Whether or not we know it, we are all sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Some wait with trepidation, fear and anxiety, certain that something terrible lies in their future. Others look forward to the coming collapse, thinking that it is the only way we will ever get to have a do-over.
Some work to hasten the collapse, the downfall of our country. They are actually people out there that believe that our population is too high and that we need a great die off to save “Mother Earth.” Strange that none of these people seem will to step up and commit suicide to save the planet. They would rather sacrifice you and your family in the name of good.
Some refuse to think about it, either through youth and nativity or possibly denial. Perhaps some are so self-absorbed and live in such a small inward-looking world that they have no idea what the real world is a dangerous place and that life is a terminal disease that no one escapes.
Personally, I like to prepare for something terrible and then live like I don’t care. Maybe the other shoe will drop tomorrow or next year, but by preparing, I feel ready for whatever the future may bring. No fear, no anxiety, and no worries.
Our Society is a Complex System
I think some sort of collapse is inevitable because our country is a complex system and systems fail. Some crumble and collapse slowly. Others come screeching to a crash. The more complex the system, the more spectacular the failure.
You could argue that the United States has been on a course to collapse and crumbling for the better part of a century, peaking after WWII and slide downhill at an increasingly faster and faster rate since the 1960s. Our culture, our morals, the economy, and our rights have been decaying for more than 50 years. We didn’t notice at first because it happened so slowly, but now it is hard to miss, but like Tiger Woods, most of us have no idea that we’ve run off the road and are heading towards a tree.
When the collapse nears the end, it looks like a crash because the downhill slide happens so fast. Only in hindsight will most of the sheople realize that the dollar had been dropping in value their entire lives, that their constitutional freedoms have been nibbled away at for 100 years, that most of their news has been propaganda for several decades, that manufacturing jobs have been moving offshore since the 1970s (a trend that accelerated in the 1990s), that government regulation have increased for more than 200 years, and that the government has been controlling more and more aspects of their life since the Great New Deal.
Just-in-Time Global Supply Chin
If we continue to collapse slowly, it will be because of our soft, weak government elected by people who vote for their individual self-interest with no thought to what is best for the country. If instead we crash, it will probably be because of the just-in-time global supply chain and its inability to provide much needed goods in a hurry.
When the Great Chicago Fire left a third of its resident homeless and caused what would be $4.7 billion of damage in today’s dollars, they didn’t have to send to China for parts or Canada for lumber. Everything they needed to rebuild was local. Likewise when the 1906 earthquake hit San Francisco (pictured above), making more than half its population homeless. They built refugee housing with wood from local redwood and fir trees.
We are already seeing problems getting microchips, are facing delays for equipment and parts made overseas, and have been shocked at how many of our drugs are made elsewhere. One reason an EMP would be so destructive is that much of the electrical transformers and other hardware needed to recover would have to be custom made and much of it imported from China. Yeah, that will go well.
What You Can Do to Survive
This should be no surprise to returning readers: My advice is to prepare now. Whether the inevitable slide continues with periods of inflation, civil unrest, and lawlessness or we see a rapid crash and a collapse of the government and the economy, being a prepper is one of best paths to living through it.
Look for multiple sources of food, water, and shelter (meaning a roof over your head and a way to keep from freezing to death). For ideas and suggestions, read:
The Layered Approach to Food Storage
How and Where to Get Your Water After the SHTF
