Post SHTF: What do you do now? (Opinion)

I got this from theotherryan over at Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest which was originally posted on FerFal's Surviving in Argentina. FerFal as some of you might know is a resident of Argentina. In 2001 Argentina went from being one of the richest and best educated counties in Latin American to a third world country. Why? Because they experienced a very similar economic collapse that the United States is experiencing today. (If you haven't watched the documentary on Argentina's financial collapse this is a must see.)

As FerFal states nobody can predict exactly what will happen in the United States if the dollar crashes and we experience hyperinflation. But what he says in the article is very true. No matter how bad things get life will still go on. You will still have to feed your family, pay the bills, provide medicine for your family, and provide security for your family. Regardless of whether we experience hyperinflation, a nuclear bomb in a major city, or riots and civil unrest, the fact is that people will adapt and move on with their lives.

The purpose of FerFal's article is to make the point that focusing on the end of the world is counter-productive. Here's a great quote from the article:

Doomers will find out how little fun all this is. Bills keep coming, food prices keep going up, the dentist and pediatrician still don't accept a pair of handmade boots as a form of payment, the raiders never showed up, you never managed to make a living by scavenging the ruins of Wal-Mart, or providing protection to a merchant caravan. It's life as it has always been, only worse regarding some aspects.

Now it doesn't get much truer than this statement. This is where a lot of people have it wrong, and we can learn a LOT from FerFal. You will still have to work if you have a job, if you don't you will have to spend all your time looking for work and taking what you can to make a few bucks. The point is that we MUST get prepared now to face whatever the future holds for us. More than likely things will be rough for a long, long time but life will still go on.

FerFal's blog is one of the best sources of survival information, if not the best. All because he has already been through it! He's giving us advance info of what we should do and how we should prepare. We have to move to preserve what wealth we have while we still can. His philosophy is right inline with the philosophy of bugging in. You should prepare to hold up in your house with limited outside assistance. Food and water storage should be top priority. Forget about gold and silver. You could have all your money in gold but if everyone is starving nobody will trade food for your gold. You have to have your food storage and other supplies FIRST before you ever consider investing in precious metals.

Food prices are rising and will rise dramatically in a hyperinflation situation. Food itself is a critical investment. Why not buy now while it's cheap? When prices skyrocket you won't have to worry about paying $20 for a loaf of bread. (Make your own in your solar oven with the wheat you stored!) Get prepared now before it's too late. There might be food and supplies available after the collapse but imagine how valuable they will be when everyone realizes they need to prepare and stock up. You don't want to be rushing around with everyone else trying to fight for what little is there.

Buy your preps in an effort to ease the transition from our modern lives to a less modern way of living. Others along with myself have written hundreds of articles showing you exactly what to do and what to buy. There is no excuse. You don't want the day to come where you can't feed your family or can't afford to buy any food. Get your food, water, batteries, guns, bullets, flashlights, propane, and anything else you would need as soon as possible. You must prepare and learn how to get by without a reliable electricity source, without a Wal-Mart to go to each week, without a repair man, and without a lot of the modern conveniences we have today.

*Double posted in the KPN forums for additional discussion.

Modern Survivalists Arcticle and more

The Star Telegram of Texas published an article titled, Dallas-Fort Worth's 'modern survivalists' are ready for layoffs - or war. It's rare that modern survivalists get shown in a good light but Melody McDonald wrote a great article about some local Texans who are preppers.

Here's an excerpt:

Spirko, an Army veteran and self-described "stark-raving-mad Libertarian," is part of a growing movement of people who are preparing for a disaster — natural, economic or man-made. Referred to as "modern survivalists" or "preppers," they are taking steps to protect and provide for their families should something bad happen.

Here's a video from Knob Creek Gun Show (April 4, 2009) with Rand Paul speaking to a crowd that morning. He talks to them about how politicians lie and how we need to realize that it's BOTH parties at fault. We have to look to ourselves and our values and how we stand on issues and now just vote down party lines.



And here's even more of a reason to be prepping, Bloomberg reports that Americans Feel 15.6% Unemployment as Underemployment Surges. The government cooks the books people, they change the numbers to make things not seem as bad. They tell us we have around 9% unemployment but they don't count people who aren't currently seeking work or drawing unemployment. Finally someone in the mainstream news reports the real unemployment numbers and 15% is depression numbers. We all have a risk of losing our jobs so having stored food and supplies will help if you lost your income and have to live on less money.

