The Briefing Room
General Category => Editorial/Opinion/Blogs => Topic started by: mystery-ak on June 15, 2021, 12:55:42 pm
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Four Ways I Am Preparing For The Dollar’s Collapse
Parker Beauregard
June 15, 2021
Disclaimers: 1) I am not a financial advisor. The presentation of material reflects only my personal decisions regarding investment opportunities and expenditures. All investments carry risks that need to be weighed by any individual investor and their advisors. 2) Links to products may be affiliated with promotional content. By purchasing some products through these links, I may receive a small commission.
In the era of financial and societal insecurity, I have taken it upon myself to best prepare for the unknown. Will inflation wipe out my savings? Will the price of common goods become unaffordable? Will the effects of Critical Race Theory implode on our shared cultural and societal underpinnings? These are critical questions with serious repercussions if and when the answers come to fruition via the affirmative.
In the event there is a massive fallout, whether from inflationary pressures or a collapse of civic coexistence among the alleged classes of the oppressed and oppressors, it is better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. I would prefer I never discharge my firearm, and despite the bland taste, I would much rather dine on soon-to-be-expired cans of beans out of parsimony than out of necessity. However, if catastrophic changes sweep through the country and those items are vital for either short-term or long-term survival, then it is literally the difference between life or death.
Below is a partial list of four ways I have begun preparing to protect myself and my family against economic hardship.
more
https://thebluestateconservative.com/2021/06/15/four-ways-i-am-preparing-for-the-dollars-collapse/
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@mystery-ak
@Cyber Liberty
Have small bills, ones and fives, in your house. If banks go down, you have cash to get what you need.
Have 20 yr. food.
Have Water Bobs - stores 100 gal. of your good water in your bathtub. Have one for each bathtub you have. Do not store water in a bathtub without a Water Bob - there is bacteria in your tub, so use Water Bob. I need to say this about water in tub without it being in a Water Bob. If you have a Big Berkey Water Purifier, you can sanitize water in a tub without a Water Bob.
Have kids plastic water pools. Put them out when raining to catch water.
Have Big Berkey to purify that water out of kids pools. Big Berkey will purify any water, even water in a ditch. It "purifies" water which plain water filters do not. Big Berkey is expensive but worth it to have pure water.
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Add guns and ammo to that list because people without will come and try to take away from those who have food.
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@mystery-ak
@Cyber Liberty
Have small bills, ones and fives, in your house. If banks go down, you have cash to get what you need.
Have 20 yr. food.
Have Water Bobs - stores 100 gal. of your good water in your bathtub. Have one for each bathtub you have. Do not store water in a bathtub without a Water Bob - there is bacteria in your tub, so use Water Bob.
Have kids plastic water pools. Put them out when raining to catch water.
Have Big Berkey to purify that water out of kids pools. Big Berkey will purify any water, even water in a ditch. It "purifies" water which plain water filters do not. Big Berkey is expensive but worth it to have pure water.
I am reminded why I have always lived on the water. That is one worry I do not have - Just walk a yoke down to the creek and dip 2 fives and haul em back... No boil, no nothing. I can drink directly from that creek.
And yeah - Long term food. I went different than you on that, figuring to learn how to rotate a pantry. Depending, I have had somewhere between 6 months and three years in that pantry all the way along. Not prepping per se, just old fashioned country ways. And I am not unhappy with that result. Rolling over a big pantry is a science, and my respect for women who do it has increased exponentially since learning to do it myself.
Of course I DO have a fair ton of Mountain House laying around too - more for woods than for prepping, but to the same end. I am fixing to throw a thousand dollars down in MH to beef that supply of long term food up, but till the pantry is square, I dare not... This time of year, I may still need to do store bought canned goods... so I held off yet again.
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Add guns and ammo to that list because people without will come and try to take away from those who have food.
