More Predictors of the Coming Economic Collapse

From the ETF Daily we get 25 reasons the Economic Collapse is probable. The entire article is too much to re-print here, please go to ETF Daily to read the whole enchilada. The following are 25 horrible statistics about the U.S. economy that Barack Obama, and probably the entire Congress, does not want you to know.....together they spell a coming economic doom.

#1 The percentage of Americans that own homes is dropping rapidly. According to Gallup, the current level of homeownership in the United States is the lowest that Gallup has ever measured.

#2 Home prices in the U.S. continue to fall like a rock as well. They have declined for six months in a row and are now down a total of 35 percent from the peak of the housing bubble. The last time that home prices in the United States were this low was back in 2002.

#3 Last year, an astounding 53 percent of all U.S. college graduates under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.

#4 Back in 2007, about 10 percent of all unemployed Americans had been out of work for 52 weeks or longer. Today, that number is above 30 percent.

#5 When Barack Obama first became president, the number of “long-term unemployed workers” in the United States was 2.6 million. Today, it is 5.3 million.

#6 The average duration of unemployment in the United States is about three times as long as it was back in the year 2000.

#7 Despite what the mainstream media would have us to believe, the truth is that the percentage of working age Americans that are employed is not increasing. Back in March 2010, 58.5 percent of all working age Americans were employed. In March 2011, 58.5 percent of all working age Americans were employed. In March 2012, 58.5 percent of all working age Americans were employed. So how can Barack Obama and the mainstream media claim that the employment situation in the United States is getting better? The employment rate is still essentially exactly where it was when the last recession supposedly ended.

#8 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

#9 In 1962, 28 percent of all jobs in America were manufacturing jobs. In 2011, only 9 percent of all jobs in America were manufacturing jobs.

#10 In some areas of Detroit, Michigan you can buy a three bedroom home for just $500.

#11 According to one recent survey, approximately one-third of all Americans are not paying their bills on time at this point.

#12 Since Barack Obama entered the White House, the price of gasoline has risen by more than 100 percent.

#13 The student loan debt bubble continues to expand at a very frightening pace. Recently it was announced that total student loan debt in the United States has passed the one trillion dollar mark.

#14 Incredibly, one out of every four jobs in the United States pays $10 an hour or less at this point.

#15 Household incomes all over the United States continue to fall. After adjusting for inflation, median household income in America has declined by 7.8 percent since December 2007.

#16 Over the past several decades, government dependence has risen to unprecedented heights in the United States. The following is how I described the explosive growth of social welfare benefits in one recent article. Back in 1960, social welfare benefits made up approximately 10 percent of all salaries and wages. In the year 2000, social welfare benefits made up approximately 21 percent of all salaries and wages. Today, social welfare benefits make up approximately 35 percent of all salaries and wages.

#17 In November 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, more than 46 million Americans are on food stamps.

#18 Right now, more than 25 percent of all American children are on food stamps.

#19 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, today 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives some form of benefits from the federal government.

#20 Over the next 75 years, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars. That comes to $328,404for each and every household in the United States.

#21 During the first quarter of 2012, U.S. public debt rose by 359.1 billion dollars. U.S. GDP only rose by 142.4 billion dollars.

#22 At this point, the U.S. national debt is rising by more than 2 million dollars every single minute.

#23 The U.S. national debt has risen by more than 5 trillion dollars since the day that Barack Obama first took office. In a little more than 3 years Obama has added more to the national debt than the first 41 presidents combined.

#24 The Federal Reserve bought up approximately 61 percent of all government debt issued by the U.S. Treasury Department during 2011.

#25 The Federal Reserve continues to systematically destroy the value of the U.S. dollar. Since 1970, the U.S. dollar has lost more than 83 percent of its value.

Can we survive this as a Nation? or will this be Survival of individuals, groups and small communities?

Follow Up on Race War Potential as SHTF Event

Someone once told me that talking about and preparing for SHTF was actually going to make it happen. I don’t think I even replied to this goombah, since on the surface that reasoning would have no effect. But I am somewhat undecided how much I am willing to talk about race war, or violence separated along ethnic lines, as a threat to survival because as I see it the population in the U.S. has moved a lot closer to this potential in the last couple of months.

Upon bad economic times, or on the brink of economic collapse as we now find ourselves, the general population gets madder and more desperate over the things they have no control over, so when something occurs that they can act against, they are generally more inclined to act out of that anger or desperation.

When the situation truly becomes desperate,….no food on the shelves or hyper inflation where your money won’t buy the necessary items to survive, ……this is when the potential for race based violence exponentially escalates.

It puts us a lot closer now when race based hate groups start spewing their hatred and rush to violence such as with the radical black militia movement, who are no worse than their white racial hate based counterparts, start calling for “getting ready for war with the whites.

