Author of Be Ready for Anything and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
I’ve noticed a trend that is both interesting and troubling recently. It’s the prevalence of the philosophy of many Americans who adamantly believe, “It could never happen here.” This is probably the most dangerous misconception that exists in the survival world.
There is an attitude that the troubles of countries like Venezuela or Sweden or Bosnia or Syria are entirely the fault of every single resident of those places and because of this, we, the citizens of the United States of America, are completely immune to such events.
And that, my friends, is nonsense.
Sure, we may not have a socialist or communist government here. (Yet. But don’t think there aren’t factions who are trying to make that a fact.) Sure, we have guns and many of us are armed to the teeth.
But all of these countries suffering nation-wide misfortune have people who are proud to be of those places too. A sense of nationalism does not vaccinate one against corrupt governments, war, and economic destruction.
Blinded by American exceptionalism
I absolutely love living in the United States and am proud to have been born here, but we can’t be irrationally blinded by a sense of American exceptionalism.
American exceptionalism has been historically referred to as the belief that the United States differs qualitatively from other developed nations because of its national credo, historical evolution, or distinctive political and religious institutions. The difference is often expressed in American circles as some categorical superiority, to which is usually attached some alleged proof, rationalization or explanation that may vary greatly depending on the historical period and the political context. (source)
Are we, as Americans, somehow the most exemplary people on the planet, merely because of where we are born? This doesn’t mean I hate America.
I think we have been provided with many opportunities and privileges in this country, but we are only human beings, just like the other human beings on this planet. Bad things can happen to us, too.
I have to wonder, is it fear that causes such an irrational sense of denial?
People are so blinded they refuse to accept advice.
Some people are so blinded by their ideal of American exceptionalism that they flatly refuse to take advice from those who have been through hell and back.
Some of the readers on my website (and others that republish my articles) get downright furious with guest bloggers from other countries. They are overly critical, for example, of my writer from Venezuela, Jose. They like to loudly claim how the things that have happened to Jose and other Venezuelans could never happen to them and are the direct result of personal weakness and cowardice. They condemn Selco, saying his country is a “third world shithole.” They ignore the advice of contributors from South Africa, and when I cite the troubles of European countries, they’re quick to blame the citizens.
It’s a sad and offensive perspective. We should be thanking our lucky stars that these people have the courage to relive their experiences to help us prepare should a similar catastrophe strike here.
Honestly, it makes me think that these folks who read survival websites and criticize those who have actually survived the real SHTF events we all plan for are really just another variety of the “sheeple” they all mocked during the Obama administration.
Sheeple (/ˈʃiːpəl/;[1] a portmanteau of “sheep” and “people”) is a derogatory term that highlights the passive herd behavior of people easily controlled by a governing power which likens them to sheep, a herd animal that is easily led about. The term is used to describe those who voluntarily acquiesce to a suggestion without critical analysis or research in large part because the majority of others possess a similar mindset. (source)
They like to talk about how the general populace is so unaware of things going on behind the scenes of government, or how manipulative and propagandist the media can be. But when they are faced with true stories and first-person accounts, they opt to bury their heads in the sand and say, “It could never happen here.”
It is much wiser, in my opinion, to read the stories of those who have suffered and learn lessons, than it is to smugly play Monday morning quarterback about the collapse of an entire nation.
It CAN happen here.
And maybe “it” is already happening. Before we scoff at the troubles of others and bury our heads in the sand, think about these events that have happened recently or are happening right now in the United States of America.
- Our secondary education institutions are socialist indoctrination centers.
- School violence is out of control.
- People are selling their souls for a little bit of free money.
- We’re actively erasing history because it’s “offensive.”
- American debt has reached $329,961.34 per household.
- We’re being deliberately divided by race.
- We’re watching an increasing lack of humanity.
- 43% of Americans can’t pay for food or rent.
- People in a US Territory have been without power and fresh running water for almost a year.
- Our social media addiction is fueling a society of people who just don’t care.
- People can’t get along after the last election.
- The media is stirring up hatred among Americans.
- Some factions on the left are promoting violence against the right.
The list could go on and on, but we must face the fact that our nation is deeply in debt, more divided than we’ve been since the Civil War, and losing our humanity to our device addictions. It CAN happen to us. It IS happening to us.
Selco wrote an article a while back about how to tell when the SHTF was actually here (or near), and if this doesn’t look familiar, then I would suggest that you aren’t paying attention
Here are some of the signs that the SHTF has actually arrived.
