This article has been generously contributed by Adam Taggart and was originally published at Peak Prosperity.
Take a moment to reflect on all the people you care about who aren’t reading this article. Or sites like this, which wrestle with the implications of limits to growth and the concerning unsustainability of the economic and natural systems our society depends upon.
How many of your family members, good friends, and neighbors simply choose to ignore the messages from those of us alarmists on the “doomer” side, and live life trusting that tomorrow will always look and feel pretty much like today? Most of them? All of them?
Look, it’s understandable. Humans aren’t wired well to respond to future risk that isn’t visible as an immediate threat. And temperamentally, we prefer good news over bad, so we seek to overweight the former and discount the latter. Who wants to stress out about what “might” happen tomorrow, anyways — can’t we just enjoy life today?
The rift between the preparedness-minded and those not is age-old, as fables like Aesop’s The Ant & The Grasshopper date at least as far back as the 5th century BCE.
We spend our focus on this website engaging the “ants”, the empirically-minded folks who look at the data and concur that there is sufficient possibility of one or several crises (economic, energy-related, environmental — or a combination of such) occurring in the next several years. And that taking advance action is prudent.
But the ants are the minority.
Forget about planning for the more esoteric risks posed by faulty monetary policy or energy economics — 72% of Americans don’t even have a basic emergency response kit in place should an ordinary kind of disaster strike (power outage, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, etc).
The simple reality is that, if you’re investing your energies towards building resilience against potential hardship, most of those around you likely aren’t.
In the midst of your efforts, are you planning for their lack of preparedness?
Grasshopper Nation
The data shows us that the vast majority of Americans are not ready to deal with even minor setbacks.
In January of this year, Bankrate.com released survey findings that revealed that only 37% of Americanswould be able to cover an unexpected expense (e.g., auto repair, medical bill) of $1,000 with savings. The remaining 67% would have to borrow from friends and family, cut spending elsewhere, or use credit cards to come up with the funds.
In March, the Economic Policy Institute published an excellent chartbook titled The State Of American Retirement (for those inclined to review the full set of charts on their website, it’s well worth the time). The EPI’s main conclusion from their analysis is that the switchover of the US workforce from defined-benefit pension plans to self-directed retirement savings vehicles like 401Ks and IRAs has resulted in a sizeable drop in retirement preparedness. Retirement wealth has not grown fast enough to keep pace with our aging population.
The stats illustrated by the EPI’s charts are frightening on a mean, or average, level. For instance, for all workers 32-61, the average amount saved for retirement is less than $100,000. That’s not much to live on in the last decades of your twilight years. And that average savings is actually lower than it was back in 2007, showing that households have still yet to fully recover the wealth lost during the Great Recession.
But mean numbers are skewed by the outliers. In this case, the multi-$million households are bringing up the average pretty dramatically, making things look better than they really are. It’s when we look at the median figures that things get truly scary:
Nearly half of families have no retirement account savings at all. That makes median (50th percentile) values low for all age groups, ranging from $480 for families in their mid-30s to $17,000 for families approaching retirement in 2013. For most age groups, median account balances in 2013 were less than half their pre-recession peak and lower than at the start of the new millennium.
(Source)
The 50th percentile household aged 56-61 has only $17,000 to retire on. That’s dangerously close to the Federal poverty level income for a family of two for just a single year.
Another survey breaking out retirement savings by generation shows that as unprepared as many Boomers are, their savings rates dwarf those of Gen X and Millennials. True, Boomers have had more decades to accrue money, but challenges to capital formation are also responsible in large part — e.g. lower real household wages, higher cost of homes and other living expenses, and early-career portfolio losses from the 2008-2009 market crash:
(Source)
The result? 56% of all adult Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
When it comes to saving for the future, we are a nation of grasshoppers
But Wait, It Gets Worse
The statistics cited so far are depressing on their own. But what if American workers’ ability to save gets further compromised from here?
There’s a litany of reasons it very likely will. Here are just a few:
Declining Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate
Despite the manic (and wholly unbelievable) headline unemployment rate number released by the government, the real underlying story of US employment is one of a shrinking potential workforce.
We were treated to a most-egregious dose of BS from the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) just this morning in the Non-Farm Payroll Report, which showed the unemployment rate falling to a shockingly fantastic 4.7%. Amazing, right? What a recovery our central planners have pulled off!
But when you look at the underlying data, it’s not a growing amount of jobs that’s the main driver of this low rate. Rather, it’s the decline in the pool of bodies deemed as ‘eligibile workers’. You see, after folks have been out of work for a certain length of time, the government gives up on them, and re-classifies them as permanently unemployable. Some of this is understandable: the boomers (who can) are beginning to retire. But as friend-of-the-site Dan Amerman has calculated, 74% of the jobless who have been removed from unemployment calculations are in the 16-54 age bracket. So, we are looking at a situation in which the government is subjectively choosing whom to count and whom to not count.
The percentage of the US adult population counted as potentially employable has been declining since the start of the new millennia, and gathered steam after 2008. How many people is the US government now counting as “not employable”? 95 million — an all-time record:
(Source)
Think about that for a moment. Our government is telling us that 95 million adults — nearly 1/3 of all the people living in the United States — are such hopeless prospects that we should simply forget about them ever working again.
Of course, removing these people from the official record allows administrations to trumpet rosy statistics like the 4.7% unemployment rate we saw this morning. So if they can get away with it, you can bet they will.
Until we start pushing back on such devious manipulation of the facts, we’re just fooling ourselves as a society. Any cheerleading of the current chicanery just takes our eye off of the really important, and massive, structural problem: we have a ridiculously high number of our adult citizens who can’t find gainful employment.
Layoffs & Automation
I’ve written at length recently about two other factors that will make it hard for today’s workers to build retirement capital: layoffs and automation.
So far 2016 is setting a 7-year high in terms of reported layoffs. My earlier article Mass Layoffs To Return With A Vengeance explains how that trend is likely to accelerate from here, and why having a Plan B in place before receiving a pink slip is a particularly sound strategy right now.
My more recent report Automating Ourselves To Unemployment examines the powerful incentives businesses both large and small have right now to replace human capital with technology. Yes, this has happened throughout history — but never at such scale and such speed. And it’s important to remember that once industry invests in automation technology, the jobs displaced never come back. Displacing a large percentage of human labor without a plan in place to put that displaced labor to productive use is a sure-fire recipe for long-term crisis. Our current trajectory has us hollowing out our workforce at an alarming rate. Unskilled labor needs a place of entry in order to build skills and work experience. Yet we are closing that door.
Disruptions In Financial & Energy Markets
Websites like this one publish numerous articles each week detailing the extensive reasons why a 2008-style correction (or worse) in the financial markets is likely overdue. A world economy awash in too much debt. Asset prices bubbles blown by excessive central bank liquidity. A weakening global economy. Stumbling corporate earnings.
This week? We learned that the CAPE Ratio is back at its 2007 overvalued heights. So many bubbles. So many pins…
The EPI chart above showed us that US retirement savings have yet to recover from the losses experienced during the Great Recession. How long will it take them to recover from the next major market correction? An additional ‘lost decade’? Longer?
And on the energy side, the US economy is still reeling from the collapse of the shale ‘miracle’. Times get tough when prices collapse: companies bleed red, and layoffs ripple through the oil & gas industry and the many other industries that service it.
But times may well get even tougher in the next chapter of this story. Right now, infrastructure is being shut down and sold off (the US oil rig count dropped from 1,600 to 400 over 2015 according to Baker Hughes). But total world oil consumption is still growing. When the current excess of oil stores is used up, we are very likely to experience a petroleum shortage before incremental supply can be brought back online. Remember those days of $100+ per barrel oil? We may be back to them sooner than you think. And with that, all of the associated price inflation in the cost of living that a higher oil price brings with it.
How Will The Unprepared React?
So — lots of reasons to expect the vast majority of the population to be vulnerable to coming crises both large and small. When the next calamity strikes, how will these people likely react?
History gives us plenty of examples to answer this with confidence: Not well.
When resources per capita drop below a certain level on Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs, civility is thrown aside. Desperate people act desperately.
We’ve heard examples of this from past podcast guests like Fernando “FerFAL” Aguille, who lived through several economic collapses in South America.
Closer to home, it took less than 24 hours for stores shelves to be emptied and fights to break out over waterafter a water main broke in Weston, MA, a suburb of Boston, in 2010.
But perhaps this classic episode from the Twilight Zone best captures the jettisoning of social mores in the face of unexpected crisis.
Filmed during the Cold War, this short episode captivatingly dramatizes how quickly our social fabric can rip apart when unexpected threats arise. Specifically, it shows how the unprepared are likely to turn to — and then, on — those who did take precautions:
It’s worth taking the time to watch this episode. It really hits home the importance of having extra supplies on hand for the inevitable ‘unprepareds’ banging on your door should a disaster arrive.
And it raises the critical questions:
- Of the people in your life, which ones will you put aside reserve resources for?
