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Today while reading a thread in a survival forum someone
explained his view on how different a collapse in USA would be compared to the
one that took place in Argentina in 2001. He said that while the collapse in Argentina
was like changing a tire on a Ford Falcon, what will happen in US will be like changing
them all on a 18-wheeler.
Changing a tire on a Falcon is a light way of putting
it. Our economy collapsed, our currency lost 70% of its value overnight and the
president resigned while anarchy spread all over the country. Over a decade
later the place is still a mess, it simply never got back on its feet. Just last
week, looting spread across 40 major cities in Argentina. My family and friends
over there spend three days, including Christmas, without power or water, while
roasted at 120F. We didn’t change the tire on a Ford Falcon. The Falcon went
over the cliff and blew up. You could say there’s only a wreckage left of what
was once a nice, shiny Ford Falcon.
Unfortunately for you guys in USA its more similar
than any of us could have expected. Seems that right after getting an Obama
doble tap, you’ll get hit with Hillary Clinton in 2016. The shit storm your’re about to go through
will test everyone’s determination and true preparedness levels. Its now and in
these coming years that people will get to see for themselves what works and
what doesn’t. Many such accounts have already been posted here the last couple
years.
If USA fully collapses, the dollar becomes pretty much
worthless and you one day wake up in Bolivia, in that case and from an
individual perspective, you’ll go through what we did in Argentina. You’ll
start bartering for a living like thousands did in Argentina. When you realize
the problems concerning bartering you’ll try making money to survive on
whatever new currency replaces the US
dollar. Will it get that bad? Lets hope not. But if it does, then the
life challenges you’ll be facing on a personal level aren’t in anyway unique. A
lot of people have had to go through that.
You know what a common saying for most Argentines? “ It’s
the same thing everywhere you go. Anywhere you go around the world these days there’s
crime, there’s inflation, problems, etc”. That’s how Argentines go into denial,
convincing themselves that their shitty reality isn’t unique to them. Those of
us that know better want to scream “No, its not! A lot of people around the
world live MUCH better than you do!”. I’ve done that myself, but its of no use,
people prefer to stay in denial. Denial is a powerful survival mechanism so as
to not go nuts. It’s the way in which your psyche tells itself that what you
are going through is ok, its normal. Saying that if USA goes to hell everyone
else goes along with it is the same thing. Just like any other Empire or world
power in history, if one day USA becomes a shadow of what it once was, it will
slowly fade away as its doing now in many ways. Maybe there’s still time to
reverse things, maybe its too late, I don’t know, but if it continues this way,
other than a few iconic moments and incidents, its a slow decaying process. There’s
going to be other places where quality of life is better, and eventually
another country or group of countries may rise above it to take its place.
There’s thousands of people preparing for whats coming
using the novel Patriots and Doomsday Preppers as guidelines. You know how
useful that is for what the future holds for you in USA as of today? Zip, nada,
nothing. Rather the contrary, instead of helping, people will make the wrong
decisions which will at the very least cost them money they can no longer
afford to lose. Look south across the border to see what crime and violence in
USA may look like one day. Add to that a government that is not only tending
toward socialist authoritarianism, but effective at it too.
FerFAL
15 comments:
1) Hmmm. I can't help wondering if a hangover from New Year's celebration is making
Ferfal a little grumpy. : )
2) Things can certainly turn to crap. In fact, there are many neighborhoods and areas in
the USA that are already suffering from the conditions Ferfal describes: Chester , PA.
Camden, NJ. Some sections of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
Detroit. Birmingham, Al. etc etc etc
Plus it is important to remember that many depressed areas in the USA are on life support
from the more wealthy areas -- via transfer payments like Social Security disability (the
Gold Standard for Welfare because you don't have to try to find work -- in fact, it is
discouraged), tax credits, unemployment insurance, Medicaid,etc.
3) But it is difficult to criticize such when the transfer payments to the richest 2% are
even more massive ( tax cuts, financial bailouts, unnecessary foreign wars on behalf of Exxon,etc.) It amuses me that financial news groups never note the extremely high rates of return on political donations.
4) The USA lies among the worse nations of the world when it comes to a deeply unfair
concentration of wealth and income within 2% of the population. We imprison a higher percentage of our citizens than any other nation.
