I have had a number of people comment that I must be a very pessimistic person to worry about such things as financial collapses, hyper-inflation, earthquakes, fires, floods, terrorist attacks, nuclear meltdowns and other Armageddon scenarios…

The truth is that I am a very optimistic person. I just believe in preparation, and in dealing with reality as I see it.

I remember the 1973 oil embargo and how a bunch of sheiks in the Gulf cause gas shortages– long lines and high prices.

I was a teenager during the Carter years. I watched his pathetic leadership over a terrible economy with massive unemployment, high interest rates and stagflation… I watched this perfect storm destroy my father’s business startup due not to lack of orders but to lack of operating capital. I remember the Iranian hostages and feeling anger that our inept leaders couldn’t deal with these revolutionary terrorists…

Those were dark days for America, every bit as dark as it seems now, but I was always optimistic about my future and America’s future. I enrolled at Georgia Tech in 1980 to become a Helluva an Engineer!

In my first Quarter of college, Ronald Reagan was elected to the Presidency, and it really was like Morning in America… people were optimistic again starting with the release of the hostages coincident with his Inauguration (the first to face West towards the Mall and the country of America)…

It took some time to come to fruition, but Reagan’s conservative ideas led an economic recovery that lasted 20 years, based on lower taxes and less dependence on Federal Government… based on self-reliance and “Peace through Strength”…

Fast forward twenty years… the towers fall on 9/11… our economy briefly falters and recovers…

We have had massive fraud and government incompetence that led to the credit (and housing) bubble that is now crippling the world’s economies.

We have elected a Socialist as the President and given him a press full of myrmidons, and a liberal Congress eager to lick his boots…

But I remain optimistic about our future. Because we value freedom and self-reliance.

Most Americans know that there is no such thing as a Free Lunch. There is no free healthcare just like there is no Santa Claus. And the government can’t run anything efficiently. There is always long waits, incompetent service and piss poor attitudes, and it always costs twice as much as the private sector. Since we are so used to decent service and short waits, any attempt to nationalize vital services will end up in failure– sooner rather than later.

We just need a leader like Ronald Reagan to tell the truth to us, and lead us in the necessary direction. We will find this leader. This doesn’t mean that there won’t be tough times to get through– our past binges almost guarantee some level of pain. And unraveling all the promises made by past leaders will be hard.

But I believe in the ultimate resourcefulness of Man, and in our productive capacity. We just need the government to provide us national security, a justice system, and a transportation infrastructure and otherwise stay out of our way. This make take a while but there are still good days ahead. But we need to survive till they get here…

A great question from regular reader and all-around good guy Lynn Lane:

Where is the best place to stash extra cash, gold or silver coins? In house in a safe or safety deposit box at the bank?

Lynn, first of all let’s talk about safe deposit boxes…

Although these are good for some things, they are not very useful for emergency cash or survival gold and silver.

Why?  

In the event of a financial crisis, it is conceivable that banks could be closed and you might have no access to your assets.  And it might be a while before you can get back at them…

So, these emergency items needs to be stored in your home. But they need to be secure in your home. So, your home needs to be secure and protected and the valuables need to be stored intelligently. We will talk in future posts about home security which encompasses at least four major topics for discussion:

In the next week or so, we will talk about each of these topics in greater detail… as we continue to discuss the other items for our 72 Hour Emergency Kit…

Thanks for the great question, Lynn!  (and I look forward to discussing personal protection and self defense with you in greater detail with my readers)

PS: The picture is not intended as my recommendation for your home defense!  As one astute reader pointed out, this is not likely to pass most Homeowners Associations Bylaws because of the lack of coordinated colors.

Be Prepared.

That’s the motto of the Boy Scouts.

“Be prepared for what?” someone once asked Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting,

“Why, for any old thing.” said Baden-Powell.

When a disaster hits– and you are without power and water– you are prepared because you have food and water and other supplies at the ready;

When someone has an accident, you are prepared because of your first aid instruction and supplies;

When the emergency services are overloaded, and others are calling 911 to try and get help, your family is safe and sound…

You are part of the recovery effort, not part of the problem…

Be prepared for life – to live happily and without regret, knowing that you have done your best. That’s what the Scout motto means.

A brief break from our regular survival tips…

While we are busy surviving, we need to remain optimistic and hopeful of better days to come…

I filmed this at the Springsteen concert in Giants Stadium on October 8, 2009 from the Pit… see all my videos on my YouTube account if you like The Boss…

For anyone reading this that thinks that it seems a bit crazy or excessive to spend money to solve a “problem” that they consider “highly unlikely” or that brings you worry just to think about… what about Insurance?

We all spend money to insure ourselves against potential losses, many of which are highly unlikely:

Home- we insure the value of our homes against fire and other natural disasters;
Auto- we are insured against accidents and related medical expenses/liability expenses;
Liability/Umbrella- we are insured against someone suing us for inadvertent damages;
Health- we are insured against health costs, especially catastrophic illness or accident;
Disability- we are insured against loss of income due to illness or accident;
Life- we insure our family so they are taken care of if we die prematurely;

And there are other forms of insurance as well…

Most people spend money on Insurance every year IN THE HOPE THAT THEY NEVER USE IT.

This is a useful mindset to think about your financial investment in getting prepared for a potential emergency situation– it’s SURVIVAL INSURANCE.  We are insuring our family against natural disaster, pandemic, monetary collapse, terrorist attack, or other threat that could disrupt the regular society safety net we are all dependent on…

And you get the added benefit that most of the things you spend money on (food, water, etc) will be useful to you in your daily life as well.

Think of Preparation Costs as another insurance expense and budget $100, $250 or $500 a month to getting this “Survival Insurance” in place. At the very least, you’ll have improved peace of mind knowing you have done what you can to prepare.  And if the unthinkable happens, it could save your family’s lives…

I want to address a couple of comments on yesterday’s  post about the US economy NOT being in a recovery. 