- How much are you willing to put aside for them?
- And, what are your limits? At what point will you say “no”?
Preparing For The Unprepared
Our resources are finite. Most of us don’t feel we have all that we require to meet our own needs and goals. And the best-laid preparations of the most planful of us can suddenly become woefully insufficient if too many unexpected family, friends and neighbors show up demanding our charity.
How do we prepare for the unprepared?
The short answer is we can’t; not fully. But we can plan for how much to place in reserve for them.
Here at PeakProsperity.com, we firmly believe in helping others; even those who scoff today at our “doomer” approach of preparing for the worst. But we realize that the demand from the unprepared masses during a crisis will most likely always dwarf your resources. So you’ll have to make tough calls. Our advice is to make them now. Whom will you help? What are you willing to provide them with?
Making those choices is heartbreaking. But making them now allows you — as well as your loved ones — to better prepare today by setting expectations and creating specific goals.
Here’s our advice for those of you wrestling with this thorny task:
- Put your oxygen mask on first — You can only be a help to others if you’re first in a position to do so. It all starts with building resilience; reducing your vulnerability to the highest likelihood threats able to impact your lifestyle the most (job loss, market crash, sustained power outage, natural disaster, health issue, etc). Our book Prosper!: How to Prepare for the Future and Create a World Worth Inheringwas created as a manual for doing exactly this. And its companion What Should I Do? Guide provides step-by-step guidance for a making your preparatons (be sure to start with Step 0)
- Serve as a model — Let your actions be visible as an inspiration to others. Allow them to see that preparing for the unexpected isn’t just for the “tin foil hat” crowd. Emergency preparedness investments like stored food and water don’t need to break the bank, can be made over time, and can involve the entire community in activity that brings it closer together. Building Social Capital, improving your health and fitness, learning new skills, becoming more energy efficient, learning to strengthen your emotional health and those you care about — all of these are life-enhancing pursuits.
- Keep your reserve assets confidential — Don’t make ALL of your preparations known. As the above section shows, desperate people take desperate action. The best way to guard against folks coming to take your most precious assets is for no one to know they exist. Beyond that, it often helps to have protective measures in place. Our Personal Safety & Home Defense Guide is full of advice on how to reduce your exposure to the most prevalent forms of invasion and attack.
- Build awareness among friends/family of the risks in play — Forewarned is forearmed. Our video series The Crash Course was created to build awareness of the macro risks we face today, and to explain them in an intuitive, approachable way to people of all backgrounds. Sharing that series (or the more condensed 1-hour Accelerated Crash Course) is an excellent way to open eyes and minds to the need for prudent action today. Again, use our What Should I Do? Guide as a catalyst for helping those who ‘get it’ take their first steps.
- Get folks engaged in the right actions for the wrong reasons — So your buddy next door doesn’t want to hear about your “doomer” predictions? Try a different tact. Maybe he likes the idea of a neighborhood fall cider pressing party, and joins you in planting a few apple trees in each of your backyards. Our Community Building guide is full of ideas for engaging your neighbors in action in ways that make your community more resilient, even if they don’t realize it through the fun they’re having.
- Define your line — Let those whose welfare you’re taking into consideration know of your intentions. Don’t make it a guarantee; just let them know their security is important to you. But let them know now what the limits of your support will be — or even better, give them a more restricted version (which will leave you some buffer in case of the unexpected). Setting these expectations in advance is valuable, even if the folks you’re talking to aren’t really listening. At the very least, you can proceed knowing you’ve done your utmost to be up front about what they can and can’t count on you for. Review our guide on Emotional Resilience; you will very well need it to prepare your heart in case you ever do have to put these tough calls into action.
- Empower the latecomers — Invest in assets and agreements that enable late-arrivals to help themselves (tools, information/education, small jobs, etc). Helping people skill-up and provide for themselves both increases their ability to prosper and reduces the likelihood they drain your finite stores. And you’ll be perceived as a benefactor within your community, which will be motivated to provide for and protect you (rather than abandon you) during times of adversity.
There’s no doubt this is a thorny subject, with imperfect answers. But to fail to plan for the needs of the unprepared is, in itself, a plan to fail. After all: it’s a grasshopper nation, and we ants are too few.
Visit Peak Prosperity for more excellent articles like this one and actionable information to help you prepare for the unknown.
Tough choices to be made here. Family first but only family that brings the right skills and attitude to the BOL.
Mar mar, spot on. When I first got the arrangement at my cousin’s BOL 3 years ago, I brought the right skills, attitude, and my own supplies to the table. all my relatives were already living the prepper lifestyle before the word prepper was even invented.
Heads up guys. We’re getting hit with geomagnetic storms.
9% chance of a C class *or larger* flare (3% probability per class, C, M, and X) across the next three days (8th to 10th)
Umm, theres no activity on the face of the sun though,,,,
?????
Check spaceweather dot
http://www.solarham.net/
But spaceweather sounds more reliable than ‘solarham’, thanks Kula.
BH,
Have a Plan B in case your route to GA is fucked.
You should have about 3 BOLs. More than that is spreading your supply line too thin, less is limiting yourself in rapidly deteriorating conditions.
Acid, I have several routes to the BOL and have tested every one of them. I’ll still make it there.
The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER
This one is a little different…
Two Different Versions…
Two Different Morals
OLD VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE OLD STORY:
Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green…’
ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the SEIU group singing, We shall overcome.
Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper’s sake, while he damns the ants.
President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush 43, President Bush 41, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper’s plight.
Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn’t maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and peaceful, neighborhood.
The entire nation collapses, bringing the rest of the free world with it.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
When the ethic and value of hard work and personal responsibility are removed from society, the result is not a good one.
Make sure that you pass this on to other ants.
Don’t bother sending it on to any grasshoppers because they wouldn’t understand it, anyway.
I like it,,,
Who is John Galt!
All you have to do is learn to eat idiots; the supply is endless
KY Mom
I got a good laugh out of this one.
Love this! Wish there was a “vote up” or smile button here.
Luv it
uuh… yep!
PAY ATTENTION. SLIVER IS ON THE MOVE, JUST SHOT UP TO $17.10 PRETRADING TODAY WED JUNE 9TH.
SEE CHART. ht tp://www.kitco.com/market/
WHAT THIS TELLS ME IS THAT SOMETHING BIG IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN AND OR DID, AND WE ARE WITING FOR THE NEWS TO HIT.
~WWTI…
http://www.amren.com/news/2016/06/foreign-students-seen-cheating-more-than-domestic-ones/
THE UNIVERSITY VALUES DIVERSITY
NON-WHITES CHEAT AT THE UNIVERSITIES AT 5X THE RATE AS WHITES
http://www.amren.com/news/2016/06/how-racism-came-to-be-called-a-mental-illness-and-why-thats-a-problem/
THEY WANT TO CLASSIFY RACISM AS A MENTAL DISORDER IN THE DSM
YET AINT HARDLY NOBODY GONNA DEBATE JARED TAYLOR
http://www.amren.com/news/2016/06/over-800-attacks-on-members-of-germanys-anti-mass-migration-party/
ALL THE VIOLENCE COME FROM THE FUCKING LEFT DONT IT?
MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN
ACID OUT
Tip: Always carry plenty of sleeping pills in your medical kit.
You can easily find yourself in the miserable state of being exhausted but not being able to get to sleep in SHTF.
The sleeping pills are for the other guy – I refer to remain alert and able to move.
Hell, i already can’t sleep. I take herbal pills, and melatonin and still i wake up every two hrs! How much worse can it get after the _hit hits? Hopefully i’ll be too exhausted and will be able to sleep, cuz i sure as hell can’t sleep now!
I already told my mother I will not be feeding her and she best do her own prepping unless she wants to starve to death. People may think that sounds “cold”, but the woman has enough money to buy $500,000 houses with cash. There’s no reason my modest single-person income should have to buy extra food so she can stuff her face for free when bad times come.
If she can buy half million dollar homes for cash I would be betting that you will be needing her far more than she will need your sorry ass.
Here is what will save us all from this Tyranny and Deceit. Buy A lot More GUNS and A LOT More AMMO. People are awake now, and putting their money where their Freedoms are: GUN SALES…
The FBI completed a record 1,870,000 checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, this May 2016, according to an agency report. That’s almost 300,000 more checks than May of 2015, which set a record at the time.
~WWTI…
Anybody that sleeps and refuses to wake up even when prodded to do so over and over,especially when , if the truth be told, they really do know what’s going on but choose to deny it’s importance…. no, we can’t ignore that and can’t help them – I’ve already let my slacker friends know that when shtf – you’re on your own !
Reminds me of the movie Goldfinger, where Bond says, Do you want me to talk? No, Mr. Bond, I want you to die.
The government does not want us to prosper and survive, they want us to die so they can have it all. For what purpose I still have not figured out.
