The worst thing about a financial collapse is that you cannot predict when it is going to happen, how soon it will happen, or how long it will last for.

All you can do is take the steps needed to prepare for an economic collapse, embrace frugal methods, and start thinking about your bank and wallet as a survival tool, rather than a spending tool.

When the last economic crisis hit, the 2008 financial crisis, the world was shocked at the speed in which it set in. From what started as a meltdown in the US mortgage market, the rest of the world collapsed in a domino effect in rapid succession.

For most of us, that economic collapse was something we just weren’t prepared for, and for those that were not prepared, it was a very tough period.

The question everyone is asking now is ‘when is the next economic collapse?’. It could be this year, the next or in five years. But as many economists argue, we are due for one, and the next one could be much worse than the previous financial downturns.

Since the only thing we can do is ready ourselves for another economic downturn, we take a look at 8 steps you can start taking now to survive an economic collapse.

But first, let’s take a look at some of the basics, to understand why we need to prepare for an economic collapse.

What is an economic collapse?

Simply put, an economic collapse, interchangeably used with the term financial collapse, is a series of very severe economic conditions. Many survivalists and preppers say an economic collapse is the one thing that they are preparing for, as it includes several symptoms that place risk on our necessary needs, such as food, water, power, and safety.

One of the worst factors about a financial collapse is the fact that it doesn’t abide by a timeline. Natural disasters, for instance, while very destructive, are short, with their duration measuring only for days let alone weeks. This allows recovery efforts to commence almost immediately. Economic downturns, however, are unmeasurable in length and for most, will last a minimum of a year, with the aftereffects resonating for several years as a nation recovers.

During an economic collapse, some symptoms affect large companies and industries, with very visible signs, felt in the family home. For instance, common symptoms of collapse are high bankruptcy rates, widespread unemployment, hyperinflation, a spike in death rates (attributable to depression or other financial causes), social collapse, and a high increase in crime.

What causes an economic collapse?

Financial systems can be affected by a large number of different scenarios, and for the most part, a country can bounce back quite quickly with severe financial fluctuations going undetected by the majority of the population. But for the causes, they seem to be factors that can create a ripple effect in a country’s financial industry, resulting in economic loss shockwaves.

If we look back at history, one financial collapse is not like the other. Yes, their symptoms are the same and in the home, loss, grief, and stress are all experienced, but their causes remain unique.

The 2008 Global Financial crisis was triggered by factors such as the burst of the US housing bubble, easy credit conditions, fraudulent lending services, overleveraging, and shadow banking practices. This is different from Venezuela’s economic collapse, which has only been felt in that country and not across the world. In Venezuela, the causes of its economic crisis were caused by presidential policies and a fall in oil prices as well as several other contributing factors. Since its beginning, Venezuela has experienced severe spikes in crime, corruption, poverty, and hunger issues.

There have been some other economic downturns that have completely different causes but have all displayed widespread unemployment, poverty, hunger, and social chaos. They include:

• 1998 Argentine Great Depression
• 2001 Turkish Economic Crisis
• 2008 Icelandic Financial Crisis
• European Debt Crisis
• 2014 Russian Financial Crisis

The economic crisis is not just limited to societies, it can also be limited at an individual level. But, an individual can recover much quicker than a society, by making good choices for him or herself. Keep in mind, this his pernicious crisis can likely be prevented or minimizes with some planning. Avoiding certain situations and leaning towards safe investing strategies can make all the difference.

What are the warning signs of an economic collapse?

As we have seen above, a financial downturn can set in very rapidly, and before we know it we have lost our jobs, stores are shutting down, and we’re left high and dry. But there are some warning signs to watch out for. These are early indicators for a potential financial downturn and possible economic collapse.

Of course, your first source is to stay up to date with the news. All good survivalists are avid readers of politics, finance, and weather – the three things that can kick us out of our home or make us go hungry. So inevitably, they are the go-to sections for survivalists, and anyone else that cares about what happens in the world, and indirectly themselves.

According to Lombardi Letter, there are five signs that an economic collapse is about to happen. They are:

1. Growing government debt: when an economy slows, the government usually steps in to help stimulate spending again, but with high debt, the government might not be able to make that injection.
2. Stock markets trading at all-time highs: investors are taking more risk on the market, markets continue to trade higher meaning investments are bull-market driven and not research-based which could lead to a stock market bubble.
3. Unemployment rate: eligible worker, retirement, and student rates all identify trends in people not contributing to the economy and could slow down economic growth
4. Unstable government: this boils down to the leader and government team in the decisions and actions that may affect the economy in various ways
5. Rising national debt: this means less consumer spending in the economy and more money spent on paying a debt.