Freedoms and rights are disappearing.
You usually feel like your rights and freedoms are something written in stone, and you may be right.But in terms of signs of a coming huge SHTF, keep in mind that when your freedoms and rights that are really important are taken away from you, the S is going to hit the fan soon.
And again probably it is going to happen gradually enough that the majority of folks will not go out on the street to fight for those rights, and also, it may happen in a way that the majority of people will welcome it, under some new laws that “save lives” or “keep them safe” or similar.
But the result is going to be same. Your rights and freedoms are gonna be taken because you are gonna be easier to manipulate then.
Polarization, hate, and violence are on the rise.
I have mentioned all of that before, more then once, but prior to SHTF it is going to be worse when it comes to hate because again, a lot of stuff you cannot see clearly when you are in a state of hate or fear.A lot of things can be moving in the background while you are coping with disorder, hate, and violence.
Your access to information will be limited.
Your free access to independent information will be “shrunk”.Independent media will be harder and harder to find, or you will be fooled and you will think that actually, you have access to free information while in reality, it is junk, propaganda.
The shutting down of free media and people who hold information will disappear. These are some of the last signs, and again, most people will welcome it. Independent media will be almost “demonized”. (source)
The SHTF is not just something that happens in other countries that are “lesser” than the US. If that’s the case, then why are you wasting your time and money prepping?
“It could never happen here” is the most dangerous misconception in survival.
If you are one of the people who has rudely insulted my writers, I sincerely doubt you’ll read this and recognize the error of your ways. You’ll probably say, “Daisy is a jerk. I’m not reading her articles anymore.” (Buh-bye, then.)
You’ll probably get mad and wonder who the hell I think I am.
I’ll tell you exactly who I am.
I’m an American who doesn’t think she’s the exception to things that only happen “somewhere else.” I’m a person who looks for the wisdom of others who have been through the very events for which we prep. I’m a person who offers respect to those who are willing to share the things they wish they’d known before their own life-altering disaster. I’m a person who doesn’t look down my nose at the very individuals who are doing their best to help us just because they happen to be from somewhere besides the US and therefore “deserve it.” I’m a mother who wants to learn and protect my family from the worst things that can happen.
Thank goodness, most of the readers here feel the same way I do and are grateful for contributions from folks who have been to Hell and brought back lessons for us.
If you think it “could never happen here” I have to wonder why you’re wasting time on a survival website. “It could never happen here” is the most dangerous misconception in survival.
There but for good luck and grace go I.
The sheeple are so blind: they watch the news and believe what they are TOLD. Every thing is fine in the US of A, nothing can go wrong, our government will take care of us and protect us. I tell people, what if the Petro dollar collapses, There are riots and burning and the government declares martial law, What if Yellowstone goes off and a dozen others??? According to them I am the nut case
Dear Daisy,
I, for one, greatly appreciate your blog and the time it takes to prepare it. I find your perspective and that of your guest writers informative and useful. I truly hope that none of us here ever has to avail ourselves of the information due to our government failing, the grid going down, or etc., but I suspect we will, and my family and I plan for it.
Something I would like to point out is the change that has happened in my lifetime regarding how we treat one another. When I was growing up, we would never publicly write anything we would not say to a person’s face. That left a lot to say, and a lot of it not nice, but the cyber-mantle of anonymity that many of the nastiest commenters hide behind has raised public insult way beyond any level of civility. It’s a real shame.
The very fact that our president uses a social media platform to belittle & degrade anyone who disagrees with him (even tho he praised them a month ago) sets the tone for how others expect to treat & be treated. Can you imagine Ronald Reagan calling people the names that we hear every day (low-life, crazy, ignorant, stupid, etc.). If children use these names on the playground they would be in the principal’s office yet the leader of what was the greatest nation in the world is repeatedly disrespectful to anyone who crosses him. That sets the tone for everyone else. Not saying all our country’s troubles started with Trump but for the first time in my 72 years I am constantly embarrassed by our “leader’s” behavior. I, too, appreciate the people that take the time to share their experiences & try to help us know how to avoid the troubles they’ve had. Thank you, too, for all you do.
At least he hasn’t murdered a U.S. citizen without due process, hasn’t fired every military person who has disagreed with him, hasn’t kept the prime minister of Israel waiting for hours for a scheduled meeting and used taxpayer’s money to interfere with that prime minister’s election, hasn’t used the IRS, FBI, CIA, Attorney General’s office, and other instrumentalities of government to spy on and interfere with the rights of political opponents. At least he’s got that going for him.
how do you know?
