This report was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse
The middle class in America is being systematically eviscerated right in front of our eyes. I don’t normally do this, but today I want to share with you an email that was recently sent to me by a reader. I asked for permission to share her story with all of you, because I think that it will be encouraging for a lot of people out there to understand that they aren’t alone. In this supposedly “booming” economy, millions upon millions of American families are barely making it from month to month even though they are working as hard as they possibly can. But because the mainstream media has been endlessly touting “good economic news” for the last several years, many of those that are struggling end up believing that something must be wrong with them since they aren’t participating in all of the “prosperity”. But of course the truth is that almost all of the economic rewards have been going to the very top of the economic pyramid. Meanwhile, the middle class continues to shrink and more families fall into poverty with each passing month.
As you read the email that I am about to share with you, there are several things that I want you to notice.
#1 These people are not lazy. The husband has a good job for the area in which they live, and the wife is working very hard to bring in some online income as she takes care of the kids. So neither of them would be considered to be “unemployed”.
#2 They are also very frugal. They have cut expenses as far as they can, and they are still not able to make ends meet.
#3 They are being crushed by medical bills. Our healthcare system is a completely and total nightmare, and there are no solutions in sight. Thanks to the Democrats, soaring health insurance premiums are absolutely crushing middle class families. And the Republicans have had almost two years to try to fix things, and they have completely failed to get anything done. Shame on all of them.
#4 Almost everyone that they know is on government assistance, and so far they have resisted the urge to follow suit. Right now, more than 100 million Americans receive assistance from the government every month, and we are rapidly being transformed into a full-blown socialist nation.
I could say so much more, but let me get right to the email. This story really touched my heart, and I know that it will touch your heart as well…
I and my husband have been reading your blog for five or six years now. So many of your articles sound just like us, and I just wanted to share our situation and perspective as conservative Christians who were actually taught Biblical handling of money. Hopefully it will help you with your writing!
Unlike most millennials, we came into marriage with no debt and a decent savings. We have always lived on a strict budget that usually doesn’t include clothing or eating out; most of the time it doesn’t even include saving! We have never used credit cards. I am very frugal, shopping by what’s on sale, buying in bulk, cooking from scratch, and often doing without. We eat beans more than anything else. We own one vehicle, and half the time have to borrow a car from family because ours breaks down and we don’t have the money to fix it.
We work hard. My husband works for the county more than full time, and makes quite a bit more than most jobs in our area (minimum wage is 8.25 here), but a third of his check goes straight to taxes. I worked outside the home before we had children, and now have a blog and an online business that make a few hundred a month on average. We also work hard growing a large garden and keeping a few animals for food.
Unfortunately we just can’t make ends meet. We’ve used up all of our savings and haven’t been able to replace it. Family members are giving us $500-$1000 every month. We’ve both been in the hospital a few times for injury and illness, and each time costs thousands of dollars. We spent our tax return this year on medical bills, and still owe thousands to the local hospital.
We see what is going on in this country, and around the world, and we want to be prepared, but instead of getting ahead we just get more and more behind. We’ve already sold everything that was worth anything.
After taxes, the biggest expense that is killing us is insurance. All the types of insurance that are mandatory or just seem like a necessity now – health insurance, car insurance, insurance for our mobile home and rental property (required by our landlord), life insurance that is necessary with my husband’s job.
Medical bills are next on the list – who can afford to go to a doctor nowadays, even with insurance? We do everything possible to avoid doctor visits, even having our last child at home without a midwife even though I am considered high risk. Sometimes emergencies happen though, and going to the doctor just isn’t avoidable.
Pretty much all of our friends and co-workers are getting government help every month. Honestly we’d be a lot better off if we did to, but we don’t want to. It’s not the government’s job to take care of everybody.
But really, what are we supposed to do? Is there anything we can do to fix the mess our economy is in? Is there anything people like us can do to get out of this situation, or is it just a hopeless downward spiral that’s going to get worse and worse till we are living under a bridge?
I wrote her back and tried to encourage her. No matter how bad things seem to be in life, there is always a way to turn things around if you just keep on fighting.
And things could turn around for America too, but we would have to be willing to fundamentally change our ways, and at this moment there are no indications that this will happen any time soon.
I get accused of being all about “doom and gloom”, but in my latest book I set forth a detailed prescription for what we need to do to turn things around. And I ran for Congress on a platform of positive solutions, but that message didn’t resonate enough with the voters.
