Post Collapse Retirement Plan

By: Tom Chatham

The majority of people work all their life and look forward to a pleasant retirement. Their retirement plan involves paper assets to provide for their living expenses in the future. The major problem with this type of plan is that they have no backup plan to provide for themselves in the event that all paper assets are destroyed through inflation or default.

It does not matter if your plan is wrapped up in stocks, bonds, currency, CD’s, pensions or social security payments. When fiat currencies collapse, all paper assets go at the same time. When this happens, you no longer have the means to pay for your future needs without working for them. This is the Achilles heel of the retirement system that we use.

The old saying about putting all your eggs in one basket applies here. It was not until the later part of the 20th century that retirement actually became a prospect for people. Until then most people simply worked until they died. Retirement is now considered a given in society but few realize how fragile the system is and how fast it can be taken away through a world changing event. It is this fragility that necessitates the rethinking and forward planning of retirement at this point in time.

There are two reasons to save for retirement.

1) To enable you to stop working full time and enjoy more of your time in a leisurely way.

2) To insure you can pay someone else to care for or provide services for you when you are physically unable to do so any more.

The most widely used method today is to save some of your current production in the form of currency or paper assets which provide a medium of exchange to acquire the things you will need in the future. In the event of a failure of fiat currency, you will loose your saved production for future use if it is kept in paper assets that become worthless.

One way to avoid this loss is to keep your savings in an alternate form that will still have value after a currency collapse. This can take the form of an alternate medium of exchange such as gold, silver or diamonds or in the form of goods that will still command a premium in the future.

It may take the form of land that can be leased, rented or sold in the future. Leasing or renting will provide a continuous income for many years while selling will provide a one time source of money that must be evaluated to determine if the selling price will last the amount of time you require. Some combination of the three may be appropriate over a long term period.

The ability to own buildings to lease, rent or sell may also be a way to store wealth until needed in the future. Regardless of the dollar value of things after a collapse, you will be able to adjust the price to current values maintaining your purchasing power.

Some people may say it is unwise to buy and hold because you might pay $100,000 for a building today and after a currency reset it may only be valued at $10,000. This is true on the surface but that is only if the new currency has the same purchasing power of the old one which will be unlikely. If the value of hard assets drop after a currency collapse it will likely be only in dollar value but not in purchasing power.

This is a distinction people will have to learn. A silver dime from 1964 is still only a dime that will buy very little today but the value of the metal in the dime still has as much purchasing power today as it did then. With a new currency if the value of your assets drops it will likely be relative to the value of everything else. That means a quart of milk may suddenly cost .15 cents and a loaf of bread .10 cents while your building becomes $10,000. Those hung up on the dollar price of things need to start thinking in value terms rather than dollar terms.

There are many different ways to employ a strategy to insure you can preserve your current excess production until you need it in the future. Your plan needs to reflect your personality, your location and your future desires in order to make you feel comfortable with it.

Here is one example that may work for some. You may want to buy a small plot of land maybe 10 to 30 acres in size. Construct a small but comfortable home on it equipped with the tools and livestock you will need to provide most of your necessities for years to come. Once you have the land set up to insure you can provide the things you need you will then need to think about how you will store your excess wealth in a way you can use in the future when it is needed.

You might want to build 3 or 4 small cottages that you can rent out. Each can have a small yard capable of housing some small livestock and a garden. You may have a small shed or barn in the backyard of each cottage as well for the tenant to use. This will provide a tenant the ability to produce much of the food they will need helping to reduce their expenses.

In the aftermath of a collapse, many people will be destitute and have few valuables to enable them to get by. Someone in this position will need shelter and food for their family and you will be in a position to offer it to them. In exchange for their help on your farm you can provide them the means to care for their family and later as things improve they may be able to earn money and pay actual rent. Their ability to produce some things themselves may allow them to sell products to do this.

Keep in mind that the two reasons to store money are to reduce your work load in the future and to help care for yourself when you are no longer able to do so yourself. In a restored currency situation you will be able to save money to buy the help you need in the future. In the absence of a restored currency system you will be able to offer a service, housing, in exchange for your tenants services that you are unable to do yourself. It may be growing some food or cutting wood or home repairs. As long as you get the things you need you will have the same benefit as having the money to buy it.

This type of collapse scenario works best if you have family members that can care for you later in life but lacking that, you will need a plan. The three main things people will need most are food, shelter and clothing. Your ability to produce or provide these things will give you a resource to help provide for your retirement. As things improve the opportunities will increase but the basics will never change.

The storing of your excess wealth in assets such as gold and silver will give you a store of value to draw on in the future but you should not overlook the basic things that may take precedence in society during and immediately following a collapse. Land, tools, livestock and buildings are always going to be necessary when society must fall back on the basics for survival. In the immediate aftermath of a collapse your precious metals may have little value until society restores itself to a condition where people have the basic needs fulfilled and commerce is once again possible.

