It's been almost three weeks since I last gave Urban Man an update on my Urban Survival preparations to post to this site.
Since I finished watching the After Armageddon video series I have spent much more time thinking about my survival preparations. The 3 months or so it took the character in After Armageddon to finally pack up and leave the city was giving me a false sense of time. Then I watched the two part Economic Collapse series and it kinda put time in perspective - a collapse can hit any day!
I ordered another six cans of Mountain House meals from EarthWaveLiving, two each Peas, Granola with Blueberries and Milk, and, Eggs with Ham. That gives me about what I figure is approximately 70 days of two servings per two people (my son and me) not counting Neomi, if she ends up co-locating with us either in the City or to our safe location.
I also have about an easy ten days of food in the house not counting if I rationed it. Urban Man told me I need about a minimum of six months food per person to get through non-growing seasons then I can hunt, fish and grow crops for food...never hunted, fished quite a bit so that would be a challenge for sure.
I also bought six 5 gallon water containers so I can rapidly fillup water, along with all my other containers, when I get even a jingle of something bad coming.
I bought four more packs of rechargeable AA batteries for my flashlights and lanterns. One of the things on my short list to buy right before a collapse hits, if I get the warning or even a tingle, is another car battery so I can use it with my DC/AC converter.
My biggest purchase in the last three weeks has been a Mosin-Nagant rifle I bought at a local discount sporting goods store for $169. Urban Man looked it over and said it was in good shape and even gave me 60 rounds of 7.62x54mm ammunition for it to go with the 40 cartridges I bought from the store. So now I have amy .22 pistol, a 12 gauge shotgun and this Mosin-Nagant rifle.
Urban Man told me the history on Mosin-Nagants with the Soviet Army and told me it was roughly the equivilent of Neomi's .30-06 rifle, and would serve well for hunting and can be used in a defense purposes. Urban Man has advised me on buying an M-4 carbine, but I just ain't there yet. I just not a gun guy.
I have also started growing some squash and cucumbers in my back yard and hope to have some vegetables in the summer as well as gain some valuable experience in growing things.
Well thats my report for now. To many I am way behind, but I suspect to most Americans I would seem a kook for even doing what little I have done. Stay safe - be prepared.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Financial Reading - Reader Recommendation: Ludwig Von Mises Institute
We received a reader e-mail recommending the Ludwig Von Mises Institute, which advertises:
The Ludwig von Mises Institute was founded in 1982 as the research and educational center of classical liberalism, libertarian political theory, and the Austrian School of economics. It serves as the world's leading provider of educational materials, conferences, media, and literature in support of the tradition of thought represented by Ludwig von Mises and the school of thought he enlivened and carried forward during the 20th century, which has now blossomed into a massive international movement of students, professors, professionals, and people in all walks of life. It seeks a radical shift in the intellectual climate as the foundation for a renewal of the free and prosperous commonwealth
UrbanSurvivalSkills.com see's the advantage in keeping track of all trends: geo-politcal, economic and social-demographics in order to refine and modify one's Survival Preparations. We particulary like the following quote from the Mises Web Site: "A man who is forced to provide of his own account for his old age must save a part of his income or take out an insurance policy... Such a man is more likely to get an idea of the economic problems of his country than a man whom a pension scheme seemingly relieves of all worries."
Ludwig von Mises Institute - Homepage: http://mises.org/
The Ludwig von Mises Institute was founded in 1982 as the research and educational center of classical liberalism, libertarian political theory, and the Austrian School of economics. It serves as the world's leading provider of educational materials, conferences, media, and literature in support of the tradition of thought represented by Ludwig von Mises and the school of thought he enlivened and carried forward during the 20th century, which has now blossomed into a massive international movement of students, professors, professionals, and people in all walks of life. It seeks a radical shift in the intellectual climate as the foundation for a renewal of the free and prosperous commonwealth
UrbanSurvivalSkills.com see's the advantage in keeping track of all trends: geo-politcal, economic and social-demographics in order to refine and modify one's Survival Preparations. We particulary like the following quote from the Mises Web Site: "A man who is forced to provide of his own account for his old age must save a part of his income or take out an insurance policy... Such a man is more likely to get an idea of the economic problems of his country than a man whom a pension scheme seemingly relieves of all worries."
Ludwig von Mises Institute - Homepage: http://mises.org/
Urban Survival Planning – Economic Collapse Scenario Part II
Continuing on with the excellent Economic Collapse videos from endtheilluson, we begin Day Six of the economic collapse.
