Money by AMagill, on Flickr

Looking back on my list of things that I’ve “meant to blog” for a long time, I found a link I needed to share.  A friend of mine, and longtime follower of this blog, Erin McNew wrote an article for Yahoo’s Associated Content site about food storage.  I will of course take this chance to tease her for cheating on me, and posting to a different site, especially one that won’t allow for me to repost the content.  However I may tease though, It’s a great article written to explain to people how storing food is a sensible way to save money.  Something that most “preppers” understand, especially people usually interested in this blog.  However oftentimes people who wouldn’t normally figure themselves to be preppers, can still at least get back to some of the basics of previous generations.

Check out Erin’s article Saving Money by Storing Food for a nice introduction that could be very helpful in getting friends/neighbors/family to think a little more about adding to their food storage plans.

The company I’ve been working for was financially stable – strong even – several months ago.  We weren’t worried about the economic crunch and were certain we’d move through it.  My wife and I had a financial reserve that we were actively growing, but not aggressively.  Certainly not as aggressively as we could have been.  In fact, we had become fairly complacent in adding to it.  While our long term food storage was fully stocked, we live off our 3 month supply and rotate through it – replenishing monthly or so.

About 3 months ago we were getting close to needing to fully stock our 3 month supply when suddenly the company I worked for received a fine from the SEC.  The issue with the SEC was quickly cleared up and taken care of.  However, the bank decided that they needed their legal department to ensure they were not liable for anything – so they froze our accounts.  We were told (by the bank) that it was a temporary issue that would quickly be taken care of.  For what ended up being a little over two months many of us worked without getting paid.  By that time however, several people had been unable to hold on and had to quit.  The company had been trying to run without any operating capital (in a business that requires much capital to operate) and had been trying to use revenues for operations expecting the situation to be temporary.  Long story short – the company died.

Two months and one week after after receiving my last paycheck, we decided to close the company.  That was 3 weeks ago.

It has now been 3 months since I last had any income and a couple weeks ago we depleted our financial reserve.

If you haven’t discerned the message of my post yet – it is this: Financial chaos can strike at any time and it is IMPERATIVE that you have at least a 3 month reserve put away while times are good.  It is also important that you keep your food storage fully stocked and prepared for a financial crisis!  TEOTWAWKI does NOT always look like a disaster to everyone around you.  Suddenly losing your job – especially if you’ve already gone without pay for a while is truly The End of The World As YOU Knew It.  In fact, it is extremely possible for you to be living through TEOTWAWKI without anyone around you being aware that TEOTWAWKI has happened.

Three months reserve

So, for those who are unsure – why three months of reserve?  Well, let’s take a look at what it takes to get back on your feet if you suddenly lose your job and need to find a new one.

Presumably, you were not expecting it so (like me) you don’t have any job leads primed.  In fact, you probably haven’t even thought about looking for a job for a long time.  Now you suddenly have to research and develop job leads, update your resume and start applying everywhere.  Once you’ve spent a couple days sending out applications, you have to wait through the interview, callback and so on process.  The most frustrating thing I’ve realized out of this: Employers are NOT working on YOUR timetable! They want to analyze all the applicants and work through them all.  You may be the right person for the job, but they are not going to move rashly on it.  For some jobs they have an application deadline that you have to wait for before they can even start making a decision.  This process can easily take up to a month.  Meanwhile you’re continuing to try to develop new job leads and trying to go through the same process with as many as possible.  Let’s say that within a month you’ve landed a new job and you’re starting to work there.  At a minimum you will not get a full paycheck for two weeks.  In many situations, you will be paid two weeks in arrears.  This means you’re waiting at least 3 – 4 weeks before getting a paycheck.  That easily puts you at two months before you have income coming in again.  Hopefully things will move much quicker for you – but there’s also a chance that they won’t move this fast – hence the extra month in reserve.

By having three months income in reserve, you are creating a buffer for yourself to allow you to lose your job and find another without major financial interruption to your family.  You’ll still have to pay bills during the time you’re finding a job and it’s hard to job hunt without a phone, gas or the internet.