Inexplicably, most Americans seem to like the status quo even though the system is literally coming apart at the seams all around us.
What we have been doing as a nation does not work, it is not sustainable, and it has become exceedingly clear that a day of reckoning is rapidly approaching. At this point it is so obvious that even the mainstream media is starting to warn of imminent economic disaster.
For years, many of us have been warning what would happen if we did not change our ways, and we have been trying to offer alternative solutions, but most Americans continue to embrace the current system and believe that it will be able to survive despite all of the evidence to the contrary.
In the end, it is probably going to take a complete and utter collapse of the current system before most people will wake up, and that is something that nobody will enjoy.
***
This article originally appeared on The Economic Collapse Blog. About the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.
Michael 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 is coming and what you can do to prepare, read his latest book [amazon text=Get Prepared Now!: Why A Great Crisis Is Coming & How You Can Survive It&asin=150522599X].
Oh Boy did you all her about this F8cking Murder.
Dallas: Stupid Low IQ Female Pig, goes home after her shift, goes into the wrong Apartment that she thought was her apartment and kills the occupant, a black guy who was in his own home. WTF??? And this Pig lady still has not been arrested. Grand Jury is still deciding if she should be charged with Manslaughter or Murder? WTF? And go to the link and see what an Fugly Ho this POS Pig is.
Link to photo: ht tp://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/247165-2018-09-10-dallas-off-duty-cop-walks-into-home-she-thought-was.htm?From=News
Story:
Dallas: Off-Duty Cop Walks Into Home She Thought Was Hers, Kills Innocent…
09-10-2018 • ht tp://www.dcclothesline.com,by Matt Agorist
Highlighting the sheer insane state of law enforcement in America today is a tragic story out of Dallas this week. An off-duty police officer walked into the wrong home after getting off shift, thought the homeowner was an intruder, and killed him. And, she has not yet been arrested.
The victim was 26-year-old Bothan Shem Jean who was most likely startled by someone coming into his home at 10:00 pm when the unnamed officer opened his door. While the details surrounding how Jean was killed are unclear, according to police, the officer admitted to killing him.
In a statement released on Friday, Dallas police said their officer called them after shooting Jean and told responding officers that “she entered the victim’s apartment believing that it was her own.”
On September 6, 2018 at about 9:59 p.m., an off duty Dallas Police officer called police dispatch and said she was involved in a shooting at the apartments located at 1210 S. Lamar.
The rest of the story is linked to the link above.
Folks, this is why you live out in the country, with barbed wire fencing, locked security gates, Motion detectors, cameras, and plenty of battle rifles and ammo ready to deploy at a moments notice. You put up NO TRESPASS signs around your perimeter, and any F@cking thing moves inside your fence line you don’t like, you blast the sh!t out it if you want to, because you have been warned in writing and have a right to defend yourself and your property, including from NOT INVITED, LOW IQ POS PIG Ahole intruders who try to enter without permission.
So many things are wrong with this picture and further serious investigating needs to start ..like yesterday.
Hey, ladies–how many of us would enter a home and not recognize the furniture, etc??
TSB, there’s an update on that story at aol.com. The cops has been arrested, charged with manslaughter, and was released on bail. DA is ALLEGEDLY looking at more serious charges. Case is still under investigation.
$8.25/hour is equal to $4.125/hour in 1990. How can anyone live on that? No one could live on that in 1990. Heck, doing it in 1982 would have been difficult.
But then, minimum wage was never intended to be standard. In history, these folks were hired by industry in initial jobs like as inspectors on the line. Then slowly but surely with areas of responsibility and becoming operators, lab workers, foremen, security, truck drivers, and maintenance craftsmen. In 1990, a lab worker might earn $10/hour doing rudimentary assays with only a high school degree or GED. In a year, they might earn $12.50/hour. And typically had at least 2weeks of paid vacation plus a week off at Christmas, inexpensive medical insurance, company matching 6% savings, reimbursement on some college classes, inexpensve dental insurance, etc. At the top end, a craftsmen might earn $45,000 a year with guaranteed overtime such that one could earn $55,000 easily. The base pay was $21.63/hour.
Not only did Obummercare RUIN American healthcare, the deductables increased so much at the same time. In essence only health Millennials got included in Medicaid and thus got ahead. And theyare the least likely to use it! And if they got pregnant, they already were covered under SCHIP so didn’t need it! How dumb.
You can’t increase wages as that increases taxes due to income and also it makes it more difficult to compete.
