Hi all,
I'd love some input into something that probably seems obvious to the experienced, but is sometimes hard for a newbie to piece together as you can't see the wood for the trees.
I thought I'd mention three topics which I had not until recently put together, which hopefully helps other newbies with their plans. . .
Topic 1:
Crutch and Kev have both recently commented on the three levels of preparedness -
the prepper - who stockpiles food for 1 month to 24 month problems
the survivalist - who can hunt and live off the land
the homesteader - who effectively lives in the agricultural age and is fully self sufficient.
Despite lurking on the boards for months, I never made this distinction and it has helped me immeasurably.
Topic 2:
I have been reading "Hard Times" by Studs Terkel, which details a wide cross section of society's experience during the Great Depression. The people interviewed describe how they got by, the direct implications of the great depression on them and even in some cases how they became rich from it.
Frequently, the person struggling mentions things like "I managed to get work down the docs", or "I got a bit of work along the rail roads", or " I worked at the steel mill" to at least buy a minimal amount of food.
Cash was absolutely king in terms of purchasing power of repossessed farms, cheap food etc.
Topic 3:
Most of us (the US, UK and Australia) have moved over time from an agricultural economy, to a manufacturing economy and now to a service economy.
Topics Combined:
A depression is likely to last a very long time - the 1929 crash lasted until the war, a whole decade and would have continued much longer. So preppers are not going to be able to stockpile enough to last. Survialists will hunt all the game out of existence very quickly.
Once the food is gone, unemployed people will not survive by getting occasional work at the mills or ports - because those jobs simply don't exist anymore and those that few that remain are no longer as labour intensive as in the 1920s. In a service economy, your work options, once they crash, are very limited. And being a service economy, we can't make stuff to stimulate the economy back into shape.
So I'd love to hear opinions, but I think this means that effective planning MUST now involve setting up a complete homestead and storing PM's to secure further land/businesses etc at a much lower future value, to provide future income in the eventual rebound. Just prepping won't be enough (assuming you believe that we get a repeat of the Great Depression)
Seems stupid, but until yesterday I hadn't pieced the different parts in a picture, which now makes my previous preps (just food, water and power) a bit inadequate.
Do you agree, or do i need to add more to the picture?
I'd love some input into something that probably seems obvious to the experienced, but is sometimes hard for a newbie to piece together as you can't see the wood for the trees.
I thought I'd mention three topics which I had not until recently put together, which hopefully helps other newbies with their plans. . .
Topic 1:
Crutch and Kev have both recently commented on the three levels of preparedness -
the prepper - who stockpiles food for 1 month to 24 month problems
the survivalist - who can hunt and live off the land
the homesteader - who effectively lives in the agricultural age and is fully self sufficient.
Despite lurking on the boards for months, I never made this distinction and it has helped me immeasurably.
Topic 2:
I have been reading "Hard Times" by Studs Terkel, which details a wide cross section of society's experience during the Great Depression. The people interviewed describe how they got by, the direct implications of the great depression on them and even in some cases how they became rich from it.
Frequently, the person struggling mentions things like "I managed to get work down the docs", or "I got a bit of work along the rail roads", or " I worked at the steel mill" to at least buy a minimal amount of food.
Cash was absolutely king in terms of purchasing power of repossessed farms, cheap food etc.
Topic 3:
Most of us (the US, UK and Australia) have moved over time from an agricultural economy, to a manufacturing economy and now to a service economy.
Topics Combined:
A depression is likely to last a very long time - the 1929 crash lasted until the war, a whole decade and would have continued much longer. So preppers are not going to be able to stockpile enough to last. Survialists will hunt all the game out of existence very quickly.
Once the food is gone, unemployed people will not survive by getting occasional work at the mills or ports - because those jobs simply don't exist anymore and those that few that remain are no longer as labour intensive as in the 1920s. In a service economy, your work options, once they crash, are very limited. And being a service economy, we can't make stuff to stimulate the economy back into shape.
So I'd love to hear opinions, but I think this means that effective planning MUST now involve setting up a complete homestead and storing PM's to secure further land/businesses etc at a much lower future value, to provide future income in the eventual rebound. Just prepping won't be enough (assuming you believe that we get a repeat of the Great Depression)
Seems stupid, but until yesterday I hadn't pieced the different parts in a picture, which now makes my previous preps (just food, water and power) a bit inadequate.
Do you agree, or do i need to add more to the picture?
