Saturday, December 11, 2010

We're Doomed! Doomed!

...Hell of it is, we probably are. Stansberry and Associates are creating controversy and turning a tidy profit by telling you about it as a way of selling subscriptions to their service; and since it's prognostication, who's to say he's wrong? Trouble is, they have a mildly mixed reputation; when the first Google return for your name that isn't you contains fighting words like "scam," I gotta suggest the ol' emptor might wanna grain of caveat or two.

On the other hand -- the U. S. Dollar is in sad straits and fixing to become sadder, even with tough ol' Ron Paul on course to be chairing the committee that has oversight on the bureaucrats who advise the Fed on-- aw, we're doomed: onions have fewer layers.

You do need to have half a year's food set back (we're three months shy at Roseholme) and water, too (OMG, we have maybe a month); and though it is flat over the long term, gold has the advantage of holding purchasing power while the value of cash money plummets. (There's people swear by silver, which is way below the famous 16:1 ratio. Spin the wheel if you can afford it, I guess). And do those things not because doom is imminently imminent but because it is never all that far away; one winter storm, one tornado, one major illness or accident, one layoff can have you digging into your reserves and getting through -- if you have them.

Interestingly, as talk of a Coming Collapse or Greater Depression-Like-Thingie (GDLT, you read it here first, folks) is bandied about, I've been reading a very apt "seminal book of libertarian thought" that few folks seem to have read: Rose Wilder Lane's The Discovery of Freedom. (Go to Tam's Amazon link, buy a copy. You won't be sorry).

Ms. Lane's thesis, at least in the early going, is that while Government may be inevitable, it is invariably self-destructive as well; for every "service" a government renders past the bare minimum takes away energy that could be put to productive use; Government must inevitably grow to survive (since it accrues layer upon layer); and although "...there is a natural limit to the amount of human energy that Government can waste...," but "because men in Government are using...force, they have no means of knowing what this natural limit is." [Lane, op. cit. p 54, italics in the original].

She opines that societies only grow and prosper when Government is kept small enough that productive effort is not hampered; once Government has got big enough to meddle in economic activity, real progress comes to an end and they coast on past glories, eating up more and more productive capacity in parasitic routine until things fall apart. Government is simply a very complex self-unpowering machine that happens to provide police and courts.

Like that. Only with a lot more steps between "go" and "stopped."

5 comments:

B said...

Food is easy, we have that and more...

But storing 60+ plus liters of water?

(1 liter MINIMUM per person per day....2.5 is more like what you need.)

Better to get a filter and a source for water.

YMMV

Ancient Woodsman said...

Loved the video! Thanks for that.

Prepping is a personal responsibility, not a gov't one. Waiting to be 'saved' by the gov't is the opposite of personal responsibility.

We're no LDSs but are well-prepared, and had to fall back on the preps this year. Lost half our household income for about seven months thanks to the wonderful advent of a global economy. Now the bank account is very low, reserves of food depleted, but we are again paying bills on time and had the pleasure of a mini-vacation to the big city and sharing lots of family time for the holidays. Frankly we wouldn't have been able to stay here (3 generations in one house) if not well prepped. Can't recommend it enough - we started when we had 4 generations under this roof, and it pays off.

There's nothing new to this by the way. Prepping is actually very old school and if only a hobby or fad just plain won't work.

Things may be getting worse, but its not the GD yet - although you hit the nail with the GDLT phrase. Kudos & thanks.

rickn8or said...

While gold and silver are good for conserving your wealth in a time of crisis, investments in copper, lead and brass are good for conserving your gold and silver assets.

And yes, I DO believe the fecal matter is about to hit the rotary ventilator, currency-wise.

If only I could convince my son and d-i-l to bag a$$ out of SFO with my grandson, I'd be a much more relaxed person.

Stranger said...

Rose Wilder (who probably was the actual author of the Little House stores) Lane's Discovery of Freedom was one of the books my class was assigned when it came out in 1943.

Some moderns get all bent outta shape because "the history is incorrect." It is the history as it was taught in backwoods schools in the 1890's, and other wise it is correct.

Discovery of Freedom should still be mandatory reading before graduation. Twice.

Those who have not read it are depriving themselves.

Mr. B - from experience, water need is measured in gallons, not liters. And don't forget pets. Monolithic makes a GOOD filter.

Stranger

perlhaqr said...

Mr. B: Easier said than done, some places. Out here in the Desert Southwest, and I'm not sure a liter a day is anywhere near enough.

Got about a month worth of supplies. Gotta work on that. But dangit, I got nowhere to store it all...