Friday
It is now late in the game and the Effort/Reward Ratio has gone negative.
I have more productive things that I must do with my time.
Good luck
Cassandra
The Calm of a Pre-Dawn
This following short (and last) piece may seem over-the-top, but only to those whose courage is out-the-bottom. Is does not take any great foresight to see what is coming; it is blindingly obvious and has been for over twenty years. It just takes the bravery to look at what is in front of one’s face.
The only question was ‘when’, and what would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The panicked response to Covid certainly began the end game, but the incredibly self-destructive U.S./N.A.T.O. sanctions against Russia were the final straw.
Ignoring the loony waving an axe, or pretending that he isn’t there, does not make him go away.
Is disaster written in stone? There is always room for some lurking optimism, but the current reality does not look good at all. Right now, it is best to prepare for the glaringly obvious economic disaster that fast approaches.
___________
We are in the calm of a pre-dawn. All is quiet; all is peaceful.
One day soon*, the sun will rise and the world will be changed forever.
From the March 2020 Covid panic came the lockdowns. The resultant and inevitable collapse of the world’s supply chains was then made permanent by the U.S./N.A.T.O. sanctions on Russia. The rest of the world was pressured to conform with the sanctions. Many sensibly refused and the world was split into two camps.
The era of worldwide trade is over. The U.S. has destroyed not only its own prosperity, but that of the Western world. It will neither be forgiven, nor forgotten.
How long will the economic breakdown last? The nature of world trade supply lines is that they are incredibly fragile – delicate. Should our now divided world begin to coalesce again, it will still be decades before new supply lines are established and working smoothly.
The move from the Gold standard to paper money by the U.K and parts of Europe in 1913 saw a collapse in the volume of world trade that was not re-attained until the early 1970s – 60 years later.
Crop failures, on top of the destroyed supply lines, place the developed world in an unprecedentedly bad place. Price increases have only just begun. They will be large, they will be across the board, not just food, and they will be sustained. The increase in value of the goods due to scarcity will be compounded by the collapsing value of the paper currencies used to buy them. The small price increases seen thus far will come to seem like the good old days.
It will begin to manifest before the end of this year in the U.S. I do not understand farming cycles sufficiently to say when it will begin in Europe and Australia – my guess is at the same time, because the U.S. used to export so much food.
Food will be unaffordable and even unavailable to many. There will be hunger and riots in the West. Crime rates will soar.
Densely-populated areas will become dystopian nightmares – uninhabitable by civilized people.
Government attempts to alleviate the situation will, as always, make it worse.
The Anglo-European governments will collapse under the weight of their humungous debts, moral failures and sheer incompetence and be replaced by martial law. By that point, it will be welcomed by most.
Stock up on dried foodstuffs NOW. Store as much as is discreetly possible. Plant a garden – yes, many vegetables grow in winter. If you’re out of the cities, buy some chickens – and a rooster. Rabbits are better as they don’t make any noise to alert your hungry neighbours – though their egg-laying talents are not strong.
Store some petrol. It will only last 12 months before it will have to be used (it degrades), but that will help.
Break yourself free from the wishy/hopey, no-lookee mindset and do something! The chimera of ‘government care’, including pensions and welfare, will disappear. You will be on your own.
For how much longer will it be possible to exchange paper currencies for Gold and/or silver? I don’t know that answer, but I do know that you should treat each day as though it is the last chance.
But stock up on necessary medicines and dried foods first.
* My best guess is between September ’22 and July ‘23