This report was originally published by J.G. Martinez D. at The Organic Prepper
Having overcome a few personal incidents that rocked the boat these last few weeks, I want to write now about one of the most important experiences regarding the psychological aspect of prepping. Looking back as a Venezuelan prepper, there are things I would have done differently if I had fully known what was coming our way.
Enduring what we have gone through, even after having a proper approach to prepping, sort of conventional in a sense: gensets, water tanks, storage capacity, dry supplies for a few months, and other stuff, all of these are into the field of the conventional and regular prepping.
Off-road vehicles perhaps, or at least a vehicle in good enough shape to take a beating up to the retreat, radios, some food production and particular, merchandisable skills. (I lack a little bit in the field of manual arts, like pottery or painting, but maybe it is just me…I can change a tire in record time, which is an art by itself especially in a Venezuela where the roads are plagued with thugs.)
This is stuff that any person concerned about self-reliance should have covered. But next, we have to try to imagine what could be on the horizon that we have never considered.
I am not talking about prepping for every conceivable threat. That is just not possible nor practical.
What I want, is that you imagine what your action course would be just in case your worst scenario, one so bad you could not even imagine, takes place.
For those who have not read my former articles, I used to have a regular life, pretty good according to our standards in Venezuela. A good and well-paying job, medical care insurance, school at 10 minutes on foot for the kiddo. A sushi restaurant next to a pizza delivery at 5 minutes on foot, and so on. What else could you ask for?
It was all great until the apocalypse started.
How to identify this threshold is not easy for me nowadays. The more I research, the more I realize this was a planned action and conceptualized a long time ago. My generation did not have a chance to prevent it. The plan was already rolling and we were teenagers, unable to hold a gun.
The consequences would be foreseeable, for sure, for those who have lived through it already and had access to some information. Some people meeting up, perhaps some leftist candidate winning an election and slowly washing the face to the communists…the real bad guys, I mean.
But definitely, the most alarming warning sign was the food rationing: this was the cherry of the pie.
They took over the country, people included. In a country where the food production was once at industry level now is importing packaged food, box by box, for the leftist elite. If there is something left then it goes to the inferior members. Real vulnerable people got nothing, and that is why they are dying.
They started with the education system.
Trying to sell to the populace sociopaths like Stalin and Lenin as heroes of their country. Making attempts to the Marxist ideology look like the Holy Grail. They had permeated the national universities all over the country, by the way. “Fight against the imperialism” was their motto. Whatever that was.
Many of the fanatics when asked, they hesitate and mention the Anglo-Saxon empire, the USA, etc. Never defined their borders. Never could identify that enemy. That is not surprising, given the general level of education in the barrios, where most of the people used to live.
Private schooling was very different: one of our most reputed schools is called Emil Friedman. Under this general scenario, and with that dangerous little island, an expert in exporting revolution and crime (remember Mariel? Those fellow preppers in Miami certainly should) – all of this was predicted by some people. The bad news were that those people, had not a solid enough platform because they were politicians with very questionable honesty. The exceptions were not part of the mainstream media, which found in Uncle Hugo a great asset for selling their news. But, enough with politics. I am about to puke.
What it was like to realize everything had changed
Imagine you are a Venezuelan. You don’t have a profitable job any longer, and you still have a family to support. There is no engine oil, and God forbids one of your tires should blow up. A belt for the engine costs several times your weekly salary. The parts factories have been overtaken by a mixed mafia military-LEOs-dishonest civilians, that won´t sell at the “regulated” prices (This happened in Russia, I remember reading about it in Reader´s Digest). Hyperinflation begins.
You don´t have a place to go, because the situation and daily living did not allow you to build a compound in a safe place that was large enough for being sustainable.
The situation gets worst every day. Prices in electronic, paying via bank transfer are much higher than in cash but it is impossible to get cash. People are calling to their day jobs to quit because they can´t get there, and anyway, salaries are not enough to make a decent living, not even to be able to eat a couple of days.
You are a professional with a wage or run a business that is quickly falling apart. You see on your way home families tearing up the garbage bags in the streets looking for something barely edible. Every day your kid arrives home with the news about some other school partner had to leave the country with his family.
The medical attention is almost impossible to get with a salary. Doctors, nurses, dentists and other healthcare professionals have left.
What do you do?.
You have to think outside the box to survive.
If you keep thinking inside the box and hoping for the things will improve, good luck. Chances are that is not going to happen that way. On the contrary.
Leaving out early will give you an edge over the rest of the people. If you are a prepper, there comes a point after your preps have been consumed, and there is no way to keep living, in order to survive we have to make choices. Informed, calculated, firm but somehow flexible decisions.
This is not going to be easy. You’re not (most likely) going to end gathered together around a bonfire, singing “Kumbaya”, and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows while the entire country falls apart in the cities. After the last hot dog has been eaten, and there is no way to replenish supplies, that is when the bad weather starts. Without enough resources and the proper mindset (like being ready to eat fish every day, for instance, if you have a river close enough) it is going to be three times that hard.
The Venezuelans lost the ability to hunt other thing that stray animals in the cities, or pidgeons, as our wildlife was predated so heavily for years of government negligence (60 years as a minimum) that it is impossible to think in putting meat on the table with a rifle, except for some very skilled persons in very secluded areas. And oh, by the way, did I mention that the rifles for hunting and the handguns were seized to those stupid enough to take them to the military for “licensing” in 2012? They never got their guns back. They would have been useless anyway because there was no longer any ammo available.
Here is the most important part: you must try living with less. Get rid of everything you could not take with you in one or two big 3 ton.trucks, or a couple of Rvs perhaps. I’m not telling you to sell everything that you have accumulated, but…how are you going to take it if you have to move?
