By Daisy Luther
Survival Saturday Sunday (busy day yesterday, sorry!) is a round-up of the week’s news and resources for folks who are interested in being prepared.
This Week in the News
Sometimes I’d swear House of Cards is actually a documentary. Every week, the soap opera in Washington, DC reaches a new pitch. There is basically no downtime from the manipulations, the end runs, and the drama. The issue is, it’s not a television show. It gets a lot less entertaining when you realize that all of this stuff directly affects us.
This week, we’ll talk about a looming financial catastrophe that is almost upon us, the return of Hillary Clinton, and the constant attempts to unseat Donald Trump from the White House.
How about a recession, a housing crisis, and a stock market crash in the midst of a government shutdown?
Talk about a perfect storm. This week has set us up for economic catastrophe.
- So, first, the deadline to raise the debt ceiling and put a new budget into place has come and gone with no new budget. (That was on the 15th.)
- A government shutdown appears imminent. (Which, in all honesty, doesn’t bother me that much.)
- Trump no longer seems interested in capping the national debt – and fiscal responsibility was a cornerstone of his campaign. (source)
- The Federal Reserve met last week and raised interest rates for the second time in 3 months, making it much more difficult for people to borrow money for homes or cars. This will slow the economy substantially. (source)
- The Fed seems ready to sacrifice itself for the banks. Let’s be perfectly clear: the only winner in this economic war is the big banks. The rest of us will get screwed six ways to Sunday, Trump will be blamed, and we’ll lose our dollar’s world reserve status. (source)
If you recall, the Obama administration suspended the debt ceiling until it was no longer Obama’s problem – March 15, 2017. Now we are at an economic crisis point. This quote from Brandon Smith of Alt-Market sums it all up and ties it with a bow.
“The Fed is raising rates into the first year of the Trump presidency leaving equities increasingly open to destabilization. In addition, the government might not be able to continue borrowing from them, or there will be a renewed extension but the costs of borrowing will run much higher. In either case, this month seems to pronounce the beginning of something; a considerable move away from the standard operating procedures that the elites have been using for the past several years.”(source)
People with variable mortgages will be hard hit, and you can expect to see massive foreclosures. People who want to buy or sell homes won’t be able to, and the retail apocalypse will accelerate. Oh – and did I mention that a lot of folks in the know are predicting an impending trade war with China?
If you’re prepping for anything, it should be for an economic crisis the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes. Don’t wait for one big, earth-shattering event. We should take notes from the situations we’ve witnessed in Venezuela and Greece. It’s most likely that it will present itself as a series of personal economic crises that, when combined together, will combine to form an ugly situation across our country.
Welp, we haven’t seen the last of Hillary Clinton.
It appears that the losing presidential candidate has finished licking her wounds. Just like the bad guy you think is dead in a horror movie, she’s rising up behind you just once you thought the world was safe again.
During a St. Patrick’s Day speech in Pennsylvania, she announced she is ready to “come out of the woods.” According to a report by The New York Times, she spoke before dinner was served. (That was a questionable decision.) She concluded her speech with:
“I’m like a lot of my friends right now. I have a hard time watching the news, I’ll confess. I am ready to come out of the woods and to help shine a light on what is already happening around kitchen tables, at dinners like this.”
How will she make her return? She’s contemplating a run for the Mayor of New York City, which gives me Nanny Bloomberg, large-soda-pop flashbacks. (When we were on our road trip around the country, we were flatly denied Trenti Double Espresso frappuccinos in New York, despite our dire need for as much caffeine and sugar as we could pump into our bodies at one sitting.)
Sadly, I’m pretty sure she could win hands down in a liberal hotbed like New York, which will, unfortunately, just encourage her in her future political aspirations.
How far would the Left go to get Trump out of office?
Now, I’m not saying all of these things are direct attempts from the Left to get Trump out of office, but the generally accepted air of disrespect and hatred sure isn’t helping. I don’t know if ever a President has been in more peril than Donald Trump.
This week, there were two breaches of White House security.
- The first fellow who jumped the fence managed to elude security for almost minutes as he roamed the property and even jiggled the handle of one of the White House doors. (source)
- The second jumper was shut down much more quickly as he got passed the bike racks, then was arrested. (source)
- Then, last night, a guy drove right up to the White House checkpoint and told them he had a car bomb. Weird, right? (source) At this point, it has not been confirmed whether there were any explosive devices in the vehicle or not.
That’s not all. Everyone knows about the dogged attempts of the media, the Democratic party, and Hollywood to constantly criticize every action the President takes. Much has been written about the possibility of a “Deep State coup.” (Here’s an article about it on Breitbart, but keep in mind, they’re as slanted pro-Trump as the rest of the media is slanted anti-Trump.)
