Urban Survival - World Economy Affects the U.S. and the Coming Collapse

Whether we like it or not, and most of us certainly don’t, a World economy exists and disruptions within this economy have major effects on the U.S. economy. For some of you knuckle draggers out there, the World economy s not the same as the infamous “One World Government” concept, however make no mistake about it there are people, and people in powerful positions who desire a one world government. But what I am talking about it the global economy and how inflation and collapses in other countries combined with nationalistic trends greatly effects not only how the U.S. economy reacts but dials up the chances and effects of a economic collapse in this Country.

The United States is a consumer and much less the manufacturer or provider like we were 50 years ago. We are simply dependent on other countries not only for consumer goods, but largely for foods and particularly so for oil. Without the our military power and demonstrated willingness to use it, our need for oil can be leveraged by the world’s producers and other large consumers (China, Russia and others). This can, and will, as some experts predict, drive the price of gasoline up to $7 a gallon by the end of this calendar year.

In China , trying for an orderly transition to new civilian leadership in the near future will face a threat from their own military which is executing an unprecedented growth in military expansion and technological development. There is a rift between the civilian Chinese leadership and the military that will only grow as their own economy suffers from reverberations from the decaying U.S. and global economy. If the U.S. defaults on debt owed to China , and as the U.S. necessarily voids or changes trade agreements as an effort in self preservation – the China problem will pick up steam.

Chinese needs for oil that grown at an incredible rate. It will only further grow not only driving the price up but create potential political firestorms as the global economy competes for a limited supply.

Just image gasoline at $7 a gallon. That means Diesel fuel even higher. That means all consumer goods, being trucked across the country, at never to expected high prices. Imagine bread at $6 a loaf,…..milk at $12 a gallon and you start to get the picture. Most people don’t know it now, but consumer commodities have risen an average of 43%. Some of you may admit that in the back fo your head you are aware of growing prices, but it will be really evident when that percentage increases to 400%, 600% or even $1000.

Fuel oil for heating will be at astronomical prices. Electricity, since much of it is produced by fuel oil driven plants, at twice to three times what you pay now. In short everything will go up in price and go up exponentially. This is inflation,…no,…this will be hyper inflation.

What will not go up is your income or buying power. In fact, that will take a dive. If you near the poverty level, this will have incredible and dire consequences for you and your family’s ability to survive. This will also produce a large class of people that will be desperate. This number may reach 60 million. Imagine 60 million people, a full 20% of the U.S. population who cannot sustain themselves.

The U.S. government will have to create large scale entitlement programs just in order to feed these people and keep anarchy at bay. I fully expect the deployment of first line U.S. military combat units to enforce martial laws in some high population density areas. The U.S. government will not be able to borrow more money, so they will print more fiat currency further driving us into hyper inflation….and eventual anarchy.

Beginning in maybe April, certainly no later than July, the banks, lenders, housing market and certainly the people will take a giant hit as adjustable rate mortgages will be re-set causing a large number of people to be upside down in their homes (that is owing much more than the property is worth), and interest rates will skyrocket. Foreclosures will exceed previous record highs. The government will try to control this with more stimulus money drawn from a empty bank account further deflating money and adding to the hyper inflation, and may try to control the dive through government take over (nationalizing) of banks and maybe the whole mortgage industry. This will embolden the U.S. Government to nationalize other segments of the economy such as health care, insurance, and possibly the oil industry.

All of this spells doom for us. What can you do? Do what you are doing now,…..preparing for inevitable. But do it smarter. And do it at an increase pace. And above all, wargame your plan against all the possible scenarios. I have long said that Survival is a Team Sport,..but it is also a thinking man’s game.

Reader Question on Survival Group Networking

An UrbanSurvivalSkills.com reader wrote: "Urban Man, This site has got me going, I am like so many people, caught on my heals.

I live in a major city in the West (City and State deleted), do you know of any survival prep networks out here? I'm feeling very isolated and alone in these suburbs. I am not a home owner, but I have some bug out provisions (and will purchase a Henry AR-7)...My main concern is that I don't have a survival group...how can I find partners?"

There are several survival forums where people are private messaging each other for survival networking and coordination. Some of the better survival forums are: NoBullShitSurvival Forum

Survivalistboards.com

WhenSHTF.com

Survivalmonkey.com

However I would be very wary about linking with people you don't know. You have no idea about their morals, religious beliefs, etc. Maintain your Operational Security. Last thing you want to do is to advertise what you have and where you are located to people with evil intentions.

I think you're Survival Group is going to be mostly people you know prior to the collapse. Some of these people also know people you don't, so any planned Survival Group will grow. You need to be able to control that growth somewhat. You don't want a bunch of dickheads, losers, criminals or slackers as part of your group.