Cap
no purpose is why… they no longer need us to make money
Bec you still have me in suspence. A few articles back you said you found a new wild edible, atleast new to you, and you had found 5 but you never said what it was. Always interested in wild edibles and how they are used. I hear many people refer to cattails, but most have never eaten them. It seems talk is cheap on many subjects, most people couldn’t even start a fire if you gave them only one match. Just interested in what you found! Trekker Out.
Mountain Trekker
Might have been Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus coccineus). There is a photo on my blog. I was especially excited about that one because it is available during winter and I found more later. I have prickly pear too for a winter vegetable. The other one is Winterfat (Kraschenninnikovia lanata) which is also a winter food… a Chenopodium, edible. I tasted it and it is mild and nice. Can’t eat it yet because they are tiny still, but a winner. A lot for summer, I now have New Mexico Goosefoot (Chenopodium neomexicanum) which I have been eating for several years.
All on my site. I laugh when I see survival food stuff repeated ad infinitum online. Buy Botany in a Day by Thomas J. Elpel (click on Mac’s Amazon link) and you will never go hungry. He teaches plant families. I have been eating native edibles since my dad took us to the woods 3 months every summer. Mom was designated fish catcher. I was designated plant collector. Dad was the hunter. Sis was firetender.
I absolutely love prickly pear fruit, a neighbor had a big patch when I lived in Missourah. Here in Wyoming there is a lot of cacti, don’t know the specie but I have split it open and eat it raw, not to bad. But any cactus you deal with seems to be a sticky situation. Trekker Out.
Hey, i got cat tails growing in my big old pool. The liner ripped after ten yrs. Never replaced it. Just muddy water in the bottom. One yr i found one cat tail growing inside the pool. Two yrs later now i have about twenty of them!!! I just leave em there cause i know you can eat them like corn when they are young. I just let em keep growing.
I will put aside NO resources for them.
If 3% of the population are preppers then we’re supposed to cheerfully support the other 97%? HOGWASH
Right now I’m helping to support 100 million, plus a bunch of illegals, plus a bunch of people through the US government foreign aid, and now you’re suggesting I buy even more stuff for those to lazy to help themselves? Of course, it doesn’t surprise me to read, “Here at PeakProsperity.com, we firmly believe in helping others…” The reason you’re promoting this is because you hope to sell more supplies and profit thereby. After I buy your products then I’m expected BY YOU to give them away to the unprepared for free? I’ll tell you what. Instead of me being the generous middleman who spends my hard earned money buying supplies to give away, why don’t you just practice what you preach, why don’t you set the example and show the way and just open up your warehouse and start GIVING away your supplies? It’ll be a cold day in hell before you do that at peak prosperity.
Mac,
Seriously, this has got to be the most stupid article I’ve ever read on SHTFPlan
Well, the old TV episode was great! I saw that decades ago and have thought about it from time to time…
Wilson, oh no, this is a serious article and a tough issue to deal with. There’s I don’t know how many preppers out there with relatives that refuse to listen and get on board with the idea of preparing for all the curveballs that life throws at us on occasion. These preppers are between the HARDEST rocks and hard places I can imagine. But for me, it’s simple. I and all of my family in GA are preppers. they have their supplies and I have mine. In an extreme situation, we’ll help each other on supplies up to a point. Otherwise, I prep for myself. I’m a widow with no kids so that makes it somewhat easier for me. I’ve never set aside resources for any nonpreppers and never will. I’ve always taken responsibility for my own well-being. I’ve always pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. Every curveball life ever threw at me, I rolled up my sleeves and worked on the problem myself. I never went crying, “where’s the government?” like what I saw people do in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Self-reliance is one of the things that made this country great. Nobody owes me shit and I don’t owe anyone shit. That’s how it is and should be. I wish those preppers who are in that situation the best. They’re going to need it. Anyone who refuses to prep is inept.
No disrespect intended, bro, but can you stay awake 24/7/365 to watch over your garden/position? I can’t. having others that can sleep in shifts makes a little more sense. I’ve lived that life during race riots in the late 1960’s–knowing a heavily armed someone else is swilling coffee and keeping an eye on things while I slept was a Godsend.If things crash to that degree, the right people coming to your door may have skill sets, or a willingness to do whatever’s needed to make your feeding them worthwhile. Might want to cogitate on this for a bit…
We built our team around skill sets and resources. We have reached a point that if you don’t have both we don’t need anyone else. People have had enough time. I tell everyone I give out one of two passwords. One gets you to the bug out. the other gets you past the checkpoint and in range. I don’t tell them which one they have. Get ready… its getting close….
Man on the Inside.
Slick. Real slick on the password. Learn something new each day.
Key point Leonard. I’ve been looking at NV to purchase and will pull the pin on it soon. Time seems to be growing short but then it always does.
yeah,for those without a team it may come to “awake at night, sleep during the day” and that would suck.
I cannot find a single worthwhile couple or individual worth sharing preps and responsibilities with.
Ketchupondemand
Same here. If you can not find people to go in with the best thing to do is wait. Man I hate that word cause I am always waiting for something. I figure that over a span of time there will be those that have prep that you are unaware of in your area. They are the survivors. Still have to be careful.
Today I am inspecting my medical supplies. I’m talking Battle Dressings. If we are going to get into it in a few months you are going to need more than one or two.
Exactly. The few people close to me, whom I have talked to about be ready for a long term crisis, think I’m nuts.
The guys my age only want to play golf, watch basketball, and drink. The women are only interested in travel and “fine dining” (as long as some sucker is picking up the tab, of course).
Younger people? Forget it. Huge TVs, social media, flashy vehicles, fashionable clothing, vacations, and other ‘immediate gratification’ consumer items. (Look at how many ads pander to the coveted 18-to-45 demographic with the word “deserve”.)
The combination of intelligence, common sense, and a willingness to examine current conditions and prepare for the future, seems virtually non-existent. And concepts like “self-sufficiency” and “personal sacrifice” make people gape at you as though you have lost your mind.
I would certainly like to be part of a group that preps, but the discouraging truth is that I will probably be going it alone.
Leonard, no disrespect taken, I’m sure you mean well. You make some valid points, but you don’t want to take in just any ol’ Tom, Dick, or Harry. If they bring the right kind of attitude, skills, and their own supplies to the table, then something can be worked out. If they’re just nonpreppers looking for a free ride, they can just move along. The key to what you’re saying is having the RIGHT KIND of people. Otherwise, you’re asking for a world of trouble.
Anyone stupid enough not to have Prepped with this much warning is not going to look after me while I sleep.
Disagree. The TWZ episode was priceless.
Sadly it’ not. This site is going downhill fast this…
Wilson and BH,
Nailed it.
All of us know people that will show up after shtf. What we gonna do? Shoot their asses on sight? It will be the hardest shit we’ve ever had to deal with unless we are heartless monsters. Some of us may wind up having to kill people we actually care about. It’ll change us.
Menzo
If you are not prepared to defend what you have or you accept liabilities that may endanger you and your family. Then you must be willing to suffer the consequences of your actions.
They will call you a Monster because of their failure to prep.
Just saying that killing isn’t easy for someone with a conscience. I know exactly how far I will go. Most people that post here have never taken a life, much less many lives. You lose some of your soul each time. If I can avoid killing someone I know, I will.
Menzo
You are a good person.
Me? I am older and become meaner. I have thought more about the defense of property and family than any other subject. I have a high confidence level on how I would react to certain situations. I say react, because thinking about what to do, might get you killed and seconds count. Military training has a part to do with it.
Menzo and Anon, both of you make some very important points. I’ve already done my own thinking and agonizing over what we’re all going to face. We’re all being thrown into something none of us ever wanted. I also have plenty of confidence on how I’ll react to the potential situations we’ll face. I’m ready to do whatever it takes to defend family, supplies, and home. I might lose part of my soul but at least my family and I will live. I’m not the ‘welfare dept.’ for any nonpreppers.
I wish you well and sense you are a good person yourself.
They will call you a monster because of their failure to prep.. That’s very good anon. Says it all.
Especially if everything stabilizes in a few weeks. Sure gonna be embarrassing if you’ve killed your bro in law, and the gov actually gets things up and running again…
Leonard.
Nope. One less shithead to deal with again. Yes sir, you won’t have to shoot him twice.
Just follow the rule of the 3 S’s: Shoot, Shovel, Shutup.
Don’t forget to have plenty of popcorn on hand.
And a good book of Gospel Hymns to sing from as the meteorites are incoming.
(Also, please allow me to again cordially invite Samuel Jackson & Capitol One to kiss my glistening pale ass. Thank you.)
Might want old Sambo to brush his teef, first. Breath probably stinks…
I’m reading this at 3:45 am, and am ROFLOL! You are cracking me up! I needed a good laugh. Just spent 2.5 hrs painting a bedroom downstairs. 🙂
Better you than me. Painting is like cutting grass..BORING. But a necessity unfortunately.