Thank you to all the positive respondents to Linda S and Pete and any of the other “blinded” Trump bashers who seem so set in their PCness. Trump is the fresh air of honesty, integrity, bravery in his very a political approach to his presidency and specifically to his no nonsense directness. He does use social media, like a lot of you, to get his point across to the masses before it is chopped up and dumped on by the anti-social media ie, anti deplorables, anti regular folks that can still remember the fifties and loved it.
I think in generally that preppers don’t put nice and polite as their only mantra, as that is not always the best approach in trying to save this country from those who put “nice and polite” above all else.
Semper Paramus,
L
No offense, Linda, but do you mean to tell me that in those seventy two years you were in no way “embarrassed” by any of our leaders’ behavior other than Donald Trump?
So, you were OK with all the crimes and lies of Richard Nixon. The barely-hidden criminality of the Clinton’s, OMG! Bill Clinton embarrassed me almost every day. Then there was Jimmy Carter; Lyndon Johnson and his Gall Bladder operation scar and of course our Nobel Prize winning ex-president Obama . . .
So none of these guys embarrassed you. Wow.
she may be related to michelle obama, if this the first time she is embarrassed of her country.
Linda, Trump might be the most law abiding president in 50 years. He’s certainly the most constitution abiding out of the last ten to twenty potus we’ve been afflicted with. I mean come on, the last guy who had the job sent billions in cash to Iran, that wonderful moslom nation where every Friday they gather together in a huge crowd in Tehran and chant death to America and have for decades? Isn’t that cash transfer a flagrant violation of the treason act?
Trump has his past and I feel very sorry for his wife who has to learn about his cheating in the tv news, and for his young son who deserves none of this, but despite all this I feel Trump will go down in history as one of the best presidents America has ever had. I feel Trump is one of if not the only man who was improved by being entrusted this power, most men become monsters after taking power.
HA! I have not even read the article yet but have to say I love the picture. I think I will have postcards made to send to a few select individuals I know. Ok I really am going to read the article.
Well put, Daisy. I, for one, am glad people like you (and Jose and Selco) take the time to share your knowledge to help people like me prepare for a very uncertain future.
God bless you, Ms. Daisy, and thanks for sharing. If I may coin a new expression, the detractors belong to the ULO – ungrateful, lazy, oblivious. “Why be thinking when you can be drinking. More bread and circuses! Free weed, dope, abortions, food, housing, clothing, obamaphones, college, etc. for everyone – in the world! No borders, no religion, no USA.” The rot is deep. Keep fighting the good fight.
Boy, you really nailed it on the head!!! The comment re. ” Why be thinking……….” Says it all. And yes, it is ROT indeed…….moral, ethical and spiritual rot.
Thanks Daisy, and thanks to all your writers and contributors.
Anyone paying attention would recall exactly what Greenspan has stated several times……..he said that what we see in Venezuela is what will happen in the USA………..
SO, ALL THE PEOPLE WHO AVOID REALITY BY DEFLECTING IT VIA SMART@$$ comments……..you are simply lacking the courage to look truth and reality square in the eye.
Awesome reply! Many awesome replies here that I love. So I say…my sentiments exactly and thank you Daisy-Selco-Jose and all prepper articles I’ve ever read on this site!
If archaeologist Joseph Tainter’s thesis in The Collapse of Complex Societies is accurate, then declIning marginal returns on increasing investments in complexity means our industrial society will eventually and inevitably decline in sociopolitical complexity (what some would term ‘collapse’) just as every complex society before us has. To believe otherwise is a combination of hubris and wishful thinking. And, aside from a catastrophic calamity of some type (e.g. asteroid, supervolcano, nuclear war) this decline is a process that could take centuries (as it did for the Roman Empire) or decades (as it did for the Eastern Islanders). How it all plays out in the here and now is another thing altogether.
Which is it, Steve, SHTF is inevitable as most of your quote argues, or maybe it will happen as your last sentence suggest?
Are you really trying to come off as “well read” or just confused?…..or maybe both!!!
L
Keep up the great work you do, Daisy.
