Why Preppers are right

[annonentity]

A very interesting part two in a lecture series, that has a look at why the course of a society has inevitable Wey points and must inevitably collapse and be replaced by a new system. All civilizations have to go through this because we are essentially prisoners of our own psychology. If you have lived long enough you can identify these stages, and if a student of history the stages stand out. Some societies last a long time, some short.But would rapid communications in this information age tend to speed the ageing and lifetime of a society up?
It might be a good idea to buckle up and find a quiet valley to sit this one out.  Secret History #2: How Societies Collapse

[argentus]

A very interesting part two in a lecture series, that has a look at why the course of a society has inevitable Wey points and must inevitably collapse and be replaced by a new system. All civilizations have to go through this because we are essentially prisoners of our own psychology. If you have lived long enough you can identify these stages, and if a student of history the stages stand out. Some societies last a long time, some short.But would rapid communications in this information age tend to speed the ageing and lifetime of a society up?
It might be a good idea to buckle up and find a quiet valley to sit this one out.  Secret History #2: How Societies Collapse

I hate having to watch a pedantic video.   Could you summarize it for us?

[rickymouse]

Yeah, watched about ten minutes of the video.

What is being said shows that things will fall apart shortly.

Which is what I have been observing for years.  I am old enough to remember when people helped others, when most people actually produced their worth at their jobs, and most people were not in debt and stressed out nearly as much as now.

Everything is based on belief, and of course consensus of the time is changing and it is not changing in a positive direction.  Hopefully generation Z is going to change things somehow, generation X did not pay attention to history of economics or properly analyzed government in the past.  It started in my generation, I am a late baby boomer I guess.  Not many of the kids in my government and econ classes actually listened to the teacher. 

I was taught that you buy what you really need, and then if you have some extra you can treat yourself occasionally to a want.  I do not understand how our society got so off tilt from that old knowledge.  People will spend megabucks to save a little work buying all kinds of fancy stuff.  We still make our ice cubes in a tray, we stock food and have enough in stock to last for at least a minimum of three months.  Foods we normally eat everyday.  We buy them when on good sales, so we save money, and also many trips to the store because we stock everything we need....so it cuts down on gas and vehicle maintenance.  We have fourteen cans of coffee in stock, twelve of those were bought for under six dollars and ninety nine cents, and nine of those twelve were bought for under six bucks for a twenty six ounce can.  We did buy one at nine ninety nine and another two pound can at twelve ninety nine....that larger can we bought because Hills Brothers was on sale, and we just wanted a treat since that hasn't been on sale for over two years here now.  Have you guys seen the prices in the store on coffee lately, it is rediculous, but at least we have nine cans still left under six bucks a can.  I always look at the futures on things we stock up on.  It sucked buying those last two cans at ten and over, but it looks like it is not going down for a while.  Those cans are twenty five ounce and larger that we have in stock.

Most people in our country have become entitled, and they want cheap things they do not need, so are in favor of the immigrants doing the work at cheap wages so they can get more for their buck.  I grew up on a farm and worked hard as long as I could, and wish I could have worked longer...darn accident screwed up my ability to work.  But I still try to do my own stuff and we watch our money.  I never liked being in debt too far.  I learned how to fix cars and trucks, I built our own house, I cleared the land and keep things maintained except I now had to have a furnace installed and I had to pay to have my house reroofed.  I will do the garage myself though, either this or next summer.

It seems that society wants everyone to spend more than they make these days, everyone wants a piece of the pie yet they are giving their piece to someone else because they have to pay for the pie....usually the importers make all the money, and of course those that work in the import states usually get their cut.  We could make things almost as cheap here if we did not have to pay all the handling and shipping costs and then the profits of all the wholesalers and trucking it across the nation if we made it here.

It kind of looks like we are screwed, I don't think they can stop the collapse anymore, all they can do with our countries big debt and the debt of half of the people here is to slow down the collapse of society.

The money we have in stocks is not secure, the stock prices can bottom out and the company will still be going if they do not have much in debt out.  The price of stocks is based on belief, it is just gambling, it really does not have real value.  Same with the IRAs, what do they invest the IRA money in, usually stocks and bonds.  Now the government does guarantee bank and credit union accounts...seems funny that a country with thirty seven trillion bucks in debt can guarantee anything.  Even if the money is legal tender by law, it is only legal tender if someone is selling something, if there is no food in the stores to sell, what good is having cash? 

