the 30s all over again

[ernndbrtt]

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That I believe will be one of our biggest problems. What will those folks do when the inevitable happens? Will they riot and destroy things? Will they roam the cities and countryside looking for food and water and just TAKING what they want? But it is not just the give me's of the world.... It will be those whom have had their heads in the sand that will be without as well. What will THEY do? It behooves all us to be as prepared as we can be for any type of disaster that may come upon us.

For those folks whom have a well..... Can you get water out of it if you DON'T have electricity to run your pump? If you have city water, what will you do if the power is off for more than a couple hours? Can you heat your house without electricity? Can you heat water without power? Do you have enough food and water to last for a few days, a week, a month, or longer if need be. Keep in mind, if a major disaster hits, the grocery stores will be empty in a day or less simply due to panic buying. They only have about 3 days worth of stuff on hand at any given time, in a panic that inventory goes VERY fast. Look at what happens when a severe winter storm is predicited, the shelves empty in hours.

We have taken a couple of weekends and simply cut the power to see how we'd do in a short term situation that could happen with an ice storm or severe summer storm. It never hurts to know what you may be up against.

Our government seems to be trying everything it can to delay the inevitable as long as possible. We all know or should be aware enough to know that the politicians will refuse to say what needs to be done because that would be committing political suicide. They have made far too many promises to far too many people with too little money to pay for it all.

 

[bakerjw]

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QFT!

Depression era Americans were a much hardier stock than we are these days. These days the typical American is soft and whiny. Can you take a cold shower? Can you go 3 days without food? etc...

My mom grew up during the depression and worked on their small farm with her brothers and sisters. She told of how they had pancakes one night for dinner and put mustard on them because that was all that they had left in their cupboards. Can you imagine the Nintendo generation having to deal with those kinds of hardships?

If major food shortages do come then the inner cities will flood the countryside looking to take whatever they feel that they need. As mentioned, if you have any stockpiles it is best to have a way to defend it.

 

[welsummerchicks]

First of all, I think most of this "hullabaloo" is politics and related to the upcoming election.

And I think it's a measure of how biased and political our media is, that it is so successful in twisting people's minds that they think what they are hearing is reality.

Second of all, comparing the recent economic troubles to the Great Depression and finding the two to be anywhere near on the same level, makes absolutely no sense.

Unemployment was 2 1/2 - 3 times higher in the Great Depression.

The Great Depression was longer, more widespread, and by all measures, far worse. Foreign trade was down by 70%(compared to down 15% in the last several years), unemployment was up 600%.

Recessions are to some degree part of a capitalist economy; their effect can be dampened by regulations. Right now, most American companies are sending their manufacturing and labor abroad so they can make more profit; this isn't a new trend. It's been going on for many years. If you let them do that, then you get to pay the bill - higher unemployment, job losses, etc. This particular trend has gone on for many years and now people are realizing how it has affected the American economy. But the current economic problems don't have one simple factor as their cause. The problems are complicated and involve many issues.

Blaming them on the president or pretending he has some overarching ability to control the economy and 'create jobs' and 'make things better', is utterly absurd and just plain uninformed. The president's position is limited and there is very little he can do about such things under the best of circumstances; with how the politics are in our country right now, the president is hamstrung.

 

[SarahFair]

You guys! Yall have scared me now..

My SO being a logger and I a stay at home mom wed be one of the first "to go".
But honestly, logging has picked up in the past couple years. They almost have to turn work away (really they should the the SOs dad just cant say no to a dollar

)
We are looking at a house on 5 acres..
I reckon to survive well wed need a flock of chickens, turkeys, a milk cow, a milk goat (cause you have to have a goat), a couple meat cows 2 different ages, and a couple horses (hey.. have to get around some how)
Yes.. this is the leverage Ill use to get my farm

No, but seriously..

 

[AquaEyes]

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[chickened]

There is one thing the president could do and that is get out of the way and let the folks that know how to create real private jobs do what they do best create jobs and wealth. Humanism, statism, socialism and multi-culturalism just does not work. Look to what brought us out of the depression and I do not mean the war but industrialism which can be done without a war. And if Obama wants to do something he can use the office for a bully pulpit. I am a business man/owner and I do know what leads to hiring people the people I hire make between 15.00 and 60.00 hr.

 

[welsummerchicks]

I don't think that is really true.

I think what has happened is that a FEW families out of the total, have overspent.

I'd say the vast majority of Americans are nowhere near having those sort of problems, and I think even suggesting that that is our main problem, is another politically based fantasy that people have swallowed hook, line and sinker.

 

[AquaEyes]

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[welsummerchicks]

We do have bad economic problems, that's no political fantasy.

The political fantasy part is that they are ANYTHING NEAR what the Great Depression was.

The sole intention in spreading THAT lie is to get a Republican president elected. And that is also the motivation behind most of the 'facts' you are hearing these days.

That anyone believes those are 'facts' just shows how successful our media is at - lying. That's all it really is: lying. It's propaganda and nothing more. And it's pitiful that people fall for it.

 

[chickened]

I agree, in order to reach Great Depression status the government would have to turn off the tap. Then you will see the shanty shacks of the 30's and soup lines. There are and I do not have the figures for the people that slip between the cracks that are not figured into unemployment rates and and that number would be more visible if they were cut off from assistance. Unemployment was not the only factor in the depression, there was no real wealth in this country and what wealth was here was backed by the gold standard.