So you stop competing with tariffs AND do debt forgiveness. It is the only way. Thus you have no increase in taxes but forgive debts and allow those holding the debts to write it off favorably.
This makes everyone have a higher net worth. They owe less and so have less going out eventually. That stimulates eventually. It makes more people fiscally sound. When the mortage is paid off, everyone sleeps more soundly.
Remember the first time you were free and clear? You feel a genuine sense of liberty.
Not only did Obummercare RUIN American healthcare
Good LOrd. American Healthcare was already ruined before that.
All they do is prop up the mega middle man that deserves NOTHING, Health Ins companies.
Every POTUS and Congress protects them.
To make this a democrat thing is idiotic.
Hoss, prove what you wrote, because my healthcare was fine and I didn’t even need it as I am perfectly healthy. And I am old.
Healthcare used to cheap when I was younger and needed it due to having babies with my wife.
Some of us ate right, exercised, are balanced.
Was American healthcare perfect before Obummercare? Nope. Was it cheaper? Yep.
Maranatha,
American healthcare is so bad people travel here from all over the world to get care they can’t get in their own country’s superior systems.
The cost of it is debatable, but in that debate no one ever seems to want comparing how much of it we use, or how often we use it, vs how much of it they use and how often they use it (which is frequently limited by long waiting lines to get anything other than basic services).
What sticks in my craw is allegedly conservative preppers bellyaching about:
The cost. Well folks…this is a capitalist nation. We don’t have price controls. You don’t tell carpenters, plumbers, programmers to limt their salary, but you do expect doctors do so. Well, we are not socialists…yet! Thank YHWH!
Every doctor I know makes LESS than their parents who were doctors. Not only that, but they all are FORCED to write off bad debts. They all paid for at least eleven years of very expensive schooling meaning $250,000-500,000 invested just to begin. And they did this for eleven years while losig their youth and often delaying marriage and having children. What does THAT cost? It’s priceless. The best years of your life are from age 18-29. In some cases, they are docs until age 33!
They have the right to charge a reasonable expense to recoup their investment. And they run an office. And they have equipment. And they have rent. And they have malpractice insurance. And they are employers running a business that acts to better the community.
Not only that but the government cheats them by paying 25 cents on the dollar for Medicaid. The government cheats them by paying 75cents on the dollar for Medicare. The insurance companies cheat the by payig 75 cents on the dollar for routine jobs.
The only time they get paid their standard salary is when the negotiate for HMOs.
What other business could manage under these circumstances? Who among you will take 25-75 cents onthe dollar for YOUR salary?
It gets worse. We have at least a shortage of 7500 physicians. Now in macroeconomics if demand increases and supply is limited, the cost RISES. And it MUST and largely because this government and managed care cheating is passed on to those who will pay.
Where are all of the new medical schools to remediate this shortage of physicians? Only a handful of new schools have opened. And in reality,it’s worse as docs are retiring and going into consulting. We are getting into dangerous territory with obstetricians as there is too much RISK of being sued for 18 years following delivery. That is NUTS.
Which of you are willing to be sued for errors or the perception of errors for your work for 18 freakin’ years???
You do realize that a total dolt can open a pawn shop and up making MORE than a physician. That is our ugly reality.
Most made their money in real estate. Smart docs will invest in real estate and then get out. They have cashflow and so smart ones leave and become real estate investors.
Free trade killed the golden goose of very reasonable bluecollar jobs. Once before Bill Clinton actively meddled, around here, real estate was low, healthcare was reasonable, benefits were great, and your children could get a decent education. Even the universities were not that expensive.
As much as people bad mouth the pharmaceutical industry, my guess is they know nothing about how one is run. If they did,they wouldn’t criticize.
The reality is lots of people want toabuse their body from age 25-55, and then with 30 years of abuse, then need drugs to cope. And then refuse to take them! So they don’t work!
Nobody can make a patient take their meds. Nobody can make patients exercise. I’ve seen very healthy Americans in the seventies and eighties who were gymrats always exercising and lifting free weights and running…transform into lardbutts.
I frequently used to exercise 1.5-2 hours a day. My friends did as well. We were not jocks. Honestly ordinary people, smart people, healthnuts, etc used to exercise. Everyone walked and rode their bikes.
A non-living wage is never a good starting point. Why get out of bed for it?
About 90 million people don’t.
Thank you scumbag central bankers and your puppeteers for turning us into the 3rd world.
