Ok, time to steer this blog back to being on topic…….
Friend Of The Blog ,Rawles over at SurvivalBlog had a link to a video about the ‘lull’ that seems to be going on in terms of people prepping. (And, wow, I really dislike that word ‘prepping’.)
Has there been a lull? I really couldn’t say because I don’t keep my finger on the pulse of the preparedness community – a group that is notoriously secretive to begin with. But.. I can say that when Trump won the election the blogosphere was full of “Now we don’t have to worry” sentiment which I have constantly maintained was a mistake.
The economy is doing well, gun bans are not looming (mostly), no great disaster has reared its head lately (unless you live in Puerto Rico) and you could almost say that this is a ‘good time’. But here’s the thing – when times are good is exactly when you should be getting your ducks in a row for the bad times. You don’t put on your seat belt during the accident, you put it on before the accident. Same story with preparing for [insert your favorite scenario here].
Yeah, there’s not the sense of urgency to buy guns and mags like there was when Obama was in office. And there’s not the sense of urgency to buy bleach and face masks like there was when Bird Flu was all the rage. And there’s not the same sense of urgency to stock up on generators and gasoline when Y2K was bearing down. (Hey, remember those days?) But just because the threat isn’t looming over you at the moment doesn’t mean it won’t…or that you can relax and take your foot off the gas.
Now is precisely the time you want to stay focused, and even maybe ramp things up – the economy is better than it’s been in a while, employment is up, so there’s the potential to bring in some extra money to get those last details taken care of. Now is the halcyon summer of plenty and ease that comes before the brutal and stark winter. Remember the ant and the grasshopper? The grasshopper played all summer and when winter came the grasshopper had to beg the ant for food. In some versions the ant helps the grasshopper, in others the grasshopper starves. It’s a classic fable that turns up with surprising frequency in art:
Someday Im going to have a print of this framed and on my wall…….
My opinion is that too many survivalists thought that they could relax and slow things down once Trump got elected. I think that those people are making tremendous mistakes… not necessarily because Trump wind up doing something that works against my interests, but rather because to slow things down now in a moment of relative safety is to throw away time and opportunity.
So, if you’ve slowed down since the election, or put stuff on the back burner because you figure you don’t have to worry until 2020, I suggest you rethink your position and get on the bounce.
The American economy is doing fine right now because the counter tariffs from Canada, the EU, the UK, Korea, Japan and China haven’t kicked in yet. This means there will be a slow down in the USA. Historically, the last time a US president did tariffs the way Mr. Trump is doing resulted in the great depression.
https://fee.org/articles/trade-wars-lead-to-shooting-wars-and-depressions/
Also, note that all the stimulus being pumped into the economy will also cause problems in 2020 when it ends. Recently Bernanke, who was talking about this, called it a ‘Wile E. Coyote’ moment comparing results from the end of stimulus to Wile E. Coyote going over a cliff.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/bernanke-says-u-s-economy-faces-wile-e-coyote-moment-in-2020-1.1089585
Bernanke…friend of big banks and globalists everywhere…
I’m not “prepping” for anything. I’m living my life with the understanding that sometimes bad things happen and that I want to have the knowledge and tools to deal with those bad things when they do happen.
Seems like a lot of the gun/prepper folks on YouTube/Pateron are a little freaked out that people have decided to do other things with their time and money than watch and fund their videos.
Sounds like a reason to ramp up investment in training, what better time to do so than when those selling training are desperate for customers.
No, no, and again no, CZ. Stop that.
Life is good, the sun is shining, birds are singing and the fields are full of happy children and pretty butterflies. Sales of prep stuff are way down, ammo is cheap, the stores are full, cornucopias of necessary and desirable goods at prices and availability not seen in a while.
The lack of buying is keeping supplies plentiful and prices low, and driving them lower as companies who enjoyed 8 years of boom time now find themselves struggling. Which means those of us who are serious about it can afford to buy more to stack higher and deeper. Heck, I’ve even found budget slack and time to take some pertinent training classes.