With this in mind you need to develop a plan that you feel comfortable with to insure you will have the things you need later in life. Your planning horizon needs to be at least a few decades to insure you will have the resources available to get you through and insure a pleasant retirement.

Five Plus Two for Survival Gardening

By: Tom Chatham

In a crisis situation the need for growing your own food increases with time. Many factors determine if you can grow anything and what that may be. Location, soil, water and weather are primary concerns that must be evaluated. In a crisis you need to grow the maximum amount of food in the smallest space possible. The ability to store your harvest with few modern conveniences is also a problem you need to address.

What you grow will depend on available seed stocks, personal preferences and location. There are no ideal items that fit every situation or location but there are some that will fit in most locations and situations. The following are some good choices to keep in mind when planning for the unexpected.

Five vegetables

Potatoes

Potatoes are an ideal food for year round consumption. Potatoes provide a lot of starch that helps to fill you up when food is at a minimum. That’s one reason the military feeds soldiers potatoes almost every meal. They can be prepared in many ways to help avoid taste fatigue and when stored properly can last many months. Yield per 100 foot row is about 2 to 3 bushels.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals and also help to curb your appetite. They can be stored in many ways such as dehydrating or canning. Long keeper tomatoes can be harvested and kept for three or four months without refrigeration while they ripen providing you a source of fresh tomatoes well into the winter. The many uses for tomatoes will help diversify your meals to help expand the limited foods you may have. Tomato plants also provide a large return for the space used. Yield per 100 foot row is about 4 bushels.

Beans

There are many types of beans that can provide needed protein when food is scarce. The type of beans you grow will depend on your taste and growing conditions. Beans that are good for drying and canning are stressed. With a shortage of meat, beans become a necessary food to provide the protein humans need. When combined with a grain such as rice it provides a complete protein. The ability to store beans dry and in small spaces, make them a great survival food. Yield per 100 foot row is about 2 bushels for lima and snap varieties.

Cabbage

Cabbage is a good plant to grow to provide a leafy green food. Cabbage is a good choice for a winter garden. In many areas of the country it can be left in the garden throughout the winter and provide fresh produce during winter when fresh greens are in short supply. A good variety is late flat Dutch cabbage. It can produce heads as big as 12 pounds and provide more than one meal for a family especially when small potatoes are added. In areas where the winters are too cold, it can be dug up and kept in a root cellar for several weeks until needed. A few dozen heads of cabbage in the winter garden can be the difference between staying fed throughout the winter and starvation. Yield per 100 foot row is about 45 heads.

Turnips

Turnips are usually easy to grow anywhere and can provide the root itself as well as cut greens. Turnips are a good cold hardy crop that can be left in the garden during winter like cabbage. The addition of turnips to potato soup is an easy way to spice up your soup. Turnip seeds are small and relatively inexpensive and the plants take up very little space. Yield per 100 foot row is about 2 bushels.

Two Grains

Corn

Corn is a staple that can be used in many ways to expand the limited supplies you may have. It can be eaten whole or ground into flour for cornbread or used in a dipping batter. It produces a large amount of seed for the space used and can be dried and stored easily for later use. Heritage varieties will provide better nutrition and growing capabilities than conventional varieties when matched with the climate they are raised in. It will also provide a good animal feed if small livestock is kept. Yield is about 1 bushel per 500 sq. feet.

Oats

Oats are a good source of nutrition and can be used in many ways. Oats rank the highest in protein and run neck and neck with wheat as the all around most nutritive grain. It also provides a good livestock feed and the straw makes excellent bedding. Yield is about 1 bushel per 620 sq. feet.

In a crisis situation that may last for months or years you must decide what you can produce yourself for minimal sustenance. Keeping at least a minimal supply of strategic seed varieties will make a major difference in how you are able to cope with the crisis. Your decision may be determined by the amount of space you have to grow food. In that instance you must choose foods that are nutrient dense and will produce a heavy crop in minimal space.

You also need to keep in mind that desperation may cause others to target your garden. In a situation like this plants that others do no recognize as food plants will play a major role. Don’t laugh but there are many people in this country that do not know that potatoes grow under the ground. In many instances a potato plant will look like a weed that will be passed over by many looking for food. The same can be said for a crop like oats. Without the knowledge and equipment to process or cook it many people will pass it over for more readily recognizable foods.

These things should be kept in mind when you plan your crisis garden. While the listed varieties will give you a good selection to keep you fed, you must determine what will work best for you. Making your own five plus two list is the least you should do to prepare. Beyond this list of seven, any seed you store is an additional hedge against future crisis events.

