Prepping for economic collapse

[Rocket]

Start with the basics. "Can we survive for 72 hours with nothing?" Shelter and warmth. Priority 1. Then expand to a week, then a couple of weeks then months. And if you are really lucky years. Take stock of what you use regularly in those time periods. Then decide what you can do without and what you can't. This way you can develope your personal short list. Most people's list will be a little different.
Now prepping for specific events can be done once the basics are met.

 

[BiscuitNaBasket]

TOILET PAPER, can you imagine how uncomfortable we would be without it?

pfft, just a luxury! if you use them like a squeege, cardboard ammo boxes work OK

I onced used a rock. It was not pretty.

 

[cop car]

Start with the basics. "Can we survive for 72 hours with nothing?" Shelter and warmth. Priority 1. Then expand to a week, then a couple of weeks then months. And if you are really lucky years. Take stock of what you use regularly in those time periods. Then decide what you can do without and what you can't. This way you can develope your personal short list. Most people's list will be a little different.
Now prepping for specific events can be done once the basics are met.

Whatever you need the most is what you will forget.

 

[pudly]

Best way to deal with a bank holiday is to have some cash on hand. Banks would be closed and likely ATMs would be shut down or not be refilled for a period as well. This has happened in other countries and could happen here as well. Keeping enough cash on hand to deal with being locked out of your savings for a week or so would likely be good way to minimize this particular problem (assuming you are in a financial position to do so).

As many above have mentioned, there are many potential disasters to prepare for, such as ice storms, losing your job, your house burning down, economic/civil disruptions, etc. Preparing is simply a way to minimize the effect of any of these on your life. In other words, insurance. Economic collapse is one of these potential disasters that are both possible and foreseeable. Being a gun forum, people here often focus on firearms, and that is one legitimate need for certain disasters (crime, civil disorder), but doesn't help with many others.

If you are new to prepping in general, as you learn about it, you will find that steps you take to insure your welfare in one area will help in others. The food/water you store in case of economic/civil disruption will also help if you are locked in due to a major ice storm. Getting out of debt and building some savings will help if you have a sudden major bill (ex: major car repair) or if you lose your job and just for general peace of mind.

There are many resources online related to prepping- some concentrate on specific forms of prepping and some are more general. One excellent source is The Survival Podcast by Jack Spirko. This episode provides and excellent intro to prepping.

 

[dusty88]

I don't know why you wouldn't want a lot of debt in a financial crisis. I'd want to have as much as possible, and as little paper currency as possible. Just look at post ww1 Germany. Hyper inflation. Basically over night everyone got their house and debts paid off.. However everyone who had saved money lost everything. Rate of inflation is one of the reasons why I don't bother keeping cash savings.. That and I find gun stuff that I just have to have more. Lol. But really, guns, mags, ammo are something that's always going to have value, even if nothing else in the world does. And besides the sandy hook dum bass blip, guns have never gone down in value. Ever.

I think guns are a good asset, for a multitude of reasons.

I think it's very narrow-minded to assume a financial crisis means simple currency inflation and that you are going to have a bunch of that currency. Here's several possible reasons why planning for that may leave you in big trouble:

1) if there is severe, but not hyperinflation. Look at what we have had the last few years and imagine that magnified. Real incomes (meaning relative to inflation) continue to go down. Other than the recent drop in fuel, most aspects of living go up. The FED has inflated asset prices of homes, the stock market, and almost anything that people borrow money for. If the things you need continue to go up faster than your wages, it's not much help that your mortgage stays the same. It's also tougher for small businesses to make ends meet when their wholesale prices are going up and customers have less disposable income (thus the employment situation gets worse).

2) If you stay in the same house, keep a moderate income, and inflation continues, yes the house payments get easier. If you are using debt though to buy cars, run a business, etc, you aren't in a very good place to stop using debt unless you have savings. Any variable rate or any NEW debt you need will have a high interest rate once inflation is a concern. That makes it harder for people to give you cash for your guns, etc because everyone else is also strapped to pay their basics.

