Author: cityprepping-author

Outline

1. Two Narratives
2. Defining the Civil War
3. Causes of Civil Wars
4. You and Civil War

Can a nation so divided stand?  Are we testing these days whether, as Lincoln said, this nation can “long endure?”  Between a worsening pandemic, economic disparities, hyper-partisan politics, and vastly different and competing visions of reality and visions of this nation’s future, are we arriving at a breaking point…a critical mass? We have been gripped in doubts on the election process, the intent of neighbors, and subject to a constant bombardment of partisan and often slanted, often baseless accusations that all get amplified through our connections and our live streams of the world. Are we at a tipping point?  Is civil war on the horizon?  In this blog, we will examine the undercurrents in America, what makes a civil war, the causes of a civil war, and what you can do about it. Two Narratives There are two distinct narratives in the United States today.  Simple differences in opinion on how we might tackle an issue have been traded out for vast chasms in thinking that may not be able to be bridged.  Issues about how we approach poverty, homelessness, foreign policy, and the like are no longer just policy differences in opinions and approaches. We might have seen this twenty years ago among Republicans and Democrats.  They simply had different takes on the same issues.  Now, though, they are diametrically opposed narratives with hardened belief systems that are supported and amplified through social media and main and alternate stream media and news.  The Left sees the Right as Fascist and the Right see the Left as Communists, and the middle ground between the extremes grows smaller every minute and every hour.  Discussions are shouting matches, and there is an unwillingness to either find a compromise or even to listen to opposing arguments.  It seems that if you have a notion, no matter how whacky, you can probably find at least one credible looking source or group on the internet to support it.  Any hopes that politicians might reach across the aisle and compromise on any issue is evaporating and devolving into partisan shouting matches and deepening divides. Though there are several offshoots and variations of thinking, there are two clear extremes.  The first believes that a cabal of pedophiles and Satan worshippers are out to destroy America and control people through vaccinations and socialism.  The other extreme believes the country is sliding into an authoritarian government, a conservative approach to body autonomy, and a blurring of the lines between the separation of church and state.  Social media has only caused people to verify and amplify their own mistrust.  Regardless of what you believe, remember that these are the extremes.  If we were to look at Aristotle’s writings, we should seek what was termed the golden mean, or the golden middle way.  He would encourage us to reject both the extremes, because extremes are rarely, if ever, true.  That is not, however, the route that we are moving to as a country. News sites and media and message boards and groups operate by algorithms that feed up information to us that amplifies what we choose to click on and read.  Our own thoughts, no matter how odd they may be, are encouraged and reinforced and echo back to us more loudly.  While these, again, are the extremes, the extremities pull apart and reduce the center.  They make it harder to find any common area in the center to conduct meaningful discussion and negotiation.   But is the pull of these far extremes enough to pull apart our nation?  When we look back at history, are there common elements of civil wars? Defining the Civil War A civil war isn’t always what you might envision.  It may not align with what you might imagine.  History gives us a few guiding conditions which have to be met for any internal conflict to rise to the level of a civil war.  First, political scientists define a civil war as having more than one thousand casualties.  While that seems to be a relatively arbitrary number, it serves as a sort of demarcation point to define the difference between civil conflicts which may have high casualties, like the Tulsa Race Massacre, Mountain Meadows Massacre, or the California Genocide,  from conflicts which can spin out further than their location and spread to a greater area.  At this point, though both sides are heavily armed, fatalities are extremely low by comparison. Another prerequisite is some of the military to dissent.  Typically, in other countries, we see this as military generals using their troops to attack or defend against a perceived corrupt or morally bankrupt leadership.  We haven’t really heard that level of dissension in our military chain of command, but we have seen federal forces drawn from everywhere from the Bureaus of Prisons to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deployed in an extra-operational mission in states.  Deployment of federal troops would have required the presidential use of the Insurrection Act, which would have been a very unpopular move.  The use of the Insurrection Act at any time could drive states to buck federal overreach and could lead to the right conditions for a civil war, so we will have to watch for that. Though there is not really a military component, America is one of the most heavily armed countries in the world.  There is more than one gun for every person in America.  We rank 12th in the world and higher than any other G8 nation in total gun deaths when combining both homicides and accidental deaths.  Americans are very heavily armed and, as of very recently, demonstrated that they can organize, seize capital buildings, and show up in organized forces on streets throughout America.  With that capability, is having a dissenting military a valid prerequisite for civil war in America? There are many conditions and nuances to what a civil war is, but casualties and organization are probably the two biggest.  Beyond the conditions, however, there are a set of causes that are also, typically, a part. Causes of Civil Wars The causes are where our possibility of sliding into a civil war is most conceivable.  Typically, the causes are defined as greed, grievance, or opportunity based, and some overlap can occur. Think of these causes as motivators for people to rise up against or for a government or opposition force. GREED The first is greed.  Is it in the economic best interests of individuals and groups to start a conflict?  We all can see that income disparities have grown dramatically over recent years.  The gap between the haves and have nots has grown tremendously.  This is further complicated by very high unemployment numbers right now and very little COVID-19 relief actually making it into the hands of everyday citizens.  The compounded elements leave those that “have” wanting to defend what they have and those who “have not” wanting to obtain what they feel they need to survive.  This can be complicated even further during civil unrest, where apolitical or radical opportunists may loot or take by force items and possessions of others.  A climate does exist right now where these criminal opportunists get lumped in as the forward face of even amorphous political groups. GRIEVANCE A “grievance” based cause is another potential catalyst for civil war.  This is the theory that a civil war begins because of issues of identity, rather than purely as a result of economics.  To determine how close we are to this, we only need to look at the disenfranchised.  The current election is a great example of this.  At the time that I am editing this video, the election is undecided.  By the time this video comes out, we will, hopefully, have a decision.  One thing is for sure, one or both sides will emerge from this election feeling slightly, if not totally cheated.  Already there are accusations at the top levels of government that one side is cheating.  Already there are attempts to stop vote counting here or keep vote counting there.  This election will, most assuredly, be contested, litigated, re-examined, and studied in the history books.  One or both sides will emerge angrier at leadership.  One or both sides will emerge even more distrustful of government and even more distrustful of each other.  Add to this the already disenfranchised social justice protestors, a group that clearly feels their identity is foremost in their decision making, and there is clearly enough disparity amongst Americans.  Add to this, too, the groups on both sides of the political spectrum who would love to see anarchy or a reset of the government, which are essentially the same chaos when you boil them down; and are we at a cumulatively high enough grievance level to foment the early shots of a civil war?  In other videos, we have explored how continual civil unrest can foment larger civil conflicts. OPPORTUNITY The third real cause of civil wars is “opportunity.”  At certain times the opportunity for wide scale conflict rising to the definition of a civil war is greater.  Any group of armed citizens stopping a vote count or kidnapping election officials or in any way creating havoc that would warrant the calling of federal troops in the current political and divisive climate, could be seen as authoritarian moves by the coastal regions.  Here is where a civil war is possible at a state level.  The Supreme Court has already ruled once that state legislatures have the authority to determine their own election processes, so how will it be perceived if a mob, coaxed by either presidential candidate seeks to stop the vote?  How would it be received if federal troops seized ballots or rolled into a city’s center under the premise of keeping the peace?  Such provocative actions create the opportunities for civil wars.  Governance or the lack thereof, population density, poverty, these are all elements of the opportunity cause of a civil war.  Think of “opportunity” as potential.  Think of it as fertile soil.  Are the conditions of the soil such that the seeds of civil war could grow quite easily. You and Civil War So is a civil war possible and what does this mean for you?  The fact that we can even imagine the possibility so clearly now requires us to look at how you can prepare to survive widespread civil unrest even to the extreme of an all-out civil war.  Will you be prepared if a civil war passes through, envelops, or consumes your town, city, or state? There are no winners in large scale civil unrest or a civil war.  Knowing this, it doesn’t matter if the conflict comes to your doorstep, forces you to find a safer area, to fight for survival, or sweeps you up into it as an unwilling victim.  Prepare now for the possibility that things could go south very quickly.  Peace and calm can swiftly erode into violence and chaos.  We have seen it before.  We have seen it in other countries, and we may be on the cusp of it today in the United States.  Use this time to prepare for that possibility.  Know your routes to safety.  Have your bug out bag handy.  Make sure your home preparations are in order.  You should have the foods and medicines you may need in case you can’t leave your home for an extended period of time. Use your head to make decisions.  If violence erupts anywhere in the country, don’t rush to a conclusion before all of the facts are in.  A good deal of finger-pointing will be going on, but you should try to keep a level head and stay above the fray.  Any incident, even those that look very specific in nature, could be wildly distorted out of context, and, as I mentioned earlier, the echo and amplification capabilities of social media can turn something innocuous into something nefarious.  Accept little at first brush.  Vet information out.  Find at least two other sources with perhaps even different views on the incident to determine where the truth is.  Any incident may actually be started by one group but only to blame another.  Don’t take anything at face value, but continue to question everything until the facts are clear.  There are two narratives in this country, but there is only one truth.  Seek that truth and try your best to remain above the narrative. It was the satirist and philosopher Voltaire who wrote that we must “cultivate our own gardens,” and this has been part of my prepping philosophy for a long time.  Often, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the politics out there.  It is easy to be drawn into debates, because it seems that a day doesn’t go by where we aren’t forced to live and breathe politics.  It’s hard to tune it out, and I am not suggesting you do, because a democracy thrives from the actions of its people.  What we are suggesting is that during these tumultuous times, you cultivate your own garden;  tend to your flock; prepare your stores;  grow in your knowledge and skills, and prepare yourself for whatever challenge you face. We have seen, during my time doing humanitarian work in Afghanistan in 2003, the devastating effects of civil wars.  There are no winners.  The ruling party doesn’t win.  The people do not win.  While some may boast “bring it on,” the reality is they don’t really understand the often irrecoverable state they leave nations in their aftermath.  No education, medicine, civil services, even food and water, for some remain a scarcity.  No part of the country is left unscathed, either.  The countryside suffers as much as the city because our economies and our agriculture and our manufacturing and our commerce are all tied together with one another. Conclusion This election cycle will end.  It will one day be in the past, and we will be looking back at it.  Let us not regret the decisions we made in this time.  At the end of the day, when the fires of our division are all put out and we are not forced to live and breathe politics, we are still all Americans.  While a civil war could be in our future because so many of the potential causes are there to have a conflict rise to the level of a civil war, we all, collectively, have the power to avert it.   Now more than ever we need to listen to our fellow Americans instead of screaming over them.  Now more than ever we need to bridge the gap between the two narratives, the two realities.  We need to strive for finding common ground and take as a personal responsibility to be the leaders of our communities and to lead them with compassion.  Though it may seem overly sentimental and too lofty, I think that in the words of Lincoln, it is our responsibility to make sure that the “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” We would love to hear your plan for keeping the peace and your plan for the tumultuous times we find ourselves in today and in the coming weeks.    As always, stay safe out there.

