problem is that all the situations you have stated are more likely to happen than any of the SHTF scenarios and time has proven that hasnt it now !!!!
It is much more likely that TPTB release an engineered virus to wipe out 95% of the global population than nothing happening at all.
History shows societal growth and decline in a predictable pi cycle regardless of personal belief systems. Famine, drought, pestilence, natural disasters and war are among the recurring events in the history of the human tragedy.
Here is an excellent article to illustrate a few events from recent history: http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=32217
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Was Katrina a SHTF event?
Was Frye Minikus a SHTF event?
Was the Crash of ’29 a SHTF event?
What Mount St. Helens a SHTF event?
What is the definition of SHTF event?
Size, scope, severity, duration, location and cause are independent aspects of a disaster. Whether or not it is a SHTF event depends on how it effects you.
Any SHTF stuff going on in Greece? Syria? Libya? South Sudan?
Was the 2004 Sumatran tsunami a SHTF event?
Was the 2010 Haitian Earthquake a SHTF event?
Was the 2011 Japan earthquake a SHTF event?
Will the New Madrid region suffer a major quake event?
Will the Fukushima Radiation poison the US food supply?
Will the unusually warm spring in the U.S. cause stronger and more violent weather this year? (Hurricanes and tornadoes)
Will the Trayvon incident be escalated into race wars or Martial Law?
Will profligate deficit government spending in the US and Europe lead to a global financial meltdown?
Will the endless creation of Federal Reserve Notes jeopardize their Global Reserve Currency Status?
Will the failure of a global bank lead to the triggering of the $800 Trillion in Credit Default Swaps causing a global financial meltdown?
Many probable events loom on our horizon.
Pray for the best, prepare for the worst.
Why do you come to this site if you feel so strongly nothing is going to happen? I bet every population in the history of the world was completely surprised after the fact of a disaster. Every mope going through their windshield during an accident felt they were one of the worlds greatest drivers and it was always the other guy that got smashed up. Surprise!
Stop reading it then.
yes but if the refineries are closed it won’t help much!
Okay, on today’s exchange rate..diesel today in the uk is $11.76 unleaded is $11 .30
This means you get
milk for 99 cents a pint
Cheese for $7.90 a pound (plain cheddar)
Bread $1.60 a loaf (supermarket own)
Lamb$8.00 a pound
Beef $12.00 a pound
Grapes$3.90 a pound
A lettuce $1.63
If you like the odd cigarette that will set you back, on average $10.16 for a pack of 20
Fuel is going up, on average about 4 cents a week, per gallon without the government added rises, they come twice a year, each rise is 19 cents a gallon (3p per litre)
Whatever you have to do to keep fuel costs down…I suggest you do it, and fast.
Take care
Burt
dear God in heaven
how do people survive with prices like that?
it’s bad enough here in the States
you need to think about emigrating ??
I think what is happening in the UK is just a warning to us here
God bless you Burt
Satori….with difficulty lol
Take care
Burt you people are rich! You must be, to survive if costs are that high.
You do have a decent public transportation system (easy when your whole country is the size of a so-so US state) and in a lot of ways it’s comparing apples and oranges …. but wow those are pretty high prices for food.
We are not rich trust me, those with debt are sinking, not paying in order to feed theirs families. Those of us with out debt ( i have a very small morgage having paid over in years gone by)cut back on everything in order to feed our families. You buy cheaper and cheaper meat, less and less cheese, whatever fruit and veg are cheap that visit. This is why people eat so much mass produced crap….it is cheaper than proper food.
People are not used to leftovers, they are not used to making do, cutting back on crap to get quality, even if it is a smaller amount than you would like. They cannot cook properly and therefore have no idea on how to manage their food supplies.
I have had to have a major rethink over the last year, but it can be done, we eat fresh and well, not the best of the best but good solid food that requires longer or different cooking methods to tenderise it, shop later at markets to get discounts etc.make soups, freezing the excess for other days.
Even with all these “tricks” if prices keep rising I will have to think again and find new solutions.
It is really worrying, I spend several hours a week working out which shop is cheaper for which products. Public transport would not do for me right now, I could not possibly get my child to breakfast club and get to work on time, same with getting off work and picking her up from after school club. Just not enough time, and operating theatres will not wait.
Take care
DT. I agree public transport should be the solution but outside of London it is totally crap. Two buses to get kid to school for breakfast club so I can go to work, walk from school to bus stop for a bus that comes every twenty minutes…late for work already. Bus routes go miles to get anywhere because there are just not enough routes so they go up and down and around and around taking 45 minutes to do a 10 minute car trip….there are not enough hours in the day sadly.