But here is the most surprising thing I’ve seen. Senator Dianne Feinstein (ick) hinted broadly that Trump was about ready to resign after less than 3 months in office. During a town hall-style Q&A, she said:
We have a lot of people looking at this… Technical people… I think he’s going to get himself out… I think sending sons to another country to make a financial deal for his company and then have that covered with government expenses… I think those government expenses should not be allowed.. we are working on a bill that will deal with conflict of interest… it’s difficult…
This article goes into more detail on Feinstein’s hints.
I didn’t like President Obama, but I did resign myself to his presidency. I’m not 100% sold on Trump either, but this behavior is not okay. The rest of the world is looking on and saying, “What the heck has happened to America?”
And I think many of us are asking the same question.
This Week in Preparedness…
As I mentioned above, it’s time to get prepped for the potential that our economy could be taking some major hits soon.
- Invest in a long-term food supply.
- Build a stockpile.
- Take a look at your mortgage and see if the changes in rates will affect you. If so, you might want to consider a refinance that will give you a set rate.
- See if you can reduce any of your fixed expenses.
- Put back an emergency fund to help you through any major crises you could be facing.
- Focus on self-reliance, no matter where you live.
Stop waiting until you are in the perfect location or until some arbitrary goal is met before you get prepared. The clock is ticking. I can think of no worse feeling than knowing you should do something, putting it off, and then watching as your family suffers because of your inaction.
Articles of Interest
- The Importance of Comfort Items During Stressful Times
- Why Your Carefully Calculated Prepper Food Supply May Not Be Enough (And What You Can Add)
- Announcement: The Prepper’s Canning Guide Is Now Available
- What to Do If You Are In the Middle of an Active Shooting
- Could You Stomach These Great Depression Meals?
- Here’s the Absolute Best Way to Tell If a Wild Plant Is Edible
- Why You Need More Skills and Less Stuff
Anything to add to Survival Sunday?
Do you have any news links you want to share? What are your thoughts on the topics above? Now’s the time! Please post your links in the comments section below and join the discussion!
Hey Daisy! Good work at reamaining (for the most part) politically neutral. While it seems unnatural for Trump to be receiving a lot of trouble, remember that this is something that happens at the beginning of many presidencies, as the opposition tries to denounce the legitimate winner. Also, when talking about Obama blowing the budget, remember he came into office just in time for the 2008 financial crisis. No budget could deal with that many people needing social security and food stamps. Unless you cut the military’s budget from between 600 billion and 1 trillion to something closer to 260 billion (approximately 2% of the budget, which is required by NATO), then the national debt could be much more easily be reduced. Also, if you’re looking at Democrat media to rage at, have a look at the massively anti-Trump show LastWeekTongiht with John Oliver. I’m sure that he’ll annoy anyone who hates a biased media. I enjoy your sensible advice at the end of your articles, and remember, HRC can certainly act like HRH (Her Royal HIghness) when she tries.
“People with variable mortgages will be hard hit, and you can expect to see massive foreclosures. People who want to buy or sell homes won’t be able to, and the retail apocalypse will accelerate.”
Come on – this is fear mongering. The rate going up 1/4 of a point is nothing. I remember when interest rates for a home loan were 10% – people still bought and sold homes. And contrary to the doom and gloom in your article, the markets don’t care if interests rates were raised. They had their highest day ever the day after the rates were raised. And the rate was so small, it will affect almost no one, except for banks borrowing money and the bond market.
Sorry, not with you on this one. There are sources who say we’re in for a crash and others who say we’re in for the biggest bull market ever with the DOW reaching 31,000 – 45,000. So who’s correct. We’ll just have to wait and see; however, your advice about preparing is ALWAYS good advice.
I guess the issue is that I don’t think it’s going to stop with this quarter percent, and it is a trend that seems to going in the wrong direction for economic repair. But – as always – you bring up some great points.
I hope very much that you’re right and I’m wrong. 😀 Wouldn’t be the first time!
Thank you for the thoughtful input!
I personally believe we’re both right, although I believe the interest rate being raised 1/4 at a time is the least of our worries.. The BIG question is, as always, when? I recently read a book by Larry Edelson, a dedicated anthropologist, who has studied, not just humans, but the patterns of humans and history. He died recently and his book was a gift to the subscribers of his research articles. He has never been wrong on his predictions of the events that have happened in the last 30 years. But even he, as well as everyone else I’ve read, states that the kicker is always “when” – the time that an event or events will occur. He is the one who said the DOW would reach 31,000 or more – but here’s the qualifier: before it crashes.
For anyone who does not have their head in the sand, it’s obvious that the entire world is in trouble, financially, politically, and geopolitically. Edelson’s book is titled, “Winds of World War III”, and he believes we’re already involved in it as there are wars everywhere in the world – and there will be more, as you know.
So regardless of what events happen – or when – the best and only advice, which you give so freely and adequately, is to be as prepared and as self-reliant as possible. But humans behave like small children, so we must tell them over and over and over to prepare!