I prepare for myself and wife,nobody else. I have a few friends that think the same. Those I would consolidate with share with and use each others skills and assets because they listened to the warnings. everybody else….you’re on your own.
Mac I think this is the most important subject. Saving the Tares . The wheat and Tares will grow together . But in the end the wheat will be separated from the Tares .. And the Tares will be burnt. So who are the wheat . And who are the Tares? Bet you can guess. The Tares are the ones who bought a wide screen to watch ball games and porn. Instead of filling their lamps. The Tares are the ones who wanted to enjoy their lives . Instead of putting every spare cent . In believing Gods Warnings in the book of revelations. In the promise of seeing the new world . To help the Tares is to go against Gods will. This is all about burning the Tares . And you are going to help them? They thought the book of revelations was a joke . And you a fool. And you are going to help them? And pollute our future. Do you think God will let you? He will get rid of you and them .
The thing that most concerns me is inflation and the threat of hyperinflation. We had a retirement program where I worked. First part was toward a pension. Then we had available stocks, bonds, regular savings. All this could be set up to come directly out of each pay check. Then there was the option to withhold money from your net earnings. It goes into an account. You get it when you quit, or retire, or get canned. The money is not taxed until you are no longer working. The benefit is that it keeps you in a lower tax bracket. You have savings which are taxed when you have no income so you’re taxed less again.
I bought clothes for my grandchildren for the years ahead. I bought clothes and shoes and accessories which piled up unopened in various sizes. This looks crazy to those who don’t realize that money depreciates. Not only are you able to shop without leaving home. But you can also do flea market sales for extra cash. People love finding new clothes in the original packaging with tags or receipts so they know it is really a bargain. By buying things in your size and with your preferences for style and comfort now, it helps when you get older and don’t have the energy to sort thru the stores stock and trying things on and waiting in lines and dealing with crowds and parking lots. Think about that if there is hyperinflation. Or if there just isn’t enough stock and you have to wrestle with a nut over a pair of jeans or a pair of tennis shoes.
Of course I haven’t talked about food and water and batteries, but we talk a lot about starving. I thought I’ld remind you that man does not live by bread alone. Shoes and socks, hat and gloves, a warm jacket in winter; and linen shirt and shorts in summer with an attractive straw hat could be just as important as a full stomach. Sandals and cotton sun dresses for the ladies. Never let them see you sweat, if you can help it.
If an emergency required that I take in my brother and I told him to bring only necessities he would show up with his golf bag.
Kevin, I know people like that! Not family, though.
Thanks for the laugh!
Kevin2:
Maybe that’s his Bugout Bag and the clubs are for protection.?
B from CA
That definitely is his bug out bag with all the necessities, putters, irons, woods and balls. He has to be the poster boy for unprepared. Doesn’t know, doesn’t care, doesn’t care to know. Bring up anything, NSA spying, Middle East, QE, Putin and he’ll say, “That doesn’t interest me”. He follows every sport, watches golf for hours.
The entitlement group believe the well is bottomless.
Bernie offers a communist utopia of free goodies for voters. He claims he will extract the money from Wall Street to pay for it all.
Fly in the ointment, a huge portion of the money in Wall Street is Americans pitifully small retirement plans, 401K, etc. The $10 to $50 thousand each that A hundred million Americans hold for retirement is a huge pot that this greedy government wants to loot. Bernie’s flavor of communism is no different than Obama’s or Hillary’s.
If you have a 401K or retirement plan etc. then you have a stake in Wall Street. If your company or union has a pension plan, guess where it’s invested.
If Wall Street crashes, average Americans will be the biggest losers. If Wall Street is looted by the government, average Americans will be the biggest losers. The insurance industry will also not survive and without insurance, America comes to a halt, no car, truck, train, plane, ship can move, and no business public, private, government or charitable can open its doors. Yes that includes utilities, and food sources.
Bernie is pointing out the destabilizing concentration of wealth that has historically proceeded economic collapse as the masses, squeezed economically, cannot supply sufficient demand. That squeezing has been a four decade process that went into overdrive with Free Trade. I forget the figures regarding the wealth the .001 have but its effects are also political as they have bought the system. That has turned Representative government into a hollow shell.
This is probably the best and easiest to digest information regarding the actually concentration of wealth and its destabilizing effects.
h ttp://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/07/u-s-wealth-concentration-the-most-accurate-current-estimates.html
Unless we change the laws so that not having insurance won’t be punishable. You can’t get blood from a turnip, and if the economy is that far gone, whether we have it or not wont matter.
Babycatcher55
Actually that law helped the wife and I. Daughter makes good money, $60k / yr. Her employer pays for half of the medical insurance. She didn’t sign up because she didn’t want to pay the other half. She has our granddaughter too. She knows that if push came to shove and she (especially granddaughter) needed medical care we were going to pay up. She got fined and signed up for insurance.
You hand out one thing to anyone and the hoard will come for everything you have. It’s going to be tough, but It boils down to you or them, the best thing is to act like you have not one damn thing and are in the same boat. Children will be the toughest to turn down, but must be done. As has been said 30 days and most will be dead.
Infidel-2, it would be quicker than 30 days if they can’t get drinkable water anywhere. Go without water for 3 days and your body will shut down on you. Dehydration kills people much faster than malnutrition.
Stupidity kills them even faster than that…
I have heard 3 days without water you die. But i heard something interesting. A couple yrs ago my aunts boyfriend got a stroke and landed in intensive care. Becuase he signed papers way early on for no extra help…they were forbiddon to help him. The hosp. carted him off to a hospice, and there he layed for NINE days without a drop of water , and then he died. I was amazed he lived that long without water. They were not allowed to give him ANY water or food cuz he signed that paper. How could someone live for nine days without water? Maybe cuz he got lots of rest eh and was not exerting himself?
people had better get ready for some absolutely cataclysmic changes in the next few years
the whole paradigm is changing
Robots Taking Jobs From Every Sector of the Economy
h ttp://moneymorning.com/2013/02/04/robots-taking-jobs-from-every-sector-of-the-economy/
few factory jobs will be coming back to the US
I don’t care what Donald Trump says
even China is replacing factory workers by the millions with robotics
and its not just gonna be factory jobs disappearing
Satori
The “useless eaters”, via technology, become even more useless. Anyone with half a brain can see where that is headed. The problem is many, through natural ignorance, inattention, intoxication or diversion, won’t donate half of their brain to minimal cognitive reasoning.
Everyone on the BB boards might not be the preverbal, “sharpest knife in the drawer”, but at the least we’re first a knife, and we’re in the drawer. We’re at least having the discussions that eludes so many
I would take in my son and his family of four. He is prepping and would take me in. Seems more like joining forces because we bring skills and preps to the equation. I do not have sufficient resources to support any nonpreppers, even those I like. For my son’s family? Even if they showed up with nothing. I talk about native edibles on my website, a form of charity that is designed to wake folks up and get them moving on food security, which does not come from stacking. Gardening and gardening in a food forest. Or prairie. Whatever you have. If you believe it will collapse, get out of cities.
Rebecca
You have no choice with kids. What the hell can you do?
I have a grandson with a g.f. and a baby. He crapped out of the Marines
and we would take them in. We already along with the other grand parents
carry them…
They would have to get over their lazy, self gratifying millennial ways, at least he’s shot
a weapon before so that would be a small plus…
Put away a hundred lbs of powdered milk don’t know if that would help with
a baby. Feel bad for her, have 14 months of dog food I rotate through. That could
be stretched to two years or even longer with game….
The sh*t if it all comes down it will change you…
Vet1:
Powdered milk is a great idea. Oatmeal will keep for a while and good food for babies, adults, and some animals.
Bob’s Red Mill.com.
My favorite is Organic Steelcut Oats. Ask which is best for babies. I gave my kids the stuff that is sold specifically for infants. So, I don’t know. But this has got me wondering if it’s necessary to feed them a special infant oatmeal.
No. Most babies should be either breastfed, or wet nursed, until they develop a desire for solid foods, usually around 6-8 months. At that point, they can eat soft foods the parents eat; oatmeal, rice, mashed banana, etc. baby food in jars, unless you make it yourself, is a joke, and not generally needed.
Babycatcher:
Thank you. But what about an emergency SHTF senario. If mama has been giving baby formula, which we know is terrible, wouldn’t powdered milk at least keep the baby from starving. I know milk comes naturally to a new mommy. But if they get shots or take medicine to stop the milk can it come back again if she can’t get formula?? What about if she did not take medicine but just stopped breastfeeding??? I understand that certain herbs cause a woman (or even a man) to have milk?? Thanks again.
If the mother gets the ‘dry-up shot’ there is no milk and that can’t be reversed — that’s the point of getting the shot because they don’t want to breastfeed and don’t want the milk leaking from their boobs all night and day.
I would recommend stocking up on a supply of the following:
preppersmarket dot com – NuManna Organic powdered hormone-free milk.
