Well, you caught me. Secretly I am really, really envious of anyone with a good paying job or any money. Yup. Anytime I’ve even hinted at sarcasm concerning Yuppie Scum or their habits, the comments section comes alive with rebuttals. The latest being that I am simply envious and it is a terrible emotion and I should be ashamed of myself and there is medication for that. Look, people should be free to live as they wish. If living by the river, fishing all day, going back to the shack and being a slacker is your thing, groovy. If you are keyed up, anxious to get to work for another fourteen hour day, measure success with wealth, whatever, more power to you. I like one of the stories from the book How To Survive Without A Salary ( How to Survive Without a Salary: Learning How to Live the Conserver Lifestyle
). A high paid executive gets away once a year to go fishing. As he is curious, one day he asks his guide why he isn’t living in town with a regular job so he can have all the good things in life. The answer was that then he couldn’t fish every day. As far as I’m concerned, you get one life. Every day gone is one you don’t get back. The pursuit of wealth is just cheaply selling your days. I would rather sit back, relax, enjoy each day and not worry too much about wealth or possessions. Obviously, I do want SOME things. I work hard at this second job ( although it is more fun than any regular job I’ve ever had ) so I can accumulate and enjoy a large library. Among other reasons. But since books are one of life’s cheaper pleasures, I can read very inexpensively. The pursuit of money, past a lower point, is not interesting to me. If you aren’t suited to that life, you get bald, fat, ulcerated, stressed beyond belief. Worrying about the mortgage, if the wife will leave and take half. Sure, I’m envious.*
The next two subjects are courtesy of Rawles ( How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times
). Those articles jumped out at me and have been eating at my brain. Kind of like those cool brain leeches from Star Trek, Wraith Of Khan, but with less pain and mess. Is it me, or is Shatner ( Invasion Iowa
) one of the most annoying entertainers outside of local news with their bleach blond bimbets trying to look intelligent as they regurgitate the infotainment? Anyway, the zombie bank article was very well done. It distilled the problems of the banks down into easily understood explanations. Yet, it is important to keep in mind that those are the brick and mortar banks, the investment banks. There are other banks that while I’m sure have real estate loan problems are also largely shielded. The big boys of the Federal Reserve Bank. I don’t know who holds all the juice, but they are the ones with Uncle Obammy in their pocket. For anyone who doesn’t believe the Fed owns the Federal government, who has no wish to read the two very insightful books Gods Of Money ( Gods of Money: Wall Street and the Death of the American Century
) or The Creature From Jekyll Island ( The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve
), ask yourself why the financial system got tens of trillions of basically string free guarantees or bail-outs. Not only is the government not willing to allow any big bank to fail, the federal government is adding on top of those gifts unprecedented amounts of its own debt and that of the states. On top of the trillions of free money the banks also now get hundreds of billions MORE in interest payments. And you thought deflation was possible ( lower prices of non-necessities due to desperation pricing is not the same as the money supply contracting ).*
The next article was on the desirability of town or group living since single dwellings will be surrounded, sieged, burned and looted by the masses. The examples of South Africa and Zimbabwe are given. Now, while true that accounts from these two countries are bad enough to cause ones testicles to retract and the pit of ones stomach to fall, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, there is only one way in which a secluded retreat is possible, and that is the Rawles ( Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse
) method of a group of Yuppies banding together in a military unit. That idea isn’t foolproof, since if enough members don’t get through the gauntlet of bugging out ( Bug Out: The Complete Plan for Escaping a Catastrophic Disaster Before It's Too Late
) the ones remaining are screwed. I can’t imagine that strategy working for the bulk of us poor folk. For one, no one can agree on where the retreat will be, even if they can afford it. When you are poor, you have few options and inevitably it will be junk land no one is interested in. The rich guys can buy a good enough chunk of land that everyone likes the location. And two, outfitting yourself into a conventional military unit ain’t cheap. And yet, a small town retreat is also problematic. Yes, you have group security. History is full of examples why it takes a village to protect a child. American Indian raids, the Mongols attacking Russian settlers. No one in their right mind wants to live alone without back-up.*
But what is the cost of buying help? Up until roughly a hundred years ago, any new member to a group, whether it be a small settlement, a village, or a town, was a contributing member helping to keep you all alive. In effect, another farmer joined your group. You had a field hand and a militiaman ( Frontier Militiaman in the War of 1812: Southwestern Frontier (Warrior)
). Now, you have another mouth to feed. A useless mouth. While most of us might hold few true post-oil skills, at least we are storing our own food to eat until we all become successful farmers again ( or, herders ). The other villagers are not. They must be fed, or at the very least they will vote together to take your stores by force. If you have a years supply of grain and a group of twelve people take it, you are all starving in a month. A hundred people won’t get but a few loaves of bread each before they start eying each others flesh. What took you years to acquire and sacrifice to budget for ends up as a turd each for an ungrateful mob. If you join up with other non-mechanized farmers, you have a mutual defense society. Otherwise, you end up dying quicker than by being on your own.*
There is really no easy solution, it is merely a choice between two less than satisfactory strategies. Hey, life really does suck without that petroleum teet.
