slow, fast, instant

SLOW, FAST, INSTANT

Velocity of collapse matters, and it matter a lot. This is a large part of your plans. Obviously, it also matters what kind of collapse. Back in the Cold War days, for twenty years you had one type of collapse, nuclear annihilation, and one velocity, instant. Both were very important. Most likely, working at a factory, you were in or near a city and you needed a fallout shelter. You could finance that because it was a good bet you were employed until the day you needed it. The good old days of cut and dried danger.

*

But suddenly, we had an economic collapse. The 60's cultural collapse in no way gave you any warning of the coming economic collapse, nor did the war in Vietnam look like anything other than another boost to the military industrial economy. You would have had to be one of only a handful of people to listen to Hubbert in the 50's to get any idea of an approaching economic bomb, and then predict it would be an instant implosion. Hardly likely. However, as soon as the economy smoked a giant engorged mule member, preparedness changed over night.

*

Suddenly, there was no more job security and if you did stay employed it was far from a Union job. You could no longer stay in the city for a good job, nor did you want to as the New Normal of Black Rebellion took hold. You still had the “instant” threat of collapse, but now both in a nuclear attack and the economy. The new plan that made much more sense was to move to the country to avoid nuclear fire or fallout, and live more like a hippie than a suburbanite to live on less income. You were homesteading to counteract the economic collapse threat.

*

But then the Soviet Union collapsed ( we pushed it, with a Color Revolution-I think the “broke from Afghanistan” explanation was to hide this endeavor, as it was a secret weapon that would be used again to good effect ). Suddenly, the threat was no longer “instant”. Plenty of Washington Wags tried to paint China as the new Instant Doom Threat, but with Clinton selling them military secrets we had a hard time buying into that paradigm. And what do you know, just as Ruff and Saxon and Ing and ( strategic relocation dude ) had appeared to sell the new strategy, up popped the new purveyors.

*

Now collapse was slow to non-existent, after the nuclear threat had passed. Duffy with his Backwoods Home and Rawles with his “work hard in the city to invest in a concrete bunker atop a mountain” strategy focused on the danger of big government. Which was bad, but no worries, all the time in the world. The problem was, nobody has come along to replace those obsolete plans. And they are obsolete, I guar-an-damn-tee you a jelly filled donut.

*

So, survivalism started about 1950, after Russia got her own bomb. The Bunker strategy lasted about twenty years. In 1970 ( ish ) we went over to a Relocate strategy to deal with both the death of decent wages with the same threats. Twenty years later ( ish ) the Soviet's were no longer a threat and instant doom was no longer a concern. We had a very slow burn collapse and it was okay to work in the city, there no longer being rural jobs in general, and save up to move away from government meddling. Plus a few other dangers that didn't worry us unduly.

*

Twenty years after THAT, we had a new thing called the Greater Depression. But no new guru's stepped forward to offer a new way of dealing with that. Oh, I tried. I tried mightily. I was flogging the dead and buried corpse of the horse of frugal preparedness. But ANY excuse to dismiss me was used with unseemly haste to ignore my unwelcome message. Firstly, I was a heathen, NOT a religious man. Obviously, if I was not channeling baby Jesus I was deluded and misguided. Secondly, I DARED, dared to spit on the 'Murican Way Of Life by pointing out that, well, sorry, but the earth is not a petroleum filled hollow ball and oil was a FINITE resource and we started running out.

*

And I'm serious. Whenever I published elsewhere, those were the two underlying problems. Evidently, most religious folks prefer their science from clerics, and all other folks pick and choose the science they approve of. But I'm not bitter! Not me. Nothing to see here, kindly move along. Yet, the problem remains that even if nobody listens to me, they don't listen to anyone else either. It is still the 90's economy fueling prepper advice, in an economy NOT anywhere near as robust.

*

Because since we cannot accept Peak Oil, we cannot attribute the economy to excess oil in the 90's, so when that oil is gone, well we still refuse to accept that era's economy is gone. It must all the fault of those evil Democrats! Yeah! That's the ticket. And in this environment of wildly looking about for a scapegoat for the economy, ignoring energy, we also look wildly about for new collapse velocity models. The Druid Dude had just the snake oil to sell to the rubes, in the Long Descent stairstep collapse theory.

*

Now, I grant you, the stair step collapse LOOKED plausible. That was what we had been looking at for the last several decades. You could even say “centuries”, if you looked at Western Civilization and colonialism in general and viewed the decline of each ECONOMIC empire ( as opposed to RESOURCE empire, as the Bank Of England method of empire has moved from one country to another ), it was easy to think there was a quasi-recovery after each crash or dip in living standards. But while I think Druid Dude is pretty smart in many things, I don't think he has a capacity to admit he makes very many mistakes, and clings stubbornly to his pet theory.

*

Granted, I cling stubbornly to mine, as well. But when I'm wrong, I try to own up to that. And when events and study just double down on certain theories, I cling to them even more stubbornly. Nothing has dissuaded me from Peak Oil, but I sure was wrong about velocity AND severity of collapse, having once been a mere Disaster Prepper, and now a civilization collapse prepper. In outlook if not preparations, as I'm settled where I'm at even if it is NOT a great place to be come the Big Spicy ( it was perfect for a mere economic collapse ).

*

Tomorrow, I'll cover the stairstep collapse, the Seneca Cliff, the problems with ONLY choosing between slow or fast collapse, and why the Waterfall Collapse is superior, and how that better reflects past collapses and past US events than the other models.

( .Y. )

( today's related Amazon link click HERE )

*

Please support Bison by buying through the Amazon links here ( or from http://bisonprepper.com/2.html or www.bisonbulk.blogspot.com ). Or PayPal www.paypal.me/jimd303 

*** Unless you are in extreme poverty, spend a buck a month here, by the above donation methods ( I get 4% of the Amazon sale, so you need to buy $25 worth for me to get my $1 ) or mail me some cash/check/money order or buy a book ( web site for free books, Amazon to pay just as a donation vehicle ).

*** My e-mail is: jimd303@reagan.com My address is: James M Dakin, 181 W Bullion Rd #12, Elko NV 89801-4184 ***E-Mail me if you want your name added to the weekly e-newsletter subscriber list.

*** Pay your author-no one works for free. I’m nice enough to publish for barely above Mere Book Money, so do your part.*** junk land under a grand *  Lord Bison* my bio & biblio* my web site is www.bisonprepper.com *** Wal-Mart wheat***Amazon Author Page
* By the by, all my writing is copyrighted. For the obtuse out there