Then there is the cost, you can buy monthly passes to save a couple of quid, £56.00 per four weeks for me, £28.00 for the child. Using the car weekdays only for school and work I spend £60.00 on fuel and save 50 hours a month. I know with tax and insurance that 60 goes up, but there’s not enough in it to make me think it is worth that many hours a month to dump the car
@carolie u.k. … you should come to the states … montana wyoming areas … there’s a need here for trained nurses … jobs available. this area will remain stable mostly as the world goes to doo doo.
chat with @ms. daisy of it.
she can sponser you!
get you to canada for a fresh start then go from there!
england is toast! its only going to get worse there!
just ideas for you while your still young!
you have other options with such education skills as yours!
food for thought!
~NinaO
Hiya Nina
I have considered it believe me, but the medical costs alone would finish me off, shoulder this year and various other joints in years to come….and I am over he age limit now.
As nice as it is to dream Britain it is…toasted or not.
If I am honest I think that life is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better where ever a person is based, some of us just seem to be getting it sooner than others.
Nope, the name of the game is to get my little girl as self reliant as I possibly can, keep her educated and fed, give her the tools to make a life or herself and the ability to question and make decisions for herself. My hope is that real currency will be plentiful enough or her to leave if he wants to…having said that they are trying to charge £31.00 per silver round right now so I am still collecting junk hallmarked silver from wherever I can get it when finances permit.
No, it is all in the hands of God now. All I can do is use the brains and abilities He gave me. I am seeking ways to increase my non lead based weaponry, increase my food stores etc and as usual shtfplan gives me a fair few ideas.
Well it’s midnight….time for bed.
Take care my friend x
Take care
Holy smokes…
That’s the funny thing about economics. Until people have hit their tolerance on a product’s price, they’ll continue to pay. When people have decided that a product’s unit price is simply “not worth the cost”, the demand decreases and the price lowers. When people have truly “had enough”, they’ll become more pro-active and become re-connected with their food, maybe even getting their hands dirty to grow food themselves. Until then, they are dependents and must either tolerate this inflationary period or do without.
Truckers have a miserable job. I have CDLs and the Fed Gov has turned the whole license process into a guantlet of rules and regulations. Let the public see what life would be like without truckers and they would venerate them.
If think things are crazy now, just wait until people start going cold turkey off the psych meds. Think of all the mass shooting incidents that were in part due to people who were not taking their antidepressants like they should.
I know, scary thought huh! To think! It was the government that has put thousands of people on drugs for ADHD because they were their own person! Not some government controlled, conforming zombie! Makes me laugh out of pity.
The biggest thing I see coming is hyperinflation. Between money printing and the loss of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The electrical grid will go down when too many people can’t afford to pay their $1,000 or $10,000 or $100,000 electric bills. Once the electrical grip goes down it will only be a matter of time before millions of people are hungry and desperate. Even an average law-abiding citizen will become dangerous when their children are hungry.
there is nothing gonna cause the entire trucks everywhere to just quit working. pandemics, nuclear bombs and emps will only affect a small region. not the entire country. even if money becomes worthless businesses will barter between themselves and customers. as long as there is a need there is someone willing to supply it.
Businesses won’t be able to barter. They won’t have electricity to operate. They won’t be able to pay their workers. Their workers will have no way to buy food or gasoline.
If all trucks shut down they would start to move a lot by train…. and truck it from there…
As in at least get it local then just truck it within state,,, Just in my state there are so many train stations they would need to truck stuff 10 miles at most!
A transisition back to that will take time. Goods will get through, but not in the massive quantities we have become used to, or at the same price point.
The people who came up with JIT delivery (I think it was born in Japan), have been thought of as geniouses. They will be cursed as soon as the Twinkies run short. USA has taken JIT to insane levels. I have seen it in the Automotive industry. For our food supply it will prove to have been lunacy. USA wuill have to make a painful switch back to more local supply. Sorry, all produce is not in season all year long.
in our state, all the tracks have been torn up and black topped for walking and bike paths for yrs.Many of us back in the fifties and sixties when they were tearing up the tracks said that we would need those railroads someday and the day is almost here
as it could be true that maybe only a few towns in certain areas could be affected…what if you couldnt travel far enough to escape the area? you in fact would be living in a SHTF senario..even if 500 miles away no one was affected as your area is..and as the days go by , it just becomes worse..and you only had a 6 pack and a pizza last night and the fridge is empty and cupboards bare….all different possibilities for sommeone to find themselfs in a bad situation beyond their own doing, ..that is if they didnt prep any
The whole country will be affected. The collapse of the dollar will affect everyone in every city and town in America.
