Part 1
Part 2

I began a juice fast on January 1st and continued for 14 days.

Face of the Great Depression - 1930s

Pray that economic collapse doesn't happen... but be prepared if it does. Follow the guidance of your Inner Voice and stay on the path no matter what. The creation and the collapse of the world's illusions has nothing to do with the seekers search for the truth. An economic collapse is only a change in the illusion and has no affect on the truth. Be prepared and be at peace.

"One important element of collapse-preparedness is making sure that you don't need a functioning economy to keep a roof over your head." [And food on the table, a warm house and warm clothing in the winter.]

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A dollar in 2007 buys about a 18¢ worth of goods it bought in 1970.

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Dollar Purchasing Power Calculator

http://buyupside.com/calculators/purchasepowerjan08.htm

Closing the "Collapse Gap":
the USSR was better prepared for collapse than the US.
by
Dmitry Orlov

Published on Monday, December 4, 2006 by Energy Bulletin

http://mountainsentinel.com./

http://www.energybulletin.net/23259.html original

http://www.energybulletin.net/print.php?id=23259 print version (below)

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am not an expert or a scholar or an activist. I am more of an eye-witness. I watched the Soviet Union collapse, and I have tried to put my observations into a concise message. I will leave it up to you to decide just how urgent a message it is.

My talk tonight is about the lack of collapse-preparedness here in the United States. I will compare it with the situation in the Soviet Union, prior to its collapse. The rhetorical device I am going to use is the "Collapse Gap" – to go along with the Nuclear Gap, and the Space Gap, and various other superpower gaps that were fashionable during the Cold War.

Slide [2] The subject of economic collapse is generally a sad one. But I am an optimistic, cheerful sort of person, and I believe that, with a bit of preparation, such events can be taken in stride. As you can probably surmise, I am actually rather keen on observing economic collapses. Perhaps when I am really old, all collapses will start looking the same to me, but I am not at that point yet.

And this next one certainly has me intrigued. From what I've seen and read, it seems that there is a fair chance that the U.S. economy will collapse sometime within the foreseeable future. It also would seem that we won't be particularly well-prepared for it. As things stand, the U.S. economy is poised to perform something like a disappearing act. And so I am eager to put my observations of the Soviet collapse to good use.

Slide [3] I anticipate that some people will react rather badly to having their country compared to the USSR. I would like to assure you that the Soviet people would have reacted similarly, had the United States collapsed first.

Feelings aside, here are two 20th century superpowers, who wanted more or less the same things – things like technological progress, economic growth, full employment, and world domination – but they disagreed about the methods. And they obtained similar results – each had a good run, intimidated the whole planet, and kept the other scared. Each eventually went bankrupt.

Slide [4] The USA and the USSR were evenly matched in many categories, but let me just mention four.

The Soviet manned space program is alive and well under Russian management, and now offers first-ever space charters. The Americans have been hitching rides on the Soyuz while their remaining spaceships sit in the shop.

The arms race has not produced a clear winner, and that is excellent news, because Mutual Assured Destruction remains in effect. Russia still has more nuclear warheads than the US, and has supersonic cruise missile technology that can penetrate any missile shield, especially a nonexistent one.

The Jails Race once showed the Soviets with a decisive lead, thanks to their innovative GULAG program. But they gradually fell behind, and in the end the Jails Race has been won by the Americans, with the highest percentage of people in jail ever. [On June 30, 2006 — 2,245,189 total inmates.]

The Hated Evil Empire Race is also finally being won by the Americans. It's easy now that they don't have anyone to compete against.

Slide [5] Continuing with our list of superpower similarities, many of the problems that sunk the Soviet Union are now endangering the United States as well. Such as a huge, well-equipped, very expensive military, with no clear mission, bogged down in fighting Muslim insurgents.

Such as energy shortfalls linked to peaking oil production. Such as a persistently unfavorable trade balance, resulting in runaway foreign debt. Add to that a delusional self-image, an inflexible ideology, and an unresponsive political system.

Slide [6] An economic collapse is amazing to observe, and very interesting if described accurately and in detail. A general description tends to fall short of the mark, but let me try.

An economic arrangement can continue for quite some time after it becomes untenable, through sheer inertia. But at some point a tide of broken promises and invalidated assumptions sweeps it all out to sea.

One such untenable arrangement rests on the notion that it is possible to perpetually borrow more and more money from abroad, to pay for more and more energy imports, while the price of these imports continues to double every few years.

Free money with which to buy energy equals free energy, and free energy does not occur in nature. This must therefore be a transient condition. When the flow of energy snaps back toward equilibrium, much of the US economy will be forced to shut down.

Slide [7] I've described what happened to Russia in some detail in one of my articles, which is available on SurvivingPeakOil.com. I don't see why what happens to the United States should be entirely dissimilar, at least in general terms.