Although those five economic collapse red flags are present in any collapse, there are also other things we can do to be ahead of a financial collapse disaster. And that is to look at what the warning signs displayed by the people involved in it all, America’s elite Wall Street executives and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

What are the world’s richest preppers doing?

A good sign of an economic downturn is when you see some of the world’s richest executives preparing for an economic disaster. You know things are about to go wrong if they are taking considerable efforts to protect themselves and their families.

Silicon Valley millionaires and Wall Street investors are buying big houses overlooking lakes in New Zealand and other underpopulated places in the world should they need the security of a hideaway to bug out to, should a severe financial downturn happen.

One of the world’s wealthiest technology entrepreneurs, and Trump advisor, Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal),  became a New Zealand citizen in 2011 and has a large family mansion fitted with panic rooms on a homestead property. He plans to live out an economic collapse in that self-sufficient mansion in New Zealand, far away from Silicon Valley, when the early warning signs appear. Facebook Product Manager Antonio Martinez has five acres of isolated land in the Pacific Northwest where he has stockpiled food, water, generators, and solar panels with shelter as a bug out location.

On the Wall Street executive side, a member of an investment firm, quoted in the New Yorker, has a helicopter on standby at all times to take him to his underground bunker where he plans on living out an economic collapse with a self-sufficient garden, power source and food and water supply. Meanwhile, Mayfield Fund managing director Tim Chang has bug-out bags for him, his wife and four-year-old, and several established bug-out locations in regional areas.

How can you prepare for an economic collapse?

Let’s face it, we can’t fight an economic collapse, we can’t run from it either. Even if it were to be isolated to one country, such as in Venezuela, our savings would be very little in any other country, effectively trapping us and turning us into financial crisis refugees. The only thing we can do is prepare for an economic collapse and be a little more frugal when the going gets tough.

So let’s take a look at the 8 steps you can take to prepare for an economic collapse.

1. Learn simple economics so you can identify early warning signs

The list I provided above on economic collapse red flags to look out for is not a complete list, there are an endless amount of warning signs that you will be able to see if you regularly view financial news on the stock market’s performance and the nation’s economy.

Basic understandings of economics will help you in not only noticing an early downturn but will help you identify possible safe havens for your money and economic minefields that you should avoid.

2. Cash is king

When you have cash, it’s buying power that many might lose. When I mention cash, this also refers to money in the bank. Just make sure that whatever investments you have, you can quickly liquidate them should you need to and secure the cash. I would recommend not having investments in anything that takes longer than a week to withdraw. As you have seen in the past, an economic recession can set in in the blink of an eye and some resources may not be valid for liquidating due to early bankruptcy.

If I can give any advice to financial collapse preppers out there, it would be to get your savings in a safe place. Savings and checkings accounts should always carry a certain amount of emergency money as these can be withdrawn quickly. This is much better than having all of your money in a term deposit account that provides restrictions on when you can withdraw your money.

Also try to have a set amount of cash on hand, especially if you are picking up warning signs of a recession. This amount of money will be able to act as an emergency stash until you can withdraw the money in your account and have your assets liquidated.

3. Start building an emergency cash fund

An emergency fund should not be in credit, it should be from the cash you saved in a savings account from your monthly income. You can file this in any savings account with your bank (most allow for a free account to be opened). This fund is essentially a do not touch fund, or as some prefer to call it, a SHTF fund. Make sure you have enough money to at least allow you to buy tickets to another country and support yourself and your family for a month.

This type of fund allows you to leave a country before the US dollar becomes weak and should provide for enough time to get a job in that country until the collapse has resided.

4. Start being more frugal with your monthly bills

When you have no money coming in, the worst thing to have is money coming out on expenses that you don’t need. Start minimizing your bills by going through them each month with a highlighter and seeing where most of your money is going. Is there a way to limit that? Perhaps the power is a little higher than it should be and the air-conditioning or heater is being left on?

Practicing sustainable methods such as organic gardening, generating your power, and utilizing your own space is a great way to also lessen monthly expenses and become more self-reliant in case of an economic collapse where regular comforts might not be reachable in the same manner as we are used to. You can invest in solar panels or grow your produce to supplement your food expenditures. This is also a growing trend as a lot of people are pushing towards self-sufficiency and off-the-grid methods.

A few of the people that have already moved to unpopulated areas are running gardens on their properties that can completely sustain their whole family all-year-round. It doesn’t take long to learn urban gardening skills or country homesteading skills and they are both very fun and rewarding tasks.

5. Generate an additional (collapse-proof) form of income

Our writer from Venezuela was an engineer but started making cheese, learned to use a CNC crafting and cutting kit, and became a freelance writer for various websites as a way to find alternative income when his country’s economy collapsed.

