Does this freak you out?

[enjoy the ride]

Seriously? The Wall Street Journal is telling people to stockpile and get weapons??

No- Marketwatch- an internet site, is selling snake oil- which is always a good business in times of trouble.

 

[ksalvagno]

If you just looked at the facts, the US is in trouble and there is no way it can sustain things the way they are. You don't need scare articles or anything else if you are honestly looking at what is going on. More and more people are starting to open up their eyes and see that the government and Wall Street can't continue the track it is on but there are still many people out there that chose not to see it. I don't know when but life as we Americans know it will change. And a lot of people will be left in the dust and won't know how to handle it.

All we can do is continue to work towards being as self sufficient as possible. I know I personally have a long way to go but at least I'm working on it.

 

[Wifezilla]

All we can do is continue to work towards being as self sufficient as possible. I know I personally have a long way to go but at least I'm working on it.

 

[tommywalnuts]

My Papaw knew it was coming someday. He thought it would be in his lifetime. But he did teach me the skills, the wat of thinking to get through(or make an effort to) something like a meltdown, a depression. My wife sometimes thinks I'm a little paranoid(I think I'm not paranoid enough). Her family(think grasshoppers compared to my ant) thinks I am crazy. I don't care, I am still going to prep to care for myself and mine. Folks that think society cannot end have to right every single day; folks that know it can(and probably will) end have only to be right once.

 

[enjoy the ride]

Of course the US is in trouble. Much of the world has problems right now. If your car breaks down on the freeway, you're in trouble. But that doesn't mean you are going to die. You might but it is much more likely that everything will be reasonable OK. You will go on.
I have a real problem with continuous repeating of "warnings" that are big on repeating the worse thoughts that have strayed into someone's mind without particulars or solutions. It's like yelling fire in a theater because someone lit a match. The resulting hysteria will result in more damage than could have possibly occured from the incident.
Yes there are problems, but there is a world of difference between useful information to help a person prepare as best they can and screams of hysteria that may ruin any chance of reasonable action that actually can help.
It bothers me so that some people seem to enjoy spreading their angst around without any regard to the damage it might do. Or worse making money like the author of the OP's article out of fear in a time when there is enough real angst to go around. He earns his living from junk like this- the more hysteria, the more money for him.
This is not turning blind eye to a problem- it is just choosing not to wallow in fruitless self-pity.

 

[pioneergirl]

Eh. So some people start stocking up. They still will have no idea how to use their stockpile, and once it's run out, will have no idea how to replenish it. They will have nothing to trade, no skills of any sort. I guess from working with people a lot, I've gotten cynical. I mean, most people couldn't patch a pair of jeans if their life depended on it. So what about growing their own food, storing the food, making their own clothes, preparing for winters, etc, etc? I've been steadily becoming more SS, but without help I doubt I could make it.

I agree with hennypenny....SKILLS will prevail in the future, nothing more. We have GOT to up our skills, as well as stockpile. Heirloom seeds, old breeds of livestock, and the old ways of living....that is our survival when this comes to pass.

 

[chipmunk]

DH and I were just talking about this last night, trying to decide what to do with what's left of my 401K before the economy collapses. The question is whether penalties and taxes would eat up more of it than loss of value would if the dollar collapsed.

I guess my reaction to the article is that I'm already mighty concerned about the state of both the U.S. and the world economy.

 

[k0xxx]

Of course the US is in trouble. Much of the world has problems right now. If your car breaks down on the freeway, you're in trouble. But that doesn't mean you are going to die. You might but it is much more likely that everything will be reasonable OK. You will go on.

I believe in preparation, to the extent that I can. A collapse of the US economy would probably be classified as "low risk, high impact" scenario. A total collapse may have a low chance of happening (personally I'd give it a better than 50% chance), but the impact would be severe if it does. I can prepare by basically doing what I have been doing for years, reducing my reliance on money to get by.

I have a real problem with continuous repeating of "warnings" that are big on repeating the worse thoughts that have strayed into someone's mind without particulars or solutions. It's like yelling fire in a theater because someone lit a match. The resulting hysteria will result in more damage than could have possibly occured from the incident.

Yes there are problems, but there is a world of difference between useful information to help a person prepare as best they can and screams of hysteria that may ruin any chance of reasonable action that actually can help.

If you honestly believe that something bad may happen, and that it will affect a lot of people, then I don't believe that the "continuous repeating of warnings" are a bad thing. I don't see your point about the warnings resulting in hysteria. If I were about to unknowingly drive off of a cliff, and someone was shouting and waving their arms to get your attention, It may scare me but I don't that that it would instill hysteria. If that person were wrong, but honestly believed that I had been in danger, I'd thank them for their concern, not be mad at them for scaring me.

 

[Wifezilla]

If you honestly believe that something bad may happen, and that it will affect a lot of people, then I don't believe that the "continuous repeating of warnings" are a bad thing. I don't see your point about the warnings resulting in hysteria.

Exactly

 

[enjoy the ride]

Point I was trying to make was "warnings" based on little fact and lots of emotion- trying to catch people attention to sell ad space with headines and no story. A meteor might fall on your house- it's happened. But no one builds (and pluuueeeze don't tell me if you did) a meteor proof roof.
Now a discussion of the collapse of society, while I think has been a vague, oft repeated idea for centuries and is not what I would call helpful, doesn't get me angry. This generalized hyperbole whose sole purpose is to gain attention in order to sell something does make me angry.
It needs to be called what it is- fear mongering. And that is what that man was doing in the first refernce. Could turn into a self-fulllfilling prophesy if not called out.