Many people are rude and uncivilized, but often their reaction is based on fear. They don’t want to accept the possibility that it could hit the fan. This is a cognitive bias known as the “Normalcy Bias.” I’ve written about its dangers …
https://geroldblog.com/2013/04/26/beware-your-dangerous-normalcy-bias/
I applaud your article, and all other articles in the past. I fully understand your “frustration” and bewilderment with those of whom you speak. Main reason I stay away from social media sites and why I only bother with a few prepping sites. I too get bothered by some of the comments posted by the “ignorant preppers”. I too wonder “if that’s the way you feel, then. why the hell are you prepping?”
This nation, however wonderful it was thought to be, is becoming the cesspool of hatred and loathing that factions so vehemently denounce. And yet, people turn a blind eye if it hasn’t directly impacted them. We have created generations of “entitled people”, and for that, WE ARE to blame!
And our “leaders” are grasping this opportunity to exploit what little freedoms and rights we still have.
Those of us that see “the writing on the walls” continue to prep… and continue to “mark” who we will trust and who we will not. Hopefully, we can reverse the trends, but, I doubt it.
How many folks posting online would you want in your bunker once the SHTF ?
For me, not many.
That is correct. I’m an American living in a different country and I am taking notes and watching out for the shtf situation. I see the signs clearly and I find the advice helpful even in the calm of it all. I guess you’d call the country I’m in a s hole country but even if shtf thier upper hand is that they have basic Survival skills, are used to Corruption, and it would not be as shocking as when shtf happens in a place like the US. Especially if you didn’t prepare or have a mindset prepared for some sub standard living for a least a short period of time.
You are most definitely not alone in your perception and situation.
Stay well.
My take on fleeing the USA for foreign shitholes as we put it doesn’t make any sense unless that shithole somehow survives the collapse of the USA 0 obviously I have doubts about any economy staying afloat when America collapses. If the economy in your new homeland doesn’t survive the collapse of the US, why do you think Americans (or any foreigners) there won’t be targets? I suspect Americans and other foreigners will be the first targets in every shithole when shtf.
Daisy, Daisy. You must be a Believer in the Higher Power. From what other source would you receive the wisdom, the spirit, and the mental energy to keep up the good fight. Your readers owe you a lot. When the time comes that your admonitions and common sense are suddenly needed, we will not forget you. Again … keep up the good fight!
My mother was brought up in Nazi Germany. She told me that most people only knew of the good social reforms Hitler made and didn’t know of the horrible things he did until closer toward the end of the war. They simply believed what they were told on radio or in the newspaper. If there was a Jewish family in the neighborhood, then one morning they simply would no longer be there. The non-Jewish neighbors were simply told that the Jewish family moved … and that explanation was just accepted and not questioned. So many here are doing the same … accepting what they’re told. In which case your photo with this article really is perfect. Funny, but also sad.
These folks that you are talking about can’t handle the truth. Head in the sand or normalcy bias is the only way they can go on about the lives and not just plain freak out!
I deeply appreciate your site and your guests like Selco and Jose.
I take to heart the small gems of wisdom from having been there that these two share with us. Has changed some of my thinking about being prepped for whatever may happen.
It takes guts to continue on doing what you do here in the face of the detractors. As someone else already said, the rot is deep. We need to keep out of it to be able to think clearly.
Keep digging!
Probably Americans find it hard to imagine the U.S. collapsing because it is so geographically vast, so rich in resources, and with such a large population. It’s also difficult for Americans to imagine a collapse because we conflate our form of government with our country/culture. Other peoples have suffered through a myriad of different forms of government over the centuries and they know better than to conflate a form of government with their country/culture. However, the U.S. is now heavily populated with people who are comfortable with fomenting political instability, breaking the law and promoting violent regime overthrow to get their way. This is a huge shift in our national character. American leftists call upon the U.S. military to overthrow Trump in a military coup, for example, as if the U.S. were now a member of the third world’s “coup-of-the-month club.” Lastly, Americans don’t believe WROL could happen here because in our 200+ history it’s never happened here, except in the Old West. They don’t know what it’s like to live in a country where the police and military work for the gangs; where highway bandits rule the Interstates; where each citizen pays a daily “corruption tax” because no service provider (including your hospital nurse) will do anything for you or your loved one without first receiving a bribe. I’m glad for the life experiences that introduced me to unstable societies that my U.S. brain had never imagined. It cracked my mind open and allowed me to envision similar instability in the U.S.