The Three Categories of Preparedness

By: Tom Chatham

With many people now preparing for various disaster scenarios, it is important to put everything into perspective and organize your thoughts to enable successful navigation of a serious crisis. By placing everything into three primary categories it is possible to focus on the things you may need the most during a crisis. The three categories will allow you to evaluate these primary areas in a brief fashion and determine in a fast way what you may need to work on first or the most. In many instances, preparedness is more than just tangible things. Some of the most important preparedness items cannot be touched or seen but can be the difference between life and death nonetheless.

 

Physical items

When a person decides to prepare for a future crisis they usually start with items they determine they will need to get through the difficulties. These can range from food and water storage to power sources and energy to shelter, transportation and security devices. Long range items may include food production materials to clothing production, building materials and tools. Physical items make it possible to endure, recover and rebuild after a crisis. They provide a means to leverage a persons’ ability and reduce hardships to minimum levels.

Knowledge

The most valuable resource a person has is the knowledge they posses. With a wide enough knowledge base, almost any crisis can be dealt with utilizing knowledge and available local materials. Knowledge enables a person to leverage the limited materials available and overcome adversity to survive the difficulties. With enough knowledge even limited stores of supplies can enable a person to navigate the crisis successfully.

Mental preparedness

If there is anything that can be more important than knowledge it would be mental preparedness. When an out of the ordinary situation occurs, mental toughness can enable clear thought to navigate the situation. In some situations, mental abilities can carry you through a situation almost on their own. Even with a good supply of physical goods and the knowledge to use them, the lack of mental preparedness to navigate the situation has the ability to prevent successful survival with minimum discomfort. Even with supplies, the loss of hope and the onset of depression can decrease the odds of surviving the crisis.

The ability to survive potentially deadly situations by shear will is possible and must not be overlooked when preparing. Survival is always possible no matter what supplies you have and what knowledge you have only to the point that you give up and succumb to the crisis. To enable your ability to overcome the crisis, you must expand your comfort zone to include any unpleasant circumstances that you may face and decide how to deal with them. This will not only expand your knowledge base but will give you the confidence to overcome the hardship you may face.

 

As you prepare you must decide on the proper balance of the three categories to give you the best abilities at a cost you can afford and given the time available to prepare. Having the right mental state and a certain amount of knowledge can get you through many situations where supplies are short or non-existent. The proper mental state can be the difference between being a helpless victim and a strong survivor able to go on. A good deal of thought spent on the three categories now can prevent a great deal of suffering later if crisis suddenly occurs with little warning.

Shortages: Where Do We Go From Here?

By: Tom Chatham

In the past few months we have been visited by some very startling shortages in unlikely things. Just a few years ago who would have suspected that ammo in this country would become so constricted that even law enforcement agencies would have trouble getting any. And just recently we have seen precious metals get squeezed. Even while spot prices were dropping, individuals and dealers alike found the supply drying up and prices remaining high.

Even though the spot prices were low the free market did what it does best, supply and demand forced prices to remain at real market levels. This is something the manipulators of the economy cannot change. The free market will always get its’ way in the end. The supply of commodities will always be priced by the free market and no amount of price controls or manipulation will change that for long. This is the lesson everyone needs to learn before the next set of shortages occur in the economy.

What should we expect next? Just keep in mind supply and demand. Those things that people want or need will continue to be in demand and those things that are luxuries will fall by the wayside. As things get tighter people will cut back until only the basics remain. When this point is reached any further shortages in society will turn into a national crisis.

Those that have destroyed our economy know they cannot continue the charade for much longer. The market manipulation is giving way to the free market and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. The free market will take control at some point and begin the unpleasant task of rebalancing the years of mal-investment we have sowed. I use the term free market in the sense of being a force of nature that we cannot control.

When that happens, all of the wealth we have pulled from the future and squandered will be gone and we will enter a vacuum for some period of time. As we move into this vacuum the shortages will get worse and more numerous. I believe we have now entered the edge of that vacuum and we are seeing the shortages begin.

The things we must have will continue to become harder to find and more expensive to buy. It will slowly get worse until one day everything almost comes to a complete halt. That is when we will be faced with another major world war. Preparing for economic collapse is a good start but you should also plan on the scourge of war to play its’ part.

The following are the things likely to become expensive and hard to find in the coming months. Some of the items may appear in a different order but we will likely experience all of them. The shortages in these things will likely appear as the recent shortages in ammo and PMs have. They will sneak up on society and suddenly appear from seemingly nowhere. Once they occur they may fluctuate for a while but they will not get better any time soon they will just slowly get worse.

The shortages to come:

Ammo and weapons

Precious Metals

Security – both individual and national

Freedom of movement

Freedom of speech

Agricultural products

Electricity

Liquid fuels

Petroleum products like rubber and lubricants

Medical supplies and pharmaceuticals

Water

Textiles

 

When the shortages get to the point of bringing the nation to a halt there will not be anything anyone can do to make it substantially better on a national scale. The only thing you can do as an individual is to be prepared to care for yourself and your family. The financial crisis will ultimately destroy the dollar but the shortages will precede the crash as people head for hard assets and reduced supply will drive prices up.