It is widely reported in real news media, not the liberal press, about the New Black Panthers having a tele-conference last month to discuss the planned rally for Trayvon Martin who was mortally shot by George Zimmerman in Florida, weeks before that.

Here is a transcript from Breitbart.com through the Blaze concerning this tele-conference:

Michelle Williams, the New Black Panther’s chief of staff, and Chawn Kweli, a New Black Panther’s national spokesman, provide a incredibly hate filled call to violence which should have every Survivalists concerned because it’s not about justice, it’s about hatred not just of whites, but have the whole U.S. culture. A culture that is not perfect and a culture most of us Survivalist hope to maintain, but are prepared to survive its collapse.

Williams: “I just want to say to all the listeners on this phone call, that if you are having any doubt about getting suited, booted, and armed up for this race war that we’re in that has never ended, let me tell you somethin…the thing that’s about to happen these honkies, these crackers, these pigs, these people, these motherf***er…it has been long overdue.”

Kweli: “Ya, what she said was right– we got to suit up and boot up…and get prepared for the war that we’re in…this stuff got to boil over, and all your great’s talked about that happened to be bloodshed involved with revolution- true revolution means some bloodshed, so there‘s blood being spilled because there’s a new life that is beyond this bloodshed. There is a new reality that is built upon your original African principles and spiritualities and values and norms that is beyond this bloodshed. But we gotta go do it.”

“And as the Scripture said, you gotta to cross it. We gon’ have to cross the Red Sea….I know y’all thought it was talking about some sea in some Middle Eastern part of the world- hell no. We’re talking about some blood. You’re gonna have to cross some blood, and go through some blood and some battles.”

“And there are those who wish they could stand in this hour, to see the destruction of the devil‘s world and the devil’s society- and I‘m ain’t talking about no dude underneath the ground with a pitchfork and pantyhose. I’m talking about that blonde haired, blue-eyed, sometimes brown-eyed, Caucasian walkin around with a mindset, a demonistic mindset, and a nature to do evil and brutality.”

Williams: “I say to everyone that is on this call right now, I‘m comin’ out of the gate…my prize right now this evening is going to be the bounty, the arrest– dead or alive– for George Zimmerman. You feel me? To every brother, to every female, I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man’s problem just to avoid violence. You feel me? It’s time to wake up, I don’t know how else...It’s in me to fight. It’s in me to raise up soldiers. It’s in me that every time my feet touch the ground the state of Florida- these crackers- they scared.”

“I’m kinda pissed off right now that the state of Florida ain’t on fire. This could not have happened in L.A. because them brothers up there are not scared to riot. This could not have happened in St. Petersburg Florida , where the black man over there are ain’t scared to kill a cracker.”

Kweli: “This is real. We’re attacked anywhere in the world and we would defend ourselves by any means necessary…You starve capitalism, since this racism that‘s being perpetuated and this brutality that’s being perpetuated, and this murder that’s being perpetuated, is built on the table legs of capitalism, you’ve got to starve capitalism.

“An act of war has been declared on us and we have no choice but to fight…[But] we have to be trained how to fight. See the whole purpose of the maneuver that’s happening in Sanford is to train in self-defense, because many of us think we’re prepared for a battle- just like many of us think we’re prepared for a fight- but if you are not training, if you are not stocking up water, if you are not stocking up food, if you are not stocking up weapons and artillery and survival books, and gas masks, and flashlights, and canteens, and ready-to-eat meals…if you are not stocking that up I don’t know how serious we are right now.

“Absolutely, we want the complete removal of capitalism. Why? Because capitalism sets up a class structure and a class society. As I said in the beginning of the “haves” and “have nots,” [the] pivotal point is racism, it is racism that keeps them perpetuating a capitalistic motion. So yes, we want capitalism completely eradicated, especially from the minds and hearts and dealings of black people.”

Maybe now that George Zimmerman is being tried for Manslaughter, the hew and cry for racial violence may subside for a bit.  But maybe not as it has even spawned racial violence, black on white in several locations.  Even if it does, racial violence will continue to simmer just below the surface for decades, if not generations to come.  I don't think it will ever become the reason for a collapse, just an off shoot of it as, again, those bad economic times effect everyone.  And cutting off the ability to provide for your family when there are 48 million people already on foods stamps already sets up potential and massive violence.

I re-learned a lesson just the other day on the importance of PACE plan planning . PACE, of course, stands for “Primary, Alternative, Contingency and Emergency” or otherwise just an acronym to remember to have contingency plans. The idea is to have an alternate method of plan to immediately (and hopefully seamlessly) transition to when the primary plan cannot be executed. Much like carrying a rifle and a handgun, if the rifle runs dry or has a malfunction, the shooter can transition to the handgun, often times, much quicker than resolving an empty rifle or malfunction.

The lesson I learned was in route planning. I work in an office close to the heart of the city. I have a 26 mile drive (21 miles line of sight) to get from my suburban home to work. Like a lot of people going to and from work each day, I have alternate routes based on any construction or traffic delays, but in my survivalist mindset these are also Bug Out Routes.