Diversifying the income, and distributing the money in the accounts you believe you may need, and even your means to receive money is crucial. In an economy like this, I believe that keeping the 20% of the monthly income in silver would have worked, but Venezuela is not a place where preppers and people concerned about taking the direction of their future are plentiful, so a trading network would have been pretty difficult to set up.

Many try starting an at-home business to ensure they have a bit of extra cash each month aside from their normal job, and as a fallback when times are tough and they have faced job loss. Of course, those skills would have to be essential skills required in a collapse, which could be things such as sewing, gardening, building, repairs, selling your foods, accounting, and other things that households would regularly require.

6. Get out of debt

If you have considerable debt, build a strategy to get out of it as quickly as possible. In the case of a financial collapse, there will be multiple job losses and widespread income loss. The sooner you remove debt the sooner you can remove the worry of having to pay debts when you have no source of income.

As a method to manage any debt you have owing, try the following:

• Create a spreadsheet budget plan in excel or online using a free budget calculator
• Use a column for incomings and another for outgoings.
• Create another column for your debt repayments and list their interest rates as well
• Identify and rank each debt by their interest rates from high to low
• As you find you have savings in the bank, pay off the debt with the highest interest rate
• When that debt is paid off completely,  move onto the next one.

7. Make sure your passport is current

Should the country be at a point where it is about to take a steep dive downwards, it might be time to get out and spend some time abroad. This is a common move for many economic refugees as they wait for their country to regain financial security.

Your passport should have enough remaining time, with at least a few years on it so that you can avoid unnecessary complications with having to renew a passport overseas. Also, research countries that you might choose as a refuge destination and research their visa laws, as well as any possible employment there.

8. Start prepping

If a financial collapse does occur, you are going to want to start prepping so that, should an economic downturn occur, you have enough food saved up while you either grow your food in the garden to supplement it or find another source of free food. Chances are you will need food more than water as water will still run, but stores may close down and shelves may empty quite quickly.

Part of our guide to start prepping involves identifying a bug-out plan, location, a suitable bug out bag and bug out contents. If a true economic collapse was to occur, there will be a high increase in crime rates, social disorder, looting, and likely clashes with law enforcement and military. It is a safe option to consider leaving busy urban areas as these are most likely the areas that will be prone to violence.

9. Use Websites and Apps Now

In this age of technology, the best way to prepare is to make use of the applications and websites available to you. There are many investing applications to store money. Here is a list of best investing applications to consider.

Fidelity Investments is a well-known investment brokerage. The firm charges a fee or commission for executing buy and sell orders submitted by an investor. These brokerage accounts are operated through licensed firms. Through this, the investors deposit funds and buy investments. Fidelity has almost 200 investor centers around the United States. They assist customers on iMessage, google assistant, and Facebook messenger. The fidelity mobile application is fresher and easier that bring excellent trade executions and exchange-traded fund (ETF) research on the mobile screen.

The Robin Hood application has been very significant in the online brokerage industry since it launched in 2014 as a mobile application. It allows customers to buy and sell stocks without paying any commission. It offers an abundance of research, news, charting, and educational resources. It is successful because it allows individuals to open accounts with very little funds and gives them access to their entire platform.

The Acorns application is a newer kind of investment. It automatically links debit and credit card purchases while investing from them. It has 650 thousand members most of which are millennials. People can easily invest spare change to the next dollar on all purchases. Acorns do not charge a commission but they can charge one dollar per month fee on some accounts.

The Nutmeg application, which was launched in 2011, is a cheaper investment platform. It focuses on ETFs and tracker funds to provide wealth management services. The portfolio invested, as well as the different countries and industry sectors invested in, are reviewed regularly by Nutmeg. Even if the markets fluctuate, the portfolios will have the same exposure to each asset.

The TD Ameritrade mobile application is one of the most powerful platforms on the market. It gives a succinct brief on the market, as well as stock and portfolios. It allows the person to trade in foreign currencies and many other complex options. Large investment selection makes it the number one application. You’ll have access to research and top-notch customer support.

10. Expand your Skills

It is important to learn skills that can serve as an alternative to the individual’s job, should you lose your job. And, in the current climate of job globalization and automation, almost every sort of job is at risk. During the financial crises, there is a huge rate of unemployment. A person should utilize his skills in another industry or field so they can stand out from all the other candidates who will also be searching for jobs.

Over to you…

Many of us have already been affected by past economic downturns. They are reoccurring beasts that can be escaped. The only thing we can do is to ensure we are prepared so that we can survive the many problems that come with an economic collapse.