A measure of underemployment that counts those people has almost doubled over the past two years, to 15.6 percent, providing a more complete gauge of the labor market’s deterioration. Along with an historic drop in the percentage of the population who are working, and record numbers of long-term unemployed, the figures point to a permanent shift in employment patterns, said former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

Are the Masses ready to give up living beyond their means?

This is our fight. The government has their wars and battles, and so do we. We are in an information war. The fighters? Government propaganda vs. freedom and the truth. Scare tactics and yellow journalism are running rampid. Everyone in the country is so scared of these potential terrorists. Well the REAL terrorists are the government. They are they ones instilling fear into everyone in the country. Not everyone in Iraq is a terrorist. Not everyone in the Taliban or Al Qaeda are terrorists. Of course there are extremists in every group. But the real terrorism is blasted onto the television and radio 24/7. We're in a fight to restore the republic, bring back freedom, and restore liberty. I know we all try as hard as we can to wake up more and more fellow Americans. Some are successful, some are not.

I think the main problem is that people aren't ready to see the truth. They would rather live in a fairy tail land. A great example of this is The Matrix. Neo chose to take the red pill, and see the real truth, the real world. The majority of the people would rather take the blue pill, just as Cypher chose to go back into the Matrix. Cypher represents the mass majority of the American population. Too engrained in their own selfish lives. Too caught up in television, and the brainwashing media. Television strips citizens of their knowledge and their power. It inhibits people's ability to think for themselves. They're told what to buy, what to eat, who to look up to, what to drive ect... The government is scared of a population of critical thinkers. The government is suppressing our ability to think logically. They are suppressing our minds because if the population could actually think, they would realize that we are getting royally screwed and have been for almost a century.

So are the masses ready to give up living beyond their means? I think not. They would rather keep living beyond their means up until the day that the economy crashes. Then they would be willing to make their next move. The problem is that it will be too late when this happens. How will we eat? What good will our money be? We need to make preparations NOW while we still have time and while these green pieces of paper still have a value. Long term food storage, water, weaponry, and other essential supplies need to be stocked yesterday. We're getting closer and closer to the point of no return. We have to get prepared now, and increase our efforts of waking others up and convincing them that they also need to be prepared.

This Makes the Great Depression look Good

The United States is in a unique position as far as economic collapse is concerned. If you look at what happened to the Soviet Union in the 1990’s or Argentina early in the 2000’s you will see that the United States is in a very different position facing economic collapse. We’re not a third world nation, or a developing nation. We are a developed, powerful, and complacent nation. We are a nation of quick fixes, government checks, and the inability to think for ourselves. What would happen if the government wasn’t able to fulfill its promises of social security, unemployment benefits, welfare, Medicare…and the list goes on. What is going to happen when unemployment hits 30-40%, or when hyper-inflation hits and food prices soar to a point where even the upper middle-class can't afford to buy food? We as a nation are facing serious problems, and if you’re reading this you too realize the troubles that are ahead.

Currently the whole world is facing an economic meltdown. Iceland, Greece and Great Britain just recently have been seeing massive riots and protests. Why? Because the citizens of these countries have WOKEN UP! They realized that their governments are screwing them over in more ways than one, and have decided to not only voice their opinion but take to the streets and show how they feel about it. Does any of this hit mainstream media? No. The government/corporate controlled media doesn't want to give American's any bright ideas. But, the bottom line is that we have just as much, if not MORE of a reason to be organizing mass protests and massive demonstrations to show the politicians that we mean business. That we aren't going to sit back while they steal everything we have. They have stolen $10 trillion+ through the bailouts, and Iceland toppled their government over a few billion... Taxpayers are the ones who fund these bailouts and the taxpayers don't receive a dime of the money. Where did the money go? To the bankers. The bankers made bad investments, and gambled with taxpayer money. Why would they attempt to make good business decisions when it's not their money anyway.

So they've stolen everything we have from us, and they've stripped us of nearly all our rights as Americans. The patriot act basically made the Constitution obsolete. They've taken away Free Speech, our right to not be searched without a warrant or probable cause, and many others. Oh yea and they're currently working on taking away our right to bear arms!? This should be an outrage. But of course nobody even cares. Well I have news for America...we don't work for the government, THE GOVERNMENT WORKS FOR US. We employ them, we pay them, and we vote them into office. We need to send a strong message to Washington. If you don't do what we want, then your ass is outta here. They're driving our country into the ground and doing it "for our own good." I don't see banks loaning money, even after getting trillions from the treasury. I don't see anything good that came out of the bailouts. We need to shrink the government, end these senseless wars, and start building our nation back up. The sheep won't get up off their asses long enough to miss an episode of American Idol. I just hope that when the revolution takes place and we take back our government, that they stay out of the way.