Our species survived by its nomadic culture. That is something that comforts me the most these days. Cultivate personal relationships with valuable, genuine, honest and straight people.
There are things I wish I had done differently.
I am in a dilemma, as I invested lots of hard-earned money trying to diversify my income before the plan of the communists sped up, and all of my equipment is now there: bechtop drills, Dremel tools for finishing, electric sanders and all kind of tools, including my CNC.
With just half of that stuff, I could have already starting a small business here. If I had followed through with my plan of having a small, reliable and dirty cheap maintenance car for daily driving and a diesel truck, we could have loaded the truck and migrated by land, perhaps with both cars and even my Berta, my beloved bike with her wonderful roaring 74 cubic inches engine. Changing the papers of the truck for personal use would have been easy, and then it would be much more practical than a car. We could have retrofitted the truck, making it livable for the road.
With my equipment, just renting an empty lot with water, sewer, and power access we could have been set up for a fresh start very different to those who are in this very same moment shaking, freezing their backsides off in the streets of the big cities in the South of America, selling cakes, chocolate and churros in the middle of the worst winter in years. We could have been together no matter what, and I would have been able to spend those 8 months seeing my kiddo growing like a weed.
That is what I have on mind, indeed.
From now forward, I will trim my life and build with my own hands whatever I could need. No matter if the results are a little bit out of the standards. I still have some tables made by my grandpa´s hands, and even a small toy boat he managed to put together for me, now part of the family museum. They will be passed on to my kids. If the world survives long enough and they can have their own families, of course.
Some additional thoughts
I have been saying that, albeit not being someone excessive religious, growing up in a Catholic country, indeed allowed me to be free enough to choose the eclectic mixture I practice now.
I pray to the Creator and ask for help and protection for my people.
I like to light some incense for my ancestors (I like my place smelling nice, too). I see the sky and try to connect with the Universal energy, wherever it can be. My spirit these days has been shaken by the news about young people from Venezuela committing suicide, in their sorrow and desperation about the future.
Please, remember those young desperate souls in our prayers, and help them to find the path to their final destination.
Thanks, and God bless us all.
***
About the Author
Jose is an upper middle class professional. He is a former worker of the oil state company with a Bachelor’s degree from one of the best national Universities. He has a small 4 members family, plus two cats and a dog. An old but in good shape SUV, a good 150 square meters house in a nice neighborhood, in a small but (formerly) prosperous city with two middle size malls. Jose is a prepper and shares his eyewitness accounts and survival stories from the collapse of his beloved Venezuela. Thanks to your help Jose has gotten his family out of Venezuela. They are currently setting up a new life in another country. paypal.me/JoseM151
Please feel free to share any information from this article in part or in full, giving credit to the author and including a link to The Organic Prepper and the following bio.
Daisy is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting, homeschooling blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, and the pursuit of liberty on her websites, The Organic Prepper and DaisyLuther.com She is the author of 4 books and the co-founder of Preppers University, where she teaches intensive preparedness courses in a live online classroom setting. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter,.
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Almost everyone has 2020 hindsight. Me ive prepped for a grid down stone age existence. Ive got a actual wild cave that I think Im the only human that has ever been inside it. Stays 60 degrees year round. If it doesnt get that bad so much the better.
Phony stories and E-Begging. These stories have no credibility. Blaming Communism is a nice cover for the CIA’s Nation Destroying tactics. Sounds like the typical 3ew tactic for playing the victim card. Only ignorant saps believe this horseshit. I’ve seen many profiles of people living in Venezuela doing quite well in spite of these US Economic sanctions.
Lets talk about the US Western coalition of Economic sanctions destroying Venezuela’s economy and Depressed oil prices created and manipulated by the criminal Royal Saudi Family. That’s what’s destroying Venezuela. Communism may be the only form of government left to control the infrastructure from total collapse. The US Would do the same thing under NDAA, where as they would control all US Infrastructure. So I guess the US is communist also?
SO is the CIA paying you to post this Anti-Commie propaganda to cover up their crimes against this country and its people? Funny how none of these articles call out the destructive US economic sanctions do they? These articles are phony propaganda for low IQ suckers to digest.
Folks all of this is to demonize the Venezuela Government to brain wash you, so its not so painful for gullible Americans to believe, that its A-OK for the US Invade Venezuela coming up to steal their oil and other resources. The CIA Murdered Hugo Chavez via Food Poisoning. Look in the mirror what the US is doing to these countries to destroy all that is good in the world. At least Russia is providing economic support to Venezuela to counter these economic attacks.
Like why lie?
“Only ignorant saps believe this horseshit. ”
Said the low IQ imbecile that just spouted Communism has nothing to do with it.
Nunya butthole= ignorant dolt. A truth denyer.
God you post stupid shit.
Are you proud of being an idiot?
Do you just like being laughed at?
TharSheBlows, yep she puts out a lot of it to try and keep her stuff going.
One thing I have noticed about all of the phony articles and it shouts at me in this particular one. These people NEVER even consider fighting back and aligning forces ? That is a common thread in all of these articles. How is that even possible unless most of it is a psyop ? This guy openly says he allowed the gov to take all his shit and he did what ? Something is very wrong with all of these articles ! Who is playing who in this zoo ?
The only thing he said that was even close to reasonable or made any sense at all was about your skill sets.
Fight back with what? The government took the guns, there is no ammo even if they had guns. This was never America with more guns than people. The reason “These people NEVER even consider fighting back and aligning forces ?” Is because a communist takeover is not a random event. This has happened over and over all over the world and they have the playbook down. The country is not seized until AFTER the people are out of options.
Stuart, I thought his comment was spot on !
Many here and at most supposed prepper sites are clueless and live in a fantasy world and echo chamber of self reinforcement. Which means they believe their own bullshit ! Not a good plan, ever.
