May 24

Economic Slavery and Economic Collapse

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The Economy

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Interesting video, and while I can’t say I agree with all of the points made it’s still worth the watch.

Once you understand that the money banks loan out isn’t really an asset but is in fact a piece of legal fiction it should be clear that you are working for these banks for free. This is a cleverly disguised form of slavery, if you manage to make your monthly payments than you are a successful slave and you are allowed to keep the material comforts that come with that status.  But if for some reason you fail to make those monthly payments, than the bank or the IRS comes to take your house, your car and anything else you have of value. And if somehow, even with this enormous financial advantage the banks still get themselves into trouble, you the taxpayer will be forced to bail them out.  No matter what, the banks win.

Additionally I wanted to share a comment made on a recent article I read over at prep-blog.com.  The author maintained that total economic collapse was one of 5 least likely TEOTWAWKI scenarios.  Here is the response by author John Ragan.

It appears your opinion of financial collapse is based on life experiences and not on a financial analysis of our current situation. This is understandable given the poor financial education Americans receive (even at the graduate level) and the difficulty in finding reliable data on which to make an informed opinion.

I cannot provide a detailed list as it takes me an hour just to present the financials in front of a live audience, but I can provide a couple of facts that show it is mathematically impossible to avoid a financial collapse.

The unfunded liabilities of the social insurance programs is enough to sink our ship. Using trustee report estimates that understate inflation and overstate income give us a figure of over $120 trillion. Prof. Kotlikoff uses the Alternative Fiscal Scenario from the CBO in his annual update which now stands at over $220 trillion. Either figure is more than all the money in the world.

These are present value amounts meaning that given the expected income and expenses, this is what we would have to invest today, earning interest (the minimum rate appears to be 5%) in order to pay our promises in the future.

At this point most people think we can fix this by just raising taxes to cover the promises. The problem is that (depending on which number you want to believe) it would take $6-$11 trillion a year just to keep the unfunded liabilities from getting worse.

This brings up the second point, we cannot even keep from going further into debt. We might stand a chance if we eliminate the social insurance programs now, but doing so would likely start civil unrest destroying the country anyway.

Based on IRS stats (2008 for business and 2010 for personal – the most recent available) we have a total income of about $9.2 trillion. As you can see if we use the more reasonable estimate of our social insurance liabilities, we couldn’t even keep the liabilities from increasing if we taxed 100% of ALL income.

Currently (all levels of) government spends $6.6 trillion a year and rising. Even with historically low interest rates, we spend over $3 trillion just on interest on our collective private debt (the public interest is included in the government spending).

That’s right, government spending and interest alone amounts to more than our collective income. That leaves nothing for fixing the social insurance programs, paying anything against our collective national debt of $60 trillion, Obamacare, the un and under funded liabilities of public an private pensions, and little things like food and shelter for the population.

If our wage and salary income were TRIPLED, and we maintain the same 100% tax rate, that would just give us enough for government spending, interest, and keeping the social insurance programs from falling further in the hole (assuming the additional funds were invested and not spent).

When the Great Depression started, most of our money was still backed by gold and silver, and we had about 20% of Americans working in agriculture (and many more with their own gardens or chickens). Today we have money backed by imagination and maybe 1% working in agriculture (and most of our farmers are over 50). People no longer know how to raise their own food and most of those that raise our food do so with a lot of assistance from technology and a working global supply chain.

When it becomes clear that pieces of paper (and their electronic equivalent) are backed by imagination and nothing else, I believe the global just-in-time supply chain will collapse. The results will be catastrophic. What we see happening in Europe is just a foreshadowing of what is to come.

If you have a solution, please offer it up. I believe if such a solution exists that it would be deserving of a Nobel Prize. Otherwise, to say a total financial collapse is unlikely is just wishful thinking.

John R Ragan, MBA, MS

Author, The Financial State of the Union

 

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May 21

Identifying Necessary Survival Skills

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Guest Contributions, Prepping Strategies & Skills

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By The Maj

In the post SHTF world, skills can make the difference between life and death, but which skills are the “right” set of skills you should focus on? Determining “right” is personal and will be different for every person, so finding that magical list which you can reference to build your own personal set of skills can be as elusive as finding the unicorn at the end of the rainbow standing next to the pot of gold. As with other areas of prepping, your goal should be to identify skills which you can learn, practice, AND will be beneficial to you once the SHTF. Learning these skills takes time, mastering these skills takes practice, and identifying these skills can be overwhelming and frustrating.

Before you even start down the road of acquiring skills, you will need to identify the skills that you believe are critical for your specific plan. Your plan is unique and is tailored to your specific needs, therefore, your set of critical skills should be just as unique and tailored to your survival. When starting down the road of acquiring skills you will find that there are more skills out there than you can count and there is no reason to even attempt to learn them all. It is an impossible task and as with other areas of prepping, you will need to find some sort of balance. So, where should you start?