Outline

1. Global Chaos 
2. Foreign Interference
3. Domestic Actors
4. What You Should Do

It is becoming increasingly more probable by the day that no clear, uncontested victor will be chosen on election day, November third, twenty-twenty.  One of the cornerstones of American strength has been the peaceful transition of power in a presidential election.  Even in the most peaceful elections, however, America has been hyper-vigilant about changes on the global stage, and so much focus right now is looking internally allowing foreign adversaries to somewhat run amok.  When other countries sense confusion, a power vacuum, or even uncertain American leadership or policy shifts, they are more apt to carry out land grabs, power grabs, or other nefarious plans in their self-interest while American foreign policy is on hold or the American focus of attention is distracted by internal strife.  We don’t have to look outside the United States to find the chaos that is highly probable on our election day and in the weeks that follow.  Enemies afar and enemies near are emboldened by our country’s division.  Fires could be lit as far away as internationally or as near as at your local polling location.  In this blog, we will explore the possibilities of election day turmoil ranging from global threats to domestic threats. Global Chaos Expect our enemies and countries with self-serving motivations to act up while our attention is completely focused within.  Ethnic cleansing by Erdoğan; attacks on people by Bashar al-Assad; Putin’s plan to join Belarus and Russia into one country;  Kim Jung Il further testing nuclear or missile technology but on live targets; Israel’s efforts to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear power, even China’s seventeen territorial disputes with its neighbors, on land and sea, are all fronts we could see dramatic actions on in the coming weeks.  It’s not just election day but the possible weeks afterward if the election is contested where it needs to be sorted out. Foreign adversaries and allies with self-serving interests are watching America closely for the opportunity to act on their plans, and those are just a few of the countries and possibilities.  American strength has always been a factor in the united threat we present when other countries engage in activities that are inhumane, in violation of international laws and norms, or against our global vision for the world.  Picture it like a mother or father watching over the play of children.  The children are more likely to behave under watchful eyes.  When there is a fire in the kitchen, though, and mom or dad needs to be inside, and the children are left alone, how much more likely are they to act upon their impulses and desires when the threat of getting in trouble is gone?  There’s an old saying, “when the cat’s away, the mice will play.” America’s ability to decisively and swiftly respond to keep global peace is significantly hampered if the highest office in the land is in question.  In every election, you can find an article where the incumbent president commits to a peaceful transition of power, Obama to Trump, Bush to Obama, Clinton to Bush, and so on.  This is a signal to the rest of the world that America remains vigilant.  While some might be inclined to let these dramas on the world stage play out while we take care of our own. This approach is the same as ignoring the fire altogether.  The fires get larger.  Our enemies become more emboldened.  The conflicts become greater and America’s chances of getting consumed by a future global conflict become more probable.  With each conflict we let play out on its own without our input, the more control of the global stage we scede to leaders who don’t share our vision of the world nor our values.  In short, America, because of her position in the world as a global superpower, cannot sit idly by while the world burns and we sort things out.  As a global leader, our attention and watchful eye needs to continually monitor and always be ready to intercede. When presidential leadership is uncertain, however, our ability to intercede in world conflicts is greatly diminished.  Any action by a president holding office in a transitional period with some question about it would be hard-pressed to make a case for action to Congress or the American people.  Any case to engage in a foreign conflict would be seen as self-serving and that president’s blatant attempt at shifting the focus from election results.  Bad actors on the world’s stage know this and are emboldened by our country’s division, knowing it would take us longer than normal to offer any dissent to their actions or to retaliate in any meaningful way. What do you think?  Should America’s role be to intercede and get involved in problems around the world? Foreign Interference Beyond actions like land grabs and attacks on civilian populations in an effort to strengthen a specific nation’s agenda, direct foreign interference in our election process can directly impact your everyday life.  Already, a preponderance of evidence exists presented by multiple intelligence agencies, that Russia, China, and Iran are all directly meddling in the United States election process.  Disinformation campaigns are only part of it all.  The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) jointly warned on October twenty-second that Russian hackers had penetrated some state and local government networks.  These attacks add tinder to the theory that the election process in some way is questionable, and that election results may not be valid.  Even if foreign actors fail in their attempts to access or tamper with voting systems and election data, the threat is much larger.  Foreign actors could amplify doubts about the election’s integrity and even provide fodder to those who seek to sow suspicion of its outcome.  The process to determine a victor could be delayed, confused, or contested.   Foreign actors could seek to exploit post-election outrage by provoking violence or by attacking critical infrastructure systems.  What would be the outcome if while counting ballots, the electrical infrastructure is attacked and knocked offline?  Beyond cyber-attacks, how devastating would be an explosion or incendiary device even of small yield in or near a polling location?  It’s not just foreign governments and leaders, either.  The very real threat of terrorist attacks hasn’t just vanished this century; but if federal forces have to focus entirely within, intelligence chatter may be overlooked.  We are more vulnerable.  In the aftermath of election day, as Americans point a finger of blame at other Americans about any violence that erupts, our enemies continue their assault on our other systems laughing at how easily they turned us upon each other.  Foreign interference can be both cyber and physical, by nation-states, or state-sponsored.  Force Protection Condition (FPCON) levels are currently at Bravo.  That’s the highest level they can be at before an incident actually occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely.  The threat of foreign provocateurs is constant, and it only increases during an election period. What do you think?  Could foreign provocateurs try to interfere with our elections directly? Domestic Actors As we have seen in recent years, there are many conspiratorial theories and ideas driving the motivations and actions of some not so stable people.  From shootings to explosions, from planned and coordinated attacks and kidnappings to seemingly random acts of violence, the news is continually filled with headline after headline.  Add to this the fact that every single incident that occurs has some counterfactual information presented claiming the incident never occurred at all or was a false flag, and it is easy to see how someone who may be mentally unstable can assemble their own wide-sweeping theories that could lead them to do harm. A delusional mind can find what it perceives as facts and build its own narrative to support further and deeper delusions.  The internet is an abundant and fertile source.  It’s an amplifier and echo chamber for every crazy idea put into it.  A, technically, loony person could cause violence and jeopardize a polling location.  They could carry out harmful attacks and leave everyone pointing the finger of blame at each other.  However, not all would-be attackers can be dismissed as crazy nowadays. There are active fringe groups in our society on the right, left, and not politically affiliated at all who all share a common goal of dismantling and destroying our government.  Any one individual or group could easily spark wide-scale violence and threaten the safety of peaceful citizens.  These fringe groups are often without a central locus and without a central philosophy.  A loose grouping of manifestos and a dark web message board may be the only real connections between someone in your neighborhood and someone planning an attack several states away.  The threat remains real and credible and would be even more exaggerated and impactful during a period of a contested election. Are you concerned about potential domestic actors on election day? What Should You Do? With the potential of global conflicts increased, with the threat of foreign interference, with both foreign and domestic agent provocateurs, is there anything you can do to increase your safety on election day and in the weeks that follow?  This is where prepping and the prepper’s mindset right now can benefit you when the crisis is upon you.  First, know your polling locations.  If you voted early, avoid them.  If you are going to them, be early and remain hyper-vigilant.  Watch for any unusual activities and report it immediately to authorities.  While not all states ban guns near polling locations, nearly all states ban the carrying of firearms in schools and government buildings, where many polling places are located.  That being said, know your varying routes to and from your polling location. The same awareness you had after nine-eleven is the same type of awareness you should have when you go to vote.  If you see a suspicious package or an abandoned backpack, report it.  If you see someone acting erratically, bring it to someone else’s attention in line and get their opinion on it.  Sometimes it’s hard for us to make that call, but a trained off duty cop or veteran can tell you within a few seconds if someone is likely carrying a concealed weapon or acting in an erratic manner.  A trained eye can tell by the way a person walks if they have an unholstered weapon on them.  That trained extra set of eyes might just be that person in front or behind you in line. If violence erupts anywhere in the country, don’t rush to a conclusion before all of the facts are in.  A good deal of finger-pointing will be going on, but you should try to keep a level head and stay above the fray.  Any incident, even those that look very specific in nature, could be an extended operation by a foreign agent or government.  Foreign trolls and bots will capitalize upon any incident and create further suspicion and conspiracy theories.  Know that this will happen. Second, know where your family is on election day.  Don’t get caught in a situation where you don’t know where your wife, husband, daughter, son, mother, or brother is when something happens.  If you are spending your time searching for them and cellular service is offline, you will not be able to go to the third thing you must do, which is to lockdown.  Violence is often centralized and then can lead to more chaotic outbursts in more populous areas.  Rioters are often more opportunistic than ideologically driven.  Vigilante groups are often apt to profile individuals.  The best place you can be is hunkered down, at least until any violence has subsided. In the hours, days, and weeks following election day, there may be a lot of discontentment expressed, shouting in the streets and stores, and the like.  Sadly, this has become more of a norm in the last few years.  Just be aware if the conflict appears to be escalating.  Know your safe routes to your safe home. Fourth, prepare a bug-out, grab-and-go emergency bag, and keep it handy.  If you are kept from the safety of your home following an incident for an extended period of time, make sure you have any medicines you may need.  Have a bottle of water or two, maybe a high-calorie protein drink, and some energy bars.  You can leave the bag in the trunk of your car or carry it with you, but keep it handy until you are certain that any election period threats have passed. Finally, review your home’s preparations and security.  There are several videos on this channel that will help you form your own checklist of supplies.  Any cyberthreat that attacks critical infrastructure could leave thousands or millions without water or power.  A desperate population will act desperately.  Do not be caught up in the chaos.  Prepare now for the possibility of attacks on election day and in the weeks that follow.  Any incident in the current climate could have exponential ripples across the country.  Even if your community seems relaxed and peaceful, be cautious, and remain aware of any increasing threats or abnormalities. Conclusion Hopefully, this election will run smoothly, a clear winner will be determined, a peaceful transition or maintaining of power will occur, and we will be able to close the chapter on twenty-twenty without further problems.  Hopefully, the threat of America’s unified force will keep bad actors and bad nation’s on the world’s stage in check and fearful of our nation’s repercussions.  If that doesn’t happen though, and something does occur, fall back on your survival instincts, stay low, and protect yourself and your loved ones.  Make sure your supplies are sufficient to sustain you for several weeks if you have to remain largely indoors. We would love to hear what your election day plans are and what you think will happen on election day and in the weeks after.  As we said, our hope is that we see nothing but a boring day; however, we have more than a few indications, and history kind of shows us that it could easily go the other way.  As always, stay safe out there.

