Global Trade Is Collapsing As Retailers Fear the Worst: “The Ground Is Shaking Here”

by | Oct 20, 2015 | Headline News | 187 comments

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    This article was written by Michael Snyder and originally published at his Economic Collapse blog.

    Editor’s Comment: Underneath all the rhetoric coming across the airwaves to reassure everyone how OK everything is, there are a number of major crises going on that have suppliers, retailers and businesses beyond worried.

    As they have so much to do with systemic issues that affect macro-trade in general, they should be concerning to everyone involved. Though the stock market stays mostly elevated, the real economy is crumbling, and world order, perhaps, hangs in the balance.  Is a collapse coming?

    Global Trade Is Collapsing As The Worldwide Economic Recession Deepens

    by Michael Snyder

    When the global economy is doing well, the amount of stuff that is imported and exported around the world goes up, and when the global economy is in recession, the amount of stuff that is imported and exported around the world goes down.  It is just basic economics.  Governments around the world have become very adept at manipulating other measures of economic activity such as GDP, but the trade numbers are more difficult to fudge.  Today, China accounts for more global trade than anyone else on the entire planet, and we have just learned that Chinese exports and Chinese imports are both collapsing right now.  But this is just part of a larger trend.  As I discussed the other day, British banking giant HSBC has reported that total global trade is down 8.4 percent so far in 2015, and global GDP expressed in U.S. dollars is down 3.4 percent.  The only other times global trade has plummeted this much has been during other global recessions, and it appears that this new downturn is only just beginning.

    For many years, China has been leading the revolution in global trade.  But now we are witnessing something that is almost unprecedented.  Chinese exports are falling, and Chinese imports are absolutely imploding

    Growth of exports from China has been dropping relentlessly, for years. Now this “growth” has actually turned negative. In September, exports were down 3.7% from a year earlier, the “inevitable fallout from China’s unsustainable and poorly executed credit splurge,” as Thomson Reuters’ Alpha Now puts it. Most of these exports are manufactured goods that are shipped by container to the rest of the world.

    And imports into China – a mix of bulk and containerized freight – have been plunging: down 20.4% in September from a year earlier, after at a 13.8% drop in August.

    This week it was announced that Chinese GDP growth had fallen to the lowest level since the last recession, and that makes sense.  Global economic activity is really slowing down, and this is deeply affecting China.

    So what about the United States?

    Well, based on the amount of stuff that is being shipped around in our country it appears that our economy is really slowing down too.  The following comes from Wolf Richter, and I shared some of it in a previous article, but I think that it bears repeating…

    September is in the early phase of the make-or-break holiday shipping season. Shipments usually increase from August to September. They did this year too. The number of shipments in September inched up 1.7% from August, according to the Cass Freight Index.

    But the index was down 1.5% from an already lousy September last year, when shipments had fallen from the prior month, instead of rising. And so, in terms of the number of shipments, it was the worst September since 2010.

    It has been crummy all year: With the exception of January and February, the shipping volume has been lower year-over-year every month!

    The index is broad. It tracks data from shippers, no matter what carrier they choose, whether truck, rail, or air, and includes carriers like FedEx and UPS.

    What major retailers such as Wal-Mart are reporting also confirms that we are in a major economic slowdown.  Wal-Mart recently announced that its earnings would fall by as much as 12 percent during the next fiscal year, and that caused Wal-Mart stock to drop by the most in 27 years.

    And of course this is going to have a huge ripple effect.  There are thousands of other companies that do business with Wal-Mart, and Reuters is reporting that they are starting to get squeezed…

    Suppliers of everything from groceries to sports equipment are already being squeezed for price cuts and cost sharing by Wal-Mart Stores. Now they are bracing for the pressure to ratchet up even more after a shock earnings warning from the retailer last week.

    The discount store behemoth has always had a reputation for demanding lower prices from vendors but Reuters has learned from interviews with suppliers and consultants, as well as reviewing some contracts, that even by its standards Wal-Mart has been turning up the heat on them this year.

    “The ground is shaking here,” said Cameron Smith, head of Cameron Smith & Associates, a major recruiting firm for suppliers located close to Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. “Suppliers are going to have to help Wal-Mart get back on track.”

    Similar things are going on at some of the other biggest companies in America as well.

    For instance, things have gotten so bad for McDonald’s that one franchise owner recently stated that the restaurant chain is “facing its final days”

    “McDonald’s announced in April that it would be closing 700 ‘underperforming’ locations, but because of the company’s sheer size — it has 14,300 locations in the United States alone — this was not necessarily a reduction in the size of the company, especially because it continues to open locations around the world. It still has more than double the locations of Burger King, its closest competitor.”

    However, for the franchisees, the picture looks much worse than simply 700 stores closing down.

    “We are in the throes of a deep depression, and nothing is changing,” a franchise owner wrote in response to a financial survey by Nomura Group. “Probably 30% of operators are insolvent.” One owner went as far as to speculate that McDonald’s is literally “facing its final days.”

    Why would things be so bad at Wal-Mart and McDonald’s if the economy was “recovering”?

    Come on now – let’s use some common sense here.

    All of the numbers are screaming at us that we have entered a major economic downturn and that it is accelerating.

    CNBC is reporting that the number of job openings in the U.S. is falling and that the number of layoffs is rising

    Job openings fell 5.3 percent in August, while a 2.6 percent rise in layoffs and discharges offset a 0.3 percent gain in hires. Finally, the amount of quits — or what Convergex calls its “take this job and shove it” indicator because it shows the percentage of workers who left positions voluntarily — fell to 56.6 percent from 57.1 percent, indicating less confidence in mobility.

    And as I discussed the other day, Challenger Gray is reporting that we are seeing layoffs at major firms at a level that we have not witnessed since 2009.

    We already have 102.6 million working age Americans that do not have a job right now.  As this emerging worldwide recession deepens, a lot more Americans are going to lose their jobs.  That is going to cause the poverty and suffering in this country to spike even more, if you can imagine that.

    Just consider what authorities discovered on the streets of Philadelphia just this week

    Support is flooding in for a homeless Philadelphia family whose two-year-old son was found wandering alone in a park in the middle of the night.

    Angelique Roland, 27, and Michael Jones, 24, were sleeping with their children behind cardboard boxes underneath the Fairmount Park Welcome Center in Love Park when the toddler slipped away.

    The boy was found just before midnight and handed over to a nearby Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority police officer, who took him to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

    He was wearing a green, long sleeve shirt, black running pants and had a diaper on, but did not have shoes or socks.

    Could you imagine sleeping on the streets and not even being able to provide your two-year-old child with shoes and socks?

    These numbers that I write about every day are not a game.  They affect all of us on a very personal level.

    Just like in 2008 and 2009, millions of Americans that are living a very comfortable middle class lifestyle today will soon lose their jobs and will end up out in the streets.

    In fact, there will be people that will read this article that this will happen to.

    So no, none of us should be excited that the global economy is collapsing.  There is already so much pain all around us, and what is to come is beyond what most of us would even dare to imagine.


    beginning-of-the-end-snyderMichael T. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school and he worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years.

    Today, Michael is best known for his work as the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The American Dream

    If you want to know what things in America are going to look like in a few years read his new book The Beginning of the End.

    This article was written by Michael Snyder and originally published at his Economic Collapse blog.

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      187 Comments

      1. OK, now I want to be the first one to say it. It’s Gog and Magog, it’s Satan vs Jesus, it’s Armageddon, it’s the apocalypse, Shemitah blood moons and God, it’s what we’ve all been looking forward to,DOOM!

        • That shaking is the endless hordes of muslim trash washing over Europe right now.

            • Thumbs up sixpack. Saw this on Imax. 🙂

            • Great example sixpack of what we face

          • “Wal-Mart recently announced that its earnings would fall by as much as 12 percent during the next fiscal year”

            Psssstttttt… note to Michael. While these numbers are accurate you shuld be honest enough to tell the truth. The truth is is that the biggest reason for the drop in profits and earnings for WM is because it raised the pay for employees, NOT because business is bad as you are trying to imply. Come on Michael, show some honesty and don’t go for the hype and sensationalism.