In this post, we have identified what is an economic collapse, how to tell when a financial collapse is about to happen, and how to prepare for an economic collapse. I hope this information has helped you form a more clear picture of how to start your economic collapse preparations.

Where is the best place to live in the US during and after the apocalypse?

While trying to figure out the answer, I’ve looked inside of prepping blogs to find a consensus for the criteria known to be essential for any place to survive in during the wake of such an event. That is, any event that can potentially destabilize society to the point of no return to normal any time soon. It will be important for you to have whatever supplies you need ready ahead of time before you travel to your destination. So start getting ready.

That being said, the criteria for the best area to survive in can be broken into three categories:

1. Human factors, 2. Natural factors, and 3. Economic factors

Human Factors:

• Low population density (40 people per sq. mile or less)
• Distance to major/minor cities (50+ miles away)
• Distance to military bases (50+ miles away)
• Distance to nuclear power plants (100+ miles away)
• Distance to interstate highways
• Low poverty rate
• Low violent crime rate

Natural Factors:

• Easy access to fresh water
• Abundance of wild game
• Low natural disaster risk
• Dense forest cover
• Adequate soil textures
• Adequate rainfall
• Low drought risk

Economic Factors:

• Higher job growth
• High abundance of non-renewable natural resources available for extraction (coal, oil, natural gas, metals and minerals, lumber, etc.
• Higher educated citizens

Now that we know what to look for, I’ll narrow down a map of the U.S. by one category at a time using other maps I have compiled. The “Orange” counties are those disqualified, which will then become and remain dark gray when the next factor is applied. For simplicity reasons, we’ll focus on the continental U.S. But before starting I will say that the state of Hawaii is probably a fairly safe place to be considering its isolation, moderate climate, and the Polynesians have managed living there by themselves for millennia.

The first most important thing is population density or lack of it. This is common sense since you don’t wanna be around massive numbers of unprepared people when SHTF. Ideally anywhere under 40 people per square mile is best. The blue shaded counties are where to go.

Next is proximity to major and minor cities. A distance of at least 50 miles away is best.

Stay out of counties that contain Interstate highways as the most desperate people will use them traveling in search of resources.

We are now isolated from any major threats from large populations and groups of people. But, there is still the possibility of martial law being put into effect. So it’s best to keep our distance from military bases.

And nuclear reactors, in case of meltdowns occuring during grid failures.

The last places to “watch out” from are areas with already high poverty and crime rates. When they no longer can depend on Uncle Sam for their existence, it will get ugly. Avoiding these areas may potentially eliminate our options in the Southern states but I would like to keep them open for now for climate reasons. We’ll use a 25% poverty rate limit for the south and 20% everywhere else. (The south includes WV, southern MO, and eastern half of OK and TX)

I won’t make any exception for violent crime rates. Those will be applied evenly across the board. Lighter counties are safer.

We are now looking at a map of what are probably the “safest” counties in the United States. But now that the potential for human threat is minimized, we must figure out where is the best place to settle down based on what resources there will be available. The most important thing is easy access to fresh water always within close proximity.

Next in my opinion is wild game abundance, which you need for food during winters and harsh growing seasons, and for protein in general.

You wanna be safe from natural disasters such as tornadoes and hurricanes. Given recent events I think it’s safe to eliminate the lone county remaining in Florida.

This is a potentially controversial assumption, but the amount of forest cover over an area may be a good indicator for how much local resources there will be for us to utilize for our way of life. Everything from ecosystems that support wild game and edible plants to having plentiful amounts of lumber if needed (especially in the winter). Forests are just as useful as farmland. At least 25% forest cover is beneficial.

We need to grow food. This requires a number of things. Most important of them are good soil textures and rainfall. Drought-prone areas must be avoided. Warm climate isn’t necessary and depending on your environment you can expect to have different lengths of growing seasons. I will subtract all these variables all at once from the next map.

The best soil textures are ones with a close to even mixture of sand, silt, and clay, together known as loam. This mixture holds nutrients best. Anywhere on the scale from sandy loam to clay loam will work for most vegetables, fruits, wheat, nuts, and other produce.

This map is just for reference. Knowing your plant hardiness zones is key to scheduling your growing seasons with which types of produce you can expect to grow based on the average climate of your zone. Generally speaking, your options get wider the more south you go with more varieties of produce able to grow in warmer climates. There is also the potential for yielding not just one but two or more crop yields in a year with longer growing seasons in warm climates.

Rain should be 20 inches or more a year. So anything from dark green (40″+) all the way to light orange (20″) is good. Of course avoid regions that most often experience drought.

With all agricultural factors considered, this is what’s left on the map.