@BassWrangler
If you happen to be one of those people who are unarmed or who are certain they would never be able to take a life in self-defense,REALLY double down on storing medical supplies as well as food,and make arrangements to ally yourself with someone who WILL shoot to kill if necessary. Do whatever it is you have to do to make yourself an asset to someone like that because you are going to need their protection if anarchy arises,and with the food and medicine shortages,no matter how much they might want to take you in and provide you with protection,they just won't be able to justify doing it unless you can add something to the bargain they need.
If nothing else,take all the courses in emergency medical care and aid you can take. Take classes on preparing and cooking foods you can grow locally. Hell,take courses in dentistry and animal husbandry if you can.
I am sure there are classes and areas of knowledge I am overlooking,but do WHATEVER you can do to get someone to justify taking you in and feeding and protecting you and your family.
And do NOT lie to yourself about your ability or willingness to take a human life in self-defense. Not everybody can bring themselves to do it,and there is no shame in being one of them.
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Add guns and ammo to that list because people without will come and try to take away from those who have food.
Well... to go get MORE food, would be more the point, but you ain't wrong.
I have been thinking more about that - I think I would be better off with a breakdown bow for hunting when the time comes. Quiet. No sense letting folks know you're there. I am fixin to invest that direction.
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Well... to go get MORE food, would be more the point, but you ain't wrong.
I have been thinking more about that - I think I would be better off with a breakdown bow for hunting when the time comes. Quiet. No sense letting folks know you're there. I am fixin to invest that direction.
Good idea.
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That is another thing with ammo... Sooner or later it runs out. That is a problem. What then?
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@sneakypete
You said: "And do NOT lie to yourself about your ability or willingness to take a human life in self-defense. Not everybody can bring themselves to do it, and there is no shame in being one of them."
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That is true for those who cannot fire a weapon at a person. For others, I recommend training your mind to know how you can react if you need to fire a weapon. Imagine in your mind, your most likely way a bad guy can get in your house. Imagine what you would do and re-think that over and over and mentally practice that in any way a bad guy could get to you in your house. Then, if it did happen, you know exactly what to do quickly. If you pick up your weapon, be prepared to fire it or do not pick it up.
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@Victoria33 This would be a good time to plug your survival book.....
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@Victoria33 This would be a good time to plug your survival book.....
@Cyber Liberty
OK, since you brought it up. I wrote a book, "EMERGENCIES HAPPEN! BE PREPARED NOW!"
Copyright 2018. Contact me by PM if interested in the book sent to you in Word Document, $20. I wrote for six months to produce this book, 284 pages, single space. I am a professional prepper since 1999. Changed methods as better methods became available. Been through hurricanes many times, plus power out for days in whole region, power companies did not know why, no power due to these reasons, but I had power, no water but I had running water, had all I needed. Taught thousands on a prepper website. People in this region of North Texas, after freeze took out power, got this book to be prepared for the next time.
Cyber has the book. I know he, wife, and cats, will be safe in any emergency.
Will tell you this story. In the year, 2017, Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, and Maria hit Florida (Irma also hit Florida that year). In Florida, seniors died in a nursing home due to high heat, due to no power. Had I been there, I could have kept each one cool and they would not have died. That is hard for me to think about even now.
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That is another thing with ammo... Sooner or later it runs out. That is a problem. What then?
In the long run, there is no good answer for the bulk of us. Those with the means need to have an exit strategy ... i.e. housing and investments in a foreign country, and the foresight to leave before the looters block the interstates. 2020 showed us the government WILL side with the mob.
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In the long run, there is no good answer for the bulk of us. Those with the means need to have an exit strategy ... i.e. housing and investments in a foreign country, and the foresight to leave before the looters block the interstates. 2020 showed us the government WILL side with the mob.
That is an interesting point.
And one i would not have thought of.
I am already prepositioned, so if the clamp comes on, all I have to do is throw on my go-bag and walk off. Never even approached the idea of trying to get out with the car loaded down with possessions.
I mean I COULD think that way - Surely hauling a pickup load with me out of the house when it is time to leave would be a blessing, as would the pickup, as long as the gas held out... But I have made no real provision for the truck in SHTF conditions. I just figger it is unlikely, and even if likely, hard to support.