            • Rubbish comment….the raise to its workers is peanuts and a nice distraction from other failings such as the poorly received $20billion share buy back. Its core business is screwed as US consumers are at ‘debt peak’. All the ‘big box’ retailers are in struggling and closing stores, etc.

          • They are going to be shocked as there won’t be housing or much else. Trying to add a million+ to a population of eighty million is impossible. The Germans are committing national social, cultural and economic suicide.

            • Germany and other European countries are committing suicide and this very well may break up the EU. It’s scary.

        • It’s not the end of the world it’s the great disaster before the new beginning .Were God saves the good and destroys the evil.Thats why many people are hoping this will come soon .It will be the new better world after the culling . Doesn’t e everyone hope somthing will destroy the evil people.

        • With the discounts that will be required to move stock, black Friday may not be so black this year.

      2. It wasn’t the ground shaking it was just Shemita breaking wind.

        • Retail may be collapsing but I have a Franklin that says the useless eaters will still be trampling over each other on Black Friday to get BIG screen TV’s unless Wal Mart locks the door.

          Any takers ??? 🙂

          • We’ll have video, as always, of the annual Running of the Sheep stampedes from coast to coast!

            Hopefully Mark Dice will be out again this year as well : http://youtu.be/HAeMeLhjswQ

            • Sad, just sad…

              ht tp://justviral.eu/2015/10/11/walmart-circus-3-what-would-sam-walton-say/

              • Walmart Bar Jokes:

                A 61 year old employee, Roger Stephens, allegedly slapped a 2 year old toddler he’d never even seen before because she wouldn’t stop crying in a Walmart store in Georgia. The girl’s mother later told the local news, “That man is probably one of the worst greeters they’ve ever hired!”

                Wal-Mart announced plans to open its first retail stores in India and China. Tags on clothes and stickers on items will read, “Made Here.”

                BLESS ALL HERE WHO CAN LAUGH…

                • It seems to be “jump on six day”, so I found this on yahoo to lighten it up a bit — maybe:

                  “Hillary Clinton goes to a gifted-student primary school in New York to talk about the world. After her talk she offers question time.

                  One little boy puts up his hand. Hillary asks him what his name is. “Kenneth.” “And what is your question, Kenneth?”

                  “I have three questions:

                  First – whatever happened in Benghazi?

                  Second – why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office?

                  Third –whatever happened to the missing 6 billion dollars while you were Secretary of State?”

                  Just then the bell rings for recess.

                  Hillary Clinton informs the kiddies that they will continue after recess.

                  When they resume Hillary says, “Okay where were we? Oh, that’s right, question time. Who has a question?”

                  A different boy—little Johnny–puts his hand up;

                  Hillary points to him and asks him what his name is. “Johnny.” “And what is your question, Johnny?”

                  “I have five questions:

                  First – whatever happened in Benghazi?

                  Second – why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office?

                  Third- whatever happened to the missing 6 billion dollars while you were Secretary of State?”

                  Fourth – why did the recess bell go off 20 minutes early?

                  Fifth – where’s Kenneth?

                  • Six pack, I love you. Outstanding and fits hitlery to a T. Been hanging around Pepe?

                  • I’m afraid if she is ever elected president, that there will be a lot more Kenneth’s.

                  • Six.
                    I’ll gladly jump on you!
                    ’nuff said me Mrs.
                    BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

                • Pepe, you ain’t right.

                  • Apparently Snyder’s piece has sent people into a joke frenzy.

                    So… for some more useless and o t info, here we go.

                    Tonight, after realizing that the Cubbies may continue their century old drought of not making a World Series, i scanned the tube and stopped at Amy Schumer (female comedian but not really funny, just talks dirty sometimes) live at the Apollo Theater.

                    Honestly, it was only to gaze at her legs for a moment, since she always wears a thigh high flippy skirt with no panties on..ha ha.

                    Anyways, for once when i have took a short pause on one of her televised acts, she wasn’t talking about swallowing spunk. I listened as she sounded as if she was reading a really boring novel to the audience and they were on “laugh tracks’. Laughing on demand at no definite point and simultaneously like laughing zombies. In fact, a herd of stiff legged zombies walking through Central park or the zoo would have been more comical than this crap.
                    It was the most painful five minutes I have spent recently, except for the five i spent cutting a fish hook out of my hand a while back….don’t ask.

                    Anyways, what/who is still funny most times is Conan. I stopped on TBS, as his nightly show was just beginning and caught this bit….

                    “For some good news, a New York city woman is still working six days a week, eleven hours a day, at 100 years old.

                    The bad news, is that she works as a stripper. Instead of dancing to “I’m your Cherry Pie”, she hands out recipes for one during her strip routine.”

                    Now that’s some funny shit, i don’t care who you are.

                    Yep, the comedians today are either cutting down Christians and conservatives or just working the sex filth shit over and over.
                    I never got what people saw in Ellen degenerate. She was kinda witty in the beginning, but after five minutes i’m ready to puke at the sound of her voice.

                    No originality anymore, like George Carlin had. he was the best, even when he was just acting goofy.

                    • passin.
                      There’s nothin’ new under the sun.

                      OUCH! I too got ripped by a size 4/0 barbed salt water fishing hook a few weeks ago.

                      It got embedded into the inside of my forearm when surf fishing with a homemade hand line.

                      I was a brave little soldier and twisted it out,
                      didn’t cry or anything!

                      Things went well afterwards though, caught two bass, I released the first, the second, a 3 pounder went in me belly, delish.

                    • “No originality anymore, like George Carlin had. he was the best, even when he was just acting goofy.”

                      George Carlin was a total carbon copy rip off of Lenny Bruce, right down to the voice inflections, cadence and timing.

                    • Wasn’t there some sort of pastor who said ” George Carlin is in Hell” after he died. Can’t remember the guys name but he thought that Carlin too was a great ” sinner”. Just goes to show that no matter who you are, somebody is going to think you’re evil for whatever reason they want to pull out of their ass.

                    • I agree anon, there is nothing new under the sun.
                      I had almost rather have a big hook than a #8 under the skin. At least you can get a hold of the barb to squeeze it down for the exit.

                      @ YO, I was gonna say Lenny Bruce, but he was a little before my time. You are most likely right though, since most comedians are copy cats. Then there are the wild cards like Gallagher and his watermelon bit, which was always a hit.

                    • The only reason Ellen Degeneres is still on TV, is because she’s a lesbian. She is symbolic of the current gay frenzy, but apparently, she’s afraid of losing her show to Caitlyn “Bruce” Jenner.

                      Not to be outdone, Ellen has been considering having gender reassignment surgery, where they’ll graft a huge third member between her legs and add hair implants on her chest and back…She’ll of course have to change her name to “Allen.”

                      🙂

            • Knew we could count on you to provide the evidence, Mac !!! 🙂

            • Whatever happened to the Walmart that closed for “plumbing repairs”?

            • I pity these poor bods but at the same time I loath ’em.
              Just what will it take to enlighten the hoards to their misguided belief that STUFF aint life?
              I sincerely hope that some of them will come to realise that STUFF don’t mean nothing when it comes to being a human and even the poorest of the poor can set an example on the meaning to life.
              Do you get my meaning?
              I hope ya’ll do and I don’t mean to be too harsh.
              For fucks sake things are BAD.

              • Good stuff. Bad stuff. I want the right kind of stuff that works.

          • One would be a fool to take that bet.

            Sad to think that some children grow up knowing that mom died in a fight over a TV.

            If Wal-Mart tries to lock the doors, stores will burn.

            American exceptionalism on display for the whole world.

      3. Could this be the start of the great fall of the USA???

        • Want a scary laugh???
          Saggy pants…
          Sad where this country is going…
          ht tp://www.leenks.com/link517917.html

          • …not to be confused with the plumber’s “butt crack of doom” (which is actually a working man’s hazard).

      4. Wal-Mart is laying off and cutting hours quit possibly to the bone. More stores are closing folks the end I fear is very near. Selves are starting to go empty and the warehouses have no goods to replace them with. Notice how the groceries are also starting to come up short. It very well may be over by Christmas, but who knows when, but it will end.

        • Wow, that’s funny, I was just in a Walmart on Sunday and the shelves were as full as ever.
          Warehouses have no goods to restock? All those semis out on the roads must be driving around empty. ROFL

          • My wife went to Walmart yesterday. She said there were only three cashier open and lines were out the ass.