Percival, you’re naive.
Cut the gas supply to trucks and those 18-wheelers will quit rolling.
Did you not hear me???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=051VhDUyras
You need to study how complex systems fail. Look at it this way; can they do what needs to be done in 3 days? That’s all they have; If it’s a big problem. The amswer is No From then on the problem gets worse faster than they can fix it.
I live in a small town in the North East. It is 1.30 for a cheap loaf of white bread. 4.19 for a gallon of milk. And I think 5.61 or so for a pack of Camels. Oh and 4.00 for a quart of fucking apple juice!
Shane…a gallon of milk for $4.19….. Oh I wish, that’s under £2, for a gallon. Just under£8.00 for that here.
Take care
Invest in a hollstein milk cow.. Or a female goat .. Never Buy milk again
Problem solved!!
Holstein! No way!! Buy a Jersey. A Jersey will cost less to feed if you aren’t able to turn her out into the fields. She has a higher butter fat yield than a Holstein so easier to make cheese and butter. Holsteins are just big fat eaters that produce a lot of SHTF for a lot of watery milk.
I grew up on a small family farm with a couple hundred Jerseys. No barns for them, just grass 12 months of the year.
I just paid $5.97 for a gallon of milk today. If I’d gotten organic, which is my preference, it would have been over $10!!!
Is that american(unconstitutional)”dollars”, or canadian funny money???
Kev ~ It’s Canadian – but there’s only a 6 cent difference in the dollar right now, so it’s effectively the same amount. 🙂
Sorry got the gins mixed up…just under $8
My last pay-check was four days late. Our hours are less, because there is less freight, but several people who owe this delivery company thousands, will not pay. Six years of less care, the trucks are falling apart. It is a small company, but in the last year, thirteen drivers have become seven. Two of us are now part-time. How Bob keeps us going, I have no idea.
As an accountant I’ve seen how this works: if your customer’s customers paid them, they could pay you, and your company could pay the bills that they can’t pay right now.
I worked for a company where their biggest customer was behind in their bills so the company I worked for was behind in their bills.
that’s the way it goes, if you don’t pay Peter, he can’t pay Paul then Paul can’t pay his creditors, down we all go except the chosen few that Brenake and obama bail out.
Crisp $10 Bills…. Silver coins & Dollars…. #10 cans….and Plenty of ammo. the shit will hit the fan real soon. Prepare folks.
I have my trusty Mule(ass) and a kart he pulls if i need to get around if SHTF – he is great on fuel.. Just Add some grass and water.. And he will keep going and going and going!
Where theres a will there is a way!!
Hiya realist
The only ass I’ve got is my own lol. I envy you having a spare one you can rely on.
Seriously, your animal will be a major asset soon I think.
Take care
LIKE I SAID.. WHERE THERE IS A WILL.. THERE IS A WAY..
JUST LOOK AT KEVIN AND HIS OBSESSION OF BEING PREMATURE..FIRST!!
HUMANS WILL ADAPT..STRUGGLE BUT ALSO SURVIVE.. HISTORY WILL SHOW US THAT.. OVER AND OVER..
***checks the recipe book for Mule rissols…***
Have noticed ammo has been real low in VA the last 3-4 weeks. Any ideas?
Sorry, we didn’t mean to buy it all. Check back next month.
😉
I just went to Target today and if the swarms of sheeple on the Easter candy aisle are any indication of how shelves will be empty and people will be searching for goods….I’M GLAD I HAVE MY PREPS NOW!!!
dont go charging everything on your credit card because if something does not go wrong you could be paying some interest. Just use common sense and have protection and guns, have lots of water available and use common sense. I see some of these preppers who spend 80,000 grand on food. i would say many older people wont survive and that will leave extra food and just be in shape and keep flexible and if you have any addictions get off of them now so if you need something you can manage without it,
I put all my preps on my credit cards. It was the only way I could pay for them. I’m sure we spent less than $10,000 on a year’s food, water, guns, ammo and other supplies for 4 people.
“Take from them in Inches … what you can in Yards!”
~chinese communist proverb
AmeriKa and the other NATO countries are/ is basically already a zionist fascist state Ruled over by the U.N. , which is Ruled over by the Bank of England Family Rothschilds!