The specifics will be different, and we will get to them in a moment. We should certainly expect shortages of fuel, food, medicine, and countless consumer items, outages of electricity, gas, and water, breakdowns in transportation systems and other infrastructure, hyperinflation, widespread shutdowns and mass layoffs, along with a lot of despair, confusion, violence, and lawlessness.

We definitely should not expect any grand rescue plans, innovative technology programs, or miracles of social cohesion.

Slide [8] When faced with such developments, some people are quick to realize what it is they have to do to survive, and start doing these things, generally without anyone's permission.

A sort of economy emerges, completely informal, and often semi-criminal. It revolves around liquidating, and recycling, the remains of the old economy. It is based on direct access to resources, and the threat of force, rather than ownership or legal authority.

People who have a problem with this way of doing things, quickly find themselves out of the game.

These are the generalities. Now let's look at some specifics.

Slide [9] One important element of collapse-preparedness is making sure that you don't need a functioning economy to keep a roof over your head.

In the Soviet Union, all housing belonged to the government, which made it available directly to the people. Since all housing was also built by the government, it was only built in places that the government could service using public transportation. After the collapse, almost everyone managed to keep their place.

In the United States, very few people own their place of residence free and clear, and even they need an income to pay real estate taxes. People without an income face homelessness.

When the economy collapses, very few people will continue to have an income, so homelessness will become rampant. Add to that the car-dependent nature of most suburbs, and what you will get is mass migrations of homeless people toward city centers.

Slide [10] Soviet public transportation was more or less all there was, but there was plenty of it. There were also a few private cars, but so few that gasoline rationing and shortages were mostly inconsequential.

All of this public infrastructure was designed to be almost infinitely maintainable, and continued to run even as the rest of the economy collapsed.

The population of the United States is almost entirely car-dependent, and relies on markets that control oil import, refining, and distribution. They also rely on continuous public investment in road construction and repair.

The cars themselves require a steady stream of imported parts, and are not designed to last very long. When these intricately interconnected systems stop functioning, much of the population will find itself stranded.

Slide [11] Economic collapse affects public sector employment almost as much as private sector employment, eventually. Because government bureaucracies tend to be slow to act, they collapse more slowly.

Also, because state-owned enterprises tend to be inefficient, and stockpile inventory, there is plenty of it left over, for the employees to take home, and use in barter. Most Soviet employment was in the public sector, and this gave people some time to think of what to do next.

Private enterprises tend to be much more efficient at many things. Such laying off their people, shutting their doors, and liquidating their assets. Since most employment in the United States is in the private sector, we should expect the transition to permanent unemployment to be quite abrupt for most people.

Slide [12] When confronting hardship, people usually fall back on their families for support. The Soviet Union experienced chronic housing shortages, which often resulted in three generations living together under one roof.

This didn't make them happy, but at least they were used to each other. The usual expectation was that they would stick it out together, come what may.

In the United States, families tend to be atomized, spread out over several states. They sometimes have trouble tolerating each other when they come together for Thanksgiving, or Christmas, even during the best of times.

They might find it difficult to get along, in bad times. There is already too much loneliness in this country, and I doubt that economic collapse will cure it.

Slide [13] To keep evil at bay, Americans require money. In an economic collapse, there is usually hyperinflation, which wipes out savings. There is also rampant unemployment, which wipes out incomes. The result is a population that is largely penniless.

In the Soviet Union, very little could be obtained for money. It was treated as tokens rather than as wealth, and was shared among friends. Many things – housing and transportation among them – were either free or almost free.

Slide [14] Soviet consumer products were always an object of derision – refrigerators that kept the house warm – and the food, and so on. You'd be lucky if you got one at all, and it would be up to you to make it work once you got it home.

But once you got it to work, it would become a priceless family heirloom, handed down from generation to generation, sturdy, and almost infinitely maintainable.

In the United States, you often hear that something "is not worth fixing." This is enough to make a Russian see red. I once heard of an elderly Russian who became irate when a hardware store in Boston wouldn't sell him replacement bedsprings: "People are throwing away perfectly good mattresses, how am I supposed to fix them?"

Economic collapse tends to shut down both local production and imports, and so it is vitally important that anything you own wears out slowly, and that you can fix it yourself if it breaks. Soviet-made stuff generally wore incredibly hard. The Chinese-made stuff, you can get around here – much less so.

Slide [15] The Soviet agricultural sector was notoriously inefficient. Many people grew and gathered their own food even in relatively prosperous times. There were food warehouses in every city, stocked according to a government allocation scheme.

There were very few restaurants, and most families cooked and ate at home. Shopping was rather labor-intensive, and involved carrying heavy loads. Sometimes it resembled hunting – stalking that elusive piece of meat lurking behind some store counter. So the people were well-prepared for what came next.

In the United States, most people get their food from a supermarket, which is supplied from far away using refrigerated diesel trucks. Many people don't even bother to shop and just eat fast food. When people do cook, they rarely cook from scratch.