            She waited in line for some time and when she got to the front the cashier simply walked off. No comments no excuses, just walked off.

            My wife just abandoned the buggy full of crap right there and walked out of the store.

            I hate walmart, and there are not cheaper than other stores.

            • Don’t worry John, the robots will be here soon enough and then customer service at Wally World will pick up !!! 🙂

            • I try to avoid wal mart, but once every 4-6 weeks, I write a list of items (mostly non food) and get their early, make it fast then get out, no one hardly shopping early. Tues. or Wed. morning good days to shop. Now Wal Mart started opening smaller stores and lots more convenient. Sometimes the big store has what you want instead.

          • Vic,
            don’t know where your Walmart is but what we see at ours is the stock is pulled forward on the shelves and big voids behind, the stock is definitely short.

            • As I said, shelves were full. Not only that, but I’ve recently been in Kroger and Publix – same thing. Same for Sam’s.
              I have noticed prices increasing over the last couple of years (prices up, smaller packages), but the product itself has always been available.
              Too much of a coincidence to think that shelves are fully stocked only where I shop.

              • Vic: Thank your lucky stars, because around my little chunk of the third rock from the sun things are as I stated. How do I know family members work at 3 different store several miles apart and are resupplied by different distribution centers in two different states. Things are going down hill all over the place here in fly over land.

                • the Walmart here has empty spaces on the shelves all the time
                  either that or there is shelf after shelf “filled” with plastic storage bins

                  a couple years ago the garden shop was so stacked with merchandise you had a hard time moving around
                  now
                  there is PLENTY of open space and damn little to buy

                  and don’t get me started about there just being one or two registers open

                  I hate to go into that store these days

                • Hyperinflation may be happening. I went looking for a locking gas cap because I lost the keys. It has been two years since I bought one for six bucks.

                  Everyone wanted 12 -20 bucks for one. Unbelieveable. 🙁

                  • Went to Costco last Saturday. The same “market basket of goods” was just about a good bit more than a few months back. Had a bit of sticker shock when i found out the total.

                    Costs are going up because demand in stores is going down. Stores still need to make their margins. Once you’ve gone through the normal steps to lower costs, layoffs, no OT etc…, you have to raise prices to cover the difference. Most likely cause IMHO is demand for goods is dropping sharply.

                  • I’m sure your post was in jest, but just to make it clear, most, if not all, newer cars have something in the filler tube to prevent siphoning. Now people just puncture your tank, and SUVs are high enough to make it easier.

                    • JB, all the gas tanks are plastic these days. All someone has to do is use a cordless drill or a good fixed-blade knife along with 2-4 empty gas cans, and PRESTO CHANGO, you gas gets ripped off. Full-size trucks and SUVs are the easiest ones to get to.

                  • if you lost the keys to your locking gas cap looks to me like the need for a new one let alone the cost is the least of your problems!!!

          • The Walmart here has lots of empty space on the shelves. A while back I wanted to buy some onions. Their grocery section did not have a single onion of any kind. What kind of grocery store runs completely out of onions?

            I don’t go there anymore unless there is something I need that no other store in town has.

        • It just turned fall, guys. People stock up a bit on food, they’re thinking holiday season, comfort food, rainy days at home, etc., etc.

        • I wonder how much I’d make as a male prostitute? Bwahahahahaha I’d do it for free…

          Bootlegger? Shiner?

          wishing for SHTF…population control

          • Acid.

            You are naughty… But I like you.

            BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

            See you later you mischievous Bootlegger.

          • Better live it up now AE, because there will be NO dogs in Heaven.

            That’s right, the verses in the last pages of the bible is very clear when taken back to the original greek manuscripts…a dog is a male whore/prostitute.

            God loves His animals, and there will be plenty in Heaven, including dogs/pets. They just won’t be in flesh bodies, otherwise uncleanliness as in poop everywhere.

            • Yeah acid, it’s hard to argue with the only guy in the universe who knows everything, better listen to him because he’ll be telling god what to do when he gets there.

              • If you believe the crap you spew, why question me?
                An idiot is born every minute and your words just confirm it.

        • Depends on what area you’re in. The wallyworlds in my area are just as busy as ever and most of their shelves are still stocked. Plus they all have containers in the back.

      5. I don’t know about anyone else, just me and mine. The Lord has always provided before and I trust that He always will. Even when I’m at my sinful worst, The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

        In times like these good men step forward, fight evil, heal the sick, feed the hungry, and spread The Gospel.

        Watch out fur dem hogs

        • Me too.

          I caint explain what this God thing is but it works.

          It’s very humbling.

          wtf? and thanks for everything Mr God.

        • Thanks for the reminder TH. It came at a good time.

      6. Walmart and Mcdonalds falling apart – should be a time to rejoice. Unfortunately, they’re struggling for the wrong reasons.

        • McDonalds screwed themselves by allowing the leftists to presure them into thinking its their responsibility to provide healthy food.
          That aint why folks eat at McDonalds .They want cheap fast food , thats it.
          Being PC is whats hurting McD’s .

          • Our McDonald’s is the worst. I only buy a $1 breakfast sandwich once in a while when I need to get my blood sugar up. The last one I got was so burnt, I tossed it. McDonald’s is failing because their quality has decreased. If I want healthy food I go home. I have Organic beef, fruit, and veggies.

            • The point is they were pushed into attempting healthy food . And they cant deliver and still make a profit.
              Yet they continue to try based on the guilt trip from the left demanding they they have a responsibility, they have no responsibility , the people who choose to eat there have personal responsibility , not McD’s.
              So they lose money , too bad .

              • McDonald’s wasted millions trying to sell things like the Mclean Deluxe. Few bought them.

                Wendy’s had a similar experience. Their CEO once commented, after dismal sales of kid’s meals with fresh fruit : “Our customers said they wanted fresh fruit in kid’s meals. Apparently they lied”.

            • My preps taste better than anything McDonald’s makes. I won’t touch it for anything.

        • It’s not that they are falling apart, they just aren’t able to keep up with paying out the billions wasted on executives like in the past.

          An old indian saying..”Too many chiefs and not enough injuns”

          and now “injuns gots to have twice as many wampum from chiefs, for doing same work.”

          and now “medicine man charging three times much wampum for less medicine”.

          “injun gonna work less and make more now, so he gets more time for bling and feathers, and chase squaw box across prarie town”

          • I’m a Native North American and really took offense to the sarcastic attitude using my race as the lowly people in your example.

            • You dont have a right NOT to be offended. Suck it up nancy!!

            • Nels, First of all I personally really do respect the native Americans regardless of their tribal associations. Now you need to understand that the same corrupt system that placed many of you brave natives in reservations and truly committed crimes against your race has brain washed the entire nation of what is being called the US of A so everyone hates everyone else BUT not the real enemies who has caused such misery.

              So remember that there are many of us have nothing but respect for the brave natives and admire your cultural heritage.

              Stolz.

            • At least you made a good stand at Custer Battlefield.

              • That your idea of an apology?

                • Everybody is SO fuckin’ offended by some shit these days.

                  Best at least try to understand and get along with like minded people as best you can.

                  Life’s too short for P’s & Q’s…

                  Just sayin’

                • Fuck the guy who can’t take a joke.

                  Christian white men are the only group allowed to be verbally slammed these days.

                • Apparently so. Get over your butt hurt.

              • passion…. this sort of reply by someone who claims Jesus is his guide and so on differs from a true believer. Similar to the criminal Bush who stated god on his side as he was killing innocent Iraqis for a pure lie he vomited over the nation. However you are free to express yourself.

                p.s. I just hope Mac publishes my comment since I feel the chosen influenced this site to do censorship.

                • So you know my heart and understand it by my jokes and jesting?

                  You are all messed up my friend if you think you can judge me.

                  BTW, anyone that has been reading my posts here now how much connection and compassion i feel for the Native American Indians.

                  I joke about them as well as any and all races, so don’t get on a holier than thou trip to make your self feel superior.
                  And my handle is not passion, dumbass.