A variety of choices are left spanning different parts of the US. These are places that have everything we “need” to survive. You can perhaps at this point choose to pick whichever is closest to where you currently live. It is arguable that depending on the nature of the apocalyptic event the local economy may or may not make a difference on your quality of life. But let’s see where factoring it leads us.

A strong local economy in a rural area can indicate the presence of a stable natural resource based economy be it agriculture, mining, logging, etc. These resources can potentially be very important for the economic growth of the area and in the rebuilding of other economies through the exporting of these resources. It’s best to pick the areas with current stable job growth with high natural resource reserves.

Areas with 2.5%+ job growth with heavy natural resource reserves and industries:

The culture of where you live can be rather important. To borrow from one commenter, “You need a community. No matter how much of a bad ass you are you have to sleep sometime. It is great to consider things like natural resources and growing conditions, but you also need people with the knowledge to put those attributes to work for the community.” Areas with a high concentration of college graduates can indicate the presence of a college or of other skilled service providers which can potentially contribute to the needs of a community in areas such as healthcare, engineering, agriculture, etc. Areas with a population of at least 20% college graduates would be good.

We have 5 finalists:

Archuleta Co., CO

Hinsdale Co., CO

San Juan Co., CO

Hubbard Co., MN

Highland Co., VA

At this point, let’s eliminate by comparing.

For extra isolation, eliminate Highland County, VA.

For better access to water, rain, and wild game, eliminate Archuleta County, CO.

For a place with less poverty and crime, stay out of San Juan County, CO.

At this point the decision for me comes down to the potential for future economic growth and a population that is more wilderness survival conscious, which leaves us our winner….

Hinsdale County, Colorado

I welcome any suggestions from you for additions, corrections, or edits to help accurately improve the results I have found and will perhaps make updates to everything based on them in the future.

About half the time gunshot wounds are fatal or permanently crippling even in the best of emergency care and follow up surgeries. Without good follow up treatment–especially with infections–gunshot fatalities increase to almost 90%.

Those are not ‘betting’ odds under any circumstances.

In the first part of this topic we covered bare essentials of gunshot wound first aid with a slant on the KISS principle for untrained preppers when no paramedics or professional emergency services are immediately available. But this is also good procedure to know even where there are emergency trauma hospitals available but the ambulance or first responders might not get there in time, or you have to personally transport the injured to the ER.

In the Boston Marathon bombing attack, if it were not for average people and event organizers in the crowd knowing these basic wound trauma principles, and responding quickly to help to stop bleeding and keep them in respiration, many more would have died from bleeding out.

The most shocking article can be found below.

Liberal’s hidden agenda: more than just your guns…

… the impending collapse of the US food supply system
will steal the food from your kids’ tables…

Watch this video below to find out the great secrets hidden by the government.

To Fight or Not to Fight?

In a firefight you must expect the worst even while trying damn hard to avoid it, which means if you are preparing for a gunfight, then you must also prepare for wound repair and treatment. Otherwise, you can‘t justify calling yourself a true prepper.

{adinserter aliveafteramerika}The dirty little survival secret is that many full blown armed to the teeth preppers will never get into a survival firefight! Think about it.

The whole idea of bugging out from a rapidly disintegrating social breakdown–especially in major metropolitan areas–and hiding out in your safe-retreat is to avoid this type of violent encounters in the first place.

So if you’re a ’good’ prepper you are more likely to survive by avoiding all possible potential fights, and not to get involved in a gunfight, as a basic foundation of your emergency preparations and strategies.

The other reality is that unless you’ve been in serious combat or a long time big city police officer, you likely just don’t understand the true nature of shootouts other than your experience with incorrect movie perceptions. Which almost always is not the way a true combat operator/gunfighter would handle it.

If you are unfortunate enough to get attacked where no pragmatic safe fall back is an option, you increase your odds of receiving wounds or dying by 50%, no matter how skilled you are.

Tactics and strategies are everything in gunfights. In an all-out anarchy breakdown with no rules, no limits of violence, and no ’law’, this is even more critical.

Hopefully this intro to wound first aid and how savagely brutal these wounds usually are will motivate serious preppers to adopt a correct mindset on gunfights and shootouts. That being to AVOID them at all costs in the first place. NOT thinking like it’s going to be a ’cool’ thing while you’re surviving to have some fun popping bad humans during your bug out party game.

And here are some examples of how ’bad’ it can get.

The Sucking Chest Wound (SCW)

This is probably a more common wound than people think because it is the primary target area on the human body known as ’center mass’. If bullet strikes the heart directly or ruptures an aortal artery or blows out the spleen there’s not much you’re going to do without major surgical resources even if the person is still alive.