Both IMF NWO CFR cia puppets barry soetoro and leon penetta have acknowledge this to the israeli zionist controlled corrupt bribed puppet u.s. congress and the u.s. supreme court is owned by the bilderbergers-bilderboybuggers illuminati!
So essentially we are All Screwed!
This is All planned Out … they will slowly squeeze every penny out of the peoples of the world while continuing to hyper inflate the dollar … leave no piggy bank unturned … then “BAM” crash the dollar … bank holiday … seize retirement funds , personal safety boxes , etc etc
call nwo u.n. martial law…
Then roll out a new currency for you All just in time to save you All and the World from certain financial doom!
Your dollars will drop in value by 40% over night / the weekend and you’ll be required to use your thumb print and retina scan for everything… with a RFID CHIP embedded in the back of your hand!
Then you All will TRULY BE SLAVES!!!
“All together now … “SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT…”
we’re ALL gonna beee IMF NWO CFR global U.N. CARBON CREDIT TAX DEBT GOYIM SLAVES!”
~NinaO
What could shut down the entire trucking industry and probably number one threat is a plague. It could come from some favela in India or Bangladesh as the perfect breeding ground for the next super germ because of the total lack of sanitation and the hot humid conditions, perfect petri dish for a virus or bacteria. It could also come from some terrorist or even a country. WHEN it comes it will take down everything. I say WHEN because this is how nature operates.
The noble trucker is someone that we better not take for granted. I can’t drive a big rig, and it would take me much training to even get the basics. Those people that tirelessly drive our lifelines go down with sickness and we are screwed so horribly. The poor trucker would be one of the first to catch a sickness also because of all the different places they visit and eat at. Those trucks they drive takes experience and most people could not handle them.
The government is slow as molasses when it comes to getting aid to one area, case in point New Orleans. Now try to imagine what a nightmare it would be to try to tranverse the entire country. Those trucks also supply much of the goods that are necessary for the manufacturing of food goods also. Could they air drop food like in the fictional Jericho TV series, oh I sure liked that series, Yes and have riots the nanosecond the food and supplies hit the ground.
What would I be stocking up in case something like this happened? Besides the usual water, water filters, food, fuel, etc. I would also stock up on the following if someone can afford it.
Portable toilet. Your toilet may not flush because the water is off and you don’t have the water anywhere to make it flush. Waste breeds disease quickly. One of the number one killers of people before toilets was diseases related to lack of human waste disposal. Cholera for one will kill you without antibiotics which will also be in short supply after chaos develops.
Toilet paper, even some that has alcohol type wipes in case you cannot clean yourself, no shower or bath for awhile. Wiping your backside with something just plain sucks.
Plastic trash bags, preferred tough with drawstrings. These little gems people will fight and trade much over because without them your trash and refuse will collect and stink and draw animals and disease with them. Trash that is bagged is so much easier to get ready of also.
Disinfection agents. One word, bleach. Not only may you have to purify water, but also clean out countless other items, like dirty dishes. Also lots of anti-bacterial soap.
Paper towels. Cannot have enough of them. Paper towels with come in mega handy with helping to purify water, to clean up messes, wiping your hands off with since hand towels you may not be able to wash in the washing machine, straining things, etc, etc, etc. Have lots of them ready.
Candles. It is a nightmare to have no light at night, and the power grid is likely to go to hell after the supplies to keep it up and running are not able to be sent to the power compaines. Candles also can cook small amounts of food or heat and boil water. Candles are cheap and when they go on sale they are well worth the money for everyone.
Batteries. You source to the world may depend on keeping your radio or shortwave functioning. Most computer and cell services are likely to be gone. Batteries that can be recharged by solar would be wonderful to have, or by some of those hand cranked devices. Even a nice stock of disposable batteries is something.
Defense. Everyone needs to be able to somehow protect themselves and should absolutely never assume that law enforcement will handle it whereever they live.
First aid. Stock up as much as you can, help will be coming from your own resources.
Cash money. you will not believe how fast the credit system is trashed and any merchants that are still around will ONLY accept cash money. After awhile they probably will only accept hard currency, then only barter items. Plastic credit cards will be of less value than the plastic they are made of.
Fire starters. This includes matches, lighters, fire gels, charcoal fluids, etc. You will not believe how many people do not have much of anything to actually start a fire in their homes, especially fire fluids to get a fire going a lot quicker than normally it would. People are going to need fire at one point for all sorts of reasons, especially to cook with.
