After The Collapse...

I was not going to post this because it is scary and it will scare people, and I truly hope it never, ever comes to this,but perhaps that is what just might be needed. If you think it is overboard, then so be it, but after studying various collapses, including the Great Depression in this country, I thought it might be necessary to understand just what can happen during such
periods.

Forgive me please if it upsets you, I apologize in advance and ask your forgiveness.

Our society floats, indeed it drifts on certain well-placed and deeply ingrained assumptions about our country, its stability and it future. Long ago it forsook the single stabilizing force it had: Constitutional Common-Sense and Order. I hope the following never happens, but the way things look it would do well that we should prepare for such eventualities.

As we are currently seeing, the economy is taking a particularly pernicious turn, but all that we see now is mild, a pre-cursor to a far more difficult stage to follow. As economic dislocations become more and more frequent, defaults multiply as profits are drained by the massive burden of debt that supports the economy. Massive closures and layoffs with unemployment rapidly increasing to unimaginable levels. The economy begins to seize piece by piece until it shuts down in systematic collapse. Hyperinflation eats through the economy like a cankerworm through a ripe harvest. The tattered government will attempt to create various programs to no avail, monetary policies will prove worthless, and job creation schemes will be overwhelmed by exponential increases in joblessness.

It will be vital that if you live in a city that you have a safe escape route planned and at the very beginning of the collapse you make your way out of the most dangerous place to be during that time and that place is urban areas. It is very important that your plans include a safe-haven, a place to take refuge during the first few months of the decay. Ideally, if we could somehow form a network of safe-zones, a network of like-minded people who have not only prepared for such eventualities, but who can support those who are in urban areas during this most dangerous period. I am not sure just how that could be accomplished, but I have a deep gut feeling that it is very necessary.

During the seize phases, there will be an increase of shortages, shortages in fuel will bring about shortages of just about everything else we can imagine, like food, common everyday consumer items, medicine and then will come outages of utilities, transportations systems breaking down, infrastructures falling apart. The people who are so accustom to getting their milk, bread and butter from the grocery store shelves, pumping their gas from the convenience stores will be dumbfounded to find the shelves empty, the pumps dry.

The vast majority of the population will be stupefied; even most of those in our government and the major corporations, yes and even the elite will stumble about in utter confusion and despair. As hyperinflation takes its final toll, the penniless people will look to an equally penniless government to no avail, there will be no help coming from “on-high”. As profits dry up so do the services, including the profitable health-care business in this country. Yes, there will be Martial Law until the government itself succumbs to the plague of monetary collapse, then it is every man, woman and child for himself. Community will be extremely important, a prepared people, like-minded families of friends that can be counted on in such times. It will be almost tribal in the beginning, and then it will evolve into a medieval society in many respects.

For the few people who do own their property outright, their safety, especially in urban areas, will be questionable. Initially, the massive numbers of homelessness wander, raiding what stored goods are available to them, or stealing goods they suspect of being hidden, eventually the homeless hoards will become squatters, taking any property that will offer a degree of shelter and safety. As the massive confused and bewildered hoards will eventually migrate, like beasts looking from greener pastures, they will trample through the countryside looking for subsistence. In the beginning, there will be a massive migration into the cities, when supplies are exhausted there, when the violence, pestilence and starvation take their deadly tolls, the migration will spread outward to suburban areas and then into the countryside. The selfishness of our society will find its expression during these dark times, people who were cold and selfish during the good times will be even much more cruel during the bad times.

So, what will be important? Obviously, friends and family, but beyond that there are certain things that will be immediately necessary and then there will be things that will be necessary over the long-term. Survival and security will be of the utmost importance, especially during the initial stages of the collapse. As the first few months of chaos turns into the first few years of growing despair, there will be some important elements of survival that needs to be understood. It is extremely important that we stock up on Heirloom Seeds now, they will be worth more than all the gold and silver in the world during the first few years after the collapse.

Some important things to know and remember is to avoid strangers at all costs, never get backed into a corner or in a location without knowing a route of safe escape, never travel alone or be outside a safe place at night, always be armed and always have some sort of trade goods on your person. After the collapse, our money will be no good, gold and silver will also be of little use during those first few years, but trade goods used for barter will be of immense value. It is important that we stock up now on various consumer goods such as razor blades, matches and cigarettes as well as lighters will be highly prized, so too will salt and spices, soap, rope, tools, medical and first aid supplies, fishing tackle, etc., but above everything else knowledge will be of the greatest value. It is important that we know trades, such as pottery making, blacksmithing, gardening, preserving foods, woodworking, etc. Those will be valued trades and those who can provide such abilities will be sought out.

As communities coalesce around trade routes, laws will gradually find their way back into society the question will be what type of law, what type of society? The principles we hold so dear must never die out, no matter how horrible the chaos, no matter how difficult the times. It will be very important that there is a remnant who hold the principles of Liberty and Honor upon which this country was once found in the highest regard, that a people serve as a reservoir for such principles.

For an interesting study, please refer to this website, it was written by a former Soviet citizen comparing the USSR with the US.

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23259