This is all very unhealthy, and the effect on the nation's girth, is visible, clear across the parking lot. A lot of the people, who just waddle to and from their cars, seem unprepared for what comes next. If they suddenly had to start living like the Russians, they would blow out their knees.[???]

Slide [16] The Soviet government threw resources at immunization programs, infectious disease control, and basic care. It directly operated a system of state-owned clinics, hospitals, and sanatoriums. People with fatal ailments or chronic conditions often had reason to complain, and had to pay for private care – if they had the money.

In the United States, medicine is for profit. People seems to think nothing of this fact. There are really very few fields of endeavor to which Americans would deny the profit motive. The problem is, once the economy is removed, so is the profit, along with the services it once helped to motivate.

Slide [17] The Soviet education system was generally quite excellent. It produced an overwhelmingly literate population and many great specialists. The education was free at all levels, but higher education sometimes paid a stipend, and often provided room and board.

The educational system held together quite well after the economy collapsed. The problem was that the graduates had no jobs to look forward to upon graduation. Many of them lost their way.

The higher education system in the United States is good at many things – government and industrial research, team sports, vocational training... Primary and secondary education fails to achieve in 12 years what Soviet schools generally achieved in 8.

The massive scale and expense of maintaining these institutions is likely to prove too much for the post-collapse environment. Illiteracy is already a problem in the United States, and we should expect it to get a lot worse.

Slide [18] The Soviet Union did not need to import energy. The production and distribution system faltered, but never collapsed. Price controls kept the lights on even as hyperinflation raged.

The term "market failure" seems to fit the energy situation in the United States. Free markets develop some pernicious characteristics when there are shortages of key commodities.

During World War II, the United States government understood this, and successfully rationed many things, from gasoline to bicycle parts. But that was a long time ago. Since then, the inviolability of free markets has become an article of faith.

Slide [19] My conclusion is that the Soviet Union was much better-prepared for economic collapse than the United States is.

I have left out two important superpower asymmetries, because they don't have anything to do with collapse-preparedness. Some countries are simply luckier than others. But I will mention them, for the sake of completeness.

In terms of racial and ethnic composition, the United States resembles Yugoslavia more than it resembles Russia, so we shouldn't expect it to be as peaceful as Russia was, following the collapse. Ethnically mixed societies are fragile and have a tendency to explode.

In terms of religion, the Soviet Union was relatively free of apocalyptic doomsday cults. Very few people there wished for a planet-sized atomic fireball to herald the second coming of their savior. This was indeed a blessing.

Slide [20] One area in which I cannot discern any Collapse Gap is national politics. The ideologies may be different, but the blind adherence to them couldn't be more similar.

It is certainly more fun to watch two Capitalist parties go at each other than just having the one Communist party to vote for. The things they fight over in public are generally symbolic little tokens of social policy, chosen for ease of public posturing.

The Communist party offered just one bitter pill. The two Capitalist parties offer a choice of two placebos. The latest innovation is the photo finish election, where each party buys 50% of the vote, and the result is pulled out of statistical noise, like a rabbit out of a hat.

The American way of dealing with dissent and with protest is certainly more advanced: why imprison dissidents when you can just let them shout into the wind to their heart's content?

The American approach to bookkeeping is more subtle and nuanced than the Soviet. Why make a state secret of some statistic, when you can just distort it, in obscure ways? Here's a simple example: inflation is "controlled" by substituting hamburger for steak, in order to minimize increases to Social Security payments.

Slide [21] Many people expend a lot of energy protesting against their irresponsible, unresponsive government. It seems like a terrible waste of time, considering how ineffectual their protests are.

Is it enough of a consolation for them to be able to read about their efforts in the foreign press? I think that they would feel better if they tuned out the politicians, the way the politicians tune them out. It's as easy as turning off the television set.

If they try it, they will probably observe that nothing about their lives has changed, nothing at all, except maybe their mood has improved. They might also find that they have more time and energy to devote to more important things.

Slide [22] I will now sketch out some approaches, realistic and otherwise, to closing the Collapse Gap. My little list of approaches might seem a bit glib, but keep in mind that this is a very difficult problem.

In fact, it's important to keep in mind that not all problems have solutions. I can promise you that we will not solve this problem tonight. What I will try to do is to shed some light on it from several angles.

Slide [23] Many people rail against the unresponsiveness and irresponsibility of the government. They often say things like "What is needed is..." plus the name of some big, successful government project from the glorious past – the Marshall Plan, the Manhattan Project, the Apollo program.

But there is nothing in the history books about a government preparing for collapse. Gorbachev's "Perestroika" is an example of a government trying to avert or delay collapse. It probably helped speed it along.

Slide [24] There are some things that I would like the government to take care of in preparation for collapse. I am particularly concerned about all the radioactive and toxic installations, stockpiles, and dumps.

Future generations are unlikely to able to control them, especially if global warming puts them underwater. There is enough of this muck sitting around to kill off most of us.

I am also worried about soldiers getting stranded overseas – abandoning one's soldiers is among the most shameful things a country can do. Overseas military bases should be dismantled, and the troops repatriated.

