Saturday, August 5, 2017

insurance 3 of 3


SLOW COLLAPSE INSURANCE 3

My normal advice to everyone is that you should max out the amount of money Uncle Sugar gives you.  This isn’t taking away from your grandchildren-that argument assumes we never run out of energy or money and was moot from the Reagan administration on anyway.  The FedGov needs to borrow money to pay interest on the old amount it borrowed and I don’t know where you learned your economics but in my learnin’ book that means you are already bankrupt.  Taking gov money now is merely increasing the odds of your survival later since that is more preps now.  The Titanic is sinking, so why worry about the ownership of the gold trim in the purser’s office?  Just take the bitch and jump in a lifeboat.  What, it’s better to leave it to sink to the bottom?  Think rationally rather than emotionally.  Having said that, I of course excuse myself from my own advice and am not collecting Food Stamps.  Instead of eating on $50-$100 a month I could get almost $200 and that extra money could go to preps.

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Well, it is kind of a challenge living without bennies, I’ll admit.  But I enjoy it, kind of a superiority feeling “anything you can do I can do better!” as the song says.  And while I’m not lazy, I am adamant about living the rest of my life while minimizing my stress.  I had enough of that the last two and a half decades.  Plus, I really just don’t care.  How many more prep supplies do I need?  Sure, I could get MORE of the same, but why?  To what purpose?  I think I have way more than everything I need to live out the rest of my natural life, let alone my untimely death come the apocalypse ( remember, preps aren’t to assure your survival, they are for IF you survive ).  It is probably just as important to know when to stop prepping as it is to know when to begin or how much to get.  And you can have TOO much, believe it or not.  If I had ten or twenty years of food, and/or more than the bare minimum, how motivated would I be to get off my ass and go get me some more elsewhere?  The limit is what lights the fire under your ass motivationally.  And, yes, I know we keep tiptoeing around the sensitive issue of stealing or killing in relation to food.  Sorry, but YOUR morality and good intentions don’t stop others from acting poorly.  And morality and good intentions are only applicable to your own tribe.  If you love and honor and protect the old, pregnant and young from another tribe, for instance by refusing to take their food and hence killing them, you are in the long run endangering the infirm, breeders and children of your own tribe.  Yeh, not living in surplus is a bitch.

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Another aspect of not bothering with Food Stamps is that I eliminate their eventual demise as a factor in my planning.  Since I know it will just be a temporary fix, I’m not bothered with their absence ( not to say for some bizarre reason I won’t be forced on to them, nor that you shouldn’t get on them post haste if your preps are short ).  Sure, I’m still “planning” on Social Security, in that if they are still around I’ll go ahead and collect them ( not that I really think the system will last ten more years as that takes us too closely to the Olduvai Theory date of 2030 as the year our oil supply matches a century ago which is obviously unsustainable ).  Why, I’m not sure.  I still plan on writing up to the day the Internet goes tits up and cold.  Perhaps all of you will be broke by then and I’ll need money from another source.  Remember, not burning any bridges.  I just can’t see it being around.  There are simply too many issues with our energy supply and our way of life that precludes assuming a soft landing. 

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Great Britain might have been able to hang on after empire by virtue of its small size, North Sea oil, coal and public transportation, but the US has none of these virtues.  Plus Britain is our obsequious butt buddy in the Global War On Terror and other central bank shenanigans for the very reason that their energy supply has contracted so far they need our scraps to survive.  They are not a good post-imperial role model.  Japan might be a better one as they are limping along after their economic collapse and nuclear disaster.  Not that we can emulate them due to their close knit tribal nature and our not so very homogenous population.  But they sure do know how to survive with a lot less energy.  Well, we could talk about the reasons business as usual and can kicking are unlikely but I think we all assume as such anyway.  How does one get Slow Collapse Insurance?  Sure, I’ve strung you along for nearly four thousand words now, but it is actually quite simple and easy.  Well, in theory if not practice.  Can you survive on your own without money for six to twelve months ( surely far longer than the system will last without food distribution on par with today’s norm )?