Everyday items. Just look at what you use on a daily or even a weekly basis and get more of it. The stores won’t be open to replace what you use and need.
I could go on and on, but instead I give this one piece of advice. Consider what you will need on a very extensive camping trip, say a couple of months. Every person will differ, but when you personally can make up yuour own list of what you will need if you packed up and went to the mountains or an island or something, what you need, this is half the battle. The next is to obtain what you need. If you can afford it get everything you use and need, when you can’t afford it get the absolute necessities.
A trucking disaster is but one of the many catastrophes that could happen, and everyone should understand that the infrastructure of the U.S. and almost all countries is much more frail than people realize. One little cough or sneeze and we could in a couple of weeks all be totally paralyzed along with the trucks, our life lines.
We have 1500 gallons of water in our basement. Our toilets will be a 5 gallon bucket with a snap-on toilet seat. We’ll line them with garbage bags and use kitty litter to cover the smell.
After the collapse it will be too dangerous to go outside to collect water. Not just from all the desperate people. But also from dogs that are let loose.
@ Barn Cat. People like yourself make others proud that they can call themselves preppers or survivalists. I have talked with non preppers and they say that they can just go down to the stream or river and get water. It is not only dangerous, but if vechicles are not working water is heavy, 8.33 pounds per gallon. Travel over a mile and this is tough. I like the idea with cat litter, this is clever. Some cat litter has disinfective in it, but nothing a little bleach couldn’t handle.
If shortages arise, preppers (soon to be disparaged as SURVIVALISTS/HOARDERS) will be blamed, even though supplies you bought six months ago have long since been replaced on store shelves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEvxcZeQyNk&feature=related For you cat!!
We are fortunate here. Lots of game. Venison in the freezer. Archery turkey season starts next week. About to cook up a 15 inch trout I caught ten minutes from my house yesterday afternoon. Just tilled the garden this past weekend and still have vegetables we canned last fall. Started seeds indoors. Stocked up on Ball jars this past winter as I expect them to become more expensive soon. Rain barrels go into place once the freezes are over for sure.
If the power grid goes down in the winter, though, we are toast as it stands. Have to put up wood and get a wood stove installed this summer.
If the trucks stop running I expect it will get really ugly really quick in the cities. Even here, there will be desperate people. Open carry is legal here, and if things get silly I plan to exercise that right just to ensure that people stay polite.
This economy is based primarily on creating money through leveraging debt rather than on production of real goods. If the financial sector falls, or the dollar crashes, that does not mean the country falls. Getting back to basics, both in our own lives and with regards to the constitution, may be what this nation needs in order to be healthy again.
The refinery’s are really what is going to make it for the trucker.The oil is now at a market price for world climax. It’s just not coming in any more the other county’s of the world are in a frenzy.The choke hold has begun.We have oil and Gas.Maybe not the greatest amount but some.The peak oil hit they say in 2005 2006.Maybe yes maybe no.This is really not about oil if you ask me. it’s about people.Changing people make oil a matter for them to fix on get caught up in.See Like a smoke screen for say.Then other way’s and mean can be done by the goverment to greater control our lives.The smallest chip can break a dam.
get small, get local, get organic.
tropiculture. get some if you can.
I work in manufacturing, making parts for an aircraft company. All parts are “just in time”. We have recently had difficulty aquiring tooling from foriegn suppliers, which affects “just in time” manufactuing.
You might be unpleasantly surprised to find out how much of our basic tooling manufacturing has been outsourced to foriegn countries. Our industrial base has been stripped from America to very dangerous levels. This, too will affect everything if/when TSHTF.
Very good article. What jumped into my mind was; What if every trucker in the country went on a national strike for 24 hours to demand CHANGE and to demand that the Constitution be upheld and reaserted and to force draconian laws to be repealed emmidiately. And if not successful, then followed by a ten day strike. It would seem that truckers may hold the key to provide the United States the “change” that was “promised” to the people three years ago, because without them ……. It’s over.
Truckers could have a party …..! A tea party that is!
What surprised me a couple years ago, was the fact that the biggest US oil producer was in fact number 14th in world production. So most major oil companies aren’t even American owned! They are owned and operated by foreigners!!!
NOBODY CARES “KEV”
Not only is the cost of fuel a problem for the trucking industry, but there’s also the road use tax and the plate sticker, at $2500 each. That’s $5 grand just to be on the road, each and every year(like property tax!)for each semi.
Since it’s against federal regulations and a federal offense, we will not carry a gun in the semi. We are limited to 14 hour days, 11 driving, 3 downtime. Most times, we’re limited by sunrise and sunset regulations.