I'd like to see the huge prison population whittled away in a controlled manner, ahead of time, instead of in a chaotic general amnesty.

Lastly, I think that this farce with debts that will never be repaid, has gone on long enough. Wiping the slate clean will give society time to readjust. So, you see, I am not asking for any miracles. Although, if any of these things do get done, I would consider it a miracle.

Slide [25] A private sector solution is not impossible; just very, very unlikely. Certain Soviet state enterprises were basically states within states. They controlled what amounted to an entire economic system, and could go on even without the larger economy.

They kept to this arrangement even after they were privatized. They drove Western management consultants mad, with their endless kindergartens, retirement homes, laundries, and free clinics. These weren't part of their core competency, you see.

They needed to divest and to streamline their operations. The Western management gurus overlooked the most important thing: the core competency of these enterprises lay in their ability to survive economic collapse. Maybe the young geniuses at Google can wrap their heads around this one, but I doubt that their stockholders will.

Slide [26] It's important to understand that the Soviet Union achieved collapse-preparedness inadvertently, and not because of the success of some crash program. Economic collapse has a way of turning economic negatives into positives. The last thing we want is a perfectly functioning, growing, prosperous economy that suddenly collapses one day, and leaves everybody in the lurch.

It is not necessary for us to embrace the tenets of command economy and central planning to match the Soviet lackluster performance in this area. We have our own methods, that are working almost as well. I call them "boondoggles." They are solutions to problems that cause more problems than they solve.

Just look around you, and you will see boondoggles sprouting up everywhere, in every field of endeavor: we have military boondoggles like Iraq, financial boondoggles like the doomed retirement system, medical boondoggles like private health insurance, legal boondoggles like the intellectual property system.

The combined weight of all these boondoggles is slowly but surely pushing us all down. If it pushes us down far enough, then economic collapse, when it arrives, will be like falling out of a ground floor window. We just have to help this process along, or at least not interfere with it.

So if somebody comes to you and says "I want to make a boondoggle that runs on hydrogen" – by all means encourage him! It's not as good as a boondoggle that burns money directly, but it's a step in the right direction.

Slide [27] Certain types of mainstream economic behavior are not prudent on a personal level, and are also counterproductive to bridging the Collapse Gap. Any behavior that might result in continued economic growth and prosperity is counterproductive: the higher you jump, the harder you land.

It is traumatic to go from having a big retirement fund to having no retirement fund because of a market crash. It is also traumatic to go from a high income to little or no income. If, on top of that, you have kept yourself incredibly busy, and suddenly have nothing to do, then you will really be in rough shape.

Economic collapse is about the worst possible time for someone to suffer a nervous breakdown, yet this is what often happens. The people who are most at risk psychologically are successful middle-aged men. When their career is suddenly over, their savings are gone, and their property worthless, much of their sense of self-worth is gone as well.

They tend to drink themselves to death and commit suicide in disproportionate numbers. Since they tend to be the most experienced and capable people, this is a staggering loss to society.

If the economy, and your place within it, is really important to you, you will be really hurt when it goes away. You can cultivate an attitude of studied indifference, but it has to be more than just a conceit.

You have to develop the lifestyle and the habits and the physical stamina to back it up. It takes a lot of creativity and effort to put together a fulfilling existence on the margins of society. After the collapse, these margins may turn out to be some of the best places to live.

Slide [28] I hope that I didn't make it sound as if the Soviet collapse was a walk in the park, because it was really quite awful in many ways. The point that I do want to stress is that when this economy collapses, it is bound to be much worse.

Another point I would like to stress is that collapse here is likely to be permanent. The factors that allowed Russia and the other former Soviet republics to recover are not present here.

In spite of all this, I believe that in every age and circumstance, people can sometimes find not just a means and a reason to survive, but enlightenment, fulfillment, and freedom. If we can find them even after the economy collapses, then why not start looking for them now?

Thank you.

Peak Oil Solution Theory
by
Tate Ulsaker

Every solution has a basis in theory. As man thinks, we create destiny in our minds and then try to manifest out thoughts by a set of actions—some conscious and others unconscious.

Let's pretend that if we can just understand the problem well enough, then we will have the power to manifest a solution. By those guidelines, we are encouraged to enter the debate from three definite territories: Problem Definition, Solution Definition, and of course the Solving Action required to get us from the problem to the solution.

Concerning peak oil, we have a healthy set of problems, so let's lay down a few of the critical fundamentals for the new folks.

Problem Definition of Peak Oil - a summarized view:

• We are at the peak of world oil production, which is a natural consequence following the peak world discovery in 1964.

• We will soon peak in that other fossil fuel, natural gas, as well.

• Since everything that we have, eat and do is primarily brought forth from oil and natural gas, we will suffer shortages in all things.

• There are no viable alternatives that compare to the loss of cheap and abundant oil and natural gas, but a set of alternatives may reduce a small portion of the negative impact.