Some shortages such as water and electricity will be a result of government regulations and failure of infrastructure. While some things such as food and liquid fuels will still be produced, a large percentage of these products will be exported as foreign nations out bid us for our own resources. Some items such as imported textiles will be cut off as we lose the ability to pay for them and no longer have the ability to produce them ourselves.

When all is said and done we will be living in third world conditions and the only way out as a nation will be for us to do as our ancestors did and fix it ourselves by rebuilding the republic from scratch. It will be harder this time because there are forces that will be working against us at every turn but we are capable of it if we choose to do so. Those that are prepared for the shortages will be the ones in the best position to rebuild and will become the next generation of leaders, but that is the happy version. The other version is one that can be found in your worst nightmares.

You Can’t Eat Gold

By: Tom Chatham

If you talk to a number of people preparing for bad times eventually you will hear this comment. While it is an accurate observation, it misses the point of a well rounded plan. If you have some wealth and your plan for catastrophic situations is to buy and hold gold and nothing more then essentially you have no plan. That is what this comment really means.

For a person that feels the need to prepare for situations that force you into a survival position you need to place your eggs in several baskets. You need to take care of absolute needs first to get through the situation you perceive. A person needs food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, security, heat and light as a minimum to get through difficult situations. You need to determine how long the situation may last and how extensive your preparations need to be to get you through it.

In a normal functioning world a person may be able to get by in a situation with just money. Someone displaced by a hurricane can relocate to an undamaged area and just buy what they need until things are repaired but what good is money if money as we know it collapses?

That is the problem with other than normal disasters where supplies are in short supply and those with them refuse to sell at any price. A proper plan addresses this type of breakdown and prepares you for it. So why do so many people say buy gold and silver if it may not buy what you need in a catastrophic disaster?

Gold and silver are a way to store your EXCESS wealth until the situation stabilizes and commerce resumes in some form. You should not be dependant on PM’s to acquire goods DURING the crisis except in emergencies where something out of the ordinary may be needed such as a tire for your car or medicine for an unexpected illness. The things you must have to satisfy day to day needs should already be in your hands when this type of situation emerges.

This does not mean you may not be able to buy goods at all. Producers such as small farmers, fishermen and producers of other goods that people need may still have a production capability and will still need to sell those products to earn a living. Those that have a medium of exchange they will accept will allow the purchase of these items to bolster the items you already have and extend your supplies.

The value of gold and silver become important when the situation stabilizes and you want to improve your living position. They allow you to preserve your wealth and take advantage of bargains when others are unable to buy and acquire property, equipment, businesses and income producing investments such as rental properties. They allow you to get your hard earned savings from back there to up here where they will be needed to insure a good retirement. Precious metals are your life raft when everything else sinks. They allow you to stay afloat along with your other floatation supplies and reach safety.

When someone asks you if they should buy PM’s to get them through difficult times you should ask them what their plan is for food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, security, heat and light. If they say gold then you are correct for stating, you can’t eat gold.

The List of Many Lists

By: Tom Chatham

Many individuals have published lists of the many things you may need or want during an emergency. The following are a few different lists you may want to ponder while making your plans for self sufficiency or disaster.

Emergency food supply providing about 2,600 calories per day

Item                                                                                             Ounces per day

Whole kernel hard wheat                                                                    16
Beans                                                                                                    5
Non-fat milk powder                                                                             2
Vegetable oil                                                                                        1
Sugar                                                                                                    2
Salt (iodized)                                                                                     1/3
Multi vitamin pills                                                                      1 per day

Emergency food supply for a baby

Item                                                                                            Ounces per day

Instant non-fat dry milk                                                                  2 ¾      1 cup + 2 Table spoons
Vegetable cooking oil                                                                      1            3 Table spoons
Sugar                                                                                               0.7         2 Table spoons
Standard daily multi vitamin                                                     1/3 pill

Disaster planning and emergency considerations

Psychological preparations

Know warnings and communication systems

Evacuation plan

Shelter – short term and long term

Ventilation, heating and cooling of shelter

Protection against fires and carbon monoxide

Water

Food

Specialized equipment – NBC, medical, tools, communications, weapons etc.

Light

Shelter sanitation and preventive medicine

Clothing, improvised clothing and protective items

Energy sources

Entertainment

Survival seed supply –

In a situation when you need to bug out and can only take what you can physically carry, you want to take a seed supply that will give you the most food for the space. A supply of seeds that will feed you year round and will fit in your pocket is ideal.