The middle class has to support a military budget that is greater than that of the next 20 major powers COMBINED -- a military empire whose profits flow to the few and whose enormous costs are dumped off onto the workers.
5) The last thing the USA has to worry about is "socialism". In fact, I constantly wonder why
we don't Senators and their billionaire patrons swinging from the lampposts.
6) Our wounds are politically self-inflicted by corruption. We have such enormous waste that a few reforms would free up enormous resources to repair our nation:
a) Our $Trillion/year educational system produces some of the most stupid voters on the planet.
It could be easily replaced by a one time purchase of $10,000 of educational software
(with 100 million copies made) and maybe a $1 billion purchase of PCs for schoolkids every
5 years.
b) We could cut our $Trillion/year military budget to $100 billion per year and the safety of
the USA would not be endangered -- we are separated from the rest of the world by two large oceans and
we still have 500 Minuteman nuclear ICBMs.
c) We could exit the WTO and impose very high tariffs to spur economic growth here.
Plus impose high taxes on foreign earnings of US corporations and demand they decide whether they are American or not. If yes, then they need to meet their obligations to provide jobs to Americans, not Chinese.
It is idiotic to support an unfair trading system
that has given us huge trade deficits for 30 years.
d) Clinton's "globalization" is one system that is even more stupid than the Eurozone.
It will ultimately collapse into chaos because we do not have a one-world government and only a moron would want one.
As Edward Gibbon noted in 1776, a world empire makes all of its citizens into slaves whereas a
community of contending nation-states means that there will always be a place to flee to --
and a base from which to fight --if a dictator arises in your nation.
Hi FerFal,
Great analogy about the falcon going over the cliff. I can understand it being really bad in Argentina. My friend that came here from Buenos Aires said he did because Argentina is a country that always goes down. That was a little after the 2001 crash, and now you are saying he was right over 10 years later.
The only way I can see that Argentina and other countries around the world make a better future for themselves is if the people gain control of their government. Right now they don't have that.
In the U.S. it's a little different. The people have partial control over government. After the dollar crashes I believe the people will again take full control over the government. Congressman Ron Paul has woke up a lot of people in America to the need to return to the Constitution which means true freedom. That will be a strong force rebuilding America after the dollar crash. People will return to using gold and silver primarily to exchange as money, which the Constitution says is the only thing States can make legal tender.
The reason the other person compared the U.S. dollar crash as an 18 wheeler to a ford falcon is because the U.S. economy is the main engine driving the world economy. When the U.S. goes down, so will everyone else. Things in Argentina may be bad, but at least Argentines are kind of used to living with survival instincts. People nowadays in richer, more developed countries have gone soft. They probably would die at the thought of going more than 24 hours without electricity, let alone food and water and everything else.
That's why your blog and book are so very valuable. You provide accurate, real world perspective, people can otherwise hardly imagine.
@Don
Just because you are a socialist in your heart, does not mean there is no danger.
Let me comment on what you wrote from an outside perspective.
a) The goverment gets what it pays for. Private shools work much better for the people.
The system we have right now produces dumb consumers who do not cause problems. There is no failure, just a different goal. Did I mention that public shools are a socialist idea?
b) 10% of military? The moment that happens, the U$ will crash land. Right now the U$ is backed by military supremacy.
c) Good idea - but it would reduce the short-time standard of living within the US considerably. Riots, lootings...hardly possible in a democracy.
"that has given us huge trade deficits for 30 years."
You forgot to mention a higher-than-earned standard of living and lots of merchandise for sheets of paper. The people always look at their advantage RIGHT NOW and could care less what happens over a span of 30 years...
d) World goverment is the final goal behind the EU, Mercosur and other similar organizations around the planet.
It is not a matter of "if" but "when" this will happen.
Clinton (and others) knew that. That's why we have globalization in the first place.
Mr. Edward Gibbon was right. Do you need more prove it is just a matter of time?