Ah! TharSheBlows, the good ole’ G2 at work even in these posts. A well trained and oiled machine, experts at psy warfare and propaganda. And they pay you in US greenbacks I’m sure. Yup, keep spreading the bullshit that is “the economic war” that is destroying Venezuela, that it’s the CIA and the Evil Empire. We can all see thru your bullshit pal, we know the ultimate goal of the Venezuelan narco-state dictators: destroy the production infrastructure, have intelligent people leave the country, keep the poor uneducated masses that you can control via the CLAP food handouts, keep their hopes up. Keep them thinking you protect them from the Evil Empire, and above all, keep murdering dissidents, keep running drugs, and keep making and laundering billions of $$$. Yup, TharSheBlows, keep the bullshit going. Los esperamos en la bajaita.
I do not think that anyone would argue that the CIA has done horrible things even to the American people that said. The CIA did not FORCE the people of the nation of Venezuela to be democratic socialists or to lean left towards communism. At some point you have to recognize that STUPID SHEEP have some responsibility for being stupid and putting the people in power they have, for wanting the giveaways and programs they have pushed for. Did the CIA make Hugo Chavez publish his thoughts and do his deeds, please stop trying to run around like the chicken little saying that the CIA is making the sky fall and recognize that the people and government played their own parts are are responsible. Sometimes you get what you sow. A great many lessons to learn from the writer and the events that have happened and are happening.
You don’t get it. The c-i.a are the communists in action. One and the same. I can tell there is no help for you so I will stop here.
You’ve been picking your nose too deep again, comrade. Better put some of that stuff back–the GRAY stuff, that is. Not the other…
TharSheBlows I did some research, and your theory that depressed oil prices destroyed Venezuela’s economy doesn’t hold up. When Hugo Chávez took power in Venezuela in 1999 oil prices were at $16.56 a barrel. Prices rose to a peak of $91.48 a barrel in 2008 and as of 2017 were $42.74 a barrel. Even adjusting for inflation the price of oil is double what it was when Hugo Chávez took over and since 2017 the price of oil has been rising. Despite that fact Venezuela’s economic crisis has continued to grow worse. And on top of that hyperinflation caused by rampant money printing by Maduro. More idiocy.
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Historical Crude Oil Prices (Table)
August 27, 2017 by Tim McMahon
https://inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Rate/Historical_Oil_Prices_Table.asp
Annual Average Domestic Crude Oil Prices (in $/Barrel) Inflation Adjusted to July 2017
Year Nominal Inflation Adjusted
1999 $16.56 $24.28
2008 $91.48 $103.67
2017 $42.74 $42.63
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Venezuela’s Economic Problems Are Caused By Socialism, Not Falling Oil Prices
By Tony Lima, May 9, 2018
http://thefederalist.com/2018/05/09/venezuelas-economic-problems-caused-socialism-not-falling-oil-prices/
Falling oil prices are not the problem in Venezuela. The problem is socialism, price controls, and a money supply spiraling out of control.
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You also blame US sanctions for Venezuela’s problems. Seems strange that the most prosperous and powerful country on earth is a capitalist country not a communist one and yet you blame it for causing Venezuela’s problems. So communism can’t succeed unless capitalist countries help Maduro enslave it’s people under communism. Russia and China gave up on Maduro’s communism a long time ago. Maduro is a former bus driver so maybe doing his homework on communism not working in the real world wasn’t on his bus route.
Consider for a moment that a few hundred years ago the people of Venezuela were living off the land which is still rich and fertile.
Growing their own crops and livestock. And long before the United States or communist/socialism was around.
Forget blaming the US or the banks. Living off the land and feeding the people with the resources they have would be simple in a free society.
But with the communists in charge of production, pricing, wages and distribution which is what defines true socialism Venezuela has becomes a night mare for their citizens. Just like it was in the former Soviet Union where shortages, state quotas, long lines and a low quality of life was normal. A country with a centrally planned economy that failed to deliver the promised worker’s utopia.
The people of Venezuela chose Nicolás Maduro whose socialist promises sounded good in theory but not in practice as they may have finally learned.
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21st Century Socialism Brings No Toilet Paper, TV, Or Long Distance Phone Service To Venezuela
Published April 20, 2016 By Matt Vespa | Townhall.com
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/04/20/21st-century-socialism-brings-no-toilet-paper-tv-or-long-distance-service-to-venezuela-n2151341
Chávez turned the state-owned oil company from being professionally run to being barely run. People who knew what they were doing were replaced with people who were loyal to the regime, and profits came out but new investment didn’t go in. That last part was particularly bad, because Venezuela’s extra-heavy crude needs to be blended or refined — neither of which is cheap — before it can be sold. So Venezuela just hasn’t been able to churn out as much oil as it used to without upgraded or even maintained infrastructure. Specifically, oil production fell 25 percent between 1999 and 2013.
The rest is a familiar tale of fiscal woe. Even triple-digit oil prices, as Justin Fox points out, weren’t enough to keep Venezuela out of the red when it was spending more on its people but producing less crude.
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Not so strange then that they have to import oil to survive.
Venezuela, with world’s largest reserves, imports oil
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2014/11/02/venezuela/18243787/
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Venezuelan government controls more than 500 businesses — and most are losing money
By Jim Wyss, March 14, 2017 12:13 PM
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article138402248.html
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Kuwait, Nigeria, Angola and other countries exported more oil than Venezuela. But they survived the price drop without experiencing the misery that Venezuela suffers.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/15/john-stossel-our-ignorant-mainstream-media-four-incredible-examples.html
The problem with Maduro like all socialists is that he does not understand economics. If socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists. Maduro actually thinks he can create prosperity by printing money
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Is Venezuela a good place to run a business. Apparently not. It is just one notch above North Korea.