3) Most significantly, financial crisis doesn't always mean inflation. The FED and the government want inflation because they depend upon it to pay government debt. It also, as you said, favors the debtor, which is just about every corporation and person in America. The problem is it's a Ponzi scheme. They are issuing more money, weakening everyone's spending value, and they have no way out of this. It COULD be a severe inflation that hits before it collapses or it could be deflationary. The FED has had 4 rounds of QE now and they can't break the deflationary pressures. If they follow the constitution, they can't issue money without selling bonds.
Just one example: if the bond auction one day doesn't bring buyers at current low interest rates, then the bonds have to be sold at a higher rate.
There are several theories as to why China keeps buying our bonds at a low rate; for each of those theories there are logical reasons why they might stop doing so at any time. In that situation, the catastrophe will be deflationary. The government will have higher interest rates to pay which means government stimulus can no longer fake the economy. At the same time, businesses and individuals living on debt will slow borrowing because they can't pay the higher rates. Many businesses will have their loans called or be unable to get further operating loans.

In that situation, you will have all of your debt and most likely a declining income. You would still have value in selling your guns, ammo, metals, etc but probably at less $$ value than they are now.

Deflation is the medicine we need to correct the economy. The way we finally have to take our medicine might be pretty painful.

IMO, debt is a dangerous gamble.

 

[dusty88]

Stay as long as you want. If we suffer a significant economic failure, those that enforce vacancy of a property (law enforcement) I think will have greater things to devote their time to. Now, if the banks hire JBTs to enforce property occupation, that may be another story.

It's not just about occupation. Economic downturns don't last forever. The hyperinflation in Germany was only a couple of years. The Depression of 1920 was over in 1.5 years. You might want to stay in your house, or at least have the option of selling it. You can always decide NOT to pay your mortgage of course.

 

[spencer rifle]

The system has become hopelessly complex, and no one understands it. At best they may understand a small part, but nothing exists in isolation. The more complex the system, the easier it will be to upset, and the more damage will be done in the upset.
To quote Lt. Cmdr. Scott:
"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."

Think of the robust, fairly simple systems of 150 years ago. They survived civil war, no electricity, no rapid transportation or communication, Carrington events, epidemics, etc. and still functioned and recovered. No small part was owed to the skills of the people and their cohesive communities. We have lost most of that.

 

[DanSwanky]

It's not my ability to prepare myself and my family that worries me. What worries me most is how the millions of people who live their lives day to day indulging in trivial wants will handle being faced with the hard situations that may occur. How will the mob of the have-not's view those of us who appear comfortably prepared? Defending yourself against a home intruder is one thing but an organized gang with a goal of murder and looting is another. Although in my opinion what is going to happen is that our economy will slowly decline to a point of most of us being placed in the have-not category where our lives function basically the same as today just crappier like it has in other countries faced with economic downturn.

 

[Libertarian01]

To DaddyMikey1975,

For my thinking this is a reasonable concern. I would suggest making certain you have as few loans or bills as possible.

A good friend just become totally debt free this year. He owns his home and business property 100% debt free. This means he can be screwed with less than before. Not that he can't be hurt by an economic problem but that he has removed the bank from the equation! That means one (1) less problem to deal with.

I would also think moving toward off grid sustainable living would be prudent. Even if you can't make it 100%, the less you are reliant on others again means that the impact upon you will be mitigated.

If I were to envision the "utopian" position to be in it would be owning tillable land in the country that is as much off grid as possible. That way in a total economic failure you may well slide behind like everyone else but you will fall nowhere near as deep as everyone else. Note that I am not talking a Mad Max scenario, but rather a 1930's depression/dustbowl event. (PS - Mad Max: Fury Road is 15 May 15)

I think to best come through a severe depression it will be good to have a job. So whatever you do is it something people will need NO MATTER WHAT? Is it something they won't be able to jury rig and do on their own? Is it something they have to have? If you have those skills then that is already good for you. If you don't then it might make sense to take up something as a hobby that could be converted to a necessary skill.

I also believe it would be best to look at your own personal situation and everyone who supplies you with something you need - food, electricity, heat, whatever. Then consider if you cannot untie yourself from them make certain that you have alternatives to being 100% dependent upon them. This is a continuation from my thinking above. For example, if your stove is electric consider switching to gas. That way if the power goes out you have a way to cook your food. If you already have a gas stove but don't have a propane grill, get one. This will give you the option of cooking your food with a different source of fuel.