                  • ” don’t get on a holier than thou trip to make yourself feel superior”. Thanks! I haven’t laughed like this in a while, this has to be the BIGGEST contradiction ever uttered on this board by anybody! And that includes some really stupid remarks over the years too. Congratulations on winning the hypocrite of the year award! No need for you to be modest either, it’s richly deserved on your part, nobody else could ever come CLOSE to you.

                    • Billy, you are so far up your own ass, you would not know truth if it hit you in the eye.

                      I am not a holier than thou person. I just call it as i see it, and let the chips fall where they may. Most times i am right, and sometimes i am wrong, but the truth of God’s word is always right.

                      I believe Agent skinhead has it right. I am rough around the edges, because i have lived it.

                    • Well preacher, I call them as I see them to and you are full of s&*t! You’re the most sanctimonious old scum to darken this Earth, it will be a blessed day when you’re gone.

                • ‘ello Stolz.
                  Dunno if I’m in for a kickin’ by responding? but I’d rather be sat in a pew next to passin than some holy Joe who aint experienced life in its full.
                  The only Christians I have any time fore are the rough around the edges types.
                  Hope that helps you kinda understand some.

            • Toughnen up, Cupcake.

              • Yoko Ono.

                The percentages are very low that when the reset comes, very few preppers will be able to work together.
                Strangers will always be strangers.

                • “when the reset comes”….

                  Sorry, but no reset in the physical realm. It gets worse from here on in for people living and believing in the worldly kingdom. This countdown is in a state of limbo right now and God is gearing His armies up for the battles coming.

                  In fact, the battles have been going on in the space between earth and Heaven for centuries. Spiritual warfare will soon come upon the earth in full swing. When the two witnesses show up in the streets of Jerusalem, it will be full on. I look for that to transpire sometime in the mid to late 2020’s. Until then it is a gradual decline in the quality of life, in general, here on terra firma.

                  Whatever brings joy into a person’s life is what they should focus on, unless it is sinful and evil. That is all there is left. No backside to the collapse. Bank on it. Many have banked on the backside to somehow come out ahead of the so-called, slow thinkers, but it ain’t gonna happen. There will come a point where all the PMs, including lead and brass, will not be of any importance. I know it is not a popular theme among preppers, but it is truth and will be painfully apparent in the not to distant future.

                  Meanwhile those PM’s bring a sense of security and well being and should not be avoided by those needing to have that sense.

                  We have our fair share, but not putting all our eggs into that basket. Because the whole basket will soon pass on, also.

                  • Oh yes, please, DON’T stop regaling us all with your divine predictions on everything. We are SO lucky to have YOU around flapping your lips nonstop, who else would be the comic relief here, { No, eppe doesn’t come CLOSE to this maroon}.

                    • wwti/HKE/swamp rat, go back to your BO in mommy’s backyard.

                      No one is applauding your crap any longer. It is your continual hate because you feel you are exposed for the fake that you are and no one wants to be associated with you, except other atheists and satanists.

                      Take a hike and watch out fur them hogs.

                    • sounds like I hit the main nerve pissin. You just never stop telling bullshit stories, can you? Your the expert on everything and anything, so tell us more about the future, ” god” seems to tell you everything, doesn’t he?

      7. Our local paper had an article on “food deserts” today, by which they mean the lower classes don’t have fresh fruits and vegetables or good quality meats within one mile of the ghetto. The nearest large town has bus service which loses a bunch of money every year, made up by the taxpayer, and there are vouchers for the “poor” who wouldn’t buy arugula if they had access. Most of the rural communities (us) are white and while we don’t have close access to these foods, that doesn’t occasion much hand wringing. I find this very annoying because there is a push for a three-mill tax to bring fresh foods to these poor “minority” areas. We pay enough taxes, thank you, and they could garden, themselves, which seems to be a terrific burden and something that you can’t ask them to do. I’ve noticed the empty shelves, as well, so we try to shop ahead and add to our “stores”. We’re not looking forward to a collapse because it’s going to be really ugly and we’re late-middle-age. I’m not ready for a war.

        • I don’t blame them one bit for not buying arugula. That stuff is pretty bitter. I prefer romaine myself. Iceberg is just a green ball of tasteless water.

        • The poor wouldnt eat good healthy food if you gave it to them,
          A few years ago i was donating kale and chard regularly to the lical food bank, few hundred pounds a month, they actually told me not to bring itbecause it justgot thrown away, mind you this was the SAME kale and chard i was getting 1.50/bunch or 3$/# from the markets i was supplying, so mycompost pile got much bigger…

        • Vega?

        • These people choose to live there. Maybe if they didn’t steal so much or riot there would be more stores in the inner city. A business doesn’t make a profit they either go out of business or move, they owe people nothing. Damn, they have to walk a mile and a half to keep from starving. would you open a store in the ghetto? Try getting insurance and try getting someone to work there.

        • So just how many of us live more than one mile from a grocery store? Bet it’s a pretty large percentage.

          That 3 mil tax will never go away. Even if it doesn’t get larger, not one store will be built there, all that will happen is the city will fund a food bank coordinator or some silly thing like that.

        • I hate poor people. They are a blight on society, walking around with their cigs, cell phones, and drugs. I’m with you, let them garden or use them for compost after they starve. Bastards are probably too lazy to rot!

          • Lol, damn, hate much?

            • Chuggin some Haterade?

      8. O.K., how bad is it REALLY?
        The economy is getting worse. Europe is being swamped by Jihadist. The NY Circuit Court has upheld the banning of all military type rifles and if the Supreme Court upholds their ruling we’re looking at the end of the 2nd Amendment. We’re being swamped by Muzzies too. Jews are getting stabbed in Israel, wars are breaking out with more to come? Hitlery Rotten Clinton is leading in the poles. A Commie just won in Canada, so if we try to resist, Barry can always call on his Red Buddy from the Great White North for help. South Florida is having all of Castro’s elderly shipped to Miami so they can collect our Tax money…..did I leave anything out?

        Get the BIG tube of KY gel because we’re all about to get screwed.

        • Damn you summarized my fears.. German/ European TV censor the fact that European women are being raped consistantly by Muslims. Illinois is still without a budget and got thier credit downgraded again yesterday… Clinton supports a actual ban on guns. Folks stock up on as many guns and you can and network with like.minded people. We need to be prepared to fight. I predict race wars along with a general civil war.

          Most people in America don’t care. I work at a title company and people are getting houses for as little as 5% down! I am still in track to have a full 6 months of supplies by next may and I am proud. I hope the Lord will hold this back as long as he will.

          As I type this 4 welfare babies all yelling with the same mom who’s no older than 25 sits next to me on the train..

        • Food problems, we lost about 25% of our poultry to the bird flu this spring, that’s what we’ve been told, also it may return and wipe out more this winter and next spring with bird migration. Those are the warnings we’ve received from the AG dept. Plus dairy, the govt has been super awesome about keeping the price off milk really low and many dairy cows have gone for beef.

          • Hence the metallic taste in most beef these days. Dairy Cattle that have been vaccinated to death with mercury laden doses of a witches brew of ingredients…all for our health benefit they say, but we really know it is so big pharma gets deeper pockets from the vaccines they sell.

            I am getting a craving for a juicy fast food burger. i think it is because thirty years ago I ate fast food so much my body became addicted to something in the meat. No, surely not, our u.s. dept. of agriculture would not let that happen. would they?

        • We should all remember the bible verse, “Cast not your pearls before swine…”

          • yeah, do we quote your bable verse BEFORE or AFTER we hate everybody?

        • @them hogs: “Well Mrs. Kennedy, other than that did you enjoy the ride down Elm Street?”

        • It’s Howdy Doody Time!

          • Howdy Doody buddy.

            BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

            Watch out for them there treble hooks!

            • Agent Skinhead.

              Nothing like putting your plan to work and finding the problems. Run the trot line first, that has eyelets, 18 inches apart, and attach the hooks with various leader lengths. Reduces entanglement. I did use the cans to roll up the line. Using .020 wire. Hook points are very sharp.

              It is packaged up and labeled. Has instructions too.
              Portable and east to deploy.

              People better not run around in my fenced yard when the reset comes.

              • LOL… I get your point sling!

                Hope you & yours are content.

                be well.