Outline

1. The Populous Reaction
2. The World’s Reaction
3. The Political Moves
4. What You Need To Prepare For

We have never had a more contentious election.  We have rarely seen such deep-rooted animosities and hostilities in America.  Our nation is divided by ideology and perspective so greatly that it almost seems to be living in two separate realities.  These realities are built up by an incessant stream of video, news, commentary, and sometimes false information, which bolster the polar opposite realities and further stoke the fires of division and hate.  Will this raging fire of division tear the country apart?  That remains to be seen. What we do know is that at some point after election day, whether the people, the Electoral College, the House of Representatives, or the Supreme Court decides it, Trump or Biden will be our president.  In this blog, we will examine what may happen when Trump is our president for a second term.  What will be the populous reaction, the political moves, and what can you do to stay safe? The Populous Reaction You probably clicked on this video because you strongly agreed or strongly disagreed with the title.  Assuming you consider yourself a relatively calm and level-headed person, take that deep-rooted feeling in you, multiply it by a hundred or more, and spread it out over the entire United States, and that’s the reaction you will get from the populous after this election concludes.  Look at how contentious and vitriolic the comments section is probably right now.  You will find someone in there you would label as crazy, regardless of which candidate wins the election.  To say there is an abundance of energy about this election outcome would be an understatement, so how will the populous react to Trump winning a second term? After the twenty sixteen election, millions of voters took to the streets to express their frustrations over a popular vote that went one way and an electoral vote that went another.  While that scenario wasn’t new to the political landscape, America saw a larger outcropping of people in the streets than they have ever seen before.  Still, by today’s new standards, that crowd, as large as it was, was pretty tame, calm, and peaceful. Will conflict spread onto the streets in cities near you?  We can’t say with certainty, but the American population seems to think so.  Sales and online purchase of tactical apparel have experienced a twentyfold increase in sales this year.  According to the founder of Mira Safety, Roman Zrazhevskiy, “It doesn’t matter who gets elected…they (his customers) think that no matter who wins, Biden or Trump, there are going to be people who are upset about the result.”   “A shift became apparent with this spring’s Black Lives Matter protests and bitterly resented pandemic lockdowns. Now the gear is everywhere, from camouflage-clad Antifa supporters to right-wing extremists who appeared at Michigan’s capitol even after men were arrested in a plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer.”   And Americans on both sides of the political spectrum are heavily armed.  Guns and ammo sales across the country have also surged.  The US population accounts for forty-six percent of the global total of all small firearms.  This amounts to one-hundred-twenty firearms for every one hundred residents.  So what happens when an angry and heavily armed mob of people take to the streets and are met with an equally and/or more heavily armed opposition?  Trump, who has established his reputation as the “law and order” president, and has shown himself to be with his use of Federal forces to suppress insurrection, will not tolerate American streets turned into war zones.  Likewise, an Army for Trump will, undoubtedly, take to the streets to defend America.  Whatever comes of this scenario, it isn’t good for the population as a whole or for the country.   Dissent, when Trump wins reelection, might not rise to the point of armed events, but it could take other forms that could impact your life nonetheless.  Liberal-leaning Unions may encourage their employees to have a sickout or an organized period of unwarranted sick leave taken as a form of group protest.  What happens to an economy struggling to regain its posture from the effects of the lockdown, suffers further from the economic effects of a walkout or strike from a Union or labor organization currently endorsing Biden, like the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the Service Employees International Union, or the United Food and Commercial Workers?  Combined, these organizations have nearly ten million members.  Not only would the economy as a whole suffer, but disruptions to fuel and food services, emergency and police services, and normal day-to-day operations would be highly likely, and this underscores the need to prep, even with a clear Trump victory. “It doesn’t matter who gets elected…they (his customers) think that no matter who wins, Biden or Trump, there are going to be people who are upset about the result.” “A shift became apparent with this spring’s Black Lives Matter protests and bitterly resented pandemic lockdowns. Now the gear is everywhere, from camouflage-clad Antifa supporters to right-wing extremists who appeared at Michigan’s capitol even after men were arrested in a plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer.” And Americans on both sides of the political spectrum are heavily armed.  Guns and ammo sales across the country have also surged.  The US population accounts for forty-six percent of the global total of all small firearms.  This amounts to one-hundred-twenty firearms for every one hundred residents.  So what happens when an angry and heavily armed mob of people take to the streets and are met with an equally and/or more heavily armed opposition?  Trump, who has established his reputation as the “law and order” president, and has shown himself to be with his use of Federal forces to suppress insurrection, will not tolerate American streets turned into war zones.  Likewise, an Army for Trump will, undoubtedly, take to the streets to defend America.  Whatever comes of this scenario, it isn’t good for the population as a whole or for the country. Dissent, when Trump wins reelection, might not rise to the point of armed events, but it could take other forms that could impact your life nonetheless.  Liberal-leaning Unions may encourage their employees to have a sickout or an organized period of unwarranted sick leave taken as a form of group protest.  What happens to an economy struggling to regain its posture from the effects of the lockdown, suffers further from the economic effects of a walkout or strike from a Union or labor organization currently endorsing Biden, like the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the Service Employees International Union, or the United Food and Commercial Workers?  Combined, these organizations have nearly ten million members.  Not only would the economy as a whole suffer, but disruptions to fuel and food services, emergency and police services, and normal day-to-day operations would be highly likely, and this underscores the need to prep, even with a clear Trump victory. The World’s Reaction How will the world react to Trump’s win?  His hard stance on NATO paying their fair share of their own defenses, which they are now doing; his ongoing trade war with China; his further closing of borders and tightening of citizenship and immigration policies, will undoubtedly further frustrate other countries.  Add to this that America’s adversaries aren’t suddenly going to stop their planned and real physical and virtual attacks on us.  Though we have enemies growing from within, our enemies who are foreign adversaries continue to threaten our American way of life. Will Israel, a country that has somewhat aligned itself with this administration, be emboldened enough to take on the nuclear threat that is Iran?  Could that draw us into yet another conflict in the Middle East?  Will China, frustrated by the continued trade war and in retaliation for a cultural loss of face for allowing the COVID-19 virus to escape their borders, launch a cryptocurrency pegged to the Yuan to destabilize the US dollar, seize more land and airspace in the South China Sea, tear up trade agreements or forge new ones to the exclusion of the United States?  There are countless more scenarios with many other countries that could threaten our economic stability and draw America into a foreign conflict. Even if the whole nation doesn’t react in any significant way, we have to remain vigilant to the fact that terrorist groups and clandestine operations by foreign governments remain a threat to our security.  Either could seek to amplify our divisiveness and further our divide by bringing down infrastructure systems or creating violent conflicts and receding in the shadows while the finger-pointing continues.  The effects of just one explosion by an unknown adversary on election day could put the entire election in question.  That chaos may not be a result of any American citizen’s action, but the reaction could further our divide.  In short, our enemies aren’t cowering in fear right now, they’re emboldened and encouraged by our division because of the opportunities it creates to destroy our way of life.  When Trump, who globally seems to be considered an underdog in this election, wins the global perception of America may change.  Could other countries seek to align themselves without the United States and even push for a fiat currency to compete against the US dollar?  Only history will tell.  As one writer put it “Looking back on U.S. diplomatic history, one of the great counterfactuals is what would have happened if Franklin D. Roosevelt had not replaced his vice president Henry Wallace with Harry Truman in 1944. Wallace was sympathetic to the Soviet Union and became an ardent opponent of the Cold War. If he had become president when FDR died, in April 1945, the next half-century could have gone very differently—likely no NATO, no Marshall Plan, no alliance with Japan, no overseas troop presence, and no European Union.”   Undeniably, the global view of America might change significantly when Trump wins.  Trump’s tough foreign policies and refusal to allow America to be a part of agreements he doesn’t feel are in America’s best interests have ruffled a few feathers and antagonized a few allies who are currently adopting a wait and see attitude to see if Trump’s first term was an American blip or a signal of a new American way of thinking and acting on a world stage.  We could become globally more unified or more divided with our policies.  We could be perceived as stronger or weaker.  Much will be determined by Trump’s second term political moves.  Presidents and their policies determine and guide global perceptions. The Political Moves Politically, when Trump wins his second term he will be emboldened by the endorsement of the American people, further secure his loyalists around him and double down on his policy issues established in the first four years.  His policies of the anti-establishment government will have more strength and more teeth.  The traditional government structures will be changed.  Likely, we could see someone like Jared Kushner as a National Security Advisor.  We would see more Executive actions.  We would see more court cases decided in favor of the administration by a conservative Supreme Court. Very likely, those who entered the country illegally or were born here from parents who entered the country illegally will be denied government social services and in some cases deported.  That wall that has been talked about will be built.  The Affordable Care Act will undoubtedly be overturned because of the unconstitutionality of the individual mandate invalidating it, and before the plan Trump plans on implementing is put into place, many will not have health care.  School choice will become the norm, and a host of other policy issues will be decided and implemented.  Traditional and long-standing laws that favored the establishment government will be challenged and decided.  Investigations launched by Democrats will be stopped and Democrats will be investigated for their alleged crimes. The political moves of President Trump in his second term will significantly change the American landscape, but they will also be perceived as too drastic and jarring by large swaths of the country.  Whole states may resist federally mandated changes.  Populous areas of the country with liberal leadership may dissent in large numbers and may be met with equal or greater forces, Federal and civilian defending Trump. What You Need To Prepare For So what can you do?  What should you do?  What should you prepare for?  First, you need to adopt a calm and rational observational stance of what is going on around you.  Realize that any conflict may actually have been started by a foreign adversary.  Don’t rush to blame until you can clearly see all the facts.  Second, prepare for the need to lockdown during any periods of heightened civil unrest.  Prepare yourself by watching some of the other informative blogs on this website — cityprepping.com.  We have recently done blogs on protecting your neighborhood from rioters, protecting your home from intruders, and even items to grab at Walmart right now before it is too late.  If any pockets of chaos spring up, it may take a long period of time before the government can reestablish control.  Attacks on our power grid and other critical infrastructures cannot entirely be ruled out, as our nation’s enemies will seek to amplify divisions in our country. Your preparations for successfully living off-grid for a period of time will be of great benefit to you.  Make any remaining purchases of items you need to complete your inventory and supplies prior to election day.  Here I am not suggesting you mortgage the farm or run up your credit cards.  Just bolster your supplies and durable goods as much as you can, within reason, and with a keen focus on the essentials of food, water, durable goods, and personal protection.  Prepare now. Conclusion What we do know is that at some point after election day, whether the people, the Electoral College, the House of Representatives, or the Supreme Court decides it, Trump or Biden will be our president.  Given this nation’s deepening divisions and ideological perspectives in polar opposition to each other, we have to rationally accept the possibility that any presidential win will not be met with widespread acceptance and good-heartedness.  It’s the resulting conflicts that can arise from within or from other adversaries who would seek to do us harm that we should prepare for.  With this event, this election, prepare like you know the natural disaster is coming like you can see it approaching on the doppler radar.  If nothing at all happens and everything remains calm everywhere, you will be prepared for other disasters that may come.  So preparation now will still benefit you later. We would love to hear your post-election predictions.  We know most of us hope we will see nothing out of the usual, but we would love to see your comments below.  As always, stay safe out there.