Tomato

Corn

Squash

Beans

Cucumber

Turnips

Cabbage

Spinach

Carrots

Oats, hulless

Cotton seeds – (clothing production) for permanent relocation

Soapwort seeds – (soap production) for permanent relocation

Sprouting potato – if room and weight permit

Subjects of study

Medical – first aid, CPR, wound management, medicinal herbs

Hand made tools for farming

Butchering and preserving wild game

Homemade filters – for water or air

Building structures using locally available materials

Tanning hides and making cloth

Making charcoal and coke from wood

Making cast iron from iron ore bearing rocks

Making green sand molds

Root cellar storage and dehydrating foods

Fire starting methods

Furniture making and joinery methods

Land navigation and time telling methods

Long term bail-out-bag –

For required long term relocation on foot a dual purpose weapon such as an AR15 with .22LR adapter will allow more ammo capacity.

Backpack
Canteen
Water filter
Ziplock bags – various sizes
Seeds
Hunting knife
Gerber tool
Small hatchet and/or folding saw
Magnesium fire starter w/flint
Fishing supplies
Salt, 2 lbs
Folding shovel
Compass
Pencil and small notebook
Playing cards
Cook set – SS or aluminum
Eating utensils
Sleeping bag
Weapon and acc.
Hand crank LED light/radio
Lightweight tarp
Para cord 100’
Medical supplies – iodine, triple antibiotic ointment, gauze, razor, tweezers, aspirin, bandaids, tape
Toilet paper
Dish rag
Rain suit/poncho
Mylar blankets
Hygiene kit
Towel
Multi vitamins
Binoculars
Sewing kit
Bed sheets – multi use item for clothing, filtering, bandages etc.
Duct tape
Magnifying glass
Dry bleach

Anyone that determines a bug out plan may be necessary must also acknowledge that there is the remote possibility you may be forced at some point to relocate on foot with only the items you can carry. A civil breakdown, natural disaster or war could force a permanent relocation to a safe area. In the event this happens you should at least have a list of items you have already designated to carry to enable a fast exit from the area. While many may not see the need there are situations when staying where you are will result in death. If you decide not to develop a walk out plan because you feel you are physically unable to do so, you should reconsider and develop a plan that will work for your situation when the time comes. Time is a critical element when evacuation is necessary and any delay can be deadly. If you had to start over again with only the things you could carry, what would they be? Now is the time to figure that out.

What is Your Economic Plan?

By: Tom Chatham

The people that have an understanding of the current financial situation have already begun their plans to stay solvent and provide for their families. They have stored food and seeds, bought some silver or gold coins and looked into alternative sources of power and energy for their homes. These are the logical starting points, but is it enough?

With the downturn in the economy many are doing the best they can to prepare but smaller paychecks, higher taxes and rising prices are making it difficult to stay ahead of the growing problems in the world. Even though you may have a limited amount of money, you need a long range plan to get through the potential troubles ahead.

The best way to navigate economic troubles is to be as free from the economic system as possible. This means you must be able to provide as many of your own goods and infrastructure as possible to limit the needed financial resources you have available. The act of building a self sufficient homestead is a large and often expensive task. It is beyond the ability of most to do it in a short period of time.

For those that see the need for self sufficiency but lack the financial resources, a long range plan must be devised to get you there. In devising a plan you must decide what resources are critical and which are the most readily attainable with the financial resources you have.

A raw piece of land that you can grow food on and build a structure from locally available materials is a critical piece of the plan but you may lack the financial resources at this time to buy what you need. You must look at your financial ability to buy this piece of land and determine how long it will take you to save up to get it. You want to buy it in full with no debt obligations which will make it more difficult.

After determining how long this will take, you must decide if the length of time will leave you vulnerable to economic shocks while saving this money and what the best use of your money short term would be. If it will take you several years to save up the needed money for purchase, some of your funds may be better spent short term on infrastructure to equip your homestead when you finally get it.

The purchase of gardening tools, grain mills, canning supplies, alternate energy systems, carpentry tools and production equipment may offer you more for your money now if prices are rising fast. The stocking of materials you will need later is one way to beat inflation. This must be done as part of a well thought out plan though to insure your goal of purchasing property is not undermined.

Many of these items are useful even if you do not have your own property yet so you will be able to get some use from them and even save some money as a result to put towards your land. If you grind wheat you buy in bulk and can as much as you can from a kitchen garden, it can do a great deal for your cash flow. A wood stove that you can use now and relocate later to your new property can be a good investment. Something as simple as collecting tree limbs from around your yard during the year and from your neighbors providing free fuel may allow you to use much less fuel or electricity during the winter allowing you to put that savings toward your property.

The purchase of production equipment will detract from your land fund but the ability to use that equipment now may allow you to save as much or even more to put into that fund. This will provide a compounding effect if planned well that can see you to your goals even sooner.

