You have to prepare right now!
- Social Polarization
- Debt & Income Divide
- Global Economic Depression
- Climate Change
- Housing & Shelter Insecurity
- Public Health Crisis
- Solutions
The year twenty-twenty has been a wake up call to many about the need to become self-reliant and to prepare yourself to be ready to survive in a crisis situation or through a time of economic and social decay. From out of control wildfires, to civil unrest, to collapsing economies and wide scale unemployment, to hurricanes, to a derecho, to a pandemic, the year has brought a seemingly unstoppable wave after wave of compounding tragedies. For those in the prepping community, we finally have a little more credibility and appear less eccentric to our family and friends. For those new to prepping, you are probably realizing that it isn’t in your best interest to rely upon the local, state, or federal governments to swoop in and rescue you when you need them.
If you think twenty-twenty has been crazy so far, realize that it’s very likely the tip of the iceberg. It may very well just be the early indicators of the larger problems below the surface. The next decade is already the most tumultuous you may see in your lifetime, and we’re not even out of the first year of it. So, what’s next? What can we expect in the next ten years, and what should we prepare for?
In this blog, we will examine the top threats we can expect to come to a head and boil over during this next decade. While proper preparing requires us to prepare for a wide range of possibilities, preparing for one type of disaster helps us prepare for many different types of disasters. Proper preparing involves having your own solution in place when tragedy strikes, so in addition to looking at the top threats, we will look at simple solutions you can start plugging in today to make a difference and increase your odds of surviving. In many of our other blogs we do a deeper dive into the things we will discuss here, so I encourage you to explore the other blogs. So, what threatens our peace, sanity, and survival over this decade?
1) Social Polarization
We have faced periods of deep division before in United States history. From segregation to anti-war demonstrations to the rise of labor unions to a Civil War, America has had a history of tumultuous times. There is every indicator that we are entering a period of even deeper ideological division in America.
While there have been differences of opinion in the past, for the most part, Americans have rallied behind the common good and the desire to do the right thing. Politicians occasionally crossed the aisle to unify around a cause: poverty, homelessness, foreign conflicts, and so forth. Twenty-twenty has definitely shown deep ideological divisions between people, but a new aspect of this has been the abandonment of the desire for rational unity in favor of ad hominem arguments, name calling, finger pointing, and even the dehumanization of political opponents . With political parties being compared to Nazis, Communists, Demons or even labled pedohiles, there is little room left for civil discourse. These uncharacteristically aggressive attacks have emboldened some of the more extreme and fringe ideologies and brought them into the light and mainstream. Armed civilians have taken to the street and turned their weapons on other Americans. Bricks, tear gas, pepper spray, paintball guns, and real guns are being used in the same city streets where many of us shop or travel to work on. Left unchecked, we can expect a worsening of civility and an increase in civil unrest and heavy-handed government intrusion.
The solution, of course, is for unity and rallying around common humanitarian causes to strengthen our citizens and people, but when there are such great divisions and deeply entrenched beliefs, there doesn’t seem to be a solution on the horizon. As you prepare to survive this coming decade, prepare for civil unrest, the possible implementation of martial law, frequent lockdowns, and possible interruptions in utility and social services. Make sure you stay safe on the routes you travel and have alternate paths of travel should conflicts ignite.
2) Debt & Income Divide
You have heard politicians and economists discuss this for years. The Federal deficit continues to exponentially grow, so much right now that each wage earning American’s share of it would be one-hundred-eighty-six-thousand dollars and rising per person if we settled up today. Beyond the national debt, however, is individual debt. Minimum wage has not increased since the nineteen-seventies, yet the cost-of-living continues to rise. Many years ago, a single wage earner could support a nuclear family, buy a house, food, and decent transportation. Now, many work multiple jobs just to earn enough to make ends meet and still live paycheck to paycheck. Personal debt, as a result, increases.
As the economy falters, the wealthiest become wealthier, the middle class falter, and the poor have even less. The divisions between the haves and the have nots becomes greater. The parallels between the period before the French Revolution or the Weimar Republic are glaringly apparent. Are we heading into a larger period of civil unrest, and are we seeing the early embers of a larger revolution? If disparities continue as is or become greater, and compounded with a floundering economy and a relentless pandemic, we could very well be at the early to middle stages of an all out armed revolution. At the very least, on the current course, we can expect to see pockets of armed insurrection and heavy handed government crackdowns. We have already seen groups rise on both sides of the political spectrum who advocate for the overthrow of the status quo.