Info Miner:
Ms. Daisy (I’m old school – my Mama taught me)
I most often digest your blogs with vigor! You have one of my favorite sites (if not the best – limited only due to my reading most survival sites). I am also a member of SELCO’s School, and have been since he started on-line several years ago. I always look forward to reading his articles – and learning from his extensive experiences, trials and tribulations during “his” war. I have learned a lot from him – and I have learned a tremendous amount from your blog (or what you include from others such as SELCO and Jose), articles and experiences.
My advice is: “keep-up the good fight”, no matter what any of the Sheeple say or do – as they are going to be the ones who will say (to coin a phrase from Mel B) “WHAT JUST HAPPENED” :). i tell my family – I may not see it, but – I believe that “something evil this way comes” and maybe through me, they may be better prepared to handle it!
Thanks, again for your efforts.
I for one Daisy appreciate all you write,though at times I disagree. Your one of THE VERY FEW who do’nt pretend to be Rambo ,Ramba ? who is going to shoot everyone who shows up at your door asking for help,or claim to know everything about everything. And at least you have a sense of humor. I’m fed up with the sites that tolerate the hate toward anyone who does not look like them or who disagree with them. I have a good idea those people will not live very long after a SHTF scenario. The blabbermouths usually do’nt. They run their mouths off to the wrong person (s) at the wrong time and place,and poof! their a red mist. I know deep in my bones something is VERY WRONG with this country and what SHTF has happened elsewhere can not only happen here,but, with everyone and their grandma having a weapon of some sort,will be WORSE. You go girl !!!
The comments below have said everything and more that I could say, but VA Granny said it best. I am a great-granny and am appalled at the moral cesspool this country has fallen into…and still sliding! We started prepping at the beginning of the Obamination and most people thought we were crazy. A few did not and we have joined together and get together once a month just for support..actually we have no one else to share with! (Interesting to note: all of us have family members who also think we are crazy!) And many years ago we stopped telling folks what we were doing, because when IT DOES HAPPEN, we don’t want them knocking at our door! Thanks for all your work, Daisy. Since I’m not on any social media sites, I will email this to everyone on my ‘send’ list…from PA to NJ to TX to CO to CA. You are a blessing…
Many will not want to read this because it has a religious component but American Exceptionalism is the hand of the Lord on our country blessing us and granting us to have great ideas and blessing the fruits of our labor. We do have an exceptional country and people but it has come to us through blessings from the Lord. If we fail to be a religious and upright people the Lord will remove the blessing of his hand. I agree Daisy that people being critical are being foolish and proud. There are many good people in these countries of suffering. And our success is not us but the lord’s doing. This is slightly off the subject but I was surprised how far away from growing their own food people in Venezuela had become and it seems this may have greatly accentuated their suffering. As if they hardly even considered growing lots more food and maybe because people no longer had the skills or seeds?n I am getting busy doing more gardening and chicken growing! That was one thing I learned . Thank-you Jose!
Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
I just want to say im glad you are back from vacation. Hope you all had a wounderfull time.
I am very thankfull for the article’s from savo jose and the others.
Love what you do keep up the great work
I agree with everything you said, I am in Canada and I see the same attitude here. If it is on TV or the internet it must be right. Nothing that bad can ever happen here. I am amazed at the lack of questioning and it you do you are in the wrong. We are quickly taking down statue’s etc that people don’t agree with, bury history and ignore it, right or wrong it is our history and we need to learn from it not hide it away like it never happened. Thanks for posting your blog.
I read and really like what you write and look forward to new post coming out with valued information. Some people can be rude and nasty and forget what it is to be respectful of others if they don’t agree with what you say.
For all who write for you, thank you for taking the time to write about the things you have experienced first hand and please continue to write.
Thanks
There’s a short distance between having one’s head in the sand and keeping one’s ear to the ground — a mere pivot of the head. I’m happy to report that in my circle of peeps awareness is rising. Ten years ago, I would say, “Things could turn on a dime.” Folks would say “Nah!” Now they say, “I know!”
So, it’s sensible people like you Daisy who are making a difference with reason and calm. Carry on!
i found your site/blog a year ago or so and have read it as often as possible. telco and others not born in america have a great deal of knowledge that people here have either forgotten or don’t know of and it is a shame because that knowledge could save their or loved ones lives. i grew up on a farm growing our vegetables and raising and slaughtering animals, without running water and using a woodburing stove for cooking and heat in the winter. i would probable survive a SHTF incident, but probably not even a majority of my family. they all think, this could never happen here, etc. even though they have been through several hurricanes, Andrew and Maria. you can only save yourself and can’t make others do what is necessary for their survival. just a fact of life, and i plan on living a long one, with my grandson whom i am teaching everything i know. keep putting out the info you do, some of us appreciate it and use it.