Your plan should form the basis for where you should start. Skills serve to fill the holes in your plan(s), as well as make you more self sufficient or less reliant on store bought items. Many skills are what are considered to be basic skills that are common to just about any survival situation and other skills will be more advanced and suited to long term survival. If you evaluate skills according to a timeline, it should give you a pretty good idea of which skills you need to focus on first and then move on to the next set of skills. The timeline should be broken down similar to the manner in which you stockpile supplies but as an example a timeline would include: 72 hours post event, 1 week post event, 1 month post event, 3 months post event, 6 months post event, 1 year post event, etc.

Breaking this timeline down into a visual representation often helps:

Survival Skills Timeline

The example above should not be considered an all inclusive list or suggest that you wait until after the event to learn a skill. The chart demonstrates where skills COULD become critical post SHTF and gives you an idea or option for how to determine which skills you should focus on acquiring first. For example, while blacksmithing will be a very important skill to have for a long term SHTF event, it will not be as important as other skills for short term SHTF events. Also, if you do utilize a chart like the one above, it is important to understand that you will need to make certain that it meshes with your personal plan(s).

Skills will be critical in the post SHTF world and acquiring them should be incorporated into your survival plans and preparations. The important thing will be identifying which skills will provide you the most benefit and having a plan for acquiring them.

 

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May 18

What’s your Pace Count?

Categories:

Land Navigation

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Pace CountBeing able to calculate distance traveled while on foot is a critical skill, it could literally mean the difference between life and death given the right set of circumstances. Imagine that the proverbial SHTF has occurred and you now have 7 days to link up with your group at a predetermined location 90 miles from your home. Moving by vehicle is out of the question as all of the surrounding roads are blocked, which means you must travel by foot. You will be required to move mostly at night going cross country and sometimes using less known back roads in order to reach your destination. Simple math says that you must move at least 13 miles per day in order to meet your group at the required time, but how would you determine how far you have traveled each day? While you could attempt to walk from sunset to sunrise it would be much better to split up the movement into manageable chunks in order to avoid injury and unnecessary fatigue.

The Pace Count

Enter the pace count, a method for determining distance traveled while on foot. The method is quite simple in that you count the number of steps which you take while walking and correlate that to distance traveled. Of course in order to make this work you have to establish a personal base line and by that I mean figure out how many of your steps = X distance. My stride will be different than your stride and so it is worth noting that pace count will differ between individuals. The second thing you have to understand is that it’s much easier to pace count every other step while walking, either your left or right foot (I pace count on my left foot).

Determining Personal Pace Count

Now it’s time to figure out just how many of your steps = X distance. Utilizing a measuring tape or GPS mark off 100 meters on an empty road, in a field, on a trail through the woods. Once you have your distance measured out start at one end and walk to the other counting the number of times your left (or right) foot hits the ground. Do the same exercise coming back, if the numbers are slightly off take the average of the two. Now you know that it takes 65 normal paces (for example) to walk 100 meters on FLAT terrain. I emphasize the flat terrain because many other factors could alter your pace count or render it altogether useless, some of these would be:

1- Movement speed (running pace count is different)

2- Terrain (Moving through heavy woods, up and down steep elevation, through swamps).

3- Weather (Rain and mud).

4- Gear (Wearing a 75lb pack)

5- Visibility

Doing the Math

Let’s go back to the example I wrote about in the first paragraph, you know that you need to move 13 miles per day in order to make the link up location in time with your group. Your pace count is in meters (standard for MGRS maps) so there will have to be a conversion since the only map you have is the road atlas which was in your glove box (the one which you measured and gave you the distance of 13 miles per day). Every mile = 1.6093 kilometers so…13 miles per day = 20.9 kilometers per day. You know that it takes 65 paces to equal 100 meters but that does NOT mean you’ll be counting to 13,585 every day (65 x 10 x 20.9).

Practical Application of the Pace Count

You need to move 20.9 Kilometers per day so that means you’ll need 10 small rocks, coins will work well in this instance if you don’t have rocks. Put all of the rocks or coins in your left pocket, every time you move 100 meters (65 paces) transfer a rock or coin to your right pocket. You might wonder what the purpose of this could be but trust me there will be a time where you stop to look at the map and then wonder…”have I moved 300 or 400 meters?” Once you have successfully moved all 10 objects from one pocket to the next this will indicate the completion of a full kilometer of movement, mark that down on your map or notebook utilizing a simple hash mark. In the example I listed out above you would repeat this process 20 times daily, moving 9 rocks the final time for the last 0.9 kilometers of movement.

Conclusion

I’ve tried to oversimplify a very important tool which can be used to track distances while moving on foot. There are many electronic aids which completely negate the need for this skill but should those fail you could be lost in the sauce, quite literally if a swamp is involved. I have intentionally not tried to integrate teaching points surrounding MGRS maps or lensatic compasses because those could muddy the waters and take away from the singular point I hope to make here in this post. Take it upon yourself to know how many of your steps equates to 100 meters and you’ll be much better off. Remember too that there are many factors which can influence your pace count so it is most definitely not a figure which is set in stone.