There may not be a solution to either America’s debt, individual debt, or the income disparities we face now and in the future. Things may get worse. Unfortunately, given the deep divisions discussed in the first point, a peaceful resolution to this deepening debt and income divide isn’t on the horizon. Be prepared yourself for the potential breakdown of established systems should these inequalities lead to civil conflicts.
3) Global Economic Depression
The global economic depression we face exacerbates the income gaps and further inflames people. Many are saying we are already sliding into an economic depression that will be greater than the Great Depression. Over thirty million people in the United States were unemployed. Twenty-seven percent of Americans did not make their rent or mortgage payment last month. Americans now owe more than twenty-one billion dollars in unpaid rent. In some states, over fifty percent of all renters are at risk of eviction. US bankruptcies are at the highest rate in ten years and expected still to surge in number. Restaurants are closing forever. Events and conferences, which employ thousands of workers each, have cancelled. Manufacturers are scaling back production. Airlines are laying off employees by the thousands. The IRS is predicting thirty-seven million fewer W-2’s this year. Globally, borders are closed, and world trade has plunged to the lowest levels on record.
Regardless of what stock markets around the world may want to indicate with their lofty indexes, the fact is that we have been sliding into a global economic depression for several months. Federal banks around the world are running out of mechanisms to keep money flowing. The fact is that the stock market is a poor indicator of economic health for the average American. A whopping eighty-four percent of all stocks owned by Americans belong to the wealthiest ten percent of households. And that includes everyone’s stakes in pension plans, four-Oh-one k’s and individual retirement accounts, as well as trust funds, mutual funds and college savings programs like five-twenty-nine plans. It’s great if your four-Oh-one k is doing well, but that’s a meaningless measure if you are thirty years from retirement and facing eviction or can’t afford groceries.
Remember that the last Great Depression lasted almost a decade. It’s reasonable to assume from most every economic indicator out there, that we are facing a downturn that could be worse than that period. Homlessness, food insecurity, migratory groups looking for work, possibly even shifts in government are all potentially at our doorstep. The need to be as self-reliant as you possibly can be has never been greater. Take a look at the other videos on this channel for how you can prepare yourself for the potential economic collapse and second great depression we may be staring in the eyes of right now.
4) Climate Change
Climate change has been argued ad nauseum. Whether it is stoked by man made emissions or a natural cycle of the Earth really doesn’t matter. That is just arguing the cause instead of dealing with the results. The facts are that global CO Two levels have continued to rise year-after-year. The facts are that we have seen higher temperatures, bigger storms, dryer conditions leading to worse fire seasons. Higher temperature climates are also tied to human health in a number of ways, so the frequency of some diseases and viruses is higher. As a result of more extreme weather patterns, you may actually be left feeling “under the weather.”
While all the arguing about the whys and hows the climate has or has not changed has been going on, the effects keep getting worse. Even if you think the climate changing is some grand hoax, you can’t argue that storms, wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters are simply going to go away. Storms are bigger and their frequency and timing have become greater and more chaotic. We can expect this trend to continue through the next decade, and every chart you look at slopes up.
What this means to the prepper is that the threat of natural disasters is higher. Even if you don’t live in a typical zone, as the recent dericho in Iowa, your food supplies could be significantly interrupted. In that August tenth event, about fourteen million acres, or fifty-seven percent of Iowa’s planted area, were impacted by the storm, which unleashed winds of over one hundred miles per hour. Add to this people displaced by fires, or hurricanes, and even the most stable of climate zones in the United States risk significant disruptions. If you don’t believe that climate change is real or you don’t want to believe in it, that is okay too; but you still need to prepare for natural disasters. Those aren’t going away because somebody might refuse to believe.
Is there a solution we can plug in to mitigate the disastrous effects of climate change? We don’t know. What we do know is that we need to be individually prepared and not bury our heads in the sand or rely upon the government’s efforts to bail us out or evacuate us when disaster does strike.
