Posted on 06/06/2010 11:52:21 PM PDT by Windflier
Introduction
The following is just my opinion. It is nothing more than my opinion. I have nothing to substantiate or prove any aspect of my opinion. My opinion is simply the logical conclusion of a law-abiding sixty-year old Christian grandfather who has both an engineering degree and an M.B.A. degree and who has seen both good times and hard times during his life.
The Current Situation:
At the present time every nation in the entire world is facing serious financial and social stress. If only a few nations were involved then it might be possible to contain the upcoming meltdown to a few specific geographical areas. This has been successfully done in the past. However, since the entire world is currently on the edge of the cliff, when the meltdown begins it will impact almost everyone on the face of the earth.
Unless God chooses to intervene, the meltdown is no longer avoidable. Our governments and our financial institutions are no longer in control. However, to keep the system working just a little longer they must maintain the illusion that they have the system under control. But the system is broken and it can't be fixed.
There are two reasons why the system can't be fixed:
1. It has grown beyond its own capacity to support itself.
2. It has become so complex that no one can do anything significant to fix it because it is hemorrhaging in too many different places.
The average person in every nation on the face of the earth knows the meltdown is coming. The wealthy people know it. The poor people know it. Nobody wants it to happen. But almost everyone is just patiently waiting for it to begin and at the same time hoping that it doesn't begin too soon.
Nobody knows when the meltdown will actually start. It may begin one-month from now. Or a year from now. Or three-years from now.
But almost everyone knows that at some future date the meltdown will occur.
This widespread knowledge of the impending disaster is the reason that when the disaster begins it will quickly and completely spiral out-of-control in one-hour or less. In my opinion, most people do not seriously believe it could happen this quickly. Most people expect a more gradual meltdown. They may be right because nobody can predict the future, and that includes myself.
The One-Hour Meltdown
However, my personal opinion is that once the meltdown begins then in less than one-hour it will quickly escalate far beyond anyone's ability to control or manage it on a worldwide basis. The five basic assumptions that cause me to believe in my "one-hour meltdown theory" are as follows:
1. Banks: The financial institutions around the world cannot withstand a full-scale worldwide bank run. Therefore, they have already made plans to immediately shut down the instant they are told to do so. Within minutes, all across the globe, all the ATM machines will be offline, all credit card and debit card verification transactions will be halted, and all banks will have their vaults locked and their doors locked and their building emptied of all personnel, except perhaps for some special security guards. All high-level bank executives will immediately disappear to a wide variety of remote safe unknown locations. All telephone call inquiries to any of the financial institutions will be automatically answered by a computer with a pre-recorded message similar to the following: "Our system is currently experiencing an extremely high call volume and therefore we are unable to answer your call at this time. Please try again later when our call volume returns to normal."
2. Governments: The vast majority of our government leaders all over the world are relatively intelligent individuals. They completely understand the ramifications of a "bank holiday" in our computer controlled financial economy. Therefore, all government offices will also be immediately shut down, and they will empty their buildings and lock their doors. Any transaction in progress, including any trials in progress, will be immediately halted and postponed until some future date. All high-level government officials, including all judges and tax officials, will immediately disappear to a wide variety of remote safe unknown locations.
3. Retail Businesses: Since they will be unable to process even simple transactions, all retail establishments, both large and small, will immediately lock their doors to prevent anyone else from entering. If possible, they will complete any transactions for customers already inside their building if those customers have enough cash to pay for their purchases. Any customers wishing to pay by check or credit card or debit card will be told that the verification system is down and their transaction can't be completed. All customers will then be immediately escorted to the doors and the doors will be briefly opened and then immediately locked after they exit. In addition, in a manner similar to what happened during the World Trade Center meltdown, each store's management may demand that their employees remain at their stations until further notice or they will lose their jobs for leaving without management's permission. But most of the more intelligent employees will leave at the same time as the store's last few remaining customers. The store's special security guards may or may not remain behind in order to protect the store with their lives. Since most of these special security guards are not paid exceptionally well, a large number of them may decide that they should return home and protect their own families instead.
4. Criminals: Anyone and everyone who has any criminal tendencies and who has been patiently waiting for this to happen will immediately see it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve their financial situation. More than likely the vast majority of these criminals have already made very detailed plans that includes exactly which businesses they are going to rob first, second, third, and so on. Any business with a reasonable level of cash-on-hand will be very high on every criminal's list. Every jewelry store and pawn shop that has any type of silver or gold jewelry, or precious stones (diamonds, rubies, emeralds, etc.), will be very high on everyone's list. The warfare that breaks out at these establishments between competing criminals will not be pleasant.