Impressions from the 2009 Kentucky Ice Storm

The major ice storm that swept across the country hit Kentucky on Monday January 26th through Wednesday January 28th. The brunt of the storm hit western Kentucky, where my family and myself live at, and luckily my family and I were somewhat prepared. Coincidentally, exactly a week before the storm hit I went out to China-Mart and purchased a $100 worth of prep items. Monday morning (January 26th) I went out and spent another $70 bucks on more preps to add to my Bug In Items in preparation for the storm. I was personally ready to be stuck with no electricity, no water, and no food for up to a month. My parents had just gone to the grocery store the weekend before so we had a pretty good supply of food in the house and we had purchased a 5000 watt generator about a month before. Monday evening we went out and filled all our cars up with gas, and filled our three, five gallon gas tanks up. Our generator is wired to be fed into the house breaker box so we were able to run all the lights, fridge, freezer, television, router, and my laptop. Cell phones were down most of the time, and so were the landlines, so Internet was our main source of communication.

We did a good job conserving our fuel, ran the generator all day, and let it rest at night. We could stretch five gallons of gas to last a whole day of nearly continuous use. We were able to eat, cook, shower, and enjoy the majority of our usual luxuries. Now I said I personally was pretty prepared, but my family wasn’t as prepared. We only had a couple weeks of groceries, and not any stored water. Monday afternoon before the storm I talked my dad into purchasing a 55 gallon water drum from the local Rural King. We filled it up when water pressure was going out and had plenty of water to cook with and drink. The pressure was in and out but we never lost ours completely, others in the county did, and some still have no water.

We got back on the grid Saturday afternoon (January 31st). As I am typing this, there are still thousands without power, and countless numbers of utility workers working around the clock to restore the electrical grid. These guys don't get the respect they deserve. When the tornado hit last year and left many without power, the utility workers worked day and night. These are the true heroes during a disaster such as this. Getting everyone's power back on means everyone can eat, and have warmth, and the guys that work like they do deserve to be thanked. This goes out to all utility workers, THANK YOU!

I learned a lot about preparedness, and so did my family. There are a lot of things that we could have had that would've made things a lot easier. We owned many flashlights, but didn't have any batteries stored, so many of them were useless. In this situation having a stored set of batteries is important so you can power the flashlights you own. Having emergency candles is important when needing light in a room. We had a couple 72 hour candles from a few years ago, but more would have been better. Water is another thing that we did not have. I personally have been storing water in the seven gallon Reliance water containers you can get at China-Mart, but my parent's had none (other than the fifty-five gallon barrel which was last minute). This could mean the difference in life and death in a survival situation. Getting the fifty-five gallon water drum made a huge difference when we needed to get a drink, flush the toilets, and cook a meal. Store water any way you can people; fill up old juice containers, buy the above mentioned containers from China-Mart or get a fifty-five gallon food grade barrel to store water in. Whatever you do, get a supply of stored water. Food is the next important thing. We had a decent supply of food for a couple weeks, but if this thing would've lasted any longer, we would've had to drive at least an hour to replenish our groceries. If you're storing food you want to store food that is easily prepared, highly nutritious, and doesn't need to be refrigerated. Warmth is another important factor. Everyone in the household needs to have a set of thermal underwear, wool socks, gloves, and a toboggan. If we didn't have the generator to run the heat on, bundling up and staying in one room would've been the best thing to do.

Even though we weren’t completely prepared, we made it through without having to spend a day without lights or heat. We could have used a few extra items such as batteries, matches, water containers or some emergency candles. But all in all, I think we fared pretty well considering that the majority of the people in the county went to bed cold and had no lights. More than anything this disaster was a wake-up call to my family, and that message was GET PREPARED! Disaster can strike at a day’s notice and could last for a while just as it did for us. Having storable food, water, a way to cook, heat your home and a light source, will give you a great advantage when caught in a disaster.

Guardsmen cut through fallen trees in ice-caked KY

More reasons to get prepared. You never know when it will be you in this situation.