You may decide getting some livestock is advantageous. A few pullets and a rooster are easy enough to care for and once moved to your new property you have the capability to hatch more chicks and expand your flock with little expense. The same can be said for pigs. Buying a pair of piglets cheaply several months before you move will provide you with the ability to expand your hog numbers shortly after arriving at your new homestead providing a good source of extra cash. A livestock operation can be expanded very economically once the breeding animals are obtained.

This is the value of having a well thought out plan. It will help you determine what you can purchase now and what financial savings and impact it will have. A good plan is the key to economic security and your future happiness. While you accumulate your tools, you may want to study the economic situation and determine the best method to preserve your savings until you buy your property. If it will take you several years to save enough, during that time high inflation may rob you of a lot of your purchasing power.

You may decide it is best to store this money in gold or silver until it is needed for the purchase. As long as the government continues to print money it is a safe bet that paper assets will take a big hit over time. This may allow you the opportunity to leverage the value of your savings up allowing you to purchase sooner.

What should come first, the land or the tools? This is a question that you will need to answer. If you have the means to buy property now outright it might be the best idea to get it and work on the tools next. If you have property, you have the means to grow food and provide a minimal structure for shelter. In a worse case scenario, this might be the best insurance policy to have especially if you may lose your current home due to job loss or other economic shock. This is what your plan will help you to decide.

Nobody knows better than you what your needs are and what your capabilities are. A sound plan will help you through the difficult times we are facing. No two plans work equally well for everyone so your plan needs to be tailored for you and your circumstances to be most effective. It costs you very little to run some numbers and do some research now but the payoff can be well worth it. .

If you don’t know where to begin, start with this. Make a spreadsheet with all of your monthly purchases and bills. Do this for the whole year and include everything you know you will have to pay during the year such as mortgage, insurance and even clothing. Once you have this list you will see the payments that are somewhat set every month and those that vary. It is the variable items where you will save the money you need for your plan. You must look at these variable items and decide what is more important, entertainment and expensive foods now or financial peace of mind later. You must develop a plan to save as much of your disposable income as possible while still providing those things in a cheaper way such as growing and canning your own food or repairing your clothing instead of just buying something new.

The paradigm we all have built our lives on is coming to an end and those that refuse to plan for the inevitable changes will be devastated. The flexibility you have in future years will determine how well you will adjust and how much pain you will have to endure. Those that have no plan will suffer the most and will find it difficult to lead a normal life. If you have no plan it is not too late but time is very short. You must act now or live with the consequences.

Is The Nation of Islam Planning For Chaos?

By: Tom Chatham

Louis Farrakhan recently gave a speech to the Nation of Islam and he mentioned some interesting things. He wants street gangs to help provide security for lands owned by the Nation of Islam. He believes these gangs have useful battle skills they can teach and wants them to be a part of his future plans. He also advises blacks to reduce excessive spending and pool money to buy land. That is good advice for anyone but the location of these purchases may also say a lot.

The NOI already owns 1,500 acres of farmland in Georgia and currently has a campaign to raise $10 million in donations by March 31 to buy hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland in the Midwest with the intent of producing food. In the event that another economic shock hits in the near future, anyone with large amounts of cash will be well positioned to buy properties at fire sale prices.

The NOI Ministry of Agriculture has the goal of acquiring enough agricultural properties to provide the 40 million blacks in this country with clothing, shelter and at least one meal a day. They calculate they would need 51 million acres to accomplish this but 6.3 million would suffice if meat and dairy are limited. They believe 6.3 million acres would cost about 6 billion dollars and an additional 2 billion would be needed for machinery.

In a recent article, Enemies Foreign and Domestic, we mentioned the Muslim Brotherhood and the training camps they have in the U.S. The fact that Islamic extremists have infiltrated the American government and have cited their intention to turn this country into a Muslim nation helps to put the recent comments by Farrakhan into context.

It is a foregone conclusion that any serious collapse in the U.S. would cut off food supplies to major cities. Those that control the food would have a great deal of power. Any serious resistance to a government takeover would also come from the rural areas where most of the food is produced. It has been the practice of Islamic extremists in the past to destroy their enemies by infiltrating and destroying from within for maximum effect. The unrest in Europe and dilution of local populations and customs driven by Muslim immigrants gives credence to this idea.

Many hold the belief that a government takeover in the rural areas would be difficult and costly for the government. The government would need a plan to destroy and suppress any resistance in these areas to insure government control of farmland. The tried and true method for these individuals has always been to infiltrate and destroy and the Nation of Islam is setting itself up for just that sort of operation based on what Farrakhan has said.