Examples of economic freedom
Denmark’s ranking is 12, Sweden 15, Norway 23,
Cuba’s ranking is 178
Venezuela’s ranking is 179
North Korea’s ranking is 180
From
Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom, Country Rankings on Economic Freedom
https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
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Venezuela Finally Turns Communist
Maduro Follows Leninist Dogma to the Letter
Enrique Standish November 29, 2013 at 12:05 pm
http://panampost.com/enrique-standish/2013/11/29/venezuela-communist-finally/
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Off the subject but… I keep trying to go on the Organic Prepper website (Daisy) but always says SNl or something and am blocked… can no longer go on to the site with cell phone. Did she move? I checked out but when I try the new site, doesn’t work???
SHE IS NOW THEORGANICPREPPER.COM INSTEAD OF .CA
4 Prepper Lessons here: “And oh, by the way, did I mention that the rifles for hunting and the handguns were seized to those stupid enough to take them to the military for “licensing” in 2012? They never got their guns back. They would have been useless anyway because there was no longer any ammo available.”
1. Never have enough Guns,
2. Never have enough Ammo,
3. Never register them, or give them up, ever.
4. Never trust the government.
**An Unarmed Man is a Slave or a Victim. Guns have 2 enemies. Rust and the Government.
I would find 3 hot latinas to keep me busy
If Jose had it to do again he would prep differently.
Jose, after reading your posts, I keep coming back to the same place. Leave. Go. Escape before a crisis traps you and your family in a hellish place.
I agree that people often become slaves to their possessions, unable to leave them. This is sometimes the result of sacrificing all one’s time to acquiring luxuries.
_
Jose already left. He is elsewhere in South America with his family.
https://www.theorganicprepper.com/venezuelan-refugees/
The massive Radiation RF signals put out by the NEW “5G” Cell phone technology is cancerous to humans. And the FCC Never did any studies on human health for this newest technology. Its al about profit and control of the masses. 5G will kill us all and can easily be weaponized. They PTB won’t need to break down your doors to kill you, as the 5G will already be in your homes, and flip of a switch and boom, your dead.
Watch this Video before it gets erased and deleted.
ht tp://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/243341-2018-07-09-the-5g-controversy-exposed.htm?From=News
You’re BATHED in electromagnetic radiation EVERY.damned.day.
The video should get deleted, because it’s nonsense and you’re a tool
Go to StoptheCrime dot net to get the full list of 100’s of negative heath affects from this Radio Frequency RF Radiation.
Turn off all your WiFi electronics. Gives ya cancer and brain tumors.
Of course there are truth denyers who think its healthy. Like dumbya down blindness.
B from CA, agree 100% your analysis is precisely how and why Americans are so easily controlled via their materialism and stuff they are deathly afraid to lose. It is called spoiled and losing your roots to the wrong perspectives. It is also why 75% of Americans are fat, dumb, lazy and apathetic !
Look at USA just a few decades ago and look now and tell me which were better off, stronger, healthier, smarter and much more capable in every way ? Most have no idea they have been mind fucked and are controlled by their stuff ! And it is not just lefties by far !
Ultimately we will likely all be faced with the day we must take action or roll over like the guy in this BS story did ? That will separate the men from the boys and the doers from the talkers. ALL ELSE IS IRRELEVANT. There is a far better way to live and think and sleep well at nite ! Anybody that just gives the gov their stuff is a moron and a coward and not too brite.
Some of you may have noticed I do NOT expose or say everything I know or do or am aware of fully. You should do the same and always be seriously prepared for realsies these days !
The Mueller sham will try and indict Trump within 60 days most likely. Last week there was reports of Mueller expanding his sham with more DEM lawyers and some how they got to Cohen the lawyer, to roll on some bullshit story with Trump. So they are NOT done by any means. Also last week it was exposed that the Imran Awan case was given a special deal by DOJ. This was done to avoid all the docs and info coming out against the DEMs and the DOJ and FBI. Same way and reason Rosenstein is obstructing documents. This tells you the DSA is still very much alive and active at DOJ and FBI. Trump will be forced to order all docs released unredacted or face indictment on totally phony garbage created by these criminals. They are using what we used to call the law that they have seriously perverted to try and get rid of Trump. So it is going to get very hairball as they ratchet up the fake protest over nothing and the “children” ? It is all unfolding very rapidly now because the left and DSA are desperate. I think we have far more serious matters at hand than some junk article about a fantasy story. The events of last week will be one of the main catalyst I have spoken of as an outlier event going forward and it is very close at hand for some kind of showdown. I am convinced Trump will be forced to take action and that will trip the left into even more insanity . He will order all docs released and likely have to fire Sessions, Rosenstein and Mueller. If he does not take those actions it will also be chaos as they will try other means to get him, so the only choice is to be proactive ! Either way we are going to see fireworks. We just do not know how it will all unfold precisely. But it is coming rapidly now. The plan is to try and indict Trump prior to the coming 18 elections and keep the “children” hysteria ramped as much as possible for a possible impeachment if they can win more seats. The plan B would be to kill Trump and hope enough people don’t care or will do anything about it. They know the American people are weaklings and are banking on it for both plans. Either way there will be no choice but to fight or roll over ! Much of that is now in Trumps hands, the rest is on our hands and how it all unfolds !
The best advice he gave I concur with is to get a good 4WD. I have two 4WD trucks with manual transmissions.
Motorcycle is another good recommendation. My R100 RS BMW motorcycle will go just about everywhere but it doesn’t carry much cargo and doesn’t do so good in mud, but on a good road I can do way over 120 mph with it.
It’s hard to find anything with a manual transmission these days and vehicles are larded up with all sorts of electronic gadgetry that is of little use–to me anyway. I do want a truck; just have to find one that’s not too pricey.
