$3.54/gal when I went to work this morning, $3.71/gal when I got off work. Hmm.
While it is important, no doubt, to stockpile guns, ammo, precious metals, and that sort of thing. I cannot overemphasize how important it is to stockpile the ‘unsexy’ stuff. The toothpaste, socks, light bulbs, aluminum foil, dental floss, laundry soap, etc. Everything is going to a) go up in price and b) have it’s availability fluctuate.
I’m not saying the power grid is going to shut down and we’ll all freeze to death, but what will happen is prices will go up and you’ll shave 5 degrees off your thermostat…or turn the heat off at night….or wear more layers around the house.
I’m not saying you’ll go to the gas pumps and find them empty, I’m saying you’ll go there, fill up, and then question every trip you make afterwards. You’ll get your groceries from one grocery store each week rather than drive to the other side of town because that one grocery store has the special orange juice you like
I’m not saying you’ll be eating freezedrieds and MRE’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner….but you will reduce the amount of meat and other premium ingredients in what you cook. And maybe you’ll take leftovers more seriously. .And you’ll return from the market with less food for having spent the same amount of money.
I’m not saying you’ll sit up at night with a shotgun across your knees, keeping watch while your family sleeps. But you will become more acutely aware of your surroundings and the people around you.
It isn’t the end of the world yet, but it’s definitely a change in the world. How far down this slope we go is still anyone’s guess. But, for me, I’m focused less on ammo and guns right now and more on things I buy for my day-to-day life that I’d like to not have to worry about.
Two weeks ago it was a fairly unexciting, though gloomy, world….I wonder what it’ll be two weeks from now.
just bought 21 ozs of silver on the way home, good thing I keep that much cash on me because I don’t see the price coming down anytime soon.
And with all those missiles and bombs needing to be replaced, silver is probably a major component in all the high tech killing devices.
I hope you have a Chaos Kit Commander. Mine has two used 10 X 10 dog kennels to make No Knock visitor airlocks on my doors. Pipe strapping and large screws to the house keeps them secured when deployed. Cattle Panels and precut 2 X 4’s to make the sliding glass door much tougher. Precut welded wire with screws and battery drill (two full batteries) to get my windows covered from flaming bottles of peace. Cannot do all that today as wife is not into Mad Max but I can do it in a couple of hours.
Clothing, shoes, defensive weapons, hunters’ ears and strong flashlight are ready at bedside for bumps in the dark.
Already have plenty of thorny plantings, barbed wire and lockable gate to slow annoyances, hopefully into zones of my choosing. Done my range cards with notes where someone could craw in to visit. Special treats await them.
Try doing any of that after craziness has homes burning across the valley. I suspect even if you wanted to drive to Lowes (leaving your house guarded by who?) there might at best be a Mob scene there.
Also in my Chaos kit is a large roll of clear and black heavy gage plastic sheeting with nails, wooden strips and tool to replace broken windows. As it’s 11 degrees BEFORE Windchill a few broken windows would make my house a frozen hell pretty soon.
Family has duress codes to id them in the dark as well as announce when things are NOT GOOD (Trouble).
Fire extinguishers are serviced, deployed to areas I expect fire issues, dry powder fire extinguishers need annual turnover and rubber mallet knock to prevent a settling into a clump the chemicals.
Have sandbags a plenty for defenses, again Wife not into Mad Max yet.
More but you get the drift.
My formative adult experience as a young buck was living in Moscow through the hyper inflation of the early 90s. *Daily* inflation of 2%, 3%, 4%….. sometimes 17%, 18%, 20%.
People bought anything they could get their hands on. Didn’t matter if they needed or wanted it, because someone else would pay good money for it. Non-perishables preferred for obvious reasons.
In the 2 years I was there, the ruble went from 230/$ to nearly 7,000/$. It was bad.
Best education I ever got.
Waiting on times to get better. Doc Watson on guitar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL0xWGJ8hNQ
My state, in its blind pursuit of “green” energy, forced the power companies to shut off clean burning gas power plants and forced them to pursue “green” electricity. Long story short, my electric bill has gone up 69% per month. This started out of nowhere three months ago. Come summer, I’m looking at electric bills that rival my house payment. The cuts of meat we use have been expensive or unavailable, so we’ve loaded up… more than one… freezer with meats as the come “on sale.” Now we’re stuck paying a premium to keep it frozen. TPTB want us eating nothing but beans and rice. They already like us being in the dark… Forget about using the A/C… in the desert heat… Think canned, dried, cured… not frozen… This is just the next step in the squeeze play…
Oh; and a gallon of gas out here is just under $5.00/gallon. Don’t worry though, our federal government is intent on the entire country joining our “fun…”
My generation has seen this before. When I started driving gas was $0.279/gal (and that 9/10 cent made a difference – why do we still have it now?). A starting wage for a college educated person in technology was $18k/year while blue collar jobs brought $10k. My first new car cost $2k. Stores introduced lower priced “generic” brands marketed in white boxes with black letters.
The constant churn of inflation was aggravating and was a fact to be counted in all financial decisions. While crime increased somewhat it never reached Mad Max stage. Still, as the saying goes, “past performance is no guarantee of future results.”
“And maybe you’ll take leftovers more seriously.” The other day I read, “The most expensive food in your refrigerator is that which you throw away, and get no use from.” Sage advice.
My wife is the queen of the leftover. Not much hits the trashcan. Even the stuff that does go bad ends up feeding the chickens or fattening the dogs…
Same here. In the rare instances where the leftover hid for so long it’s not good for the chickens, there’s a healthy compost pile.
I’m gonna need to steal that. Thanks!
The stations around here have generally fone up ten cents or so… The odd thing is that one station went down! But it had been the most expensive in the area by 50 cents a gallon and now its “only” 30 cents a gallon more.
It can always get worse. Gas pumps require gas filters, just like your car. They have been out of stock for four months. I know of two gas stations that are shut down because all of their filters are clogged.
JFYI – Kirkland Signature Roast Beef now available on Amazon. 4 for about $38. 12 oz. Free shipping. Going fast.
Back in the early 1970s when inflation was running 18% gas was very high. When you could find it. When inflation goes up enough, there will be less of everything. I could not drive for three days once because there was no fuel to buy.
Large scale agriculture Fertilizer. Take a look at pricing and supply.
Extend and postulate.
NH today 4.99 regular, was on Monday 3.99 WTF.
From when I walked into BJ’s to go shopping until I left the price of their gasoline went up 5 cents. My Bagels from last week to now up 20% even.
From my time in Ft Bragg Bless your heart Joe Biden.
Everyone is focused on gasoline, but we also are going to see cooking oil and wheat inflation ( I can bike around town if needed, but still eat three times a day ). Most of the sunflower oil comes from Ukraine, so expect other oils to be lifted in price as they substitute. And wheat futures in London maxed out twice in two days. Flour supplies have been shrinking the last year, wheat berries a crap shoot for two, so I think the lack of Russian/Ukrainian wheat should have a larger impact than it otherwise should. But just to make you feel better, I’d expect oil to duplicate 2008, plus fourteen years of inflation. I don’t think the PTB can supplement gasoline prices any longer.