“The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.”
– John Connor
For those who attempt to monitor, track, and make sense of the endless array of craziness going on in the world – it’s maddening. Trying to disseminate the BS presented as fact from all sides of any issue is frustrating, to say the least. Basing opinions and beliefs in facts and logic rather than emotion and fantasy takes work. We are living in a world where one biased side suggests that the COVID vaccine is an absolute necessity – a requirement. The other biased side will say COVID isn’t real and doesn’t exist. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. We have a cancel culture where if you have a certain opinion you will have social media accounts canceled, websites closed, and can even be targeted in your own neighborhood by those with a different opinion. We live in a world where men are allowed to compete against women in sports and American Olympic athletes turn their back to the flag and kneel during the national anthem. We live in a world wherein New York City and a growing list of other locations require special identification to go out to eat, to go to a gym, and engage in other common activities, but, do not require an ID to vote. We live in a world where restrictions are being placed on American citizens while illegals are accepted at our borders and then shipped all over the country.
Do you want the truth? Can you handle the truth?
It’s not going away and there is little that can be done to stop it.
I have completely lost faith in the political system. No white knight in shining armor is going to ride in and save us. Corruption and social decay are far too embedded and rooted into the very fabric of this country. Like weeds completely infesting a lawn, it can be fixed by either tearing it out and replacing it completely – or killing it off and starting over.
The Next Few Years
Going much further out than a few years is an effort in futility. Far too many variables to accurately predict conditions 5-15 years out(though it can be fun). Where we find ourselves today is the result of years of slow and steady decay. The economic challenges of rising prices for food, fuel, and many other products as a result of inflationary pressure will continue to tax wallets and bank accounts alike. Let’s review some of the challenges we will face over the next few years.
Economics
The aforementioned inflation is putting millions of families at a point that feeding the family daily is a struggle. Double-digit inflation with many food items has reduced buying power and will continue at least for the next few years. Fuel continues to rise in cost and hopefully, a reverse trend will be seen soon. Many other products continue to see pricing increase as well as supply chain issues. I recently purchased some o-rings for my Sawyer Mini Water Filter Bucket Kit and found the cost went up 16%. Families will continue to work to either reduce expenses or raise income – or both. We can either fight against changing times with everything we’ve got – or work within the system to our advantage. When it comes to preparing for the future – financial preparation these days is a necessity.
Steps to Consider:
Precious Metals – Gold and silver have been used in commerce for hundreds of years. That will not be changing anytime soon. Gold is an excellent hedge against inflation while in a working economy, while silver is as well but also an excellent barter item. I highly recommend Money Metals Exchange if you are interested in precious metals.
Cryptocurrencies – I know many scoff at the idea of digital currencies. Welcome to the modern era. Cryptocurrencies are becoming more mainstream every day and when looking at ways to increase wealth(buying power) crypto is excellent – and also high risk. For purchasing crypto I recommend Robinhood and Coinbase. Sign up for Coinbase, deposit $100 or more – get $10 in Bitcoin. BTW – I’ve been messing arounf with Crypto for several months and have done very well.
Debt Reduction – Eliminating or reducing debt must be part of any plan to fight the economic catastrophe. Debt elimination provides freedom of whatever revenue you have coming in. If job losses occur, low expenses will allow whatever income reaches your wallet to go further.
Secondary Streams of Income – Creating a secondary stream of income can not only provide extra funds for saving, debt reduction, or purchasing – but security in case job change or unemployment should occur. Examples of common ways to generate streams of income include eBay, yard sales, part-time jobs, landscaping, and nude modeling. Ok – just kidding about that last part(maybe).
Employment – Right along with secondary streams of income is employment. For millions of Americans being unvaccinated will limit the ability to have gainful employment. This not only affects earning power but also the ability to get health insurance. As frustrating as it may be the harsh reality is those who choose to NOT take the jab are going to be targeted. Preparing for such an inevitability should be at the top of your priority list IF you fit into that category.
Networking
The “Lone Wolf” ideology used to be popular back in the ’80s. The general consensus now is it takes a TEAM of people to not just maintain a property but to handle all the tasks that need to get done….done. Networking and forming a group is absolutely needed. With multiple members, you have many skillsets and talents. In an economy where certain people may be economically challenged(no damn money) as well as possibly have restrictions due to their “designation” – having fellow group members who can assist with needed projects is a HUGE thing.
Let me state it plainly: There may be a time that someone who refuses to accept a vaccine or some other government requirement and they cannot find work. Their earning power is diminished. A fellow group member knows plumbing and is willing to fix a problem for 20 pre-1965 dimes.
See how that works?
Being a member of a survival group – a Mutual Assistance Group – provides the benefit of an increased knowledge base and the utilization of the saying, “Many hands make light work.”
Stuff
Everyone’s favorite topic – getting STUFF. Securing your beans, bullets, and band-aids is a must. With a left-leaning Congress, White House, Justice Department, and ATF securing desired boomsticks and corresponding components need to be completed…..soon.
