I kinda make it a point to note what others are talking about each day and by a rule if I read or hear three (or more) comments about the same subject in a short period dealing with our decline I try and write about it.
I think it was just yesterday that Rob posted something more about the price of hamburger and beef, then this morning I saw Carolyn posting about it as well. Then after getting called in to work my partner I was assigned to drive with today was complaining about the high price of beef as well.
Just another sign of the decline my friends.
Many of us preppers figured out a few years after 08 that this wasn't going to be the fast slide so many doomers thought it was going to be. Nope we are in a slow grinding collapse that has been going on for damned near eight years now and hasn't shown signs of slowing down at all from my observations. The only real bright spot I have seen has been this latest drop in oil prices which has temporarily given some of us a little bit of a breather. The truth is it has been happening just as many (including myself) once called it....
A slow inevitable decrease in our living standards while the government continues to grow and gouge us with more taxes, fees and fines.
The beef prices are just another step down in our gradual decline of life quality. We will slowly, by gentle degrees, be deprived of things we used to consume or use daily. They won't suddenly stop but will ever so slowly be priced out of our range never to return.
Many will think that once oil prices decline so should the prices on beef or whatever but this long slow collapse doesn't work that way. It isn't a supply and demand economic issue as much as it is a long chain of "Just in Time" inventory issues that never reset at the same levels. Once markets reached beyond local production we left simple supply and demand behind.
Globalization is just as much a cause for high prices as oil or drought.
Increased beef prices due to drought and high oil costs caused ranchers to decrease their herds or go out of business. Trucking companies in turn declined by not replacing trucks, employees or went out of business themselves. No matter what the demand is or was it would take literally years for these middle-men to regain capital to re-invest in these endeavors. We have lost our supply chain and I doubt we will ever get it back.
That's the magic of the slow grinding collapse. Things happen at the speed of tectonic plates rubbing together but once the territory is lost it rarely comes back.
Volatility and an ever changing reality on a slow scale is the way of life we face until the final straw lands on the proverbial camel's back. Ever so slowly things will disappear from our lives due to costs or whatever reason never to return again. Today it's beef tomorrow it maybe chocolate or Bananas or Zantec or new cell phones.
We are being ground like corn under the heal of the welfare state, central bankers and their political partners, all of it sold to us under the multi-cult banner, White guilt and feminism.
The point here is to remember what you have lost as we go along. Don't forget what you have been forced to give up because the powers that be are counting on the forgetfulness of the common man to keep this train wreck going. Recognize the decline in your quality of life and call it what it is. Prepare for what may come next and begin producing on your own. A simple stash of a year's worth of food and some ammo isn't going to be enough to get you through the grinder years and into the reset. This decline is set to take decades and will easily consume regular hoard type preps.
This is an entirely different animal than most survivalist types even considered in their worst nightmares. Plan accordingly.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!
It may be a slow grind but people are like cattle, for no reason one throws it's tail up and runs, or maybe there is a reason, a fly bit the right nerve, who knows what it will be with people. Maybe the internet is crashed by some rouge country and all hell breaks loose, may be something insignificant that I can't even imagine. There is always the chance of a human stampede like WWI or a stock market crash that just doesn't stop.
ReplyDeleteSf - I have kinda thought like that myself but then I look t what people really want and so many of them really want to stay comfortable as long as possible they will swallow any lie. Maybe though you are right and something will break the stupor and send it on with a rush. Sooner is better in any case I think.
DeletePreppy - You are writing disquieting truths over the last two days. The goose that is walking over my grave is apparently wandering across yours as well.
ReplyDeleteTB - Thanks. I try :)
DeleteBut I will shoot that goose and eat it if I could :)
Great post my friend. Many of us have learned to adapte and change, if you don't your in serious trouble. I firmly believe that beef will become the rich folks food. Look at how many country's use chicken, pork, and turkey as it takes less land to raise. Funny thing is the price milk is coming down at places like Walmart vs our local store where the price is still the same, but beef is high. Feeder Cattle are higher then Dairy.
ReplyDeleteRob - That actually makes sense if you think about it. Dairy is mostly still at least a regional market if not as local as it used to be. The main dairy in my region covers about half the state but only just recently actually bought out the one less than 20 miles from me that used to serve the area for generations. Therefore dairy is effected more by actual supply and demand of local conditions than beef which is mostly a national or inter national process.
DeleteInteresting post PP and one that I agree with, it's the slow erosion not the sudden loss that seems to be causing the decline of lifestyles the majority take for granted.
ReplyDeleteJohn - And I think they plan it that way. The QE and built in inflation. They want to turn the water up slowly to avoid the panic and anger I guess.
DeletePreppy - This was the sort of thing that H.Beam Piper wrote about in Space Viking:
ReplyDelete"I've seen decivilized planets. How does it happen?
"I've know how it's happened on a good many. War. Destruction of cities and industries. Survivors among the ruins, too busy keeping their own bodies alive to try to keep civilization alive. Then they lose all knowledge of how to be civilized."
"That's catastrophic decivilization. There is also decivilization by erosion and while it's going on, nobody notices it. Everyone is proud of their civilization, their wealth and culture. But trade is falling off; fewer ships come in each year. So there is boastful talk about planetary self- sufficiency; who needs off planet trade anyhow? Everybody seems to have money but the government is always broke. Deficit spending - and always more vital social services for which the government has to spend money. The most vital one, of course, is buying votes to keep the government in power. And it gets harder every year for the government to get anything done.
"The soldiers are sloppier at drill, and their uniforms and weapons aren't taken care of. The non-coms are insolent. And more and more parts of the city are dangerous at night, and then even in the daytime. And it's been years since a new building went up, and the old one's aren't being prepared anymore."....
"And finally, nobody bothers fixes anything up. And the power-reactors stop, and nobody seems to get them started again."
It is a fascinating book about the collapse - and rebuilding - of civilizations and ways of life. The man was, apparently, a keen student of history.
TB - Sounds interesting. I am not familiar with his work. I must look into it. Thanks for commenting and mentioning it.
DeleteA great article with a lot of truth. I know one of my greatest frustrations in life is being to see the slow slide we are in, knowing that at some point it will become a drop, and not being able to do anything about it. I work with my family to prepare; my extended family is doing the same. However, I feel that in the end we will just become "cement for the republic."
ReplyDeleteI try to stay positive, but, as I look around me, it is very difficult to remain so.
We are in agreement.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to realize that we never really recovered from the Great Depression until warring Europe pulled us out. After that, we were the last man standing.
The modern economy is not a particularly well balanced machine to begin with. Add to that your various peak oil, environmental, political, etc. with a population to start pushing 9 billion within a few decades and it starts looking very transitory.