How long these glory days will last I have no clue, but while we have them please STFU, OK? I’m not done yet.
Continuing to be ready! Have Hurricanes every year, only takes one to make landfall. The economy could tank. So many reasons to stay on track. Stay safe all!!
“Has there been a lull?”
I suspect any ‘lull’ is in people who seek “off the shelf” solutions to problems in life. Their ‘preparedness’ is a year’s supply of #10 cans on a pallet in their garage and an AR-15 they’ve never fired.
People who are more thoughtful about preparedness (like the goof Commander here), know Trump isn’t going to (and can’t) save us from anything. The national debt is still going to implode, volcanos still erupt, and Joy Behar won’t shut her mouth for 10 seconds.
Let the doors be shut.
“good Commander”, I swear! Did Zuckerberg design this autocorrect?!?
Too busy buying magazines, receivers, canned meats and ammunition to notice.
There must be a tone resonating because this is the sixth post I’ve seen about preparedness lull or a decline. There’s no doubt that many of the so called preppers have stopped with preparedness because they are just the typical fair weather bandwagoners many people are today. Let’s face it, with Doomsday Preppers, Off Grid, etc there were a bunch of people jumping onto the bandwagon because it was cool at the time and could make some money on the side too by selling or making videos. They even made up cute terms like Preppers, Self Reliance, self prepared, Homepreppers, prepsteaders to make sure they don’t be called a survivalist because that’s a scary and not a politically correct term. Quite frankly the survivalists I know are STILL doing what they’re doing whether it’s good or bad times, the “preppers” have nearly all faded away. Same thing happened back in Y2k, big push for the survivalists and Y2kers and died off right after nothing happened, same with bird flu, swine flu, stock market hiccups etc. Had a local group that use to do things monthly pre-election, even if it was just going for a 5-10 mile hike and now no one wants to do anything, many have sold off a lot of their gear/supplies because they are buying the typical suburbanite toys they need to keep up with the Jones’s but have said “if things get weird we’ll start back prepping again.”. One guy I knew sold his 10 acre bugout property so he can buy a boat because he/wife can go party with neighbors on the lake. Heck, I’m still taking some gardening, firearm and first aid classes, trying to stock away as much training and self defense ammo as possible without going into typical consumer credit card debt (I was shocked that many friends have in excess of 5 GRAND of credit card debt currently) even taking your que to put away a few extra similar handguns as family/neighborhood handouts. Not the Glocks I’d like but also not Hi Points either. The stock market makes no sense being so high, inflation is really evident at the grocery stores now, this trade war looks to get interesting if it continues, gas prices are bouncing around but growing slowly. People are living the life currently with blinders on, Preppers or whatever PC term is used may come and go but the survivalists will always be around. When someone mentions me being a prepper I correct them and say, “No, I’m a survivalist thank you.”
With the economy being so unreasonably exuberant, I figured that now would be a good time to pay off Visa, pay down loans (with a goal of zero), and buff up the “rainy day fund”. Once I’ve mad progress on those items, then it’s back to the beans, bullets, bandaids and brain stuffing (Yeah, I know. YOU try to find an alliterative term for training! )
Commander:
There must be an “Error in translation” from American into English!
To me, a “Prepper” is someone who is not only ready for TEOTWAWKI but unemployment, natural disasters, long-term illness or a blown engine.
What term do you prefer for those who try to prepare for almost anything?
P.S.
I’m sure you must have answered this before, but I couldn’t find it –
Where did you get the page headers?
1- People blog/ less in the warmer months.
2- In the gun part of the sphere after a few years of Oman’s related panic if people can reasonably afford something and want it they largely have it. I think market saturation is the term.
3- For a lot of those in the survivalist and mulisha/ III sphere their perspectives may have changed if they view President Trump as the mighty savior.
4- For me personally. Every year things don’t go to shit is another year to improve my situation on all fronts. Sometimes progress is more in one area than another but it’s still progress.