The key word in the email was “millennial.” My daughter is 26 and a new teacher. She has the same issue, and she, too, is a very hard worker and has been paying for her own personal expenses since she was 16, and worked through college. She is trying to cut as much as possible to make her budget. The biggest problem for her — and she isn’t yet paying her own car insurance — is rent. There is nothing in our area within her budget, about $500 a month, so her rent is over $800 and 40% of her paycheck. (And we live in one of the globalist Hooverville manufacturing cities in the Midwest, so not as expensive as other places). All rental housing presumes two incomes, so those without a second income can’t afford to live alone (or a parent at home with children). I’m blaming the feminists for this; despite the fact 65% of women with children under school age STILL stay home (same number as the 80s). I wish that couple only the best. They will have to pull that belt tighter, I’m sorry to say.
RE: This article, right out of the box first paragraph of this lady’s letter she talks about her religion. Here is a clue lady, Religion is the biggest fleecing of Sheep out there and these churches lay a guilt trip on you if you don’t give 10% of your wages to the Holy Crown of deceit every Sunday, plus the gas you waste to drive there to be brain washed. God will not help you or any lying promises, that preacher hack spews. My suggestion F*ck the church and that wasteful donation, and go buy more preps like food and gas for your car. Put yourself first, not some fraudulent superstition.
Next, drop all health insurance and stop paying all medical bills immediately, screw the hospitals, it is theft. Go get some exercise as a family every Sunday AM with that new found few hours. That’s spiritual healing out in the fresh air exercising. The money you just saved by not throwing it down the bible hole, you can buy quality food and your health improves at the same time. Sell all the worthless needles junk you have, in yard sales, and get rid of all TV’s and Cable. Go get some exercise instead.
Not sure if you own a home or renting, but go find a cheap place out in the country and find a local job out there. Living in the city costs about 30% more than the country. And out in the country, you can grow your own food and livestock and chickens, and start your own homestead. The money you now save, buy up some solar panels and cut the electric bill, and be living off the grid. Cook with propane not electricity. All you really need electricity for is for Refrigeration of food and lights. Chop your own wood and heat your home with a wood stove. Go get back to the basics dear, and stop thinking you need to live like every other moron in the city.
And that guilt trip your religion gives you about paying medical bills, send the bills to the church and ask that God pay your bills. He is suppose to provide everything for you right, just like the preaches says. So tell the preacher to put his money where his mouth is. Or is he lying to you? Wake up dear, your salvation is about to be found out in the country, so unchain yourself from that religious guilt slavery, and go look outside of the city for some new digs. Go for it dear.. You can do it.
Take whatcha got left and put it on black…
TSB, good advice. I keep my living expenses as low as possible. All my spare money goes to prepping. I don’t even try to “keep up with the Joneses”, as that old saying goes. BTW, I turned away from religion for the reasons you mention back when I was a teenager. I could see right through those so-called preachers how bogus they are. You’re right about them lying to everyone. Not a damn one of them ever practices what they preach. All they do is ripoff people and then try to lay on that ‘guilt trip’, as you say. I walked out on them and their BS when I was 14 and never looked back. Never regretted that move for one minute. I’ve never seen one church help anyone who was in dire straits and really needed help. They don’t have a leg to stand on in my book.
Yah, I hated the phony façade of religion back when I was a child dragged to church by my parents, and forced to listen to the BS babble phony bs stories and fake sing the genocide rhymes of “Onword Christian Soldiers marching off to war.” And this war during the Viet Name War. And that other fake lying ryme song to brain wash children, “Jebus loves me, this I know, for the Babble tell me so.” WTF?? yeah right!! If Jebus really loved me he, would not put me through such monotonous drip drip brain wash torture.
And then again right after 9-11, was the real wake up call that Religion is all a fraud and I was only going to church again because of my GF to appease her. Even went through weeks and weeks of babble study courses, and the more read, the more I realized this crap was total BS. quit and never looked back and it took some time to cleans my brain from the brain wash pollution.
Religion is a form of Brain wash slavery for the ignorant low IQ imbeciles who are too lazy to figure things out for themselves. The whole 125 various cult lots needs to be banned from the planet earth.
World Government and the NWO has always meant that US citizens will become almost as poor as the rest of the worlds people. If you have to compete economically with billions of Chinese and Indians your standard of living will be crushed. Soon, if you have some food (no meat…who can afford decent steak NOW), refrigeration, electricity and indoor plumbing you will be considered rich. 60% of the Worlds Population dosn’t have toilets NOW!