UrbanSurvivalSkills.com has written several times about a Survival Decision Matrix, where as situations or trends become apparent, prudent Urban Survivalists fulfill certain tasks. This is not to say wait until the beginning of a collapse before you begin to accomplish Survival and Preparedness tasks, ..no,….if you are a reader of this site, you have already taken many steps towards preparing to survive a collapse. These tasks and steps on your Survival Decision Matrix are the last minute things you do to enhance your already pre-existing Survival Preparations. They could be filling up all the empty gas cans stored in your shed; buying the last minute, semi-perishable foods to consume first before your survival food stocks are used; boarding up your windows; making last minute e-mail, text or phone calls; filling up all your empty water containers, etc.
Day Six – Mass demonstrations appear all over the World as the economic collapse spread particularly as a rebound effect from the U.S. collapse; power goes out...repeat,...power goes out.
Day Seven – National Guard deployed to restore order, especially in large cities – however too many troops are still overseas fighting terrorism and large percentages of National Guard troops fail to report to their unit; people all across the Nation are thinking “Why didn’t I prepare better?”; cash totally worthless; gold and silver accepted – barter society begins.
Day Eight – Still no power (little do most people know, it will be years until a small percentage of reliable power is restored and only in a small number of places); radio station still broadcasting but the amateur radio network is provides the majority of news being spread.
Day Nine – Water pressure stops – no water. Real panic sets in.
Day Ten – No emergency services whatsoever – no police, no fire, no emergency medical responders as all stay home to protect their families; Neighborhoods starts to organize for protection – some are successful, some are not; Government fails at all levels; total breakdown of social order; armed gangs organize to roam and loot; Martial Law declared.
Ask yourself these questions: At what level of preparation are you sitting at right now? If you have no more than 4 or 5 days worth of food in you pantry then you are in the majority of people - people that are unprepared. And you will be dependant upon someone else’s benevolence to survive. Can you protect yourself – do you have firearms and sufficient ammunition? Can you survive in your home without heat or without air conditioning? Where will you go if forced to vacate your home? Do you have a panned Safe Location? Do your have the means and the Survival Gear and Equipment to facilitate not only survival but cross country movement to a Safe Location?
The Economic Collapse Part II -
UrbanSurvivalSkills.com has written several times about a Survival Decision Matrix, where as situations or trends become apparent, prudent Urban Survivalists fulfill certain tasks. This is not to say wait until the beginning of a collapse before you begin to accomplish Survival and Preparedness tasks, ..no,….if you are a reader of this site, you have already taken many steps towards preparing to survive a collapse. These tasks and steps on your Survival Decision Matrix are the last minute things you do to enhance your already pre-existing Survival Preparations. They could be filling up all the empty gas cans stored in your shed; buying the last minute, semi-perishable foods to consume first before your survival food stocks are used; boarding up your windows; making last minute e-mail, text or phone calls; filling up all your empty water containers, etc.
Day Six – Mass demonstrations appear all over the World as the economic collapse spread particularly as a rebound effect from the U.S. collapse; power goes out...repeat,...power goes out.
Day Seven – National Guard deployed to restore order, especially in large cities – however too many troops are still overseas fighting terrorism and large percentages of National Guard troops fail to report to their unit; people all across the Nation are thinking “Why didn’t I prepare better?”; cash totally worthless; gold and silver accepted – barter society begins.
Day Eight – Still no power (little do most people know, it will be years until a small percentage of reliable power is restored and only in a small number of places); radio station still broadcasting but the amateur radio network is provides the majority of news being spread.
Day Nine – Water pressure stops – no water. Real panic sets in.
Day Ten – No emergency services whatsoever – no police, no fire, no emergency medical responders as all stay home to protect their families; Neighborhoods starts to organize for protection – some are successful, some are not; Government fails at all levels; total breakdown of social order; armed gangs organize to roam and loot; Martial Law declared.
Ask yourself these questions: At what level of preparation are you sitting at right now? If you have no more than 4 or 5 days worth of food in you pantry then you are in the majority of people - people that are unprepared. And you will be dependant upon someone else’s benevolence to survive. Can you protect yourself – do you have firearms and sufficient ammunition? Can you survive in your home without heat or without air conditioning? Where will you go if forced to vacate your home? Do you have a panned Safe Location? Do your have the means and the Survival Gear and Equipment to facilitate not only survival but cross country movement to a Safe Location?
The Economic Collapse Part II -
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Urban Survival Planning - Economic Collapse Scenario Part I
UrbanSurvivalSkills.com begins a look at a possible/probably economic collapse scenario using two excellent videos from endtheillusion.