5. Normal People: Normal average people will begin looting. Grocery stores will be broken into and they will be completely emptied from wall-to-wall, including the rear storage area, in less than one-hour. Stores that have firearms, ammunition, appliances, clothing, shoes, or anything else needed by the average citizen will be emptied in less than one-hour. In skirmishes over the few remaining resources, normal average people will begin killing one another inside the stores, and in the parking lots outside the stores, and on the streets as these fully loaded vehicles try to escape with their loot.
The above events will all happen simultaneously during the first one-hour of the meltdown. After that first hour has passed, things will really begin to get nasty. Everyone will quickly realize there are not are not enough law enforcement personnel to protect everyone and everything. Although the military will probably be ordered to protect specific high priority establishments and resources, there will simply not be enough military personnel to protect individual civilians or businesses.
More here: http://www.grandpappy.info/honehour.htm
Here’s The One Hour Meltdown I mentioned yesterday.
Preparedness/Survival ping!
I make a mean one-hour meltdown, with five cheeses, tuna, multigrain pita, and tomatoes.
thanks for putting this up. this scenario is exactly how I have felt for many years on how things will go down. FAST. great article.
Not a chance. The nobles never give up power voluntarily.
Ping.
It is. In another thread, someone mentioned cost-benefit analysis, the implication being that no rational individual would seek this sort of chaos much less engineer it. But here's the problem: we're not dealing with 'rational men'. We're dealing with monsters.
The only 'cost-benefit anaylsis' these monsters care about concerns who is left to rule from atop a heap of rubble and corpses.
A new feudalism (or worse) and a world lit only by fire will suit them just fine as long as they they believe that they will be the ones in the high castle.
Most of us dead. The rest of us in chains. That’s their cost-benefit analysis.
There is no where else for me to go so I am preparing to ride it out where I am for as long as I can. My children will most likely come here, if they can get here.
I tried getting out of here for Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike and will not get stuck on the roads again, ever.
Freepmail me if you want to know what I have done to prepare to ride it out here.
Great post - that said - because so many live in a state of denial - it might take a few extra hours. Even criminals want to be sure the mob is with them...
Ping!
Safety deposit box is probably one of the least safe places to keep things.
Start putting some food away: things with long shelf life, batteries, water or water purification, gasoline if you’re able. Health and budget permitting, get yourself a weapon and the training to use it, with a minimum of 250 rounds of ammunition.
If you live in a city, do you have a place to go that would be safe?
Yup. Our debt is exceeding the GDP and these fools keep adding to the tab. This mad dash to spend is unsustainable and what these idiots don’t understand, is that at some point it has to be paid back before it collapses. But they are too busy trying to engineer a socialist state to care.
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2010/06/05/u-s-debt-to-surpass-gdp/
Check my tagline. I bought 5 so that when neighbors come to take my water, they can help make more instead.
I do live in a rural area and have a 20 gauge pump Winchester and a little colt cobra revolver, but I do want to get some more ammo...
My kids laughed when I started to put up canned goods in the basement, and one Christmas one of my daughter in laws got me some MRE;s from the base close to her house, we all got a good laugh at that one...I keep telling them to buy spam and ammo....Spam will outlast a nuclear blast. Another freeper said to not forget twinkies, they have a shelf life of about 100 years....
My kids don't take it too serious, but I do with this nitwit president we have...and the middle east with nukes...
I remember during WW2 everyone had a fruit/canned goods cellar in their basements. Also lots of home canned stuff.
On the other hand, if we get nuked, hope it lands on my head, then there is nothing to worry about...:o)
I kind of think ammo will be the coin of the realm and not money.
That actually sounds pretty good right now. I think I have some freeze dried tuna down in the bunker.
I was fortunate enough to find 10 and some metal ones for other uses.
If you live in a Blue Zone City, that might happen.
Away from the mega centers, it will not be Armageddon
THX THX.
Will likely get to it this evening.
"You don't need to move to the unexplored wilderness in Alaska. You don't need to move into the heart of the Arizona desert. You just need to relocate to an area that is more lightly populated than a big city. The area you select should meet the following minimum criteria:"We definitely did the right thing 11 years ago when we moved to northern Idaho. Work's hard to come by, but not so much if you're willing to work for less - or do something else entirely. Fortunately, we both know how how to garden, fix things, brew beer, reload ammo. Two of our horses are natural drafters. And I can teach any number of subjects from from my extensive hard copy library.1.It is not on a major freeway or interstate. CHECK.
2.It is at least several hundred feet above sea level.CHECK
3.It is surrounded by farm land, dairy cows, and other typical farm livestock such as horses, pigs, sheep, goats, and chickens.CHECK
4.It has a history of good average rainfall (not too much rain or too little rain).CHECK
5.It has a reasonable supply of trees and forest timber land.CHECK
6.It has a few nearby manufacturing facilities of any size.CHECK
7.Its residents still have the right to own firearms to protect themselves.CHECK Do we ever!
8.It has short mild winters.NOPE! Keeps the riffraff and Californians out. But I repeat myself...
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