Awesome bike BTW. Haven’t had one in many a year since there is too much traffic around here.
Add the tire inflator gook to your preps. I have 4 cans in my 4×4 and a couple extra tires. Get in the habit of disconnecting the battery just in case of an EMP.
EMP won’t hurt your battery.
In fact, it won’t hurt your car at all.
Yep! Maybe we should tell him to put on his aluminum foil cap! He,he, he!
First time I’ve heard someone admit the entire Venezuelan communist takeover and how it has led to a nation in ruins was all part of the plan!
The leadership wanted the population reduced, starvation, or turn them into international refugees worked and the inhumanity of it didn’t matter.
Now that everything is broken even the elites of Venezuela have nothing left. All the while they pushed communism as the snake oil cure for all ills. Marxism is purely satanic.
Hate to burst your Commie Bubble there “Plan twice” but it was crippling US Economic sanctions and depressed oil prices that threw Venezuela into a depression. You are swallowing that phony CIA Propaganda narative hook line and sinker. I guess communism also shut down the oil sand tar pits in S Dakota also when Saidi manipulated low oil prices to crush their competition. And under the same crushing oil price manipulation. Get the facts first before you assume BS nonsense.
This article is BS low information IQ written to scare imbeciles.
Blaming the USA for the rest of the worlds problems is flawed in two ways. We the people do not have the controlled of our government and it is to big by design to control,so it is the bloated us government or rouge parts of it that interfear with other bloated governments.
And the humans of this planet have been making choices for a very long time we know what is truely fair and what is right for wrong we just all want to relax and unwind after a long day we will have a beer then pay attention.
To blame anybody but ourselves is time wasted that could have gone towards safty for the family and then working on the solutions to this never ending lust for money,power and being loved by everyone. It is ahard pill to swallow once we all see we are living the life we have chosen.
We did not participate we partied,we did not self educate,we wanted to be intertanded we did not help out the neighborhood,we let zoning do it we have done this to ourselves and even the children can not be blameless for when they growup they can choose the path they want.
Stop blaming the USA,Israel,Commy’s or anyone put on your bigboy pants and work with the rest of us to lockup the criminal class!
Oldiron
Mmmmm, no imbecile.
“You are swallowing ”
Kind of ironic given that you’re the imbecile denying the results of communism.
Nunya Bidness. I do not think in terms of the old idea of communist that we all grew up with any longer. I see it or them as simply elitist control freaks out of control on their power over the masses. Totally greed and power driven maniacs. And yes we have them in spades right here in USA today ! They are the DEM/DSA and the RINO elites combined with the leaders of the corporatocracy they have created. They are all much more dangerous and devious than any communist for many reasons as they are all about deceit, manipulation and serious mind fucking the populace by various means they employ using PRAVDA/MSM, the propaganda arm of their politburo. At least the old communist scenario was transparent and you knew exactly who and what they were ? There are no real communist any more any where, just these sociopaths and psychopaths that resemble communists, socialist and fascist all rolled into one ball of wax. They are truly insidious and very dangerous motherfuckers, all about control and power ! They are not just restricted to anywhere on the planet. They are just maniacs devolved into insanity. All of our current government agencies are perfect examples of how bureaucracies get corrupted and out of control with such people infested in them. It is like a cancer and must be purged or we will lose all !
Ummm, I think the Saudis lowering their prices is in response to competition. Nothing wrong with competition or free enterprise. Make a note of it, comrade…
The article claims everything was going quite well under communism. Until the oil prices collapsed and US Sanctions keep kicked in. Then all hell broke loose. Seems pretty clear when any why the problems started. Not sure why some on here are protecting the CIA’s crimes? You too will become a victim here in the US of these same destructive economic weapons.
The US didn’t impose price controls leading to shortages. The U.S. didn’t massively inflate their currency. The U.S didn’t run their oil industry into the ground so that when prices dropped they were to inefficient to maintain a profit margin. The only low info BS is you.
Off topic:
President Trump appointed a new Conservative Judge to the Supreme Court, today.
_
Jose mentioned the “worst winter in years”. I’ve been reading some of John Casey’s books on the Grand Solar Minimum (GSM). Winters over the next few decades are likely to be really severe with excessive rains. It depends on where you live since the jet streams will probably shift for several decades. I hate to sound like an alarmist but this could be bad.
BEST SPEECH EVER – Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace | SO INSPIRING!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As8XkJNaHbs
TharSheBlows , excellent analysis. No question many millions have been mind fucked by their smart phones and what we call social media and many other tech devices and entities !
I have been writing and speaking about it all for years now ! It is even more insidious than this guy suggests, because it is all very deliberately created as control mechanisms.
http://www.downtoearththinking.com/the-matrix-is-very-real-in-usa-today–.html
http://www.downtoearththinking.com/our-government-created-google-and-facebook-.html
He did not mention that the millenials willing go along with all of it as well as many others much older. The real issue is how seriously insecure these people are to have to be in touch with somebody 24/7/365 to have any worth or security in themselves. Probably the most insecure people ever on the planet are right here in USA today ! There is much more to all of it than he is exposing. But a very good set of ideas to get started with.
The most important preparation that you do is accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Unless you accomplish that, nothing else matters.
You should ask yourself a question. Why do you desire to live in the face of a disaster affecting an entire nation and possibly affecting the world?
Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that those that call him “Lord” are righteous based upon how they treat the least of these. Elsewhere in the Summary of the Law, not only are you supposed to love GOD with every aspect of your being, but secondarily…love your neighbor as yourself.
For a Christian, not only are we to live abundantly by serving Jesus, but living as righteous people by living altruistically. Those who fail to help at least one of the least of these are doomed to Hell. That’s right, the one time Jesus condemns it’s to those who claim to be Christians yet then failed miserably to act as Christians.