• In any case, industrial civilization as we know it cannot function without abundant and cheap fossil fuel energy—and so will collapse.

• As well, our monetary system, which depends upon constant growth to survive, will collapse.

• Collapse does not wait for "when we run out". Rather, collapse happens when we can't meet minimum demands to keep our system running, like the dehydrating body collapses when it loses a minimum amount of water needed to keep its system running.

• Right now, as we sit on the edge of collapse, a "last man standing" strategy, as outlined in Heinberg's book, Powerdown, has been firmly established by the leading economic and military power in the world. This strategy is the default strategy of man throughout history whenever confronted with scarcity issues. A fight to the last insures that there will be enough for everyone after we reduce our numbers. The US has taken the world down this path with the invasion of Iraq, widely seen as the first act of WWIII.

• Still, not a person in 10,000 understands Peak Oil, even less cares to discuss it, so solutions are batted back and forth hurriedly and remain incomplete at all levels of society.

• A continuation of current trends is Malthusian, indicating that die offs will be increasingly a part of our down-slope adjustment process.

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Every problem must have a solution, right? The solution may not be wholistic or complete or fair, but we will all develop solutions of some sort either now or later. What I see now is a lot of half-baked solutions out there. Admittedly, the following is incomplete but I have yet to see something more complete and I would greatly appreciate advice or direction related to issues of solution.

Solution Definition of Peak Oil - (based upon the above hypothesis):

• Continue to learn, teach, form support groups, awaken your family, friends and anyone close to you in your community. This is going to be a long ride and you might as well become a central figure because nobody else wants the task.

• Act in the interests of your immediate family first, because that is a task that you can potentially manage. Pushing a disinterested community to change is like pushing a string up a hill. But you can plan for change with your family.

• Begin the planning process with location. If you need some stimulation before engaging the thought process at hand, flip the power switches off in your house. A few days without light, heat or power will get the old gray matter working again. And imagine that the water would be off as well. So, where in the world would you want to live under those conditions? Alaska? Siberia? Las Vegas? Come on, let's make a big list and set evaluation criteria. You can do it.

• Next, imagine life with $50 US a gallon gasoline and no modern grocery store. Your grand parents were farmers for a reason that will become increasingly familiar to all of us. Let's try to understand those reasons now so that we don't suddenly find ourselves trying to deal with them from our city apartment or suburban home.

• Next, imagine the most wholesome and natural lifestyle in the world. Are there any possible matches to be made between "running away" and "running towards". Maybe peak oil is itself a wake up call to all of the hollow and meaningless lives that modern civilization has prefabricated for us in the form of nursing homes, franchises, mass media, and all of these hyped-up, scaled-up events. We empowered ourselves with oil to divorce ourselves from all meaningful relationships so that we can hustle as individuals through crowds of strangers and through piecemeal tasks of some larger system that we dislike but are conditioned to want products from. So where is the opposite of all this? Maybe it is with a close-knit family in a natural setting? I don't know, just wondering.

Commonly Proposed Actions:

As with problem definition + solution definition, most of the proposed actions I have seen so far seem less than half-baked. Even less than quarter-baked. In fact, I have yet to see anything practical proposed from anyone besides a catch-line phrase or a quick brush answer. The actions seem to fall into two main categories:

1. The general statement which seems practical but has no substance for practical application behind it. For example: "Yup, we should learn to live off the land", which is a useful skill to be sure but somehow misses the gravity of a system collapse and a die off.

2. Much worse than the above is the quick brush off statement that seeks to falsely pacify any concern for doing anything at all. Like "We are already pretty much prepared for anything. We could easily grow a garden anytime we want. Don't bother me with the details, we will be fine."

Optimism is a disservice in cases when we need some humble analysis that covers the comprehensive gambit of issues.

Actions [by families] required to get us from here to there:

• Get out of debt

• Sell your house prior to the housing crash

• Sell your stocks and bonds and mutual funds (yes, your IRA holdings too), prior to the stock crash. Warning, the inflation of paper supply will give you the illusion that your stocks are rising even when they are flat, so sell and trade in your devaluating notes now for the world's only 5,000-year-old assets.

• Buy physical precious metals gold and silver and take delivery in your home or to a privately owned security lock box. (physical shortages of precious metals + cascading economic collapse = mania in the precious metals markets to come)

• Go rent a place with your family in that area of the world where you want to be.

• Get involved and be a reliable support person within a community of like-minded producers close to organic farming. Become a lobbyist with local administration officials. Be ready to cater your trade to that crowd and to become "indispensable" to them as they begin to seek out those unruly "survivalists".

• Allow global stock and housing markets to correct downwards in their natural cycles of over-indebtedness cleansing. You will not own property or fiat instruments of any significance at this time.

• The crash is fast and hard, but you were positioned prior to that event. The rebuilding will be slow and tedious by comparison, but you have time in that place where you want to be as systems continue to unravel. You are that support person watching for the opportunity to own as the price of targeted agriculturally viable land values based upon ounces of precious metals flatten out at a bottom, from which you are prepared now finally to buy.