But I can just as easy walk off, and I would be hard to stop walking off.
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Reading A hundred and one long pig recipes.
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This is a really interesting aspect... The difference between me and say, all those folks trapped in New Orleans after Katrina is pretty simple - I can and would walk off. A go bag with a week of food and the ability to process water... Well a week of walking could put a feller afar off from such a thing, and that would be what I would do.
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This is a really interesting aspect... The difference between me and say, all those folks trapped in New Orleans after Katrina is pretty simple - I can and would walk off. A go bag with a week of food and the ability to process water... Well a week of walking could put a feller afar off from such a thing, and that would be what I would do.
The people trapped in Nawlins were welfare recipients, and they expected the gummint to pick them up at their doors and evacuate them. They literally did not have the sense to come in out of the rain.
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Any suggestions for a good water filtering system for any of us who might have to rely on creek water?
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I am counting on the few remaining people to keep praying for my poor lost soul. Other than that I got nothing.
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The people trapped in Nawlins were welfare recipients, and they expected the gummint to pick them up at their doors and evacuate them. They literally did not have the sense to come in out of the rain.
Well, yeah... But that ain't who I am talking on. The roads were impassable if you recall - Nobody could move.
I would move anyway. There was nothing so bad that a feller couldn't walk out.
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Any suggestions for a good water filtering system for any of us who might have to rely on creek water?
Foremost is tin. A stainless bottle or billy pot that you can put right in the fire. Everyone's go-bag should have stainless containers for EVERY container simply because it can live on the fire. Even an altoid can - you can punch a hole in the top of that and make char cloth with it... The thing folks forget about the most is the ability to put things in the fire...
Secondarily, I like lifestraw. It is a little filter with a straw on it that you can put right in the creek and drink the water through the filter straw directly... And they last a good long time
With that, a clean and a dirty plastic bag... Lifestraw makes them bags, but any ol thing will do, so long as you can figure out how... The dirty bag is the one you get the water with from the tainted source... That one gets the lifestraw tied to it somehow and hung on a tree... the other, the clean bag, that is the one you catch the clean gravity fed water from the lifestraw underneath.
Pretty easy concept, but that is why I like a lifestraw, because by itself you can use it on the fly, and once in camp, it can process a couple gallons at a time...
And don't forget a berkey... I have the little one of those (I think it to be a gallon or so) for at camp for the same function as the lifestraw in bulk brocessing.
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Any suggestions for a good water filtering system for any of us who might have to rely on creek water?
Berkey filters come well recommended, but have extra filter cartridges on hand.
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Berkey filters come well recommended, but have extra filter cartridges on hand.
You can backwash them...
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You can backwash them...
If they don't get broken. Always have a spare.
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I got a taste of what a collapse might look like last winter when the storms hit in Texas. The electricity grid and water supply went down and there was no availability of retail energy or food. I was living in my Hill Country cabin. Here are some things I learned.
1. Get a wood stove and make sure you have enough firewood to get through the entire winter.
2. Have plenty of drinking water in reserve and make a plan to capture water for use in toilets and bathing.
3. Crank flashlights. As far as I am concerned, they are the best. They don't depend on batteries. Candles are fine for night lighting. Need lots of those.
4. Have a nice reserve of rice, coffee, vacuum packed and dehydrated foods. Try to find dehydrated alternatives to your usual diet so that you can maintain some sense of normalcy (I found this to be very important).
5. A really good safe that can hold your firearms, gold and important documents brings a lot of peace of mind. Get one that opens with a dial, not an electric pad. And don't keep everything in the safe. Make sure you have a reserve of treasure buried.
6. Four-wheel drive vehicle and gasoline in reserve (make sure your reserve gas is high octane without ethanol).
As for money: Crypto might or might not be viable. Remember that crypto depends on electricity, and can be tracked and confiscated by government. It might be worthwhile to hold, but I would not sell my gold and silver to buy it. Maybe open up a space in your portfolio for it, but no more than 10 percent.
