Why I am prepping for crisis.

I’m not obsessed with prepping, I just spend every extra dollar and nearly all my extra time doing things to make sure my family is prepared for whatever crisis may come in the near future causing life to end as we know it. That's all.

I wasn't always this way. As a matter of fact, it was only about a year and a half ago that I laughed at the idea of storing a year worth of food. While I’ve always believed that things could change for the worst and change fast, I now don’t just think that it could happen, but I believe that it will happen. For me it is not a matter of if, but of when and how bad.

I’d like to share a series of reasons why I believe our life as Americans and the entire lifestyle of the modern world is going to change. This is an ongoing study as the world is constantly changing and I’m continuously learning. What follows are just a few ideas that have been moving me lately.

There are multiple things happening in the world today which could bring about massive and possibly destructive change. Any one of these things could be serious, but the reality is that multiple devastating events could happen together. Some of these things are intrinsically connected while others may not be connected, but seem to be happening simultaneously.

1) National or worldwide financial collapse could bring about conditions which destroy or drastically change life as we know it.
Anyone who doesn’t live in a zoo can tell that we have financial problems. The real dilemma is in agreeing upon a solution. The solution is extremely difficult to devise because the problem itself is so complex.

Let me qualify that last statement. At the very core I don’t think the problem is that complex because it essentially boils down to two differing philosophies of life. On the one side are those who think the government is the solution to everything, and that it should tax the pants off anyone who has something, and then give it to everyone else. This of course has drastic side effects for our entire system – economic, social, and political.

The other side consists of those independent conservative types who want lower taxes, fewer laws, and the government to stay out of their lives. If a person or company is about to go bankrupt, good! Let another company or individual succeed in the void. I myself qualify for a number of free government programs, everything from WIC (Women, Infants, and Children – a free food program), to CHIP (stands for Children’s Heath in Pennsylvania or something like that ), to free windows put in my house. When they call my house trying to get me to sign up for all these programs, I tell them NO WAY! I’m a healthy man and I can take care of my own family and you should too.

While these two views are clearly at the core of our differences as Americans, another serious problem exists, and that is the complexity of our financial system. Most people, and I include congressmen and political leaders, probably don’t fully understand what makes our economy tic. I don’t fully understand it either, trust me! But I’ve tried to figure out some things over the years and have just recently come across something that is extremely helpful, at least for me.
Chris Martenson as a web site dedicated to explaining how our economy works and why we are headed for serious trouble. He has a free three hour video series called the “Crash Course”. See it here.

In the Crash Course he explains why the world cannot continue for more than twenty years as it is now. He discusses things like peek oil, inflation, money creation, exponential growth of population, and other related topics. While I didn’t agree with every word, everything he said made me stop and think. Everyone you know NEEDS to watch this video. It will inform you about how money is created from thin air, the problem of hyper inflation, and other very important topics. You should watch it now! Go here to see it!

OK now that you are back I’ll continue.

Basically, a financial collapse could cause destructive change to all of our lives. There will probably be hyper inflation, unemployment that makes the great depression look like a weekend at Disney, movement to a world currency creating a serious loss of American buying power, and then U.N. control over many national matters.

When the unemployment and hyper inflation hit, we could easily have social unrest in the form of rioting, looting, attacks upon innocent people, and attacks upon government people and buildings. This all could lead to severe government crackdowns which look very much like martial law. This web article has some interesting information about FEMA and the martial type powers granted to them during a national crisis.

At the very least, if a financial crisis occurs, we and many of our loved ones may lose our homes and possessions. In the worst case scenario many will lose their lives to violence, and our entire system of freedom could be loss in the subsequent restructuring of the national government. If you watch the Martenson videos you will understand that our financial system cannot continue as it is and massive change is coming!

2) An attack from without or from within could cripple our nation and cause destructive change.

There has not been an attack on American soil in almost eight years; at least not that has been reported. This fortunate situation could only exist for one of two reasons. First, because of the mercy of God, He has protected us. I do believe this to be partially the case. Second, because for reasons not known to me, terrorists have decided not to attack us yet.

A few things seem clear to me. There are many people in this world who hate America and many of these people are willing to die in order to damage America. Also, it is very simple to get into this nation through our open borders. Yet we have not had one suicide bomber attack a mall, school, or football game. Our government may be good at surveillance and counter-terrorism, but they are not that good.

It is entirely possible that there are dozens or hundreds or even thousands of terror cells working independently toward a single attack which would create damage and destruction in hundreds of locations all at once. Working in small independent cells has multiple advantages and they know it.

While attacking large buildings or taking out large numbers of people does have a grave effect upon the mood and emotion of the nation, it really does little to damage the nation for the long term. However, there are very simple ways that terrorists could do long term, serious damage which would effectually shut down the nation indefinitely.

What might these methods be? Well an obvious thing would be to poison water and food supplies, but this could be difficult to do. They could use nuclear bombs, but again this could be very difficult without the support of a nuclear power. (I’ll discuss this as a separate point later). They could fly airplanes into buildings, but they know that doing so will not permanently shut down the nation. There must be other simple things.

I think that the most effective way to shut down the nation would be by destroying bridges on major freeways, train trestles, and bringing down key power lines. If enough bridges were destroyed, the bulk of the food and goods going into major cities could be stopped. This would also seriously hinder the ability of co-generation plants running on coal to receive their fuel, thus crippling the power grid. Throw in a few explosions of gas lines and the nation is effectively shut down.

The result of all this could easily be chaos and rioting. People would be hungry, thirsty (water won’t flow in cities without power), and scared - a recipe for disaster. Don’t worry, FEMA will be on the way.

The impact of all this upon an already unstable and crippled economy would be overwhelming. It could cause a complete shutdown. Don’t worry; the U.N. will be on its way.

This post is getting too long. There are at least two more very likely scenarios which could or will change our lives. I’ll post them soon and then I plan to work on a post describing what I am doing to prepare.

Thanks for reading,
Pat