The guy in the video, at least the first about ten minutes, is correct, the future is bleak.  Carbon emissions are just a small part of our destruction of the environment, the chemicals we are dumping in the environment are way worse now than the carbon.  And do we need to have a hundred thousand flights a day in the world?  There are no trees up there to catch the carbon.  I would guess that the cost of those flights most often is put on charge cards, a percentage of which goes to the charge card companies, money flows uphill unlike water.

[Kwaka]

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

When things like the 2008 GFC do crack, a few heard the upcoming rumbles. For the masses one day was good, the next day was preparing for their back accounts to get zeroed.

With all this technology a reflection of humanity, some of it is going to get whacked. For the most part and those that can avoid too much of the insanity, things will carry on.

[annonentity]

I hate having to watch a pedantic video.   Could you summarize it for us?

 It is too good and complex for summaries, it is more like he sets out the stages that we can identify with but he puts them all into a coherent order. The rise of societies when everyone cooperates and shares. The fall when the classes get established then the inevitable collapse which happens suddenly. Historically it is an inevitable process which has been played out in every society which has come and gone.   But he is saying The money produced outstrips the resources it represents. The few families that actually run things end up with infighting because they are the ones having more children which have to have the intergenerational wealth which is diminishing. They hire mercenaries to do the fighting, and then the mercenaries think they will run things, and it starts again. Because by that time we are all back in villages. Basically, the society does stupid things and off's itself.

[andy06shake]

A very interesting part two in a lecture series, that has a look at why the course of a society has inevitable Wey points and must inevitably collapse and be replaced by a new system. All civilizations have to go through this because we are essentially prisoners of our own psychology. If you have lived long enough you can identify these stages, and if a student of history the stages stand out. Some societies last a long time, some short.But would rapid communications in this information age tend to speed the ageing and lifetime of a society up?
It might be a good idea to buckle up and find a quiet valley to sit this one out.  Secret History #2: How Societies Collapse

Prepare all you wish.

But if society were ever to collapse.

And survival of the fittest becomes the colour of the day.

The best things to have are a gun plus ammunition.

A mountain bike, which doesn't need to be fed or fueled.

And some antibiotics and clean water.

Because it's pretty much the wild west again, without horses.

[FlyersFan]

We used to prep up a bit.
Guns/ammo.  Long storage food.   Water storage.  Hardening of the house.  Seeds.  etc.
Now we don't bother.
We are in our 60s and both of us have health issues requiring meds and/or medical intervention.
When the meds run out, we are screwed.
So why bother trying to keep living without the medication.
Prepp'n is for the young and the healthy.

[andy06shake]

We used to prep up a bit.
Guns/ammo.  Long storage food.   Water storage.  Hardening of the house.  Seeds.  etc.
Now we don't bother.
We are in our 60s and both of us have health issues requiring meds and/or medical intervention.
When the meds run out, we are screwed.
So why bother trying to keep living without the medication.
Prepp'n is for the young and the healthy.

I tell my little brother, who had a heart transplant, the same thing when he goes on about preparation, should it all go breasts up.

No blood thinners or immunosuppressants would be problematic, to say the least.

[argentus]

We used to prep up a bit.
Guns/ammo.  Long storage food.   Water storage.  Hardening of the house.  Seeds.  etc.
Now we don't bother.
We are in our 60s and both of us have health issues requiring meds and/or medical intervention.
When the meds run out, we are screwed.
So why bother trying to keep living without the medication.
Prepp'n is for the young and the healthy.

I hear you and understand FF.   We are a short hop from 70s, and have our share of comorbidities.   Still, we got to this place by adapting and planning and it has served us well.   I wish you two the best.   There are things that could likely kill or severely impact us without medical care, but we can't give up.   I have a couple friends who say if a nuke ever hits nearby, they don't want to live.   I don't quite understand that.   A person can always put out the big light themselves, but we don't know how long we can last or how well, unless we give it a go.   The heat has been tough, so we've cut down on our a/c usage, and sitting outside in the shade more, getting hardened against the heat.

[MichSwampbuck]

The best prepping is knowledge, skills and experience. Screw gold and silver, that won't last and is better saved for after reconstruction. Medical knowledge is important, at least understand basic first aid. Personally, I've been specializing in producing tobacco, cannabis, beer, wine and distilled spirits, all from scratch at the homestead. Other things can be produced from material acquired from nature, you just need to study these things and practice them, even if it is just for personal research.