I fully understand that a catastrophic event like a nuclear attack or terrorist strike, or industrial accident like a train wreck releasing toxic chemicals, or some crazy government announcement could cause a mass migration effect from the city and block even the highest speeds avenues of approach (the road network).

I have analyzed my routes and the chokepoints be they bridges, four lanes going to two lanes, intersections around Wal-marts, etc., that could be clogged up with panicked people and all sorts of possibilities.

The “E” of my Bug Out Route PACE plan is moving on foot. Twenty One miles carrying my “all the time” Bug Out bag and bits and pieces of kit from my supplemental bag in my trunk. In a perfect world, I could easily make this trek in seven to eight hours. If I have to bypass crowds or identified threats, or hunker down to let threats by-pass me then this journey could take over night. In fact, there would be some situations where using the cover of darkness may be preferable. I carry two cell phones, one from work and the other a personal cell phone, and a FRS radio in my Bug Out Bag so I can keep my people informed of my progress.

So, back to the lesson I learned,.....several days ago I left work to find traffic backed up bumper to bumper for miles. The radio said there was a massive accident involving a tractor-trailer and several cars. As I was mentally planning to access an alternate route I also heard on the radio that were accidents at locations which would have blocked off my access to these routes. I could have just sat in traffic waiting for the accident to clear and later I found out that it would have been a 2 to 2 ½ hour wait, and as it was I thought “jeez, now I have found some holes in my route planning,…who would have thought there was a possibility of accidents blocking all my planned route, but then again these accidents could have just as easily been a mass of people leaving the city.”

Then I thought “what if this was one of those collapse events and I would absolutely need to get home”, what would I do? I briefly thought about parking the car, grabbing my BOB and heading out on foot. There was no threat and it would be good to rehearse this plan, but I really needed to find an alternate route as of yet unknown to me. I remembered an medical office building construction site, adjacent to a park which was adjacent to a golf course.

I ended up taking that route,..was able to navigate over a couple curbs in my vehicle and eventually accessed the gold course parking lot then a suburban street which lead around all the wrecks on the main avenues. I called my wife and had her turn on our FRS base station and tested my FRS hand held at intervals back to my house, until I was about 400 yards from my house when I eventually made commo with her. I have made an intentionally decision not to routinely carry one of our VHF radios, but now may have to re-look that.

An additional benefit from determining a new vehicle route on the fly is that this route now becomes my primary foot route as it provides more cover and concealment, and hole-ups places. Not to mention water sources at both the park and golf course. My lesson learned from all this to practice what I preach,…..develop a PACE plan AND rehearse the damn thing to determine possible holes and necessary changes.

Conversation between Survivalists

I spent a couple hours this past weekend talking with another like-minded survivalist,…I’ll call him “Greg”. We call ourselves that, rather than the term "preppers", as we are both getting on in years and the term survivalists is an older term. I was actually introduced to the concept circa 1979.

Greg stopped by to show me his surplus 7x57mm Mauser that he had just bought and also bought some 500 odd surplus rounds for it. I was a little surprised as I know him to own several modern rifles including M4 variants, M1A1 types and even a semi-auto AK or two. He said if for nothing more, he can use it for barter or trade, or equip any strap-hangers who he absorbs into his group. He also bought $150 worth of dehydrated food this month.

I asked him if something was telling him to step up his preparations and he said he may be compensating because both his daughter and son are going off to college and he may be trying to quiet his anxiety with them being gone by stocking more. We spent some time discussing potential for a collapse coming from economic collapse, terrorist attack, natural disasters including disease pandemics and general off shoots that would occur such as violence and anarchy initially along economically divided groups which may degenerate into violence along racial lines, sadly enough.

One of Greg’s points is that the population shifts on relative small economic factors. The media is fomenting a notion that the economy is getting better,…gas prices dropped a little,….and among the sheep population there is very little of a foreboding sense. What people fail to comprehend is the effects of the global economy on the U.S. Greece is having a hard time putting together a coalition government to address debt and spending reform. France just hired a socialist who vowed to tax the wealthy at 75%. The economies of Spain and Portugal are tanking and now even Germany is having problems. We may see the Euro go the way of the dinosaur.

All in all a depressing day actually. But one that caused me to re-visit the fact that I haven't done too much in the past couple of months, but caused me to head down to a hardware store on Monday afternoon and buy a 550 gallon hard impact plastic water blivet which looks strange as hell in the corner of my suburban back yard, but not as strange as the looks of one of my neighbors when a friend of mine and me off loaded it and worked it into the back yard over my fence. I plan to fill it with a garden hose and always keep it full, re-filling it as I use it for the garden, which incidentally I planted early because of the early Spring. I have egg plant, cucumber and squash all coming up now.