END
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10 comments:
Got a beach cruiser working. Made a "shakedown" cruise to the local rural ghetto mart, that place is amazing, the clientele are something like 99% male, tough guys who do the dirty, dangerous, demeaning jobs, the only kind of work left. NO LOITERING sign out front, what a laugh, loitering is the most fun thing to do there. The seat had come loose and I rode in standing on the pedals, then got out tools and adjusted and tightened it. Cool. It's good to have something that rolls again, and the coaster brake works .... well enough.
Another good post, you point out again ,that most people are NOT going to farm, work, or want to carry their weight in any way in the coming times. They'll curl up with their Gameboy running on batteries filches from your emergency radio, and while having a nervous breakdown, expect you to keep the Hot Pockets coming. This is why you have to be VERY careful who you invite into your little doom-group. The Gameboy types will start out as useless eaters, then crazy, nutzo, dangerous eaters.
Think about it, the average American born after 1980 has NEVER been really hungry. Never gone a few days without food. and on top of that, didn't grew up "hiking" (what my mom called 10-mile forces marches lol) for fun, etc. You know who HAS though....
Millions of 3rd-worlders, that's who. The kind that TPTB have been encouraging to immigrate legally or not, for years. A good number of them have gone humgry, really hungry. They've done an hours-long "stalk" at night to steal a chicken without waking up the guard dogs. They grew up lean'n'hungry and able and willing to do something about it.
So, I dunno what you do. They're likely to be better comrades than our fellow Stay-Puft marshmallow people, but since tribalism is about to make a strong comeback......
I've settled on a sort of hybrid plan. If it looks like TEOTWAWKI, my family will bug out to my best friend's house. I helped her build a concrete bermed house in the middle of nowhere Iowa. She put in an extra bedroom with the understanding that worst case scenario my family will come to live with her family and that bedroom will be ours. It's very rural and off the beaten path. Both of our hubby's have military/police training; her and I have a smattering of such skills but really shine when it comes to growing/preserving food.
4 adults, 2 children 1 concrete house. Small enough group to be manageable, large enough to handle most things.
We tried getting a larger group organized, on the order of 8 adults, but the crazies kept running off half cocked doing stupid yuppie shit, one guy married a gal who wasn't interested in rural life.... you know the story.
You know what would be an interesting post? A discussion of defensive tactics for a small group in a sheltered location. I think you're right about most people not being able to pull together a large group, except the mob type arrangement right after the food stops getting delivered. Maybe such tactics are well known to the military types, but I'm certainly not knowledgeable about them.
I don't like people that much anyway. I realize that sounds awful but I have a long list of reasons why I don't like people.
I won't bore you with my reasons. How this relates to prepping is I don't want to sit around the fire with a bunch of people I would never associate with normally after the collapse.
They are not going to respect my space so that leaves me with two choices.
Become a mass murderer or become a borderline hermit.I am already a borderline hermit so there you have it.
The logic of my position allows me not to care to any great degree whether anyone things what I am doing has merit. I just go along my merry way without the need of herd validation.