Investments could be tricky. I like gold and silver as they will always have value, but they may not retain their buying power. We cannot be certain of the conditions that will prevail so buying gold today for $1,200 an ounce may be reduced to $50 an ounce. While it will have value it certainly may(?) not have the buying power that we predict. The same goes with everything, including guns. If the economy collapsed tomorrow those who are on the edge of survival now will move to quickly liquidate their tangible assets, including guns. People will know they are desperate and offer well under market value, but competition may drive prices up - for a time. Once the market becomes saturated from this those who weren't so desperate may want to sell their firearms, only to find out that the "rich guy" who is interested knows that A) you are desperate, B) the market is saturated, and C) he can afford to offer far less than it would have been because he knows he doesn't have competition. Again, not that guns won't hold some value certainly but I wouldn't count on them (or any other collectable) to carry the day.

Consider picking up the "hobby" like making biodiesel. Today it might be cool to just have the equipment and make a few gallons on your own. Tomorrow it could be the difference between walking and driving. Who knows? Alternatives and adaptability are what allow us to survive.

Right now I have land but don't hunt. That is something I want to change. I need to learn how to hunt a deer, kill it, clean it, and get it to the butcher. In a crisis mode I would try to remove the butcher from the process, but for now I know there is much to learn along the way. Who knows? Maybe I couldn't remove the butcher... I don't know. But I do know that in a crisis I would want to.

Always remember that the economic turmoil WILL end - it always does! The middle ages ended, the great depression of the 1890's in the USA ended, the problems in Europe after WWI ended, the depression of the 1930's ended. They always do. Therefore it IS good to have some tangible assets to pass on to the kids (if any) so that they will be able to start out better than their competition.

Regards,

Doug

 

[Justus]

IMO
I know this will go against the grain here but I don't think guns are that great of an investment. Try selling one now without taking a loss.

A true collapse will take years and possibly decades to play out and IMO, it truly started accelerating in 2007.
More and more households will be impacted and forced into a lower standard of living with each "crisis".
We might see pockets of civil unrest but I doubt it will be overwhelming.

The best preps for an economic collapse:
1) Have multiple (and varied) sources of income with as little overhead expense as possible. There will always be an economy.
2) As little debt as possible. Some say debt is good to have but I've never been able to use it to my advantage.
3) Break the "consumerism" mindset and make do with what you have or learn to do without.
4) Keep working towards self-sufficiency.....sever the ties like Libertarian mentioned above.
5) Face the fact that the American Dream that our grandfathers had may actually be over.

 

[dirtfarmerz]

The government has been prepping for a crisis for a long time. Obama passed the National Defense Preparedness Order on March 16, 2012. The link is from the liberal side just so you can see that it's not just right-wing nut jobs that believe he's ignoring the Constitution. They will be able to take your food stores, grain, farming and construction equipment, and they can put you and your family to work. I had the USDA asking me for two years if I was storing small grain on my property, but I wouldn't answer them. Now my farm is certified organic so they know exactly what I have.

They would rather "milk" us slowly without a fuss, but a good crisis would just provide them a way to achieve all of their goals quickly.

Martial Law by Executive Order | Jim Garrison

 

[dusty88]

The government has been prepping for a crisis for a long time. Obama passed the National Defense Preparedness Order on March 16, 2012. The link is from the liberal side just so you can see that it's not just right-wing nut jobs that believe he's ignoring the Constitution. They will be able to take your food stores, grain, farming and construction equipment, and they can put you and your family to work. I had the USDA asking me for two years if I was storing small grain on my property, but I wouldn't answer them. Now my farm is certified organic so they know exactly what I have.

They would rather "milk" us slowly without a fuss, but a good crisis would just provide them a way to achieve all of their goals quickly.

Martial Law by Executive Order*|*Jim Garrison

I suspect that one of the reasons the school lunch program keeps expanding even to kids with higher incomes is so that it is easier for the USDA to continue to control enough food resources to supply the schools, regardless of exact financial conditions.

A couple of years ago schools started offering free lunch to everyone during the summer. They have also expanded to feed everyone at schools where the poverty in total is higher than average. It won't be long until they just make it a total sweep and part of the school/government budget.

It may be more difficult to get to every small farm, but if they want to I suppose they rely on a neighbor snitching policy to report you for not reporting your resources.

 

[Lee11b]

take a look at the Sawyer Mini water filter / filters up to 100,000 gallons, down to 0.1 microns / weighs less than 2 oz