Thoughts for 2010 Preparation or Paranoia

Thoughts for 2010. Preparation or Paranoia.

So many people are talking about preparing for hard times ahead...and then some people are actually preparing...but what are we preparing for?
Economic Meltdown? Revolutionary War? Civil War? Anarchy?
What can we do to prepare? What do you think?

http://www.gregeddolls.com/joomla/index.php/component/content/article/64-things-we-can-do/156-preparation-or-paranoia

 

It's not a single thing we prepare for. It's more like a life change. Why not put aside some hard cash for a rainy day. Why not have a pantry with food for 4 for 3 months or a year. Why not have a generator and fuel for the aftermath of a hurricane. (i live in Florida). Why not learn how to successfully reap the benefits of a small garden. I could go on and on.... The point is being prepared for most anything and being capable of taking care of oneself without outside help from the government. Even if nothing major happens in my lifetime, nothing is really lost in the process, and I am a better person for it. JMHO of course, but that's how it is for me. You have to wrap your mind around the concept. Without the right mindset you are never going to understand.

 

Trying to figure out which is going to happen is absurd.
1. No one can predict the future with absolute certainty. To try do so for those of us who are prepping, often results in anxiety and paranoia.
2. Historically, hard depressions are followed by war. So to say that one thing or the other will happen is setting yourself up for failure.
3. We prep for the worst and hope for the best. What the worst means to you is something intrinsic, but there are common denominators in every situation. eg. Hunger, Thirst, Shelter, Protection etc.

You need to prepare for those basic components that exist in all of those situations and take your own best guess at what the primary event(s) will be so you can prepare with specifics.

If you have the finances, then perhaps you could prepare for many specific situations as well as the basics. In which case, lucky you.

 

Agreed - there are certain basic preperations that cover most any possible emergencies. The details change, but the basics remain the same.

Not really different from folks back in the 'old days', as they knew to 'put back for the rainy days'.

Too many people nowadays have become complacent with our many years of 'feast', and no longer plan for the 'famine'.

 

I hate being completely dependent on a "just in time system" that doesn't have my best interest in mind..prepping gives me piece of mind and a buffer from the "thronging"( "thronging"?... surging?) masses who jam the grocery store before an emergency. Firearms give me an element of control over the immediate 100 yards or more I can see around the house.

I think watchman is asking what exactly are we expecting...I agree all disruptions come down to a personal level in a fairly basic way . like Cody Lundin preaches Once you secure an airway and sufficient oxygen; its all about maintaining your core temperature at: 98.6 degrees F( shelter, water,food). Anything else is cutting room floor outtakes from "mad max 7"
I'm starting to wonder if the Economic crisis will mostly present as a long slow burn( to us mere financial mortals) killing jobs and economic activity,. I mean its 2010 "we are still here". I suppose things could go "pear shaped" as predicted overnight.

But; we have absolutely no influence over that,. I can only influence the size of the pantry to an extent, as the wife is grounded in "reality". and requires we actually use our supplies before they "go bad".Which to her is two years (for the canned goods). No amount of arguing can convince her a can of peaches 4 years old is better than no peaches at all.

 

No offense to anyone here, but so far most of the responses have been singular as in disaster instead of disasters (Plural). The Great Depression, for example, wasn't one event. It was many events rolled up into one context we call "The GREAT Depression".

What follows desperation is far worse than the cause.

 

.
.I don't think I can agree with you on your assessment. I camp, fish, sail, hunt, reload, trap, garden, can veggies and game and fish, build, read, acquire and use tools of all ilk, have a ongoing growing reference library covering a mulitude of subjects, interface and search out like minded individuals exspecially in my immediate AO. I try to improve my skill sets all the time to make myself more independent and valuble to my group. If for no more than my knowledge in my later years. Hell, I will be 60 this year. How is that singular in any way with regard to being prepared?.

 

???perhaps I don't understand your point:
So the dollar collapses,All I can do is keep us fed,warm and unmolested...

Two days after the crash: space aliens take over the capital:All I can do is keep us fed,warm and unmolested..
etc. etc..at some distilled point "survival" is "survival" no matter how many disasters get piled on.
Imho "survival" is not going to war against invading chinese stockbrokers taking physical possesion of their investments.

There are simply unsurvivable situations...but if you work to cover the basics you are head and shoulder above most..

 

My point is that people keep asking.. "What will it be? economic? or war? or something else?" and they only reference one thing at a time. That's not really what a prepper does, IMO. We have to understand more than just how to "stock pile stuff". We have to learn to read the signs too as well as understand history.

For example: What happens when an economy fails. It's not just that the economy fails, but all the repercussions of that failure ripple through; so in essence, it almost doesn't matter what the "one" thing will be, what matters is that at some point, a combination of things will inflict us all. Maybe not all at one time, but they will happen and they happen in a domino effect.

So while people are asking "what's the one thing".. I've been trying to prepare for the chain of events and how much time I have guestimated between each event.

Sorry for being so pedantic, but I think the more appropriate question should be "What will start the chain of events?" I think we all know the answer to that one; The economy, IMO, is the most likely culprit.

 

So what "order" are your paticular dominos stacked??? and how does it change your "preparations"?

I believe our point was no matter what your favorite disaster event happens to be; it reaches out to effect all of us in the same basic ways or its a "nonevent".
I post "crap" I find that's pretty far out on the fringes. doesn't mean I believe the aliens are comin jan 25th.but somebody here may have seen pieces 12&4 and the "aliens" fill in #3

 

Thanks Brokor I was suffering a brainfart there...
I agree we have little means to predict which shoe will fall. If you are planning mobility you 've gotta have a place to go or you're a "refugee" as someone else here pointed out. I don't have the where withall to leave the country. Though I have routes in mind if it proves necessary.

 

Whatever happens, wil more than likely "trigger" additional aftershocks.....
No one thing seems to dominate the scenario....
The way things are heading, I'd go with:
1) economic collapse, 2) civil insurrection, 3) martial law being invoked, 4) un-civil war breaking out....
But, if I had my druthers....Id much rather none of the above, and I can go fishing!

 

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You and me both !!! But, thats why we are here, to spread the word, glean info, and prepare for the worst possible. If truely prepared then we can go fishing now and then.

 

" Give a man a fish: feed him for a day"...
"Teach a man to fish: He'll be gone the whole damn weekend!"

 

I don't know the future but I can learn from the past as a wise man once told me prep for what you see. I see natural disaster and social unrest as well as government/economic collapse these things all effect water, shelter and food among other things.

 

People around me thought I had lost my mind (too late) when I bought some land/dirt in the middle of nowhere....
Even the ex was convinced I'd lost all sense of reality....
Couple days ago, the tune had changed.....
Now it's: How much can you grow food wise up there, and how much room do you have?
I told her I can support a number of people and have already started to build small cabins for them...
Of course she had to ask: "was I included in that"?
"Of course you were, all the time I was thinking of you DEAR........"!
The attitude of my total insanity has drastically changed in the past few months, and I can see that now that there will be less in the way of sarcasm, and a lot more in the way of support!
Fear is a marvelous thing, makes people stand up and take notice.....
But only if it is real enough, and the threat is to them on a personal level, where housing, food, and protection become threatened.
Better late than never!

 

+1. I was in the same boat, with a family that thought I was a little nutty .
Now when my brothers talk to our father it's "Dad, you don't have to worry about Mike, he's growing food and can take care of himself."

I think it's a shame that our country had to get to this point in order for them to get this attitude adjustment.

 

Wife brought home more bottled water "out of the blue" yesterday...Surprised me..