Why Preppers are right

[Byrd]

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

Except...

Civilization hasn't collapsed once.

Countries fall apart, yes, and systems of government change.  But when one country collapses, the entire world doesn't fall apart --civilization still continues.  Rome fell, but the Middle East, China, and the Americas and the rest of the world kept right on building and experimenting and developing.  The entire world didn't go back to small bands of roving hunters searching for food.

[annonentity]

Except...

Civilization hasn't collapsed once.

Countries fall apart, yes, and systems of government change.  But when one country collapses, the entire world doesn't fall apart --civilization still continues.  Rome fell, but the Middle East, China, and the Americas and the rest of the world kept right on building and experimenting and developing.  The entire world didn't go back to small bands of roving hunters searching for food.

  You might be missing the point certain sectors of society keep going longer and do not notice much because they have the resources to continue, and have no incentive to even ask if things are going ok Why would they as it hasn't affected them yet. Plus who wants to hear bad news. It reminds me of the people who lived in the mountains in Italy during the second world war, they were basically self-sufficient and didn't have much of a problem as they were out of the way. They said " The governments are always changing and always will" or words to that effect. A woman living in the woods in Siberia didn't even know there was a war when asked about it in the sixties if you are out of the way and busy why would you care much..

[rickymouse]

Nobody has to worry about the world collapsing.  I am pretty well prepared, and since I am prepared....it means nothing will happen and all my prepping was done in vane.  Now if I had next to nothing in stock and no knowledge how to provide for my family, and no guns at all....then you guys would have to worry.

I learned from experience that if I am prepared...nothing happens, and if not prepared...The SHTF.

So you guys can all thank me for prepping so you guys will not have to go through hard times.

I have enough coffee in stock to last seven months, and enough booze to keep drunk for a couple of weeks if there is a major earth ending asteroid is going to hit.  So, since I rarely drink, we are safe from an major asteroid impact for the rest of my life.

When you are prepared, nothing seems to happen. 

[argentus]

Nobody has to worry about the world collapsing.  I am pretty well prepared, and since I am prepared....it means nothing will happen and all my prepping was done in vane.  Now if I had next to nothing in stock and no knowledge how to provide for my family, and no guns at all....then you guys would have to worry.

I learned from experience that if I am prepared...nothing happens, and if not prepared...The SHTF.

So you guys can all thank me for prepping so you guys will not have to go through hard times.

I have enough coffee in stock to last seven months, and enough booze to keep drunk for a couple of weeks if there is a major earth ending asteroid is going to hit.  So, since I rarely drink, we are safe from an major asteroid impact for the rest of my life.

When you are prepared, nothing seems to happen. 

Murphey's Law, right?   If you need it, you won't have it.   If you are prepared, you won't need it.   I feel that.   We have been prepared since 1993.   Long time.  We haven't suffered a bit by being prepared.

[rickymouse]

Murphey's Law, right?   If you need it, you won't have it.   If you are prepared, you won't need it.   I feel that.   We have been prepared since 1993.   Long time.  We haven't suffered a bit by being prepared.

There is a good sale on Miracle Whip starting tomorrow at a local IGA store.  Two ninety nine for a thirty ounce bottle.  We are down to two bottles in stock right now, we have plenty of MAYO though, so we are only going to buy five bottles of it tomorrow.  They want over six bucks a bottle now, if I buy those five then the price will go down to 2.99 everywhere, and the price of eggs will drop down another buck a dozen.  I can control the price of everything if I stock up on it, people should thank me. 

We have about thirty cans of tuna in rotation and that needs miracle whip to make sandwiches out of it.  We also stock about a hundred pounds of organic whole wheat white flour and usually have a four pound block of yeast too, to make bread.  We do not usually make homemade bread in the summer because it heats up the house, so we stock up for winter.  In the winter, the heat from baking and cooking helps to heat the house plus helps to put moisture in the house.

My biggest issue is defrosting the upright freezers, this year we seem to have a hard time getting the stock down.  Been trying, but last week, went to GFS and bought a fourty pound box of boneless skinless chicken breasts for forty five bucks.  Now that was a lot of chicken to vacuum pack and it takes a lot of room in the freezers when we package them in packs of two to four breasts.  We also stocked up on Whitefish filets before defrosting the freezers, and also salmon filets, plus eight whole chickens and thirty pounds of legs and thighs.  When you get ten pounds of chicken leg quarters for five bucks, it is hard to pass it up.