5) Housing & Shelter Insecurity
Housing and shelter insecurity is a major threat for many in the next ten years. In January of twenty-nineteen, seventeen out of ten thousand people experienced homelessness on a single night. That’s around a half million people in the United States. That’s a lot of people, but if these evictions, bankruptcies, foreclosures, and natural disasters continue, that half a million people could seem like nothing. The social network in place to provide some care for these people is already underfunded and strained to its maximum. What happens if this number doubles to a million or higher?
Can we sustain a large scale loss of housing security? The chances are that people, just like during the depression and the dust bowl, will set out to new areas of America where jobs and resources might be possible. Will they cross your land to get there? How will you receive them? If you are on the move, trying to forge a better or any life for yourself, what resources will you still have?
The fact is that many of those who are currently renting, if trends continue, will be evicted within the coming months. The fact is that many of those who live in homes and pay a mortgage will lose those homes and compete for rental properties. We could be facing the biggest housing insecurity crisis of our lifetimes. Do you have the basic necessities you need to survive if you are turned out to the streets, the local park, the woods, or deeper trails?
6) Public Health Crisis
In many previous videos I have warned about our pharmaceutical dependence on foreign countries. The fact is that we have a high dependence on pharmaceuticals and very little understanding remaining of medicinal plants. We have several blogs about foraging and what plants to look for, but you have to understand that the medicines you rely upon to survive may not be there anymore. What will you do then?
While herbs and medicinal plants may not alleviate all your symptoms, they may be good enough to carry you through. So, do you know what you need, are you growing it, or do you know where it grows to get you through a prolonged crisis?
Beyond your daily needs, realize that as hospital beds fill with pandemic patients, or new viruses become prevalent because global climates warm, or you just get sick from a bad taco, your health is your responsibility in a public health crisis.
As we saw with SARS-CoV-2, hospital beds can swiftly become in short supply. Pandemics are not in the realm of the unimaginable. Medical procedures can be delayed. Our reliance on being able to call a doctor or a twenty-four hour on call service to inquire about our medical needs may be a thing of our past. Maybe that service was tied to our employer who recently laid us off because of the recent economic downturn.
Whatever the reason, the answer is for us and millions like us, to take our health and safety into our own hands. As a nation, we are facing a health emergency and crisis that we have not seen before in this age of modern medicine. Twenty-one-point-eight million people work in the healthcare industry in the United States, but what happens when half those people are unemployed?
So, if you have asthma, what herbs can you take to help you in an emergency? If you have diabetes, what can you take and what should you eat? If you have a cut or a broken bone, whom can you turn to to assist you. You need to consider these public health choices now. You will not have time in the future, when the emergency is upon you.
7) Solutions
Of course we would like to tell you that we are Nostradamus or that we have some clever crystal ball or time machine to help you dodge the bullet. We cannot. What we can tell you is that you need to see the bullets that are being shot your way. If you support the efforts that bring Americans together; if you support the “helpers,” as Mr. Rogers would have said; if you look to the light instead of shouting in the darkness, there is the chance that we can avert the fate we currently face, The fact is that we are staring down the barrel of hate, social divisions, massive debt and income disparities, a global economic depression, a climate crisis, and a housing and a health crisis like we haven’t seen in over a century. Nobody that reasonably and with sober eyes looking at the world can deny this. Do you want to win that, or do you want to figure out a way to solve the problems? You cannot do both. We will let you decide that.
What we know to be the solutions are to secure yourself, protect yourself, prepare yourself. Check your supplies and look at our other blogs to determine what you still need. Become self-reliant. If you end up with an extra fish hook and never went fishing, you won’t suffer; but if you are starving and you have an extra treble fish hook, it may mean the difference between surviving and dying.
Look at your world now and know that the next ten years of this decade may be crazier than this first year of twenty-twenty. There are more than a few indicators that should tell you to buckle up and buckle up tight. Take this time, the quiet before the storm, to study up on this channel and get the things you need to survive the long haul. There’s a lot more indicators pointing down right now than there are pointing up.
Conclusion
Whatever this next decade actually brings us, there is no denying from the current evidence, that we can expect a bumpy ride. If you are new to prepping, here is your chance to catch up. If you have been a prepper for a while, this is your chance to help others. We are in this together, and we are stronger together, so please like and share this blog, and let’s get folks tuned into being self-reliant.
As always, stay safe out there.
