We can't look at the price of gasoline in Europe and make comparisons to here. Gas has been expensive in most Europe like forever. It's because they tax bejeebus out of it, not because of market forces.

Holy crap! the DOW just came apart at the seams! It was down nearly a 1000 pts. a few minutes ago! Starting to come back now.

I think we are there.....  The unwind of the carry trade.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36988229

I'm done worrying about a collapse. Everytime someone says it's near, it fails to happen. I hardly prep anymore. Not saying it will not happen. Let's just say i quit watching the news, GB etc.  I pulled all my money out of the stockmarket with the exception of TSP.   All my time and energy is spent doing things with my wife and son. I'm done living in the fear that a collapse is near. If it happens oh well, can't stop it. I'm as prepared as I can be as far as being in urban lifestyle.  I'll do the best I can.  It's a beautiful day here.

I'm getting to the point where I just want whatever is coming...to come, I hate saying that, I'm an Iraq vet and I have seen some bad stuff that I don't want America to see, but these corrupt .gov's are  just gonna keep spending....the chaos is gonna be nasty...prep, prep...prep!

Glad my grandparents and uncle didn't think like you.

Enjoy the bread lines!

Have you looked at TSP lately?

not gonna lie to you, ive been thinking along the same lines as you.  i used to be glued to fox news, glen, ar15.com, survivalblog, etc.  thoughts of what i could be, should be, would be doing controlled my mind.  i had a hard time doing things or buying things without thinking about shtf being around the corner.  when the dow dropped like 777 a year and a half ago or so, i think i added about $200 worth to my food stores, and bought another gun.  now today i saw it was down almost 1000 just like that, and to be honest, i dont care.  ive actually sold a couple guns lately, to streamline my life.  ive been spending as much time as possible with family and friends, enjoying life, and partaking in my non-shtf related hobbies.  

yes, i still hav preps, food, water, fuel, various cooking and heating sources, and sitll enough arms and ammo for at least a platoon.  but im not spending my sparetime sketching plans for a bunker for the back yard, digginf camoflauged foxholes by the driveway, or constructing a lp/op in the attic of the garage.  

honestly, what are the odds of true shtf happening? probably slim.  what are the odds of over-prepping, paranoia etc negatively impacting my life? i know the answer of that question for me, and now im changing my outlook.

if anything, my focushas shifted from the "total shtf" fantasy to more mundane survival possibilites.  house fire, medical emergency, financial prepping

just my 2 cents

Some good common sense in there.

Ask the people of Rhodesia, South Africa, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Greece, the old Yugoslavia, and so on and so on.

Think of the old Soviet Bloc countries. Cuba and Russia women female children whore themselves to Europeans.

Think Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan.

How much more do you need?

Half of those places were always dumps, and as for the rest... either its entirely possible to live a good life and prosper, or a stash of beans and a BOB won't do you any good. A good business plan trumps good SHTF prep almost every time.

steve,
welcome aboard.
there's alot of shit going on that the MSM just will not talk about.

Greece is in the shitter cause they are bankrupt, mainly due to expenses and the unions and pensions/pay/bennies.
they are rioting because the country can't pay.

my friend, I hate to say this, but almost all states are in trouble, and the teachers are the first to be cut (in Hawaii, the state labor is 70% of the state's budget)
soon, police, fire, safety and other critical services will be on the block as well.
I know what the unions will tell you, but believe me, you pay their salaries and they are looking out for themselves.
no union, no union goons.
unions always increase the cost of living whether it be in the form of increased prices, work stoppages, property and other taxes,......

anyways, here is a good starting point to see how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
a lot of real reporting use these news stories
Drudge



fare well my friend
I pray that we survive this mess,
things will get ugly, and I hope that you will be there to help

I've been all-in w/ the G since the beginning of the year......

this has already been discussed in my department, and at this time being put into practice by way of attrition, at least for now.  yet another reason i quit spendiing my energy on stocking up on beans, and instead brushed up the resume, got some employment irons in the fire (applications out for possible openings) and worked on getting  sent to classes that make me a more beneficial employee to have.

I am single no kids....I can have that attitude.......you have a wife and kid....I say again, you have a wife and kid, I SAY AGAIN YOU HAVE A WIFE AND KID

Maybe you missed the part where I said I've prepared. I'm done living in fear, now I want to watch my son grow. If I want to take my wife out for a $100 dollar dinner then I'm going to.

or buy your wife ANOTHER $1500 bulldog, oh wait, thats me

Again I have preps. It's time to enjoy life while we still have it.

I did the same. I almost gave up arfcom last month because of it. Thank God I didn't, it's too entertaining.

This is why we prep.....I'll save my fear for when it's needed.

Really don't think these guys are capable of winning a war with anyone...



(Except France, of course...)

The game we are playing is to be the last country standing. Every time another country in Europe fails, it bolsters the USD's value as the world's premier currency. This in turn allows us to borrow money from other people again and continue the facade long enough to have an orderly global economic meltdown, or at least "orderly" in that we are the last to hit the skids.

My bet is that China starts a good old fashioned war with someone and uses the people's discontent and whipped up Natioanlism to push their problems into the future.

I think there will be a suitcase nuke in our time. I believe Russia is posturing in an aggressive manner for a reason. I believe the USA has made a point to announce formally that we won't use nukes as a preemptive strike unless attacked.

The end is near. Or was that the sheriff?

Rock Ridge.

Sorry Al but few people are invited to my house as it is my "safe place". It's where I can retreat from the world and no one is equal in my house as I'm the ruler.

The game and the prize is for the Left to destroy the USA economically and convert it into a giant Cuba.

Things are coming along very nicely.