If cryptocurrency collapses, gold will go to $10K plus per ounce because the people selling crypto will have to buy gold as the only viable replacement.
The best money in a collapse of the dollar will be pre-1964 coins. One pre-1964 dime today is worth about $2.75. If you have a few hundred dollars in rolls of pre-1964 coins that will be plenty to barter with and make change for higher value gold coins. So in addition to gold coins and bars, have some rolls of wheat pennies and pre-1964 coins.
Guns: A shotgun and a revolver. Keep it simple. Don't buy a gimicky, designer or complex weapon for survival purposes.
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My #1 on any list is to move away now from a population center if you live near one.
Being near one is the easiest way to be killed, robbed or to die of starvation.
A rural place where a garden can be planted and some chickens feeding will sustain one for awhile.
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3. Crank flashlights. As far as I am concerned, they are the best. They don't depend on batteries. Candles are fine for night lighting. Need lots of those.
Interesting... Because I had an educational experience this last winter too... Mine was a short term loss of power.
I am rigged for long term loss without a problem - I have a jenny and I have oil lamps... My trouble was that the outage was predicted to be of short duration - three days at most - But still, wintertime loss of power is a serious thing. At the time, late afternoon, with sunset coming soon, I determined to wait it out and worry about it in the morning, rather than rummaging around in the shed to haul everything out in the dark.
My dilemma became apparent later that evening. In being overly prepared for the long term I was woefully unprepared for the short term. I mean I was alright - At any given moment I could cure my ills by taking the time to go haul out the jenny and string the cords, a half hour, maybe 45 minutes at best... But really, all that would gain me is light and internet (and thereby TV), and I never quite got the gumption. So I sorta suffered through with my headlamp out of my go-bag, candles, and a single LCD lantern...
I have since increased my available LCD lanterns as a comfort in short term outage.
But my point in regard to the longer term would be toward oil lamps... Five gallons of oil would last a winter, and it keeps pretty indefinitely.
Likewise propane. Propane heat, light, and cooking is not very useful in comparison to other methods, but propane also keeps pretty well indefinitely. Over this same incident I have endeavored to increase my commitment to propane.
4. Have a nice reserve of rice, coffee, vacuum packed and dehydrated foods. Try to find dehydrated alternatives to your usual diet so that you can maintain some sense of normalcy (I found this to be very important).
And this the other way around - Sure, for a long term storage solution, dehydrated foods are king. But a more equitable and effective form exists in keeping a well stocked pantry. At any given time, I can live off of my pantry, and that probably for a year or better, as it is right now.
I have a rather adequate supply of dehydrated foods, but I would not have to worry for them at all for at least a year... Because my larder stands at the ready as a massive bullwark as a matter of day to day use. It is not much of an effort once understood, and even shopping out of stores, it can be extremely cheap in comparison to shopping for a week at a time - Case goods, especially if you can lay in the weeds for sales, yield remarkable savings.
EVERYONE should have a stocked pantry as a matter of course.
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I got a taste of what a collapse might look like last winter when the storms hit in Texas. The electricity grid and water supply went down and there was no availability of retail energy or food. I was living in my Hill Country cabin. Here are some things I learned.
1. Get a wood stove and make sure you have enough firewood to get through the entire winter.
2. Have plenty of drinking water in reserve and make a plan to capture water for use in toilets and bathing.
3. Crank flashlights. As far as I am concerned, they are the best. They don't depend on batteries. Candles are fine for night lighting. Need lots of those.
4. Have a nice reserve of rice, coffee, vacuum packed and dehydrated foods. Try to find dehydrated alternatives to your usual diet so that you can maintain some sense of normalcy (I found this to be very important).
5. A really good safe that can hold your firearms, gold and important documents brings a lot of peace of mind. Get one that opens with a dial, not an electric pad. And don't keep everything in the safe. Make sure you have a reserve of treasure buried.