You are positioned for leadership and growth in a post-crash scenario.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So that is a summarized view of my "Peak Oil Solution Theory" as it relates to the only real power that most of us have, which is to positively influence our own families and communities. However, most family members that I know remain quite opposed to discussing Peak Oil and would rather discuss recent local weather patterns.

Dumpster Diver

Surviving Economic Collapse

Always follow the guidance of your Inner Voice. I believe that there will be a spiritual transformation of the earth and it's peoples in the next few years. What "being prepared" is all about... is you and your family living in relative comfort in the years preceding that event.

There may be very difficult times ahead for all of us... particularly those who have made no preparations. Everyone should think about possible "scenarios"
of things that could happen and prepare accordingly.

Thinking about writing this introduction last night I turned to reading Eileen Caddy's, Footprints on the Path, and on the second page of the text I found the
following verse:

Why not take positive action.
Why not start the wheels turning.
Once you have done your part
you will receive all the help you need,
but not until then.
I help those who help themselves,
not those who sit back hoping that something
will happen
but fail to take any action.

Believing that God will take care of you is not enough. Facing the difficult times coming you need to look ahead and prepare (the best you can)... dig in (to your savings) and stock up. And Be Prepared! Pete

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Flight Into Freedom
God Spoke To Me
by Eileen Caddy
Cofounder of The Findhorn Community
(1970s-1980s)

"Wake up to the turbulent state of the world. Humankind is drawing further away from the source of all good into the darkness. You can feel the unrest, the disquiet, everywhere. Humans have brought this upon themselves by their free will. The have made the choice of power, greed, hatred, jealousy and envy and must take the consequences. There is no hope of averting the landslide, but exactly how it is to be brought about can be sped up or slowed down by the behaviour of the human race."

"This is the turning point for every soul. The die has been cast, and each soul has to make a choice: a turning towards the light or the dark. The day many have been waiting for is over. The cosmic power released at that appointed moment, felt by you and many others, has begun to reverberate around the universe. Nothing will stop it."

"Great changes are about to take place in the whole universe. It will not be a comfortable time. It is important that each one has no fear, no concern, knowing that this great upheaval is necessary before the next step can be taken."

http://www.pathwaytoascension.com/prophecies_2012.html

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Keyword for search engines >survival economic collapse<.

Food, clothing and shelter for family, friends, neighbors and community are the first considerations! Don't think of surviving alone to an empty world.

Possible situations: worthless money, hyper-inflation, empty stores-lack of necessities, unemployment, on and off utilities... so,"What you have on hand is what you got."

Pay off secured loans: mortgage on home, land and car. So no matter what, these things cannot be reprocessed.

Invest savings in necessities and durable goods: food, clothing and shelter, seeds, medicine, fuel, gasoline, propane, batteries, communications equipment, bicycles, camping gear [in case you have to move], trade goods. If money becomes worthless barter will be the means of exchange.

Silver is a good investment for the ordinary person as a hedge against inflation and economic collapse. It doesn't matter how the silver market fluctuates if high inflation or economic collapse hits the relative value of silver will soar.

About buying silver... make sure the bar or coin is marked with it's weight and
.999 silver. A good buy for the common man is the American Eagle silver dollar or 1oz. silver rounds. They are about the size and weight of a silver dollar.

You can buy a few silver rounds or American Eagles at a time from a local reputable coin dealer and he can give you good advice about buying silver for your needs.

If you would like to make larger purchases you can contact the folks below. Their minimum order is $1000. They are a family run business and a good source of gold and silver. http://www.silvertrading.net/

Monex is also a good source of silver, 100oz. minimum purchase. Silver may vary considerably in price from day to day... Precious metal ticker tape: http://www.monex.com/prods/silver.html

Just remember that you are not investing part of your savings in silver to sell and make a profit but, rather, as a hedge or insurance against paper money becoming worthless.

Trade goods: matches, toilet paper, coffee, salt, pepper, spices, kerosene, tools, books, seeds, batteries, etc. You can buy coarse salt at a feed store for around $8 to $10 a hundred weight. Buy kerosene directly from fuel supply yards.

Save money by buying at discount grocery outlets, second hand stores, swap meets and yard sales. Watch newspaper classified ads and local weekly shoppers for deals.

Considerations: Food, clothing, shelter, water, heat, lighting, transportation, fuels, communication, education-information, medical, entertainment, security.

Make sure you have an unlimited source of water: for drinking, cooking, (tea) bathing, laundry, cleaning, irrigation and fire control.

Collect and store fuel for heating the house, heating water and cooking . Use what is available locally: wood, coal... (natural gas, electricity in some areas.)

Keep a low profile about your preparations... do not tell anyone... because anyone might tell someone else and so on.

Talk to people that lived through the depression of the late 1920's and 30's to get a feel for the misery and helplessness of a severe depression.

