Does this freak you out?

[On Our own]

In another thread I commented that I was actually becoming concerned that fewer people were thinking I was a tin foil hat person when I talked about getting ready.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-invest-for-the-debt-bomb-explosion-2010-02-09?pagenumber=1

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

 

[freemotion]

Yes, it does, in a way. We are not yet debt-free, and our best clients (one alone is paying our mortgage, essentially) will be hit hard and will have to drop us, I'm sure.

I need to pick up the pace of getting my income less dependent on massage therapy....and reducing debt. I am "franchising" my healthy lifestyle classes....that will be needed when people need to learn how to live in a different way. It will lead to other classes, as well, as I have had requests for hands-on kitchen classes already. Dace is doing this, too.

In addition to students taking the class, I have over a dozen people so far who are exploring teaching it with my support so we can all make a little cash outside of our regular "jobs." Working together, we can keep the price low (franchise-style) and all make a little in a supportive environment.

So far, so good!

Being more food self-sufficient is important, too, but won't be as useful to me if we lose the house and property. So I have to prepare in a number of directions.....Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D.......

 

[old fashioned]

This only freaks me out to see what I've been thinking/feeling for years actually being publically voiced. The downside of this is now the prices will be going up on SS items as the demand will increase. I've already noticed steady increases in prices on those SS/do it yourself items vs convenience/frills stuffs.

Free--many alternate plans are a good idea! My thought is "never put all your eggs in one basket" it helps to be as prepared as possible for whatever might come....though true nobody can be completely prepared for everything.

 

[Wifezilla]

This only freaks me out to see what I've been thinking/feeling for years actually being publically voiced

Exactly!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I think it is kind of like an awareness bell curve. Now we get to watch everyone start to fall in line with what we have been trying to do for some time.

Yes, I guess that means supplies will be more expensive, but if something were to happen, maybe there will be a lot less helpless neighbors? We can hope.

 

[TTs Chicks]

very scary! Just means we all need to ramp up our ss efforts.

 

[On Our own]

Part of me is torqued to find that the insiders have been prepping all along (or at least here for a while) continuing their theme of "in it for myself and the rest of you can go to h***"


But, as others have noted it explains why weapons and ammo prices have shot up - no pun intended.

 

[patandchickens]

I am not living in the US at present so my perception of public mood may be somewhat off (Canada is not as different as either country's populace would like to *think*, but economically at the moment it is in much better shape)...

...but, that said, it sure sounds to me like just another passing fad driven by an excessive amount of media outlets trying to drum up stories, aided and abetted by a society that would rather ride a series of fads than actually get a LIFE

To the extent that gardening, being frugal, stockpiling, etc etc are being heralded as newly-mainstream things to do, it sure sounds to me JUST like "hey lets all buy candles and MREs for Y2K", "oh no, anthrax, everyone stock up on antibiotics", "whoa, SARS and bird flu, gotta have a closet full o' facemasks", etc etc.

Not that there can't be some good to come from it - a few people will actually rethink what they're doing - but by and large I think it will have the same net impact on society as, say, disco or Martha Stewart.

I give it a lifespan of maybe a year til the majority of people get bored and the herd sweeps on to a new pasture.

Cynically, but generally having been correct about this sort of thing in the past,

Pat

 

[hennypenny9]

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.

 

[k0xxx]

Something to think about.

According to the U.S. Treasury, The U.S. will have to refinance $2 trillion in short-term debt within the next 12 months.That's not counting any additional deficit spending, which is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion.

Put the two numbers together. Then ask yourself, how in the world can the Treasury borrow $3.5 trillion in only one year? That's an amount equal to nearly 30 percent of our entire GDP, and we're the world's biggest economy. Where will the money come from?

Indian or Russian central banks, which have stopped buying Treasury bills and begun to buy enormous amounts of gold. The Indians recently bought 200 metric tons. Sources in Russia say the central bank there will double its gold reserves.

China's Military is already suggesting that their central bank start dumping some of their U.S. Treasury holdings as a way to punish the U.S. for selling arms to Taiwan.

Link Here

We can live with our debt at the moment because the interest is low enough that the payments aren't hurting us. As interest rates start to increase, as they are now certain to do, the payments on rolling over the short term debt gets much higher. If we see inflation and interest rising to the levels of the early 1980's, the debt payments would be equal to the entire budget of the US, excepting the military, and that's without additional deficits or entitlement programs.

Now add the enormous projected increases in the cost of Social Security and Medicare, the coming bail outs of Fanny and Freddie, the probable bail outs of California and several other states, as well as our additional 10 trillion (minimum) in deficits projected over the next 8 years. Now consider that the US Treasury has announced about a 30% decline in revenues for 2009, as a result of our economic troubles. It's no wonder that the media is starting to get a bit jittery about the economic outlook. It ain't a pretty picture.