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And I’m not talking about having extra savings.  I’m talking about having the supplies to live off of for that time, above and beyond your post-apocalypse storage items.  If you’ve been following the discussion on canned or frozen meat, you know where I’m going with this.  Can you eat off of your perishables for the time it takes between infrastructure break-down to the final infrastructure collapse?  Housing is of course an issue, but not necessarily an insurmountable one ( we assume here you keep working during this time, or at least want the option to-this isn’t batten down the hatches just yet, unless you live near the ghetto, although it could be if you want a real early start on bugging out.  Obviously there is little way to assume a time frame for this event ).  Medical of course is off the table completely unless you can survive now by fudging your pill popping regime and squirrel away some meds slowly but surely.  Medical care is already past the point of incompetence as the new normal, so it won’t take much to get to “even bad care now isn’t available”.  You don’t need a solar storm knocking out the electric to reach the point where hospitals aren’t getting high tech machine parts replaced or disposable items restocked.  Hell, a few Chinese hacker attacks can play havoc on ANY of our systems.  Put yourself in their shoes, look at the unprovoked attacks on Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as our proxy Saudi Arabia’s wars in Yemen and Qatar, and tell me you wouldn’t try to take down the psycho bitch that is the US?  PetroDollar collapse, economic collapse and hacker attacks simultaneously, anyone?

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I guess the best comparison right now is Venezuela.  I HATE, with a purple friggin passion, the pretty pony preppers  glomming on to that countries collapse as a “life lesson”, as they inevitably go full retard and blame it all on socialism rather than its more obvious petroleum issue ( but, but, how could that possibly be?  Why, if ‘Murica is two hundred years energy independent on fracking oil, how come Venezuela isn’t the same after a century of oil production?  I’m so confused!  I better go buy a FLIR scope so the world makes sense again! ).  But as far as an illustration of how social services break down and food delivery is problematic yet the government is still slaughtering its way to dominance, it does serve as a very good example.  Think of them and think what it is like surviving on intermittent power supplies, grocery deliveries and etcetera.  I can’t imagine our society will survive as long as theirs has in that state, as there it is the 1% against the 99%, whereas here we are much more fragmented and hostile and spoiled, but I suppose it is possible.

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You need a food insurance hedge to get you from Everyday Wal-Mart Shopping to the true apocalypse, and what better way to do that than by buying daily current food ahead of time?  Food you are going to eat anyway.  It is money up front, but it isn’t extra money.  In fact, as already discussed, it might be LESS money, as you save on sales and bulk.  You need motivation to do so, don’t worry your pretty little heads about all my personal complete collapse fears, just picture Venezuela.  Even short term, less than complete collapse, issues and events can get us to that point.  You can’t eat beef and butter after the apocalypse but you sure can take your cupboard and freezer ( yes, freezing might be an issue with regular brown-outs, so proceed with caution obviously ) from a months supply to six or twelve months supply and enjoy those very luxuries in the pre-collapse phase.  And you should.

END ( article related link http://amzn.to/2gY6eC6 )
 
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12 comments:

  1. Yeah I know that I should go ahead and collect SSD but if I do that , then I can't work part time like I did last summer delivering fish by driving a truck. My SSD would only be $250 more than regular SS is paying me. Just gotta find another gig like that, which my lame ass can do....

    Sho nuff boss...I been squirreling away pain meds from day one ! Now I'm almost completely doing without those nasty opioids. Still got tons of pain , but wanted to see if I could make it without. BELIEVE ME when I say withdrawal was a major bitch !!!! Not something y'alls wanna do after SHTF.

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    1. Wal-Mart greeter? Taxi driver? Don't work C-stores-higher mortality rate than cops and a lot of industrial accident jobs like lumberjack.

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    2. I walked into a wallfart the other day to be greeted by this 400 pound, plus some, angry looking greeter. I wish I had a video. I hate that place!

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    3. We only go there for a few predetermined cherry pick priced items. They can't bankrupt quick enough.

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    4. Yeah , I've considered and rejected the convenience store stuff, for the stated hazards. Walfart greeter, oh the humility....

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    5. But think of the cream of humanity you'd meet at Wally! All the rainbow!

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  2. I've been researching the after affects of vegetation fires and the changes on the displaced wildlife. The literature I've found states that most of the wildlife from the burn area does not die, but moves to an unburned area. I know that deer like to go back to burn areas for the new vegetative growth. They are also easier to hunt there because they'll sense a human and move a certain distance away which would normally be safe under pre-burn conditions, but now no longer is. The problem with this is it assumes the fire department limits the burn area and other habitat can accept a higher wildlife density temporarily. None of this applies if there is no firefighting efforts and 90% or more of the vegetation burns.

    There is one species that thrives after fires, ANTS! They have rapid population growth to help break down all the dead and decaying plant and animal matter. Ants are very nutritious. One of my survival books lists the recipe for "Desert Ant Jerky", the desert referencing The Great Basin. The Indians (feather) collected ants by various means and secured them in a bag of animal skin. They left the bag in the sun until the ants died from dehydration and were stored in the bags as jerky and eaten that way when in need.