I do not think it is the right milk for infants (newborn to 6-7 months) as they need either Breastmilk or Formula. I do not think an infant could properly digest this milk.
I have a good supply of this powdered milk, along with other needs for babies even though our kids are grown. This powdered milk would also make a good bartering item.
Since I am used to drinking fresh Grass Milk everyday I am not in love with the taste of the above mentioned, but it’s sure better than no milk in a shtf.
Are you worried about a lack of supply for the canned baby formula?
Try browsing clearance racks at the store… visit coupon websites to look for deals… visit the websites for the baby formula companies to see if they will send free samples..
I nursed my son till he was 2 and a half!! At 6 months his first food was yogurt. He loves it till this day! I was a young hippie and didn’t know much back then, but i knew i was supposed to nurse him for awhile. I just didn’t know how long. He finally said, “mommy, milk hot!” And that’s when i quit.
Metal trash can full of feed corn. Pretty cheap and will be given to the non prepared. I don’t suppose they will stick around long on that diet.
Great idea about the feed corn. It’s cheap.
Baby formula can be bought at the supermarket in sealed powder form, which has a good shelf life..its $$$$ about 15 buck a can, but worth it.
Thanks Dave!!
Depends on what they can bring to the table. If they are just parasites, then they better stay clear of me.
Also with all the insults I have endure while trying to “help them” get some sort of survival food/ gear together. I will be Damned if I help those people in any way. Some of them are family too.
I can usually take a bunch of hits but what they have done to my wife, I can never forgive. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Anon, I agree. I got my arrangement with the family 3 years ago because, 1. We all think alike, 2. We are all preppers, 3. We are family, and 4. I brought to the table the right attitude, skills, and my own supplies. Ditto on the parasites. I’ve got something called bullets for them.
Prepper Tip of the Day
I came across this kit on EBAY
it lets you use a Sawyer water filter to filter a larger amount of water quicker
h ttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Sawyer-Mini-Water-Filter-Bucket-Kit-perfect-for-Preppers-/201598799945?hash=item2ef0399049:g:wRcAAOSwa81XS1FL
Satori, thanks for that link. I use Sawyers myself and I’ll get one of those.
Satori & BH1776. All you are buying is a BUCKET, read the fine Print, in 1 inch tall letters on that same page link: SAWYER FILTER NOT INCLUDED. *****Sawyer Filter not included.
btw/ You can buy food grade buckets at Home Depot now FOR LIKE $6. With the Twist on sealed lids SOLD SEPERATELY. Cheaper than $10 for that ebay scam.
~WWTI…
Alright y’all…
Listen up, and listen good.
You WILL take in some extra folks.
THINK!!! Just think for a moment.
Even Shane in “The Walking Dead” needed Otis.
Y’all will need a Otis or 2.
The neighbors have a meth head for a son. I just call him “Otis”. 🙂
That’s one disposable escape plan I can use. 😉
Y’all play nice now and enjoy your evening.
But Shane was the one who should have been disposable. Being able to sense and pick out that mental illness before it rages will be a helpful trait to have.
HillbillySC, I’m sure you mean well, but the only people my family and I would consider taking in, IF we do and that’s a VERY BIG IF, would be other preppers who somehow lost their home, etc. and would have to bring the right attitude, skills, and their own supplies to the table. As an individual, you can set your own conditions for such an arrangement.
Yeah cause Shane could outrun Otis.
All i can say is slavery will be back kinda like post civil war on the plantations they be free but have no other choice and im not talking just blacks
There will be alot of work to be done plus protection guard cant do it all
The reality is in a rural setting, a husband and wife can not maintain security on a farm/ranch…
You will need Ike minded individuals. Better to line them up now then after TSHsTF…
We, also, will be taking in only family pretty much. Tho I don’t mind helping the unfortunate there will be some very tough decisions to make for all of us. I believe the only sure income in the future – or one of them at least – will be food production of some sorts. People still must eat. I see an agrarian existence for most of us that survive what is coming.
And Rebecca, your site is wonderful. I am learning a lot there! My thanks.
Blessings to all.
Thanks DJ
I cannot feed everyone but I can do my best to help them feed themselves. Broken record but hey, if 100 people keep from starving. I am relieved when someone plants something to help care for themselves. Basically the Bigs do not need us anymore and they stole everything not nailed down like we are already dead to them.
We began prepping in 1951,toilet paper & tuna fish we were prepared ha,ha,ha. Now we are prepping for the sheeple with freeze dried food we will distribute to the needy who have children. We also want to provide them with a water treatment. Not sure how to do this.
Hey folks,been on the side for about 2yrs
Questions
Backyard fridge inner pot need lid?
No shortwave,but have my old CB what channel crosses over
SSB ? upper or lower?
Becca what’s the best book for wild edibles in the SE this old redneck needs pictures don’t want poison my family.
Sorry for being choppy on a ph.
Maniac– on the side
Didn’t we all get this warning from the book? Doesn’t it say about separating the wheat from the Tares? Have IQs suddenly dropped or are some in denial. This is all about culling the non believers. They can’t be bothered with prepping they have more important things to do then believe the writings in some old book. And you want to save them for the new world. Are you insane? Do you disagree that some people are evil and need to go? How do we pick and chose? But my family members that think this is a joke aren’t evil . There just what . Stupid. Do we need your stupid relatives in the new world? Bite the bullet . I will have too. And it’s hard . Their your kin. But Gods will must be done . Weather we like it or not. Don’t help evil or no caring people into the new world. Bite the bullet. I will.
Lone Wolverine you are a breath of fresh air. I guess god in his infinite wisdom did not expect sinful human beings to fill their egos with all that fine biblical preaching you seem so knowledgeable in.
There is something wrong with any religion that makes people become cold, indifferent and downright callous to those who don’t share the same values as yourself.
Makes you wonder who really wrote all them there religious texts.
You say gods will must be done. Yet with all the genocide, rape, stealing, lying, cheating and the like that has been around in this world since the beginning ;you really have to ask yourself what exactly is god’s will? Maybe god really enjoys watching all the bad dealings that go on day in and day out.
If an economic/social collapse really does happen I pity those left behind. For they will have the crazy religious nut jobs trying to instill old testament values on those who refuse to believe that it is all ordained by god.
I often wonder why all religious texts have to use blood, animal torture and sacrifice in order to please god. Perhaps that is the problem with the world right there, people worshiping an entity that loves and enjoys blood shed. Actually demands it.
Have you ever counted the number of animals required to be sacrificed to god in the old testament?
Memo from the elite… Plan #1, Get rid of most of the people, the have nots, by whatever means necessary. Plan #2, expand your holdings from the survivors. Plan #3, repeat again.
Aljamo, memo from braveheart…..THE ELITE CAN GO TO HELL!
i went around my rural neighborhood puting letters that explained the shape of the econemy and the need to prepare’both in food and defence.i am an x army ranger as well as a green beret.out of the 40 letters you know how many phone calls i got.zip skippy zero.so in short thay were warned fuck them let them die at my feet
They got your phone number? I hope they don’t know who you are or your address….cuz they are comin to your house!
Seek agreements with close friends and relatives at several compass headings, preferably within one tank of gas. Each agrees to take the other in, if the SHTF.
Anyone evacuating to the others location needs to bring all the appropriate preps they can carry.
So the answer is yes there are people I will take in.
I also have relatives who not only are useless eaters, but in a SHTF situation are likely dangerous to have around. They cling to a false reality, and strive to follow the path of the lemmings. Like trying to save a drowning non swimmer, they will pull you under and kill you as you try to save them.
I am usually pretty good with math, but I saw something today that I can’t explain. According to Market Watch, the DOW opened this morning at 17,936.22 and closed this afternoon at 17,938.28. Best I can tell, these figures mean that the DOW went up 2.06 points today. But Market Watch says that the DOW went up 17.95 today. How is that possible?
How did the market go up 17.95 today? Common Core math
Next question.
Oh yeah. More Common Core math:
a.) 22% unemployment using pre-Clinton measures = < 5% unemployment now (just don't the millions not working, and voila!)
b.) 47 some million on food stamps = Obama recovery
c.) $19 trillion in debt = over $222 trillion in real debt if you total EVERYTHING (Fed, municipal, state, Medicare, you name it)www.realclearpolicy.com/blog/2012/12/01/economist_laurence_kotlikoff_us_222_trillion_in_debt_363.html
d.) 26,000 Hitlery missing emails = zero problem
e.) Nine or so sexual assaults by Slick also = zero problem
f.) Number of states in the US = 57 according to Obungler
g.) 270 = number of days Obungler has golfed while in office http://obamagolfcounter.com (vs. 8 for Reagan who also loved to golf)
Wheee!! See this new math thing is easy, isn't it!
Archivist:
That’s the new math.
