Are you prepared for a day when going to the store to buy what you need might not be as simple as it is now? This week’s Survival Saturday roundup focuses on the volatility of the US economy and the high potential for imminent collapse. If you aren’t already prepped and working on your self-reliance skills, now might be a really good time to start. Of course, if NASA miscalculated, an asteroid may wipe us out first. And after reading the latest from the PC side, you might actually welcome the asteroid.
Survival Saturday is a round-up of products, the week’s news, and recommended reading material for folks who are interested in being prepared.
This Week’s Products
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This Week in the News
Expert after expert is warning that the economic collapse of America is nigh. I write a lot about the potential of economic collapse, and indeed, we’ve been sliding down a slippery hillside to disaster for years. But according to a lot of experts, we’re running out of things to cling to on our way down. Not only have we been hovering on the brink of a bloody stock market crash, but the third wave of the “predatory supercycle” is upon us, according to this report, which predicts that the crisis point will occur in about 6 months. (Here are the signs we’ve reached rock bottom.) Many, many financial experts and doomsday commentators are extremely concerned about 2016: Jim Rogers, Gerald Celente, Mac Slavo, Andy Hoffman, Michael Snyder, Bill Holter, Mike Adams, Albert Edwards, Tom Chatham, and Michael Burry are all ringing the warning bell as loudly as they can.
Those low prices at the pump are actually NOT a good sign. Some folks are rejoicing about low gas prices, but as nice as it is to fill up for less, this is actually a sign of impending doom. As oil plummets, the market destablizes. It costs more to produce gasoline than the fuel will sell for. Oil is plummeting, while gold is skyrocketing, causing a global economic shockwave. Many of the top producers of oil in the world are nearing default. (Venezuela, one of the top 10 oil producers in the world, is nearing the edge of total collapse.) Even Forbes magazine admits, cheap oil is pushing us over the edge. A Houston CEO sent an alarming memo to his employees explaining why the lucky have gotten up to a 60% paycut, 401Ks were frozen, and the unlucky were being laid off, calling it the result of an “oil and gas depression.” Read the whole disturbing memo here. And for more information, here’s a primer on the petrodollar.
Of course, the government is still trying to keep this financial disaster quiet. One must wonder if the government’s urge to squelch the financial information that is provided by experts not in line with their “everything is beautiful” point of view is the desire to keep it all under warps as they lose control of the economy. A new “fiduciary rule” may do just that. The rule would prohibit any financial experts from dispensing advice that wasn’t on an individual basis. This means that restrictions would be imposed on financial professionals who handle IRAs and 401(k) accounts, advisors in the media like Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman (you know, the ones that tell you NOT to be in debt), and any just about any free discussion of finance in the media. Nothing to see here, folks. Just a little more censorship from the Ministry of Propaganda to keep things looking pretty.
Will an asteroid hit Earth on Monday? Spoiler: probably not. NASA is predicting that an asteroid approximately 100 feet long will zoom past the earth, 20x closer than the moon at the speed of 34,000 miles per hour. According to scientists’ calculations, it will be about 11, 000 miles from Earth, the closest a body this large has come to the planet. Does anyone else sincerely hope that the scientists doing the calculating weren’t victims of a Common Core math “education”? Because I’m pretty sure “friendly” math won’t work here.
And finally, here’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve read all week. It seems that there is a brand new way to offend people. In case you missed this lesson in current offenses, if you “appropriate” something that some trod-upon group feels is theirs, you’re in big trouble with the PC police. (Quick Background: Cultural appropriation as defined by the Urban Dictionary is “The ridiculous notion that being of a different culture or race (especially white) means that you are not allowed to adopt things from other cultures.”) Now that we have definitions out of the way, it turns out that those who are seeking more simplicity and fewer possessions are no longer to be applauded for breaking free of commercialism. Instead, they’re scum for “culturally appropriating poverty.” In an essay titled The Troubling Trendiness of Poverty Appropriation, a writer from humble beginnings decries the tiny house movement, voluntary simplicity, trendy blue collar bars, and delicacies like fried Twinkies and tater tots. Please, let me again refer you to my own essay that calls out the crybabies on their microaggression woes.
The Bookshelf
Since the government really seems to want to shut him up, I’d like to recommend Dave Ramsey’s classic book, The Total Money Makeover. Ramsey has changed the lives of many people with his no-nonsense guide to finances and getting out of debt. I’ve personally used his “snowball method” of debt reduction and I highly recommend it. This book teaches you how to make a plan to dig your way out of debt and stay that way.
This book will inspire you to whole new levels of personal independence. Granny Miller/aka Katherine Grossman wrote an absolutely wonderful book about meeting your own needs through old-fashioned skills, A Mind to Homestead: Old Time Skills and Knowledge for a New Generation. A note for the delicate among you: Granny isn’t a fan of “preppers,” a point that she makes abundantly clear in this book. Despite that, I still loved it. Her issue is with the loudly militant folks who are more intent on stacking ammo than seeds and skills. Having spoken with her personally, I know that our views are actually very similar when it comes to providing for your family via hard work. In this book, you can learn things I haven’t seen elsewhere: sewing with a treadle machine, cooking on a wood cookstove, heating with coal, and much more.