The problem is that a large area of lung mass also is a part of this ’center mass’ section and when a bullet punctures the lung the breathing is immediately dangerously affected on top of everything else. As opposed to ’extremity’ hits, which can get very ugly and damaging but where breathing is not relatively affected, even a small less powerful bullet through the lung will be deadly if not properly treated.

Before level 4 body armor and better surgical evac resources, the military lost far too many people from SCW’s in combat. However, wounds from a SCW are often not immediately fatal and can be treated adequately in the field to prolong the likelihood of survival if additional emergency follow up can eventually be obtained.

Much of the bleeding from a SCW will be internal once the wound bleeding is stopped. So while the wound itself might not be a big problem to patch up, just stopping the bleeding won’t be good enough to save the victim’s life.

A lung penetration is bad because any air that can get into the hole in the lung will disrupt the breathing and cause foaming bubbles from the body fluids which can sometimes suffocate the victim depending on the location of the hit. This is also why it’s called a ‘sucking’ chest wound. When the person is trying to breathe through the mouth, the lungs can’t work correctly because the air is getting sucked in or right out of the bullet wound.

A certain type of dressing/bandage should be used to help prevent this and potential lung collapse.

Occlusive dressings like the Bolin Chest Seal are preferred. These are fast repair patches with a special adhesive that can be applied in one step to provide a total seal from air and liquid.

There are built in ’valves’ in some occlusive dressings to help prevent pneumothorax, or the presence of air in the pleuro-cavity which is the area between the body wall and the lungs which allows the expanding and contraction of the lungs.

But this is only a temporary ‘fix’ until further advanced treatment can be administered. If the bullet struck ribs or sternum bone and fragments are in the lungs surgery must commence asap or the person will not likely survive.

Otherwise, even if the victim looks stable, the lungs eventually fill with fluids and cause pulmonary collapse, loss of breathing function, and death.

The idea is to keep outside air from getting into the pleuro cavity from the wound but allow any excessive air or fluid build up in the space between the lungs and body to escape. In old pressure bandage closing of a SCW you had to intermittently ‘burp’ the wound by removing the bandage to allow excess air/gas to escape and drain fluids.

With a SCW the breathing and airway must be constantly monitored. And paramedics at the scene usually immediately get ready to aspirate the airway with a trachea tube so that can begin resuscitation quickly.

The other thing is that depending upon the angle of the bullet entry it can hit the spine either upon entry or exit, and this complicates the damage to a very serious extent. The gunshot victim will likely be paralyzed and any transportation movement is dangerous without trained handling.

FEMA Emergency Alert! Hidden Terrible Situations Exposed- Watch the video below to find out the most shocking details!!!

With a whopping 1.03 million home invasions occurring every year in just the U.S. alone, there’s no reason you shouldn’t have a plan of action ready to utilize in case you become one of these unfortunate victims.

So pay chose attention because this video will change your life forever for the good!

Head Wounds

These are among the ‘ugliest’ of hits because of the shock effect of seeing a commonly viewed part of the human anatomy which we relate to directly on a daily basis suddenly deformed and mutilated to a point beyond recognition. Especially if it is a bad facial area wound.

If it is a skull/brain hit the usual assumption is that this would be fatal.

Amazingly this is not always true especially if it was a glancing wound, and some bullet hits to the head have been fully recoverable with no, or relatively little brain damage.

However if it is a skull penetration and you are successful in stopping the bleeding, and the patient seems to be doing okay, except for intense head pain, there is the likelihood of a subdural hematoma causing pressure inside the skull and this would require immediate ER treatment or the patient will die.

After a head hit if the victim is still alive and conscious the following must be done immediately:

• Try to position the person to be sitting up slightly forward to keep blood lower in the body away from the head wounds.
• Immediately apply direct pressure bandages to stop the bleeding being observant that the airway is not being bled into to cause choking if it is a facial or neck wound.
• Depending upon the hit point and peripheral air way damage, a tracheotomy or an airway tube insertion might have to be performed to keep them from choking and to ensure respiration, BUT KEEP IN MIND THAT YOU NEED MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE TO PERFORM IT, so don’t try it if you never did it before.
• Make sure the carotid arteries are still supplying blood to the brain. If one of these is ruptured, apply soft direct pressure or an occlusive bandage.

Head/face wounds are bad. They are also very painful. Do your best to keep the person comfortable and medicated.

Abdominal Wounds

Abdominal wounds can look extremely ‘gross’ and shocking if the wound is pushing out internal organs like the intestines. The lower torso has a lot of center of gravity fluid pressure and if a gunshot victim is hit obliquely from say, a side of the waist entry hit over the hip and creates a larger exit wound around the belly button there’s often a string of bloody intestine blurting out of the muscle tissue.

