How soon they forget about what happened after Katrina - and that was when people still had hope that help was coming...imagine Katrina on a national/global scale where everyone realizes that the central gov't is not going to come help them in a few days. Utter chaos. Edit: Here, let me help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina#Looting_and_violence I agree with the earlier poster, the avg citizen is only a few days away from resorting to a do-whatever-it-takes-to-survive attitude. All it takes it a disruption of the food & energy distribution system and all hell will break loose. Believe it. To those that think that gold and silver will be valuable, it really depends on how bad a collapse we are talking about. I tend to agree with others that weapons/ammo will be the most valuable commodity because they can be used to secure anything else you need from people that don't have weapons.
Now that is funny... USA more educated? That's funny... Not to say that Americans are not educated, but the educated lot will be the first ones to be shot. Why? Because they will try to reason... You think that religion is going to help you? You have got to be kidding me. If Haiti is not a good example for you then let's have look at the LA riots. Remember that? That happened because of a court decision. Imagine the rioting that would occur if the economy collapsed? How about Argentina? Or what about Hurricane Katrina? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Katrina_in_New_Orleans#Civil_disturbances In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, looting, violence and other criminal activity became serious problems. ... Incapacitated by the breakdown of transportation and communication, as well as overwhelmed in terms of numbers, police officers could do little to stop crime, and shopkeepers who remained behind were left to defend their property alone.[41] Looters included gangs of armed gunmen, and gunfire was heard in parts of the city. Along with violent, armed robbery of non-essential valuable goods, many incidents were of residents simply taking food, water, and other commodities from unstaffed grocery stores. There were also reports of some police officers looting.[42] Significant looting continued in areas of the city with few, if any permanent residents, such as the Lakeview, Gentilly, and the Midcity regions.[43] Enough said...
You are in the warning period right now. Don't expect the gov't to pre-announce it or coverage about it coming on tv. Not saying its a forgone conclusion at this point but without a serious effort to turn the ship around I don't see any other ending to the current course we are on.
Some could argue the economy has already collapsed -- considering global trade of physical goods is/was off 20-25%. That is a rare collapse by any historical measure. There's ways to go between an economic fallout and anarchy/war/loss of ownership/democratic rights.
Some issues will exasperate our fall: 1. Our seeds are hybrid. Planting the seeds from the tomato you get from the store may not produce good tomatoes. Get some heirloom seeds that will reproduce. 2. 99.999% of ball bearings are not made here...when China stops shipping...all machinery, cars, airplanes stop. 3. Computers and all other products...see issue 2.
I have been reading this thread with interest because I was convinced that we were headed for economic armageddon last year. These concerns led me to purchase guns and ammo for the first time in my life, obtain my concealed carry permit, stockpile several cords of firewood for my woodstove and purchase books on gardening and survival. This year, I intend to plant several fruit trees as well as a square foot garden with non-GMO, heirloom seeds and I am researching water purifiers that will clean water from my swimming pool if needed. I will also be stockpiling some food, including nitrogen-packed beans, rice, wheat and seeds for sprouting. I have some camping equipment, but need to purchase a butane stove and a few other supplies. I would like to raise chickens for meat and eggs, but I don't think that my neighborhood association would be too happy about it. Having said that, I am less concerned about a total economic collapse now than I was last year. Despite all of the money printing, the US dollar has strengthened because many other countries are in worse economic shape than the US. Due to the fact that the US dollar is the world's reserve currency and is held in large quantities by the world's largest creditor nations such as China leads me to believe that the world has a vested interest in seeing the dollar remain strong. If, for example, China decided to start dumping dollars, the value of their holdings would decline as well. If anything, I envision a slow decline in the value of the US dollar as the US continues to print money and as creditor nations slowly liquidate their dollars. My nagging concern is our massive and ever-growing national debt. It is virtually unpayable and our government does not seem to have the will to take the responsible actions necessary to decrease it. The only way they seem to know how to solve any problem is to print more money to throw at it. Their plan seems to simply keep interest rates low, print money and inflate our way out of debt. So my question is, what scenaria do those of you who are expecting a sudden economic catastrophe envision at this time? Or are you simply expecting a slow decline in the value of the US dollar as I described?
Dang Dr Pepper you sound like me. One difference between your story and mine is I'm actually putting in chickens this spring...