Cities – A Prepper’s Nightmare & Solutions

SHTF Plan ^ | 4/10/12 | Jessica Hooley

[Godzilla]

I don't begrudge preppers, but I am curious as to why so many actually think something is going to happen.

I'll take you are referring to the ones on the more extreme end of the spectrum. There are many, many more like myself who are 'preppers' w/o the fortress in the woods preparing for more likely disasters and situations. If nothing else, Katrina showed that people are not as robust anymore in urban areas. At least my supplies will give me some buffer should things start down hill and my situational awareness allow me and my family to get out of harms way when the entitlement mob runs out of things to burn downtown and moves to the suburbs.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Actually, the cops have families, and they may not even wait until one of their own gets shot.

I have spoken to many of the local constabulary and to a man...this is what they say they will happen in extreme circumstances such as we are prepping for.

[discostu]

Being in a city can be nice when things go wrong. Infrastructure tends to have more redundancy in densely populated areas. When we had a big freeze a couple of years ago that caused the gas company to turn off a few neighborhoods there’s tons of stores to buy electric heaters in. A couple of years before that my neighborhood had a long blackout (well long for us, 18 hours) but it was just 2 square miles or so that were effected, the 2 nearest grocery stores were fine, nearby restaurants were fine. The S doesn’t tend to HTF nearly as hard in cities.

[Darren McCarty]

I'm 4 miles from the edge of the nearest city. I'm 150 miles (further if I avoid urban areas) from home and 100 acres of family property in the woods (and few people). I have to go through two small ghetto cities on the interstate to get there. Luckily I know almost every back road due to one of my previous jobs so I can avoid those two ghettos which would be a complete mess.

If we get there, we'll be alright. It won't be easy, but we'll survive, not because of my guns, but because there will be 25 people or so there whom I can trust with my life. We won't be wolves, but we won't be prey either.

[Darren McCarty]

True, but government is also going to find nobody home at my address if it gets to that point. They’ll have other things to worry about than some 30 something and his family trying to stay out of their way as much as I hope they stay out of mine.

[CottonBall]

Well, allow me to take these one at a time:
My personal theory is that humans are creatures designed to overcome incredible difficulties, and our modern lives have virtually no difficulty, so most people sit around wondering about some imagined horror story.

The vast majority are not prepping, they are letting American Idol be the focus of their lives. And most are deep in debt and can't fathom a life where they have to do without any electronic gadget, much less food.

The U.S. has been incredibly stable for over 200 years and all of the West has been mostly stable with the exception of a few wars. I don't see the historical precedent for the prepping mindset.

The Weimar Republic, Argentina? Germany was deep in post-war debt and kept the presses running to pay it off. Inflation took hold and it was pretty ugly for about a decade. Our debt is so huge that a one percent rise in the interest rate would ensure that we can't even make the minimum payment. Much less pay on the principal. Every 40 cents the government spends is borrowed. Seems like plenty of reason to worry about our financial future. It is exactly the thought that we are 'too big to fail' and that few living have seen hard times so they could never happen again that is the problem, IMO. It's a fantasy land and a ponzi scheme. They all bust eventually.

I'm not saying don't prep at all. Of course, natural disasters and the like happen. In addition if you are in regular fear of urban rats you probably live in the wrong place regardless of exremental fans and whatnot. Having a few days or even weeks supply of essentials is reasonable but these people who live their lives preparing for doomsday seem to be missing the point of living, but to each his own.

One can be prepared w/o making it the focus on one's life. I have stuff piled away and a retreat ready. If nothing happens, the retreat is a nice vacation home that we've been using for years anyway. The food will be usable. The guns and ammo as well. Nothing will go to waste and didn't cost all that much, other than the precious metals. But it is a good insurance policy, whether we have hyperinflation, a natural disaster, or total economic collapse.

[Darren McCarty]

I don't begrudge preppers, but I am curious as to why so many actually think something is going to happen

Because it has in the past, at least locally. I think part of the major problem is because modern society has had it so easy combined with suburbanization/urbanization. No electricity? Panic. Even 80 years ago, there was a much larger rural society.

Even in the stable US, there's been the 1930's depression, the Long Depression in the late 1800's, the Indian Wars, the Civil War and Bleeding Kansas before that, the frontier, occasional riots, and Hurricane Katrina (and massive looting in N.O.)

Why are we here in the US today? In a lot of cases, it's because of SHTF happening in the lands of the ancestors.

Do I expect doomsday? No. Do I expect trouble? At some point. My big concern for the cause. Energy.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I can also see people in less populated areas being forced to relocate to management areas in some circumstances. Likewise I can see hoarders being searched and excess food confiscated regardless of where you are.

Over my dead body. Literally. See my tagline.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

What do you do when 500 armed hungries descend on your farm?

Start shooting.

(My guess is you die.)

Yup. But not the first to do so. Nor second or third or 20th.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Just In Time: When the Trucks Stop, America Will Stop

That is the most likely scenario in my view.

An economic collapse that will make diesel fuel, fuel oil, coal, etc. far too expensive or rare for any trucks or trains to roll, any electrical gas or coal fired electrical generating plants to run which also means no water or city controlled sewage disposal. The food supply chain is broken. The lights go out, the sewers back up and fresh water is no longer coming from the tap.

Think about how delicate the whole system is to survive a "burp" in the flow of essential fuels.

[discostu]

I think it’s really a hobby. Of course they won’t admit it’s a hobby, but like you say there really isn’t much historical precedent Unless you live in hurricane country, those people get to bug out all the time (why I’d never live there). All the major doomsday options I believe in playing the odds, if it’s that bad odds are I’ll be dead anyway. But for most folks it’s kind of like playing the lottery only in reverse, people buy lottery tickets then dream about how awesome life will be if they win, which they won’t, but the dreams are there; preppers do their prepping and think about how awesome it will be to be the survivors while all others fall in the chaos if the SHTF, which it won’t, but they’ve got their dreams. Looking at some of these ideas it can be an expensive hobby, but so’s by DVD/CD/book collection. They have fun with theirs, I have fun with mine.

[driftdiver]

Its not a hobby, its an insurance policy.

I’ve lived in Hurricane country and have been threatened by or hit by roughly 15 hurricanes. I’ve never bugged out nor do I plan to for anything less than a cat 5. In that case the storm surge would cover the first floor of my house so i wouldn’t have much choice.

[discostu]

Notice I explicitly called out people living in hurricane country as different because they frequently actually do need to bug out. The other 80% of the real estate in this country pretty much never bugs out, for them it’s a hobby.