Some Things You May Want to Do... Just In Case...

       Good evening, all!
     It has occurred to me, as it has to my three - count 'em, three! - I'm actually fairly excited about this! - readers that I'm going through an awful lot of labor without "the baby".  I promised you a point, and tonight I make it... I'd like to continue giving you the history lessons, but really, so many much smarter people than I can do that... I'll continue to distill what I'm reading, to keep you informed, but here are some simple, low cost things you can do to prepare yourself for what may come next.
     And, what may come next may be a hurricane, a tornado, a blizzard, a drought, or the entire economic collapse of the American Empire.  Either way, it doesn't suck to be prepared, right? <G> Really, what's the alternative?  If you're prepared for a storm, and it doesn't hit, you've invested in peace of mind.  If it does hit, you're ready.  If not, hey, there's always next year, right?  I'd rather be ready for bad stuff than not ready; it's okay for me to laugh at myself at the end of hurricane season; it's NOT okay to go hungry after one... and I've been on both sides of THAT coin, believe me.


     As I said in my opening post, I am what's now popularly called a "prepper".  What that means is I'm "shorting" the American Dream.  So be it.  I think we're on a bad road to a bad place, and that's basically that.  Here's what I recommend, and you can take my previous posts - and future ones, for that matter - as an opinion, hopefully based on good facts, but an opinion none the less - and decide as you will.  I can lead you to water... <G>  I have no 'movement' to sponsor or build; I don't claim to be a leader - see the name of this blog - but I AM worried, and worried enough that I post these pieces and hope someone, preferrably someone I know that needs them, will read them and understand.  Here are the bullets:

• IMO, you should not have more than $500.00 in ANY bank, at any given time.  I love the Huffington Post's campaign, "Move Your Money", but the fact is the most vulnerable banks in the nation are the small/regional ones... they're up to their ears in Commercial Real Estate, and that's a sour bet.  Yes, your money's insured to infinity, but the FDIC has been broke for a minimum two quarters, and has almost 500 more banks on its "troubled" list.  Ever waited for an insurance check for your car after an accident?  It can be a long wait.  I'm not betting on the FDIC, especially if that's money I need to pay bills.
• You should probably own a safe.  A good place to put cash and important papers.  Said safe should be anchored to something REALLY strong - like concrete.  If you're holding cash, you need a safe, unless you feel like mason jars in the backyard are a good thing.  And you SHOULDN'T think that, just fyi.
• Unfortunately, once you have stored cash, you probably should own a gun. I'm not a gun fan, but I think in the proper circumstances, a gun's a good - but deadly - thing.  Here are my three laws of gun safety: 1. always assume it's loaded, even if the person handing it to you says it's not. 2. Never draw a gun unless you want a hole in something - or someone. 3. Never draw a gun if you don't have the training to use it.  Period.  If you can't shoot straight, don't get a gun.  If you're not willing to take the required courses in gun safety, and go to the range (at least) once a month, don't bother; you'll hurt someone (most likely yourself or a loved one), and you won't be there to 'stand, and be true'... that's the land you enter when you own a gun, and you'd better be ready for it.  Your call.
• You may want to consider the idea of defaulting on your credit cards.  If you have the means to pay them, by all means, do: these are obligations you took on, and morally you should pay them.  What I'm saying is this: if the means are there, fine.  IF they crimp your ability to stash 6 months' worth of cash - a year is better - then dump 'em, and FICO be damned.  You may find that FICO becomes a lot less important in the years ahead, so preserve your cash whenever you can.  When bread is $15.00 a loaf, will MasterCard care?  
• If you are particularly cash-strapped, you may want to consider 'strategically defaulting' on your mortgage.  This depends on many things: are you underwater?  Are you out of work? Are you looking at draining your savings/IRA/401(k)? If so, I'm telling you, with the current wave of moratoria on foreclosures, you may want to consider the idea of living rent-free for a year... or more.  I don't recommend this if you have the means to pay and it isn't hurting you financially; if it's the difference between putting food on the table and raiding your savings, you may want to consider it.  As said by so many others: corporations do it all the time; it's considered "good business" to default on obligations that no longer serve a purpose... all that "moral obligation" crap is just that: CRAP.  Consider long and hard, as it will alter your credit rating indefinitely, and may influence hiring decisions about you down the road, but take the blanket off the baby and give it a hard look if things are that tough.
• I think you should learn to garden... remember the "victory gardens" back in the '40's?  Most of us don't, but they made a crucial difference to families tightening their belts because of shortages here due to the "war effort". You shouldn't be eating all that processed crap anyway; what grows in your climate that you use all the time? Peppers? Garlic? And, if gardening is too intimidating, what's going on with the neighbors? If they're gardening, maybe there's something you can barter with them, some skill set they don't have... I can only grow a rudimentary bit of plants we use, but I can build garden-houses and green-houses until my eyes fall out.  What about you?
• The next "Big World War" IMO, will be about water.  Google the Pentagon's research papers about water and food shortages, and you'll see for yourself - this is IMPORTANT STUFF, folks. Can you capture water for later use?  If not, for God's sake, MOVE.  Communities in the southwest in particular, do not exist except for the fact of re-routing the California River into your neighborhood.   We're talking 2020, not so long from now. When you google, use "Pentagon Papers" and "2020" in your search.  If you can capture water for later use, you are a hundred steps ahead of the game.  If you can't, you need to utilize the barter world to make sure  you can secure enough water to meet your needs for a VERY long time.
• Last Point: Can you go "OTG" (Off the Grid)?? As our infrastructure ages and fails, power outages and 'brown-outs' will become the norm.  Can you make sure you generate enough power to free yourself from this crap?  You should be looking into it; it's more important than you now think.  We were raised in an era of cheap and endless power; that time is now coming to it's end.

      You can do this; you can preserve your standard of living... but it's going to take a lot more work on your part than it ever has before. This is 'the baby' that all these articles - past and future - point to.  I'm warning you now so you won't be lost when the coming changes happen.


     Remember that bit about "safe and happy"?  I meant it.  You can do this. It's just gonna take a lot more work than we were ready for.  Here's our chance to get ready... time to turn off the TV, and get busy.  Again: You Can Do This.


     Brutal Truth