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Author: John Poirier, Esq. –
The Eleventh letter of John to the Philistines.
The term “Philistine” is defined in the modern vernacular as a derogatory term used to describe a person holding a vulgar set of values. A Philistine is someone who despises or undervalues art, beauty, intellectual rigor, or spiritual values. Philistines are also said to be materialistic and to favor pop culture values unthinkingly. The American landscape is filled with Philistines these days, and you know who you are.
The Coming Economic Collapse (and how to survive it): Business Insider, a website, reported on November 30, 2011 that, according to CNBC’s Jim Cramer, the U.S. Federal Reserve has been propping up the Euro. In fact, they just saved a major struggling French reserve bank from going under. See the story here:
On the same day, the Associated Press reported that the Federal Reserve is trying to prevent the European debt crisis from sparking a global financial crisis (read, a run on banks world-wide) by making it easier for European central banks to borrow from U.S. banks. See the story here:
However, these moves merely delay the Day of Reckoning for the Euro Zone; they will not actually solve the sovereign debt crisis. They cannot, because they do nothing to solve the underlying problem: Over-spending by European social welfare states. The countries of Europe have been spending more than they take in tax revenue for decades, and have racked up trillions in combined debt. The governments are politically unwilling or unable to change their ways; their political patrons, the unions and the permanent welfare recipient class, are rioting in the streets over the idea that the Gravy Train might ever end. To make matters worse, that huge debt now has to be refinanced. Private bond markets are going to charge European governments through the nose, because the risk of default is so great. Italy alone will have to roll over 400 billion euros ($538 billion) in 2012, about 20 percent of its total debt. With yields on bonds at 7 to 8 percent, that is beyond Italy’s ability to finance. See the story here at:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45501391
In a nutshell, Germans, and ultimately Americans, are being asked to put their grandchildren into trillions of dollars of debt so that Greek public union employees can retire at age 45 at full pensions. The system is unsustainable. The greatest outrage is that America has been put on the hook for European debt (to the tune of 7.7 trillion dollars) by Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Fed, without any consultation or notice to the American people. This is why Ron Paul has been railing about the dangers of the Federal Reserve to American liberty all these decades. This “esoteric” issue is about to become crystal clear to the U.S. population, in an excruciatingly painful way: Currency collapse.
So, there is the setup for the current global financial situation. The Euro is going to collapse. It is going to happen, and it could happen in DAYS. Any steps being taken right now are only delaying the inevitable. At the same time, our central bankers have lashed America to this sinking ship. The only unanswered question is whether Ben Bernanke did it on Obama’s orders, or without his knowledge. When the Euro goes down, it will now take our dollar down with it, and according to many analysts, pretty much every other freely traded currency on Earth too. All these central banks are holding each other’s debt, and its all funny money; that is to say, all empty dollars printed up out of thin air, and backed by NOTHING.
When the Euro crashes, it will trigger a world wide run on banks as everyone, i.e., the “little guy”, tries to get their money out of the system. The Central banks will respond by 1) shutting down the banks, exacerbating the global, public panic, and 2) will print up trillions more empty dollars out of nothing in order to “inject liquidity” into the system. This is what they have already been doing. It was called “quantitative easing”. It didn’t work then, it won’t work now. What it will do is cause hyper-inflation. As sovereign credit ratings continue to drop, borrowing costs (interest rates) will rise. Italy’s credit rating has been already reduced to junk bond status, and their borrowing costs are at 7%. Italy is just leading the pack, but it will happen in every debt ridden nation, including the U.S. Obama, by the way, has been repeating the same stupidity as Europe. We are spending 3 dollars for every two in government revenue. Our government is running trillion dollar annual deficits, in addition to trying to keep the Euro on life support. It is destroying our financial system and cannot be sustained.
Hyper inflation will cause your money to be worthless (what little you could get out of the bank) and that then leads to a cessation of economic activity. Employers won’t be able to meet payrolls if the banks are shut down, and why work anyway if your money has been reduced by 1000% in value? Credit cards also won’t work if the banks are shut down. Trucks stop delivering food and gas to local stores if truckers can’t be paid to work and companies can’t buy fuel. Utility service shuts down for the same reasons: You can’t run a power plant if you can’t pay your employees or buy fuel. So, there goes your electricity. Water supplies generally rely on electric pumps, so when the electricity goes down, so does your running water. Gas, sewer, and phone service follow like dominoes, under the same irresistible laws of economics. Think Hurricane Katrina on a national scale. Now think about how well Federal, state, and local government dealt with Hurricane Katrina. That’s right; consider yourself to be on your own in the event of financial collapse.
Over-night, our nation can (will?) be reduced to a barter economy. Here is a list of things you should be doing to prepare:
1) Food storage. Plan now for supermarket shelves to be empty. Take baby steps; start by having a 3 day supply of food for your family, then 7, then 14, then 30 days, and so on.
2) Water storage. The average person needs 2 gallons of water per day. Not all of that has to be potable (you do expect to wash yourself, don’t you?). Sure, a shower uses more water than two gallons. Don’t expect to have running water. Plan on lots of sponge baths. If you have a pool, you are in great shape as long as you have bleach on hand to purify it. If you have a well, you may find yourself frustrated if you depend on electric pumps. Do not count on having utilities. Electricity will be the first to go.
3) Precious Metals: Gold, silver, lead, brass. Gold and silver may be the only thing easily used as money. Lead and Brass refers to having guns and ammunition. For those out in rural areas and who aren’t squeamish about killing their own food; all those pesky deer are, to the man with a rifle, meat on the hoof. I don’t really need to spell out the need for self defense, do I?