We also still have thirty eight half pints of homemade freezer jam in the freezer from this year and five bags...about nine quarts of local strawberries, all decapped, washed and then put into zip lock bags.....my kids have not picked up their jams, and some of those chicken breasts I am giving to them.  I gave about five pounds to the oldest daughter already, and I packaged some larger vacuum packed packages for both daughters.  then we just saw a great deal on four packs of Jacks pepperoni pizzas for nine ninety nine....so we bought a box, already having five pizzas of various brands in the freezer.  I guess I will have to haul my grandson in laws extra chest freezer over for a temporary freezer while thawing.  The third freezer is supposed to be an emergency freezer and for temporary use to defrost, but we seem to be finding so many exceptional deals to buy, which great deals are rare in happening these days, so we are overbuying quantities.  We need to get a freezer freed up, we have a half a cow coming in December.  Do we have to buy a forth freezer?

When we do have power outages, it is a lot of work to be hooking up the generators to the freezers, an hour on the generator a day keeps them frozen, as long as you don't open them up too often.  When that goes on, I take a a roast or chicken out of the freezer, that will keep the fridge cold, we have a whole refrigerator unit, it can also be shifted to a freezer too if needed.  This is the second whole fridge we have had, it is nice having a lot of room in the fridge with no freezer in it, single door too, don't care for double door ones.  How was I going to fit a forty pound box of chicken breats into a double door unit to thaw, I like room so you can see everything, less waste that way.  Seems like in our old fridge/freezer days, a lot of food got shoved into the back and went bad.

[MichSwampbuck]

Damn, some of you folks are pretty far into prepping, enough to become hard core survivalists. You need to look at the history lesson in Venezuela. The year after they outlawed private firearm ownership they outlawed prepping.

 

In 2013, many began to suspect that the outlook for Venezuela was grim when prepping became illegal. The Attorney General of Venezuela, Luisa Ortega Díaz, called on prosecutors to target people who are “hoarding” basic staples with serious sanctions.

Shortly thereafter, grocery stores instituted a fingerprint registry to purchase food and supplies. Families had to register and were allotted a certain amount of supplies to prevent “hoarding.”

I think is was only a few years later when the small game and pets were gone and they were eating zoo animals.

ETA: I watched the end of the video and he estimates, based on his model, that Europe and the US have between 5 and 20 years left before collapse. I should watch it from the start, but I'm sure I've heard much of this already. Actually, Venezuela's riches to rags story illustrates his points well in the timeline presented in the link below.

Venezuela Current History

[Waterglass]

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

So, read up on investing in the stock market so as to "short" it. Meaning, you make money when something goes down in value like a stock or commodity. That should give you enough coin to buy a cauldrin and boil some soup while you sit in your valley. Then you will need protection from those who want your soup. 

History repeats itself was the #1 mantra taught to us in Graduate Business School ~ MBA. 

Do you recall when the Greek empire sort of collapsed. How about the Romans? There is a common denominator among both [see below]  

The decline of the Greek empire was not a singular event, but a gradual process influenced by internal conflicts, external pressures, and the rise of Rome. The Battle of Corinth in 146 BCE is often cited as a key moment, marking the end of Greek political independence as Rome took control of the region. However, the process of decline began earlier and involved factors like the Peloponnesian War, the rise of Macedonia, and the fragmentation of the Hellenistic kingdoms


It seems to me that throughout history when an empire sort of loses its might and simply collapses said empire internally becomes open to non traditional values relating to sexual practices and the "family". I am NOT demonizing that but simply calling this out as when the "empire" evolves to become more open, more tolerant and more experiemental all other shields are lowered such that are now open to collapse or takeover by others not at thier level of acceptance. 

Yes, its all about sexual practices. Has been for 100's of years as at the end of the day we are still animals govened by the laws of mother nature. 

The USA is at that door.

[Hypntick]

We don't prep for societal collapse; we prep for Tuesday. Lose your job? Well, you're not gonna go hungry, and you've got six months' worth of savings on hand to rely on without having to dip into the retirement. It's something my mother has always taught me, you don't ever want to have to go hungry or worry about keeping the lights on.

[annonentity]

The running theme seems to be that the societies seem to collapse from within. In the past these were not complex societies, food was local along with technology. So a lot of insular areas would have kicked along like they always did because they were running a sustainable system. So in the past it most likely would have been city collapse. This scenario seems to present a picture with gangs killing each other off for diminishing resources until they cease to be a problem and are forced into a sustainable way of life. Like crops do not grow themselves.

[UltraBudgie]

do not think of it as 'collapsing', think of it as 'blooming'. it is the nature of a society, one vine of human culture, to find its own particular flower of decadence, corruption, and strife. thus providing a uniquely hellish experience for those trapped within its matrix to experience. we are in this world to find all varieties of distance from the perfect. these are not stable configurations, so enjoy the opportunity. perhaps practice playing the fiddle.