I simply must write these kinds of articles if for no other reason than every time I see a gushing orgasm inducing consumer love fest elsewhere imploring you to rush out and buy several thousand dollars in modern weaponry
or you won’t have every needed tool to survive. Of course it is super duper and wonderful if you can have oodles and gobs of different weapons. It would be just as grand if I could have the proper tools to commute. A Japanese compact for long distant travel, for great gas mileage. A four-wheel drive
pick-up to travel over snowy or mud filled roads on the way to work. A moped
to get to work during fair weather, to get super gas mileage. A bicycle motor to get twice that mileage. Then, so you can’t say I don’t have enough vehicles to insure or maintain, let’s add in some propane or ethanol powered vehicles. Just in case. Jesus Jumpin Almighty God, you spoiled rotten Oil Age addicted, pansy mo humpin Yuppie Friggin Scum. If you are “financially challenged”, how about just a bicycle and the occasional rental car? Much cheaper, it will get the job done, even if the job is half-assed or difficult. A “proper tool box” of weapons for those who refuse to ever be inconvenienced by doing without the perfect anything, be it a spouse, a car, a bug-out vehicle, a concrete bunker, a gun, or anything else, is a great thing, if you can afford it. Okay, let me put that another way. Any of us can afford a perfect arsenal. Even if you get all the recommended, it doesn’t have to be insanely priced. A generic HK-91
for a grand, a pump shotgun for $200. A rimfire for $200. A Russian revolver and auto for not much for than $200 ( I’m talking about the best weapons systems, not the best brand name ). Even though mags and ammo cost is an issue, the arsenal itself isn’t beyond the means of most of us, given proper motivation. But in the real world, the spouse and your children and an accumulation of every bad financial decision you ever made all together biting you in the ass right now, all of those evil forces
conspire against you spending much at all on a firearm. And, hey, this is most likely academic anyway, since I would wager 99% of my readers are already armed. The main point here is that anyone giving advice that a large arsenal is an absolute must is blowing smoke up your bung. *
Oh merciful lord! Look at those poor Mountain Men
170 years ago. How could they possibly have survived with only ONE GUN!?!? Oh, the bloody humanity! How could those using single shot blackpowder
ever have survived against enemies employing rapid fire close range weapons ( bows and arrows )?!?! Does your brain seriously hurt that much when you try to use it? Is recognizing common practice when it flies in the face of the “perfect” advice that hard ( I’m guilty of that on occasion, such as when I advocate junk land
knowing full well not 1% of you will even think about it, but at least the advice is financially doable for those few )? To blissfully throw out advice to procure a dozen weapons, then naturally assume we all have the financial means to go train on them in a tactical course, and have the resources to keep buying ammunition to keep that training fresh, this is the kind of Yuppie Survivalist bovine waste discharge that sticks in my craw. The advice being given is most certainly without any doubt the perfect advice. But it is by no means practical advice. Back here on Planet Resource Depletion ( with its orbiting satellite Moon Economic Crash ) you can’t have the perfect everything. But you certainly can have a whole lot of better than nothing.*
A single rifle as your arsenal is not a perfect solution. But it is by no means going to get you killed. Most fighters do quite well with only having one weapon for their personal use. They are called infantrymen. And before you get all weepy on me and go on about artillery support
and air strikes and other supporting weapons, I didn’t necessarily mean modern American infantrymen. Your Afghan fighter does well with just his rifle. I understand the rational desire for other weapons, and I myself own most of them. A revolver for concealment and immediate use, a rimfire for hunting and for long term use when all other arms have no ammunition ( where I am I see no need for a shotgun, but I’m not saying they don’t have a place ). And while I would miss them terribly if I no longer had them, I wouldn’t feel like my life was in danger without them. If I didn’t have a rifle, on the other hand, I’d feel very vulnerable. If finances are that bad, you can survive just fine with only a rifle