LEITCHFIELD, Ky. – National Guard troops swinging chain saws made their way into isolated Kentucky communities Sunday to check on residents walloped by a winter storm that Gov. Steve Beshear called the biggest natural disaster ever to hit the state.
Some 4,600 guardsmen fanned out across Kentucky to distribute food and water, remove fallen trees, go door-to-door in hard-hit areas and provide security in communities that have been evacuated.
With high temperatures well into the 40s through the weekend, much of the ice that had clung to buildings, power lines, trees and roads has disappeared. And another winter storm that had been forecast to hit Monday apparently will bypass the state.
"Hopefully we will dodge the bullet," Beshear said. "We're keeping a watchful eye on that."
Kentucky was the hardest-hit by the ice storm that paralyzed wide areas from the Ozarks through Appalachia early last week. The storm wrapped a large part of Kentucky in an inch-thick mantle of ice that shattered utility poles, toppled trees and drove thousands from frigid homes to shelters, and the state had a long way to go toward recovery — authorities said it could be weeks before power was restored in some spots.
More than 400,000 Kentucky homes and businesses still lacked electricity Sunday, down from more than 700,000, a state record. Officials told those still shivering in dark, unheated homes to seek safe refuge in motels and places with power or generators.
"Too many people are trying to tough it out at home," Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo said.
The storm that began in the Midwest has been blamed or suspected in at least 42 deaths, including nine in Arkansas, six each in Texas and Missouri, three in Virginia, two each in Oklahoma, Indiana and West Virginia and one in Ohio. Most were blamed on hypothermia, traffic accidents and carbon monoxide poisoning.
Finding fuel — heating oil along with gas for cars and generators — was a struggle for those trying to tough it out at home. Hospitals and other essential services took priority.
In Lone Oak, a tiny community in rural western Kentucky, Angel Wyant has been eking out the days with the heat from a kitchen frier connected to a handheld propane tank.
"And a carbon monoxide detector," she pointed out, mindful of the dozens of deaths caused by the storm.
The makeshift heater isn't much good when night falls, so Wyant, 32, and her three children have been staying overnight at the home of neighbor Rita Kelly, 53.
"We huddle around the old wood stove," said Kelly, whose two-bedroom aluminum sided house now shelters six people.
___
Associated Press writers Malcolm C. Knox and Janet Cappiello Blake in Louisville, Ky., John Moreno Gonzales in Lone Oak, Ky., and Bruce Schreiner in Mayfield, Ky., contributed to this report.
(This version corrects that 700,000 was the peak outage figure, not Sunday's total.)

Kentucky Ice Storm 2009 Photos

Day 1. We have down tree limbs everywhere, and everything is coated in a thick layer of ice. Seems like the roads are alright, people are out driving on them. The power lines are heavy with ice. Current forecast is that it's supposed to be clear today, then this afternoon more freezing rain and ice. If we get any more ice we should see more power outages and more downed trees. Our power went out last night but came back on. Here are some photos from around my house.

Day 2. We lost our electricity at around 4:30pm 01/27, along with the rest of the county. There are countless power lines and trees down. Cell phones are completely useless, the towers are down. This morning we woke up to very low water pressure, so I started filling everything up with what water we had. We ended up filling up everything we could find. Also filled up our 55gal drum that we don't have a cap for just in case. That's mainly for toilet flushes because we haven't cleaned it properly. We are running our home on our generator right now. It's expensive but we're staying warm and have lights. We have a 5000watt generator and we're running all our lights (CFL's) my laptop, the router/modem, deep freeze, 1 of our refrigerators, 1 television and 1 satellite box. We have a natural gas hot water heater, stove and furnace, so all we need to run our heat is power to turn the blower. All in all we're doing fine, but gas is important when running the generator all day. We go through about 10 gal a day to keep it on from wake up to sleep. We keep it off at night and run the gas logs. Honestly we could be conserving a lot more energy but we're housing my great grandmother, grandmother and an aunt. I got the chainsaw out today and cut up the huge limb in the front yard, I'm going to split it all and let it season out.

Funny thing is that now my parent's understand why I stayed on their asses for getting prepared. They now wish that they has listened to be earlier. Even if this isn't the end of the world, it's still a disaster and there are many who are sitting in their homes cold and in the dark due to lack of prepping.

The water pressure came back at the end of the day but that could be temporary. I work an at-home online job so I won't be able to work until the power and telephones are back to working. All my classes are online so there won't be any classwork or homework being done.

It's sad how we're all so dependent on someone else to provide us with practically everything. I will not post all the pictures I took today, but I uploaded them all to my Photobucket account and if anyone would like to view them feel free to take a peak.