If you want your family to get a real feel for depression and economic collapse, park your cars in the garage, take your bicycles out and lock the doors. Fill all the containers in house including the bathtub with water. Turn off the utilities... water, electricity, gas. Unplug the phone. Live on what food you have in the house for a week without utilities.

And the last preparation for economic collapse is to pray every day that it doesn't happen. Pray a lot! God help us! And...

Always remember that God works in wondrous and mysterious ways.

The New Survivalist
Disaster Preparedness and Self-Reliance
An Ebook by Dr. Weed. Download Now! or Download Free Sample!
(Requires Mobipocket Reader - A Free Download.)

The author explains why every capable individual should take responsibility for his or her disaster management preparedness, rather than rely on others, such as the local, state or federal government, to do it for them. Depending on whether a disaster is local, regional, national or global, you may be without services for a few days to many months. Regardless of the magnitude or duration of a potential emergency, this ebook will help you prepare for the worst, and help you live a more self-reliant and earth-sustaining lifestyle now.

In Chapter 15, "Money," the author presents evidence that has led him to believe that we are on the verge of a global economic disaster unlike any that the world has ever known. A plan is presented to help you keep and even grow your assets during such a disaster, no matter how much nor how little you have now. The author considers the information presented in this last chapter so critical for Baby Boomers that he has made it available as separate ebook priced under $2: Silver: The Poor Man's Gold.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Disaster Management Preparedness Introduction
A Lesson from Katrina
Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Management
Types of Disasters
Disasters Resulting from Human Activities
Natural Disasters
Action Step 1: Your Action Planner
Magnitude of Disasters
Local Disasters
Regional Disasters
National Disasters
Global Disasters
Action Step 2: Scope and Duration

Chapter 2: The Basics
Have a Plan
Action Step 3: Home Preparation
To Bug Out or Hunker Down?
Bug Out Bags (BOB)
Survival Bags for your Car
Action Step 4: Prepare Your Bug Out Bags
Action Step 5: Emergency Kit for Your Automobile
Home Caching
Essential Survival Items
1 Water
2 Food
3 Clothing
4 Shelter
5 Energy
6 Health Care
7 Protection
8 Communication
9 Waste Disposal
10 Social
11 Transportation
12 Money
Noetic Needs
Action Step 6: "Get" and "Do" Lists

Chapter 3: The Economics of Survival Planning
Eliminate Wasteful Spending
Establish a Household Budget
Shop Wisely
Buy Previously Owned
Take Advantage of Estate Sales
Action Step 7: Establish Priorities

Chapter 4: Water
General Facts About Water
Preparing for a Disaster
Storing Water
Collecting Water
Finding Water
Purifying Water
Conserving Water
Action Step 8: Planning For Your Water Needs

Chapter 5: Food
The Golden Rule of Food Storage
In Ground Storage
Root Cellaring
Common Methods of Food Preservation
Dried Foods
Canned Foods
Frozen Foods
Freeze-Dried Foods
Commercially-Prepared Dried Goods
Action Step 9: Food Check Lists - Food Storage
Long-Term Storage of Special Survival Foods
Oxygen-Absorbing Packs
Nutritional Supplements
Growing Your Own Food
Go Organic!
Composting
Fruit Trees
Vegetable Gardening
Livestock
Action Step 10: Food Check Lists - Growing Your Own
Edibles from the Wild
What is a weed?
Dandelions
Plantains
Cattails
Wild Game
Trapping Small Game
Fishing
Action Step 11: Food Check Lists - Foods from the Wild
Conservation of Food
Food Preservation Techniques
Field Dressing
Smoking Meat & Making Jerky
Pressure Canning Meat
Preserving the Bounty from your Orchard and Garden
Dehydration
Canning
Pressure Canning
Freezing
A Final Thought About Food: Recycling

Chapter 6: Clothing
Action Step 12: Clothing Check List

Chapter 7: Shelter
Action Step 13: Shelter Check Lists
Building a Campfire
Chapter 8: Energy
Preparedness
Generators
Lighting
Electric
Candles
Kerosene
Gasoline
Propane
Cooking
Propane
Alcohol or Canned Fuel
Wood
Solar
Cooking in a Solar Oven
Heating your Home During an Emergency
Wood
Kerosene
Gasoline
Propane
DC Power
Renewable Energy (Photovoltaics, Wind Turbines, Micro-Hydropower)
Action Step 14: Energy Check Lists
Making a Parabolic Solar Cooker

Chapter 9: Health Care
First Aid
Beyond First Aid
Natural Health Care
Nutrition
Herbs
Action Step 15: Health Care Check Lists

Chapter 10: Protection
Firearms
Intruder Alerts
Action Step 16: Protection Check Lists

Chapter 11: Communication
CB Radios
Amateur or Ham Radios
Action Step 17: Communication Check Lists

Chapter 12: Waste Disposal
Sewage
Garbage
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
What to Do with the Rest of Your Garbage?
Action Step 18: Waste Disposal Check Lists