You measure from where the index closed last night, not from where it opened this morning.
some of that old fuzzy math
If you work in tech your obsolete and will be replaced by automation. Only old school skills that are in demand stand the test of time. Look if someone wants to take your shit you should have no problem killing them. I will do it without hesitation and not feel bad one bit. I also won’t go around bragging about having to do it either. Mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. If you cave and give someone one can of something they will tell others and come back for more with other desperate people. Dead people don’t talk. Plan is to avoid having to do it in the first place. We all know loose lips sink ships. Keep your business private from as many as possible. If they aren’t part of your plans they don’t need to know about your stash. You are suffering like everyone else. Ration your supplies. Do be all happy and well fed with cooking smells leaving your house. People will be hypersensitive about resources that are being hoarded. Especially if they haven’t eaten. Never underestimate how dangerous a hungry horde can be. I say fuck everyone who didn’t prepare everyone has been warned about the coming shit storm. Point them to nearest FEMA camp.
Asshat:
Once baked bread at night and attracted wild animals. It was a wake up call. Have to have canned food that does not require cooking and wash out containers. Hungry people will go thru trash bins. If electricity goes out, freezers will defrost. Could share and let people in on your “I don’t know what to do, we have no food.” That way they will be less likely to ask later. Anyway, good luck. Do you plan to canabalize the people you shoot? Sure seems like a waste. What if someone is just coming by to let you know he has food to share. Oops.
One point tho: I see these figures a lot, and they ARE very concerning. However, of those grasshoppers, I wonder how many have a half million or million dollar home that they can sell to retire on? How many will inherit a BUNDLE from mommy and daddy? Heck, even my sleazeball nephew went over to his grandmother and told her he collected coins, and she, not knowing the value of PMs she had, gave it to him – maybe about $40k or so. Essentially, stealing it from his other cousins who were just as equally deserving, let alone the grandmother’s immediate children, including one child who is mentally handicapped (filched it right out of his bedroom in fact). Such is the sleazeballness of the country now.
I don’t have either an expensive home or any inheritance, but I know a LOT of people that do fit into that category.
Not saying there isn’t a problem, just that it might be slightly better than advertised.
All my savings was done by economizing and not buying frivolous geegaws from China. And most of all, economizing with autos. Every single one of my neighbors has his n’ hers SUVs in their driveways, half of which sit in the driveway semi-permanently as everyone takes the commuter train to work here.
Want to save money? AUTOMOBILES, love ’em as much as you may, are THE biggest drain on your budget. I am 62 – and until a couple years ago, when we bought a new Nissan Altima, between my wife and I, with 80 combined years of driving, had spent a total of about 50k on cars in our entire LIVES. On the other hands, our house is paid off and we have decent savings.
Take your choice
I worked for many years for a covert government planning agency and so can let you in on what is really happening.
– first, demonization of wealth and savings for the majority: this included bringing more and more people into a web of state benefits as a replacement for income and savings. As an example, most people in the UK receive the majority of their wealth from the state in the form of housing benefit, free healthcare and dental, child benefit etc. There is zero incentive to save because of that.
– if a person ‘arrogantly’ wishes to save money and earn more, make sure to fleece them alive with taxes. If that isn’t enough, then every once in awhile do a random tax grab on pensions savings to carve it up and reduce it. If that still isn’t doing the job, then lure them into the market and then crash the market. That always works!:)
– create a hodge-podge population: make sure to hire an arrogant Asian as the manager and then have that person repeatedly tell the majority white workforce they are lazy and noncompetitive. Sell the company to a foreign owner to further drive home the message ‘white people can’t do things right’. Hire strong blacks to work security to keep an eye on them. Break their confidence and call them racist if they complain.
– and finally, balloon the population for one reason only: World War III. There needs to be enough ‘bodies’ and ‘meat’ to take the hits when we first strike China and Russia and to be able to replenish combat forces as they are cut down in battle (this will be the Millennials). Aggressive Muslims will be critical in this phase.
Soooo…… when can we expect this WWIII?????
Frank Thoughts – what a full and varied fantasy world you inhabit! A “covert government planning agency”. Wow! But you can’t keep your mouth shut!
What with you travelling freely in the USSR during the height of the cold war, being frisked by Burka clad security guards, living and being involved in several economic crashes, is there no end to your fantastical experiences?
Why should casting directors look for a new James Bond? SHTF has its very own!
Possibly Frank should be nick named Walter Mitty?
Mr. Frank:
I always knew you belonged to a secret agency planning the destruction of white Europeans and their counterparts European Americans. That agency is called a synagogue.
You are right about demonizing wealth. In the storyline of almost all movies the heroine must choose between an ugly horrible rich man and a handsome broke dude. Storyline of “Titanic” and countless other flicks.
I prep for family only. Stopped preaching to others long ago. The words only brought ridicule.
There is a very large nursing home across the road from me. Wonder what will happen to all of those people omg.
Seems like the only way to depopulate without mass destruction . And radioactive contamination. Is the N bomb the neutron bomb . Look it up. They call them dial a nuke because you can adjust its range. EMP will be too messy. Millions of starving people burning and looking for someone to blame. Neutron bomb is their only option. Look up neutron bomb shielding.
The non-preppers I know have an air of arrogance about them and an entitlement attitude to go with it. Not helping them. Their kids yes, them no. These are the kind of adults that make things worse in a disaster/crisis or shtf situation and I won’t be able to babysit them while they’re either starting trouble or getting into trouble.
So, if I had to make the decision to help adults who didn’t prep I would only most likely help those who I know would do the same for me if the situation were reversed. The rest of them, the entitlement gimme dats can eat dirt.
I’m so glad we have a “choice” in this years election
LOL!!!
Donald Trump Promised To Give Trump Vodka Proceeds To Charity — But Never Did
h ttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-vodka-charity_us_575740f2e4b0a3d6fbd31033
Hillary Clinton Talks About Inequality In Jacket That Cost More Than A New Car
h ttp://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-07/hillary-clinton-talks-about-inequality-jacket-cost-more-new-car
con man or grifter?
con man or grifter?
who would make the best President ???
Satori
“who would make the best President ???”
Hillary is so bad that she makes Trump look acceptable. The US Supreme Court picks will be up for grabs. Heller and McDonald were both 5 to 4, tenuous margin at best. I see war coming. It no doubt would be proceeded by a false flag. The difference between Trump and Hillary is that she would be in the planning of the false flag. Trump is more likely to be hoodwinked, but even so it would work as his cocky manner would play right into TPTB hands. In the end, given the choices, I’ll take Trump.
So a good question is, who is the Alpha Male of the group. Who makes the laws after you have a few family members or friends join up. What about those who later will not pull their weight? Or they threaten you.
Consider these people didn’t do one thing to prep or very little and now enjoy the benefit your hard work.
Also the mindset that they are entitled to what you have.
As soon as the initial danger passes they may cause you trouble.
Can you deal with that problem?
The world’s most elite conference this year will discuss something called “the precariat”
h ttp://qz.com/701543/bilderberg-meeting-dresden-precariat/
“The what? The “precariat” is a term popularized by British economist Guy Standing, describing a growing class of people who feel insecure in their jobs, communities, and life in general. They are…
…the perpetual part-timers, the minimum-wagers, the temporary foreign workers, the grey-market domestics paid in cash… the techno-impoverished whose piecemeal work has no office and no end, the seniors who struggle with dwindling benefits, the indigenous people who are kept outside, the single mothers without support, the cash labourers who have no savings, the generation for whom a pension and a retirement is neither available nor desired.
This marginalized group—“alienated, anomic, anxious, and angry,” according to Standing—is fueling the rise of populist politicians like Donald Trump in the US and similar rabble rousers in Europe and beyond. (Discussing this group alongside the middle class, which isn’t doing great either, is telling.) The resulting turmoil in politics, markets, and economics is a factor in nearly all of the Bilderberg meeting’s other agenda items.”
Just look at Venezuela – today – when thinking of hungry masses. If anyone else knows you have good stashed away then they are coming for it. Think you can hold this one guy off? Not when he tells 50 people in the mob -“there is food in that house”.
But I disagree with the assumption that you measure ‘preparedness for retirement’ by amount of money you have saved – owning your house without a mortgage is more important. Size of your garden is more important. I use a bread machine (I’m lazy) – I like the model I use, so I went out and bought another on sale and put it into storage. The price on that one will never go up, and it beats putting that same money into a bank. Buying extra socks (etc) now – while the dollar is strong (relatively) – and ‘saving’ those things – seems like a better idea than giving my money to a bank at 0.01% interest – even if I could double my money in 2300 years!
So true about the food part. Last summer we had a really bad thunderstorm and a lightning bolt hit very close to the house, it fried the cable and wifi. So we were without tv and net for 5 days until Comcast was able to come fix it. So many people were affected by that storm it took Comcast a few weeks to fix everyone’s problems. But anyway, 2 guys showed up looked at everything and said the whole thing…box and wires and all that needed replaced and they got to work. Now, all of our wires and stuff comes in thru the basement and integral garage. They were here a few hours and when they were finished and cleaning stuff up the one guy asked me..”so what are you stocking up for”? I said..excuse me? He goes ” you know…all that stuff under the tarp”? I looked at him and said…”nothing” he just looked at me like waiting for further explanation which he did not receive. Ticked me off though because he was referring to a rather large stack of boxes from the LDS food pantry, which was completely covered by 2 very large tarps and would not be visible unless someone…him..,would go and pull a tarp off. So after they left I called Comcast just to let them know that they need to tell their employees to keep their hands to themselves and to not go rooting thru customers belongings. They said they’d address it which I’m sure did not happen.