@Be Informed, great list. In my tool box, I also keep a 9volt battery and fine steel wool, great for a fire stater. And Thanks for the respect you have for truckers, we’ve been at it for over 3 decades and I am so proud of my husband and his professionalism.
Have we forgotten, or did you young ones ever even know, that our world class Interstate highway system was originally called the “National Defense Highway System”? The specific purpose of which was to insure the rapid movement of military equipment and the logistic support of troops in a national emergency. These days however 95% of all drivers take for granted that this marvelous web of highways was built for the almost exclusive use of private passenger cars, and that truckers are somehow little more than a necessary evil to be tolerated and bitched at. I’ve logged well over a million miles in my career, and have the same respect for professional truckers most people have for their Dentist, or their Minister, or the Mail carrier or experienced Policemen or attorneys. When you live out there it doesn’t take very long at all to get to know the best and the worst, and in general and on average the best are the career truck drivers. If you want to argue the point find someone who “knows everything” and have at it, but the reality is that it’s not even debatable. We’ve all seen the twits with cellphones plastered to the side of their head, or mounted on the dash, or even hanging in their ears, eating, reading the paper, doing their makeup and driving like the idiots they are. Most of us wish it were legal to pull them over and urinate on them so they could go from being poor drivers to being piss-poor. Whether you like it or not the super highways belong to the commercial vehicles that keep this nation running, that was, and is, their first and most important purpose and you’ll do well to remember that. If you’re driving a passenger vehicle you are a “secondary user” and that Semi you’re passing may very well pay more highway use tax in one trip than you’ll pay in ten years of everyday driving. And the writer of the article is absolutely correct in most of what he says, we are indeed living with a “just in time” restock system that is dangerously inadequate should there be a real national emergency. Also (and even more scary)it cannot be denied that our entire civil system is being tested like no other time in our history as a nation, and some minor issue that would not normally be sneezed at could very well set off a chain of events in this time of pervasive anger that could result in a worldwide breakdown of civil order and perhaps (even likely) a global war which we may not survive. If you don’t already have some necessary staples in storage it may be a good time to consider it. What you can buy right now for $500 could be worth hundreds of thousands in a worst case event. It’s something to think about.
I think Eisenhower insisted that one mile in five be straight in case it had to be used as a runway. Amazing how some people like to use their 2500# car to challenge an 80,000# truck. Cars usually lose that argument.
GREAT article. I work in a grocery store and just recently had the pleasure of being able to chat with a truck driver. He said that he worked for a company but they had surcharges. He told me the food was going to keep going upi , we were talking about the price of food and he told me to stock up, especially on corn based foods and sugars. He said it was going to get really bad. I thank God everyday how he has put me in a position to be with the public because you really hear what is goingon.I am very blessed to be able to talk with the public and it seems that almost everyone I talk to thinks something bad is going to happen, which makes me feel less crazy because we all can not be wrong. Being in a grocery store allows me to see really know how fragile the system is. Our “stock room” is small and we get deliveries at least 2 times a week. If the truckers did not come we would be outta food in NO time. These men and woman are the heart of our everyday functions that we give no thought to so to all you truckers if you see this THANK YOU for your hard work, time away from your families, and lack of sleep so that we may have what we need. You are an army of your own so thank you for your service.
If anything this article and discussion tells us that cities are death traps. None of us with the exception of people that live in rural areas consume anything that is local. We all subsist on ‘stuff’ delivered over thousands of miles (this uses a lot of oil) and are dependent on the mass delivery of fuel oil, water, gas, electricity, etc. If there is a profound crisis then 90% of us would probably die quite quickly.
Nobody is going to stop supply and demand or trucks. Knock off the BS
Who says. Have you a crystal ball. Oil supplies are getting tight (either through manipulation or in reality) and the cost of all oil based fuels (heating oil, petrol, jet fuel) are rising.
Take a scenario. A war that breaks out in the Middle East. Not only will oil supplies be constrained the cost per barrel will jump also – $200+ and more. So you don’t think that will be a problem for the trucking industry. It won’t be a case of having to find the extra money there may be no or limited supply.
Given that the US will soon have three carriers (with another in the Atlantic) and two marine assault carriers off the coast of Iran it may be a scenario that comes to pass.