If you’re thinking ‘there’s no WAY I can put aside that much in reserve’ – think again.  Sure, it will probably be tough and definitely be tight  while you’re putting it aside – but think of how tight it will be if you are having to find a job with no money put aside!  Right now you can take a pinch and get it taken care of – if you put aside 30% of your income for one year, you’ll be there.  It will be a rough year and if you think you can’t do it you’re fooling yourself.  Consider what adjustments you would make if you had NO income!  You’d cancel the cable, you’d cut the phone usage, you’d limit your driving, you’d quit eating out, you’d stop buying extra junk, etc.  DO IT NOW!  Make all those sacrifices right now – for the next year – cause if you don’t and something happens – your creditors and utilities will make all the decisions for you!

Living without income once your reserve is depleted

We made some mistakes with our reserve.  First, it wasn’t as large as it should have been.  Second, we believed that our situation would quickly be remedied and we weren’t as prudent with it as we could have been.  Third, our fuel (gasoline) reserve was depleted and not fully stocked – requiring us to spend our financial reserve on gasoline.

I also want to point out that we don’t use credit at all.  We don’t have credit cards and won’t borrow money.  Living on credit to get through a financial crisis is a horrible idea in my mind (our President seems to like it though).

We ran out of money about 3 weeks ago.  By money I mean liquid cash that we had stored here at home in our safes – NOT in a bank.  Since then, it has been a matter of liquidating assets in order to survive.  Believe me, we’ve had to make decisions we were not happy about!

The quickest way to get cash that I’ve found is to get a loan on your guns from the pawn shop.  This isn’t desirable at all, but it works to get you some cash fast.  The good thing about it is that if you’re able to get back on your feet quickly you can retrieve your assets.  I absolutely have not pawned all my guns, and I’m not recommending that, but I have many guns that are not essential to my personal defense – those are the ones I’ve pawned.

Another way to quick cash is to sell reserve ammunition.  I’ve sold several full ammo cans in the last couple weeks.  It’s a sacrifice to do so, but it’s a solution.

I wrote an article some time ago about buying silver as a way to store value in your financial reserve. There have been several comments on that post stating that silver and gold are a bad idea for TEOTWAWKI reserve.  To some extent, they are correct.  However, they’re all looking at it from a complete societal collapse.  Right now though, in my personal TEOTWAWKI the coin shop is more than happy to buy my silver and gold from me.  My advice is, once you have your three month reserve put aside, continue living on less and buy gold and silver as a further term reserve.  It takes little effort to liquidate and given the high price of gold right now (when I’m cashing it in) has been a good investment for me.

Related Notes

When this hit us, our 3 month food supply was low – which is normal since we live off it.  Over 3 months later, we’re still living off it and will be able to for at least another month or so (we clearly had more than 3 months worth).  In hindsight though, I wish we’d had a larger stock overall.  We’ve run out of many things such as cheese, tortillas, etc and are getting a bit low on our meat supply.   My advice from this lesson would be to make sure that your 3 month supply is always stocked and over stock as much as you can.  If we didn’t have our food storage – I have no idea what we would have been doing to feed ourselves and our 8 kids!

While we’re happily employed we tend to completely ignore the job market, including our personal job finding network.  Life starts happening and we adjust our surroundings.  A critical part of being able to quickly jump to a new job is keeping up with your network contacts and not losing everything you develop every time you hunt for a job.  There’s a fantastic site that was built for exactly this reason called JibberJobber.  Not only does it help you keep your network, it is a good set of tools to help you manage your job search.  I believe it’s well worth maintaining an account there as part of your employment preparation (it’s free to check it out).

In conclusion, I implore you to get a 3 month reserve set aside as soon as you can!  Once you have that, continue investing in solid assets such as silver, gold, steel (guns), and lead (ammo).  Those are all assets that usually hold and often increase in value that can be liquidated to get you through a crisis if needed.  Believe me when I tell you that TEOTWAWKI doesn’t have to be a societal collapse – I’m going through a personal hell right now while society chums on with its merry self.

So, if you are one of those looking at receiving a check from Uncle Sam in the next month or two, why not put a little more thought in how it can be used for preparing your family for the year ahead?  The following list of ideas might help stimulate your family in a way far better than buying some toy you’ve been looking at recently.  Each of the following is a simple idea, that will later be posts of their own with all the details you’ll want.