I’ve heard the term American exceptionalism several times in the last few years but I never knew what it
meant. Now I know. I realize that I have always believed that’s the way it is. All of us have ancestor’s that were immigrants to this land, unless you are pure blood Native American. Most of those came to America seeking a better life for themselves and their children. That took ambition and guts. I believe those traits are partly genetic and partly how were were raised (taught). Our government (the Constitution) was established to support those ideals. So yes, I believe that does give Americans an edge. If that hurts the feelings of other nations or the left, tough! That’s the way it is. If you have never seen the movie How the West was Won then you need to watch it. This whole concept is laid out in this movie. The left knows this is true so to tear us down and to hide this truth the left resorts to revisionist history. The left and the main stream media do their best to change America with these revisionist history lies. Unfortunately its working.
Does my belief in American exceptionalism mean that I don’t think we can learn from others in the world. Of course not. I’ll take truth whereever I can find it.
As always, a great article! I found your move to Virginia inspirational: you took an assessment of your situation and decided to do better. It’s what I hope to do in 2019. I’m having my final knee surgery in October, and by February, I should be able to take some trips to find a better spot for preparedness. Love my neighbors-although NONE would dream of preparing for any emergency: and my area has become extrememly expensive to due an influx of Bay Area People who just love them some government intrusion. I need to find my own tribe! The reality of any time is that it can and will change, no matter how many safeguards have been put into daily living. Sticking your head in the sand and humming la-la-la will not stop violent predators. (Which is what I view many Leftists as.) I read on one blog, that the writer considered himself an expatriot within the borders of the FUSA. That about sums up so many preppers, and myself. I have gone to the “no arguments, no apologies, and no explanations” way of dealing with nosy/angry/self righteous individuals. I pay attention as much as I can, but don’t believe what I hear is the truth. Especially from the main stream news!
Anyone who thinks SHTF can NOT happen here in the Great U.S.A knows nothing of history. They also aren’t watching anything but ‘fake news’ because it’s already happening here. Just ask the trapped innocent people living in the south & west side hell holes in chicago. Or any other urban area that has been under democrat/socialist control that are also hell holes. The ‘social’ programs have intentionally built permanent dependency upon government to the point where few have any idea how to take care of themselves, again, all be design in order to gain and retain power regardless of the long term effects upon the people they are supposed to be helping. The elite and their minion politicians has burden this country with similar debt levels, the moral decay and social program promises that have destroyed other great dynasties throughout history. Yes, the naysayers are sheep and are the reason this problem only worsens. Selco and Jose have the kind of experience we are all praying that we never have to go thru….but are wise enough to make some reasonable and prudent steps to prepare for just in case.
Well Said –
“Dry side of the Titanic”..all the rats are heading this way with whatever they can carry making us temporarily rich as the global debt bomb sends out it’s so so slow shock wave.
Same as a wave in the ocean, when all the charts go vertical, they can only crash back on themselves as they roll ashore.
Every great depression is preceded with a boom like the “Roaring 20s” preceded the Great Depression.
When people mortgage their houses to buy stocks [bet in the casino]…look out!
The crash of 07 was only a mortgage debt bubble exploding…now…it’s an EVERYTHING bubble.
Japan no longer buys US bonds. Chinas’ holding have gone from $3 trillion to $1.2 trillion.
In order to offset losses in the housing loan industry back in 07, mortgage contracts were bundled and sold into the ‘Derivatives Market’ [high risk=high yield]..at the time, around $700 billion world wide…now over 1.4 QUADRILLION with [just] Deutsche Bank exposure greater than the German GDP
What caused the crash of 07 wasn’t “fixed”, they quadrupled down!!!!
The recklessness of the “too big to fail” banks almost doomed them the last time around, but apparently they still haven’t learned from their past mistakes. Today, the top 25 U.S. banks have 222 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives. In other words, the exposure that these banks have to derivatives contracts is approximately equivalent to the gross domestic product of the United States times twelve.
Earth Motto ” If it can’t work and never has, do it HARDER”
Excellent article…
Daisy, well written! Your articles are among the few I read every chance I can! I am so grateful for the information you and your guests provide. I have learnef so much from Selco and Jose about the reality of war and government collapse. Their information has helped us look at areas we were not prepared for.