Read Matthew 25 again and see for yourselves. The “goats” are rebels doing their own thing and not following the Good Shepherd, yet they call Jesus the “Lord”.
Unless you understand that these are completely linked in the New Testament, then you will be unsuccessful preparing for disasters.
I have lived through these events many times. I was paid to be there for my work so I had every incentive to stay but if I was one of the sad sacks who lived there, I would have left. Pure and simple. If your country is failing that much, then leave. Re-group in the best country you can get to and maybe one day you can come back and help out. But the best advice is to leave. Human beings only have so much energy and so much time. If you spend it on trying to turn around a failing country, rather than, say, getting a medical degree, then you are taking a big risk. All the countries I was in that were turkeys several decades ago are still turkeys today.
Yep, and Hispanic and Black countries have shown over and over again throughout history that they ain’t ever going to figure it out.
Nice to see that the ever-present prowling communist apologists are alive and well, and still troweling out the Party line. It’s always some one else fault, and always capitalist lies and Trotskyite plotting that caused whatever the latest disaster has become. Never mind that socialism has a record of unblemished failure whenever it has been tried. Never mind the millions of people forever silenced and forgotten who dared oppose it. Never mind the millions more imprisoned and who had their lives destroyed by socialism. Never mind the thousands of businesses ruined and eaten by commissars who never produced anything.
One Mr. T.S. Blows just loves to demonstrate for all that he is one of those useful idiots. A genuine moron.
Stuart, I disagree. Given what we have seen in recent years of the massive corruption in our own government and the criminal dealings of all the agencies, his comments make total sense. yours do not ! I am not saying all of the negative fallout for Venezuela or any place else were caused by USA. But have we seen USA use and manipulate many events world wide that our gov helped create and manipulate ? Think the ME in the last 15 years or since 9/11 ? How much was real and how much created and or allowed to happen for certain outcomes ? If you cannot see those simple truths you are not thinking or being honest with yourself on numerous levels. Probably time to rethink a bunch of stuff ?
If the SHTF big time – ie world economic collapse or wwIII
over 90% will die in the first year.
The only ones that will survive are those who go to a desolate location – that can be defended and has water farmable land with farm animals. Think like remote Canada – Have a small fishing boat on the coast.
Socialism like Liberalism is a Killer
Well said Sean. I’m proud of you.
1. Get out of urban areas. All land has carrying capacity ie the amount of population of species that the land can support. In other words, large urban areas only persist by shipping in food hourly to sustain that grotesque exaggerated level of population density.
2. Think about all of the societal ills caused by high population density: fires, crime, assault, mayhem, violence, extortion, and murder. And with no rule of law and no transportation of supplies, then 300 million legal citizens go berzerk and 30 million illegal aliens go insane. Desperate people will flee.
3. The primary issue will always been unsanitary water after a collapse due to lack of chlorine at city water supplies after 21 days. That triggers an exodus, and that could begin as soon as there is no ability to pump against gravity to apartment dwellers. And that could be in just days.
4. Millions in urban zones fleeing due to no water coupled with an inability to haul water due to weight and portability would cause the largest issue with fleeing urban dwellers. I’m suggesting an en masse issue with dehydration.
5. Whatever limited travel is based primarily on these urban dwellers fleeing in vehicles and then running out of fuel. But think, they will run out in a strange new urban zone. Now they are in an even worse situation where money has no meaning and they have no supplies and tools and books and housing and water and food.
6. That is the realistic issue of an en masse bugout to rural zones. Dehydration and exposure to weather with poor shelter could severely reduce millions.
7. Everyone presumes starvation, and that is an issue, but you can go a week without food albeit with plumeting blood sugar levels. But dehydration and diarrhea from tainted water affects you first. Then hypoglycemia and then you have an inability to walk and think clearly. One cannot march for miles with no water and no food…even on straight level highways. And think of how they are constructed with nearly zero cover and firewood access and water access too.
8. Every fool presumes that just by luck that they will find food and water, yet experts are lucky to find 10-25% of nutritional needs from wild edibles. This is why you need to store lentils and rice and vitamins as for less than $800 you can feed a family of four for a year. Sure, it will be miserable, but that is how refugees are fed in refugee camps so inexpensively.
9. Corn and beans will be what you grow and dehydrate. Then other crops will supplement. And you will make errors and have poor yields, bad weather, drought, frost, theft, etc.
10. How will you grow that much food without a cache of rainwater? You will need a cistern as who knows when it will rain again?
And there are myriad other issues to consider as well.
People in urban areas and advanced countries have no idea how hard it gets to get enough calories in a crisis. Once your calorie count goes down, you struggle to have the energy levels to do things, the hunger prays on your mind and so you spend even more precious calories looking for food. If it is winter, you need more calories just to stay warm and so the hunger is worse.
Productivity goes down. One of the hallmarks of poor countries is how unproductive and unintelligent the people are. That is down to calories. No energy for working and brains starved of nutrition are low IQ and stay that way for the rest of their short lives. Short lives mean little social wisdom is ever accumulated: no wise elders passing on knowledge, telling youth to study, or to have values, to plan or think long-term. That’s why poor countries stay poor.
Frank, good observation and comment. Most preppers don’t have much of a clue about many matters. They are the opposite of what you describe because they have too many calories and not enough physical work. So both extremes are whacked for different reasons
All you have to do is watch the Alone tv series to see so-called experts who cannot find 500 calories per day when they are burning 2000 calories per day. Guys lose 25 lbs in 20 days while building a shelter and finding and purifying water plus firewood.