This is the INEVITABLE result of Globalism. Our politicians DECEIVED us and continue to deceive us with Diversity.
Many people believe that we are closer to a civil war than since the 1860’s. I wonder why? Could Diversity equal divided?
There are consequences to believing lies and being naive.
https://www.missourieconomy.org/indicators/cost_of_living/
Here is a very current cost of living map for all states.
A state of Mississippi has a rating of 84.0 but has a LOT of negatives like crushing poverty and ethnic strife.
Kentucky has a rating of 92.6 and I am very biased and think it’s near ideal in Western Kentucky for preppers.
A place like Montana is popular with preppers and is rated 103.9. And to me it is hardly ideal due to growing season, though regarding population density, it might be better.
California is flat out awful for preppers and is rated 141.0
Hawaii is peculiar to a redneck like me, though I loved being there, especially Kauai, and is rated 186.3.
If you can’t afford to live there, you might ought to move, and based upon finding steady work and a better cost of living and bettering your homestead. This might be in selling your real estate and buying a much better property in a variety of attributes like how fertile it is. Or better neighbors. Or similar ethos. Or you like the church better and it helps with networking.
Now realize much of this is HIGHLY dependent on location as very rural areas can be very inexpensive and the very urban regions, while having better jobs have very pricey real estate not suitable for homesteading.
What some people are doing is combining generations. A retiree is facing expensive assisted living expenses. Their married son or daughter has skills but only half of the net worth to buy a homestead. Their married child is a Millennial with some skills and hardly any money but no children…yet.
By working together, they all might creatively live in a shared space, especially if a cabin is put on the property. Room and board for them significantly helps them make it. In exchange, they help out in many areas based upon their jobs and shifts and cross train and learn new skills.
A small business filling some niche then is an income stream.
They are obviously bartering but as family, it is not readily apparent for tax purposes.
If they are smart, they write a book about it, and give tours to people interested in emulating the process.
It worked for the majority of human existence…before turning up your nose at it. And the younger generations inherit.
I don’t to want to sound like I’m heartless, but if the man only
makes $8.25 an hour and she makes a few hundred per month they won’t pay Federal taxes. If they have kids, they will get money extra!
If they are that bad off, they are working poor and can and should get help as it is legal and there for a reason. Parents may not be covered but the kids should be.
When my wife and I first got married, I was in the military and things were really tight. So I know what it is like. we were really poor, no base housing, rent in CA was killing us. We qualified for welfare and food stamps even with Military housing and food allowances. Didn’t use welfare but we could have. I went to school, got out of the military and eventually crawled out of that hole, mostly, I’m still lower low, middle class.
Article says “And things could turn around for America too, but we would have to be willing to fundamentally change our ways”
If we get rid of Democrats/socialists then things would dramatically change. The biggest threat to the middle class is the Government and they are strangling us.
No one, at least those with a leftist agenda, ever wants to figure in the value of all the government services the “poor” receive on top of their wages to come up with an overall real income.
Wonder why?
If you’re a young man, a decent business is to find cast offs that people are giving away, make small repairs or cosmetic fixes, and sell them. You don’t price them high as inventory is very limited due to a place for it. This means you have some space like a dry basement ideally with a walk out garage. You have to have a truck.
People routinely have free things around here especially for young couples. All they want is for people to be polite, gracious, and haul it off in a responsible manner.
I knew a guy who did this with furniture. He then refinished it.
Every once in a while, you get lucky. Some elderly person dies and almost always the heirs-to be don’t want furnishings. They do NOT have the time to sell furnishings piecemeal. This requires cash though for quick sale. That takes time to build up. Referals are word of mouth and you initially pay lawyers and real estate agents a small amount.
You donate some things to say the battered women’s shelter, local kids who need bikes, some school, and it creates good will.
All you need is a truck and a phone of some kind to start. You have to hurry to get there. Obviously at least one other guy is also doing the same thing. In a small town, four guys might be doing it.
Typically you visit rummage sales on Sunday as they are ending. You look what’s left and way low ball the price for all of it. Most will take it as otherwise they have to drag it back into their basement, closets, attic, and garage…which is the last thing they want. The point was to make room.
You only do it if there is an excellent chance to sell some of it and double your money. It’s not unusual for very minor problems to be the issue. Obviously you need to easily be able to repair things so you need a little confidence and common sense when troubleshooting.