      9. The ground shaking quote about McDonald’s is completely taken out of context by little Mikey. The reason McDonald’s is going under is because people are tired of the garbage they serve. Not to mention the dollar menu’s are a lot cheaper to order from with other fast food establishments.

        Plus the cost of fast food has really skyrocketed. Why spend fifteen or twenty bucks for one meal when you can go to the grocery store and buy some veggies and meat for the same cost and stretch it to 2-3 meals or more, depending on how many are in your family.

        • My wife and I can get a pizza at Little Caesar’s for $5 and make two meals out of it.

      10. For the last ten years incomes havent really risen , cost of goods and services have been rising , pension plans and retirement accounts stagnating .
        The crash is all around you and has been , its a slow steady decline with big government socialist programs to blame , even as they tell us big government socialist programs will save us all .
        Nope , crash happened already , we just aint hit bottom yet.

        • hammer, but this is not what CNBC is telling. Who should we believe? lol

      11. The US Dollar is still the cleanest shirt in the dirty clothes hamper every morning, and there aren’t any clean currencies left in the closet!

        We are technically in recession right now, but the gov continues to cook the books to deny the truth.

        So far it’s all going slow motion.

      12. McE Ds has pulled out all the stops and started trying to compensate for their losses on the cheap burgers, by now offering breakfast all day.

        Today, we got out late and at noon, got breakfast there. We had our usual water and juice to drink, so drive thru it was.

        $7.50 for two Bacon and egg biscuits (no cheese/gelatin vegetable oil) and two hash browns. Not cheap, but beats the dickens out of $10.00 and change for two burgers and two small fries, without drinks.

        Their prices have steadily increased over the past year or so.
        We don’t cater to any fast food but once or maybe twice each week, and we stiff them on the cold drinks.

        • Burger King in eastern NC is a lot cheaper. One thing I always do is complete the survey on the back of the receipt. That gets you a free Whopper or chicken sandwich.

          They limit you to one a month, but we have more than one computer, and we can use computers elsewhere. You don’t have to enter any identifying info or use your own computer, so there’s no way for them to tell who you are. So you can get the free Whoppers as many times a month as you wish.

          To get the free Whopper, you buy a small drink and small fries. One more hamburger and a 20 cent senior drink, and you have a really cheap meal for two.

          • Awesome!

            The wife and i have a whopper salad about once a month, We have two burgerkings in our town, and one doesn’t charge for the “heavy” extras.

            We skip the cheese food add on and ask for “heavy”…lettuce, tomatoes,pickles,onions. Sometimes it is like a giant salad between two layers of bread, w/ some type of meat in there, kangaroo maybe.

            • wow, nothing like acting cheap to get an old man excited, is there?

              • wwti is up to his ole trolling tricks again, as usual he has nothing left on his plate to add except stupid remarks. What a looser.

      13. Hahahahahaha, Crash! This is funnier than a one legged man at an ass kicking contest. FEMA line forms on the left. Hahahahaha!

      14. Gee, another financial doom article by broken record. How long can this guy keep peddling the same old B/S? I thought he said several big events were going to happen in September. Snyder lost any credibility I had for him.

      15. My business is doing great. We have new construction everywhere. I guess trade is slowing down in this author’s bunker because from what I can see it’s gonna be years before the bottom falls out. I guess when you write the same articles every week for years you are bound to be right one day.

      16. I know the stories of the Great Depression from family. The ones with any land at all grew food on every spot. Every meal was made at home and as nutritious as possible under the circumstances. I dare say my Mothers family of 6 would have thought it as a heaven sent luxury to have $70 a week in these times for groceries. She ate much poorer than that. Many of her dinner meals were thin soup and stale bread with lard instead of butter. They were too proud to go on, “Relief”.

        We have a long way to go to match the hardship they had.

        • Chicken feet and rice.

          • The local Food Lion calls them “chicken paws.”

            • chicken paws and ox tails, a staple of most mexican diets.

              I’ll have mine with a side of peckers and lips.

              Bring on the spotted dog, as grand pappy used to call potted meat.

              It’s the poor mans liver pate’ on a cracker.

              Chicken livers, and better still, the gizzards or as granny called them ..the craw. watching her peeling off the inner layer of thick skin always ruined it for me. I have never knowingly eaten a gizzard, nor hopefully never have to. But, I watched as they knawed on them for years.

              Pickled pigs feet, sshhoo, nasty stuff. I used to listen to my sister smack and suck on those nasty hoofs and then to make me even sicker, she would drink the slimey juice from the jar, and smack her lips at me while grinning like a mule eating saw briars. Damn, that girl fell on her head way too many times as a kid.

              • Passin’ I love the chicken hearts and gizzards (fried) and I grab the tibbit (tail) off a roasted chicken or turkey. People ask me why I like the tibbit. I tell ’em it was the last part to clear the fence and always the sweetest.

                • my grandma always ate the tibbit, she called it the popes nose

                • I hear you, PO d P.

                  Grandpappy always ate the Hog’s tongue and i just couldn’t get over that. The only innards i eat from an animal is a small amount of pork liver that is in Neeses and Jenkins livermush.

                  Fried crisp with Dukes mayo on white bread and black coffee or ice cold milk. That gets me ready for a short walk and climb into the ole deer stand @ 6am, during the seasons. At almost sixty (turned 59 Sunday), I now sit in an easy chair in a tree house or a tree lounge type hanging stand.

                  My back can’t handle the little back breaking stands i used thirty years ago. i was so gung ho, i’d sit & stand, in one of those darn back breakers for six hours at a time.

          • 4 kids, 4 slices of bread and one hotdog.

            Each of us got 1/4 hotdog sliced lengthwise, on one slice of bread with mustard and a lettuce leaf on it. At least we had iced tea.

        • Sad to say, Americans and their hangers-on could use another lesson in humility like the Great Depression, but the people are unrecognizably different today and the outcome would not be a “people pulling together” experience.

          We have a family member who works on a ship carrying freight. They are having to go to ports they have never gone before trying to get cargo because the numbers are so dismal…should be an interesting year.

        • $70 a week in 1933 would have fed three or four familes of six, maybe 24 people. About 3 dollars a week per person. No feasts, but you get fed, and not badly. A sack of potatoes or onions, the big burlap sacks, was less than one dollar. Ground beef was around 15 cents a pound. Sliced bread 15 cents a loaf, bakery loaves 12 cents.

          $70 a week in 2015 will still feed a family of four. No prepared foods, sorry about that, but you’ll get by. You’ll serve a lot of potatoes, pasta, rice, beans, smaller meat portions, cheaper fruits, maybe powdered milk or mixed with whole milk, cheaper vegetables, but you’ll do alright.

          • smokey

            I apparently was not clear when I stated, ” I dare say my Mothers family of 6 would have thought it as a heaven sent luxury to have $70 a week in these times for groceries.” Key words “In These Times” as in $70 today not in 1933. $70 today for groceries is probably 2x what they had to, maybe 3x. I dare say my Mom’s family probably survived on less than 50 cents a day back then for groceries. How much could a thin soup with stale bread and lard cost?

            20% of the people entering the military in WWII showed signs of malnutrition.

      17. This why you prep. buy food on sale and in bulk…cook your own,save money.Cut unnecessary spending,pay off the bills and get out of debt. Is it tough? Yep,but it works and stretches stuff further. Get a second job and work on the saving some of it and stock up. The great jobs are gone but there are some out there to help you survive. Get new skills and training….the cream rises to the top.

      18. This is suppose to happen like a thief in the night . You wake up one morning walk into your living room and everything is gone. Like an EMP. Maybe? Then strong men’s hearts will fail knowing what is coming next. But not you because you believed the warnings and we’re not taken by surprise. The tares must be burnt. As in Sodom and Gomorah . Read the real story of lot . And the homosexual gang that demanded to rape the two angels. That they found out we’re visiting him. It’s happening again and will be delt with again. Same sex marriage is all about the legal right to adopt children.To get paid to marry foreigners for citizenship . The American people are handicapped by the inability to comprehend the level or evil on this planet.

        • The same sex marriage is all about the workings of Satan. The faggots are dead men walking, and just like satan, he knows he is doomed.

          The doomed want to take as many down with them as they can, that is why they are a small percentage, but have so much influence.
          Satan has put a spirit of deception upon them and they say…”we shall surely not die (meaning a spiritual death).

