In our introduction into this series, we bring to light how an economic collapse is right around the corner. Now is the time to understand the monster you’re going to be dealing with and learn how to avoid it.
If you haven’t been paying attention, you might want to look around: it’s game on for the economic collapse. Natural disasters seem to be striking with more ferocity, leaving destruction, poverty and hunger in their wake. Our food supply has become limited due to harsh droughts, sending the prices skyrocketing. The food that remains available is ever more toxic due to GMOs and pesticides, courtesy of Monsanto and their cohorts at the FDA. As this occurs, more and more people are becoming chronically ill, unable to work and incurring hundreds of thousands of dollars in “medical care”.
That sounds pretty dramatic, doesn’t it? Wow, this chick sure does get wound up about things, you may be thinking.
People have this image of hunger – they see it as the skeletal dark-skinned children in some third world country, bellies protruding as malnutrition sets in.
But the face of hunger and poverty today is as close as your next door neighbor. Millions of North Americans can barely afford to put their next meal on the table. They are living in their cars, if they’re lucky, and without shelter if they are not so lucky.
For many people the economic collapse has arrived. Their “end of the world” event has already occurred in the form of a job loss, the foreclosure of the family home, or an illness that has caused such massive personal debt that there is truly no way out of it. Less than 60% of Americans who are of age to be in the work force have a full time job. When you tally that, it means that more than 100 million people are out of work. More than 100 million people in the United States have no jobs. For more than 100 million people, the economic collapse has arrived in full force.
Meanwhile, as people all over the globe (think Greece, Italy, Spain, Argentina, the UK) struggle with high rates of unemployment, the prices of everything have gone up. People are struggling to keep such simple necessities as running water and electricity. Grocery costs have skyrocketed – the World Bank released a statement that global food prices increased by 10% in ONE MONTH – July 2012.
And it’s only going to get worse – the Farm Bill was blocked by the US House of Representatives, and this means that the prices will skyrocket, as farms are no longer subsidized. This will cause the industry to revert to the Agricultural Act written in 1949, meaning that the government is obligated to purchase dairy products from farmers at a cost that is twice what they are receiving now – this means that the price of a gallon of milk may skyrocket in January to as much as $8 per gallon. This is not an endorsement of government subsidies – this is a simple cause and effect observation to explain the reason people will be shocked when they go to the dairy case come January.
The price of food is increasing rapidly and dramatically. Mac Slavo, of SHTFplan, wrote,
“We’ve seen what happens in countries where the populace is forced to spend 50% or more of their earned income on food. Despite how the media portrays it, the riots we’ve seen in the Middle East, Greece and Spain have been largely fueled by cost increases in food and the inability of individuals to provide the basic essentials for their families.
Americans have been, for the most part, immune from these pressures thus far. But the social safety nets are very quickly becoming overburdened and prices at grocery stores are rising consistently and without pause.
With the consumer economy coming to a standstill, continued central bank monetary easing, job losses and wage reductions, and the urbanization of millions of people, it is only a matter of time before Americans are forced to spend 50% or more of their paychecks just to stay alive.”
When you read the above information, the case becomes clear for stocking a long-term food storage pantry. It makes personal economic sense to purchase commodities like grains for your family at today’s prices to be consumed when the price skyrockets even further.
The economic collapse is not some far-fetched, end-of-the-world fantasy. It is the reality that is occurring all around us, incrementally. The collapse that has been occurring since 2008 has been one of 1000 small cuts as income goes down and expenses go up.
Ask the people in Greece whether they regret not having stocked up on food supplies when those supplies were abundantly available.
Natural Disasters: Not Just for Distant Islands
There are also natural threats to your family’s security. Consider Superstorm Sandy, that hit the East Coast on October 29, 2012. More than 3 months later, there are still more than 1900 homes in New York and New Jersey that are without utilities of any kind. People have remained in their storm damaged homes without electricity, water or heat, at the time of this writing, for more than 100 days. After 3 full months, President Obama finally got around to signing the aid that will help to re-establish services.
Could it be any more clear that you are on your own after a disaster? If you are not prepared, you, too, will be at the mercy of FEMA, waiting months for the President to get around to authorizing aid, huddled in a tent through the frigid months of winter or shivering in a home ill-equipped to be off-grid.
It’s vital to recognize that this can happen – right here in North America. It’s happening right now. As you read this, nearly 2,000 families on this continent are trying to stay warm, clean, fed and healthy without electricity or running water. It’s not just something that occurs in places like Haiti or Thailand. Our grid is so susceptible that it can be taken out by an ice storm, a summer thunderstorm or a confluence of events like Superstorm Sandy.