Our country is in a period of testing that will separate the sheep from the goats! As one of my Border Collie friends used to say, “Sheep think with one collective brain… Every Goat is a Five Star General! ”
Keep up the good work! Stand firm for doing the right thing! And thanks for the smiles you share with us!
Thank you Daisy! I’m so sorry that there are still so many American’s don’t realize how evil and corrupt our government and the mainstream media can be. Take a look around at what is happening daily in our nation and even around the world. Floods, fires, etc. that are possibly being created and the people have lost all they own. It is sickening what I have learned just this year. People need to do some research on what is going on instead of watching liberal media that lie. Common core education is to keep our children dumbed down about our history, etc.
We all need Jesus!!!!!!
My ex-wife (whom I am still friends with), was born in Cuba and lived there until she was ten when her family was able to come to the US as legal refugees. Since then, she has become a US citizen and served ten years in the US Coast Guard. She has no love for liberals, socialists, or communists. She has seen the approach of communism in the US for quiet a few years. I’ve talked with her father and mother in the past, and they both warned that many of the danger signs they saw pre-Castro are present here now.
My ex was a student in communist schools. While she admits there were a few positive things to those schools (strict behavioral discipline, no nonsense teaching of reading, writing, and math), she hated the obvious propaganda and revised history they were being taught. She hated having to attend school formations, march around, and yell anti-US slogans, pro-Castro slogans, plus pro-North Vietnamese slogans as well (this was in the 60s).
She says to believe nothing from the mainstream media as they are obviously house organs of the communists here in the US, and to carefully analyze information from other sources as they may be as propagandist as the MSM, even though they may be from the “other side.”
I rarely tell people this, but I was a counterintelligence agent in the military. I dealt with communist stuff all of the time. Beware. They are trying to make a comeback. Read Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago. Being “one of them” is not anymore safe than being “anti-them”.
Reading Karl Marx does not make one an expert on anything other than communist theory. For communist practice one needs to review the deeds of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao especially. They make Hitler look like a piker when it comes to mass murder.
Look at what is happening in South Africa right now.
Be prepared, keep your mind open and use the damned thing. Don’t accept stuff at face value, not even what I write, or Daisy writes, or Selco, Jose, et al.
Daisy,
Thanks for your site. Appreciate your viewpoints and guest writers.
The following story may cover a small percentage of people who have not ‘considered’ SHTF. When I was a caregiver for my mother old friends of the family would visit my father but would not see my bed ridden mother. They were good people, some had similarly gone through what Selco had. I chalked it up to denial. They wanted to remember her as they knew her and did not want to face what may be waiting for them down the road.
How does this interpolate to a larger scale of nations?
Some may sense what is coming down the road. Some have nothing to compare it to.
What gets me is that some, quote from your article above, ” … condemn Selco, saying his country is a “third world shithole.” as if by censuring his message that will deny reality.
(When I used to mention Nikola Tesla the man who gave us AC electricity, plus 700 plus registered patents and more we use to this day, came from that East European Civilization, one inventor amongst many, to people dismissing what happened there due to the MSM spin of a “balkanization” mentality, I would usually get a blank stare. “You know AC.”, pointing up to the ceiling fluorescent lighting. Nada. I chalked that vacuum up to believing in an Anglo-Newtonian centric world view.
To be fair, after reading Vexman’s articles on world massacres ,https://vexmansthoughts.wordpress.com/ , I couldn’t finish the articles due to denial and trying get my small mind around what did and can happen anywhere. Stomach would be a better word.)
I read that what the rest of the world used to resent about the American people was their resiliency and being able to rebound from troubles. Hopefully that is still true.
You go girl! Tell it like it is!
Someone, smarter than I, once said, “ Those who forget history, tend to repeat it.”…….
(BTW, I love the depiction of the “human ostriches” you posted in your article)
Those types of people will be the first to be lead, (actually, they will get in line and fight for better positioning,) to get to there slaughter! As you stated very well, all the signs are there and the sheeple are going for the bait. IMHO, it’s just a matter of time till our country is so divided, and broke that socialism (Communism with a nicer name) will be seen as the only saving grace for this Country’s problems, and this once great nation will fall to the rubble like Venezuela, and Cuba!
Truth.
The One Law reveals who to trust and who to shun:
Those who want to ‘do something’ to/for others are dangerous.
They may be leaders.