6. Four-wheel drive vehicle and gasoline in reserve (make sure your reserve gas is high octane without ethanol).
As for money: Crypto might or might not be viable. Remember that crypto depends on electricity, and can be tracked and confiscated by government. It might be worthwhile to hold, but I would not sell my gold and silver to buy it. Maybe open up a space in your portfolio for it, but no more than 10 percent.
If cryptocurrency collapses, gold will go to $10K plus per ounce because the people selling crypto will have to buy gold as the only viable replacement.
The best money in a collapse of the dollar will be pre-1964 coins. One pre-1964 dime today is worth about $2.75. If you have a few hundred dollars in rolls of pre-1964 coins that will be plenty to barter with and make change for higher value gold coins. So in addition to gold coins and bars, have some rolls of wheat pennies and pre-1964 coins.
Guns: A shotgun and a revolver. Keep it simple. Don't buy a gimicky, designer or complex weapon for survival purposes.
@massadvj
I know some of you will have no idea what I am talking about,but get a hand pump and put down a shallow well.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200624889_200624889
Do NOT forget that you will need a water container to prime the pump with every time you use it,and use a tin container with a spin-on top. Glass containers can get dropped and break,and then your pump is useless to you.
I have put down wellheads using a homemade tool made from a Model T ring and pinion gear and cut-off axles welded together. This is usually a 2 man operation,although a 3 person to hold the first pipe section at a 90 degree angle to the ground is helpful. Which is not a problem because if disaster strikes and people run out of bottled water,you are going to be VERY popular.
Guns: A shotgun and a revolver. Keep it simple. Don't buy a gimicky, designer or complex weapon for survival purposes.
I agree. In survival situations the NUMBER 1 principle you want to keep in mind is the "KISS Principle",which is "Keep it simple,stupid!" Life will be hard enough as it is without you adding to your problems.
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@sneakypete said, "I agree. In survival situations the NUMBER 1 principle you want to keep in mind is the "KISS Principle",which is "Keep it simple, stupid!" Life will be hard enough as it is without you adding to your problems."
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@Cyber Liberty
@mystery-ak
@Gefn
@libertybele
@roamer_1
Men tend to think too big to solve a problem. One does not need gallons of gasoline for a generator (which will run out), or old coins or gold. Old coins and gold would be fine to have after the emergency, but not in an emergency. One dollar bills and five dollar bills will be the easiest method of buying what you need but hopefully, in an emergency, you will have what you need.
I use battery power - huge number of rechargeable batteries in various types, AA,AAA,C,D. Each of these fine batteries can be recharged 1,000+ times. Have solar panel with attachment to recharge any size batteries plus your phone or computer pad. I will have battery power for years if I need it.
Have solar lamps, oil lamps with enough oil for a year, battery lamps with the rechargeable batteries. Will never run out of light.
Have water barrel in back of house to catch rainwater. It is attached to the downspout but downspout is fixed to move. It is not used when do not need water. If I need water, I let the bad water from the roof go through the downspout and when I think enough has run off, I switch the downspout to fill the barrel. I have a Big Berkey water purifier to put that water through so I have sanitized water. I have kids plastic pools to sit outside to catch rainwater and put that through the Berkey. The Big Berkey will sanitize any water. Plain water filters will not do this. Look up Big Berkey in search and find out why it is the very best and it is hundreds of dollars but you will live if you have this purifier. It is the most important item to have in an emergency.
I have Water Bobs to put in bathtubs to store 100 gal. of you own good water. There are other ways to store good water and to sanitize other water with the Big Berkey; just get my book as I cannot write the whole thing here. That is why I wrote the book, to help people be ready for an emergency.
If you write me, I will send you the list of contents of the book then you can decide if you want it. It is 284 pages, single spaced. I wrote it for other people so they would not have to do the research I did and I tell of my experiences of living through no power events numerous times. Types of emergencies are listed, telling you how to respond to these various emergencies.