FINALLY. You know, A. American really does write quickly, but the sequels just can’t come fast enough. Finally, his newest installment of The Survivalist Series is available on Amazon. My copy of Avenging Home should be awaiting me at the post office on Monday, but I have no hesitation about recommending these books before reading them.
The Self-Reliance Manifesto
Regardless of where you live, whether it is at the top of the highest high-rise, in the suburbs, in the desert, or on a few acres in the lush countryside, you can still be more self-sufficient.
You deserve better than to simply line up at the store and exchange dollars you spent many hours earning for rations of processed, food-like substances and electronic gadgets. You deserve the feeling that comes from creating and producing.
This is a collection of more than 300 resources to inspire you and teach you to be more self-reliant. I am positive that every person who reads this post can find something to learn that will put them on the path toward real freedom.
More Than 300 Resources to Guide You on the Path to Radical Freedom
Anything to add to Survival Saturday?
Do you have any news links you want to share? Now’s the time! You are absolutely welcome to post your links in the comments below. (And this feature will be so much cooler if you guys post the things that you found important this week!)
as per the bio of the entitled gen Yer “culture appropriation” whiner:
“July is a writer and journalist living in Oakland, California. She has her hands in many pots, including writing for Autostraddle, LitSeen, the Lambda Literary Foundation, and Nomadic Press. Her tights are always in bad shape, and she can often be found holding out accessories to her friends, saying “belt that shit.”
***
If I could eradicate one societal ill, it would be displacement.
When I’m alone, I like to organize my earring collection while I sing songs from Cabaret and pretend my cat is the MC.”
Last I heard, the “tiny house” and “simple living” movement has it’s roots in the early cabins and essentials only living style (what you could take on a ship or pack in a wagon) of colonial and pioneer america. My Irish (“no Irish allowed”) and share cropper roots would beg to differ that poverty is unique to any “one” culture.
Of all her biography, the only redeeming quality I see about Ms. Westhale is that she likes cats. And if her life is now so full and blessed compared to her childhood poverty, perhaps she could find some better way to give back than meddling with someone else’s perfectly happy lifestyle. Imagine such preachiness coming from Oakland. Indeed, last time I was there, Oakland was decidedly a delightful, non-pretentious, blue collar neighborhood compared to its posher neighbor, San Francisco. My, how the old neighborhood has changed.
Bah.
I like a lot of what Dave Ramsey has to say about getting out of debt – I mean that – however; every time I see his name in print I think about something I read from Gary North about how Dave Ramsey advises people After they get out of debt, namely: to avoid gold, and get into…
IMHO, with Dave Ramsey, he encourages people to get out of one trap, then he hurries them along to getting into another trap set up by your friendly Wall Street octopus squid.
YMMV, and, don’t say you weren’t warned. Do your own research.
Also, when you wrote, “A note for the delicate among you: Granny isn’t a fan of “preppers,”” I thought, “Yeesh, I’m not delicate – and – people who are Not “fans of preppers” are on the wrong side of the tracks. Stack, or no stack.”
Anyway, I didn’t really come across anything I found to be earth-shatteringly important this week. It’s just the same old same old, your blog post seemed to cover it pretty well, and, you know: we’re being ripped off by Mr. Banker and his fellow criminal Mr. Politician, while, ‘The People’ appear to have, ‘No Clue’, for instance:
“We’re In Trouble”: Alan Greenspan Delivers Stark Warning
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-01/were-trouble-alan-greenspan-delivers-stark-warning
Mr. Greenspan mentions, resolving the entitlement programs, perhaps he’s referring to the 210 Trillion+ Dollar Unfunded Liabilities programs which can Never be paid!?
It blows my mind how that can just go over people’s heads. But, it does. It’s The Thing which is Never to be mentioned, especially by supposed sthmart people.?
210 Trillion Dollar Unfunded Liabilities!!!
I doubt it will cause a ripple upon the pond, but perhaps, ‘The People’ just need some pointers?:
‘The Snowpack and the Avalanche: How to Understand Unfunded Federal Liabilities.’
http://www.garynorth.com/public/14886.cfm
Meanwhile, doctors and dentists work hard to seem like they aren’t unintentionally or intentionally killing people (I’ve already posted links about that so I won’t bore you with extra repetition) while in the background, we’re being sprayed like rats in a cage:
http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/
… and very few people givea hoot or even can accept the fact they’re the subject of numerous scientific experiments on a grand scale instigated by monsters with human names. …Perhaps that means they are monsters, too?
… There, now ain’t That depressing?
For a bit of counter-balancing encouraging news, there’s this:
No American Smokestack Industries? Not to worry, says Gary North.
A snippet:
“If people really faced the implications of what the “save the smokestacks” propaganda is all about, they would not be very likely to get on board that particular bandwagon. The problem is, people have a tendency to get excited about dangers that they do not really understand, and at the same time ignore dangers that are a very serious threat to them. If “save the smokestacks” were being promoted as “give up your freedom of choice as a consumer in order to save the smokestacks,” or “raise our taxes in order to save the smokestacks,” I think fewer people would get involved in promoting the political schemes that are being touted to save them.” …
http://www.garynorth.com/public/14790.cfm
“Well, that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.” — Garrison Keillor
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/01/gary-north/lake-wobegon-economics/