    I wasn't brave enough to try the jerky method (parasites?) so I came up with my own modern method. Get a glass jar (not plastic) with an airtight metal lid. A single piece lid like from a jam jar is better than a two-piece ring/lid on a canning jar. You also need a smooth stick or metal rod. Smooth is important so the ants will lose their grip quickly. Continued...

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  3. ANTS Part II...
    It's a good idea to have a helper to handle the jar for you. Find the ant nest. I found a colony of the large black (Carpenter) ants. Agitate the entrance with your stick so the ants come out and swarm the stick to defend the colony. Once they climb high enough on the stick, shake them off into the jar and put the lid back on. Reload your stick again, and this time shake the jar down so the ants fall to the bottom of the jar before you open the lid. Shake the new ones off and secure the lid again. Once you have enough ants, leave the jar out in full sun to cook the ants. If it's over about 80 degrees, they should all be dead in about 4 hours. I cooked mine in a pan with a small amount of oil. They cook quickly, shriveling up to where you can no longer distinguish the individual ant. They tasted good, kind of like bacon bits. There was no gross factor at all, and I felt like I could eat scoops of them. This article was meant to help people get some protein after an event in order to stave off as long as possible the thought that they should brutalize their fellow man because of resource scarcity. Also, you want to husband your ant resources. If you want the colony you just harvested from to be there for later use, I would probably not touch that colony for at least three months to help it recover (just my guess).
    Peace out

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    1. Everything tastes better fried! :)

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    2. Thats really interesting about the ants, thanks for that.

      Getting back to bushfires, I have done alot of reserch as well along with a lot of navel gazeing and I have done a fair bit of bush fire fighting in my time as well so I believe I can speak with a bit of authority on the subject.

      Remebering I'm in Australia so My observations may be some what relivant but may not totally be the same as in other areas of the world like north America.

      Aborginal setelment of Australia has recently been pushed out to at least 65,000 years ago(which plays havoc with the out of Africa therory of human evelotion, but I digres). In that time they totally changed/devestated the land scape by constant burning, changeing the vegation, paradoxically encourageing the growth more flanable eucalyptus tree rather than oaks and conifers. And in the process wipeing out the megaforna ( 12ft tall kangeroos, wobats the size of Hipos etc).

      Basically, before white setlement Bush fires never got to big and destructive because Australia was swarming with Aborginies that were constantly setting fire to everything that would burn weather that fire burnt a couple of square feet or a couple of hundred acres made no difference. Fuel loads never got a chance to build up to really dangerous levels and any bigger fire that did get going would soon run into another area that had recently been burnt. Tasmianian Aborginies had even lost the ability to start a fire, If there fire went out they would just scan the horizon finding the closest smoke and walk over to get another lite.

      This constant year round patch work of burning had the effect that wildlife simple just moved to a unburnt area till the grass grew back.

      Whity turned up with his sheep and cattle, loveing all this open grass land and puting out any bushfire in sight till the fuel loads build up to really dangerous levels then on a bad day a fire sweeps through killing everything in its path and destroy most of the man made strutures as well. A hard burn takes alot of the fertility out of the soil as well. Gental burns have a negative impact on soil fertility to but not to the extent of a hard burn. Australia was a much more fertile country untill the aborginals showed up but this fact does not sit well with the whole concept of the nobel savage in tune with the enviroment BS. They were intune with a man made devistated enviroment that they were the top order preditor.

      Early in a colapes big fires will once again sweep through the landscape takeing all in there path. If no one is there to put out the fires they will burn all summer long till it urns cold and wet in the winter. Even then fires may still smolder away all winter only to flare up again the following summer. Bush fires, even now with fire figters petroling the fire front will regularly lite up again weeks latter.

      Most survivalists plan for bush fires seem to be to stick your head in the sand and hop you dont get burnt out. The only way I can see to protect yourself from the threat of fire is the same as voteing, burn early and often.
      Regards Aussie

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  4. I like how you are starting to address the fact that different stages of collapse call for different strategies.

    For example, Why not have a freezer full of cheap meat to eat during the initial collapse. Yeah, it's not a long term strategy but it will feed you during the first stage.

    Preparing for collapse is a balance of long and short term thinking.

    Short term -- vehicles, generators, chainsaws, freezer, regular grocery store food.

    Long term -- walking/biking, solar, hand saws, canning/root cellaring, grains.

    Of course, working in some of your long term preps now will just make it easier on you in the future.

    Going through the collapse will be similar to surfing a wave -- feel your way through, stay flexible, watch for surprises and be ready to react quickly as circumstances change.

    Idaho Homesteader

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    1. Stay flexable, react quickly. Doesn't that describe what most people DON'T do? All our strategies are premised on historical strategies that are breaking down. You're still right, I just don't know how viable it is.

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