You never price the stuff high. It’s a third off what they could buy it for in a used shop. But you don’t have the overhead like rents amd utilities for a showroom. It makes no sense quibbling over a minor difference in price.
You can still make money being a gopher for the elderly. They always need things like errands run. A sweet dependable respectful Christian lady can do this for several folks in nursing homes. Or people living at home, especially widows. The more considerate you are and cheery, warm, and sincere, the more repeat business you get.
The easiest is to run the errand, but some will actually pay if you drive them. They are very lonely and look forward to actually some independence as they can’t go out themselves. This means being very watchful and ready in case they stumble. It means being very discreet and never telling anyone about their purchasing. That would kill your business. Old people are sensitive and afraid of being teased or mocked. It takes diplomacy but they will refer you so much that you’ll have a hard time doing it yourself.
If you just run the errand, you might get four jobs done instead of one. It has to be worth your time and effort as there is implied responsibility. They might want to visit some place they were fond of when young, like where they went on a date with their husband. They may want to get a dress and go to a spa and want the company and some help making decisions. They may want photos. This is why it’s not suitable for all folks, as it takes tact and warmth. It’s a chance to feel young again…which is priceless.
You might organize a party for 10-12 with her input, help host it at her home, clean up, and this is not regular so it pays well. She can’t manage it, and caterers would charge too much but only supply food and supplies. She need your help pulling it off with her getting the credit and praise. It’s likely to result in a new job as one of the other ladies will want to do it too.
When I hear someone going on about how America is the richest country on Earth, I wonder how much of America they have actually seen. More and more America is becoming a third-world country.
That’s usually the result of the demographics of those areas, not representative of overall America.
This has been happening for quit some time now.
We can poke, prod, yell & shout as well as warn, but it has not not helped. We have to have the majority on-board (everyone) to make changes. But, that seems like a faraway dream at present.
Unfortunately, it looks like it may take a bad spell to wake everyone up.
STOP having kids. Don’t breed ’em if you can’t feed ’em.
Exactly! I see so many grossly obese women with kids. Most you can tell are on welfare since they are wandering around during the day and are not at work.
Fundamentally, these women should not be paid to have children. Do like they did in Russia and make those women work their booties to make a living. It keeps them fit and healthy and they won’t suffer from Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Don’t breed ’em if you can’t feed ’em.
For everyone who is not a Christian.
If YHWH does not exist, and therefore Jesus is not the Son of YHWH, and there is no eternal life, then he was a lunatic or liar. Yet that makes zero sense. Jesus can’t have said what he did and been a great spiritual teacher if he’s a liar.
If there is no YHWH ie no GOD as a supreme being, then how did nothing become the infinite mass of the universe? How did complex life form as DNA is a programmed language? Not only that, but how did seperate evolving organisms ever find each other and mate to pass on life? It would be impossible. There is literally zerochance of two spontaneous organisms would simultaneously blink into existence right next to each other so they could bear offspring.
If there is no GOD, then there is no objective morality. If there is no objective morality, there is no point to life. If there is no point, there is no meaning. Thus you are one of over seven million species and one of 32 septillion organisms. It makes no difference if you live or die. And if that is the case, why are you a prepper as it’s pointless.
Even more, why do you bother communicating as if there is no meaning and no objective morality, then it doesn’t what you do or say. Life happens and then you die.
It gets worse. The estimates are 40 billion habitable planets in this galaxy alone. There are an estimated 100 billion galaxies. Let’s say that that each galaxy has 40 billion planets and each of these planets has 32 septillion organisms. It doesn’t make any difference what any of those organisms do.
Congratulations…if you disbelieve in YHWH and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, then life has no meaning and it is pointless to survive. And you picked the strangest obsession to develop skills to survive.
I do not believe this story for one reason. This is the same propaganda I hear from leftists all the time. Perfectly normal family, supposedly doing all the right things, cant make it on two incomes, need government to live.
Bullshit.
Fundamentally, there is nothing healthy about the American way of life. The diet most people follow is terrible, most do not excercise. Obesity rates keep going up year after year.
Unhealthy sex practices (using apps to screw anyone they can find, engaging in anal sex) are spreading all sorts of diseases.
And everything about the American expectation, fancy healthcare, huge homes, cars and more cars, eating out all the time – all that costs a lot. And it isn’t even good for you.