If the Nation of Islam buys farmland in key areas and has street gangs providing the security for these farms, they will be in a good position to infiltrate and intimidate the local population. These individuals have no fear of gun fights and kill with no regrets. They are expendable and offer the perfect force to subvert any local actions to keep the peace. With a criminal element loose in an area during a civil breakdown, it would help facilitate the entrance of government forces to pacify the area.

The ability of locals to resist government forces while also fighting off criminal elements in their midst would make life very difficult and would escalate the violence an order of magnitude. The government wouldn’t even have to pay these individuals. They could just let them keep anything they pillage with full immunity from prosecution for all crimes including murder.

While the intent of the NOI may be honorable, the incorporation of street gangs, the purchase of large tracts of farmland and the machinations of the Muslim Brotherhood in this country present us with a situation where extreme caution is encouraged. There are forces at work that seek to undermine and destroy this nation and everything it stands for. These days it is easy to see conspiracies everywhere, but given that Chicago is the presidents’ political home base and is the home of the NOI, and given the history of this city for corruption and Marxist ideology, it is reasonable to be suspicious of these actions.

Are we to believe that violent street gangs that make hundreds of thousands of dollars every year selling drugs want to give that up to live a quiet country life? One of the favorite actions of the present government is to overwhelm the population with so many different threats at one time that most people are unable to respond to them all allowing some to succeed. It is a good way to slowly grind away at the edges until they get what they want.

As the economic situation deteriorates at an increasing speed, it is important to insure you have an economic plan in effect to care for your family during the uncertain times ahead and to keep an eye on the national situation as it unfolds. It’s always the little things in life that get you in the end. The NOI seems to be putting their self preservation plan into effect. It would be wise for others to follow suit.

The Road To Collapse and Tyranny

By: Tom Chatham – Author of The American Dream Lost

The western world as we know it will not last much longer in its’ present form. The architects of this collapse will extract as much of the wealth as they can before they finally pull the plug and watch as the nations tear themselves apart from within. Make no mistake, this is a designed collapse and has been planned for decades. Keep in mind that real wealth is made up of hard assets like precious metals, land, production equipment, mineral resources and businesses that produce a physical product. These are the assets that the engineers will take possession of just prior to the total collapse of the affected nations. These are the things that will have value after the collapse and those that have possession of them will make the rules for whatever type of society we find ourselves in.

There are certain sign posts on the road to collapse that act as warnings to those receptive to the signs. These signs can help those attempting to navigate the times to prepare for the final stages when they will be in the greatest danger. Countries go through some stages faster than others or even skip some stages so the signs must be observed to estimate where you are in the countdown to chaos. The signs to watch are the following.

Currency Wars

Capital Controls and Nationalization of Retirement Accounts

Trade War

High Inflation

Price Controls

Military Aggression

Hyperinflation

Sovereign Default

Chaos and Social Breakdown

Martial Law

When a country’s economy begins to falter, the government will attempt to deflect blame and divert attention with other things. As the government appropriates the last of the nations’ wealth and the final destruction of the currency is in sight, many times they will go to war to hide these facts. When inflation begins to enrage in the population the government will invoke price controls to appease the mob, but this will ultimately cause shortages and set the stage for the chaos that follows. Those that believed in the government will be caught unprepared and will be easy to manipulate by those in charge and will be used in many ways.

Gun control is not present on this list due to the fact that most countries already have gun control in effect at this time. While gun control can be activated at any time by the government of collapsing countries, it will almost certainly happen prior to chaos due to the governments need to control the chaos with force.

The U.S. may be a special case though due to the fact that gun ownership is tightly woven into the very fabric of the nation. This will no doubt give the engineers a harder time of planning a reaction to the planned chaos. The U.S. government has several scenarios on paper to deal with the chaos as it plays out. They may provide a false flag attack according to one DHS insider, in a major city such as D.C. which will be blamed on patriots, constitutionalists and Christians in order to garner government support from the population to go after these types of individuals. This is designed to create a civil war that will give the government cover to commit crimes against citizens and eliminate their enemies. This is only one scenario but seems likely given the current climate in this country. The engineers will try to eliminate weapons for fear they will become targets by those who know what is happening but in all likelihood this will fail.

The engineers expect the crisis to end in their favor in some form of tyranny that they control but even the best laid plans never survive the first battle intact. This means they will have contingency plans to deal with the changing tides of chaos as citizens react to government operations. Those that see the signs and prepare for troubling times should have their own contingency plans to deal with changing situations on the ground where they live. The next ten years will be very fluid and you need to be adaptable to survive with your family and resources in tact.

The fate of the nation will lie in many things such as who controls the farmland and water resources in the country. These things are mainly found in the rural areas where government resistance will be the greatest. These are things that must be controlled by the government to insure control of the country and its’ population. Those who control the food, water and energy will have a great deal of power.

