hope for non-preppers

HOPE FOR NON-PREPPERS


Greg over at http://americanenergycrisis.blogspot.com/ was talking about the great job the central bank and their anal buddies in the White House did at saving the system from melt-down two years ago ( article 2-17-11 ). He isn’t saying the price tag, in all aspects, is pretty, just that it was better than the alternative of martial law, mass death, etc. As the fox protested his innocence at eating a chicken. Look, he proclaims, more than a little butt hurt that you would question his motives, “I protected the entire flock from another fox getting in here and killing ALL your chickens. Yes, I had to eat ONE to keep my energy level up so I wouldn’t fall asleep during my vigilant watch, but think of the alternative”. The head of the federal reserve bank is just a puppet put into place as the public fall guy. The boys in charge of raking in hundreds of billions a year in profits aren’t going to let anyone with real power jeopardize their monopoly on the printing press ( which goes for those in power in the White House also ). I’m not saying the bankers tried to crash the system. That would go against their interests. I am saying that the only way to keep the century old con game paying profitably was creating bubbles and playing with derivatives fire. As they got burned they expected the taxpayer to bail them out. But since fractional reserve banking has always required growth to survive ( the only way to pay the interest on more and more loans ), and since the end of cheap, abundant, growing supplies of oil is over, growth is no longer possible. In the long run, you can’t save that kind of system. All we did was postpone the day of reckoning. Bernenke is as much a hero as my left slightly more elongated testicle is.

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I love the American Energy Crisis blog. Greg is one of the few writers out there that doesn’t have his ego tied into his analysis. When events change, he changes his conclusions and has little fear of admitting mistakes ( which are rarely even mistakes but conclusions based on outdated information ). The above might be me overreacting to his article. If so, my bad. But I’m thinking he neglects to show the proper amount of fear and paranoia towards the Fed. A common enough mistake. Hey, they screwed up in the twenties, and that was with the world’s most robust economy with the richest resource deposits around. Why is it so hard to believe they really screwed the pooch now? On another note, here’s a quote from the previous article ( 2-16-11 ) I just love. “While I occasionally poke fun at the doomers, I think if you are not a prepper you don't have an appreciation for probability theory.”

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While I go out of my way to belittle those so pussy whipped that they dare not prep, you know I’m not that mean. I was one of those guys for many years. And while I can pretend that I chose to dump the bitch and then live happily ever after stockpiling for the apocalypse, it would be much closer to the truth to admit she dumped me and then I got to prep with what was left over from paying child support ( I’m still bitter since she left me after I put her through pilot school ). What I mean when I show little understanding for your predicament is that you are foolish in your decision. I understand it since I’ve been there. But that won’t save you when the collapse happens, will it? The best of reasons is not the same as supplies and a better location. I’m not judging, but I am pointing out the end result. And I know no event will change your situation. The Saudi Arabian oil fields could be glassed over in an atomic explosion and still your spouse would deny any need to panic. She probably thinks oil appears wherever you pump, so by gum let’s stop messing around with those tree huggers and just drill everywhere. Hey, you can’t blame her. She thinks those new shoes make her butt shrink several sizes.

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Having said that, and admitting that prepping with supplies only increases your odds rather than guarantees anything, let’s think about what you can do in spite of your wife’s prohibitions. You can’t change her mind. Hell, people log in to read a doomer site and still deny anything bad will happen. What chance do you have changing your Yuppie wife’s mind. Zero. Yes, you should have some kind of minimum supply. A few bags of rice, etc. You can plead under guise of home defense and food inflation. You need something to cushion because no event unfolds instantly ( i.e., it will take a bit of time between middle east nuclear war, the federal government becoming impotent and the rise of local powers to fill the vacuum ). But the thing you can do that will cost very little money, that will not clutter the garage with buckets of supplies that the wife will not allow, is to learn a skill. It’s been covered before, I know. But that advise was lame and ill thought out. Those skills are dependent on present day circumstances, such as EMT. Or a skill that anyone can duplicate ( how many gunsmiths are just parts replacers rather than parts fabricators? ). EMT’s are there to get somebody to the hospital. Why would that skill make sense after the hospital closes? Far more realistic is learning to grow herbs that replace the medicines we create with oil, ship with oil and administer in oil run facilities.

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A master at herbs, using a energy free greenhouse, will have a product to replace antibiotics and perhaps even contraceptives. He will be in demand, offering a RARE skill so valuable that others will feed and protect him. Other skills are great. Such as a knife maker. But there are some skills that are great for after the collapse and some skills that are great much quicker. Those are the ones that will keep you alive. After the collapse, steam engines will be built and used for trading and warfare. But someone that already had one prior to collapse ( and knows how to build others ) has an advantage. Your local warlord needs armor NOW, to defeat his opponents, not a year from now. Which ties into the other requirement. Not only must you have a rare skill now, it must be advertised. Not necessarily a second business, but at least a well known hobby. Those trying to win power locally must know to come to you. You need a patron to protect you while you tinker in your sweatshop laboratory. Now, granted, your family might just be taken prisoner and your cooperation is mandatory, but you at least are fed, sheltered and protected.

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Besides herbs to replace modern medication, and working steam engines, what else? You need immediately available alternatives to what is available now through petroleum. Organic farmers will do well ( not to be confused with organic gardeners ) but how many of you will drag that Yuppie wife on to a farm? That most likely doesn’t apply. And even if you manufactured your own black powder rifles ( breech loaders- and I know it’s a long shot but I wonder if you could make one with an internal spring for the recoil [ not that I have any idea if that is high tech or too energy intensive ] ) it might take too long before the devolution of modern arms before your skill becomes valuable. However, if it was known locally by rumor that you also made black powder illegal weapons such as mortars and mines it might be a different story. Of course, you would be well advised to already be manufacturing your own saltpeter from manure ( human? ) or your usefulness would be short lived. The thing to keep in mind is you need a skill no one else has. And that potential rulers need immediately. It is not expensive, probably needing only a few reference books. Perhaps it is all already free on the Internet. You just need the discipline to learn the skill. And apply it to something practical. And advertise it. Then you don’t need to be a stockpiler. Granted, we should all be doing this. But since 99% of us are already busy earning a modern living it isn’t that easy. Easy enough buying a grinder and making a knife ( I’m not saying that isn’t a great and admired skill, just that it isn’t necessarily post-petroleum guaranteed or immediately applicable ). Not so easy recognizing your aptitude, thinking how to make it work within a cottage industry and post-petroleum and learning and applying it well enough that it will earn you a protected spot during the collapse.

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