4) Location, Location, Location: In the event of a calamity, survival experts recommend being at least 150 miles from a major city. But, you live in New Jersey, so you’re screwed, right? Not necessarily. It is more important to be near a community of like minded people willing to offer each other mutual support. But all things being equal, it is better to be living near farmland than near Manhattan during a food crisis.
5) Fuel: This is a tough one. Ever since the Federal mandate to add ethanol to gasoline, it is hard to store large amounts of gasoline for any length of time due to ethanol’s propensity to attract moisture. Consider acquiring a stockpile of propane tanks (which can be used to power camping equipment and barbeques). For those with fireplaces and campfire grills, having a few cords of wood on hand will be very useful as we enter into winter. Solar panels can provide limited amounts of electricity, but is not dependable.
6) Clothing: If you can, buy extra clothing items you may need later as clothes wear out and need replacing, such as jeans, coats, underwear, and the like. Growing children will need larger sizes of clothes. Even if we don’t suffer currency collapse, we will be seeing price inflation so buying these items ahead of time still makes sense.
7) Tradable items: In a barter economy, many items can be used as surrogate currency for trading. Survival experts recommend having a cache of cigarettes (even if you don’t smoke), liquor, cigarette lighters, matches, razor blades, toilet paper, gold and silver coins, over the counter medicines, soap, shampoo, any food item, liquid bleach (for water purification and sterilization), bandages and other medical supplies. This is not an exhaustive list.
Hand operated equipment: Once upon a time, very little in the kitchen required electricity to operate. If you are planning to cope in a world without electricity for an unknown period of time, buying hand operated versions of kitchen appliances is a must. This includes hand cranked meat grinders, mixers, can openers, and the like. Ditto for acquiring saws, axes, hand cranked drills, sewing machines et cetera.
Of course, I hope I am spectacularly wrong about this warning. But you won’t really be worse off by stockpiling recommended survival items even if I am wrong, as all these items can be used in the normal course of living and it is always better to be prepared.
Besides, who here is willing to bet their survival on the Euro? Anyone?
Those of us who lost power for over five days in the Halloween winter storm can attest to the fact that things can get difficult pretty quickly. I hope that you are wrong about a collapse of the economy, too, but believe you are absolutely right about suggesting that people start preparing for the possibility. Unfortunately, the possibility is becoming closer to reality every day.
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Judy, Murphy’s Law hasn’t yet been repealed, so of course the Euro crisis is coming to a head at the onset of Winter. I forgot to mention in my letter the value of starting a garden in order to hedge your bets during a food shortage, but of course no one will be planting anything for months.
The biggest challenge is to overcome what is called “the Normalcy Bias”. It is human nature to assume that today’s conditions will be the same tomorrow. It is difficult for most individuals to make the mental shift and
“think the unthinkable” and prepare for it. It makes me pretty nervous to know that George Soros declared a failure of the Euro to be “inevitable” today, and that he is sitting on ten TONS of gold himself.
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As frightening as it is, this is still very good information about what to do in case the worst happens. As they say, prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
I can deal with a few days without electricity, but this scenario anticipates many days without power of any kind. Thus, we would not have fresh water or clean water, power for our heating, lighting, or other appliances, etc. We can manage with all this as long as we have stockpiled food. However, there are some problems:
One, those of us who rely on prescription drugs will be screwed.
Two, those of us who have precious metals and/or barterable goods could very well be targets for marauders. I am not sure that I can count on my neighbors for mutual protection and ultimately my lead and brass will not compensate for an armed mob. A preplanned escape route to a safer location must be created. At the same time, we need to know when it is time to escape.
Three, I can’t take all my supplies with me unless I have a truck or a large van. The alternative is taking minimal supplies and escaping early, but that may be very premature. What to do?
Four, while I am physically and emotionally capable of engaging in escape, other family members may not be. This is something that must be discussed with the entire family because waiting for the last-minute may be catastrophic.
Five, keep your vehicles filled with fuel. If power goes off, there will be no electricity to pump gas. Having a few extra containers at the ready would be a good thing. They can be rotated to avoid the problem of water contamination.
There several good publications on survival in place, as well as how to engage in an escape or evacuation. It would be a good idea for all your readers to buy one of those books and take their advice.
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NJ Patriot:
I enjoyed reading your thoughtful reply, you made several good points.
In the event of a prolonged societal collapse, you are indeed correct that those who rely on prescription medication are going to be in trouble. This is another factor contributing to the expected death toll from such an event.
You are quite correct that those who have prepared the most will be targets for marauders. This is why I counselled being as far away from cities as you can and being around like minded people. The cities are populated by people who are not preparing and where the sense of community is at its lowest, and the sense of entitlement at its highest. Today, with the lights still on, people in the cities are beating each other senseless for looking the wrong way at someone in a McDonalds, brawling over a bottle of syrup at Dennys, and rioting over discounted x-boxes at Walmart. If economic collapse comes, the cities will be the scene of unspeakable savagery and barbarism. Out of that orgy of violence and murder, the worst of the worst who survive will then fan out into the suburbs to loot and pillage. There will be bitter fighting, and the good guys will not always win.
Experts agree that in the event of a collapse, you have 72 hours to get to your safehouse or other location you intend to make a stand. 72 hours is how long, on average, it takes the criminals to figure out that the police are not going to respond to crime. After that window, things deteriorate rapidly.
Lastly I agree with you that for those of us who are married with families, spouses must be briefed and on board with your survival plan, and even children of a sufficient age to be of help. You won’t have time to debate the issue once calamity strikes. Remember the Normalcy Bias, and be patient in pointing out the warning signs to reluctant family members. Start getting them used to thinking in worst-case scenario terms so they are not shocked and panicked in an emergency. Its all that we can do.
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