          But they are wrong and will continue to demand that everyone else accept that they are right and we as Christians know different.

          Same thing with the baby killers, same influence and same mindset. Every girl/woman/mother/grandmother/daughter that has not repented for the killing or influence to kill an unborn child will be held accountable.

          Also, anyone casting a vote for a liberal/dem that is pro abortion will also be held accountable to some degree.

          ignore it, disagree with it, or call me a liar; but, it won’t change the truth, and the truth will set you free. Free from condemnation.

          BTW, Lone W., I’m not disagreeing with you, i am just taking it a step further. Good blessings.

          • Of course! Now anybody who votes for a democrat is now included in the ole molten lake o’ far! Let’s just make this simple, nobody will be allowed into Heaven unless he’s over 60 years old, a hillbilly, a racist, { Hey, slavery DID actually afford blacks a GREAT opportunity to become sharecroppers, right? and it wasn’t a sin either! KKK BONUS!} Has to be cheap, { Hey we’ll skip the cheese for the LARGE portions of veggies,OK?} He also must love Dinty Moore beef puke in a can, especially when it’s on sale! Has to be a major league story teller { read pathological liar} and above all, you MUST be sanctimonious beyond all standards. If you don’t meet these requirements, then you better be wearing asbestos underwear{ tee hee, my jokes are SO funny, ain’t they?

            • It will be sweet justice to watch you squirm like the little maggot that you are, when the demons grab your ankles and make mencemeat of your fat ass. Hope i get to witness it.

              • Yeah, keep bellowing your bible bullshit. The day I take a stupid hillbilly truck driver who eats canned shit, calls it ” good eatin”, as a credible source of the hereafter and what’s going to happen to anybody is the day I’ll be worried about the self centered insanity you vomit up and try to pawn it off as ” truth”. You’re nothing more than a harmless old liar, your threats towards anyone are only delusions in your mind.

              • One day soon, swamp rat, one day soon.

                • So, one day soon, eh? One day soon what, one of your psycho Armageddon threats comes true? Is that why your big Apocalypse for last month that never happened is now being pushed as far as 20 years into the future again? Yeah, because god told you to turn down the bullshit because you’re losing all credibility, as well as sanity. Go eat your cheap whopper salad and save 50 cents a can on Dinty Moore beef barf, ” god” is telling you to do this, lol.

      19. M.D. Creedmore of The Survivalist Blog is a total a-hole. Unlike Mac, he only allows comments that agrees with his opinion.
        He’ll run any bullcrap stories he can, no matter if the source is bs, to get hits on his failing site.

        The guy is a huge jag off!

        • Anon, I ‘be had my own trouble with creek more. He would fit right in with the MSM.

        • Agree with that anonymous

      20. We all know this is happening, but it means nothing as long as the money printing continues. I’m of the the opinion that more than half of the US population really thinks that the government and federal reserve can just print more money and pay off the debt, fund welfare, wic, snap and every other entitlement program. 85% of the population has no clue where money comes from. In just over 100 years America has gone from the biggest creditor nation to the biggest debtor nation in the world.

        Americans believe the propaganda and are guzzling the Koolaid. And how about the housing number it’s all apartments, who do you think those are for?

      21. Walmart is in trouble, as is McD’s, IBM and many others. Even the “stable companies” are cutting the high paying jobs and going with lower paid workers. The only reason America is not Greece right now is the petro dollar and the dollar is the dominant currency of the world.

        Water- Food- Debt Free- Garden space/ land.

        I believe we are headed towards a time in world history that will be worse than the great depression.

      22. Disagree about Canada going communist. The people there declared overwhelming to get rid of the warmongering demon running the country into the ground. A police state up north building repression following NWO dictates. I’d rather live there than this totally messed up USA. Anything to escape this ballooning nightmare of a prison called the home of the free and land of the brave. This country is shit. Decriminalized cannabis up there is close at hand. Canada has more freedom. I know there are some drawbacks to living there. The US is fast becoming a living hellhole. As planned. The population culling is not far off.

        • aljamo – They are taxed to death there in Canada, worse than the US. And, all US citizens living/working in Canada are required to pay dual income taxes, at least if you want to retain your US Citizenship. Also, Canadians aren’t very fond of Americans. I wouldn’t say they hate us, but they aren’t very friendly towards Americans and in some areas tend to be standoffish and cliqueish. I’ve personally experienced this and I know others who have said the same.

        • Don’t let the door bang you in the butt on your way out.

        • Aljamo, I understand what you’re sayin’ however I plan on making the ‘left’ move elsewhere before I do. By force if necessary.

      23. People there is life after Walmart they are not the lowest prices really and it all cheap ass throw away shit. Yes I go there but if they went under I’d say they should have had lower prices. That’s why they failed next. Mc d’s is garbage I eat the shit once a month at most. I don’t like it tastes like crap service is slow and it’s not cheap. I take a lunch to work everyday and eat dinner at home. You will have a coronary eating that slop. It’s your health if I gotta eat fast food I like Wendy’s chili. I’m a soup and stew kind of guy. Micky d’s burgers look like sawdust packed into a patty. Only things that are cheaper are things on rollback got 100 rounds of 40 cal for like $32.00 normally around $41.00 so check out ammo some is on rollback.

        • True. Wal-Mart is not the lowest of the low when it comes to prices. As a matter of fact, since they started their price match policy, as a rule things are even higher.

          They count on the fact that people don’t take the time to research the sale ads before shopping.

      24. I already talked with my wife about not having a big Christmas to me it’s become some sort of retail holiday. We will go out and get a nice dinner. Why spend $ on a bunch of useless junk. It’s Jesus’s birthday not mine. I will go to church like I always do. These scumbag retailers will do anything to make a buck. I hope they have a terrible Christmas season. People should go skiing or whatever their family likes to do together instead of sitting around opening presents. I was in Wally’s the other day and just needed deodorant and that’s all I left with. There is nothing else I need. Gimmicky products don’t wow me shiny new cars don’t either. I’ve said it before as long as I’m clean and can get around I’m good.

        • We celebrate CHRISTmas.

          not christmas

      25. McDonald’s would turn around immediately if they did just a few things.

        One is their prices. They charge over $3 for a tiny fish sandwich. Of course, they have a running special where you can buy a fish sandwich with a small fries for a little over $2. So if I get two sandwiches, I get two fries that I don’t even like. I give them to the birds at home. I think our wild birds may be getting cholesterol.

        Second is the size of the menu. They should go back to a basic menu of: hamburger, cheeseburger, quarter pounder, Big Mac, fish sandwich, soft drink, water, vanilla and chocolate shakes, French fries, and apple turnover. I don’t believe the cooks can actually prepare over 100 menu items well. They might do better with only 10 items.

        Third is to go back to the old method of cooking fries.

        Fourth is to get rid of the foul-mouthed ghetto trash hanging out inside. We went to McDonald’s a while back, and my wife asked me to stop eating and take her and our meals home because of the loud cursing. There was one guy who was using the f-word so much, he sounded like a retard who had just learned the word. There was another guy (I think) who had his hair done up to look like a Mickey Mouse hat. We spoke to the black manager, but he was a wuss. We may not go back again. The local Hardee’s and Burger King aren’t like that at all.

        • There is a local drive-in chain up here, Dick’s, which has for a menu :

          Hamburger
          Cheeseburger
          Double burger
          Fries
          Sodas in 3 or 4 brands
          Shakes in 3 or 4 flavors
          Milk and a fruit juice
          Ice cream cones in three flavors

          That’s it. Nothing else. No salads, no burritos, no oatmeal. I may have missed a hot dog or something, but I don’t think so. They have people lined up at the windows to order. The food is cooked immediately and served hot, no steam tables, nothing going stale under lamps. Any McDonald’s would kill to have their business.

          Another thing they have are absolutely no lazy employees, and good pay and benefits, including tuition.

        • McDees sucks
          I can get an Angus burger with the works and fries and a drink at a local sit down restaurant for the same dam price as the Big Mac ..it taste better, it doesnt hurt your stomach , and it actually is much better for you

          I dont waste good money at a shit food hole

      26. Things in my yard are confused.

        The temperature has been in the 30s the past two nights, and it’s fall, yet my forsythias are blooming and budding out. They’re not supposed to do that until February or March.

