Icu4dzs
Super Self-Sufficient
- Joined
- May 7, 2010
- Messages
- 1,388
- Reaction score
- 59
- Points
- 208
First, Thanks to K0xxx for coming up with an EXCELLENT topic. The posts I have read here have been some of the best dialogue we have had on this forum in quite some time. I am impressed with the depth of knowledge and wisdom expressed by our colleagues here.
As all of you have said, there is a difference between being one who prides themselves in self-sufficiency and a panic-driven "prepper" like we have seen in some movies.
If you talk about a "rainy day" several of you have mentioned that it is beginning to rain heavily. I was always moved by the wisdom of the statement "It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark" This of course is our central philosophy as SS'ers. No one can know or predict "...the time or place" but it is a sure fact that even Aesop was able to distinguish between two types of personality in his day...Ants and Grasshoppers. That fable remains as true today as it did then. We all have to decide on which side of that fence we choose to live and it is rather clear that there are some whose perspective is to watch and see and some whose approach is to put away for the times that befall us.
What we see is that some folks put money i.e. cash in the bank and as we are now informed that money is losing buying power at an alarming rate. Others have decided to put food away and hedge their bets that the food will increase in value because the money is losing value. The food continues to be useful regardless of when it is eaten but the ability to obtain it may change in the event of serious disorder of one sort or another and then we see how to adapt to the change with which we are faced.
So is putting food away any different than putting money in the bank? Ostensibly that answer is yes, but only in a very esoteric manner. While one is valuable as a unversal medium of exchange, the other has immediate value in the event that the money to buy it is extinct. Many of us have jobs to support our "food habit" and as long as that provides a "cash flow" all is well. We can if frugal, save money but in times such as we may be facing, the ability to move food from where it is grown to where it is bought and consumed may be disrupted to the extent that no amount of effort will get the food to where it is needed before it spoils. We may not be able to depend on some middle-person factory that converts the food substance to a more storable form. That too requires energy. Considering the fact that North Dakota is currently sitting on a source of oil that will pale all others on the planet one can see that we are using up all the other guys oil before we tap into our own. Once we have used up all of theirs, their ability to wage war diminishes by magnitudes of order. This may be in fact the thinking that is keeping the oil company folks doing what they are doing. You can have a huge army of Chinese but unless they walk through Siberia to Moscow, they are not a threat to the rest of the world. They need a delivery system to move that army and without oil, they have NO delivery system. Combine that with the fact that there are more armed people in the US than any other country in the world and you have assurance that no one will come here with plans to "take over" without a serious fight.
So what am I saying? Well to Lady Henevere who asks what is she missing the answer is "a great deal". If you can absorb the increasing cost of goods to the extent that it does not bother you then you are truly in an enviable position and I for one applaud your wealth because generally that is the result of hard work after being poor like she describes.
For the rest of you who feel that food on the table in the face of another "Great Depression" is the way to go, then by all means STICK WITH YOUR PLAN. IT ISN'T OVER YET.
We don't know where this will take us but one thing is for sure. If coffee was $6/can several months ago and it is $16/can now, someone got $10 from you for nothing. What is the end value of that money?
So my friends, be true to yourselves and to G*d who grants you the blessings to be here at this wonderful time in history and the opportunity to know how to prepare yourself for any issue/emergency such as hurricane, tornado, war, pestilence famine or disease. Lay aside your stores and relax because you are smarter than your enemy.
... --- ... / ... --- ...
PRIORITY: FLASH
//BT//
Trim sends
As all of you have said, there is a difference between being one who prides themselves in self-sufficiency and a panic-driven "prepper" like we have seen in some movies.
If you talk about a "rainy day" several of you have mentioned that it is beginning to rain heavily. I was always moved by the wisdom of the statement "It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark" This of course is our central philosophy as SS'ers. No one can know or predict "...the time or place" but it is a sure fact that even Aesop was able to distinguish between two types of personality in his day...Ants and Grasshoppers. That fable remains as true today as it did then. We all have to decide on which side of that fence we choose to live and it is rather clear that there are some whose perspective is to watch and see and some whose approach is to put away for the times that befall us.
What we see is that some folks put money i.e. cash in the bank and as we are now informed that money is losing buying power at an alarming rate. Others have decided to put food away and hedge their bets that the food will increase in value because the money is losing value. The food continues to be useful regardless of when it is eaten but the ability to obtain it may change in the event of serious disorder of one sort or another and then we see how to adapt to the change with which we are faced.
So is putting food away any different than putting money in the bank? Ostensibly that answer is yes, but only in a very esoteric manner. While one is valuable as a unversal medium of exchange, the other has immediate value in the event that the money to buy it is extinct. Many of us have jobs to support our "food habit" and as long as that provides a "cash flow" all is well. We can if frugal, save money but in times such as we may be facing, the ability to move food from where it is grown to where it is bought and consumed may be disrupted to the extent that no amount of effort will get the food to where it is needed before it spoils. We may not be able to depend on some middle-person factory that converts the food substance to a more storable form. That too requires energy. Considering the fact that North Dakota is currently sitting on a source of oil that will pale all others on the planet one can see that we are using up all the other guys oil before we tap into our own. Once we have used up all of theirs, their ability to wage war diminishes by magnitudes of order. This may be in fact the thinking that is keeping the oil company folks doing what they are doing. You can have a huge army of Chinese but unless they walk through Siberia to Moscow, they are not a threat to the rest of the world. They need a delivery system to move that army and without oil, they have NO delivery system. Combine that with the fact that there are more armed people in the US than any other country in the world and you have assurance that no one will come here with plans to "take over" without a serious fight.
So what am I saying? Well to Lady Henevere who asks what is she missing the answer is "a great deal". If you can absorb the increasing cost of goods to the extent that it does not bother you then you are truly in an enviable position and I for one applaud your wealth because generally that is the result of hard work after being poor like she describes.
For the rest of you who feel that food on the table in the face of another "Great Depression" is the way to go, then by all means STICK WITH YOUR PLAN. IT ISN'T OVER YET.
We don't know where this will take us but one thing is for sure. If coffee was $6/can several months ago and it is $16/can now, someone got $10 from you for nothing. What is the end value of that money?
So my friends, be true to yourselves and to G*d who grants you the blessings to be here at this wonderful time in history and the opportunity to know how to prepare yourself for any issue/emergency such as hurricane, tornado, war, pestilence famine or disease. Lay aside your stores and relax because you are smarter than your enemy.
... --- ... / ... --- ...
PRIORITY: FLASH
//BT//
Trim sends
If I can convince the old people around us that gardening is the way to go, then we'd all be better off, and I'll have "neutralized" potential zombies if S really did HTF.
