Any of you folks read Toynbee's "A Study of History"? Recommend the 2 volume set; dated but still relevant. If you look at history you see that civilizations usually don't collapse in a sudden flash, they wither away, with things getting worse and worse for their citizens over hundreds of years. Why should ours be different? Looks to me that we're in Toynbee's "time of troubles", which leads to an empire, which gradually falls apart. Everyone here is preparing for the SHTF. The apocalypse, world war, pandemic, Mad Max, doom is neigh. What if it doesn't hit, but gradually dribbles into our life? Our wonderful gubment is trying to set up this kind of future, with higher taxes, more regulation of citizens and more concentration of wealth. Any ideas on how to prep for that sort of world?
The "slow crash",the"long emergency" its a common idea.IMHO its the most likely, archived here is ferfal's post on life in recent post collapse Argentina people are still people and will react in a comparable manner North or South American citizen: http://www.survivalmonkey.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2715&highlight=ferfal
To my mind, the time scale of the rise and fall is too long for those of us on the planet today to prevent or alter greatly. About the only thing we can do is educate, educate, educate the oncoming generations. Prepping for short and near term catastrophes is where it's at here and now. Short term, near term, and TEOWAWKI (say a meteor hit) is in the eye of the beholder based on one's particular situation, is it not? We can wring our hands over the long term decay of civilization (a la the Roman Empire) but beyond preserving the knowledge and ways, political, economic and moral, that have worked and are working is about the best we can do for future generations.
I remember reading here that the definition of your SHTF, or major collapse is what affects you. The average person nowdays has about one weeks worth of money in bank. If you get hurt, loose your job whatever and you have one weeks worth of pay in the ole account you are one week from a mjor collapse. Now most of us here have provisions for most all emergencies and I would assume that the bank account is no different. The gradual collapse of our way of life is beyond my span if we consider it to be 200 years down the road. Even if it's 100 I am confidant that I will not be here. The most that I can do is look for what might effect me and mine in the here and now and try to educate my future generations for what will effect them. I buy books print things off the computer so when they might not be available either out of print of just not sold my offspring will have the knowledge to carry on. We (those of us who prepare) owe it to our kids, nephews, niece's and the future of our tomorrow to help them understand and prepare. Just my take on things and some rambling thoughts. Take care Be safe Poacher.
I first started seeing changes with the increases in how I approach my day to day life. The higher cost of fuel, for example, hasn't really affected where I work or how I get there but it has put Starbucks out of business. I gave up my Venti-latte every morning almost without conscious effort because the fuel cost was pinching. Milk has doubled in price, bread has doubled, my utility bill has gone way up and I have recently changed jobs to one where my base salary is exactly 40% of what I have been acclimated to earning for the past several years. These times, they are a changin... For the past several years, I have had nearly 70% of my income as disposable so there was an abundance of buying for "just in case". now I am seeing the true value of those preparations as well as the foolishness of a great deal of it. This is the first time in my adult life that I can spend time at home for any length of time. I am becoming a member of my community. I now have time to make improvements on my home beyond fortification such as installing back-arrests and a natural gas generator. My shop is now a working area rather than a storage area where I occasionally would mount a project when at home on leave. My travels are planned in advance rather than a packed bag awaiting a 03:00 phone call to head to the airport. I bought a lawn tractor, for Christ's sake and kinda enjoy putting around mowing the grass instead of paying someone else $100.00 a week to do it. Now that I have started back to reloading, my UPS man is back on speaking terms with us. I am even considering joining a church, even though I am too well versed in the history of civilization to ever buy into the literal acceptance of the fifth edition King James bible, I am finding more time to appreciate the wonders that God gave us without any of the BS that man has attached to it. I have been blessed my whole life, to have always been surrounded with quality people and my thanks for that is eternal optimism. I truly believe in the silver lining and have an innate understanding that opportunity never knocks, it just flows down the banks and is available to anyone with the sense and fortitude to challenge it. No matter how bad a situation knocks the breath out of the moment, it always, without fail, heralds change and change is nothing but opportunity for those with balls enough to grasp it. JMHO
To quote the famous author: " Gradually and suddenly--" This is truth that appears in the Bible and appears in all the Atlanta BP gas stations in my area that have zero gas/ fuel. they do have diesel--. Ditto inflation--gradually and suddenly-- Chuck Norris is now calling for voters' legal revolution; it is about that time with the Scy Treasury unable to tell us that major bonuses and comp packages will be paid for the top crooks/bunglers---by us through the cruel tax, inflation. Gents, with Iran as of today 50% of the way to their first nuke, the game is afoot. Overbore
Well said, Sea. "We who lived in the concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: The last of his freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." ~ Viktor E. Frankl