Outline

1. The Populous Reaction
2. The World’s Reaction
3. The Political Moves
4. What You Need to Prepare For

We have never had a more contentious election. We have rarely seen such deep rooted animosities and hostilities in America. Our nation is divided by ideology and perspective so greatly that it almost seems to be living in two separate realities. These realities are built up by an incessant stream of video, news, commentary, and sometimes false information, which bolster the polar opposite realities and further stoke the fires of division and hate. Will this raging fire of division tear the country apart? That remains to be seen. What we do know is that at some point after election day, whether the people, the Electoral College, the House of Representatives, or the Supreme Court decides it, Trump or Biden will be our president. In this video, we will examine what may happen when Biden is our president. What will be the populous reaction, the political moves, and what can you do to stay safe? The Populous Reaction You probably clicked on this video because you strongly agreed or strongly disagreed with the title. Assuming you consider yourself a relatively calm and level-headed person, take that deep-rooted feeling in you, multiply it by a hundred or more, and spread it out over the entire United States, and that’s the reaction you will get from the populous after this election concludes. Look at how contentious and vitriolic the comments section is probably right now. You will find someone in there you would label as crazy, regardless of which candidate wins the election. To say there is an abundance of energy about this election outcome would be an understatement, so how will the populous react to a Biden win? Already the seeds of election fraud have been planted. From stories about discarded ballots, to ballots set on fire, to mail fraud, to foreign intervention and hacking, to misinformation, and ballot harvesting, there are plenty of seeds planted that a Biden win will be contested, likely on a state-by-state level. Will conflict spread onto the streets in cities near you if Biden’s popular vote win is contested? I can’t say with certainty, but the American population seems to think so. Sales and online purchase of tactical apparel have experienced a twentyfold increase in sales this year. According to the founder of Mira Safety, Roman Zrazhevskiy, whose products are available at the cityprepping.com website, “It doesn’t matter who gets elected…they (his customers) think that no matter who wins, Biden or Trump, there are going to be people who are upset about the result.” “A shift became apparent with this spring’s Black Lives Matter protests and bitterly resented pandemic lockdowns. Now the gear is everywhere, from camouflage-clad antifa supporters to right-wing extremists who appeared at Michigan’s capitol even after men were arrested in a plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer.” And Americans on both sides of the political spectrum are heavily armed. Guns and ammo sales across the country have also surged. The US population accounts for forty-six percent of the global total of all small firearms. This amounts to one-hundred-twenty firearms for every one hundred residents. So what happens when an angry and heavily armed mob of people take to the streets and are met with an equally and/or more heavily armed opposition? Biden, who is running his campaign under the premise of unification and not a Red state versus Blue state, Democrat versus Republican angle will need to simultaneously keep the calm and show progress on the social justice issues that put him in office. If he manages to keep the streets calm, he will need to also address any cooked up plans by errant right-wing extremists who might kidnap officials, create chaos, or stoke divisions further. When Biden wins, America will still be far from calm. It is possible that even with, the election could be contested at a state-by-state level, from one courtroom to another.  Any one of those cases could be the catalyst in that state for the spreading of armed conflicts. The World’s Reaction Much of the world is sitting on the sidelines right now observing this election.  They are assessing whether Trump’s win in 2016 was a blip or is in fact a new American ideological and new American international perspective.  When Biden wins, post World War II allies will cautiously but optimistically realign themselves with the United States, dismissing Trump as a one-off. America will rejoin the Paris Agreements Framework Convention on Climate Change.  Biden will rejoin or re-establish the country with the World Health Organization in an attempt to get ahead of the Coronavirus.  Shutdowns in some areas and mandated mask-wearing is a very real possibility, but continued closures of borders and limits to international travel will likely continue. America’s adversaries aren’t suddenly going to stop their planned and real physical and virtual attacks on us.  Though we have enemies growing from within, our enemies who are foreign adversaries continue to threaten our American way of life. Will Israel, a country that has been emboldened by the hard stance of the Trump administration, be emboldened enough to take on the nuclear threat that is Iran?  Could that draw us into yet another conflict in the Middle East?  Will China, frustrated by the continued trade war and in retaliation for a cultural loss of face for allowing the COVID-19 virus to escape their borders, launch a cryptocurrency pegged to the Yuan to destabilize the US dollar, seize more land and airspace in the South China Sea, tear up trade agreements or forge new ones to the exclusion of the United States?  How would a Biden administration meet this challenge?  There are countless more scenarios with many other countries that could threaten our economic stability and draw America into a foreign conflict. Even if whole nations don’t react in any significant way, even if they all applaud in unison and are congratulatory to a Biden administration, we have to remain vigilant to the fact that terrorist groups and clandestine operations by foreign governments remain a threat to our security.  Either could seek to amplify our divisiveness and further our divide by bringing down infrastructure systems or creating violent conflicts and receding in the shadows while the finger-pointing continues.  The effects of just one explosion by an unknown adversary on election day could put the entire election in question.  That chaos may not be a result of any American citizen’s action, but the reaction could further our divide.  In short, our enemies aren’t cowering in fear right now, they’re emboldened and encouraged by our division because of the opportunities it creates to destroy our way of life.  Throughout it all, however, the threat we face from our foreign adversaries will continue.  As with any new president, foreign actors will put new leadership to the test.  That could take the form of foreign provocateurs attacking our soil and letting Americans point the finger of blame at each other.  That could take the form of hacks into our critical infrastructure and continued misinformation campaigns spread through social media. The world’s reaction when Biden wins will not necessarily be a sigh of relief and a return to old ways of doing things.  The world has changed from the current administration to the last.  Old ties will remain broken or require new deals and new policies and safeguards.  Old adversaries will continue to seek to do us harm.  The Political Moves Every administration brings with it sweeping policy changes, and a Biden administration will not be different in this regard.  Many of the policies of the previous administration will be undone.  DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals individuals will be restored to at least another two year period of deferred action from deportation if not given a clear path to citizenship. The Supreme Court may be raised from nine judges to thirteen.  Gerrymandering may be eliminated and district lines redrawn.  The entire Electoral College may be modified or changed.  The voting system may be altered significantly. Big oil may suffer a setback as cleaner, renewable energies are favored.  Biden will have to appease the social justice warriors and green new deal groups that carried him to a victory, and if they don’t feel he is moving with the proper alacrity, they are likely to pour out onto the streets to express their dissatisfaction.  This always creates openings for opportunistic people who hold no real political motivation but self-interest and greed to seek to create riots and the opportunities to set fire to cities or loot.  The economy, partly feeling the effects of an extended pandemic, will stagger along and drag quite a bit at first.  Individual bailouts will be favored over corporate bailouts, but will these bailouts be enough to stave off the effects of millions who were living paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic and who have been unemployed for months with rents and payments overdue?  What happens when these increasingly frustrated citizens take their frustrations to the street? Will these new policies and political moves be successful over the long arc of a presidential term?  We don’t know.  What we do know is that America is deeply divided along polar opposite ideologies, very much to the point of differing realities altogether.  Large pockets of our society will not willingly follow along with Biden’s policy changes and Executive Actions.  Will the FBI be thwarting anymore kidnapping plans of government officials or planned extremist lone wolf attacks?  It’s highly likely.  Not only is this threat very real, but disruptions to fuel and food services, emergency and police services, and normal day-to-day operations would be a highly likely result of any resulting chaos.  This underscores the need to prep.   Even with Biden as the president, there is no guarantee of a clean and peaceful transition of power from the presidential level down to the citizenry. What You Need to Prepare For So what can you do?  What should you do?  What should you prepare for?  First, you need to adopt a calm and rational observational stance of what is going on around you.  Realize that any conflict may actually have been started by a foreign adversary.  Don’t rush to blame until you can clearly see all the facts.  Second, prepare for the need to lockdown during any periods of heightened civil unrest.  Prepare yourself by watching some of the other informative videos on this channel or at cityprepping.com.  We have recently done videos on protecting your neighborhood from rioters, protecting your home from intruders, and even items to grab at Walmart right now before it is too late.  If any pockets of chaos spring up, it may take a long period of time before the government can reestablish control.  Attacks on our power grid and other critical infrastructures cannot entirely be ruled out, as our nation’s enemies will seek to amplify divisions in our country. Your preparations for successfully living off-grid for a period of time will be of great benefit to you.  Make any remaining purchases of items you need to complete your inventory and supplies prior to election day.  Here we are not suggesting you mortgage the farm or run up your credit cards.  Just bolster your supplies and durable goods as much as you can, within reason, and with a keen focus on the essentials of food, water, durable goods, and personal protection.  Prepare now.  Conclusion The fact is that our nation continues to march further along opposite sides of the same canyon.  We move further apart and we create more distance between us and a deeper canyon below us.  A Biden administration will need to quickly fill in that canyon and bridge that chasm.  It will need to unify divergent visions for this country.  What we do know is that at some point after election day, whether the people, the Electoral College, the House of Representatives, or the Supreme Court decides it, Trump or Biden will be our president.  Given this nation’s deepening divisions and ideological perspectives in polar opposition to each other, we have to rationally accept the possibility that any presidential win will not be met with widespread acceptance and good-heartedness.  It’s the resulting conflicts that can arise from within or from other adversaries who would seek to do us harm that we should prepare for.  With this event, this election, prepare like you know the natural disaster is coming, like you can see it approaching on the doppler radar.  If nothing at all happens and everything remains calm everywhere, you will be prepared for other disasters that may come.  So preparation now will still benefit you later. We would love to hear your post-election predictions.  We know most of us hope we will see nothing out of the usual, but we would love to see your comments below.   As always, stay safe out there.

Outline

1. Economy to Economical
2. Spread it Out
3. Invest Heavily Into Yourself
4. From Disposable to Durable
5. Buy a Survivor Mindset

