In Cuba, the government can no longer afford to give milk to children and is asking the UN for aid. Cuba has been economically depressed for decades. Now it’s worse. This is yet another example of socialism’s end state.
In Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, gangs have run wild, released 4,000 prisoners from jail, and are on what seems like a country-wide riot. They estimated gangs to control 80 percent of the capital and are preventing planes from landing at the airport. Their leader, a former police officer, has demanded that the prime minister step down.
Earlier this week, it took 31 Egyptian Pounds to buy a single U.S. dollar. Then the pounds lost 60 percent of its value and it suddenly took 50 pounds to buy one U.S. dollar. Talk about taking a haircut.
I could argue that the U.S. is headed down the same path. For example:
Zillow reports that since 2020, when Biden was elected, the income needed to afford a new home has risen 80 percent. So if you needed an income of $100,000 to afford a starter home, you now need $180,000. As a result, less than half the household in American can afford to buy a home. Many are doomed to be “forever renters.”
And did I mention more people were laid in February 2024 than in any February since 2009? It’s not just rising food and home prices that are causing economic problems.
Blue City Problems
In New York City, a climbing death toll has police and National Guard soldiers checking bags of people in the subway system for weapons. No one wants to re-institute the “broken windows” and stop-and-frisk policies that successfully lowered crime in the late 1990s when Rudy Giuliani was mayor, but it might be worth considering.
In Austin, Texas, there are so few police that there are entire shifts with only one officer patrolling a precinct. Many calls go unanswered. You heard about how preppers need to be their own first responder? It’s reality in Austin. One woman had to call an Uber to take her kids to the hospital after a car crash because the ambulance never responded.
In blue cities like Portland and San Francisco, stores from Walgreens and CVS to Nordstroms are closing their doors because of rising crime, especially organized retail theft. As bad as this sounds, it is worse when you realize they brought this on themselves. City policies that reduce the chance of jail time and allow criminals to get away with stealing hundreds of dollars’ worth of merchandise have encouraged this behavior. Adding insult to injury, cities like New York have arrested store owners who fight back to stop criminals from stealing from them.
Hey blue cities, how are those leftist policies working out for you? How do you like having no pharmacy in your area because blatant retail theft caused them to shut down? Have you considered what are you going to do when the grocery stores close? Do you miss those big companies that pulled out and moved to Texas, Florida and North Carolina where criminals get jailed? Do you wish all those restaurants hadn’t closed their doors? Are you enjoying your $14.39 Big Mac? Blame it on laws setting minimum wage between $15 and $25.
Hellish Cityscapes
I visited San Diego back in 2017. Homeless people were brazenly camped out in front of buildings with their trash bags and shopping carts of their few personal belonging. Natives ignored it because they saw it every day, but it surprised me. In the city where I worked, we didn’t have that kind of homeless problem.
It’s far worse today. Not only are the homeless camped out on building’s doorsteps, they put up tents in public parks and park RVs on city and county roads. Blue tarps line streets as homeless and drug addicts camp out in what used to be safe, prosperous neighborhoods. Now kids going to school get to see people taking a crap in the street.
The numbers of homeless have multiplied and various laws passed by sympathetic leftists make it almost impossible for police to arrest them or clear out the camps.
What makes it even worse is the rampant drug use leading them to look like zombies. Why go to the trouble of finding a flop house when you can flop on the sidewalk right in front of a restaurant, boutique, or hotel and they can’t do anything about it?
Add in a growing population of what we used to call “illegal immigrants,” some of whom are in gangs or have criminal records, and you can see the urban stew has nowhere to go but downhill.
Military-Age Male Immigrants
As bad as the criminals and homeless immigrants are, they are not the biggest threat. The Chinese, Iranians, Syrians and other illegals from unfriendly countries who are crossing our borders in the tens of thousands represent a more serious danger, especially since many are military-age males unaccompanied by family members. It’s like opening your door and inviting a home invasion, or opening your file cabinet and inviting spies to snoop through it.
You think the defund the police movement has given criminals free rein? Wait until a sleeper cell armed with AK-47s starts running through town attacking a crowded event and you will see how dangerous the lack of a fully staffed police department is.
The End Game
I don’t know what will get to us first, an economic collapse brought on by over spending and excessive borrowing, a war with China or in Europe, or problems at home that lead to massive social unrest, but we are under pressure from multiple directions. I look around and can’t help but see danger.
Unfortunately, most Americans don’t see danger until it smacks them in the forehead. Then they demand that “someone do something.” By the time we get to that point, it will be too late to nip this problem in the bud.
This is why I prep. It is why I carry a gun on my hip and a rifle in my truck. It’s why I live in the middle of nowhere. I am also stepping up my prepping efforts, and why I encourage you to do so. My deadline is November, because the election may kick off some problems, but I’m not waiting for the last minute. Better to be prepared three months too soon than three minutes too late.
Video of the Day
After writing this post, I couldn’t help but remember the “There’s a storm coming in” scene from the first Terminator movie.