Yea, guess I’d best head down to my State runned local medicine cabinet an stock up on my stress and anxiety prescriptions. Yea, hehe, I prescribe my own prescriptions. Hehehe, life’s hell aint it? Yea, hehehehe, some folks might wan’t to take the easy way out and simply sponge off those Derelicts of Homeland Stupidity at those FEMA detention facilities when times get a little on the rough side, and some of us might decide to play a little hide and seek if they declare their Peacetime Martial Law. Hehehe, Yea, Hells on the Horizon???
Does anyone know how evil the federal gov. is? 911, OK City, Libya, Inflation(soon to be hyperinflation)etc.
To: Pauly Says
Some, but not nearly enough realize how evil…I learned about 5 years ago but when I talk about it to others it is sad to hear their comments of unbelief that they are “that” bad. I understand because I was born in 1944 and learned at home, school and church that our country and gov were the best in the world. I liked it, believed it and went into the military and never had a clue that there was evil in our gov. I lived in a few 3rd world countries and that convinced me we were the best. Was a couple years after the 9-11 event that a friend grilled me about that event and a lot of others butI defended my country and myself as best I could but deep down inside me I was not happy with my answers. They just did not stand up to my own standards so I started asking questions and poking around and darned if I did not find answers that did make sense. So Pauly, some know, but the masses are going to be hard to convince that they need to take a deeper look because their beliefs are being threatened and when they do not have good answers they mostly tend to turn apathetic or toward their religion and just say that there is nothing they can do and God or Jesus will take care of them. That is dangerous as according to the Bible we are here to be tested, this is not our heaven, at least not yet. Some will say they will vote for better politicians thinking that one party is better than the other, forgetting that both of the parties are being legally bribed to do whatever the lobbyists bribe them to do. They do not yet realize that it makes absolutely no difference which party is running things as long as they can be legally bribed. I try not to just put out one line comments telling them they are being fooled, but do my best to try and ask questions that they will no longer be happy with their own answers. Is hard for the masses to realize that our news media is being led in the same manner as most of congressmen. They, and most will bulk when they hear or see some of the names used to refer to the real powers within our country, as the masses are told that those names are silly, stupid or crazy. People who do know are called names like Truthers, Birthers, Conspiracy Nuts, or Tea Party Terrorists. The masses are being sort of brainwashed; much the same as I was. I love my country, been all over the world and have seen that ours was the best; at least until I was able to listen and learn. I still love America, and have hope that we can turn things around and stop this madness. Yes, madness, for goodness sakes look at our debt and that alone should get everyone’s attention; not so, they think that re-electing or electing the other party will fix everything. They will even fight about that. The ones who pay the lobbyists to bribe our politicians are the ones who tell them what to do. Someone above mentioned about “follow the dollar” and I have told that to many because that is exactly what is happening to our once lovely country. We need to help our fellow Americans to learn that things are not as they seem. That the party makes no difference; that those who bribe our gov leaders are the ones who are running things. That is why we have failed miserably in all gov attempts to wage war on drugs, or booze, or obesity, or taxation, or jobs or wars and on and on we go. None of those are being handled in such a manner to fix things. Take a look at the war on drugs, been in place 30 or 40 years or so and did we cure the problem – no. War – since WWII have we really solved any problems – nope. I saw electric cars in the 50’s, Mercedes in the 1800’s and did we fix that – not yet. Our unemployment- Millions of unemployed and millions of illegals taking our jobs- did the gov fix that – nope. We have plenty of oil, do we drill and not buy from foreign sources – no.
We need to ask our friends and family why not. Ask them to follow the dollar and they will soon learn the lobbyists are bribing our leaders with dollars, and when they see that hopefully they will be more open to learn who those people really are and hopefully more willing to call them by names they are now afraid to use, names like we see in some of posts here.
Can we fix America – I know that if we identify the problems and fix them we just might have a chance for some real change. If we don’t; things will get worse until we become a 3rd world country. I lived in them, married one of them, but retired here because we are not yet that bad.
One other thought to ponder is that no matter what happens to our once lovely country, our leaders are not one bit concerned as with all their gravy gov jobs and all that gravy money they get from the bribing lobbyists; they have no fear because they will be the wealthy and they will be able to live a life of luxury. No chance they will stop their gravy train unless we wake up and start to think and then scrape the scabs from our eyes..from our media enforced brainwashing…….
My 91 Mom got her bill for Obamacare today. She was told, by mail, that her supplemental coverage was valued at $4500 and would appear on her next W-2 (for 2012 taxes). Some people with family coverage will be getting W-2’s for about $15,000.
Correction, 91 Year old Mom.