Ferfal,
As always I enjoy your analysis. I have been stuck in Argentina with thug "students and youth" were protesting who knows what. There is one difference I think you have missed in your "USA Collapse" posting. We have guns. Lots and lots of guns. There are three armed factions in the USA. Two of which are willing to fight while the third, the government overlords, watch the carnage from their ivory towers in D.C.. The gangbanger criminal faction and the conservative religious faction will bear arms against eachother. Obama will laugh because he has encouraged this fight. We have an entire political party, democrats led by Obama, directing all the anger of the 'poor' toward the well armed conservative leaning American traditionalists. It is depressing to see the USA willingly follow the Peronista (obama) theory of government. It will be a bloody fight in the USA compared to the crash of Argentina. USA will be divided in to urban cesspools and prosperous rural enclaves. I am sure I am the same as a middle income Argentine in 1999. My mind can not conceive that there are so many stupid people that support national suicide. But that's the problem with Marxist liberaism. We try to comprehend their ideals with a rational mind. It will be a tough time until Obama is out of office. Very tough.
Hi Anon, I read that often, about USA beign different becuase there's more guns. Keep in mind that while honest citizens may not have as much of a gun culture, criminals in South America have all the guns they coudl want, including battle rifles and fully auto SMG, grandes, etc.
Trust me, its not a problem for a criminal in Argentina to get any gun they want. as it usually happens and anti guns fail to see, its generally easier than for law abbiding citizens.
Most people in the USA are ill prepared to deal with life challenges. I cannot tell you how many people I know who are in financial difficulties who fail to adjust to a DIY frugal life. Not only do they not have a good skill base, they are not interested in any learning curve. These are the same people who will become indignant when things really go south and believe that they are entitled. They will not embrace any life challenges. They will just gripe and take.
Through many years of indoctrination of the media and education, we have lost our moral footing. Combined with the entitlement attitude, crime and violence will increase.
I agree with you concerning barter. We barter, here and there as opportunities arise, but it will not work beyond that. It is the same with making and doing it yourself. It saves money, but in the end, it is the concept of money that we are slaves to.
Our government has been tending toward socialism since FDR.
Most of us are not able to pack up and move to another country for many reasons.
Metal theives have sprouted up at an alarming rate, brazenly breaking in to houses to steal appliances in both suburban and rural areas. After several years of pay freezes, even for DoD civilians, inflation is taking a toll, and new taxes have given some upwards of a 5% pay cut. Everyone is feeling it except those calling the shots, as the politicians, like the metal theives become more bold in their criminality; their media puppets and party leaders calling for confiscation and downright murder of NRA members. Not since the civil war or even revolution have we been so polarized, and as the noose tightens, the tension mounts. Will we go out with a whimper, or kicking and screaming when attrocities go too far? Prep as best you can for either, maintaining a positive attitude and will to survive as Ferfal has demonstrated.
To Anonymous,
Your analysis is wrong.
First, there are not armed "factions" in America. There are armed Americans, period.
There is no reason whatsoever to think a "gang banger" faction would war with a "religious" faction. You obviously don't know why people bang. There are 2 main reasons, the 1st and most important is money. The second is for protection and a sense of some type of family, which many bangers never had properly.
But it comes down to money and fighting over territory to sell drugs. As far as the family aspect, that is false, as bangers that later left gangs and spoke out talked about not being visited in the hospital by any of their "family" after being shot.
So gang bangers only care about making money. They couldn't care less about American "conservatives" and probably don't even know what that is.
Also, you can't fault Obama for the mess we're in. He isn't helping, that's for sure, but he didn't start it. And George W. Bush had the same big government policies, including "No child left behind", Dept. of Homeland Security (TSA), illegal warrantless wiretaps on Americans, starting the illegal Iraq invasion over lies, removing habeus corpus, the right to trial etc. etc.
So our problem is more about Americans against overgrown government increasingly becoming anti-American. Any fight would be between those two "factions". You should check out DailyPaul.com which is inspired by Dr. Ron Paul. It brings many people TOGETHER not divide, like your comments suggest. There are religious people, atheists, blacks, democrats, republicans, libertarians, anarchists, wealthy (like Peter Theil), poor and middle class just to name a few, but ALL support the message and beliefs of Ron Paul which is simply to follow the Constitution - which is supposed to be the highest law in the land.
Capitalism is a total surrender to human nature.
Communism is a total denial of human nature.
Socialism is your mother saying make your bed
1) I don't care much for vague ideology -- I think it is just something the Rich use to con suckers.
2) Fact 1: The last three Republican presidents personally approved --with their signatures -- roughly $9 Trillion of the federal debt. I would add in another $2 Trillion for George W Bush letting Wall Street steal everything not nailed down.