Every peak has a valley.  Every economic period of prosperity has a corresponding economic trough somewhere in the future.  Any serious economic downturn happens suddenly and without much warning.  Usually, we only recognize the warning signs after the calamity has struck and we are looking back on the tragedy in the stiller moments after recovering.  The collapse of the nation’s economy and the global economy as a whole is closer than most people think.  In many ways, our economies are like a fragile house of cards, and as one collapses the others fall as well.  A global depression now will forever change our world, and the warning signs are there.  While we are not a financial advisor and we cannot predict the future, we can rationally examine history and preparedness to educate our choices and increase our potential for surviving such a calamity.  Record high unemployment, a global reduction in manufacturing output and trade, high debt, weakening currencies, all point to a looming financial crisis; but can you prepare for this as you prepare for other disasters?  The answer is yes.  In the days, weeks, and months after a massive economic collapse, the landscape will resemble that of any natural disaster.  You likely won’t have guaranteed and uninterrupted utilities.  You likely will experience disruptions in health services, police services, fire services, and any other social order services– even trash pickup.  In many, many ways, a great economic depression will resemble a natural disaster, so it is something you can prepare for in advance.  In this blog, we will examine the five financial decisions and investments you can make now to prepare for an economic collapse. Economy to Economical The first financial decisions you have to make before a great depression are about your personal economy.  One of the definitions of the economy is the careful management of available resources.  When we hear the word, we tend to think only in terms of nations and the world.  Your personal economy– the careful management of your available resources– is a core principle of prepping.  Having the resources you need to get you through a sustained disaster or economic collapse is fundamental to you and your loved one’s survival.  Too often, though, humans refuse to accept change and cling to hope that old ways will return.  They might, but more than likely they won’t be exactly the same ever again, so the resources you require will change in some ways as well. When you see the early warning signs of a great depression or a massive financial downturn, the first thing you must do is assess and restructure your resources.  Were you a two-car family before you and your spouse started working from home?  Why do you still have both cars?  Do you pay monthly for a storage facility or for RV storage?  Can you eliminate those expenses?  Do you have an RV or trailer?  If an economic depression will result in your shelter insecurity, that may be invaluable to you.  If you won’t need it because you own your property, you should realize that millions will need housing, and the value of RV and trailers will skyrocket.  You can also obtain in trade for other goods, maybe a truck or some other thing you’ve been holding off on purchasing.  If you don’t own property but you’ve been thinking about purchasing a small piece of land as a bug out location, ask yourself how dire is your situation?  Can you pull the trigger on that plan without dramatically impacting your finances?  With average rents in American cities hovering around two-thousand dollars, realize that the average value of cropland, including all land and buildings on farms, was just over three-thousand dollars per acre for twenty-twenty. The average value for pastureland was around fourteen-hundred per acre for twenty-twenty. Do you have the ultimate TV package?  Can you get by with an internet-only package and save a hundred dollars or more a month?  Do you have multiple subscription services or a gym membership you don’t use?  Also, look at what you can possibly pay off in a larger allocation of your resources.  Will paying off your vehicle lower your monthly expenditures by three hundred dollars a month and make it easier for you to live?  Realize that shortly after an economic depression begins, the currency will have less real purchasing power.  While you don’t want to deplete your savings, take a hard look at whether paying off something early might put you in a better position. Just as Charlie Merrill, the founding president of Bank of America who accurately predicted the nineteen-twenty-nine stock market crash, advised his clients then, “Lighten obligations, or better still, pay them off entirely.”  This may not fall in line with our traditional thinking that “Cash is king,” but during an economic depression, cash is worthless paper that can be turned into confetti overnight.  Dependence on a single currency to pay for all goods and services leaves you with no options when that currency collapses.  Cash in the bank or hidden under your mattress will not help you if the US dollar becomes significantly weakened, but having that three-hundred dollar a month car payment or credit card payment no longer burdening you each month will help you tremendously.  To truly think economically, how can you convert that soon to be worthless stockpile of greenbacks into objects that can provide you income through an economic trough?  A field of land to rent, a trailer to rent or sell, tools and supplies to build or trade, if you think economically you can obtain what you need to survive at a later date with your purchases today. As the U.S. economy is sliding into economic ruin, as global economies falter along with it, quickly take a long hard look at your personal economy.  Make economic and economical decisions will allow you will reap the results of in the long future.  Every dramatic economic downturn in the past has resulted in great suffering because people dependent on the collapsed system for their daily needs found themselves suddenly without the means to sustain themselves.  Understand your personal economy and be economical in your actions. Spread It Out We are not a financial advisor, so this blog is purely educational.  We are, however, an astute observer of history, and history shows that people who have diversified their assets have fared much better through collapses than those who did not.  That couple of thousand dollars in the bank you may have in cash will not hold its value when the US dollar loses its value.  Fortunately, today’s options for diversification are numerous.  One caveat here, the most important things to you during a total collapse are always beans, bullets, band-aids, water, and the like; however, you don’t question the need to store up firewood during warm months, because you know it will have value in colder months.  The same is true for any reserves of cash you currently have only in US dollars.  Every economic downturn has also had an economic recovery.  We’re not suffering today like our ancestors were in the Great Depression.  Eventual recovery is an inevitable fact, but so is the fact that the US dollar, as it is today, may not emerge from a collapse as the world’s reserve currency.  Even if it does, though, it may not emerge as quickly as other currencies, or precious metals, or allow you the rapid conversions as cryptocurrency does. Diversify your assets to minimize total losses. Losses will occur, and they will be dramatic, systemic, and sweeping. When this occurs, some assets will be worth less than others. When the dollar becomes less valuable, precious metals have historically become more valuable, but precious metals lack liquidity. It’s hard to trade an ounce of gold for bread and gas when money seems worthless. Even though it may be worth more, it doesn’t translate well. It’s hard for someone to realize the full cash value of the gold. What is certain is that dependence on a single form of currency (cryptocurrencies, precious metals, fiat currencies like the dollar, even tangible goods) leaves you with no options when that single transactable currency collapses or significantly loses value. Diversification, or having your assets spread across many different currency types, can greatly reduce how far you fall in an economic collapse. As we have explained in other blogs, once your essential prepping supplies are in order, precious metals do have a place in your prepping inventory.  While they don’t have initial, upfront value in an economic collapse, they will retain their value in a recovery. When currency becomes stronger, you can easily reallocate your precious metals into cash. Following any disaster, manmade or natural, economies suffer.  They often dip with people’s perceptions of how bad and how long it will last.  When the markets suffer, or the dollar declines in value, or both, precious metals typically rise in value.  If you are observing what is happening right now with the Fed printing money and driving up the national debt, you can observe the spike in demand for precious metal prices as investors are looking to move their fiat currency to a safe haven with precious metals being just one of the assets they’re pursuing. If you want a somewhat riskier option but one that will provide you the ability to rapidly convert your US dollars to other currencies, you may want to consider cryptocurrencies.  Having some of your nest egg in cryptocurrency will provide you a means to instantly transfer a collapsing US dollar to a stronger British Pound, or Yen, even an Icelandic or Danish Krone, if that’s still stable.  Any US great depression will likely result in a global downturn as well, so you will have to be aware of other markets and their stability.  Having a percentage of your money in a stable cryptocurrency, however, will allow you to move your assets from a dying economy to a surviving economy and will then allow you to retain some of the value when you finally bring it back to your own currency. Providing yourself with instant liquidy options; providing yourself the ability to rapidly move any larger sums into other currencies through cryptocurrencies is a smart move in anticipation of another great depression. Unlike fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies are established with a set number of tokens or coins. They cannot simply produce more to establish quantitative easing in an economy. Because of this, they retain their value and even accelerate in value as other fiat currencies collapse. The challenge with cryptocurrency, of course, is that there aren’t many options for using that cryptocurrency to buy lunchmeat and a loaf of bread. There are cryptocurrency cards that will translate your cryptocurrency to dollars at a point-of-sale, so it isn’t impossible. It just isn’t as simple as it needs to be at this time. Whatever route you take, do not keep all your assets solely in cash in a bank or under your mattress.  Spread it out to increase your stability.  Any economic depression will result in the devaluation of the currency, so don’t have all your eggs in one basket or all your reserves in a single account. Invest Heavily Into Yourself Make the financial decision to invest in yourself. Now is the time to get that sewing machine and brush up on your skills. Purchase that inexpensive hunting or fishing equipment and find some new areas to hunt or fish.  Buy and read the books you need to develop the skills we outline in some of my other blogs. Learn, learn, learn.  Take that internet course that’s going to increase your skills, personal marketability, and value. If we are on the cusp of a Great Depression, the skills you still have a little while to develop may be what will carry you through. You can’t postpone that trial and error to the time when you absolutely must be successful. Learn to tie the knots. Learn to fish. Learn to forage. Learn to cook. Learn to garden. Learn any skill that you can use to survive a prolonged economic downturn. Remember, the Great Depression in the US lasted over a decade. It can reasonably be assumed that the next great depression may last as long or longer. If you were to look at college course enrollments during a recession, you would see that they increase dramatically.  That is attributable to the recently unemployed looking to rapidly find another job.  Unfortunately, these people tend to struggle and drop out over the long haul, because their approach is wrong.  They should have prepared themselves well before being prepared became absolutely critical to them.  Once the economic depression strikes, any opportunity to retool yourself or increase your skills will be less possible.  The majority of your time after an economic disaster strikes will be completely consumed with the essentials of survival.  Educating yourself or increasing your skills will be a luxury you can no longer afford, or worse, it will have to be done through trial and error while your livelihood hangs precariously in the balance. From Disposable to Durable We live in an economic time where we can get almost anything we want whenever we want it often on the same day or overnight, and we don’t even have to leave our bed in the morning.  We have become a disposable society in many ways.  The old saying “They don’t make things the way they used to” is a result of manufacturing prioritizing all other appeal factors for items but the most important– durability. In a massive economic downturn, your supply of cheap replacements; your supply chain of what you need right now, is going to evaporate almost overnight.  As part of your assessment of your personal economy– your management of available resources– you, of course, need to assess your prepping supplies and durable goods.  If you don’t have a personal filtration device for water and they’re under twenty dollars right now, you’ll find yourself in trouble when the municipal water supply fails.  The fact is you can’t store enough water for an economic depression which will likely last for many years.  Do you have the means to boil and purify water or cook when the flow of natural gas goes down?  Something like the Kelly Kettle could be a lifesaver.  Essentially, when you look at your durable goods, think about the low-cost purchases you have been putting off and stock up on the affordable items you will need to last you years. 

Develop a Survivor Mindset 

If you have prepared for it, even a little, you will be able to calmly and rationally act through the crisis while others are panicking and helpless.  Developing a survivor mindset is the key to your survival and calm, rational decision-making capabilities.  The Great Depression lasted almost a decade, and most would argue that our economic structures are more heavily leveraged in debt throughout the world.  Most would argue that the house of cards that is our economy could not recover quickly from the domino effect of multiple small to moderate collapses.  As such, you have to be mentally prepared for the long haul. A survivor’s mindset doesn’t look for villains to blame or adopt a victim’s mentality.  It calculates its preps and determines what is needed now and for an extended period.  The survivor’s mindset is resilient and it adapts to the new climate of economic depravity.  It understands that disasters, whether natural or manmade, don’t happen and pass in an instant, but they linger for days, weeks, months, or years after the initial catastrophe strikes.  The survivor’s mindset is always hyper-alert to threats from other people who have not prepared to survive even a few hours beyond a disaster.  Those who have not prepared will feel a period of mental paralysis, then anxiety, then desperation.  Their anxiety is manifest in their panic and stems from their awareness of their failed preparations for a disaster that they cannot visualize an ending to.  During any of those phases, your solid preparations will be threatened, so keep your stores out of sight and out of the minds of others. While the first part of a survivor’s mindset is understanding the long time to full recovery after a disaster, an equally important part is the adaptation phase.  You are not only adapting to the new reality of maybe no running water, electricity, or gas for an extended period of time, shelter and food insecurities for the masses, and the collapse of social order structures like policing, health, and fire services, but your entire way of living will become the “old way.”  It will become the “good ole’ days.”  We don’t recover from any disaster exactly the same, restored to the same point, living our lives the same way, so as part of your survivor’s mindset, you shouldn’t expect this.  Be flexible, adaptive, and open to creating and being a part of the new future and not paralyzed by lamenting for and clinging to the past.  You may remember the adage of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “You cannot step into the same river twice, for other waters are continually flowing on.”  We cannot change the course and flow of the world, and we know this as survivors, but we can change and control our piece of it amidst the swirling chaos. So how do you buy something like a survivor’s mindset which has been intrinsically built into you since birth?  You survived the trauma of birth, but what you have done since then and the narrative you have told yourself since then have determined what kind of survivor’s mindset you have right now.  Physical training classes, meditation and stress reduction courses, and practice, skills-building hands-on training and experiences, all build your greatest investment in yourself–your knowledge and practice banks–and they give you confidence and calm to shore up your survival mentality.  Before the calamity strikes is the time to cultivate the survivor’s mindset.  Buy heavily into it, invest heavily in it now.  Assess your greatest weaknesses to survival and begin tackling those things.  One example may be are you overweight?  How will you fare in a crisis as a result?  How does this affect your inner voice?  Start shoring up this weakness now through exercise.  Do an assessment of all your anti-survival weaknesses and develop a plan and weekly goal to make these weaknesses stronger.  Even the disaster of an economic great depression will eventually pass.  A recovery phase will happen.  The survivor, the well-prepared prepper is ready for this recovery and will emerge stronger and ahead of the masses.  Embrace your survivor mentality.

