hey guys, i'm pretty new to ss as an active participant but have been reading along for awhile now. if this has been covered elsewhere please point me in the right direction, i haven't really read into older posts. i'm pretty small potatoes compared to most of you but all it took was the feeling of a 1 ounce bar in my hand and that was it for me. i can hold it myself, nobody has to know i have it, and it's been worth something since before baby jesus. i can't afford tons of the stuff but after a couple months i feel alot more secure just having my little stack on standby. i'm basically stacking for a shtf situation at this point in time. i also plan on having a fair amount of cash in my bug out bag. if my income level increases in time, maybe i'll take a different perspective. i figure i'll stack what i can for the next 2-3 years at any price. at that point, if mainstream media is still reporting on charlie sheen and grocery stores still have food on the shelves, i'll probably switch to paying above the minimum on a student loan. like most, i'm hoping against a doomsday situation (although it would be gratifying to yell at people doubting my world view, "see!") but nonetheless want to protect myself the best i can. which has me wondering if holding silver is risky in a doomsday scenario, not from an investment standpoint but from a getting rolled standpoint. a gun would protect me from street thugs but what about crooked cops/military/homeland security whatever? will i be holding just enough to get shot over? also, i live in the washington dc metro. not the ideal place to be if the shtf. anyone else in large metros thinking about telling signs that might precede a fall out? a 2 or 3 day jump on the masses would be nice. at least try and get to the appalachian trail and start walking to maine or georgia depending on the season. perhaps when stores quit accepting plastic as a form of payment? will that be too late? will that be too soon? i don't want to be bugged out in the woods while it's business as usual in civilization. any thoughts? anyone looking to sponsor an expat? jk.
the signs i would be looking for is americas support of isreal, if that goes south head for the hills. Other the that if the government says that everything is under control, stay put and not to panic... Well g.o.o.d. (get out of dodge) The other sign i am looking for is when oil switches from being traded in usd to whatever, if that happens ditch your cash for .22 lr. Rule of thumb a city without power for 3+ days is a death trap. http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/10.08/tshtf1.html and search for argentina, as it has a series on surviving economic colapse that is vital. http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/10.08/tshtf2.html http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/10.08/tshtf3.html http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/10.08/tshtf4.html Also Dmitry Orlov on 'life after the oil crash' is good aswell (trying to find link, taken down) http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23259 My apologies not much on silver but Ferfals section on gold is interesting , but seriously if you read these and at the end do not hide your cash is silver/gold you normalcy bias must be on over drive
Russia and China have already signed an agreement regarding oil and gas between themselves , to be paid for in either the yuan or rubbles.
Unless you're living in a ghetto, why "bug out" - you've presumably got a perfectly good roof over your head and secure accommodation - unless you've got a fully stocked holiday cabin in the hills to head to (that won't be in the middle of a forest full of armed survival extremists looking to "survive" "by any means"), why would you leave the comfort of home unless forced to.
The hills might not be the pace you imagined if the SHTF. Sure it's quiet and secluded now, but when everybody gets the same idea at once, well let's just say the neighbourhood could go down quickly.
well, since reading a real world account of what happened in argentina, i possibly feel better about staying at home. my current living situation is that i rent a room in a house. i don't really have the space to start stockpiling water and food and such. my landlord would laugh at me if i expressed my concerns. my dad lives on a pretty remote freshwater lake which is an ideal place to head to, assuming i don't have a job to go to, but it's 1000 miles away from me. i keep wondering worst case scenario, will there be enough warning to travel 1000 miles if things get hairy.
I think the US pay for their oil X% gold/ X%$US... wonder how things will go when its "Gold only please", probably wont happen though
Just make sure you don't come on a boat. Apparently if you're a refugee and arrive by boat, you are such a threat to the security of the nation that we build facilities worth hundreds of millions of dollars (because they are built like maximum security prisons), and we will put you there, with your kids, for years. Just sayin'.