3) But even the sainted "fiscal conservative" Ronald Reagan was shoveling 7.5 percent of US GDP out to his sugar daddy General Electric and other defense contractors at a time when the second and third largest economies in the world --German and Japan --were spending less than 3% and 1% respectively. And they were located mere miles from the Soviet Union, not across two vast oceans.
4) When Jimmy Carter was president, the federal debt was around 35% of GDP. See
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/US_Federal_Debt_as_Percent_of_GDP_by_President.jpg
Federal debt as percent of GDP declined under Clinton.
5) Gee, it almost makes you think that Republican leaders are two-faced lying hypocrites and prostitutes for the Rich. Although I acknowledge that some Democratic Senators are not any better. I don't recall the Tea Party saying anything when Dick Cheney threw away $3 Trillion of our money to launch an unnecessary war to grab some Iraq oil deposits for Exxon.
6) Now it's time to pay the piper.
Either the Rich will pay off the Republican Debt or middle class workers will. I know who I will choose.
1) To his credit, Ron Paul spoke out against Bush's hugely expensive foreign adventures. Anybody remember any of the other Republican nominees backing him up during the primary debates? I remember a bunch of men with their lips planted firmed on the fat buttocks of Israeli lobby billionaire Sheldon Adelson -- with Newt Gingrich practically auctioning off the lives of another 20,000 soldiers for an invasion of Iran.
2) I agree that the federal government must be kept in check with constitutional checks and balances. The NRA was loud in its rants about "jackbooted federal thugs" during Clinton's administration.
But when Dick Cheney and John Yoo wiped their behinds on the Bill of Rights , the NRA did nothing. Nor did the Republican Caucus in Congress.
1) The old Roman Republic on which the USA was modelled eventually became too big to manage --it had to be split up into several chunks. The eastern pieces lasted a 1000 years after the western one fell.
2) I think we will need to do the same with the USA -- take a lot of power away from Congress and give it to one of more regional governments made up of adjacent states, with Congress having severely limited powers.
3) It would be even better to just go back to the original Articles of Confederation but small, landlocked states would be at the mercy of larger states and those having ocean ports.
4) But obviously a Congress of 450 men ruling 310 Million people is not working. Especially when members of said Congress have to spend half their time begging for money from 400 or so billionaires.
Clarification to para 5 of my first post: It should read
"I constantly wonder why we don't see Senators and their billionaire patrons swinging from the lampposts"
The old European aristocracy was a military caste that understood that while rank has its privileges, it also has heavy responsibilities. That loyalty is a two-way street between the lord and his tenants. That the lord's security lies in caring for his fief and improving the condition of all --not just himself. That you can expect men to turn out to fight for you if you crap on them in other times.
In contrast, I see no sign that America's billionaires give a hairy rodent's posterior about their fellow countrymen.
So --as Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence -- it's time to replace their government with something better.
I read this the other day. I wanted to comment about one thing that caught my eye. I grew up in a very quiet suburb. The third town over is a city full of illegal immigrants from the carribean mostly. It is all drugs, prostitutes, shoot-outs etc etc
At my place of employment I worked with several people from this paradise on Earth. Every time the cops would find a car with three guys in it shot to death in a parking lot, or a 10 year old girl being pimped out by her mother, or whatever- they would always say 'Well, it's like that everywhere.'
And I would always say 'What is wrong with you? If you drive five miles down the road you will be in a town that has had one murder in the last 30 years. It is clearly not like that everywhere.'
So that line caught my eye in Ferfal's post.
Guess what America...it's already here.
Have to chuckle at all the rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
The English-speaking world has been decivilizing for 150 years, since the birth of Statism as a religion (Progressive Movement in the USA, Marxism, Fabian socialism, National Socialism, etc.).
All of these "ideologies" are really a death-cult: Statism. They see that monopoly of violence as some sort of God-on-Earth, where every law must be obeyed, every edict followed, and when there's war, parents sacrifice their sons and daughters to politicians who profit from it.
The US government is poisoning the air (chemtrails & geoengineering), the land (Roundup & fluoride & depleted U), the water, and the economy (QE3 to infinity) because people think those in government are wiser, have more knowledge, and are demigods.
This is idiotic, but it is the dominant religion in Western Civ. It is truly a doomsday cult, much like Jim Jones' Peoples Temple.
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