I agree that bankers rule the world. Not gravity or rainfall, just people's thoughts.the herds thoughts
Another great post jim!
Taking a bike through any area allows to see alot. My favorite bike is a 1950's Raliegh 3 speed.
It may never wear out. I bought a number of old bikes when they were cheap. Somehow I don't see good deals on these kinds of bikes anymore. For some years they were easy to find.
Good point that few Americans have every really been hungry, or have wanted or needed to walk/bike long distances. ( I can be mistaken for a homeless person doing so)
There 3rd worlders are people the yuppies really don't consider suffiently when planning. Many do consider stealing a skill and virtue. Nothing new; Who sold the happy dog with a human family to be used as a sled dog in London's White Fang. Could be thought of as a survivalist book through the mind of Dog. Many of the turd worlders do not like you and infact hate you if you do not go a long way back with them as individuals.
If for some reason you aren't doing junk land in the remnants of the USA like Lord Jim, you will have to deal with new third world denizens. You will find them living in garages, illegal trailers in yards...To get a clue to how the behave here look at the shitholes they come from and the ones they are creating here.
I like Jim and learning things from his blog. I am not pleased with the turd worlders but there are things to learn from them esp the things that do gooders from the USA and Europe try to teach them
Go forth and read the true doom.
http://theamericanapocalypse.blogspot.com/
It's even free for now.
O desert shepherd, your wisdom reminds me of my place as a sheep in your flock, for your words will keep me safe when the wolves are hungry. I think others are merely envious of your flawless plan for survival. Why steal from someone who appears to have nothing to steal?
And if any of you malcontents were to put his testes in a vice grip for information, his Lordship needs only to think of South African farmers. This would cause his magnificent pair to exit his overly large scrotum sack, then they would enter the bowels of his stomach with a great slorping sound!
Be warned! O ye of little faith, for his Lordship's wisdom is infallible and his pair is large.
I have decided to become a guninea pig and rock dove rancher. I will trade the meat and tanned hide and feathers for someone to fix my plow or shingle my roof. As a back up plan, I plan to hang out a shingle with herbal medicine and a retired RN practicticer (not me)for illnesses. As a back up plan for that I intend to open a free school (you can fix my plow or shingle my roof as a donation) for your little snots to learn to at least read and cyper. And if none of these work, I intend to drop dead and call that my survival plan.
On the plus side,theres less morning traffic,its almost like a plague has killed off all the workers.Folks at work say things like just be glad you have a job.(Even if your getting less hours and cant pay your bills).Yep its good times out there!Sure is easier to go shopping,my illegal alien neighbors are going back to mexico where their shack is paid for.I look at the people at wallyworld and its scary,i wonder how they would live without all that soda pop.yep gotta break america before you can build that commie utopia.
One third option might be a large enough ranch(out West) where the so- called "Hired Hands" are stuck in the middle of nowhere and are the 3rd. or 4th. generation working for the "Jefe". They know there won't be anything for them on the Outside, yet they have all the Basics are there with them. Hell, they might be living in the same little house where their Grandpa was born. I'd say that back East, a small farming town full of your cousins, aunts, uncles and other kinfolk might get through, but the way you have to run a farm against an Agribusiness today, probably not more than a couple of hundred of them left east of the Rockies. Food for thought.
The yuppie survivalists mostly haven't thought through the kind of guys who would make up the toughest post apocalyptic warrior gangs, the dispossed red neck. They lost their farm heritage relatively recently, many have a good work ethic but are desperately poor in the "new yuppie america" Most are very well armed, many have military training, including a lot of combat arms experience and a lot of them are very bitter. Get these folks organized under a leader and they make the same kind of warriors who exterminated the indians and drove the French out of Canada, the Mexicans out of the Southwest. They won't have a lot of food but these guys will Fight, and they will work, hard work.
As a resource for survival, or a threat they are unparreled. As survivalists we need to think about how to organize our fellow "rednecks" before someone else does to use their strengths to further our own and their survival, othewrwise they are likely to show up at your door just like they did at the wigwams of the indians.
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