Problem: “The Precariat”
Solution: Give em all a government job. Easy “work” with great bennies and pensions.
———————————————————
About the original post…
“But wait, it gets worse”
Yes, yes it does. FRED says there are over 22 million government employees between federal, state and local. Their salaries, bennies and pensions are paid from the taxes of the private sector so they should be inked out of the total labor force.
Trying to reduce the size of the bloated parasitic .gov is a lost cause because these 22 million swayback tax donkey riders will defend their “right” to take your money at the point of a gun. They are “entitled” to it. Just ask em.
That tax money could have gone towards my retirement instead of theirs.
Yep its the Fair Share you didn’t build that mentality.
Right town to county or city level government employees,, buncha self important leeches,
101 reasons why i would like to see an event that doesnt discriminate who it runs over,,,,
JRS, theose govt. leeches better hope whoever they approach is not armed. Bullets work on govt. employees just like on anyone else.
If you want to see our future in less than 5 years, look no further than Venezuela. Exception is that it will be 10 times worse. A much larger portion of the Venezuelan population is rural, compared to the U.S., and self-dependant (i.e, small gardens, chicken coops, wells, etc..). Just imagine an economic meltdown here, with 100 million govt dependent slobs, mostly living in the urban centers. When the govt welfare checks stop, the SNAP cards (food stamps) have no credits, and the medications are un-filled, your going to see a complete breakdown. It literally will be a zombie apocalypse of biblical proportions. Your going to have to use deadly force to protect what you have, or lose it to the hungary and desperate masses. Prep smart, and prep well.!!!!
I have my list and its short.
I just dont care about all the thousands upon thousands within our comunity who dont have the sense to put away food and supplies for an emergency or lean times. We live on an island that produces nothing.
Have said it before and will say it again
This ant will burn his house to the ground around himself before he gives any of his hard earned supplies to the grasshoppers.
Resource denial
Im gonna be stingy. Just me and the wife and grand children. Any adult family member will have to leach off someone else. The more sheeple who aint prepped and perish the better. Yes There would be power struggles if there is too many chiefs and not enough Indians. I know a couple who have almost no groceries in their house. All they have is peanut butter and bread. If they buy groceries their land wale adult children and grandkids come and eat everything. They have a freezer and refrigerator that’s hidden in a shed. And they go and bring that food into the hose and fix it and promptly eat it. I really got a kick when they told that story. They asked my wife how do you wean your children?
We have been on a road trip from the bayous of Louisiana to the West Coast. We are now in Arizona, Grand Canyon area. We have seen some amazing sights and natural wonders, exhibits of God’s glorious creation. We drove through great swaths of empty range land and deserts, some prodperoys communities and some not so prosperous. I am always thinking of SHTF scenarios and how one would survive. Some notes: Over thousands of miles, we saw very few wild animals, I am sure they are there but not visible from the highways; Water is not plentiful and definitely determines the locations of communities, flora and fauna. Unlike our trip to Chicago, Illinois, and Indiana, we didn’t see an abundance of bountiful farm land. We have a lot more ground to cover. I am enjoying reading everyone’s postings. In spite of our efforts we will all need each other.
‘MOLON LABE’!
I tried my best (much like you suggested) to protect my family for many years. I tried to set an example for them. Sadly, it was to no avail. They have done nothing to prepare to protect themselves or their loved ones. They are totally absorbed in chasing success (as defined by others) and frivolous pursuits (texting, cell phones, selfies, sports, TV, Facebook, Twitter etc.). Some even have disdain toward my efforts and beliefs.
I am a Christian. Trying to encourage my family to save themselves (and their loved ones) in this world is very much like trying to help people get saved for God’s world. I have finally given up on them, much like Paul who finally gave up on the Jews who rejected Christianity (Acts 13:51) and moved on to save others who would be receptive to saving themselves. I now hope that my hard work and sacrifices will someday help others outside of my family.
Unfortunately, Diane, I think people really do have to decide for themselves that they want to prepare. Even if it’s just taking a small step. Or getting informed about what’s going on in the world. People who decide to be ostriches… they choose that for themselves. (Parable of the virgins and their oil comes to mind)
Unfortunately you really cannot tell anyone not even your relatives, because when TSHTF it will be a case of “If I can’t have some then you can’t either” and guess who will be snitching on you to the authorities. You need to plan to be far far away BEFORE this happens in a location that these folks do not know about. I had friends before who poo pooed the subject when it came up and ridiculed me, saying they and their neighbors would all work together and share their food. I kept silent knowing it would be no use to say that this would only work until the food trucks stopped running and water was cut off and no garbage was being picked up, and gangs of looters were working their way through the neighborhoods systematically looting and killing. Some just refuse to see the light, it’s sad but you have to save yourself first. I proposed a scenario to a family member of “what if you had to abandon your BOL and had limited food and water and you came across a crying baby laid on the ground to die by previous travelers, are you going to pick up that extra 15 pound weight and carry it. It will need food and water and diapers and will cry and give away your position. Do you pass it by knowing the feral dog packs will eat it later that night, do you humanely kill it, or do you pick it up and assume a responsibility for it knowing YOUR meals will be cut in half because of it”? How soon will you drop your righteous humanity in favor of stark survival? No one wants to think they could do terrible things but terrible things will either be done to you or you will have to do them in order to survive.
I started prepping a few years ago Since then I try to get a little bit
more prepared by putting something towards it each paycheck.Even when I was out of work on unemployment,I put a little aside.My current neighbor is on disaability for a “bad back”. She is addicted to pain meds,and sometimes is so high,she forgets to let her dog and cats in the house She goes to the casino and blows money there. She spends $120 per month on cigareetes.Constantly asking for $5,$10,whatever.Asking for pet food,food.etc. I’m putting in a chicken coop,and thinks I should give her free eggs.Spends her time at hospitals trying to get pain meds,watching TV,sleeping. And I need to help her? What the hell is she gonna do when her meds dry up and her “paycheck” doesn’t come? And yes,she refers it to as HER PAYCHECK! So,this is where I’m coming from.
Southside, sorry to hear you have a parasite for a neighbor. There’s always a solution for parasites.
Sevin dust. It works really well for fleas and other parasites.
I started prepping a few years ago Since then I try to get a little bit
more prepared by putting something towards it each paycheck.Even when I was out of work on unemployment,I put a little aside.My current neighbor is on disaability for a “bad back”. She is addicted to pain meds,and sometimes is so high,she forgets to let her dog and cats in the house She goes to the casino and blows money there. She spends $120 per month on cigareetes.Constantly asking for $5,$10,whatever.Asking for pet food,food.etc. I’m putting in a chicken coop,and thinks I should give her free eggs.Spends her time at hospitals trying to get pain meds,watching TV,sleeping. And I need to help her? What the hell is she gonna do when her meds dry up and her “paycheck” doesn’t come? And yes,she refers it to as HER PAYCHECK! So,this is where I’m coming from.
Yep, i know a few like that,
They wont last long after
This remind of an old timer’s ‘Spoon Story’. His pet peeve was fathers who do not provide for and protect their families. His ‘Spoon Story’ went like this.
When the SHTF, other families will be joining him as pre-planned. Excellent! However, other young families who know him will surely show up at his retreat, cold and starving. He will do his best to feed and shelter the children and their Mother. He will give a spoon to the father at the door, and tell the father, ‘I will do my best to care for your loved ones. Here is a spoon for you. Go feed yourself’. Those who think the fathers will simply force their way in don’t know my friend (or those pre-selected for his retreat).
laeagle,welcome to Arizona.Kick back,have a beer on me
As a Christian, a Prepper, an Army Veteran, and a Special Education teacher who has dedicated over twenty years trying to help those no one cares about and getting totally screwed over in the process and losing everything as a result (House, most valuable possessions, etc.) and most importantly as a good human being I am truly ashamed of so many comments here.
I am as prepared as I can make my family, guns, ammo, food, water, plans upon plans, gear, seeds, bla, bla, bla.
I for one will be helping all that I can when the day comes. Don’t get me wrong. You threaten my family you will die, but I will help all the people I can.
Not long ago I read a letter that I am sure many here saw as well. It was from a prepper explaining that while his friends were partying he was preparing and as a result if they came to him for help when the SHTF he would consider them enemies and kill them if necessary.
Think about the insanity of such a belief. I am good, smart, and I prepared. Since my friends did not I will kill them before I help them.