Conclusion

Economic cycles from great prosperity to great depressions will happen.  How deeply they impact us is the only part of that cycle we have some element of control over.  To survive another great depression, examine your own economy and think economically about your resources and your use of them.  Examine your resources.  Make sure they aren’t all in one place and that you have invested in yourself and in durable, income-producing things.  Most importantly and true for all your emergency and disaster preparations, develop and cultivate now your survivor’s mindset.  Those who endured the previous Great Depression were better prepared, with better durable goods and better knowledge of self-sustenance.  You can be that person too. If you can relate to this blog and understand these five financial decisions to make before an economic collapse, please like and share this blog with those you care about. As always, stay safe out there.

Outline

1. Global Economic Collapse
2. Divided Cultures
3. Global Xenophobia
4. Artificial Intelligence 
5. Sino-American War

A hundred years ago you could have traveled on a long journey by train, maybe by car, on a slow ocean liner, and maybe on a plane.  It would have taken you weeks, maybe months to travel around the world.  Today, you can circumnavigate the globe in about forty-five hours– just under two days.  Our economies, currencies, religions, morals, governments, races, and people, once somewhat insulated from each other by geographical distance now stream live into our homes and to the phones in our hands.  Technology that promised to open the world to us and make our lives easier, has complicated our lives, divided us, and increased our cynicism, and stoked our greatest fears.  At no time in our global history have we been so close to the precipice of collapse.  At no previous time in our global history, have we been so close to being caught up in the domino effects of a global implosion that would make World War II look like a minor skirmish?  We are quickly entering into unchartered territory.  If you are not convinced at this point that being a prepper is prudent, nothing will convince you before it could be simply too late for you. There are five major threats to a stable world that can’t be ignored if we plan to move forward as a species in the next few decades.  Because our world is so connected and intertwined, it is not just one country that would suffer through any of these events.  All countries could slide down, even pull each other down into darkness and chaos. These items we cover are meant to serve as a point of reference for the challenges we face that will have an impact on our daily lives.  We increasingly are living in an interconnected world and never before in history has mankind faced such massive threats.  This list is designed to help us anticipate and prepare what is coming next. 

Global Economic Collapse

The most pressing and immediate crisis point in our worldwide history, however, has to be a total global economic collapse.  Sure, economies fail around the world.  Economies rise and economies fall, but today they are more intricately connected and tied to one another.  A hundred years ago if all your money was in German Marks, it would have taken you time to convert it to other currencies.  That gift of time allowed for governments to react and respond to check further declines.  In another example of these stopgaps, if the stock market drops too much in a single day in the US markets, trading is halted.  Circuit breakers halt trading on the nation’s stock markets during dramatic drops and are set at seven percent, thirteen percent, and twenty percent of the closing price for the previous day.  The exchanges of other economies have similar circuit breakers, price monitoring functionality.  But those circuit breakers worked in a different time. Any large scale exodus out of an economy’s markets and into commodities or competing currency or countries could bypass circuit breakers and could be cumulatively enough to have dire consequences for an economy.  One economy’s collapse could domino to neighboring countries or countries where economies are so tightly woven together.  Great depressions aren’t regional anymore. The Greek Debt Crisis has scheduled payments through the year 2060 and impacts the economies of a multitude of nations.  Global growth is projected at a staggering negative four point nine percent.  In fact, the scale of the economic downturn when comparing 2019 to 2020 is staggering, with some economies shrinking by twenty or thirty percent.  From Spain to Malaysia to Japan to Israel to the UK and the US, economies have suffered a major blow.  There isn’t an economy in the world doing well right now, travel and tourism have nearly ground to a halt, and production and trade have slowed tremendously.  While the world can survive, as in the Greek Debt Crisis, when one country or one region’s economies suffer, there is no stop-gap or circuit breaker in place to stop a massive global economic downturn. What happens when the world suffers a great depression?  We don’t really know because we have never in our history faced such a far-reaching possible crisis, but we can assume it’s going to be very, very bad.

Divided Cultures

Divided cultures.  It may seem like a trivial thing, and some would argue that we have always had divided cultures.  We have.  In fact, ethnic cleansing, the far extreme of cultural divides has been around as long as societies of humans have existed.  Culture wars around the world between religions, ideologies, economic classes, political parties, and ethnicities have intensified and are stoked through the internet and social media.  The basics of social identity theory imply inherent and inclined favoritism towards people of the same social group, so as much as we are overwhelmed by information about other cultures and people, the more we are drawn deeper into the narrows of our own community and culture.  Technology and copious amounts of information cause us to feel overwhelmed, withdraw us, and make us cynical. Instead of accepting other cultures’ unique stance on something, we are more apt to criticize it, and that criticizing voice is amplified and validated in the echo chamber of the internet.  We easily find like-minded people who share our dislike or disdain for other cultural nuances.  It is easier to criticize or demonize something else than it is to accept that other cultures and people choose to believe some things differently than we may. The problem is that these divisions are so amplified, are susceptible to falsehoods, can be propagandized, and can be the spark to easily ignite uncontrollable fires.  It is easy to imagine minor divides leading to isolated pockets of violence, leading to larger armed conflicts, leading to economies faltering under the stress, and global economies suffering as a result.  While instances in our previous global history may have been linked to smaller countries as in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Darfur region of Sudan, what happens if similarly large scale conflicts between groups of people occur within a global superpower between similarly equipped and funded groups?  When violence spills into the streets and the fires are lit, it takes a lot more effort to extinguish them than the effort expended to start them.  Cultural divisions without calls for unity, acceptance of different people’s value systems, or a willingness to seek out and listen to differing points of view can easily be amplified and can spin out of control, spilling from other places to your very doorstep.

Global Xenophobia

A by-product of the distrust of other cultures is global xenophobia. Already with a pandemic closing borders and disrupting trade and travel, global economies are rapidly retooling themselves and looking inward.  This turn away from global interaction and increase in nationalism can give way to greater distrust, miscommunications between nations, and the hardening of defenses at the expense of communication, collaboration, and cooperation.  That climate creates fertile soil for national posturing and conflicts between nations.  As alliances formed after World War II deteriorate in our current times, nations are free to choose whichever side of a conflict they feel best suits their nationalist interests, or allies may simply choose to focus on their own country and sit on the sidelines. The once typical manner of functioning in a global network can evaporate.  Distrust of other nations can lead to a questioning of their actions and motivations, and while that may be prudent for a nation’s enemies, it can lead to global conflicts when broadly applied to all nations. Internally, countries deep into a xenophobic pattern of thinking decry that foreigners bring crime, spread disease, abuse the welfare system, bring un-American ideas, aren’t Christian, take our jobs, and dilute the racial makeup of a country.  These ideological stances and views of foreigners or outsiders may sound familiar to you.  In a global xenophobic environment, they are all too common, and nation’s that have turned fully within can begin to rot from within.  This can cause civil wars, violent shifts in government, vigilantism, pockets of violent upheaval, and utter chaos in a vacuum of clear leadership. The compounding effect of cultural divides and global xenophobia, much of which we already see today, can easily break up the bedrock of a stable world.  Small cracks can become great divides, and the likelihood of those divisions mending without a violent resetting event are slim to none.  Divisions in our current climate tend to become greater and are exponentially increased not diminished by our passive connectivity to a streaming world.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence was once perceived as computers seeking to conquer and subdue man, but this is anthropomorphic thinking applied to computers– a tendency to assume that computers think as we do.  These early views of AI, however, have given way to far more complex and nuanced scenarios, as we see sterile algorithms devoid of emotion serving up content based upon our clicks, likes, searches for information, location, gender, or age. It is now entirely possible to live in a well supported alternative reality of facts.  Individual subjectivity has been replaced with a reinforced communal subjectivity in opposition to further research or inquiry.  These silos and small groups increase in size and isolation from traditional structures and are encouraged by the algorithms that continue to feed their belief systems.  In this way, computers and artificial intelligence drive us further apart and create a landscape for further conflict. Beyond the complex algorithms, we have already crossed a point in our global history where automation and technology dependence has gone too far to be scaled back.  So, when the technology fails because of conflicts, EMPs, solar flares, or any other reason, the majority of people are left, literally, in the dark.   Without the luxuries of transportation, electricity, water, refrigeration for medicine and food, or any of the other multitude of systems now almost entirely technologically dependent, where will a desperate population, unprepared, lacking knowledge about self-sufficiency turn for an answer?  Governments?  They aren’t likely to find a solution there.  Their neighbors?  Would your preps be at risk? Artificial intelligence and technology dependence is a fragile house of cards.  It doesn’t take more than a slight breeze for one of the technology systems to fail.  When that occurs, the cascading effects can rapidly dismantle even the most stable of society’s structures.

Sino-American War 

While a potential global economic collapse, divided cultures, global xenophobia and the rise of nationalism, artificial intelligence, and our precarious technology dependence, are all more existential threats, we are at a point in our history where the next threat is no longer hypothetical but is becoming clearer, namely the Sino-American war.  When we think of war we tend to think of troops on the ground, airstrikes, and naval conflicts; but war has changed.  Even a full-blown nuclear strike by an enemy superpower is less realistic than just three high altitude nuclear detonations causing no fallout but bringing down the power grid and crippling a nation for months or years.  War is at a point in our history where foreign provocateurs and terrorists can do more damage than any standing army and have the added benefit of dividing a populous rather than uniting it against a common enemy. So what would a war with China look like?  It isn’t what you may have grown up to think it would be.  While America sports forty-three aircraft carriers, for instance, China has two and is in the early construction phases of building a third right now. We also shouldn’t think in terms of long-range weaponry, because the options are limited here as well.  One of the things that have kept the peace for so long is the fact that our economies are tied together.  We are consumers and they are manufacturers.  We print money and sell debt.  They buy our debt.  So a Sino-American war would most likely be economic and the start of a global shift away from the US dollar as the reserve currency of the world. There have already been rumors of a crypto-currency backed by the Yuan and gold, and that would be a serious threat to the stability of the dollar.  As the trade war continues, the dollar still remains the global fiat currency; but what happens if the dollar weakens and the American market no longer consumes but retracts.  It is the mutually assured destruction of our economies that has kept the peace between China and the United States.  As China seeks new markets for its products other than the United States amidst an ongoing trade war, the United States becomes less relevant to them, so is keeping the peace in China’s best interest?  Would seeking to destabilize the American economy better serve their interests and cause their economy to thrive? A Sino-American war might not be what you traditionally think of, but it could be happening right now.  Whether that’s as overt as foreign provocateurs sowing chaos in an election process or covert attacks on our computerized infrastructure; whether that is through alliances excluding the United States or biological threats, we could already be engaged in the early stages of a war we don’t yet fully realize is occurring.  A war at that level reshapes the world and threatens every country’s peace.