Then throw in the taxes which mostly go to fund public sector pensions, and you have a nightmare made by man on earth.
The best thing a person can do is this: drop the “American Way”. And move away from the American tax system. Get your income in Panama or some other off-shore facility. Then set up a family trust to keep the IRS away from your wealth. Stop playing by ‘their’ rules. You will never get anywhere following their rules.
It is obvious what this couple are doing wrong. They naively think the government gives a crap about their values of hard work and law-abiding. They need to realize the government is increasing by the day the number of people on welfare and importing millions from the third world to do this. Stop paying for this system. Stop paying for the wars.
I don’t recommend this,but starting in 1990, lots of ordinary thrifty Americans who had invested wisely and though not conseratively, they did invest judiciously, made enough money to consider bugging out to Costa Rica.
George Bush Jr. And Bill Clinton especially made lots of people, especially preppers, think about getting out of Dodge.
Others went to Ecuador. Frankly, you still could go there. But you need a little pile. Costa Rica is a paradise but honestly only because the USA is strong ….still.
Retirees have been leaving for many years. Some made terrible errors like choosing Mexico. At one time you could buy a coffee farm or flower farm in Costa Rica for very little money and with a year round growing season. And the people are gracious, well educated, well spoken, there are Christians, and most speak English. Lots of guys went and married local beauties. And lived like barons and were thrilled.
I tell you what, some of the sweetest, kindest, intelligent, lovely, submissive, Christian ladies that I ever met were in Costa Rica. It would literally make your heart pound as the ones I met were not at all feminists but very old school.
There is a long history of homesteading there. The climate in the Central Plateau is like eternal springtime. The rainforests are breathtaking and in the warmer regions. There are lots of wonderful meadows for riding horses. There are very hilly trails I rode on and felt perfectly safe. There are lovely cloud forests in the mountains. The seafood was delicious. There are lots of tropical fruits and you find abumdant fruit and vegetables growing everwhere. They have beautiful wood that is rich and marvelous to behold. It really seems like Eden.
One fourth is national park and ecotourism is a big business. People start bed and breakfasts and team up with wilderness adventure outfitters. This is very common.
Ecuador is inexpensive but not like Costa Rica. You can find both kinds of videos as either option are still happening.
I elected not to go, but it ultimately came down to staying in America and not giving up. I am not certain it was the right decision as so many had marvelous lives since that time I considered it. They had 28 years of joy while I watch America disintergrate.
Agree: leave if you can. There are always great opportunities out there for homesteaders. I work all over the world and behind the scenes with governments. Places I would consider are ( and this is politically incorrect):
1) Patagonia: lots of Nazis so it is pro-white. They are Christian and the women are beautiful.
2) Austria: stunning land and also pro white. Beautiful women.
3) Switzerland: same as above.
4) Central Asia: not friendly to the migrants so you will not have to wake up and find rafts of Africans washing up.
5) Russia: lots of land and epic women.
6) Iceland: Vikings and stunning Christian women.
And that’s it.
Things ain’t booming in Arkansas. Unless you consider fast food a great future.
Pragmatic preppers who are newlyweds try to be good family planners. If anything, I would bet they have more romantic “activity” as the preppers I know are kindly, considerate, caring people nature as learning ancestral skills is largely about living in harmony with the Earth. They often are Christians around here.
Part of the problem is happy accidents versus delaying too long. Delaying pregnancy can create just as many problems. It is nigh impossible to be old school as the husband and have your wife stay at home completely. Some have wives who are formerly schoolteachers or later work for Christian schools as the kids enter private school. Some wives are RNs and medical techs amd respiratory therapists and physical therapists, etc. This is a great combination.
Some run businesses out of the home, or several small part-time jobs so many income streams. Some sell real estate. Some do bookkeeping as most do not need accountants.
It is extremely difficult if the wife works for some corporation. She will either end up working too much as she is fast tracked for management. Or she be working when needed at home. Or she will delay having a baby or babies and so is upset and irritable all the time.
Believe it or not, lots of ladies realize that feminism harmed them versus what their grandmother had. Feminists seriously distort how it used to be. Most of those ladies were glad to be at home. A lot of affairs happen because women are working with predatory men and they are lonely as they might work long hours as whitecollar salaried folks. And male bosses can take advantage.