They may be mere followers.
But they all wear an urge to inflict their judgment upon others.
When you encounter such someone
who intends to interfere in some manner
in the _existence_ of others – particularly by using government,
then you are looking into one face of Evil itself.
Seek the company of those who have better things to do with their life.
Prefer those who cooperate constructively in
abandoning the economy of those who conspire to Harm others.
Absolutely nothing else reveals this truth better
than simply observing
whether someone prefers “something done, now” to someone else.
Don’t just walk away – departure is only half of any escape.
The other half of escape is finding people you can be neighbours with.
Live Well and Prosper
Dear Daisy, I’m shocked to read that anyone would write anything negative about Jose or Selco. I have come to love these two men. They are saints for surviving and for being willing to share about what they went through. I read and soak up every word they write. Very grateful for their description of what happened and how they survived. I am only sorry these generous men and their families had to go through hell.
“They condemn Selco, saying his country is a “third world shithole.””
That would be me.
Oh Daisy, I still love you. I don’t mean to tell untruths with my shithole commentary or pick on Selco, but the facts remain. As someone who has been there, when the patrol was in moslom villages we’d see all the men sitting around all day smoking and bitching while the women did all the work and trash littered the ground. When the patrol got to a Serb or Croat village there wasn’t a bit of trash to be seen and the men were all working, I suspect the Serbs and Croats did their best to not suffer guilt by association with nearby moslom villages. Not to mention the astonishingly beautiful teenage girls that could be purchased for the night or permanently, or the arms market where just about any kind of weapon could be obtained. That’s what it’s like over there, warts and all. I guess is just bothers me clinton and NATO ripped Kosovo out of Serbia and created the first moslom caliphate in Europe in centuries, with all the horror islom brings, and made us police it…. and we’re still there, and they still hate us and always will. The diff between moderate mosloms and extremist mosloms is the moderate moslom wants the extremist moslom to kill you.
Also, I’ve never said “it” can’t happen here, I fully expect “it” to, especially now if killary has a real investigation into her treason by email and multitude of other crimes. For example, allegedly in Weiner’s infamous laptop at the fbi there’s not just 600k emails of varying classification but a vid of killary and her gf huma filleting the face off a little girl while she’s alive in some witch ceremony, that kind of thing, and you don’t want to know any more, trust me because it gets worse from there. I know you’re thinking “what can be worse than that” but yes there is and I’ll spare you. You can be sure if the nwo starts to get desperate, and they’ve never had their power challenged this much before and are pretty desperate right now, they will not be above false flagging a nbc or other mascas attack and/or bringing in foreign forces to support their side. You can imagine the the state of the economy after that.
Now back on topic, I read this today and it speaks directly to Venezuela and the USA as to economics and shtf;
“Sinclair also says, “It’s going to be a Friday to Monday event. There is going to be an explosion, and the explosion is a change. It may blow your mind, but the explosion would not be three or four months or a year in upticks in these items (gold and silver prices). Oh, they are going to uptick. That’s for sure. The finality of this is going to be the reset. . . .It is going to be something entirely new that doesn’t exist now. It may be engineered and not happening by natural causes. . . .You need to know who President Trump is, what he is a master of and what tools he has used effectively as part of his business. It’s not “The Art of the Deal,” it’s the science of bankruptcy.”
How bad is it going to get? Holter sums it all up when he says, “The world is Venezuela.””
https://usawatchdog.com/174000-per-ounce-gold-not-funny-scary-jim-sinclair-bill-holter/
Good thing no one has more experience with bankruptcy than Trump, we’re going to need it.
The people that believe “It won’t happen to me” are delusional, but unfortunately common. In studying emergency preparedness, its’ been shown that people who begin to prepare for distasters usually had an “a-ha” moment. For most of our generation, it was 9/11. Sometimes it’s more personal, your family losing their house in a fire or flood.
I find the very sad because it’s not just the end of the government that we need to fear. Nature can destroy all we have built, cutting us off from aid for months. Terrorists can take down our infrastructure with little more than a well-placed computer virus. Sure, we are less likely to go through a violent upheaval of government like the “Arab Spring” in 2011/2012, but we still have plenty to learn from those who went through it.
Daisy, thank you , Selco , Jose and the others who tell their stories and give advice. I for one know that if it had not been for you and others like you, I would still have my head buried in the sand looking for free handouts from Big Gov. Thanks from the bottom of my heart. God bless and protect you all.