Conclusion

So what can we do when we find our world increasingly divided, entrenched in their ways of thinking, dependent on fragile technological systems, on the precipice of a possible war as we have never seen before, and teetering on the precipice of a total global economic meltdown?  The answer is simple– prepare.  Assure yourself that any disaster will not leave you without the essentials of food and water.  Have a plan and the equipment you need when the power goes off and the supply chains stop for not just hours, but potentially weeks and months.  Have a plan to bug-in, to make a stand, and to bug-out.  Prepare.  The smart thing to provide you the security you need to have the peace of mind in a chaotic world is to make sure that your preparations are for the long haul and you are less reliant on obtaining your necessities for living today. As always, stay safe out there.

Outline

1. The Early Warnings Phase
2. The Collapse Phase 
3. The Endurance Phase
4. The Recovery Phase

One of the most common questions that comes up after we reference precious metals in a blog is “what value does precious metals even have after SHTF?”.  We had the same set of questions as well when precious metals are referenced after a collapse.  So instead of trying to constantly respond in the comment section and via email when people reach out with this question, we thought we’d do a blog that specifically addresses this issue.  We purposefully have kept this blog relatively short and we ask that you stick with us until the end as we wrap up the question with an answer that once you read through the blog , you’ll understand the value of precious metals. Alright, so track with us here for a moment. Any true, prolonged SHTF situation has four distinctive phases: The Early Warnings, Collapse, Endurance, and Recovery phases.  Fortunately, history and hindsight has taught us a good deal about what these phases look like.   The most valuable things to you in all four phases are, obviously, the three B’s: Bullets, Beans, and BandAids.  Obviously, when the grid goes down, food will be the most valuable commodity, but beyond these 3 “B”s, what is the role of precious metals?  We’d like to walk you through these 4 phases and explain the role of precious metals throughout each.   OK, so in this blog we’re going to look at the scenario of SHTF which stands for Shit Hits The Fan.  This is a scenario where things have fallen apart entirely and it’s up to each person to handle their own survival for either a short or long period of time.  Whether this is a nation collapsing, an EMP which has taken out the nation’s electrical infrastructure or any other major catastrophe leaving you to fend for yourself and your family’s well-being, you are now on your own. What we’ll do in this blog is walk you through the four phases and at the end, we’ll tie this together in a way that will then make sense.  Again, it’s important for you to understand each phase we’re going to go through and at the end, we’ll take everything we learned and explain it in a way that will make sense. So let’s jump in.

Stage 1 The Early Warnings Phase

We personally think there’s more than enough warning signs that things are about to shake out in our world over the next decade (and few years for that matter) and those that are prepared will do better than those that are not prepared.  We are now living in a moment in history where people realize they need to get ready.  It’s something you can sense right now.   This early phase is the preparation phase for you.  It is where you should be making sure you have an adequate supply of your essentials, those items lumped into, again, the three Bs categories: Bullets, Beans, and Band Aids.  Here, of course, we’re speaking generally and these 3 B’s represent general categories of preps.  Your personal defenses and protections are more than just bullets.  Beans refers to all your long term food stores.  And Band Aids refers to all medicines and personal care items you may need.  So as preppers, we all know these 3 main categories…they’re pretty drilled into our heads as preppers.   But do precious metals hold any value in this phase? The answer is yes.  Following any disaster, manmade or natural, economies suffer.  They often dip with people’s perceptions of how bad and how long it will last.  When the markets suffer, or the dollar declines in value, or both, precious metals typically rise in value.  We are  not a financial advisor, and we are not trying to give you financial advice.  But if you are observing what is happening right now with the Fed printing money and driving up the national debt, you can observe the spike in demand for precious metal prices as investors are looking to move their fiat currency to a safe haven with precious metals being just one of my assets they’re pursuing.   Natural and manmade disasters will continue to strike.  Economies will crash and rise.  Precious metals provide you a type of safe haven, but you won’t be able to acquire them at a low price if you wait until after the disaster strikes.  Once you have your three B’s secured, we would recommend you turn your attention to precious metals to prep your finances to be more stable.  If we were starting out in prepping today, we would focus on the 3 “B’s” and then pivot to precious metals.  If your currency collapses, the universal currency of precious metals will allow you to still make transactions, but again, not in the immediate phase after a collapse which we’ll talk about next.  

Stage 2: The Collapse Phase

In the collapse phase precious metals have the least amount of value to you, though they may increase in value against the currency.  A look at the post-WWI Weimar Republic is a great example of this.  In January nineteen-nineteen, an ounce of gold cost one hundred seventy German Marks.  Four years and ten months later in November of nineteen twenty three, one ounce of gold cost eighty seven trillion German Marks.  In US dollars, though, an ounce of gold was around twenty one dollars.  The German Mark was useless, a wheelbarrow full wouldn’t have bought you a loaf of bread.  During this collapse phase, precious metals may hold some trade value for you with people who either deny the collapse is happening or who believe in a quick recovery phase.  This is the last phase we would actually try to use them to negotiate or buy with someone in the same economy as you’ll get the least return for them.  You can’t haul large amounts of them if you are forced to bug out, and if they are being held electronically for you, you may not be able to access the systems needed to obtain value from them which is why I always recommend people actually receive them and hold them in a safe location. This is commonly called the HOLD phase of an investment.  You are waiting and seeing.  If you see that the US market or dollar is plummeting in value, you might make some transactions from your gold to more stable global currencies.  If that sounds too risky, or you see a larger global crisis looming, you might be better served just to hold to the next phases.

Stage 3: The Endurance Phase

The Endurance Phase in prepping is really what you should be prepping for.  Here is where your three B’s will really come into play. Here, too, is where any durable goods, shelter, and water, and anything that will sustain you become critical.  You have to endure the tragedy.  You have to survive until you can make it to the recovery phase. While precious metals in small amounts may be useful in homegrown scientific applications like water purification, and they may have continued trade value as more people turn their attention to a recovery phase, their value is still minimal compared to the essential prepping supplies.  Here, any precious metals are on the line between HOLD and SELL.  There may be greater opportunity to exchange small amounts of precious metals for the essentials you are running low on or discover that you need. 

Stage 4: The Recovery Phase

OK, so having run through the first three phases, this is where precious metals really shine (no pun intended). The Recovery phase is where precious metals truly have value for you.  So much of prepping attention is focused on the Collapse and Endurance phases of a disaster.  Many prepare as if the end result of every instance will be some dystopic, Mad Max, post-apocalyptic landscape.  While that is always one possible outcome and can serve as a motivator and guide for your preparations, history has shown us that a Recovery Phase follows in every instance.  If an extinction-level event happens, the prepping you have done, honestly, probably will not matter too much; however, if the disaster is natural or manmade, or economic, it will have a recovery phase because it will not have a global catastrophic effect. It is during this Recovery Phase where precious metals will be exchangeable for land, currency, or whatever else you need.  While replacement currencies may come into play, gold, silver, and copper will allow you to acquire new currency.  This is the SELL phase of your precious metals.  Depending on how clear the recovery is, because sometimes recoveries can falter, you should only SELL a little at a time to secure your piece of the brighter recovery. So let us wrap this all up in a way that makes sense. Think about it this way.  If a SHTF truly occurs and the grid is down for a very long time and we go into a truly catastrophic event which leaves everyone fending for their own, fiat currency like a dollar will be worthless.  It’s just paper and will have no value.  Cash is not an asset in and of itself.  It’s merely an agreement between 2 parties in which we assign value to this item because it’s backed by a government.  When things eventually come back to normal, if you’re holding a lot of paper money, it will be worthless during a rebuild.  But if you hold an asset like precious metals, you now have something that will be recognized as value and it will allow you to move forward with something of high value.  You can think of the example we gave earlier of the collapse of the Weimar Republic.  Fiat paper currency became worthless.  You couldn’t do anything with it once the society began to rebuild.  People without assets had to start from scratch.  But if you have a tangible asset that has value, you can now move back into the markets with something of value.  It’s essentially transferring value from fiat to precious metals and when things restore, you can move the value out of this asset back into a fiat market to begin buying things you need.  But fiat currency can’t do that.  If everything truly collapses, fiat currency becomes worthless and may not come back to value once things restore.  The currency the new government sets up may be completely different and this will be nothing but paper.  But precious metals holds value.  While during the first few phases it may have little value, at the end during recovery, it has been holding that value all along.

Conclusion

So, to answer the question should precious metals be a part of your prepping inventory, quite simply, yes.  Not in the immediate aftermath, but if you’re looking at the long game, hopefully you see the value.  After your three B’s are secure, you should consider adding precious metals to your inventory.  You can’t eat or drink precious metals, but along the way they can help you secure both food and water.  Having some precious metals in your inventory is a strategy based on insulating yourself from the economic impact of any disaster.  Through each of the four phases (Warnings, Collapse, Endurance, and Recovery) precious metals will retain some value, even if that value fluctuates based upon circumstance.  It is really the Recovery Phase of any calamity where they will have their greatest value.  They can help you emerge from the darkness of a tragic situation faster and stronger, even though the new world that emerges may look completely different from the pre-disaster world you came from. As always, please stay safe out there.

Outline

• Guidelines for Foraging & Keeping Healthy
• Rapidfire the 25

Your food supplies are running low.  You’re surrounded by plants, but you have no idea which ones you can eat and which ones are poisonous.  The Earth, fortunately, is covered with plants we can eat, but some are toxic to us.  In desperate times, people have turned to the cornucopia of nature to replace their grocery aisle.  During the dust bowl, for instance, people ate one of the only plants still thriving– tumbleweed.  While we don’t recommend chasing down and eating tumblewood, knowing what plants you can forage from your environment is critical to your long term survival. In a previous video, we covered 25 edible plants you can grow in your apartment.  For this blog, we want to focus on a lightning fast list of 25 plants you can forage from your environment.  While many foraging videos focus on plants you could eat but may not grow in your area, we have tried to focus on plants that are easy to identify, have a wide if not coast-to-coast growing range, and grow in great abundance.  We have also favored plants that have good nutritional values, medicinal properties, or multiple uses.  Before eating any wild edible plant, make sure you are 100% certain it is the plant you think it is.  You absolutely should have a good book to help you identify it.  Many plants have look-alike plants that may be toxic.  In our list here, we have also tried to avoid any plants that have similar look-alikes. We will put some links to my favorite foraging books in the section below and in the comments.  Please make sure to read up on any plant you intend to consume.  Some plants have strong medicinal properties or shouldn’t be consumed by children or pregnant women.  It’s important to know everything you can about the food you are venturing to consume.  Along with getting the foraging books, start foraging now. Identify the edible plants in your area.  Make sure that they aren’t sprayed with herbicides or pesticides or naturally sprayed by animal urine.  Some plants in the wild have a very strong or bitter flavor and take some getting used to. They also tend to be more nutritious in some cases than your store bought produce.  Learn to eat small amounts now with your regular meals.  If you do make a mistake and eat something you shouldn’t have, charcoal tablets can neutralize some poisons, and you should, of course, seek some medical care.  In an SHTF situation, however, you won’t have the luxury of medical services.  Don’t wait to learn until you have no choice.  Get a book on foraging in your area and set a goal of finding at least one plant and using it as food.  If you do this once a week, you’ll be an expert forager in a short amount of time.  So, let’s get to it.