Very few people get lucky and catch three fish, which does supply some protein but very few calories. They slowly starve to death as ketogenesis and gluconegenesis turns fat and muscle into inadequate blood sugar to merely walk upright and do work.
Never mind the issues with no bowel movements and trying to digest high cellulose. Or worse, what happens if they mess up and drink tainted water or nick an intestine while butchering some small game? A bacterial infection is deadly in the wild as simple diarrhea can kill you.
282 million Americans fleeing the urban areas should make everyone living in rural towns and villages CONCERNED. These folks have never missed three meals before and they will freak out and start killing cows to survive.
That will doom everyone.
Every government is corrupt…be it republican, democratic, communist, buddhist….what ever. An Italian philosopher said it in the 17th century…” power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”..America is called the “great experiment” becasue a new form of gov’t was envisioned…” of the people for the people” unlike the monarchies,.. most of the founding fathers fled from. There, in the UK, if you were tied to the King and his family…you were “aristocracy” and you had a different set of laws governing you….vs Plain John Doe. The founding fathers created a “grand experiment” but it is has failed since 1776….It crashed and burned in 2008 when Obumma took office. The liberals got their turn and destroyed a lot of the protection the Constitution had given us. This is not to say that Conservative Republicans are much better…that was proven in the election of 2016. THE PEOPLE had said ” I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore” to use a phrase from a great movie 1970s “Newtwork”…IF you have not seen it you should ,..its more appropriate today than the 1970s when it aired becasue it showed the power of the media…but this is about NOW…and we are seeing a HUGE split between the 1%ers and their minions…and the rest of us. Its going to be ugly. I see riots in the streets and martial law as the 1%ers try and maintain order or push us into the New World Order….but you see….power corrupts and it really does not matter who is there…they will feather their own nests…and screw the 99% who are not in the “party” or in the “club” or NWo or what ever they call it. IF the Demoncrats take the election in 2020…there will be riots then martial law then USA will be gone…becoming a vassel of the IMF or NWO …the Illuminati or who ever is really in charge. USA….great idea…but the experiment failed…sorry….I suggest all you “tough guys” prep up and be ready to move to the wild open spaces////while you still can….Its over boys…too bad but thats reality…
Do the math. 80.7% of Americans live in urban zones. 80.7% multiplied times 325.7 million (official estimates) equals 262.8 million Americans fleeing after 21 days. Then it is estimated 12.5 million to 30 million illegal aliens and this doesn’t include legal aliens who reside who may or may not later seek citizenship.
In other words, none of those folks live in rural areas that can support the agricultural requirements to feed them. They only survive by rural areas and corporate farming shipping in food.
It is a disaster waiting to happen.
You cannot imagine this because the USA exports food to the world. It is almost incomprehensible how the entire world would starve if the US Republic falls.
Even a cessation of six months duration would have a drastic curtailment in the world’s food supply.
Then consider that some areas have three growing seasons in the USA while in the North, there may only be one growing season to harvest crops. At least a quarter of the USA has arid conditions which never have adequate rainfall, while others are experiencing drought, and others have low aquifer levels.
If you fail to plan, plan to fail.
You have to count upon no true harvest until summer from some spring crops, then getting a harvest in late summer and a final fall crop of largely cabbage family plants.
Over-hunting, over-trapping, and over-fishing will decimate the wild regions that are immediately accessible to nearby urban regions. Those critters will flee away with a huge die off. And if the event occurs in spring through midsummer, then an incalcuable loss of game animals and fishing.
Human beings transitioned 10,000 years ago from abundant but seasonal game animals and therefore hunter-gatherer humans to agrarian tribal villages who often sent out hunting parties and relocated their herds and storing fodder.
You cannot bugout and live off the land anymore. It is a myth to think you can.
Maranatha , many good points ! The real answers are already inside YOU, not outside of you !
In all honesty, over the many decades that I have posed these questions on how 80.7% of Americans will survive since they live in urban zones, do you know what they all said?
The two most common responses were they would flee to the country and especially to rural family members. And secondarily that instead of trying to shoot wild game, they would shoot livestock.
Unbelievable, isn’t it? City folks really are clueless. Why in the world would they think they could walk on foot for hundreds of miles without food or water to even get close to American farmland?
What is even more shocking is in One Second After, even the author who is an expert on EMP felt perfectly justified demanding country folks feed everyone else by killing livestock!
If you want a wakeup call, go online and look up USA population density maps. A good one will graphically depict showing the huge peaks of monsterously intense population density.
These start on the Atlantic Seaboard and naturally occur throughout California and in Florida and in numerous coastal zones. Now cross reference that data versus expected migration patterns. Figure on crazed urban folks waking up by 72 hours without power and water. Also figure on governors closing state access and bridges.
Now, people will probably have less than a tank of gas. Multiple that time 75%. Then figure they will lose half of that stuck in traffic jams due to accidents, fuel pumps, belts breaking, and flats.
This probably means these 262 million urban Americans have 100-150 miles they can travel by vehicle before having to walk.
Now compare your home location versus all of that data. This will give you a reasonable guess on what kind of horde to expect.
Also be cognizant of any penitentiaries and what folks are in your state registry of sex offenders. You can punch in your address and get a printout of how many live near you.
You can fully expect for a massive number of druggies who will steal looking to get high and for whatever LEOs stay on duty for the first week to be swamped.
If you are far enough away to avoid the population centers and likely exodus during this migration debacle, then most will die of dehydration before they get close.
Even if you only had three months of food and water, but organized survivors into a tribe, then you might make it. The main secondary issue is the season when it happens versus local agriculture.
Smart sheriffs would close off all entry points to your town. Smart city councils will authorize seizure of local food warehouses and pharmacies. Expect a die off of 90 percent casualties.