        Also, I planted some late tomatoes. They’re all in bloom and don’t seem to have been bothered by the cold. I think I’ll make a plastic tent for them in case we have another cold spell before I get some tomatoes.

        I think the Scuppernong grapes are through for this year. I had to put nylon netting over them to keep the birds out of them this year. It worked pretty well.

        • Same here, the leaves are turning and dropping off the trees, but still mowing the lawn weekly. I’d plant the bulbs but the soil is too warm. Lots of cloudy sky but no real rain, not the normal pattern for the Pacific Northwest, but it is the El Nino cycle so no real concerns.

          • I hit the woods last Sunday to check on deer stands, pick up some “fat lighter” and pine sap. It was down in the thirties overnight for the last few days. Came upon a few fresh scrapes and broken “licking branches”. Good sign.

        • Just some observations about the bugs here.

          There are almost none.

          I keep two fly swatters hanging on a nail for 20+ years now. This year I only used them once to kill one housefly. They have almost disappeared year over year.

          Only saw a few honeybees.

          The bats are few and far between at dusk. Nothing to eat.

          Hardly any mosquitos this year.

          The only insects with much presence were the dog pecker flies and the hornets. There is a hornet nest 30+ feet up in my shade maple. It is about 2 feet long and a foot wide. They bedeviled the dog all summer, but they froze out a couple days ago and the queen and her new brood of eggs went off to bury herself under a log until next year.

          According to tales, as high as the hornet nests are this year, it means lotsa snow this winter.

      27. Slow night so I kept this at the bottom…

        Funny pranks to do at Walmart (Do at your own risk)

        Get 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in peoples carts when they aren’t looking.

        Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

        Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the rest rooms.

        While an associate is trying to tell a customer about a high priced item. Look interested in the same item.. and say you can get it cheaper online!

        Walk up to an employee and tell him/her in an official tone, ‘Code 3’ in housewares……and see what happens.

        Move a ‘CAUTION – WET FLOOR’ sign to a carpeted area.

        Look right into the security camera, use it as a mirror and pick your nose.

        When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask ‘Why can’t you people just leave me alone?’

        While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he knows where the anti-depressants are.

        Dart around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the theme from “Mission Impossible.”

        Hide in a clothing rack and when people browse through, say “PICK ME!” “PICK ME!”

        If the sporting goods section carries guns, tell the clerk you want to check one out. Then look it over by taking a peek through the sight, open the chamber etc. Then, under your breath – say something like “I wish I had some ammo and then, calmly look at him and ask “Do the voices inside my head bother you?”

        Ask an associate for entry into the fitting room, shut the door and wait a while and then yell loudly “There is no toilet paper in here!”

        Re-dress the mannequins as you see fit.

        TP as much of the store as possible.

        When two or three people are walking ahead of you, run between them, yelling, “Red Rover!”

        Hold indoor shopping cart races.

        Two words: “Marco Polo.”

        When someone steps away from their cart to look at something, quickly make off with it without saying a word.

        Pay off layaways fifty cents at a time.

        • You got me with the trail of tomato juice. Brought back one of those “only at Walmart” pictures where a trashy looking woman was walking around oblivious to the streams of blood running down her legs.

          That shit ain’t right.

        • Hide in a clothing rack and when people browse through, say “PICK ME!” “PICK ME!”

          hahahaha giggling still

          funny

      28. The point is that we have iconic businesses failing in the US. We no longer manufacture anything in the US. We are 20 Trillion dollars in debt. 50 million on food stamps. The true unemployment rate is close to 20%- you don’t see the food lines because we give them EBT cards instead. Pensions are failing across the country. 50% of the population are now growing more and more dependent on the government.

        I say we by 2020 we will be in a US economic collapse, if there is a triggering event before then it could happen next week.

      29. Pepe, you ain’t right, but keep them coming anyway.

      30. I haven’t been to a Mc Donalds or any fast food place in years. I do buy some items at Wal mart. I buy most stuff on line. I just bought 50 pounds of Food Grade Diatomicetious earth online. With shipping it was $58. No sales taxes. At Wal Mart its almost $5 per pound. Its a slow grind to the bottom. Hard to say how long before it reached the breaking point. And that point will vary from region to region and individual to individual.

        • Last bag of DE I bought was from TSC; 20 lbs. bag for $14.

          Still have lots of it and use it frequently.

      31. Damn people you got some messed up people in your walmarts. We got fruit cakes too but I’ve never seen blood running to the floor by oblivious women. That’s nasty I’d puke and leave. A guy I work with told me he don’t go out to shop he gets everything through Amazon even the cat food. He said Amazon prime give you free shipping.

      32. What is bringing down the low-quality, trashy consumer society is two things: one is the low quality of the actual consumers themselves, who are either on welfare benefits or doing low-wage, dying jobs, or the actual people working in these places are such low-lifes, the places are being run into the ground. In short, the whole thing is going down as an economic entity. To date, the cost for this was picked up by the Chinese, but they are done paying for it.

        Look to see the world economy dramatically shift around quality and quality people. Those who are not part of this will suffer a great deal, as their areas sink further into a quagmire of poverty and failure. Eventually, an accelerated campaign of cordoning off will need to be done to isolate these populations away from the productive and well-educated sectors. It will start with disease: smart people will fight to push away populations with high disease rates because they do not want their children to be afflicted.

      33. @ durangokid: lol. The useless eaters will still buy juck on black friday! Hilarious. Yoy have a taker here! Like clock work, they will be out there.

      34. Thank you for the service and life of your, as yet unidentified F/A18 US Pilot.

        His name will not live in vain.

        God bless America.

      35. What is scary is the crash in commodity producers. Steel, oil, mining and the related support industries like Caterpillar, Halliburton and Glencore are laying off and closing down operations.

        This bad, not only for the job loss, but also because it means that worldwide manufacturing is crashing.

        Every day more earning reports come out and they are, for the most part, terrible. There is a profit recession in business. Many big companies will go bankrupt and shut down. Credit will freeze up. Nothing will be delivered.

        What all this means is the world is trapped in a downward deflationary spiral that it may not recover from.

        The ZIRP policy cycle is ending. Debt saturation from top to bottom means the whole world is insolvent.

        U R on your own. Grow food, stock wood and coal for heat and hunker down for the crash. It will be the last crash you will ever see.

      36. Guaranteed, that the Philly family whose child wandered a way voted for obama,,,, What goes around comes around. I wonder if they would vote for him for a third term or hitlery…???

      37. I don’t think its a secret: sell junk long enough and you lose your customer base. This is an age-old business phenomena. How China thought it could be different is beyond me. !!!

        Actually, employment rate goes UP in a recessions. People who didn’t work (wives/kids) must work.

        China rail freight was showing this for months or longer now. China failed to convert from cheapest to competitive. Why are you not buying a Chinese designed computer or Chinese designed phone or Chinese designed car? Buy now, these questions are convicting. These are simply high capital ventures which graduates of just about any of the top 50 engineering schools in the USA could do if they had the capital. China should be there. Instead, the Communist pissed away their bounty.

        Cheers!

      38. There are some pic sites that feature odd people shopping at Walmart, like the big fat woman wearing a short dress and her butt showing with a diaper hanging out in the back. I go occasionally to one of the neighborhood type Walmarts, not the supercenter, there are few customers shopping. The business is down considerably. Their cost are still a little cheaper on most items, but the cashiers are hard to find working the front. Self checkout with one clerk watching over is the game now. And McDonalds, I haven’t eaten any of their offerings in years. The ingredients are disgusting, a mishmash of putty, bad oils and flavor enhancers to keep you coming back. Burger King please, that is completely gross. All of the fast food dumps are garbage food at high prices. I like fish, but refuse to eat it now because of pollution of the Pacific Ocean mostly from Fukushima and the Gulf of Mexico from the massive oil spill. All of the large bodies of seawater are connected.

        • Ditto aljamo, Eating McD’s makes me ill for the rest of the day. It is pure shit and I haven’t eaten there in over 5 years. I don’t shop at walmart either and haven’t for many years, I feel like I need to be disinfected after going there. I can’t even eat burger king it is sooo gross. peopleofwalmart.com sums it up well lol.