Debt:

“Debt is the slavery of the free”  Publilius Syrus (Roman author, 1st century B.C.)

Do you have any? Especially any consumer debt such as credit cards?  Have you paid off even your Christmas bills, much less things from before then?  This is the first place your money should go, no doubt about it.  You’ve already spent that money, and you will have no greater comfort than seeing the debt go away.

Savings:

Hate living between paychecks?  Do you always seem to have an emergency car repair or medical bill just when you have no money left?  Don’t you wish you just had a stash of cash.  Well, it’ll only happen when you put it there, and now is your chance.

Open a new savings account, put the money there and forget about it. That way it will be there when you REALLY need it. You also wont be tempted to buy that big TV on sale if it isn’t burning a hole in your pocket.

Food:

Last year, my wife and I saved most of the tax return we got (we usually keep our withholdings tight, so we don’t get much), and had them ready for when the local stores had their spring caselot sales.

Firearms:

Many people now are looking at the joyous occasion of bringing their first firearm home.  While I definitely don’t think people need to buy the most expensive guns out there, especially for a first firearm, they are still quite expensive.  Especially when you understand that the firearm is only part of the cost.  Proper safety gear, locks, etc add to the expense, and ammunition has been climbing at an amazing rate.  This is the chance to get some of what you need.

Clothing:

I cringe at mentioning this, as many people want nothing more than to spend that refund check on new clothes.  But probably not on the same kind I am mentioning here.  Would you be willing to walk home from work in the shoes you are wearing?  Do you have clothes tough enough to do some real outdoor labor in (I know many readers here are desk-jockey’s like me!).  Some quality clothing that can last through hard work is what you need.

Medicine:

An important thing to have on hand is a supply of medicines you often need, or could need in an emergency.  For common usage think of allergy medicine, contact solution, and other over the counter items.

If possible, also look at getting longer terms of any prescriptions you need.  Often you can get your normal 30-day dosage in a 90-day quantity for a cheaper price through certain pharmacies.

Tools:

If you have money after the previous ideas, well, you’re ahead of most.  And now it’s springtime, and time to look at that garden, and those can rollers and shelving you’ve wanted to build.  Now you need some good quality tools to do all that.  I’m not talking about the latest gadgets to simplify your life.  What I mean are the tried and true tools that will last forever, and allow you to work in a rewarding manner on your home, and for your food.

Books:

There is a wealth of information on the internet, and hopefully we can be a part of that.  But what do you do when you don’t have power?  What about just the comfort of reading from your easy chair to learn a new skill?  As big of a geek I am, there is a lot to say about having a “Dead-tree” version of information you want.

Bags:

Have you finished your Bug out Bag, Get Home Bag, 72 hour kit? (or any other term that fits your needs)  If not, well, no excuse now.  You’ve passed over many other things that should have such a high priority in your life, it’s time to finally *finish* your bags.  Get them ready to use, after all the kitcamp will be coming, and you don’t want to miss that.

Taxes are the way the government has of artificially inducing the rainy day everybody has been saving for

Since most people who know me also know of my passion for all things preparedness, I’m often asked what is a good idea for investing one’s hard-earned money. With $7 trillion (yes, with a ‘T’) of “wealth” having been wiped out recently, people are looking at their 401k results in abject horror. What to do?

Any good investor will tell you that it’s important to diversify, or in other words, not to put all your financial eggs in one basket. For that reason, my advice for the start of a solid investment usually consists of one word: food.

Food storage is important for many reasons, not the least of which is that you’ll be able to provide for your family should any TEOTWAWKI scenario come our way. But one oft-overlooked aspect of food storage is that by stocking up now, you’re beating inflation.

Consider for a moment a few of the following headlines:

• 1/16/09: 2008 Food Inflation Highest Since 1980, With More Hikes On Way
• 12/14/08: Global grain rush under way as rich nations snap up farmland overseas
• 11/6/08: Steep food price increases on way: experts
• 8/4/08: Grocery prices up 9 percent

Similar articles are in abundance, all pointing to the same truth: food is increasing in price. Investing in wheat alone over the past five years would have given you a higher return (in terms of dollars) than any mutual fund out there. As much as the government tries to manipulate the Consumer Price Index to suppress the reality of inflation, they can’t get around a simple analysis demonstrating a 15% inflation in food prices in the past single year.