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Now, my preferred choice for a rifle is a surplus bolt. It takes a bayonet, is built to survive where a flimsy plastic Mattel Toy fears to tread, and it conserves ammunition. Alas, they are no longer as affordable as they once were. And there is no surplus ammunition left for them. Less than four years ago I was paying 45 cents per 303B round, just buying a box at a time. They were brass, and reloadable with a bit of effort going from Berden to Boxer. Now, you pay $1 a round unless you want to pay case price. Yes, the Russian bolt is still affordable and if you don’t want to reload the ammo is still very cheap. I don’t care for the lack of a gas safety bleed, but that’s just me. Some folks love their lever action
carbines. I don’t like them because I need some range, plus you know I’m gay over bayonets. There will come a time when you will need to save on the ammo and that pig sticker will pay for itself many times over. However, a lever action, if you’re good with it, is all the gun you need for a lot of people. It saves you half the needed powder and lead and the revolver uses the same ammo if that is important to you. But there is also the single shot to consider. If you really want to conserve on that ammunition. If you don’t want to deal with the problems of obsolete ammunition. And if you want to use the same ammo as the enemy.*
A single shot is not meant to be used by Rambo
wannabe, room clearing, SWAT team adrenaline fueled jag-bags who equate ammunition fired to success on the battlefield. If you are in the military, and that is your mission, of course you want a rapid fire carbine. You want to waste ammunition to protect yourself. But as a survivalist you want to stay well away from the enemy, and you must husband your resources as their will be absolutely no resupply. A single shot does both well. For the price of one Mattel Toy you could have a single shot rifle, a revolver in case you worry about close in ambush and having to extract yourself, and a lot of ammo. And the AR price didn’t even include all the mags and spare parts you need ( a bonus for the single shot is that there are almost no parts to break, unlike the AR which has, on last count, several friggin hundred ). Plus the extra ammo you will be cooking off. Tactics work very well for supplementing less than perfect tools, and they certainly work better than toys.END
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My e-mail is jimd303@netzero.com
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Anyone can submit a guest article. No minimum word length, no writing skill necessary ( just get the idea across ). You retain copyright ( this must be your original writing ) and I’ll just use the once. I’ve yet to turn down an article, just don’t use the N Bomb or libel another that can sue me. Send by e-mail ( please, label as “guest article” so I can find it easily later ). Payment will be your removal from my enemies list.
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after encountering unlimited food supplies, those last numbers are huge ) are already born before it is noticed by anyone, reindeer or people, that the food supply is no longer adequate. And then, simple as can possibly be, your population drops 90-99%. Being smart doesn’t help you at all if you don’t recognize the danger until after you start falling off the cliff. And resources ain’t economics. You can’t fix a material problem with new theories. Are we already 
? No, go back to sleep. Of course the world can feed seven billion people without petroleum. 
, motor vehicles still containing some petroleum, semi-automatic weapons and a really bad case of entitlement, nor are they capable of eating each other. I think a better guess is that under one hundred million will survive. Perhaps only a few ten’s of millions. Now, that is the good news. The bad news is that probably every one of us here will be included in the fatalities. We all live too close to each other. We all commute to the same area to work, and we all import our food from other areas. The problem with preventing yourself from being a casualty is that we are first going to go through a economic collapse before a die-off. All those of you safely billeted out on your 
will lose the homestead to the bank first. Gasoline will become too expensive to work out of the retreat. If your retreat is paid and you grow all your food and you can stay out of town, you will most likely survive IF, and only if, you have enough extra food and weapons to bribe your helpers to defend it. In this aspect, I agree that 
survival plan is the best. I just don’t think you have the time left to slowly acquire all the required supplies and the land as he did. 