In the case of a larger piece of bomb fragment/shrapnel that cuts across the front of the abdomen sideways like a chain saw, you’ll see quite a grotesque mass of guts and ‘stuff’ strewn out.

I’ve seen a couple bad ones like this in my time and even a side hit by a shotgun blast I once saw left a large part of the intestine evacuated in the dirt next to the downed victim, now screaming and writhing in pain on the ground.

First of all large wounds require large bandages. If you don’t have the proper medpac supplies this one is harder to DIY on an improvise.

So lay the person on his back and get some water and antibiotic disinfectant (but don’t wait if it is not immediately available). Depending upon the extent of the intestinal mass evacuation from the abdominal cavity, try to gently gather and place/push what is hanging out back into the abdominal cavity through the wound while you are splashing/rinsing any dirt off of it.

(Do not use your 190 proof wonder juice in your flask for this one).

If you know that professional medical help is on the way or you can get to a functioning hospital, then sometimes it’s better to just leave any escaped intestines on the abdomen after you’ve inserted some blood clotting bandages/material in the wound opening and cover the whole thing with a larger bandage or towel for the transport.

Then put a sufficient wrap gauze on this wound and prepare to tape it tightly around the entire midsection around from the back if it is a hole larger than the palm of your hand.

This must be done rapidly as large abdominal wounds bleed copiously. Gut wounds where the intestines are lacerated are highly ‘infectious’ and immediate follow up surgery and antibiotics must be obtained for the victim otherwise death is imminent.

Where the Real Protection Comes From

As you have gathered by now, gunshot wounds, especially in the head and torso, can become complicated and treatment can be overwhelming if you are not close to an emergency trauma center or at least seriously trained in such treatment.

Paramedic emergency first aid should not be extemporaneous in real time application. You’ll never get it right from just reading what to do and having a few bandages. So here’s the last stop on the issue of bad emergency first aid like gunshot wounds and other serious wound trauma.

The best thing to do for your family or group is to have one of your members actually take a real EMT or paramedic licensed course and maybe volunteer for your local volunteer ambulance of fire department first responders for some real time experience, that often is too difficult for a lot of reasons.

If you or your group are serious about such medical possibilities, which again, should be one of the primary concerns due to the reality that emergency trauma and any other type of medical service AND SUPPLIES simply might not exist as you once knew it, therefore the obvious best situation is:

1. Have a good stock of medical supplies.

This is right up there with food, water, and ammo. Not just for trauma/wounds, but for general diseases and conditions. If you think that med supplies won’t be ‘worth their weight’ just observe how many people are always at a Walmart pharmacy next time you’re there.

2. Learn some emergency serious field trauma first aid.

It also wouldn’t hurt to have a professional emergency responder, nurse, or even a doctor associated with your group that might be interested in joining you, and would be willing to provide their knowledge and skills in exchange for the security and resources you would exchange. Even a good Veterinarian can do some amazingly complex surgery on animals, which is not a totally dissimilar anatomy from humans.

3. After you have enough ammo, invest in a serious body armor.

Unlike a police officer who would have to wear it all day long for the job, you’ll only really need to wear it if you are traveling or anticipate a firefight. And you can throw a complete vest carrier on–which can also carry magazines– in seconds.

So for not really that much more in terms of cost, you should buy level 4 front back and side panels. They’re heavier but will stop most rifle bullets. They also have ballistic headgear now that’s lighter and tougher than the old military ‘pot’ helmets.

Whatever you choose, above all else DO get some REAL training and SERIOUS equipment NOW!

Nobody hesitates to spend thousands on all those firearms and bass boats and such ‘necessities’ of life. But when this neighbor of mine proudly showed me his new Nightforce super sniper scope he just paid $2500.00 for, I asked him if he had a good field first aid med-kit, and he laughed condescendingly at me and said something smart-ass cool like “what do I look like, an amateur?” He proudly opened his trunk and whipped out the best $19.95 first aid kit he could find at Walmart, and smirked ’Don’t leave home–or bug out–without it!’ I frowned, and shook my head and told him to have a nice day.

In conclusion, I’ll just say that in an all out catastrophic SHTF scenario, after the initial confusion, panic, anarchy, and mayhem, most prudent preppers will settle down into a mode of hyper vigilance and purposeful low profile existentialism while they try to recover and sustain.

Especially if they already had a shootout and survived. They would never, ever again be too eager to get into another one. This would be the optimal mode lifestyle for avoiding firefights in the first place. But this doesn’t mean your trauma equipment and supplies will go to waste.