Purchasing components “off the books” is recommended and never a bad option when possible.
Communication
Something to consider and I am working n this myself is communication. With the recently announced invasion of privacy that Apple will be scanning all cell phone photo’s looking for nefarious material – there is no telling to what extent this will go. While privacy has been absent for many years regardless of what platform is used, this new direct targeting is concerning to say the least.
What. method of communication will be used within your survival group? What protections can be acquired to make communication as secure as possible?
I do not have the answers – yet. If you have thoughts please leave them in the comments below. Oh – and I hope GG58 chimes in as Going Gray will take on a new level of importance for many.
Summary
Insanity. How many of us see the headlines, read about what others look at as “normal” and just shake our heads. If anyone would have suggested back on September 12th, 2001 that the country would be in the state it is today, most would have called you crazy.
Unfortunately, it’s real.
I truly believe we need to come together, network, and share ideas on how to best combat the insanity that the enemy portrays as “just” and “good” and “right.”
Rourke
How would we find a Mutual Assistance Group in our area? My husband and I may be in our 60’s, but we have a lot of skills and knowledge and experience. We are prepared to take care of ourselves, and could bring a great deal of skill set to a survival situation.
This is one of the best posts to date JR. We are in a surreal world to say the least. I have used Money Metals Exchange in the past and see that they now are giving you a free ounce of silver for referrals who make a purchase and the purchaser gets a 1/2 ounce coin too. Good marketing. Having said that I recommend checking APMEX and Provident Metals before pulling the trigger on a buy. Especially Provident. They usually get my money.
I recently went through the WuFlu and it was not a big deal. I did use the colloidal / ionic silver with the nebulizer to keep the crud from getting into my lungs. Bought those silver rounds that I used to brew my ionic silver with from Provident! lol!!!
So I now have real, full spectrum, natural immunity from the China virus and I will not be getting the jabs. If necessary it will be the hill I die on. I will not comply with this bogus mandate they are working so hard to get in place.
We are in the same situation that Dang Duffy mentioned above.
How to find like-minded people? Our group has slowly, over the years, either drank the coolaid or fallen victim to the ‘body snatcher’ syndrome.
You know, one day, you hang out, and you realize the person sitting with you isn’t the same as they were a week, a month, ago. There are many reason for this, but I have seen it over and over again. One day they are wearing combat boots, the next day sandals, while saying that obama was actually a mighty fine leader.
My own parents stared at me, wide-eyes and zombie-like, over dinner last week and moaned “get the jab, get the jab…. CNN says get the jab’.
Due to disease and simple age, we have lost our mentors over the past few years.
The one ‘official’ prepper group our state had was taken over by a woman obsessed with laptops and computers, and in building a personal fiefdom.
As time goes on, we stand alone.
I suspect that cryptocurrencies may be a type of pyramid scheme if they’re not backed by anything real, like gold, silver or petroleum. They start off with a low price and are sold over and over as the price rises, to make a profit. Eventually, the market is saturated, with nobody left who is willing to pay a higher price, and the pyramid collapses and the last owners of the cryptocurrencies are left holding the bag full of worthless ones and zeroes, much like paper fiat currencies, which at least have government backing, and can be mandated for “all debts, public and private” as long as the government that printed them remains in power.
I guess playing with Monopoly money is fun while it lasts, but like the game Hot Potato, you don’t want to be the last one holding it when the music stops.
What’s coming?? We probably can’t even imagine it. Big brother is growing and getting bolder by the day. I too do not have a like minded group. I have some good neighbors who fly the American Flag but do I know where they really stand and do I think I could depend on them if someone comes after our 2nd Amendment; I really don’t know.
I work for a large company (40 years) and yesterday they announced that the jab is mandatory. I have not taken the experimental drug and don’t plan to. I was able to put in a job accommodation but who knows if it will be approved. I may be in the soup line before the end of the year trying to feed 6 people.
Pray from me and mine and I will pray for all of JR’s followers too.
“…rising prices for food, fuel, and many other products…”
Coupled with decreasing availability.
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On one RecreationVehicle forum — IRV2 — owners constantly post about failures of their Exhaust Fluid injection.
Some systems fail ON THE WAY HOME FROM THE DEALER.
The rig is towed back to the dealer, shuffled to the back line next to dozens of other rigs waiting on the same parts.
Either cashed in or mortgaged, the owners receive zero-zero-zero value for their investment.
Our supply chain is broken.
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Added to that is the stretching of the moratorium on renters not paying rent to property owners.
Renters are living day-to-day.
Property owners are living day-to-day.
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“Cash is king!” — the mantra during my 1950s childhood.
Everybody recommended ‘a nice nest-egg’ as a cushion against emergencies such as a broken transmission or ‘the plant closing’.
2021, nobody in their right mind holds fiat currency.
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An article yesterday announced the annual rate of inflation over the past twenty-four months — 126% (a hundred and twenty-six percent).
The latest mantra — “cash is valueless!”
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Related:
A convict murders his cellmate because the corpse allegedly molested his sister.