Want to meet a very sad lady? Meet a female physician. She most likely does NOT want to marry a guy who is a physician as she knows some RNs look for buddies to have affairs with. I could say it in a crass way, but I will not. She has the hardest time finding a husband especially an understanding one if she is a Christian. Her occupation interferes with her happiness as she just about has to wait to age 29-33 to even get married or have babies. And then her hours are abysmal. She might easily work 80-120 hours a week.
It takes a saintly Christian man who is very flexible to make that work. But she may be a wonderful wife. Many of them seem terse but actually are very romantic. She has to adopt a brusque manner just to manage her emotions as she deals with so MUCH DEATH. Who she is at work and who she is at home can be opposites.
What you don’t want is for your teenagers to get sexually active and then make mistakes. You have to realize that dating was NOT normal in American history. Young men courted ladies and often there was an age difference of 5-7 years normally as it took time to get established.
Wealthy folks starting in 1920 or so dated. Wealthy folks prior often had family alliances and that happened from the Colonial period through the Civil War and beyond.
There were no teenagers until 1920, and among the average Americans, not a true phenomena until 1940 or so.
We have made a mess of it. Young folks age 16, were”mature” and responsible and thus might enter into “courtin'” then end up marrying after six months. Then they lived with her parents or his on the farm. That was very normal and why single moms didn’t happen until after WW2. Sometimes accidents happened when soldiers went off to war ladies had children, but mostly they got hitched prior and were young widows who remarried.
A young person was mature,not based on age, but could do most farm tasks…with high demonstration of forethought and doing them responsibly. Otherwise they were considered immature and reckless.
We made teenagers lazy, lack skills, told them them must unnaturally delay lovemaking, and look at the results. For nearly 10,000 years they were responsible young rural couples mentored by parents, who matured in each other’s arms and learned to be husbamds and wives. And so they didn’t divorce.
Now interestingly, the brave ones who moved west as homesteaders in the territories were more prone to divorce and provisions were made to facilitate it. The most likely causes were drunkenness, laziness, and abuse. Life was hard on the prairie and some folks worst sides came out. And 2/3 failed on the homestead,but not necessarily divorced.
Allegedly per capita, the ladies of Finland are supposed to be the most beautiful. I don’t know as I never visited. The main issue is Russian history.
There are some aspects Norway that are admirable. And it is certainly beautiful there.
The bigest problem is somany have all but abandoned their Christianity. And it’s too cold.
I have never been to South Korea but there are lots of very devout Christian women there. I personally they are the most lovely of the Asians. There is an innocence in both Korean and Japanese ladies that is all but lost in the USA.
I would not recommend anyone move to the Caribbean. Not at all.
Some folks moved to Guatamala which I think is a mistake.
The Argentines can have both German and Italian ancestry which makes them very lovely. There are lots with Italian backgrounds.
Here is some practical prepping advice as there is some doom lately.
In a real fight, people are way too nice for too long, especially ladies as they are taught to be weak. Being submissive as a Christian wife has NOTHING to do with being weak or taking trashtalk from thugs.
Generally trashtalk is about the thug getting their courage up. It’s the quiet one you have to be concerned about. They already are fuming. You see it in their eyes and posture.
When the opponent has much greater mass then they can generate much greater force as Force=mass times acceleration. A tiny bullet needs lts of acceleration. A large mass needs only a little acceleration. Wild warriors filled with blood lust would flat out run into their opponents to take them down. The Celts were famous for this.
And then, if an opponent has “reach”, you can lose when using atemi (strikes) as they can stay out of your reach, while landing their’s.
It’s counterintuitive, but you need to get closer to land punches and this messes up their timing. But then grappling happens. Beginners get nervous when instead they need to get far closer than they are comfortable with. It’s called closing with the enemy. In Japanese, it’s often called maai. It creating the distance to enter into conflict or extending the distance to avoid conflict. In aikijutsu, you actually close and pivot around to create centrifugal force and might end up behind the enemy ideally and throwing, applying wrist locks, and breaking their arms.
This means you must get them on the ground first and on top. Then they are ineffective unless good at groundwork and your reach is fine. Watch any MMA matches to see this happen. It’s dangerous to be flat on your back and the opponent pummeling and throwing elbow strikes. It can soon be over with major lacerations, often above the eye, which blind you as bloodflows.
Watch what happens when a cheerleaders seizes the intiative and obviously has some training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOGwPlZ_cCc
Mild cursing
Her opponent is twice her size. She could easily have been clobbered as she was sitting when the thug approached. Immediately stand up! Do not let yourself get pinned against the wall where their mass can end it.
She did pretty good.