Weather Report: The Economy, Common Sense, & Plan B, “Got Pantry?”

THE WORLD ECONOMY: A tip of the hat to survivalblog.com for sourcing this article in Times On Line (timesonline.co.uk of 1/21/09: “World Agenda: riots in Iceland, Latvia, and Bulgaria are a sign of things to come”.

The article describes the reactions of citizens from generally non-protest cultures to the effects of financial meltdown in their respective countries. Other countries, such as the Ukraine, are mentioned as candidates for possible future riots.

COMMON SENSE:

1. Things are far worse than anyone “in charge”, nationally or internationally, is willing to admit.

2. NO ONE, nationally or internationally, “knows” the course of action necessary to “fix” the current financial crisis.

Note: By way of example, several of the methods effected and proposed within the U.S. have failed during the Great Depression and/or more recently, in Japan.

PLAN B: Rationale: When there is no effective Plan A to deal with what a number of observers are calling a near-apocalyptic world financial (and resource) crisis, combined with a possibly massive change in world weather patterns, then you have to fall back to Plan B.

What is Plan B? Plan B is what it’s always been and probably what it will always be: YOU! You, along with your family (the “prudent home”) and perhaps a few close friends [with possibly/hopefully some of your neighbors] providing for your own critical necessities such as food, medicine, and personal protection.

“GOT PANTRY?”: The cornerstone of Plan B is the family pantry. The beginning is a store of food, along with a back-up way to prepare it, and water for a three day period for every member of the house plus one ( an extra family member or neighbor showing up).

The three day store of food and water ( one gallon /person/day) is truly a sub-minimum and represents a step towards the true minimum/minimum of seven days. The realistic minimum level of food and water stores for your family should be the amount necessary to get you thru the worst natural disaster that’s occurred in your part of the country for the last 100 years! If you think this is too extreme, remember hurricane Katrina and imagine the recovery process WITHOUT substantial state or federal help.

• DO: Get a copy of FEMA publication # H-34: “Are You Ready? An In-Depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness”, Tel. #1-800-480-2520 (It’s Free!)-While you’re waiting, call your local Red Cross for any disaster preparation information they may have. It will probably be free but certainly at low cost.
• DON’T: Put off setting up your “cornerstone”. There’s no more time.

Please remember your pets/animals in your preparations and keep your eyes on the horizon.