Surviving If Worse Comes to Worst

The Visionary Fiat Lux (Zeitgeist Movement)

Envisioning the Economic Crisis

[NOTE: Good advice for earthquake preparedness and fake ET invasions, Amero conversions, martial law declarations, Drug Cartel takeovers, and so on.]

The status quo (things as they are now) will be held up at all costs.

I think people will still go to their jobs, even if they are paid nothing at all. I picture it like an ant colony with a dead queen ant. They will continue doing their jobs. Slowly but surely things will have to change from the inside.

I also see a rise in crime and a split between supporters of the government and non-supporters. Those with a lot invested in the system are likely to support that system. Those not as invested may resort to other methods of survival.

For those, I will introduce the Rule of Three. A human being can go:

• 3 minutes without air
• 3 hours without shelter in poor conditions
• 3 days without water (brain damage after 24 hours)
• 3 weeks without food and (some say)
• 3 months without love.

We NEED these to survive, at least the first four.

I do not see society totally stopping. It's habit-energy for people to go to their day jobs. And I have the feeling that unless it's an extremely fast change, I think there will be a place for physicists, doctors, accountants, and the like to do their jobs. But I doubt that they will be paid very well, if at all.

Some people might not get paid in money. For example, a farm worker might instead get paid in accommodation/food. Another example would be a factory worker making beds might get paid in beds. The foreman might say, "Go sell it." Of course, s/he mean barter or trade it.

In such a situation, there are many beds being pushed in a local area. That means competition with fellow employees, so be prepared.

There will come a time: There will be more than one form of currency. Even without a complete economic collapse, new currencies are beginning to pop up already. So it won't be surprising to find pockets of people paying each other in, say,

• bottle caps
• gold
• Monopoly money
• You name it

It's already happening and has been for some time. (See the Ithaca Hour for a neat example of it in New York).

This does not mean that one can sell a bed for bottle caps and use them to buy chemicals at McDonalds. There's a chance that the government will still exist and "legal tender" will be the normal currency. There are many, MANY forks in the path ahead of us -- like the branches of a fractal pattern.

Survival Tips
I think most cities have a three day supply of food. Large cities require food to be shipped daily to maintain their populations. This means if food stops being shipped in, people are likely to raid grocery stores and hoard.

This will not mean raiding with guns but rather raiding with shopping carts and cash. Guns are a last resort, after the sales. But I don't see that happening. If it does, then the following method of food storing applies: Can Cloning.

If rice and pasta and similar staples are stored up, there's one thing to bear in mind. These things require water, electricity, fuel to cook,. Water may be dirty and unsupported in a crisis. So it's better to get canned food with water inside the can, like ravioli or noodle soup.

Buy a can of soup.
Start a can cloning list.
When that soup is eaten, write it on the list.
Then buy two at the grocery store.
Then when that can of soup is eaten, it goes on the list again.
Now there is one left in the pantry, and TWO more are purchased.
There are a total of three.
Eat another; mark it on the list.
This time, however, buy one can of one soup and one can of another.

In this way food is stored, food one is in the habit of eating. There is no crowding the grocery store raiders being gouged at the market. One lessens the burden on everyone else by being someone who planned ahead.

Label cans to know which ones are older and need to be eaten first.

Water
The water supply may be contaminated or the system may be siphoned off to the city's drains.

The basement is a good place to store 40 gallons of clean water. It's already there inside the water heater. Of course, it was supposed to be cleaned out once a year by flushing from the small valve on the bottom.

It's estimated that one needs one gallon per person, per day to survive.

Does that cover everything? Of course not. There is a ton of information out there. Search for it.

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