I would simply make a list of people you know, like and trust. Maybe you can also do an inventory on their skills and what they would bring to a Survival Group. I have spent over 30 years in various Government positions carrying a gun. Having said that I would much rather than a bunch of people un-skilled with firearms who I trust and could train, then a bunch of Special Operators with type A personalities who would be problems.

I would approach people on your list and just ask some simple questions to gauge their ability to comprehend the concept of preparedness and whether or not they'll think you are a nut.

There are a couple of government sites that recommend preparing such as ready.gov which preaches preparedness.

You could tell people "Hey, I found this government site which advocates preparedness for natural disasters and such. After looking at it I realized I wasn't prepared at all? What about you? Have you thought about this?

People that you talk to and expose yourself as planning (at some level) for a disaster or collapse, may be the first ones showing up at your house if a collapse hits.

The AR-7 survival rifle is a good tool, but not nearly as accurate are other .22 LR long guns. I think everyone needs .22LR firearms in their survival battery, both handguns and long guns. But make no mistake about it .22LR firearms are pathetic for defense.

Some of the "non-gun" people I advise on Urban Survival prep now have at least a centerfire handgun and a 12 gauge shotgun, but defense is absolutely necessary.

Above all have a Bug Out plan. If there is no food in the stores, electricity goes out, riots in the streets, etc. where are you going to go? What are your routes? (plan for multiple routes - Pri, Alt, Contingency and Emergency); how are going to survive (food, water, shelter) when you get where you are going?

Lastly, buy some silver if you are able to. Whatever you can afford.

Hope this helps.

UrbanMan

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 22, Post Collapse Financial Planning

When I told UrbanMan what I have been doing the past month and wanted to write about it, at first he was a little skeptical but relented after I sent him some stuff to read. UrbanMan’s note: I took the liberty of editing Jim’s letter just a little before posting here. However, it is substantially the same as what he sent me. For the past two months I have been in crazy mode reading stacks of books and on-line information concerning economic collapse of nations as well as the predictions of the collapse of this country; and, historical information and data on currency failing, recessions and depressions; etc. I am sure most of you know that the life span on non-gold backed fiat currency is about 40 years. We are past that, and we (the U.S.) is heading for a reckoning.

Maybe you stop there in your research and study on economic collapses,...I didn't. There is no doubt that a currency collapse is coming. It doesn't matter if it is caused by the devaluation of the dollar or by other economic factors. This has taken place all throughout history. We (the United States ) set this course when we took the dollar off the Gold standard. This is an irreversible course now. What this generates, other than pain and suffering, is a giant
re-distribution of wealth......and benefits those who are prepared. Sure, the first order is to get prepared for a total collapse - this is the most dangerous scenario - where the infrastructure is gone and doesn't come back. The ability to protect yourself and your family; survive the hardest period of degradation; have the material and skills to live - grow your own food, etc., are essential,...and again the first order to business.

But what if the collapse is a gradual collapse and rebounds in some fashion, albeit with a different currency and maybe backed by precious metals?

I work as a computer programmer, on contract to the Government, and make a good salary. However, most of my wealth (currently about 65%) comes from my network marketing business. Since I have minimal expenses, other than buying survival equipment, gear, guns and food - ha ha the same boat we are all in, but I don’t have a wife I have to placate. I have taken much of my available money and have bought much more Gold and Silver.

Again, herein lies the rub,…most people are planning for a chaos; an end of the world scenario and are not planning for a rebound sometime in the future. I wasn’t prepared for anything previous to one year ago, now I am somewhat prepared for a worst case scenario. Like I said, I have bought quite a bit of Gold and Silver over the past month as well as long term survival food. I have also purchased a food saver and vacuum packed twelve buckets of food and counting. I am going to buy a couple more firearms and probably trade my old Toyota RAV in for a new and larger pickup or SUV.

The experts I have been reading,....R.G. Allen, Robert Kiyosaki, Gonzalo Lira, Mike Maloney, Mike Dillard, and more recently the National Inflation Association, Porter Stansberry, and Sandy Leeds,….all have great things to say about what you can do to prepare yourself to come out the next crisis (and it will be a big crisis) if, in fact, this coming collapse will have an upswing in the short or long term future. Most of the advisors and experts I read say to buy Gold and Silver (done, but I’m still buying); stocking food (done, but still I’m still buying and stocking); make a Survival plan (done, but still evaluating it and will changes if necessary); and, develop multiple streams of income (done, but still building my networking marketing business) – almost everyone has, or can develop or can sell a product, services or information (PSI) – a good book on this is “Cash in a Flash” by Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen. So I am expanding my multiple streams of income, not only to provide more near term income for survival preparation, but to position myself to come out of the giant redistribution of wealth on the high side.