All of you “Anyone who comes to my door dies” people will not last long. Not only will the mob come for you and no matter how bad ass you think, and I stress think you are you won’t last long once everyone knows you are there and stocked. They will get to you and anyone who says different does not know what they are talking about.
You have a right to feel that way. You prepared and they did not. However I do not recall Jesus ever saying, “Take care of you and yours and screw everyone else.
Being a Christian, but more important being a human being, even after being destroyed by other people for no reason, I will still strive to help all I can when the time comes.
It is morally right,
it is tactically sound,
and when I appear before God I will not have to answer as to why I turned away so many of his children in need.
Ben Franklin famously said:
“We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”
Bottom line is we survive together or we will die alone.
If need be I would rather die helping those in need when the day comes rather than living only for me and mine.
How long we live is not as important as how we live.
Tom
I have to say that is the best opposing view that I have read in a long time. I disagree on hanging together because in my case I do not see any of us “Hanging Together”. People don’t want to hear about preps and I have been ridiculed enough. So I have gone Hard Core. I feel like my country has turned on me, as we all flounder around in what we think America is supposed to be. As far as them coming to do me in. Well I am sure I will take a few with me.
Good Luck, Tom.
I agree,
America is done. Sad but true. Rome was not built in a day and but it did not fall in a day either. America is over but we can not simply decide we are out just for ourselves. Look at the comments here. Overwhelmingly people here, the tiny percent of people who are prepared, are saying they won’t help anyone but themselves.
Well with everyone else dying that does not sound to good for the future.
How is that living and what does that say about us, the informed and prepared?
After killing the mob that comes for you, even if you survive what about the next one, and the one after that.
I am curious what the plan is when you eventually run out of food and ammo????
Turning away ones own Mother, starving children, really????
If you could really do that what does that say about you??
No, you can not help everyone and not even close to most but you can help some. Anyone willing to do their part and work will be welcomed. People can develop useful skills pretty darn fast when their lives depend on it.
Anyone who would let a child starve needs to consider the long term survival plan. The immortal soul survival plan.
Come on guys and gals, is this who we are?? The prepared, maybe we deserve some of the names we are being called. Really go back and read the comments here.
Is this who we are??
I know many of you will step up and do the right thing despite what you are saying. If not you, then who????
Dear Tom,
How is the view from up there on your high horse?
“Coldhearted orb that rules the night removes the colors from our sight, …but who’s to say which is right, and which is an illusion?
You got all of us selfish, heartless, sociopaths pegged, right?
Throw your shade somewhere else.
What It says about us hard bitten prepared folks. Is that we are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure or at least increase the chances of the survival of those we choose to be responsible for. We have not only prepared with supplies but we have mentally prepped to make the hard choices. Like the song about hanging cattle rustlers (Ya gotta take a hard line). I think for a time it will be a primitive stone age existence. A Root Hawg or die survival of the fittest. Mamby Pamby Do Gooder types will not have much chance. Your correct this is who I am and I make no excuses or apologies. If SHTF and you find yourself in the Ozarks and see purple paint and no trespassing signs. Stop go no farther if you want to keep breathing. Don’t climb over any fence without permission.
Tom:
Confucius say “take the middle path”.
If you haul out everything you have and let everyone around feast off you. That night with full bellies everyone will applaud you. The next few days you will be slaughtered by the same crowd when you fail to provide.
Start a pantry or contribute to one at your local church. Don’t tell anyone what you have. Direct them to the church pantry.
I could say you are a good person but it is hard to know who is truly good. I wish you well. Don’t forget that you are responsible for yourself first, your family, and then others. Don’t be the shoemaker whose children have no shoes.
Godspeed.
Oh sure,
It’s impossible to say what is going to happen and thus what we would do specifically. Obviously I am not putting a sign at the corner saying I have food, come on by but,…..
And keep in mind this is coming form a major pessimist,….
People are at their best when things are at there worst. Obviously not everyone but many people will be willing to do their share and will step up. I can put together a pretty impressive group out of non preppers pretty fast in a SHTF scenario. It will obviously be made up of only those who are willing to do their share, so we can built a community pretty fast.
If you are not willing to do your share then goodbye and good luck, but to say since you did not prepare and listen to me when I told you to I am going to let you die. That is no way I am gonna live.
Make no mistake, we all have to answer for what we do.
What do you want to answer for?
I know preppers get ticked off at the eye rolling. My wife has many a time nearly talked herself out of my group :), but I know most here will step up.
Wrong Not all people are at their best when things are at their worst. Some are and many are not. You put that statement out there like its a irrefutable fact when that’s not true. Its a feel good lie. Katrina was when things where at their worst. and plenty of folks including authorities took unfair advantage and showed just how bad they where.
Your post reminds me of a lady I saw on TV…
A devout Christian woman prepping and concerned for others, she was making plans for distributing supplies should something awful happen…
They did a simulation with some experts as to what might happen to her… showing how easy it would be for someone to approach her “needing help”, and how easy it would be for someone to take advantage of her Christian generosity to kill her, harm her, or steal from her.
What was so obvious to those watching the program for whatever reason wasn’t obvious to this lady. She learned something, and the experts helped her make a plan for her to be able to help others while maintaining her personal safety.
Maybe being aware of the enemy’s motives while maintaining your integrity is a good solution.
Tom nice in theory but the Indians had the same idea to help the Europeans that came over to the Americas and things ended very badly for them. This country was founded on taking from those who were not willing to fight. The weak unfortunately (this includes having compassion and empathy for people) will be among the first to go.
Christianity was not founded on the feel good jesus you have in your bible. Instead the god of the old testament is more the true nature of all christians. Your character and nature was decided long before you were born onto this planet in human form.
Read up on the real history of the United States of America. Only then will you have a true understanding of who and what people really are and what they are capable of. Also be very wary of christians who will just as soon stab you in the back to help those they care about.
I commend your desire to treat people as you would want to be treated. However, expecting people to do the same is foolhardy.
Yes the White man trampled on everything the Indians had including their religions. However those Indians ranged from peaceful to all out scyopath killers. Many where warrior societies where the braves killed for a living. The Osage controlled a vast area that Includes parts of the Ozarks where I live. They might not be in a place for ten years. However If they caught you there The promptly killed you. There was a group of government men who wanted to take a Keel boat up the White river. The caddo Indians and no others would guide them. Told them it was Osage territory You no fuck with Osage! So they went up the Ouchitaw instead. And Just Above Hot Springs the Indians refused to go any farther north. Osage territory you no fuck with Osage LOL. And on the plains The Pawnee warriors was the ones you no fucked with.
I could smother those retard oxygen thieves in their sleep. Release their trapped soul from this miserable existence. Better to have not lived past childbirth. A burden on others their entire life. Just about the same kind of life a caged pet has. Most folks who have one feel its a blessing when they finally die. Not all of Hitlers Ideas where bad ones. There lots of culls who shouldn’t reproduce.
And Ben Franklin ran off to france during the revolution. and one of his sons was a Tory. There where single lone wolf jap solders from WWII who where able to survive 50 years. Nothing is cut and dried. There was a big riot in Texas and the Locals sent for the Texas Rangers. When the Train stopped One old Grizzled Ranger stepped offthe train. the Authorities Gasped They only Sent One man! The Old Ranger asked do you have more then one riot? Cut the head off any snake no matter how big it is and it don’t rattle very long.
Hey guys,been staying small on the side for 2yrs.Learned alot,found out I wasn’t doing to bad.First sorry don’t use my comp. Strictly ph.
Some questions backyard fridge inner pot lid or not.
Can’t afford S.W have my old C.B what channel crosses over
What channel,ssb upper or lower.
Rebecca,what book for wild
edibles in the s.e this this old redneck needs pictures don’t want to poison my family
Love this site
Fish,hunt,trap,snare,yo yo,s,hoop nets,my family will eat
Maniac—on the side. Bless all yall
I am inspecting my medical supplies and wanted to inform you all of helpful over the counter items.
Aspercreme/Max Freeze Muscle aches
Asprin/Tylenol/Advil Headaches
Gas-X Bloating
Cortizon 10 Itching
Visine Eye irritation/allergys
Tums/Gaviscon Heartburn
Preperation H Lower Irritation :0)
Lotrimin/Lamisil/Tanactin Foot rot and jock itch/fungus
LipBalm cracked lips.
Any sun screen Protect your skin.
Scalpincin Head Itch.
Now I mention these items to relieve you from those little nasty irritants that can mess with you at the wrong time.
@Tom,good for you. I don’t hold w/anything you say.But that not make me a bad person. I have a clear conscience. Maybe I’ll give her the ramen noodles
I suppose its ok to want to help others and get the warn fuzzy feeling that Do Gooders lust after like a drug addict lust after his fix. However when its a matter of survival after a long term disaster. Those do gooder actions are a luxury that we cant afford. If the 90% die of number is accurate? Only the fit and mentally capable will be part of the 10% that’s left?