Deflation won’t help either, since increasing layoffs will only cut production and thus lead to a shortage. Remember your supply and demand curves from Economics 101? Yes, that’s right, lowering the supply (as a result of deflation) will increase the demand on the product (assuming it’s a product generally desired, as food is), which in turn increases its price. As prices decrease in the short term through deflation, there will be less incentive to increase supply (because of diminished profit margins), thus creating a future shortage when inflation certainly will return in full force.

Lowering the supply is not only the result of a poor economic climate and downsizing firms. The government has in the past—and the present is not too different—passed legislation to artificially prop up prices by wastefully diminishing the existing supply. This temporary action (seen as positive by those selling the product) only misallocates resources and puts others out of business. Atlas Shrugged teaches this lesson quite well.

Food should not be treated as an investment that will yield a resale profit. Rather, its storage should be treated as a “the sooner, the better” situation in order to save you money. By delaying the purchase of your needed supplies, you are only hurting yourself; rising inflation and a devaluated dollar are both working against you, and quickly.

Again, the financial benefit of storing up food is one of the less important reasons for doing so. But there is wisdom in “buying low and selling high”, or simply buying low and thus putting yourself in a position to aid others if/when the time comes. And as expensive as things are now, it is only going to get worse. That’s what we learn from Zimbabwe, anyways.

There are very few mainstream articles being published right now that are presenting a realistic top-down view of the entire situation with the economy. The quotes I’m going to present to you here are from mainstream publications but the key point of them is that these are quotes from high level analysts and executives in widely respected financial companies who are remarking that things are bad, very bad and they are going to get much worse.

The following snippets are from this excellent article from Bloomberg:

“As bad as you think it is, it’s worse,” said Diane Garnick, who helps oversee about $500 billion as an investment strategist at Invesco Ltd. in New York. “The chances of the economy turning around in the first half of 2009 are declining rapidly because unemployed people can’t spur economic growth.”

The Labor Department said more Americans are collecting jobless benefits than at any time since 1982. Economists estimate a report tomorrow will show the unemployment rate increased to 6.8 percent, a 15-year high.

“There’s a concern out there that this isn’t a recession, it’s the Great Depression II, or the Great Recession I,” said Kenneth Schapiro, president of Condor Capital Management.

Crude oil tumbled 6.8 percent to $43.59 a barrel in New York, the lowest price since January 2005. It has plunged 70 percent since the closing record of $145.29 set in July and may fall below $25 next year if the recession that’s slashing fuel demand around the world spreads to China, Francisco Blanch, commodity strategist at Merrill Lynch, wrote in a report today.

The Labor Department said today that 4.09 million fired workers received government unemployment checks in the week ended Nov. 22, the most since December 1982 and more than economists estimated.

“Businesses are battening down the hatches,” Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh, said in Bloomberg Television interview. “Job losses are going to continue to accelerate.”

Then there’s this from CitiGroup’s Chief Technical Strategist:

The bank said the damage caused by the financial excesses of the last quarter century was forcing the world’s authorities to take steps that had never been tried before.

This gamble was likely to end in one of two extreme ways: with either a resurgence of inflation; or a downward spiral into depression, civil disorder, and possibly wars. Both outcomes will cause a rush for gold.

“They are throwing the kitchen sink at this,” said Tom Fitzpatrick, the bank’s chief technical strategist.

“The world is not going back to normal after the magnitude of what they have done. When the dust settles this will either work, and the money they have pushed into the system will feed though into an inflation shock.

“Or it will not work because too much damage has already been done, and we will see continued financial deterioration, causing further economic deterioration, with the risk of a feedback loop. We don’t think this is the more likely outcome, but as each week and month passes, there is a growing danger of vicious circle as confidence erodes,” he said.

“This will lead to political instability. We are already seeing countries on the periphery of Europe under severe stress. Some leaders are now at record levels of unpopularity. There is a risk of domestic unrest, starting with strikes because people are feeling disenfranchised.”