          • I glazed all of my windows with McDonalds window putty.

      39. McDonald’s and Burger King used to be the only fast food chains around many years ago in small towns. Now there is a lot of competition with better food and a better class of sevice. Chick FilA, Chipotle’s, Panda Express, Taco Cabana, Hardee’s and Cane’s are just a few that come to mind. Who would eat McDonald’s when they could get a Whataburger for not much more? IMHO Sonic has better food and service than MickeeD’s.

      40. On the ousting of Harper in Canada, how can anyone say the communist’s have come into power there? Tomorrow is one year since the Ottawa shooting, which Harper used as a pretext to pass Canada’s Patriot Act, not unlike America’s version after 9-11. The Canadian people were not fooled, like 9-11 there still has been no investigation of the Ottawa event. The neocon criminal Harper is up to his neck in dirty deeds and scandal. The new PM Trudeau is pulling his warplanes out of Syria, substituting humanitarian aid. This may be a ploy to satisfy the NWO, that will be known soon. It’s known that the Israeli government has great influence in Canada as in America. Both government’s must put their people’s well being before that of a foreign nation. That’s the fight ahead. Enforce the law, make them declare their nuclear arsenal and sign the treaty they have ignored.

        • So what is a “neocon”

          Lately it seems to be the new name for what used to be referred to as that mysterious “they” no one could actually point to and identify.

          BTW, what law do you want enforced? And how do you force someone that allegedly has nuclear weapons to do anything they don’t want to do?

          • Neo con is a type of mouse killer.

      41. I have heard this for over 30 years. I’m just starting to wonder when???????
        Sgt.

      42. Who gives a shit anymore? I don’t.

        Everything is fine till it finally goes south. Going south can mean different things for different people. At my age I do not see the need to Text, Tweet, Share, Facebook and all that other electronic stuff.
        As far as the Eats Go. I do feel that toxicity levels will be a challenge in the food chain. How many chemicals in the water supply? How many shoes can you have at one time. Goes for shirts and pants too. Only underwear and socks has special meaning. You get it?

        Actually all the things I thought I needed do not need anymore. A life down sizing. How many more tools does one own. Maybe replacements and then reap the benefits of the upgrade. If there is such a thing considering the quality of workmanship theses days.

        What I do find interesting is that “The Smalls” add up. You get a Gold Nugget here once in awhile. Information is King.

        So much for Global Trade, Unemployment, Financial Collapse, etc. I am putting my money on the extraterrestrials showing up first.

        • SS
          I’m starting to feel the same way!!!!
          Sgt.

          • That makes three.

      43. Trade dropping 3-5% is not massive and the thing you all need to watch is whats happening to our wages and take home pay.

        The debt slaves are being crushed as the “Tax Give-Backs” are removed and rents/propery prices are forced sky high by the jewish bankers who sell us our own land by bribing politicians from allowing new builds.

        Greed from the bankers is going to get us all killed or living more and more like slaves because the world is full of cowards who know the truth but dare not risk blood to fix the system.

        All in all we are bringing this on ourselves just as Samsung comes out with robots that can do most of our manual jobs and Google’s A.I wants to do all the jobs that needs a little more brains.

        Boil the fog so enjoy the sauna but don’t fall asleep will you now.

      44. ECONOMIC CALAPSE SHTF TERRAIN

        The personal calpse of 2008-2013.

        Couple of stuff i have been observing and learned.

        Lets take at look at my situation in the 6th schmeetah. 2009, Jan, Feb March, my house goes into foreclosure, then 2 years later, i lost the house and moved into and apartment, which was not a good one, then i lost that one. What did i know about preps. I told one friend that we were in a calapse, he said bulls….t. less then on year after my house was forclosed on by the P2 masonary of Hans Clovenbac, the german natzi, who owns Bank of america, who foreclosed on Americans homes to weaken them, to prepare for the UN take over. I was out to lease and apartment. My faith was about to hit the gutter, i was about to fall through the cracks. Then more customers lost homes, and i could not get paid, so i had to face the reality of being homeless, and i saw it coming, and moved out into the streets.. that was in November 2012, then 2013 came around and January 2013, then i floated at a few places and friend houses for a week. One friend, that was starting preps, girfriend told him, that the reason why i am in that position is that i dont know what i am doing and that i am weak. So he had to tell me that i could not stay with him, because the girlfriend does not want trash like me around, and she was mexican so she was not impressed with my army like red neck, lumber jack appearance, and i am half white, talk about discrimination, sheesh. So he had no choice and i had to exist to the streets. Mexican girlfriend told him that i am bum, and a looser.

        So in a personal calpase if you need food and shelter, your a bum. I see, so this is how it works. O, ok. He broke up with her, and moved on. She is living by herself and has no prepps and is attractive. Good luck lady.

        My Prep list in 2011, during personal shtf. The evolutionary process was about to manifest.

        2013- July of 2014.

        Food-zero
        water-zero,
        guns & ammo-.zero, .22 pellet rifle, wtf???
        survival food-not sure what this was the time-zero
        bug out bags-whats a bug out bag-zero.
        bug out location-non existent-zero
        shelter-zero
        water filtration-zero, not sure what this was at the time. zero.
        shtf.com-zero, not even sure what this was at the time.

        2015? i will save the bandwit.

        Jan, 2013, did a search on sh..t hit the fan, and came onto the website. Goodness gracious, as i read the comments and article, i nearly crapped my pants. I realized how screwed i was, getting preps was now more important that shelter, shelter is not water and food, and emergancy bug out bags. Busines started to pick up at the begining of my disaster, so instead of trying to get and apartment, since my lease was broken was not happeing. So put my order in, followed the advice of you guys on this site, good life straws, order the MRE’S, THE FREEZE Dried mountain house, got extra Vatimins, C, multi, D3, LOTS OF OTHER bulk orders of all sorts of supplements, went balistic, then suddenly ran out of money again, to dive into my reserves and i was never going to starve again…I was in personal calapse. Personal calapse is what most people experience. I had met the scientist back in 2007, and had not seen him for years then ran into him again when i got off the street, and when he told me what he knew, i decided to take prepping to another level. Now i am prepped threw that ass, and still am not convinced that i am ready enough. But i am damn frickin ready better than ever before.

        So when Jan, and Feb, march of 2016 roles around, i am thinking that we will begin to feel the heat, and the dollar will take the hit, then the foreclosures will comense, and the car repos will sky rocket, like when i saw reckers just pulling cars from the complex by my office, trust me folks, it was not mechanic failure i had when they repoed my frickin car, luckily i own my 3rd gen, and was able to fix her up. So i had now invest in transportation. The Car broke down and left me outside day and night for 4 days, with the local homeless and suddenly, thirsty, now money, no water, and looking at bayoo water under a bridge. How did i get myseld into this position. I realized that i am not a homeless mand in Houston. What lessons did i learn.

        When the above mentioned happens on a citywide scale, people caught off guard. I will be leaving this city immediately, I will need to save my bullets and not waste them here locally. Besides the air smells better in the country. Women, please begin to prep if your new to this site. Please listen and prep, you need to be prepared, form a chick prepper group, just like how us men have groups, then merge with the male preppers for protection. Some Prepper men will protect prepper women. But there is no guarantee. Now that i met a chick and not sure yet where its leading, now i have to decide if she is a liability worth investing in. She has already costed me over $500, fixing her f…..k ups, and she has no prepps, but knows whats going on. And you know how if goes, if you dont help a woman, they think we are selfish bastarts. And my preps are priotity No 1 , not her. She was not trying to use me, she was in a situation. Since my Doctorate is in shtf, and i have slept under a bridge or and the bayoo water is too mercky to drink. I and better off, and am financial stable, which is laughable, a if the dollar is stable, which the dollar is still good before the time comes me to clean my a…..s with $100.00 bills in the rest room. I am suppose to be nice and helpfull, yet no one cared to help me in shtf. Gee i am so nice. Brave reminded me that i need to access the situation via liability, which i have weight the posibilty.

        Aka,

        HCKS.

        Yes, we are totally f…..ke….d.

        • Hey, are you gonna start crying for Christ’s sake?

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