In my opinion, if you have family members who are unwilling to prepare by spending $1000 on basic food for one year for a family of four ie lentils, pinto beans, rice, and calcium sources, then try sitting down and watching One Hundred Mornings.
It’s about two British couples. One guy has a slight knowledge and his brother has a two bedroom cabin in a village and water access and maybe three months of food. It falls apart in 100 days. They make many mistakes. It wakes up family members.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRDiqinG8Ow
The dumbest tactic is straight at em as you will lose the most soldiers. Instead, stay at the periphery of rioting, let the fools exhaust themselves, then harass them, flank them, and utterly annihilate them. Sometimes when two enemies attack each other, and your tribe hates BOTH, you let them annihilate each other, THEN send in skirmishers who have ammuntion when the others have depleted theirs.
Do not let the enemy dictate terrain and terms. That is stupid and you are not responding just reacting and worse if you are not calm but emotional.
It is cold hard brutal logic and superior tactics and MORALE that wins battles and doing so consistently wins wars. When they riot, annihilate their supply and encampment as that is now undefended! If you destroy the enemy’s morale, you double or MORE the chance of success.
Fire is a great equalizer versus foolish single combat.
TharSheBlows I did some research, and your theory that depressed oil prices destroyed Venezuela’s economy doesn’t hold up. When Hugo Chávez took power in Venezuela in 1999 oil prices were at $16.56 a barrel. Prices rose to a peak of $91.48 a barrel in 2008 and as of 2017 were $42.74 a barrel. Even adjusting for inflation the price of oil is double what it was when Hugo Chávez took over and since 2017 the price of oil has been rising. Despite that fact Venezuela’s economic crisis has continued to grow worse. And on top of that hyperinflation caused by rampant money printing by Maduro. More idiocy.
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Historical Crude Oil Prices (Table)
August 27, 2017 by Tim McMahon
https://inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Rate/Historical_Oil_Prices_Table.asp
Annual Average Domestic Crude Oil Prices (in $/Barrel) Inflation Adjusted to July 2017
Year Nominal Inflation Adjusted
1999 $16.56 $24.28
2008 $91.48 $103.67
2017 $42.74 $42.63
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Venezuela’s Economic Problems Are Caused By Socialism, Not Falling Oil Prices
By Tony Lima, May 9, 2018
http://thefederalist.com/2018/05/09/venezuelas-economic-problems-caused-socialism-not-falling-oil-prices/
Falling oil prices are not the problem in Venezuela. The problem is socialism, price controls, and a money supply spiraling out of control.
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You also blame US sanctions for Venezuela’s problems. Seems strange that the most prosperous and powerful country on earth is a capitalist country not a communist one and yet you blame it for causing Venezuela’s problems. So communism can’t succeed unless capitalist countries help Maduro enslave it’s people under communism. Russia and China gave up on Maduro’s communism a long time ago. Maduro is a former bus driver so maybe doing his homework on communism not working in the real world wasn’t on his bus route.
Consider for a moment that a few hundred years ago the people of Venezuela were living off the land which is still rich and fertile.
Growing their own crops and livestock. And long before the United States or communist/socialism was around.
Forget blaming the US or the banks. Living off the land and feeding the people with the resources they have would be simple in a free society.
But with the communists in charge of production, pricing, wages and distribution which is what defines true socialism Venezuela has becomes a night mare for their citizens. Just like it was in the former Soviet Union where shortages, state quotas, long lines and a low quality of life was normal. A country with a centrally planned economy that failed to deliver the promised worker’s utopia.
The people of Venezuela chose Nicolás Maduro whose socialist promises sounded good in theory but not in practice as they may have finally learned.
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21st Century Socialism Brings No Toilet Paper, TV, Or Long Distance Phone Service To Venezuela
Published April 20, 2016 By Matt Vespa | Townhall.com
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/04/20/21st-century-socialism-brings-no-toilet-paper-tv-or-long-distance-service-to-venezuela-n2151341
Chávez turned the state-owned oil company from being professionally run to being barely run. People who knew what they were doing were replaced with people who were loyal to the regime, and profits came out but new investment didn’t go in. That last part was particularly bad, because Venezuela’s extra-heavy crude needs to be blended or refined — neither of which is cheap — before it can be sold. So Venezuela just hasn’t been able to churn out as much oil as it used to without upgraded or even maintained infrastructure. Specifically, oil production fell 25 percent between 1999 and 2013.
The rest is a familiar tale of fiscal woe. Even triple-digit oil prices, as Justin Fox points out, weren’t enough to keep Venezuela out of the red when it was spending more on its people but producing less crude.
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Not so strange then that they have to import oil to survive.
Venezuela, with world’s largest reserves, imports oil
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2014/11/02/venezuela/18243787/
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Venezuelan government controls more than 500 businesses — and most are losing money
By Jim Wyss, March 14, 2017 12:13 PM
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article138402248.html
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Kuwait, Nigeria, Angola and other countries exported more oil than Venezuela. But they survived the price drop without experiencing the misery that Venezuela suffers.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/15/john-stossel-our-ignorant-mainstream-media-four-incredible-examples.html
The problem with Maduro like all socialists is that he does not understand economics. If socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists. Maduro actually thinks he can create prosperity by printing money
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Is Venezuela a good place to run a business. Apparently not. It is just one notch above North Korea.
Examples of economic freedom
Denmark’s ranking is 12, Sweden 15, Norway 23,
Cuba’s ranking is 178
Venezuela’s ranking is 179
North Korea’s ranking is 180
From
Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom, Country Rankings on Economic Freedom
https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
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Venezuela Finally Turns Communist
Maduro Follows Leninist Dogma to the Letter
Enrique Standish November 29, 2013 at 12:05 pm
http://panampost.com/enrique-standish/2013/11/29/venezuela-communist-finally/
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