“What happens if there is a meltdown in a country like Pakistan, which is a nuclear power. People react when they have their backs to the wall. We’re already seeing doubts emerge about the sovereign debts of developed AAA-rated countries, which is not something you can ignore,” he said.

The problem with the situation we find ourselves in is that while right now it’s getting worse at a very fast pace, the bottom could fall out at any time – and when it does that it’s too late! The bottom falling out will happen when a critical amount of people suddenly realize exactly what is going on and they all hit the store and gas station at the same time. Overnight everything will be gone, panic will set in and things will get insane. Once the stores are emptied, there is very little hope that they’ll be refilled. There will be millions of people who find themselves without food and their next step will be rioting and violence. Trucks attempting to deliver re-supply goods to stores will be hi-jacked and robbed, people will start doing horrible things to keep from starving to death.

This possibility will either happen, or it won’t. But as things continue to accelerate downward, which these experts predict they will, something similar to that scenario is very likely to happen.

If you are thinking that you don’t need to be fully prepped right now or that you have plenty of time to get ready – STOP! While there is a chance that you have time, the level of risk you are taking is getting very very high. There are two choices – get fully prepped NOW or wait. There are two financial decisions, spend money in getting fully prepped NOW or spend or save your money on something else. There are two consequences, when TSHTF you are either prepared and not participating in the insanity, or you are unprepared and joining the panicked, soon to be starving masses in insurrection at the local market.

Those are the choices you have to make now that will determine which consequence you endure. This thing isn’t going to go away or get better, it’s going to speed up and the direction it is accelerating to is down and worse. If you choose to ignore it, you might be right – and I won’t invite myself to your celebration party. But if you’re wrong, please return the consideration and don’t invite yourself to my bunker.

This post is the background and basis for future posts we’ll be doing here about “How to Prepare to Survive the Coming Depression”.

Jim
I run a museum that covers, in part, the Great Depression. In a reply to Steve’s letter about how people may react to a “modern” 1930s type depression, you listed a number of economic, social and cultural differences in America in the two time periods. I might add, or expand on, a few.

In the 1930s, many more people lived on farms or gardened. Even in many towns and cities, it was common to have a garden and raise a few animals including chickens, rabbits, pigeons. An enormous difference, then and now, is that the garden seeds then were “heritage” or open pollinated. That means that a family could save their seed year after year, and always have a crop. That is no longer possible with today’s hybrids. If you save seed now, they, (the hybrids), won’t come back the next year. In a major economic breakdown, there will be little distribution of anything, including seed. No seed, no garden.

In the 1930s, most people had wells or cisterns for water. Today, if the electricity goes off, no more “city” water. Formerly, most people had outhouses. They didn’t need flushing. Today, if you can’t flush, you’ve got a biological lab in your bathroom within three days. In the 1930s, there were more horses, more donkeys, more mass transit and railroads, and more bikes. Today, no gas means no mobility. 80 years ago many more people preserved their own food. It was common for most folks to dry, can, smoke, salt, pickle and cold cellar, food. Today, many people consider food storage a discount card to a restaurant. In the 1930s, most people heated with wood or coal. Now, it’s almost entirely “on demand” gas in a pipe, or electricity. Formerly, most people had treadle sewing machines, grain grinders and meat grinders. Today, nada. In the 1930s, far more people practiced folk medicine and used herbs. If you got cut, sew it yourself. Got sick, chop a chicken and make soup. Today? You’d better have a pill bottle and insurance.

In the 1930s, far more people were church goers. Families tended to live closer to each other. People in general had a more self-reliant attitude. If someone had a problem, they tended to try to solve it themselves. And if they couldn’t, their church family, or own their family, would help them. Society today includes far more people who think the gov’t should, and will, be their caretaker.

It’s my belief, that if today we have a depression, if only as bad as the 1930s Great Depression, that [the societal impact of] such a depression will be many times worse. It’s a somewhat real possibility that, today, in a severe enough crisis, there would be no transport, little food or medicine, no heat, no sanitation, no water and very little cohesion of society.

In the 1930s, people sold apples on street corners, and a popular song was “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?” I’m afraid that today, it may be far more common for people to try to take what they can, and consequences be d***ed. A 1930s-type Depression today ? Not pretty.