. To survive a die-off, if you are poor, can only be achieved with remote property ( even junk land ) and becoming a recluse. Not five miles from town, either. Probably much further. And if you make regular trips into town for employment or supplies, enough that the nearest neighbors notice, your seclusion is seriously hindered even if you are a long ways from town. It only takes one of two people to kill you. Another option is some isolation, and enough food on hand to pay off everyone to help defend you. With the clear defensible space to make that happen. Even the suburbs aren’t out of the question. With enough of a security force, and if the houses aren’t close enough to be a fire hazard. It only costs $150 per person per year to store the bare minimum of wheat, but you are bribing all of your needed 
plus all the dependents they drag along with them. You might literally be shelling out thousands of dollars per years worth of food. And human nature being what it is, none of us will do this. We will rationalize away either investing thousands we can’t comfortably afford, or dismiss heading for the 
due to the very real possibility of losing our freaking mind. 
denial is overcome, the severity of the downside is usually downplayed. I think we can all agree that usually I’m pretty paranoid ( as paranoid as you can be and still stay functional ). But even I rationalize away what really needs doing. I need to be much better hidden, and I need to cash out and disappear, only coming into town twice a month to post to the Internet and keep my supplies topped off. But I make excuses. As much as the idea appeals to me, I don’t know if I have what it takes to be that secluded and without contact. I know it needs doing, yet can’t force myself. I offend myself with my waffling. I know I should be smarter than anyone else. Perhaps I am but just lack willpower. Or perhaps going so long without testicles, their being under control of the ex-wife, made for a hormone imbalance and I’m acting all girly. Expect to hear more of my moaning and 
, I’m nothing if not over-analytical. But, seriously, can you think why our economic system could collapse, and our oil supplies shrink, and there NOT be a die-off?
recipes and how to fine tune your pimpin SUV ride to accept ethanol for your two thousand mile trip bug out to your Super Secret Fortress Of Doom. That’s okay. I can deal with your impatience. I think it is pretty easy to understand why mundane details matter- understanding today’s motives help you see what will happen tomorrow. Hey, it is all 
anyway. I can only guess and you can only guess if my guess has a chance in hell of being correct. Just enjoy the ride, I’ll sweat trying to figure out what makes this sucker go. Okay, I was speculating that the Libyan Oil Control By Proxy War ( or, LOCBPW, pronounced lockbeepwa for an easy cocktail party reference ) was on behest of Europe by the US. Our secret agent men stir up a big 
of crap to entice the rebels to get all uppity. Europe gets control of the oil and backs their economy with “free” petrol and they are able to continue to pay back their loans to us and everyone wins ( by everyone, its really just the Fed Bank on this side of the Atlantic, with a postponement of collapse a distant second benefit for the taxpayers who are lucky enough to be propping up the bastards whenever an 
blows ). While a “good enough for government effort” theory, I’m beginning to think I was a mite too optimistic there. The US, help someone else? Even if it helped us? That’s pretty darn funny, even for me.
sandwich ). And brought a lot of hardware into the region. If someone, oh, say, Saudi Arabia, wanted to play nice with China, we were right there to send a nice note asking them to reconsider ( delivered overnight by 
missile ). It also put a bit of pressure on China. And Russia. They can wait us out. But for now, we control all the marbles. But, I think the biggest benefit I didn’t give enough weight to was the 
. Since Nixon closed the gold window, our currency has been backed not by yellow gold, but by black gold. If you think about it, a much better system. Saudi Arabia, controlling OPEC by its ( then ) ability to flood the market with surplus oil and put its other buddies out of business ( a credible train of thought is that the Soviet Union was killed off financially when it had to all-out pump to bring in even less revenue as the Saudi’s, on our behalf, dumped $10 oil onto the global market ), dictated to the others that only dollars were to be used to settle oil trades. This allowed the US to print up dollars, buy oil with it, and then see most of that money come back to us and buy our debt which was used to fund the military that protected this whole arrangement. Sweet! If you look at it through a lens of keeping this system in place, both the Iraq invasion and the Libyan mess make more sense.
