Thursday, May 1, 2008

Has TSHTF?

The time for making and implementing plans may have come and gone. Some may not agree with this, but I think we are currently in a SHTF situation. A real bad slide toward the inevitable crash. Skyrocketing food and fuel prices are putting a real hurt on low income and lower middleclass familys.

Our do nothing Congress is letting the grain supply that would feed our nation be sold to the foreign markets, effectively leaving our shelves bare. Both partys have sold their soul to the highest bidder, and no legislation gets passed that doesn't benefit some large Corporation somewhere.

The fatally flawed ethanol fuel plan should be put on permanent hold until the food production can go up enough to offset ethanols' drain on the world food supply. Those who concieved this fiasco should hang their head in shame at their lack of foresight.

Or is everything going as planned?

I believe it started on 911 and like the proverbial Frog in the pan of water, the heat is being turned up so slowly that most will not notice it until it is too late to act. The media circus paraded in front of us daily masks the slight of hand legislation in the background. Our rights are being stripped away before our eyes, and the general public never seems to notice.

They are too busy watching the game or NASCAR on their big screen tv, or out shopping for what they do not need and have no place to store. Spending their way into economic collapse, buying goods they do not need, but are programmed into buying irregardless.

Feeding the beast that controls us.

Climate change is starting to affect the growing of food crops in different places in the world. The Rice harvest has been hit by drought, particularly in China and Australia, forcing producers to retain their crops to satisfy local markets.

Shortages of rice is occuring in nations where it is a staple part of their diet, not a side dish. People hoarding rice are being arrested. Already China, India, Egypt, Vietnam and Cambodia have imposed tariffs or export bans.

UG99 wheat stem rust (a fungus) is having an effect on wheat harvests in Africa. It has spread slowly across east Africa, but in January this year spores blew across to Yemen, and north into Sudan. It heads to the bread baskets of Asia, and what then? Billions of people at risk of starvation in that area of the globe alone.

Out of control gasoline and diesel prices are driving food costs even higher. Many predict $5.00 a gallon for gas by next summer. This has more impact in the US than in Europe as the US does not have the public transportation infrastructure. Bedroom communities and decent paying jobs are seperated by hourly commutes, draining the tanks, the bank accounts and energy of the people.

It may be many years, if ever for the US to get a solution to this in place. Billions of dollars that could have been used for this improvement instead going to line Haliburton's pockets under the guise of the Iraq war.

The only thing certain to come from this is misery for the poor, and hardship for those who are unprepared. Are you destined to huddle in the Government camps, waiting for your daily ration, for which you toil endlessly under the control of the Beast?

Prepare now, while your money still has value.

Has TSHTF? Yes, I believe it has.

Is it TEOTWAWKI? No, Not yet.

6 comments:

  1. Your correct I believe in thinking the TSHTF it's been gradual the last few years but more and more people between job layoffs,gas and food prices are coming to realize it as the snowball builds momentum an becomes a avalanche. Whe must try to prepare for the worse and hope for the best.

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  2. Agree. Many of us can just FEEL the clock winding down toward a major SHTF episode. But the band plays on...

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  3. Good insight,...I too feel we are past the point of no return. This runaway train has no brakes now.

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  4. I see new faces among the homeless here in the city on a daily basis. People who are carrying all their belongings in a backpack or bags. It is not hard to tell who they are the haunted look in their eyes and the expression on their faces belies the fact they still try to stay clean and dress well. They are hoping for something to happen to change their fortunes. I think they are hoping in vain.

    I too think the crash is here and it is taking out family after family but it is just slow enough that people are not catching on that they could be next. As I read somewhere "you will only know the crash has come when it happens to you". I think that is the plan. Make it slow and insidious until the momentum carries it away.

    There may not be a lot we can do but I will not be lining up for the nanny state to take over making my decisions and rationing my life. I will do it on my own with the people I care about.

    Here in Michigan we have about the worst job prospects in the country. I work for the University but still after 4 years I am a temp and laid off for a few months every year. I get the unemployment but boy it hurts sometimes. My wife is the bread winner now and I am glad she has a decent job and a good attitude. She is not like some and nagging and blaming she has seen all the effort I have put in looking for work and eating the pile of -*** just to keep the one I have.

    I am 50 and that seems to be the age people think you are useless or not worth hiring. Well I am not that enamored with the wage slave life any more anyway.

    I agree with your observations and I think we will be deep in the SHTF very soon. More and more people are waking up but as usual it is almost too late. I have been making what plans we are able and putting up gear and information against what I know is coming. At least I will be around to see the end of this deceitful and gluttonous system that has its grip on our lives right now.

    How we will rebuild from this is the question I ponder sometimes but that is far off in the future.

    Get ready I think the fun is about to start in earnest bu the Fall. Right now I think people are holding onto a sliver of hope that the checks they are expecting will help. But they are so small it will be a very short lived relief for some and do almost no good for most.

    I agree use the dollars wisely while they are still worth a little.

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  5. tweell:

    I've been expecting this for years now. History has always interested me, and A Study of History, by Arnold Toynbee, started me thinking about history's cycles, pointing to troubles ahead. The Fourth Turning, by Strauss and Howe, solidified those thoughts in 1998, so my wife and I started to prepare. That's still a good book to read, BTW.

    I took a depression-resistant job at lower pay, we scrimped and saved and stored...

    The time has come, and I am sadly still not ready. No debt now, but my wife has passed away, my parents are failing, my children are in trouble, and I can do so little. An extended family who considered me wacko for worrying now look to me for help - two foreclosed houses, one repossessed car and major medical bills this month alone. Lord help me, I'm already figuring on who gets to move in with me and eat based on useful skillsets, and who gets turned away. Ug.

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  6. I think that we are beginning a downturn of the American level of comfort.

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