1- Guidelines for Foraging & Keeping Healthy

Before we launch into the rapid fire list of 25 plants, let us first explain some basic guidelines for health, safety, and sustainability.  First, make sure you are 100% certain of your identification.  As we mentioned, there are look-alikes for some plants, and some plants are toxic.  Second, never forage in areas you feel may have been sprayed with pesticides.  Third, never harvest so much of the plant it cannot recover, or other animals can’t take advantage of the plant.  If you come across a patch of berries, for instance, don’t harvest them all.  Of course, if you are starving to death, you may need to take more, but you don’t want the plant and habitat to suffer so much it can’t recover.  What if you needed to come back in another few weeks to gather more.  We intentionally left milkweed off this list because the plant is not as easy to find as it was and the Monarch Butterfly relies upon it.  Fourth, make sure you wash food you gather from the outdoors with water and, if possible, a vinegar water bath to remove any bacteria.  Placing them post wash into direct sunlight can also help kill viruses and some bacteria, and, of course, cooking them is your best bet.  Finally, while we tried to focus on plants that can be eaten in their entirety, from root to aerial parts, note that some plants have leaves that are edible but not the fruit, some have edible fruit but not the leaves, and some have root only that can be eaten.  Know everything about the plant before you eat it. Foragers take the art of foraging seriously, so if you have other advice for newbie foragers, please leave it in the comments below.

2- Rapidfire 25

So without further ado, here are the 25 plants for foraging.  They are in no particular ranking because what you choose to forage is going to depend heavily upon your environment and what you need to supplement your stored foods. So we begin.

1. White and Red Clover – Some people know about using red clover to make syrups, but you can also consume the white variety of this common and easily identifiable plant.  The entire above ground part of the plant is edible.    The dried leaves and flowers have a slight hint of vanilla to them.  Once you learn to recognize clover, with its shamrock like leaves, you will see it everywhere.  Identify this one from the flowers until you know what you are looking for.  It does look a little like Wood Sorrel, which is also edible, but should only be consumed in smaller amounts because of its medicinal properties.
2. Daisies – The greens and petals can be eaten and have medicinal purposes, as well.  They are somewhat bitter.  Daisies have anti-inflammatory and mild astringent properties and have been used internally, in tea form, as an herbal remedy for the common cold, bronchitis and other inflammation of the upper respiratory tract.  In folk medicine, it was often recommended to eat the fresh leaves to stimulate nutrition uptake, due to the bitter substances found in the herb.  The fresh leaves, flowers, buds, and petals have a pleasant taste and can be used in salads or added to soups. Furthermore, the flower heads can be used in vinegar and as a substitute for capers.
3. Dandelions – Probably this one is the most identifiable of any plant on this list.  There are some medicinal effects of this plant.  It is said to help the liver remove toxins, and it has a diuretic quality.  The entire plant is edible.  Younger leaves are less bitter than older leaves.  The roots can be roasted and ground as a coffee like substitute.  The flowers can be eaten raw, tossed into a salad, or sauteed.
4. Purslane – You likely have walked right by this plant in hundreds of lawns.  The first time I saw it was at a farmers market the same week I had pulled a bunch out from my lawn while weeding.  I remember thinking I could have eaten those.  In fact, it is widely eaten throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. It is an annual succulent with a slightly sour and salty taste, making it an interesting addition to the plate and palate. The entire plant, including the leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds are edible and have been used for thousands of years in different variations.
5. Roses – Everyone can identify roses, so it’s a good one for our list.  The petals can be eaten, however, the rose hips, the fruit of the rose that appears after the flowers drop are a better source of Vitamin C than an orange.  Unfortunately, most roses get harvested and clipped back before getting to this stage, but in the wild or after a long period of non-maintenance, rose hips would be in abundance.  One rose hip has the equivalent vitamin C of eight oranges.  It has the equivalent vitamin A of 21 oranges.  The rose hips can be dried and powdered.
6. Wild Grapes- Grapes are a vine that can grow throughout the United States.  Some vines in the wild can grow up to 50 feet in length.  Right off the vine they are more tart than store-bought grapes.  The leaves can be blanched and eaten as well.  Remember foraging rules and be sure to leave plenty behind for the animals who have been eating off that vine for many years before you showed up.
7. Cattail – Yes, cattail can be eaten.  You can eat the shoots and stalks raw, but they are better fried.  They have a mild asparagus flavor.  The seed heads can be harvested for pollen which can be added to flour.  The roots can be mashed in water and dried to produce a flour.  It’s versatile and grows in many lakes and along most rivers.
8. Kudzu – If you live in the south United States you know this invasive plant.  The flowers, leaves, and roots are all edible.  The roots, like the cattails mentioned previously, can be mashed and dried to make a starch called Japanese arrowroot.  Note that the seeds and pods are not edible parts of the Kudzu plant.
9. Aloe Vera – The succulent aloe vera is 99% water, doesn’t have much taste, which are two great reasons to seek it out in the wild arid regions.  When applied to the skin, it blocks 20% of harmful UV rays, so it hydrates and protects from the sun.  The very viscous gel can also be used to shave or soothe irritated skin.
10. Prickly Pear Cactus – Also known as Nopales, Spanish for “paddles”, this large cactus is very distinguishable from other cactuses.  The needles can be burned off and scraped with a knife, and the soft center eaten.  This is also what they make cactus candy out of.  The reddish fruit can easily be gathered and eaten later.  It has a sweet but subtle flavor.
11. Milk Thistle – With large purple pincushion flowers and soft prickly leaves, the Milk Thistle is hard not to notice.  You’ll need thick gloves and a knife or scissors to harvest the leaves.  Ounce for ounce, thistles come out higher in fiber, protein, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, copper, zinc, and other nutrients than most typical vegetables.  Once you strip the spines off you can eat them raw.  A relative to the artichoke, the smaller unopened flower head can be eaten the same way.
12. Stinging Nettle – Anything with stinging in the name can’t be good, right?  Actually, the stinging nettle gets its name because the leaves have tiny barbs that can irritate the skin.  It makes the list here because it is easily recognizable, it has a decent nutritional profile, and for the anti-inflammatory quality of the plant. Blanch the leaves in boiling water.
13.  Sunflower – The two best things about sunflowers are, first, that the entire plant is edible from root, to stalk, to leaves, to the all too familiar seed.  The second best thing is that sunflowers grow with incredible ease.  They just need soil, sun, and regular watering and they grow like crazy.
14.  Acorns – Acorns have been eaten by indigenous Americans as early as recorded history.  They are very tannic, so the green acorns can be boiled and drained.  Indigenous people would grind dried acorn into flour and soak them in a running stream for a few days to release the tannins.  The result is a very nutritious flour. In southern California, you can easily find metetas, holes formed from smashing and grinding the acorns, in boulders beneath large California native oak trees, especially where there is also running water.
15.  Fiddlehead fern- Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable.  It is abundant in the Pacific Northwest.  Sautee them with a little butter and wild garlic.  These coiled tips of ferns are the yet to spring leaves.  They have a slight nutty flavor.
16.  Coyote Melon – From California through Texas, the Coyote Melon is edible and grows in abundance in some areas.  It resembles a fist-sized watermelon, with a harder rind and more spear tip like leaves.  The first time you find one, you’ll turn to the person next to you and ask if they used deodorant.  It stinks like body odor.  The indigenous people called it the coyote melon because they reasoned that only a coyote would dare eat it.  Like I said, it is edible, and if you need to eat to survive, don’t walk by it.
17.  Lotus Flower – The Asian lotus flower is now somewhat common to ponds across America.  The root is edible and loaded with starch.  It is similar to a crunchy potato, so it fries up very well.
18.  Amaranth – Amaranth is very recognizable by its very long, conical, purple flowers.  The seeds are about the size of sesame seeds and can be eaten dried or raw.  They are packed with calcium and protein.  The leaves can be stir fried.  Considered a weed, it grows quite well in the wild in many climates.
19.  Wild Leeks or Ramps are a Spring ephemeral, which means the leaves appear before the leaves on the trees appear.  That makes them easier to spot. You can get the same flavor from just the leaf, so try to just clip one leaf from a two leaf plant and remember where the Ramp patch is for the future.
20.  Wild onions or wild garlic.  The real advantage to this allum family is that they are easily identifiable both by sight and by taste.  They are very bold in flavor.  You can find them growing throughout the country.
21.  Morels – As with all mushrooms, consult someone more of an expert than you before consumption.  There are a lot of toxic varieties and lookalikes, so make sure you know what you are eating.  There are also a great many edible varieties.  I only include the morel here, because there aren’t many mushrooms with such a distinctive honeycomb head.  This makes it, in my opinion, the most recognizable.
22.  Cone Flower – More commonly known today as Echinacea, modern herbalists claim it boosts immunity.  Native Americans have used it for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.  The leaves and flower petals are edible.  You can also dry the whole plant and break it up for tea.
23.  Wild blackberries and raspberries – If you live in one of the cooler climate zones where wild blackberries and raspberries grow, you’ve probably grabbed these right off the vine.  I include them in the list here because they are so recognizable.  Some people just have to go out looking more carefully to find them.  The blackberry leaf can be made into a tea or used as a poultice for wounds.
24.  Pine trees – The nuts and needles of pine trees are edible.  Refreshing, nutritious, and somewhat minty in flavor.  Pine nuts have more calories than peanuts.  If you have ever put a tent up under or near a pine tree at the right part of the year, and you were probably bombarded in a rain shower of bits of pine cone as squirrels dug out these little nuts.  The needles can be steeped in hot water to make a refreshing tea. 
25.  Mulberry Trees – Resembling a blackberry in shape, the mulberry can be white, lavender, or purplish black in color.  A full grown, old, mulberry tree is a thing of beauty with enough berries to feed every bird and every human for miles around.  You’re lucky if you find one of these.  It’s a favorite of silk worms, and the berries will easily become one of your favorites.

That’s our 25.  Remember the rules and guidelines for foraging in a healthy and sustainable way.  Get a book and set a goal for yourself to use one plant per week.  In this way, if you find yourself in desperate need, you will be equipped with the knowledge and know-how to find the plants, process, and prepare them for consumption.  There are so many books that have plants from the common to the obscure.  Nature’s Garden and Incredible Wild Edibles are kind of the gold standard. They are both by Samule Thayer who is really the expert on foraging.  These books have the right mix of plants and details to get you started and keep you healthy.   The knowledge of foraging for edible plants will transform your world.  It’s a great activity for the whole family, and it will take your nature hikes to a whole new level.  So, get out there and get to eating nature. As always, please stay safe out there.