Jim Fry
Museum of Western Reserve Farms & Equipment

I have to completely agree with everything the museum curator said. Americans are entirely NOT prepared for anything remotely resembling hardship. We have become a nation of debtors and are addicted to debt. We’ve lost the sense of personal accountability and self reliance that characterized Americans for 200 years.

Here in Utah, I am surrounded by people who believe in the principle of self reliance, preparedness, etc. Not everyone is on board with these tenets, but I believe we Utahns are far better prepared than most in other states, particularly those in large cities.

Don’t believe me? How would these people react to a pandemic, food crisis, etc?

Click here to view the embedded video.

What are YOU doing to prepare your family? Even if a catastrophic event were to never occur, what is the downside to gardening, food storage, and general self reliance? I know that if I could afford it my family and I would live on a self sufficient family farm. Today I would be running it in maintenance mode, just keeping a bare minimum of animals, produce, etc. However if something were to happen I could ‘flip the switch’ and ramp up to a self sufficient family farm. What I mean by this is that we would be producing enough milk, honey, wool, etc. to supply our own needs and have some to sell or trade for what we can’t or aren’t producing ourselves.

For now this is just a dream. Our little half acre just isn’t big enough. It is already cramped with our garden, chickens, goat and dogs.

What do our readers think about these topics? Am I being to down on our preparedness level as a society? Am I crazy for dreaming about a little family farm? Comments welcome.

One last plug for the great SurvivalBlog:

It seems more and more likely that we have only seen the beginning of the financial chaos that is to come. This goes along with our post last week about the Top 10 Tips To Prepare For A Depression and our post on Why we prep.

Top trend forecaster, renowned for being accurate in the past, says that America will cease to be a developed nation within 4 years, crisis will be “worse than the great depression”.

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions – all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts

“We’re going to see the end of the retail Christmas….we’re going to see a fundamental shift take place….putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree,” said Celente, adding that the situation would be “worse than the great depression”.

“America’s going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,” said Celente, noting that people’s refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as “The Panic of 2008,” adding that “giants (would) tumble to their deaths,” which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest,” and that, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class.”

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.

“There will be a revolution in this country,” he said. “It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen.”

“The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop.”

“It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more.”

“We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs – over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension.”

The George Washington blog has compiled a list of quotes attesting to Celente’s accuracy as a trend forecaster.

“When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.”
— CNN Headline News

“A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.”
— The Economist

“Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right.”
— USA Today

“There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about.”
- CNBC

“Those who take their predictions seriously … consider the Trends Research Institute.”
— The Wall Street Journal

“Gerald Celente is always ahead of the curve on trends and uncannily on the mark … he’s one of the most accurate forecasters around.”
— The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Well, besides providing a relatively varied amount of food, with precise product lists, he makes sure the overall calories meet the needs of an adult in a moderately stressful situation. This also gives breathing room for possible caloric loss or variations in product levels.

But the best thing of all, each month he has taken the time to compare the cost of purchasing the total package from your local stores. Yes, up to date costs, with trending information.

Some of the highlights of his information:

Calories : Cost

And the really interesting part:

The following retail Cost of a “One-Year Emergency Food Supply” is based on prices as of November 1, 2008.
The total cost of the following one-year emergency food supply increased in price by 13.6% in ten-months from January 9, 2008 to November 1, 2008.
This equates to an annualized 16.3% increase in food price

Yeah, just the cheaper food that he refers to here is up 16.3% this year. Yet more proof of the importance of food storage. Chalk up another reason in Why We Prep.

Costs of creating a one-year food storage

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There is a chance that the world could be heading in to a depression, so it seems appropriate to make a list that will come in handy should that eventuate. We all hope that it won’t be the case, but there is no reason at all to not be prepared just in case. Hopefully at least one or two of these tips will be useful to you all.

10
Get To Know Your Neighbors

It is a very good idea to get to know your neighbors well – even in times of a normal economy. Your neighbors can keep an eye on your home while you are away, they can feed the pets, and they can lend you a cup of sugar if you need one! In the event of a depression they can be even more useful – you can create a small community where you can share necessities that one may have and others lack, you can set up patrols (if the situation were so dire as to need it), and you can even have shared meals which can help to keep waste and costs down.

