It’s amazing how many “survival” plans don’t make any arrangements for something as common as not having a job for six months. In this wildly unlikely apocalyptic scenario a mere mortal might be expected to somehow accomplish the heroic feats of not having the power cut off, reigning victorious against the forces of not having his car repossessed - not by shooting the repo man but by not getting behind on his car payment to begin with - and defending the sanctity of the family domicile by not having the mortgage company righteously and legally foreclose on his deadbeat ass.RTWT.
A basement full of freeze-dried beans and .308 ammo is not the solution to every potential life crisis; as a matter of fact, it's a pretty narrow-spectrum answer to a specific set of circumstances.
22 comments:
Look, who has time for a savings account when any minute the lawn may be teeming with zombies? Zombies!
Besides isn't all the survivalism crap about Walter Mittying your way out of thinking about work?
Shootin' Buddy
When the crunch comes, I'll be Empress Of The Block! If you want rice or wheat, you'll have to come to me! Meeeee....
Well, kind of. Some. Maybe a little?
;)
I for one welcome our new retrotechno overlord.
Shootin' Buddy
I'm hoarding ammo while my neighbors are collecting my supplies. I just haven't told them that yet. ;)
Nonsense. All hail Lord of the Underpass!
Wait, overpass. Or underpants...whichever.
"Neighbors: the other other white meat." Remember, we all look and taste like pork!
The Fudgie Ghost says:
As someone who has been out of work since mid-June, I can attest to the truth of Mr Jones' appeal. Kinda sucks when you can't afford to go to lunch with friends---forget about shooting with them. . .One of my buddies said to me: "Guess we never considered this in our scenarios!" Looks like I may have to start eating my emergency food supplies. My luck, I'll be down to my last can of Hormel chili and POW! Lights go out. Oh, the humanity!
That, plus, if "Apocalypse When" doesn't happen soon, I'm not going to be physically up for it. . .I've already got back issues.
I can just see it now---I'll be in a nursing home, and BAM---TEOTWAWKI. Great. Talk about bad tiiming! Oy.
word verification: "weent"
[Southern Accent on]: Wheel, we "weent" down ta town, bu, we dinna see no ahksident"
I guess folks figure that if it comes to that point, the power will be out anyway and the repo man will be flying around with aliens in the trunk of his car.
The Tahaitans DO call people 'long pork'. I think there's a reason.... MMMMM....
I always assumed the stocking up on beans and rice was for AFTER you had a savings account.
Nah, don't worry about being "long pig". According to the last(?) of the cannibals in Fiji, the best tasting were Asians--very sweet meat! But women were better tasting than men, and were more tender as well.
The immigrants from SE Asia should feed the rest of us for a long time...
Just kiddin', folks...
cap'n chumbucket
"[Southern Accent on]: Wheel, we "weent" down ta town, bu, we dinna see no ahksident"
Groundskeeper Willie?
To be honest, I read that advice and think "Great, but what if you get laid off after less than a year in the workforce, and you have no savings because of your medical bills the year before?" I still digging out of that damn hole, and it's a good day when I have enough left over for a sandwich after I pay the bills on payday. Why won't Bank of America take payment in the form of hugs and fresh-baked cookies?
/rant. Rooting for the zombies. Yeah.
Ok, at the risk of getting flamed, I will offer a small counterpoint (with a disclaimer)
First the disclaimer: I have little debt and more than two years liquidity in savings (yes I am lucky..although it came from my own work)
Planning for survival scenarios is mostly about how to stay alive, not "avoiding discomfort". While losing your job may create discomfort it isn't fatal at this time in this country. So this seems like a bit of an apples and oranges comparison.
I don't disagree that putting yourself deep in debt, stocking up on ammo is a bad plan. But building up some insurance against worst case scenarios even if you are not rich shouldn't be laughed at.
Just saying. :) Love your blog Tam
RJ
"But building up some insurance against worst case scenarios even if you are not rich shouldn't be laughed at."
Who's laughing at it? I'm far from rich myself, but I do my best to keep myself debt-free; nothing wacky there. However, I also suspect that I'm far more likely to need my canned food for a blizzard or bad economy than for subsistence in a post-nuclear world.
What people are laughing at is folks who put themselves in danger of Apocalypse Right Now in the hopes of being able to play Lord of the Wasteland in some future scenario.
Thanks for reading! :)
Funny-odd: I live at the bottom of the "food chain", 80 miles from the county seat and 240 miles from a "real" city. I've sorta accidentally been a survivalist for some 26 years, just from basic necessity for maximum independence on a day-to-day basis. And I'm but one among many, here.
Sorta fun to read the various commentaries from the "Johnny Come Lately" group.
Art
I'm pretty sure that if you have a whole basement full of .308 then you can probably pay off your car and pay your mortgage for the next six months pretty easily.
Dang, Anon, no joke. If I was sitting on that kind of ammo, you bet I would have sold it by now.
Anyone want a half-empty box of #8 shot?
Some prepare for an apocalypse of epic proportions, while ignoring the (more likely) personal disasters (like job loss).
Some prepare for personal disasters (like job loss) while ignoring the (less likely, but still not impossible) apocalypses of epic proportions (financial collapse, wide scale natural disasters, etc.).
A few prepare for both.
The vast majority prepare for nothing.
Just sayin'....
Do like me. Stockpile black leather, spiked shoulder pads, and motorcycles.
@ Tam. Just to let you know, my title will be Lord Humungous, Warrior of the wasteland, not Lord of the wasteland. :)
if i had a basement full of .308 i damn sure would be rich right no at the current price of premium ammo! but seriously having a nest egg just in case is just practical and good common sence.
If the average American paid as much attention to staying out of debt and reading the Bible once in awhile as they do to stocking survival supplies, we would not need the survival supplies. Not trying to be snotty, just saying some things don't have to be so complicated.
I blame Richard Nixon and Walmart for our current crisis anyway. They are the ones who opened up free trade with our communist enemies (China.) Now the communists have taken over the asylum.
P.S. I shop at Walmart anyway.
exile
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