First, one from Kevin Hogan and then another from Lisa M.

Kevin Hogan commented on the fact that Unemployment is likely worse than the 9.8% that is being reported.

The higher unemployment number Kevin was referring to is called U-6.  This is the broader measure of unemployment and this is the one that hit 25-30% during the Great Depression. Here are the various versions of unemployment that are used by the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics)…

U-1 Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force

U-2 Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force

U-3 Total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate)  **This is the 9.8% figure***

U-4 Total unemployed plus discouraged workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers

U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers

U-6 Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers  (this is the one that is at 17.0% currently seasonally adjusted)

Here is a link to these Alternative unemployment measures for the past ten years by month.  Thanks for the comment Kevin!

And yesterday Lisa M. stated… “Ok, so now that I am sufficiently depressed, scared out of my mind, and completely anxious, what next?”

My intent is not to depress anyone, or scare them out of their minds.  It is to make people aware that there are threats that might affect us all that require preparation.  Awareness of threat is the first stage to preparation. 

What next?  Keep reading this blog and I will try hard to answer that question.  A good first step is to start planning to have food and water on hand that would feed your family for at least a month.  We can build from there…

I might make this a regular Sunday thing where I address comments and questions from readers.  I have a lot of questions to answer already and I will be getting to them all in the months ahead.  This is a serious and complicated topic– preparation for survival.   I am learning along with you on some of these topics. 

Glad to have you reading and commenting…

W. Edwards Deming said of business and their need to adapt modern techniques and improve quality…

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”

I am going to rework this and use it as a tag-line from now on…

It is not necessary to prepare…
Your survival is not mandatory…

The fact that you are reading this blog tells me that you are aware that preparation is good.  I want you and your family to be able to weather any storm, and to outlast any crisis.   The more people that are prepared, the quicker and easier it will be to recover…

Thanks for reading my blog, I really appreciate it.

And I want you and your family TO SURVIVE!

Quick one today…

Stop believing what the newspapers and TV talking heads tell you is going on, and observe for yourself…

(for the most part the main stream media in the US are nothing more than glorified Obama cheerleaders and you can’t count on them for objectivity in anything)…

Watch the financial news on the Internet– not just the stock market rally– look at how industries are faring.  Look at the real estate sales figures and automobile sales and factory orders. 

The only areas that are showing any temporary “growth” are those areas that are subsidized heavily by the government.  (cash for clunkers, first time home buyer $8000 credit, bank bailouts,…)

Does anyone really think that the rest of the world is going to allow us to borrow $1.5-$2 TRILLION per year (enough money to make more than a million people millionaires) for very much longer?

There are good reasons to be concerned about the US economy and the banking system.  And the EU isn’t in much better shape with all of their worthless loans to emerging countries on the books still. 

Be aware of what is going on, don’t be surprised… BE PREPARED!

How long would you be able to comfortably survive if the stores and gas stations were all closed? You need to have enough food to live comfortably for AT LEAST one month (I will try to convince you that an even longer term supply is a good idea but we have to start somewhere).

Food and water are two main issues and we discuss them at length elsewhere on this site.  But there are many other things we buy at stores. (Keep track of everything you vuy outside the house for a week or month if you aren’t convinced).

Gas supplies can be disrupted by weather far away as well as world events. And once a “Run” starts on gas, the lines get long quickly and the pumps run dry. If you need gas to evacuate you could be out of luck. It is a good habit to keep your vehicles fairly full of gas at all times in case of a sudden emergency.  I try to keep my tanks at least 3/4 full unless I am travelling a very long distance in the same day in shich case I refill at 1/4 tank.  Overnight I try to always have at least 3/4 full.

In addition, it is a smart idea to have a tank of gas stored outside at your home in 6 gallon gas cans (the red plastic kind).  Gas can keep for about a year without adding stabilizers so just be sure to use your “spare gas” every 6 months or so and refill the containers.  You chould have enough to fill the tanks of each of your vehicles one time.

In a major disaster you might be on your own for a long while.  And there might not be any emergency services (police, fire, medical) available to you.  You need to strive for self-sufficiency in this situation.  And the only way to be able to do this is to plan ahead to have everything you need.

Today, as you go about your daily routines pay special attention to all the times that you use the following: electricity, natural gas and tap water…

Imagine that they all stopped working at the same time…

How would that impact your life?  There are many situations where these utilities could be cut-off for an indefinite period of time– Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, electrical grid failure, financial panic, etc.

You should have plans in place to live for AT LEAST a month without any utilities at any time of the year (very hot to freezing cold depending on where you live).

Electricity and gas is used for heating/cooling (shelter), cooking, hygiene (hot water), lighting, communications (tv, radio, Internet), security, powering tools, entertainment and many other things.

You need to have alternatives in case of an emergency.  This could be a generator to run a portion of your electrical needs, along with plenty of fuel to power the generator.  It could be propane camp stoves and grills and plenty of propane tanks for cooking.  It could be a wood-burning stove and plenty of wood to keep you warm. It could be a lot of blankets and cold weather sleeping bags and space blankets as well.  For light, you might stock lanterns that run on kerosene or White gas.  Or flashlights and lots of batteries. Or decent emergency candles that last a while.  And you do have plenty of matches, and lighters and maybe even spare cans of butane to refill them…

In the case of water, you can’t survuve more than about three days without it.  The average person needs about a gallon a day including cooking and cleaning needs.  So, for each person in your family you need 30 gallons to make it a month.  Bottled eater is one way to store water for a long time and it is relatively portable (and heavy) if you need to evacuate.

Think about it, would you be able to survive OK without utilities? for a week? for a month?