What You Must Do in This Age of Preparedness

It is becoming clearer to all that the private-sector job-creating economy, as we have known it, is dead and it is not coming back. In previous articles, the fundamental structural changes underway have been discussed.

Government employees and their sometimes rowdy, and militant, unions, along with the dependent class, will get caught off guard when Uncle Sam stiffs them.

The potential for social chaos is as great as any time since the Civil War. There are simple preparations you should make right now. So this blog post is about being prepared and dealing with the intensifying U.S. financial collapse and its probable social consequences.

Recently, the low-end sales giant Wal Mart declared that its customers have run out of money. This means we are facing much more than the "new normal" of double-digit levels of unemployment.

The President, and his administration, recently admitted that the various stimulus programs for infrastructure were not so shovel ready after all. And, recently the usually pro-Administration CNN reported, "It is official ... the housing crisis that began in 2006 has recently entered a double dip that is now worse than the Great Depression."

Various Washington insiders, previous administration officials, and a current yet independent Senator are warning that the Government is losing its ability to shower money over unproductive people, most of whom are dangerously dependent on a continuation of plundering an economy that is now threadbare. As Maggie Thatcher, former PM of the UK stated in the early 80s, pretty soon socialistic practices run out of other people's money.

For example:

- the president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank has recently declared that she saw the same type of dynamics taking place that do happen in a depression;

- James Carville, a previous administration official and loyal partisan for the Democratic Party is warning that the "new normal" is massive high unemployment and if it continues, there is going to be civil unrest in this country;

- Independent Senator Joe Lieberman is warning that our government is approaching a cataclysmic fiscal tipping point while Washington is busy posturing for the next election.

Vastly understated government unemployment numbers suggest that close to 20% of men between 18 and 55 are unemployed.

Numerous studies have document that every 70 cent hike in the minimum wage destroys a whopping 300,000 jobs. Despite these finding, Congress in 2007 mandated a 41% increase in the minimum wage that has helped trigger 1.5 million fewer teens working and a 43% rise in black teen unemployment.

A key point about high unemployment, and widespread financial destitution, during the Great Depression is that more than half the population was involved in the farming industry. Which means that a significant number of Americans were far more self-reliant than is the case today. As a reference point, your author's father grew up during the Great Depression on the family farm. He tells me that by growing their own food and having livestock, they never were hungry. They cut firewood from the nearby woods. They had several wells so they had plenty of fresh water. With wood burning stoves, they always kept warm, had plenty of warm food to eat, and warm water for baths to keep clean. They fixed their own farm equipment and mended their own clothes. He always says they were just fine however they had no money during the Great Depression!

Finally, here an interesting piece of analysis about the 2008 presidential election that helps illustrate why we may be reaching a tipping point in This Age of Preparedness.

John McCain lost his bid for the presidency even though he won 29 of the continental states and Obama won 19. The square miles of land containing the voters for Obama were a mere 580,000 as compared to McCain's voters that spanned over 2.5 million square miles. The murder rate per 100,000 residents in pro-Obama areas is 13.2; in McCain areas the murder rate per 100,000 residents is a much smaller 2.1.

It is clear that Obama's territory most encompasses citizens living in low income tenements and they are living off various forms of government welfare.

Again, as Maggie Thatcher, the former PM of the UK stated in the early 80s, pretty soon socialistic practices run out of other people's money ... and when that happens, it sets the stage for ugly pre-conditions that lead to social violence.

While not widely reported by the media because they have not connected the dots, widespread rioting and violence occurred over the recent (circa 2011) Memorial Day weekend.

In Charlotte, riot police had to quell hundreds of violent Memorial Day party crashers who spoiled a downtown family-friendly event leaving over 70 arrested and one dead.

In South Beach, Miami residents who dared to object to widespread vandalism and violence over Memorial Day from the annual Urban Weekend crowd, are being vilified as racists.

In Myrtle Beach, the annual Black Bike Week gathering led to 8 hours of violence, including multiple robberies and stabbings.

In Nashville, special police units had to break up violent, unruly crowds who had taken over a local water park on Memorial Day.

These incidents, and others, are providing ample warnings that great self-reliance and being ready for anything, is a new skill that smart Americans must tackle and master. What you do not want to have to do is fight crowds to get to your pharmacy, or get groceries, or get water.

Here are some simple steps to protect your interests and those of your family as the Age of Preparedness Is at hand.

1. Stash some cash. Keep at least $1,000 in small denominations around the house or other secure locations. Small bills are preferable.

2. Stash some silver. It is recommend by many precious metal professionals that you obtain a stash of one-ounce silver rounds of pre-1965 dimes, quarters, or half dollars from a reputable bullion dealer. Any reputable bullion dealer who does not try to up-sell you on overpriced collectibles is a good source of these silver items.

3. Stash some food. Obtain a FREE report by sending an email to IL@AmericanLanternPress dot com with Food Report in the subject line. It is a source of simple steps to save you big money on your food bill and keep your food supply from being vulnerable to the food supply chain which stocks your local grocery store.

4. Install an alarm system in your home. Home break-ins and home invasions are on the rise. An alarm system will encourage thieves to look elsewhere for their next score.

5. Get a gun for home defense. While not everyone is comfortable with a gun in the house, the National Rifle Association offers great safety courses for beginners. In addition, pepper spray is a good item to have in a home, car, purse, and briefcase.

6. Establish an emergency escape plan. Don't wait for an actual emergency before you work out the details of leaving your home in a hurry. Make a checklist of travel essentials, place them in a duffel bag, and store in a closet for immediate departure. These items can also save your life if you decide to stay home and ride it all out.

7. Establish an emergency meeting place for your family to regroup and put the written plan as well as the routes to take, in the glove box of every family car.

Personal preparedness is the wave of the future. Being ready for anything liberates you from the herd. You will not only sleep better at night, you will in fact be safer.

What else should you do? Obtain more financial education and learn how to protect yourself during these trying times of massive money printing, fiat currency, and runaway inflation. Purchase precious metals, including gold, to hedge or protect your net worth against the decreasing value of the US Dollar, which is just paper money.

I favor a quote from Steve Forbes ... Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy will open our eyes to being savvy with our money and using alternative wealth creating strategies; this will be they key to resolving our financial crisis.

To gain the necessary financial education, it is best to pursue association with, access to, and membership in, a wealth creation community. As a result, you will learn about alternative wealth creating strategies and consider investments in non-dollar denominated assets ... perhaps emerging markets ... perhaps energy assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants ... perhaps precious metals, rare earths, water rights, oil, natural gas, potash mines, or gold mines ... things hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute ... definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.

For those wanting protection of their purchasing power in gold, there are several ways that may be appropriate to obtain this protection. These include direct ownership in minted coins, use of gold exchange traded funds, gold mutual funds, and junior gold stocks. Many are investigating having part of their IRAs in gold, silver, precious metals, and non-dollar denominated currencies.

In addition, for those that truly believe default of sovereign debt is the greatest risk we all face, it is wise to learn how to implement a multiple flag strategy to diversify this risk or provide protection against higher taxes, capital controls, hyperinflation, civil unrest, erosion of personal liberty, and the rise of a police state. With a multiple flag system, you consider taking preparations like, but not limited to, establishing a foreign bank account, purchasing some real estate overseas, seeking alternate sources of income, dual citizenship, and carrying multiple passports.

I will continue to provide examples of things we need to learn, the secrets of the insiders, as part of being savvy with our money, and introduce alternative wealth creating strategies, in future articles and updates at my blog over the next few weeks.

Finally, I want to thank Lee Bellinger, editor and publisher of Independent Living as he was the source of some of the material mentioned in this post.

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