With the underlying rot in our system, not necessarily from our economic system, but our tendency to try and combined capitalism with socialism, we have placed ourselves very close to an economic collapse scenario.
The loss of our manufacturing base and downturn in our ability to not only feed the World but feed ourselves; massive wall street bailouts combined with a rickety up and down market; continued growth of banks and obscene bonus to managers of failed institutions even though we have massive bankruptcy and home foreclosures; growing list of vacant commercial properties; and, unemployment near record highs when combined with the numbers of non-working people that the government does not want to know about nor do they count when measuring the unemployment percentage.
But wait there’s more,…….unrestricted corruption of politicians and non accountability; decline of inner cities and a population shift away from large urban areas; enormous trade deficits; growing dependence upon foreign oil and our lack of will to develop our own fossil fuels and alternate sources of energy (nuclear plants); growth of both our prison population and the homeless; public school deterioration despite large tax increases; unsustainable government spending; rapidly increasing foreign debt (China practically owns us); and unpredicted expansion of social programs – all set up the likelihood of an economic collapse,…and soon.
We like these videos, part I which is below and part Ii will be posted soon, as they articulate a very probable ten day period in which the economic collapse becomes overt, obvious to most everyone, with a probable day by day timeline.
Day One – Reports of the dollar collapsing; gas station take cash only – not credit cards; Gold prices shoot up.
Day Two – Runs on Supermarkets as word of hyper-inflation, devalued dollar spreads and food distribution begins to shut down (largely due to no fuel) – no country wants to take the dollar and most countries are suffering financial breakdown effects as well. Mobs at Supermarkets and all shelve emptied.
Day Three - Banks closed; those open limit withdraws to $200; Stock market in free fall then closed. Gun Stores almost empty of guns and ammunition, prices sky rocket, but the only transactions are in Gold and Silver.
Day Four - Panic in Cities (ever heard that we are nine meals away from collapse?); Stock Market briefly opens, then rapidly closes; Government meet in emergency economic crisis meetings – but to no avail as hyper-inflation continues out of control – there is simply too money that was printed to make up for previous budgetary shortfalls.
Day Five – Bank Holiday begin; families start to re-locate for mutually support; reports of pension funds failing – particular for unions which suffer from massive corruption; work stoppages spread even to emergency services providers.
The Economic Collapse Part I
With the underlying rot in our system, not necessarily from our economic system, but our tendency to try and combined capitalism with socialism, we have placed ourselves very close to an economic collapse scenario.
The loss of our manufacturing base and downturn in our ability to not only feed the World but feed ourselves; massive wall street bailouts combined with a rickety up and down market; continued growth of banks and obscene bonus to managers of failed institutions even though we have massive bankruptcy and home foreclosures; growing list of vacant commercial properties; and, unemployment near record highs when combined with the numbers of non-working people that the government does not want to know about nor do they count when measuring the unemployment percentage.
But wait there’s more,…….unrestricted corruption of politicians and non accountability; decline of inner cities and a population shift away from large urban areas; enormous trade deficits; growing dependence upon foreign oil and our lack of will to develop our own fossil fuels and alternate sources of energy (nuclear plants); growth of both our prison population and the homeless; public school deterioration despite large tax increases; unsustainable government spending; rapidly increasing foreign debt (China practically owns us); and unpredicted expansion of social programs – all set up the likelihood of an economic collapse,…and soon.
We like these videos, part I which is below and part Ii will be posted soon, as they articulate a very probable ten day period in which the economic collapse becomes overt, obvious to most everyone, with a probable day by day timeline.
Day One – Reports of the dollar collapsing; gas station take cash only – not credit cards; Gold prices shoot up.
Day Two – Runs on Supermarkets as word of hyper-inflation, devalued dollar spreads and food distribution begins to shut down (largely due to no fuel) – no country wants to take the dollar and most countries are suffering financial breakdown effects as well. Mobs at Supermarkets and all shelve emptied.
Day Three - Banks closed; those open limit withdraws to $200; Stock market in free fall then closed. Gun Stores almost empty of guns and ammunition, prices sky rocket, but the only transactions are in Gold and Silver.
Day Four - Panic in Cities (ever heard that we are nine meals away from collapse?); Stock Market briefly opens, then rapidly closes; Government meet in emergency economic crisis meetings – but to no avail as hyper-inflation continues out of control – there is simply too money that was printed to make up for previous budgetary shortfalls.
Day Five – Bank Holiday begin; families start to re-locate for mutually support; reports of pension funds failing – particular for unions which suffer from massive corruption; work stoppages spread even to emergency services providers.
The Economic Collapse Part I
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