. A bit of an obstacle thrown before a potential military rival. Which is exactly what happened in Libya. More oil out of the control of China ( more oil is going to China recently, true, but primarily most of its energy is coal due to lack of other options- a coal power is no threat to an oil power [ ignoring other factors such as both sides being nuclear powers ] ). We are propping up our dollar ( the petrodollar system allows us to retain power far longer than would be normal ). Thwarting China. Keeping a good size chunk of oil in reserve. And that is just Iraq. With Libya, we deny most of Europe its main source of oil. Which will kill the Euro. A 
financially. And, as a bonus, on their way down they take out loans to buy time which is money in our bankers pocket ( it wouldn’t surprise me if Britain is separate from Europe in our plans ). So, rather than giving Europe control of the oil ( perhaps they think this, or we sold the war on these grounds ), we are making it inaccessible. One wonders if the sex scandal removing the IMF chief is somehow tied into all this. 
. But by and large, we ain’t doing too bad. Of course it must all end someday. Again, keep in mind that Saudi Arabia cut production ten percent a month or two ago when oil was over $100. I still think it HAD to cut, rather than being any political or financial shenanigan. But I could be wrong. Our wonderful system of five conglomerates controlling all the media in this country makes sure that almost no real news leaks out. Floundering about in the dark here, really. Definitely interesting times though.
. You want your climate controlled SUV, but you also want to get rid of those hanging 
stalactites growing underneath your engorged buttocks. You want to stop off at The Colonel’s for a bucket on your way to the heart doctor. You want to feel secure about your energy future as you turn up the thermostat on the heater that burns 
. Alas, life isn’t about getting without giving. If you want out of debt with cash to burn after each payday, you can’t drive to your McMansion in your new car, stopping to fill up and charging your purchase ( dragging your short of breath blubber to the 
and Twinkie aisle ). And, if you want to prepare on a budget for the big obvious cliff fall just ahead of us, you MUST do away with all the unnecessary toys. I’ll give you a primary example, which still shames me to this day five years later.
. That stove straddles the line between toy and tool, but at least it is only $12. The Volcano Stove cost $100 after you include a wind shield and a few back-up fan motors. This is really no more than a toy. It should last me my entire post-apocalypse life span and uses solar recharged batteries. But it was never truly necessary. It was a Yuppie Scum Survival Toy. The shame burns my soul like 
. When a product that will either never break or is replaceable by low tech is acquired this is a tool. All others are toys. That 
might be priceless for felling trees for refugee roadblocks, putting in ten years of heating wood in one week after the Forrest Service stops enforcing cutting permits as their headquarters is nuked, or whatever, but you had better have manual saws in backstop because chainsaws won’t last too long into the collapse ( we set aside the danger and noise signature issues for now ). One is a long term tool and the other a short sighted Oil Age toy ( I’m not disputing them as tools NOW, but they are not tools long term ). A $1200 
verses a $20 sawdust bucket also comes to mind.
). And getting to a job is difficult. But imagine yourself stuck with one, still owing on it, and gas is $15 a gallon, if available. Then it reverts to a toy for the rich. Everything epitomized by a Yuppie lifestyle is a toy. You must get into the habit of asking yourself what the most affordable, best designed, and won’t be shut down with the grid or sputter to a stop without oil. It is just like thinking you can throw a switch and go from Yuppie to 
, from electric powered to manual, from supermarket to full calorie garden immediately. All skill sets require practice. And time to practice. Learning how to make do with the simplest tool also needs practice. You can’t go from car to bike overnight. You need to build your muscles, learn how to dress for the weather, how to balance a load, etc. I’m not saying the needed skills are hard, just that it takes practice to make them as easy as possible, while also saving you time and money. Any fool can spend away a problem. It takes practice to do it cheaper and easier. 
from the Nazi’s, go on about the 1950’s 
fiasco, make a racially insensitive remark about slavs or Japanese and then give you some vaguely recollected figures as far as doses went. I ask you, who was more interesting? If I go on about the peaceful chirping of birds and my home brewed coffee experiments, they too have a purpose. I am highlighting how easy and rewarding living in a tin box on junk land is. How there is no need for expensive toys. Every damn thing I splash on a computer screen is pertinent. You just need to pay attention. And, what about irrelevant Nazi technology musings, you ask. Narrow minded specialists are great up to a certain point. Then, they miss something from another field that is quite pertinent. I think a generalist is desired, and different thinking is beneficial. Don’t close your mind, a one way system builds up toxins.