Chapter 13: Social

Action Step 19: Social Check Lists

Chapter 14: Transportation
In Case of Evacuation
Action Step 20: Transportation Check Lists

Chapter 15: Money
A Brief History of Money
Barter
The Free Market
The Birth of Money
What Has the Government Done to Our Money?
Inflation
What Does the Future Hold for Our Money?
What Will Hyperinflation Be like?
What Can You Do to Insure Your Economic Survival?
Action Step 21: Money Check Lists

Additional Resources
Reading List
Online Resources:
Merchandise:

Download Now! or Download Free Sample!
Contact Us | Blog

http://www.thenewsurvivalist.com/

November 20th 2007

Fed sees economy slowing in 2008

The central bank cut its forecast for next year from growth of 2.5%-2.75% to growth of 1.8% to 2.5%; market bets on rate cut in December.

***

Gold $802.50oz — Euro Worth 1.48 US dollars — Stock Market Dow 13010.14
Federal Interest Rate 4.5% — Crude oil $90 bbl.— Oregon Gasoline $3.25 gal.
Consumer Price Index Inflation Rate 2.2%

March 15th 2008

The central bank said it now sees the economy growing at a rate
between 1.3% to 2%.

***

Gold prices touched the $1000 milestone for the first time ever
on March 13th 2008.— Dollar falls to record low of $1.50 per Euro.
Stock Market Dow 11,951.09 — Federal Interest Rate 3.0%
Crude Oil $110 bbl. — Oregon Gasoline $3.47 gal. and up.
Consumer Price Index Inflation Rate 4.4%

June 1st 2008

The central bank said it now sees the economy growing at a rate
between .03% to 1.2%.

***
Gold $891.50— Dollar falls to record low of $1.54 per Euro.
Stock Market Dow 12646.22 — Federal Interest Rate 2.0%
Crude Oil $130 bbl.— Oregon Gasoline $4.09 gal. and up.
Consumer Price Index Inflation Rate 3.4%

July 2nd 2008

The central bank said it now sees the economy growing at a rate
between .03% to 1.2%.

***
Gold $936.00— Dollar falls to record low of $1.57 per Euro.
Stock Market Dow 11382.26 — Federal Interest Rate 2.0%
Crude Oil $141 bbl.— Oregon Gasoline $4.39 gal. and up.
Consumer Price Index Inflation Rate 4.8 %

August 2nd 2008

The central bank said it now sees the economy growing at a rate
between 1.0% to 1.5%.

***
Gold $911.00 — Silver $17.46* — Dollar value $1.5565 per Euro.
Stock Market Dow 11326.32 — Federal Interest Rate 2.0%
Crude Oil $124.08 bbl. — Oregon Gasoline $4.29 gal. and less.
Consumer Price Index Inflation Rate 4.2%
Unemployment Rate: 5.7%

*August 5, 2008 silver price $16.44oz, Dow 11615.77
-August 8, 2008 silver price $15.32oz, .Dow 11734.32
.August 11, 2008 silver price $14.18oz Dow 11782.35
..August 15, 2008 silver price $12.77oz Dow 11637.02

September 2nd 2008

The central bank said it now sees the economy growing at a rate
between 1.0% to 1.5%.

***
Gold $795.00 — Silver $12.57 — Dollar value $1.45 per Euro.
Stock Market Dow 11755.16 — Federal Interest Rate 2.0%
Crude Oil $107.49 bbl. — Oregon Gasoline $3.89gal.
Consumer Price Index Inflation Rate 4.4%
Unemployment Rate: 5.7%

***

October 1st 2008

US economic growth will slow to 0.51 percent by the fourth quarter,
according to the weighted average of forecasts in a Bloomberg survey.

***
Gold $875.00 — Silver $12.57 — Dollar value $1.40 per Euro.
Stock Market Dow 10,847.48 — Federal Interest Rate 2.0%
Crude Oil $98.86bbl. — Oregon Gasoline $3.63gal.
Consumer Price Index Inflation Rate 5.4%
Unemployment Rate: 6.1%

***

November 2, 2008

US economic growth: Wall Street analysts estimate
that US gross domestic product 0.3

***
Gold $725.00 — Silver $9.82— Dollar value $1.55 per Euro.
Stock Market Dow 9,325.01 — Federal Interest Rate 1.0%
Crude Oil $67.81bbl. — Oregon Gasoline $2.64gal.
Consumer Price Index Inflation Rate 4.94%
Unemployment Rate: 6.1%

***
December 1, 2008

US economic growth: U.S. Department of Commerce
Bureau of Economic Analysis -0.5

***
Gold $768.00 — Silver 9.22 — Dollar value $1.27per Euro.
Stock Market Dow 8,149.09 — Federal Interest Rate 1.0%
Crude Oil $49.28bbl. — Oregon Gasoline $1.89gal.
Consumer Price Index Inflation Rate 3.66%
Unemployment Rate: 6.5%

Part 1, Part 2