 

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May 15

Maximizing Space with Multiple Use Items

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Guest Contributions, Prepping Strategies & Skills

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By The Maj

No matter if you have been prepping for years or are just getting started, one thing that you are going to realize quickly is that supplies take up a lot of space. It does not matter if you are talking about stockpiles for a bug in location or the size and weight of a bugout bag or the cube of a vehicle, there is no such thing as “unlimited space”, unless you happen to have unlimited resources. Even with unlimited resources, a vehicle or bag is only going to be able to hold so much and there will be a maximum weight associated with it. Most preppers constantly grapple with the issue of space/weight and some are better than others in their ability to cram the right amount of stuff into the smallest amount of space possible.

The market place has responded by trying to make everything smaller, lighter, and more efficient with varying degrees of success. In many instances we become victims of clever marketing in our ever ending search for the smallest, lightest weight gadget or most cleverly packaged supplies and end up sacrificing quality. When we are preparing for post SHTF, sacrifices are to be expected but quality should be demanded. As a prepper, you will find yourself in a quandary many times over and it will be up to you to determine where sacrifices can be made for the sake of mobility or limited storage space or limited funds.

One area that is often ignored or overlooked when trying to make these decisions is seeking out and finding multiple use items. As preppers, we tend to develop tunnel vision and assign an item to one of the key areas of the prepping pyramid when we acquire it and move on to the next item. This will lead to having items in one category that would work as an adequate substitute for an item in another category. When it comes to tools it is almost second nature to consider secondary uses for the tool and I would imagine that most reading this already have a “multi” tool of some type in their possession. What other tools and supplies in your stockpiles right now can be effectively utilized as substitute or multiple use items?

Some items often overlooked include:

Cheesecloth: poor man’s mosquito netting, water strainer/pre-filter, broth strainer, covering for sun drying meat, fish net, char cloth, gauze/bandage, sling, bag for foraging….

Cloth Diapers: bandage material, bandana, wash cloth, water strainer/pre-filter, broth strainer, char cloth, big time barter item…

Snare Wire: snares, general cordage, pot hanger, emergency boot laces, fishing line, blowgun darts, antenna…

Metal Coffee Cans: storage container, camp stove, cooking/boiling pot, rainwater catch, wax catch, forage container, pitch/resin catch, perimeter signal, water conveyance,…

Braided Fishing Line: snares, general cordage, sutures, fishing line, thread, choke / trip lines,

Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline): lip balm, treatment of rashes, lubricant, fire starter, rust preventative, temporary seam sealant, ….

Panty Hose: insulation layer, sling, mesh bag, wear under socks to help hot spots heal, outside layer of a compression bandage, lashing, water strainer/pre-filter, minnow netting,….

The list above is not all inclusive as it pertains to the individual item(s), nor should it be considered all of the items that have multiple uses. There are hundreds of other items out there that have multiple uses or uses for other than their designed and intended purpose(s). There are probably items that you use every day that do not add to the financial burden of prepping that with a little thought could be converted to fill a need. If SHTF is today, you are going to have to work with what you have and if you find yourself in a bugout situation, identifying and packing multiple use items will save weight and space in most cases. This weight and space may make room for additional items or more essential items that will make life easier for you.

Next time you are conducting an inventory, critically examine the items in your stockpile and ask yourself “What else can I use this for?” and “Can I substitute this item for other items that take up less space and have other uses?”. Your answers may surprise you and you may find you can garner more shelf or bag space in the process.

As preppers, we have got to be smart in our preps, take the time to adapt to changes in our lives, and adjust our plans accordingly. I thoroughly believe we all have a lot to learn from each other and I would be very interested in hearing what those of you reading this article see as common use or multiple use items. So, please post any suggestions that you might have at the bottom of the page.

 

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May 13

Confiscate, confiscate, confiscate….

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Featured Vids

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Second Amendment rights advocates are fuming today over words from three Democratic state senators caught on tape after Thursday’s hearing on the upper chamber’s gun control package.

The three female senators, who sound from the recording to be Sen. Loretta Weinberg, Sen. Sandy Cunningham and Sen. Linda Greenstein are heard discussing the just-closed hearing.

“We needed a bill that was going to confiscate, confiscate, confiscate,” said an unknown voice.

Make no mistake, this fight is long from over.  We are often seen as paranoid for believing that there are lawmakers who want to come for our guns, but in fact time and time again we are proven right.  Read the full story here.

 

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May 12

Notice to Readers

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PJ's Corner

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Things will be slowing down on the site…starting now.  I’m going through a transition period and starting my own business so I’ll have much less time to dedicate to posting articles/updates every day.  I will make it a point to post every week at minimum and to continue to post prep updates (headlines) as time permits.  As always I will accept guest articles, gear reviews or other submissions and post them up for all to view.

Since I will not be posting every day feel free to click the RSS feed link at the top of the page (IE should work fine, Chrome has issues sometimes) so that you’ll be notified of a new post, or simply check back in a few times a week.  For the new preppers out there, if you haven’t gone through all of the old articles here on the site please do so.

Thanks for understanding and I’ll post up when I can.

PJ

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