I advise all of you reading this, who are obvious interested in planning and preparing to survive a collapse, to look at developing additional streams of income – this is the Multiple Streams of Income concept so you make your financial situation more stable and therefore better able to take the disruption of losing one or more streams of income. Again look at PSI (Product, Services and Income) as almost everyone has something they can do to create more income. Know the difference between linear income and residual income. Linear income is money earned for performing work for a period of time. Residual income is money generated time and time again from one period of work.

As an example, I know a lady who makes custom greeting cards. This is her passion. She is now marketing them to friends and to friends of her friends. I advised her to start a website or blog site to advertise her cards and generate more business. UrbanMan for instance, generates income from teaching firearms and related classes to private citizens. I know yet another person who does property inspections on the side to generate linear income. Many different ways, beside the network marketing business that I do, to create Multiple Streams of Income. Take a personal inventory of your skills and capabilities then look at your options. Get prepared, not just for the total collapse but prepare to come out of a collapse on the top side of the wealth redistribution curve. Good luck.

Statistics That Show We Are Already In A Collapse

Another good website to research and understand all the economic and financial factors that will influence just how fast and deep the coming collapse will be is
The Economic Collapse Blog

Great site, bookmark it and follow it would be my advice.

The following statistics are from their website which was introduced, in part, with the following: Most Americans have become so accustomed to the "new normal" of continual economic decline that they don't even remember how good things were just a few short years ago. Back in 2007, unemployment was very low, good jobs were much easier to get, far fewer Americans were living in poverty or enrolled in welfare programs and government finances were in much better shape. Of course most of this prosperity was fueled by massive amounts of debt, but at least times were better. Unfortunately, things have really deteriorated over the last several years. Since 2007, unemployment has skyrocketed, foreclosures have set new all-time records, personal bankruptcies have soared and U.S. government debt has gotten completely and totally out of control. Poll after poll has shown that Americans are now far less optimistic about the future than they were in 2007.

#1 In November 2007, the official U.S. unemployment rate was just 4.7 percent. Today, the official U.S. unemployment rate is 9.4 percent.

#2 In November 2007, 18.8% of unemployed Americans had been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. Today that percentage is up to 41.9%.

#3 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer. Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#4 Nearly 10 million Americans now receive unemployment insurance, which is almost four times as many as were receiving it back in 2007.

#5 More than half of the U.S. labor force (55 percent) has “suffered a spell of unemployment, a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or have become involuntary part-time workers” since the "recession" began in December 2007.

#6 According to one analysis, the United States has lost a total of approximately 10.5 million jobs since 2007.

#7 As 2007 began, only 26 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, an all-time record of 43.2 million Americans are enrolled in the food stamp program.

#8 In 2007, the U.S. government held a total of $725 billion in mortgage debt. As of the middle of 2010, the U.S. government held a total of $5.148 trillion in mortgage debt.

#9 In the year prior to the "official" beginning of the most recent recession in 2007, the IRS filed just 684,000 tax liens against U.S. taxpayers. During 2010, the IRS filed over a million tax liens against U.S. taxpayers.

#10 From the year 2000 through the year 2007, there were 27 bank failures in the United States. From 2008 through 2010, there were 314 bank failures in the United States.

#11 According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the number of U.S. families with children living in homeless shelters increased from 131,000 to 170,000 between 2007 and 2009.

#12 In 2007, one poll found that 43 percent of Americans were living "paycheck to paycheck". Sadly, according to a survey released very close to the end of 2010, approximately 55 percent of all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck.

#13 In 2007, the "official" federal budget deficit was just 161 billion dollars. In 2010, the "official" federal budget deficit was approximately 1.3 trillion dollars.

#14 As 2007 began, the U.S. national debt was just under 8.7 trillion dollars. Today, the U.S. national debt has just surpassed 14 trillion dollars and it continues to soar into the stratosphere.

So is there any hope that we can turn all of this around?

Unfortunately, the massive amount of debt that we have piled up as a society over the last several decades has made that impossible.

If you add up all forms of debt (government debt, business debt, individual debt), it comes to approximately 360 percent of GDP. It is the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world.

If the federal government and our state governments stop borrowing and spending so much money, our economy would collapse. But if they keep borrowing and spending so much money they will continually make the eventual economic collapse even worse.

We are in the terminal stages of the most horrific debt spiral the world has ever seen, and when the debt spiral gets stopped the house of cards is going to finally come down for good.

So enjoy these times while you still have them. Yes, today is not nearly as prosperous as 2007 was, but today is most definitely a whole lot better than 2015 or 2020 is going to be.

Go to The Economic Collapse and read the entire article.