, anyway. Following too much drought, now it is too wet. Oh, Jim, please don’t be so negative. Don’t think it all means The End. Fine, ignore it. When you can’t buy wheat, don’t blame me.
that will see a 
? Tornado, hurricane, flooding? Want to gamble but don’t have airfare to Las Vegas? Just stay where you are. If you are lucky, something vital to the rest of the nation is located near you, but most likely you will simply be abandoned. I’m not necessarily saying that you will be surrounded by hostile forces and forced to stay and die as happened in Katrina ( with occasional forays of 
mercs patrolling inwards to disarm anyone too stubborn to expire ). It could happen. But here is what is most likely to transpire. If you are living near, say, a group of refineries that supply 16% of the nations gasoline, help will be on the way. If you live in an area that used to be a 
, with the nearby Honda plant shuttered from lack of parts, your town will be allowed to revert back to nature. No rebuilding will be done. If you are really unlucky, you can add in radioactive waste from a nearby nuke ( we are way past Peak Plutonium, so don’t expect those monster financial black holes to be rebuilt ), or some kind of other toxic sludge. You might receive a check from the feds, but physical rebuilding won’t happen.
. They have no problem letting you relocate to another unaffected area and renting a foreclosed house. They have no problem putting you on Food Stamps. This uses preexisting goods. What they can’t do is rebuild 
. Putting up a few extra suburbia’s with dry wall and warped wood is one thing, rebuilding entire towns, railroads, bridges and sewers is quite another. Oh, they’ll have a few Potemkin Villages, eye candy, propaganda sites. But overall, for most folks, the damages will be left to rot. Our nation hasn’t had infrastructure replacement ( merely patching after failure ) for decades. Now, there is a decline in energy and ore and credit and capable insurance companies. What makes you think increased damage will be met with increased help, when just lack of disasters saw no upkeep? A society that can’t maintain what is in place certainly can’t replace what is damaged. I would think this is pretty straight forward, but most likely to acknowledge this reality is to admit our ongoing decline and eventual 
. I think that a lot of folks, while knowing that sometime in the vague future there will be trouble, still expect it to be “business as usual” now. While it is true that we are encaged in BAU ( business as usual ), it means hanging on to the old way of doing business. It does NOT mean we have the resources to fix the problems like we used to. You can’t hope away collapse by pushing away the consequences of contraction into the far future when it is in reality already happening ( in earnest since 2005/2006 ). When a tornado hits you and takes out downtown, hope for assistance. Right now at least you get more fiat currency. But expect a screwing.
will never be over. The South will be a target again ( you don’t think a lot of fed policies aren’t designed to rub the South’s nose in grief? ) when resources are starting to become scarce. In the past, a certain amount of investment was put into the region. Because it paid someone in that bygone era of BAU. Military bases weren’t located there to benefit the locals, they were put there because the land was cheap and training could go on year round. And in times of budget cut backs, the bases were closed with nary a whimper. In a way it is good that the locals are abandoned by the feds, left to live without that brand of “help” ( strings attached ) but on the other hand, the racial problems down there can also be traced back to the feds interference in a lot of instances. Plus, as a final insult, after the collapse all those Yankees will come down in an invasion to get away from the northern winters without natural gas or heating oil. Think twice before you relocate there ( locals know how to deal, immigrants won’t be included in that tribal survival plan ).
spies were homesick for street crime and social collapse and visited my apple pie writing. I can’t imagine many 
in that place. Talk about a nuclear glass-over by Israel waiting to happen. Maybe there’s a isolated bunker in the hills somewhere with satellite Internet. Upwind of any city or military target.