9
Buy Metal

If you have a considerably large amount of money, you will probably want to consider investing some of it in metals – such as gold and silver (though these are already seeing massive price increases). Of course, if you have a fortune you probably already know this, but it doesn’t hurt to remind people. In the event of a collapse of your nation’s currency, you will need a backup – and precious metals have been shown in the past to be an excellent one.

8
Stockpile Drugs

If you regularly take medication, try to stockpile as much as you can. In a depression you may find that you can not afford drugs, or – in a worst case scenario, the drug companies may go under! Additionally, store up bottles of aspirin and other common over-the-counter drugs that we all tend to use from time to time throughout the year. As you use these drugs, be sure to use the ones that are the closest to their expiry date – to prolong the life of the others.

7
Save Money

Right now. Begin saving as much money as you can. Cut down on all of your expenses (except debt repayment) and save every penny. If we end up in a depression, you are going to need it. This is also a good time to start thinking about selling any items in your home that you may not need. If it becomes very likely that a depression is going to hit, sell everything non-essential – that means the TV, DVD player, stereos, etc. I would recommend that you keep your computer (preferably a laptop in case you lose your home and need to move around) as it will come in handy when the depression ends.

6
Get rid of debt

You should try to get rid of as much debt as you can right now. While you can pay your mortgage now, you may not be able to in a month – and as banks are feeling the pinch, they are not going to tolerate even one missed payment. This can obviously lead very easily to you losing your home. If you think the recession now is painful, try suffering it on the streets! This is a tip to help you cope before the depression hits. If you find yourself in an untenable situation and the depression has already arrived, forget this tip and read the bonus item carefully.

5
Move your stocks

If you own stock, it is now a good time to consider the types of companies that are likely to do well in a depression – these are the companies you should move your stocks in to. The companies most likely to survive and profit are dry food manufacturers, diaper and toilet paper manufacturers, and any company making products that are seen as essential to survive. “Comfort” and “sin” stocks like cigarettes, alcohol, etc. are also stocks that do extremely well during bad times as people rely on them to blot out their suffering.

4
Learn a useful trade

Some trades are more in demand during a depression than others. For example, a baker, a handyman, or an electrician should be able to find work during the worst economic downturn, but a change control facilitator may not. Invest in some good old fashioned skills now and not only will it help you survive a depression, it may well be a complete career change for you in the future.

3
Store up Food

Right now you should be hoarding dried and canned foods. Also tablets for purifying water and other nice-to-haves like toilet paper, candles, and batteries. I know this sounds like preparations for a nuclear holocaust, but the effects could be horrifyingly similar. Keep all of your goods in a dry clean area. I would also recommend a book on the basics of cooking, so you can convert your flour to bread and perform other culinary miracles that require nothing processed or pre-packaged. This is a skill that will be invaluable whether we have a depression or not.

2
Relocate or buy an RV

If you think you are in a job that is likely to not be needed during a depression, you should consider relocating to an area that has a lot of wildlife and land. If you lose your house, an investment in an RV now (not on credit!) could be your life-saver. You can drive it to a new town, find a private area where you won’t be disturbed, and park up while the depression rides out. Make sure you find an area where you can rely on plentiful fresh water and animals – which brings us to item one…

1
Buy a Gun

If things get so bad that people begin to steal off each other, this will come in very handy. You can use it to protect your family and belongings, as well as to kill animals for food. And if you really are in dire straits, you can use it to rob someone else! (Okay – I didn’t mean that – we should all try to help each other out – not kill each other). A gun will be most useful in hunting so be sure to buy one that is practical for shooting birds and larger animals. You will also want to buy a book on how to skin, clean, and prepare wild animals for human consumption.

Bonus
Blow your credit cards

Okay – this is going to appear very controversial – but this is about surviving a depression; this is a matter of living or dying. If you are about to go bankrupt, are out of work, and see no hope in the foreseeable future of correcting this situation, use your credit cards right to the limit to put yourself in a better position – whether it be buying food, or moving somewhere you might be able to find work. If we really do enter another great depression, you will have to be prepared to do things you would normally not do in order to ensure the survival of your family and yourself. Under any other circumstances, this would be a very very bad thing to do.