Wow.... glad I just purchased a shit load of silver bullion.  At least its something thats gonna be worth more than kindling.  So who else is going out tomorrow to buy more food for the prep larder?

I see no failure.  It is a natural human response to fear a collapse of society. Some preps can't be made due to family medical conditions. Some people need a modern system and 21 century medicine to live. No amount of silver, food preps and ammo can erase that fear.

I see his point in not living in fear anymore. He has no control over when and if "it" happens. It's in someone else's hands. Someone much more powerful.



Bingo. You're all over it.

I'm on the same page. I have plenty of food put away, close to 10K rounds of ammo, and two alternate spots up country if things fall through here. That being said, I'm through worrying that the sky is crashing tomorrow. It's a terrible thing to live in fear.

my fear is that I am not quite where I need to be.
gimme a couple of more years....

My 2 cents,

If you know the Bible, then you know that the Anti Christ comes in during a time of great economic turmoil and war. The Economy is on the ropes. You have a major Middle eastern war possible this summer and wammo no more economey and the very high likly hood of a nuclear showdown in the middle east. Then from out of no where in swoops the Anti Christ with all the answers and saving the day at the last minute. The world will be so close to the brink they will accept him as the messiah. The sheep will line up around the block to take the Mark of the beast "RFID Chip".
And if you refuse?????


Be forwarned
Be ready

Jesus is the best prep you can make.

1179

If I had a nickel for every, "Here it comes"/"Financial Collapse in 90 Days"/"The End is Near" thread in the SF.

I am 100% certain it IS going to happen at some point, maybe tommorrow, but sheesh!

Get prepared and relax already, every time the DOW drops 100 points there is a major freakout in here!








I'll be in the bunker...popping covers off PMags.

sounds like somebody needs to think outside the box...

each and everyday we watch the news...
we are all witnesses to this fiasco...  
each and everyday we get closer to the inevitable...  

i see nothing wrong with those try to keep me in the loop...
it keeps me on my toes...

So hes not an idiot ?.....Rules out obama then

Let me stoke the fire a bit.

1. US housing bubble
1a. Mortgage Backed Security panic
1b. Credit Default Swap panic

2. Sovereign debt bubble

3. China bubble

We all had a front row seat for 1 through 1b, and I think we're starting to see 2 play out right now.  But let's now look at item 3.

The China Bubble

A coworker asked me for financial advise on buying a home...in China.  Traditionally, the paradigm has been that Chinese families could send their children to the US, and the children would be able to send remittances back to their parents, allowing both the children and parents to live quite comfortable lives.  This worked because the cost of living in China was cheap.

My coworker's remittances have become an ever increasing part of his budget, driving him into a panic.  The cost of living in China is skyrocketing.  A couple weeks ago he was trying to pull together about 100k for a down payment on a house for his parents in China.  From his frantic scrambling, you would have thought our office was on fire.  Here's why he is so paniced:

Housing prices in China are rising by 5% per month.  Yes, greater than 60% per year.  That's something like a 1.5 year doubling rate.  Housing prices have gone up 10x in 5 years.

A decent condo in Bejing costs $450k [in April 2010 dollars].  A full-professor at a prestigious Chinese university might make $14k per year.  Yup, that's a 30-40x house-to-income ratio.  Here in the US, our market started to fall apart when people were approaching a 4-6x ratio.

But wait, there's more!  In China, you don't own the house!  You buy the house for a fixed lease period from the government, and at the end of that lease period, the government confiscates your house, leasing it to another buyer.  Typically, the lease period is 40 years.  40 years isn't bad, right?  Now consider this.  If you sell your house 10 years after purchasing it, the new owner only gets to keep it for 40-10= 30 years, and so forth.  So, as the lease shortens, long term housing prices depreciate.  How much would you pay for a house that you knew would be confiscated by the government in 5 years?  Yeah, not much.

The Chinese real estate market just might be the biggest racket in the history of mankind.  Just when you thought the US Social Security System was the biggest ponzi scheme, the Chinese come along with something even more absurd.

The amazing thing is the irrational short term appreciation of housing prices in China.  In 40 years, your house will have zero value just prior to repossession, and then poof, the Communist government takes your house and "leases" it to some other schmuck, at an awesome profit to the government.

Wow.

So I was able to calm my coworker down a bit, and think I've talked him out of buying the house.  My logic is thus: when it seems like a "can't lose" 2x investment, that's a bubble waiting to burst.

The majority of China's GDP is tied up in construction.  When the government's real estate racket finally hits a brick wall, I've got to think that it's not going to be pretty, regardless of what ocean separates you from the heart of the problem.

Oh yeah, and who buys our bonds?

Unemployment has been extended from 26 weeks to 99Plus....GUESS WHAT ITS NOT Unemployment...its WELFARE...

You stop those payments after 2.5 years...you will have people rioting in America......

You cut back on  crazy State and Federal Pensions...you will see a Riot...oh welll......I'll watch you all from my front Porch...
Nope I aint rich....but I dont owe nobody nothing...

EMP 9 out of 10....yep I see that....there will be burnouts at Mickey Ds.......People fighting out of line rights...long after the workers hauled
ass....yes people are that stupid....


Thunder and lightning in NKY....gotta sign off....bolts are close....

MY quote is...if you bought a 24case of anything...and no change of underwear....and you expect to make it....YOUR SCREWED

>50% of America is already under control of the government.
and it ain't even summer.........

The wife and I already mailed in our ballots, HI needs a (R) in congress!

Take Arnold... we don't want him!

mahalo nui loa
en den, mo bedda we ween bumby da gun stay pau! auwe

Germany approves biggest cheque in history to save debt-swamped Greece