I sounds like you're youngish. When I was in my twenties I sold everything I owned and moved into a 'commune' as I was convinced the world was going to end by 2000 and the 1970's that was happening at the time looked pretty much like what's happening now. The world didn't end. I learned a lot of good skills and gained quite a lot of experience in grass roots politics and small village living. So be assured the SHTF is going to be more like Argentina than Mad Max or Armageddon on the History Channel. Your rented room will have a wardrobe. Turn it into a pantry filled with no cooking required foods, or foods that can be cooked with boiling water. Store water in boxes under the bed and you'll have the weeks food you'd need in a big city before the armed forces roll in with control. Learn what OPSEC means and observe it totally. The more people who know what you have the more people who will want it. Learn some basic self defense and how to remain secure. The world is not going to end. Stay in place and all will be OK. If you don't believe it will be, get back to your father's house and learn what you need to survive in that environment. If you are indecisive you may die, which applies to many situations, so just act with certainty on choices and options you have researched and understood both from practicalities to potential outcomes. Conspiracy sites are filled with emotionally bereft people who want Mad Max to come and change their lives into an exciting Hollywood film so they have a vested interest in spreading doomsday. Ditto religious nuts and survivor group salesmen.
for starting fires. good call. yeah, i guess i'm being more paranoid than i need to be. i read alot of the links regarding the argentina fall out and it never crossed my mind that society will still function, just in a different way. from the sound of it, a much less comfortable way. and there certainly would be little comfort in hoofing it out of the DC metro with my life in a framepack. some are predicting a false flag operation by the govt. next comes martial law and all of a sudden americans are being asked to go to FEMA camps. i don't necessarily believe that would happen but looking at our legislation, the framework to allow it is there. because it is there, i won't ignore it completely. looking into water filtration systems right now. already have a solid small aluminum frame backpacking tent. might look at a GI hammock to throw in there. a good knife of course. and some guns and silver. and that should bring my pack weight to about...way too heavy. hmmm....maybe a mule is in order too. can you eat mule? i'm not trying/hoping to live out some bear grylis fantasy or anything as some folks might suspect. i am a pretty solid minimalist camper and i know camping trips and LIVING in the woods are 2 entirely different things but with a way to hunt squirrel and/or fish i'd give myself pretty decent odds. better than most. i guess the best plan in my situation would be to make some preparations for home even though i just rent a room here. move in order of home, car, and absolute worst case scenario strap my pack on when my car can't take me further and head for the hills. keeping in mind that anything in the pack should have utility at home, on the run in my car, or on foot. or i could just stop watching every conspiracy theory video i see on youtube.
They're a pretty 'chunky' lot too aren't they? :lol: Most of 'em don't look like they'd get far...maybe that's why they're so big on hunkering down and stacking heaps of food
I think the roads will be swamped so I don't see any benefit in "bugging out" unless you have already prepped the rural location and only need to take your body to the new place, in which case a motorcycle would be advisable. otherwise if it were me, I would go to ground light discipline at night the usual routine about prepping for example, we keep our old wine bottles filled with water for drinking. Prudent for a country in an earthquake zone. I also purchased a kelly kettle, which is awesome. I now bundle all my junk mail and save it to fire up the kelly kettle. It works for me because its easy. I already drank the wine, why toss the glass ? the postman already brings me the junk, why not keep it around to burn for a cuppa tea ? over at automatic earth they have the position that urban and rural areas should be relatively ok assuming it is a slow gradual unwinding, but the suburbs are screwed. got a plan ? besides stacking that is
Good start! I think you'll find the FEMA camps are being set up for your urban gangsters - the government must be worried there. The stupid drug laws have created a well armed underground militia - I read that some gangs have purposefully enrolled members into the marines etc to learn urban warfare and tactics. There are already parts of US cities that are basically 'no-go' areas, like parts of Mogadishu and Lebanon and Ireland before (in fact almost any country has areas for 'locals' only). Those are the areas to stay well clear of. Previous Los Angeles riots spring to mind.
I can just imagine all those individuals camped by (our limited )watercourses, using them for both drinking, washing and waste removal all ignorant of whom is up/downstream from them. Sounds like a pretty nasty situation.
Dried foods are more compact & lighter than canned, but you'll need extra water to rehydrate them. Get some slingshot rubber off ebay, ammo is free. Trapping is superior to hunting for effort:reward so buy some bird seed and [flying] rat traps.