As stated in a previous article, we may be facing not one war but three to fight inside this country, a revolution against the government, a civil war against government supporters and a war against foreign troops at some point. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the government will bring in mercenaries from abroad if they seem to be loosing ground to the citizens. More information on the governments’ plans can be found in a recent article at Northeast Intelligence Network concerning a DHS insider. Those that plan on some type of armed resistance should insure they ration their resources to enable them to get to the end of the crisis. The fate of nations often times rests on the shoulders of a chosen few willing to do the hard things to insure a future worthy of those who have died to keep the torch lit.

Post Crisis Store Supplies and Services

By: Tom Chatham

During a catastrophe, many of the things we take for granted may not be available for an extended period of time. In a situation such as a currency collapse, the normal supply chain can be affected for weeks or months until some type of stabilization occurs. Those that are entirely dependent on the normal operations of the complex system we have can find themselves in want of daily necessities and suffering terribly because of it. No matter how much people are told to prepare for disasters, the majority will always subject themselves to the normalcy bias and ignore the problem assuming “someone” will fix it if anything happens.

For those that understand the problems we face and understand the complexities of the supply chain, the ability to stock extra items for later sale can provide a source of income to help you acquire the things you need but do not have. The ability to open a small store to sell the things that will be difficult to find in the aftermath of a catastrophe is a sound business venture that should be seriously considered. In the following list of possible items that you might want to stock, it becomes evident that food items are left off.

During a series of shortages the first thing people will need is water, food and energy. These things will be needed during the crisis and this is a dangerous time to be selling critical items. Those that have no form of exchange that you are willing to accept will become desperate and likely violent. Trade during this time should be carried out through intermediaries to prevent individuals from targeting you for their needs. Any food or energy items you have to part with can be disposed of at this time if you have a proper plan in effect and extra supplies for this purpose.

This article deals with sales of supplies from a store either stationary or mobile, that people may want or need after the situation has stabilized and they have other needs to fill. Many of the suggestions are durable items that may not be in production for a while but will play a role in hygiene, health, shelter repair, household needs or recreation. Most of these items are still available relatively cheap for the time being and take up very little space but may command a premium price later. They can be stored for long periods of time with little degradation in function. These are only some of the possible items you may want to store. A careful analysis of your location and possible needs will help you develop a good list of sale items that will be in high demand when the situation stabilizes.

Also keep in mind that having a few oddball, slow moving items that no one else carries may bring customers to you first providing the opportunity to sell other items that everyone else has.

Supplies –

Disposable lighters
Lighter fluid and flints
Matches
Iodine
Gauze bandages
Aspirin
Hydrogen peroxide
Rubbing alcohol
Medicated powder
Pencils
Writing pads
Plastic combs
Tooth brushes
Disposable razors
Toilet paper
Feminine hygiene products
Lamp wicks and mantles
Playing cards
Light bulbs
Pocket knives
Sand paper
Shoe laces
Sewing kits
Jersey gloves
Locks
Misc. hardware – nails, screws, staples
Plastic sheathing
Tubes of caulking
Tubes of roofing tar
Wheel bearing grease
Rubber repair kits
Duct tape
Super glue
Wood glue
J-B weld
Fishing supplies
Canning lids

Beyond having a few items to sell you may want to plan on a post crisis service business you can run to generate income. A business that requires a small amount of equipment and limited space should be your goal. This will allow you to shelter your equipment and protect it during the worst of the crisis and allow you to move it if necessary.

Services –

Milling flour and cornmeal – Grain mill required

Smoking meats and producing sausage – Smoker, sausage stuffer, sausage ingredients and fuel source required

Baking bread, pies and cakes – Specialty pans and spices required

Clothing repair service – Sewing machine, patches and sewing supplies required

Auto repair – Mechanic tools required

Welding – Welder and supplies required

Barber shop – Chair and barber tools required

Diner – Cooking equipment, food source, dining ware, tables and chairs required

Ammo reloading and gun repair – Reloading dies, press, bullet mold, powder, primers, lead pot, case tumbler, gun smith tools and repair parts required

Furniture construction and repair – Carpentry tools (furniture specific) required

Saw sharpening service – Files and vise required

Blacksmith and tool production – Blacksmith tools and forge required

A decision to develop one or more of these business ideas will require a thorough analysis of the business idea and a listing of all individual items you may want to have on hand. You should ask some basic questions to identify the best business to start.

What services will local individuals need the most?

What services am I capable of performing with the proper tools?

What equipment can I afford to buy and store until needed?

What will I accept for payment and how much will my services be?

Where will I set up my business?

What expendable supplies will I need to replace on a regular basis and where will I get them?

Regardless of the crisis that occurs you will want to have a plan to generate income when things stabilize. Those that are already prepared to start a business will have an advantage over those who have not planned for recovery and lack the equipment to begin. The ability to generate income is the ability to control your future. Chance favors the prepared mind.