How many of us are riding the hair-trigger, anxious to settle debts?
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Related:
How easy is it to place objectionable material on a computer or telephone?
How easy is it for LawEnforcementOfficials to coerce nerds/geeks to place actionable material on a computer/telephone by coercing other nerds/geeks to skirt morality and ethics?
How easy is it to place similar material on judges’ computers/telephones?
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Related:
I wonder about AI scanning billions of messages each second, recognizing trends, then automatically formulating pro- or anti- messages to ‘guide’ the narrative.
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Former California bureaucrat and alleged hollywood actor arnold schwarzenegger condemned the concept of FREEDOM because — according to the script supplied by his puppet-masters — everybody! is! going! to! die! from an extremely mild influenza.
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Meanwhile, I sit in the porch rocker, occasionally tossing tennis-balls to the dogs.
This amuses me, and keeps the dogs reasonably entertained.
Walk into any retail store and see if you can pay for anything with Bitcoin or
any other bull shit crypto. Those that believe in any make believe money are
truly delusional.
Soon all fiat currencies will be worthless and when that day comes you can be assured that the collapse will be global.
Gold,silver,and any commodities that you can barter will be the only items of
value.
Hard to think that our world has and will continue to deteriorate into madness isn’t it?
For many it is far too late to prepare.If you don’t suffer from “normalcy bias” and pull your head out of your ass take some time to listen to the advice of Egon von Greyerz. In any conversation of financial or monetary
matters he is always the smartest person in the room.
Good luck!
NC- With all due respect cryptocurrencies are being more and more widely used as a currency than you realize. As mentioned – I’d rather take advantage of these financial tools than ignore or fight against them.
To answer your question – it is very hard to think our world will continue down the path that it is. Difficult to wrap my head around it. It’s disgusting.
Just a thought to those who are looking for people in there area. List at least the state your in. You don’t need to be specific. That way others may be able to give you some Ideas. GOD bless to all
For those that are gold and silver maximalist I refer you to Ezekiel 7:19 . The think about some of the crypto’s is that they are limited in nature . There will only be so many Bitcoin ever. While the dollar is ever increasing .
I would rather hold real goods than gold ,silver , dollars or crypto. Food , clothing, tools and the stuff to work with is a better choice to me .
As for those looking for a MAG you have to talk to others to find like minded people. The people you are looking for show up at the feed store , the garden centers, the gun shops and the hunting and fishing areas . No not everybody that goes there is a fit for you but you aren’t going to be a fit for everybody .
As far as people changing over time . Nobody is the same person they were a month ago . They proably wonder what happen to you also because you to have changed.
When you reach the point that your mentors have changed their paths due to health issues or have died it’s time to look in the mirror and start mentoring those behind you . Personally I hate talking to a group but give me 4 or 5 people and I do alright.
Fixit:The number of dollars is increasing.Every new dollar that is printed lowers the value(buying power)of dollars already in the system.Too many dollars chasing too few goods and services is known as inflation and it is here to stay.
Fiat currencies are all based on faith and trust with nothing to back them up.Throughout history not a single fiat currency has survived to present day.
Gold and silver have never been worthless.They have survived the tests of time and turmoil.
The amount of Bitcoin is finite.It exists in a digital world that depends solely
on electricity.Can anyone say with any certainty how long the grid will stay up?How about a major hack of the financial system?You still would not be able to spend a Bitcoin or hold one in your hand.
NC – 100% correct in a grid down SHTF crypto would be worthless. My point was to “play the game” while the game is still going on. Crypto is a viable option for diversification and for those who learn and put the time into it money can be made(and/or lost). I’ve participated in crypto and so far have done well overall. Is it a currency for when the zombies come to eat your brain? Absolutely not.
Normal Chuck
Perhaps I wasn’t clear. While I have a emergency fund I don’t stockpile cash . Inflation eats it . While I might have some junk silver I don’t stockpile gold and silver . While I do have some crypto it is only what I earn through use of sites like Presearch and lbry. What I do tend to stockpile are real goods . Food . Tools and supplies that you will try to buy with that gold and silver but that I want care about and therefore you will find that you Must pay and extream premium for me to consider .
JR:I agree that right now there is money to be made on the cryptos.I find it
unlikely though that the US Federal Reserve or any Central Bank will allow
competition against whatever digital currency that they are using.Knowing
when to cut and run is imperative.
“If you don’t hold it in your hand you don’t own it” I have no idea who coined that phrase,but they’re right!!!
Folks, what is happening to the US now is what has happened to every country in the past that did the same thing we did – Forgot God and went our own way.
Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, was asked when he was released from the gulag and visited America, “How did things get so bad in Russia?’. “Because”, he answered, “we forgot God.”
If you read the Bible you will see how many nations, not just Israel, did not follow God and were destroyed.
Pretty much following the same pattern.
Go to sermonaudio.com, search for Pastor John Weaver, search the keyword “Nations”, 5 sermon series.
You will find other sermons on topics readers of this site will appreciate.
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn , The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
Brutus