“The future has a way of arriving unannounced.” —George Will
One of the most dangerous and destructive forces on Earth is a mob in a state of panic, and we are currently on the razor edge of a world-wide food panic.
When the mob decides – right or wrong – inflation, fuel shortages, fertilizer shortages, inflation, war, embargoes, sanctions, bird flu, and supply chain disruptions, will cause food to be in such short supply they may go hungry, the shelves will be cleared. And they will be cleared across the planet. It will not be regional – it will not be in select nations. It will occur everywhere.
When it starts, the panic will ignite quicker than a gasoline fire in a 50’s era Formula 1 race car.
All it is going to take is the first news, or TicTock, report of fist fights and looting in a grocery store – anywhere. Video of the first food riots will snap most humans into survival mode. It may take a day or two to get rolling, maybe even a week – but, after the first grocery store is looted bare, the rest will follow. There will be armed guards at the entrances, lines, and rationing. Then, people will get even more desperate. The retail theft gangs will switch from high-end Neiman Marcus robberies to flash mob grocery store attacks.
The populous has been exposed bare shelves on and off for the duration of the Covid stupidity – it’s fresh in their minds. They have also watched their grocery bills blow up over the past year. This is not a “it can’t happen here” situation. This is a “It can happen here” situation, soon to become a “its happening here” situation. Whether any of us will openly admit it, or not, we all know its bad.
I’m not a fan of the “perfect storm” phrase, but this is truly a perfect storm for potential famine. I suppose all that’s missing is some once-in-a-hundred-years weather event to destroy a large amount of what manages to get planted this year.
I’m not sure that will be required before the dominoes fall, I expect the real mess will be here August/September-ish.
Once panic sets in, the supply chain won’t recover. Governments will start rationing schemes, uprisings and civil wars will occur. Worst case scenario: economies will fail, armies will move across borders, people will starve, and world-wide communism will be the default condition.
It suddenly makes sense why China has been buying up massive amounts of corn and grains over the past two years. It’s like they saw it coming.
All any of us can do about it at this point is attempt to be ahead of the curve. Pray for the best, but plan for the worst.
It’s my most sincere hope that all of you who follow us have taken our advice over the years and started some form of food storage program in your home. If you have – You’re welcome! If you haven’t, don’t wait any longer.
Of course, I beg you not to go into debt over it. Don’t burn up your savings or create massive interest payment on your credit card. However, buy what you can afford, and do so before the panic. Cancel Netflix, or hold off on that vacation if you have to.
As is my usual disclaimer, I gave up on predicting the future decades ago, and I hope I’m 100% wrong, here. However, if you store the right foods the right way, the worst that will happen should we be wrong is that we’ll be eating at a discount next year. After all, inflation is not going away. If we’re right, the best that will happen is we will be eating next year while the rest of the world starves.
For those with the space and inclination, gardens are a good idea, and those should be prepped and planted in the next few weeks. Most of us will never be able to grow enough to feed ourselves, but we can supplement with a garden. Even if you can’t garden, buying seeds might be a very wise investment for the future.
Gardening is not my area of expertise, but there are plenty of YouTube channels to get you started. Even those who live in apartments can grow potatoes in a bucket on their balcony. There’s something we can all do.
Freezers should be full with meat proteins. Meats should be vacuum packed and dated, then rotated through and replaced as used.
The meat price roller coaster continues. Take advantage of price dips and sales. The price last May was beyond ridiculous – today they were on sale for $7.00 per pound. Socking up took place!
Of course, when this situation escalates, we need to be armed and extremely dangerous. Food stores do you no good if you can’t defend them. …that I’m even considering people shooting each other in the United States over food is a place I’ve simply never seriously been in my brain. Sure, I’ve bounced the scenario around, but it never seemed a practical possibility. After all, this is America – we have food, right?
Well, we did, until the present administration disabled our fossil fuel industries, thus destroying our fertilizer production, as well as forcing diesel prices to new records. And they’ve completely screwed our foreign policy to the point of pushing the planet to the brink of WW3. It’s totally my fault for thinking no group of people in government could be so incompetent – and, of all people, I never thought such a thing. Well, they sure are showing me!
But, I’m not confident it’s incompetence – it makes far more sense that it’s on purpose. The string of “mistakes” that have occurred over the past 14 months are beyond the law of averages. One could throw darts a board full of post-it notes with what to do’s written on them and achieve better results than the band of Marxiusts in the White House have. My guess is they are far more concerned with the contents of Hunter’s laptop than they are with the rest of us living or dying. A whatever it takes to not get caught, kind of thing.
But, I digress – how we got here no longer matters. This is where we are. So, I suggest we all take as much control over our own lives as we can.
Short list:
– Food. Properly packaged and stored for long term. Lots of it. Figure out how much you and your family eat, and start working towards a spare week, then a spare month, then a spare year’s worth. Don’t wait any longer. Remember, having extra might make the difference between your neighbors staying peaceful, or your neighborhood going vertical. Encourage those around you to store food, too.
– Store some fuel…somewhere. Perform all of your vehicle maintenance NOW – there are plenty of auto parts stores that don’t have oil and filters on the shelves presently, let alone specialty parts like computers sensors. Stay ahead of it.
– Get your daily carry squared away. Proper holster with a spare. Both left and right-handed. [What, you’re never going to injure your dominant hand or arm?] Mag carriers plus spares.
– Get your conflict rifle sorted out. Coaxial flashlight, proper sling, cleaning kit, spare parts, zeroed. At least 10 magazines, 50 is better.
-Ammunition. It’s available right now. Probably not for long. You can never have enough. You need a good supply of defensive hollow points (or solids like the Underwood monolithic), as well as practice (ball) ammunition. Get on Super Vel’s email alert list.
– Batteries. If your lights use 123’s, have 50 to 100. If you have a red dot/holographic sights, do the math on battery life and have two years’ worth. Spares for smoke detectors, etc…
– Medical supplies – personal trauma kits, vehicle kits, home kits, plus the standard aspirin/band-aids/etc.. Get two months’ worth of prescription drugs. We have lists of contents we recommend to build out kits. Email us if you’d like a copy.
– Vitamins. When we resort to eating storage food [not fresh], or cut calories due to shortages, we still need vitamins. Buy them now – get a few years’ worth for every member of the family. Protein powder might be a good idea, as well.
– Tighten your proverbial financial belt now. Start cutting out the fat and begin to learn to live even leaner than you already are. Wages are in no way keeping up with inflation, and we simply can’t be so naive as to think we’re experiencing a temporary economic problem. We need to get our brains and our habits adjusted accordingly.
– Lots of good footwear. Most shoes and boots are manufactured overseas – don’t count on their availability. Plan ahead for the growing feet of your kids.
– If you haven’t secured training yet, now is the time! You need small arms and medical truma training. If not from us, get it somewhere asap. The clock is ticking. And, by the way, we only raised our tuition prices $10 this year on a 2-day class – that will not be the case after this summer. Take advantage of it.
Finally, keep an eye out for the mob – you don’t want any part of it.
To paraphrase Stymie from the Little Rascals, I don’t know where we’re going, but we’re on our way.
“The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.” -William Gibson, economist