I’m in the Spokane area at the moment: Walmart is having a sale on long storage food in #10 cans. Butter. veges, Tvp, flour lots of stuff.
The most interesting thing is this is an “official” report of something which has been discussed in survival and “doomer” forums for decades now. This tells me the powers that be are getting nervous. In the context of what is going on in the UK regarding panic buying and chaos at fuel stations it is interesting this study came out now.
The theme of stores being emptied out of stuff within a few hours or days is a common theme of most doomer books and movies. So nothing new there IMHO. what is new is this is an American Trucking Association no BS assessment of what will happen if the trucks stop running for 72 hours. As such, it should get some mainstream news coverage, or at least it should. I assure all you country dwellers that the urban mob will not take kindly to having empty store shelves!
By the way, I wrote an e book covering a lot of these logistics issues related to a Solar Flare induced EMP taking down the electric grid. Click on my website link above or if that doesn’t work go to amazon.com and do a search under my name Doug McIntosh for the book Day of the Dogs.
There are many many things that could cause what I call the “logistics dance” to stop which means everybody should have at least 30 days of stuff stored in their homes or apartments. That is actually on the low end of the spectrum IMHO>
Enjoy the very thoughfull information and concern we have for one another the return to the Creators righteousness is in order and the erronious and abusive systems must fo by the wayside gradually and some suddenly . Most people do not realize why they are here, born in certain areas, and there is wheat among the tares to grow together for one in charge to exercise the seperation. the conduct of many each determines ones futher . may the genuine freedom come forth the counterfit usualkly comes as an angel of light (counterfit)
Speaking of the rising price of gasoline, its getting very interesting to see what people are driving. My son drives 60 mile round trip to his job in NC and drives a beat-up old GEO that literally survived a direct hit from an F3 tornado that was in the Lowes parking lot last year in Sanford NC.. he replaced some body parts, the window is now trashbag/duct-tape covered, and the best part is that she runs! 45mph, doesn ‘t worry much about it getting stolen either. People are going to have to become innovative and resourceful. Gas prices are only going to go up!
Great article! Living in the Sierra Nevada Mtns in No Calif, a small and depressed community, this article really hits home! We are at the far end of the supply chain when it comes to essentials, and most people leave the area to get their essentials. They are myopic in that they truly believe this area is fireproof and there will always be deliveries of needed products! Unbelievable, but they believe it! What a disaster waiting to happen, and the bad part about it is that the people being trusted to insure the welfare of the (M)asses are just as myopic as they! They have no plan, no clue and no ability to do much beyond wring their hands! Some, but few, are not this way, but not enuff! Again, great article!
Real stupid question here: if I should buy “jerry cans,” should I keep them in the back of my pickup, with a chain strung through the handles, and LOCKED? Or, am I asking for trouble?
…I keep one for filling in the back of my old pickup(for refilling and emergencies)I top it off or refill it when I get to town every couple weeks…I keep it padlocked to the rack to keep it secure…havnt had any trouble withit thusfar…
Old story… but a good one
The last time the crooks put the screws to us (1929), we should have given THEM a beating they could never forget.I see innocence being punished with starvation and the most lowly of depravities rewarded with money, a meal, and bed.
Dump the Fed. Dr. Ron Paul for president. OUR MILITARY gave him more money than to every other candidate combined!
The trucks have stopped running due to a large scale EMP TODAY. What will be the 1st thing you will do? Run to the grocery store and plunder as much food as possible? Stay home and protect what you have? Stare at your tv and wonder when it’s going to come back on? oh my American Idol aint on dammit..LOL! Pack up your crap and go stay with fellow family/friends? walking remember your car is dead unless it’s old and I mean old.
Really what is the 1st thing people would do?
Myself I’d stay put and protect what I have! Since my car or truck wont work I can’t pack out the preps I have. So stay and protect from idiots that have nothing!
As a truck driver, I can confirm that this is true. It’s scary sometimes to think how fragile our system is. JIT delivery saves money, but that won’t do any good when the money is worthless.
We have a very fragile system and it could happen! Stock up on your food supply today its easy and you can store it under your bed or in a closet because of the packages, and its Non GMO food too!! http://www.preppymom.mygofoods.com and try a Free sample pack!! 🙂
Left some things out of the story. If an EMP were to hit the U.S. not even the truckers would be able to move, computer chips,batteries and wiring all would be fried. Modern trucks are computerized also. To my knowledge no one has stored Big rigs in a shielded area to be safe. Roughly 500,000+ long haul truckers are on the highways of America and would have to be replaced.