At this point with people doing more manual things like chopping wood and using sharp or dangerous tools to maintain themselves, that emergency medical kit will not be gathering too much dust on it. I’ve seen a person splitting wood when he missed and the axe bounced back and it looked like his ankle was almost severed in half! Accidents will be plentiful in the aftermath of survival life. A good medical set up is literally a life saver.

And always remember, the more you train and prepare in defense of your Bug Out Location/castle/hideout, the less likely you’ll be in a firefight that you can’t handle. And the more you train and properly prepare with a good BOMB (Bug Out Medical Bag), the more likely you’ll make it if you do get hurt. Simple formula for smart preppers.

Important below:

Today I’d like to share with you a “3-second survival hack” you can use to skyrocket your chances of protecting your loved ones during ANY crisis.

This technique is so powerful it can give you almost superhuman powers during the ugliest nightmares imaginable….

From natural disasters like earthquakes or tornadoes…

To explosive situations like mass shootings or even nationwide martial law.

And It doesn’t matter if you’re out of shape…

Or have no equipment…

Or even if you’re disabled living in a wheelchair.

This technique has been tested and proven by elite soldiers and real world “miracle” survivors from around the world.

Source- survivopedia.com

The Great Depression in which 25% of people in America were unemployed had their homes reprocessed and faced starvation started when 7 things combined together

1. The economy went into a slower phase in the economic cycle.

2. The Wall Street stock exchange crashed in 1929 as a result of an Insider Dealer Scam (which was small compared to Maxwell or the Enron scams) still wiped out the investment of thousands of people & several banks who had not done due diligence & just hoped that share prices would continue to go up at the same rate indefinitely. Although the stock market only charts the emotional value of a stock it must sooner or later adjust the prices of stocks back to the real value based on the firm’s actual performance (it took over 2 years for the dot com bubble to burst in 2000). Other people seeing a fall in the stock market prices feared they would have a loss so rushed to sell their stock in a falling market, thus creating an excess of supply forcing prices down more to ensure they lost money.

3. The banks made things worse by demanding repayment in full of mortgages & loans at short notice in an attempt to save their business. Banks, like other businesses without Government support, will go out of business because their reduced cash flow can not keep up with their liabilities which naturally increased as the economy slowed. By removing money from economy the banks made the slow down spiral down into economic depression

4. The belief that the Government should not intervene because markets would automatically adjust to benefit a changing society because the economic system always gives people what they are worth & new jobs will appear despite the evidence.

5. The Isolation culture of thinking “if something benefits an individual than society must benefit” regardless of what harm results from that action despite the Indian’s knowing we are all part of one interconnected web of life on our only planet. The Economic system is incapable of serving the public as long as polluters do not have to compensate those who suffer from their actions because governments do not use true accounting.

6. The lack of Understanding of Fundamental Economic Cycle (still not taught in schools) leads businesses facing hard times to downsize to cut costs to hope to wait until better times return instead of looking to increase their income by switching to more profitable products. Downsizing reduces the money flowing in the economy and signals that the business has poor management & may not be trusted to be here for long.

7. The uncertain times and the untrustworthiness of the financial sector led most people to withdraw their money from the banks which the banks could not fund as only 1% of money is held as cash by banks. So more banks collapsed so creating a domino effect run on the banks.

Although FD Roosevelt did manage to halt the downward economic spiral in 1933 by ending the hysteria & restoring hope with the “New Deal” – The Great Depression did not end until full employment was created as a byproduct of the Governments policy of creating world war two with appeasement in Europe & Isolationism (ignoring the consequences of my actions in the USA)

By 1929 the down sides of technology were beginning to become apparent. E.G. the mass production lines that Henry Ford introduced to enable the greater output by braking a process down into steps performed over & over by specialists was dehumanizing people’s work and turning it into a job (just our bodies) so had strikes despite the violent oppression from their owners.

Farm technology was also having a damaging effect on wider society.

Tractors (which developed out of the world war 1 tanks) had got cheaper due to mass production so were replacing farm workers and increasing yields initially and causing an excess of supply at harvest time thereby reducing the income of the smaller farmers who then could not keep up with their mortgages.

Tractors are best for long straight fields without ditches or hedges to provide a home for natural pest controllers like ladybirds, frogs, hedgehogs etc so hedges were removed although they protect crops from the wind and supply the crops with water from deep down where they can not reach. The larger fields of monoculture naturally attracted the pests like aphids to them & with fewer predators to eat the aphids they increased in numbers every year. A couple of dry summers combined with ploughing thin soils & the removal of hedgerows & the abundance of pests led to large areas of the mid west being turned into dust bowls collapsing the income of the area & the rural banks that depended on farmers. Thus triggering the domino effect in the banking sector.

The technological fix to the problem of falling farm production caused by technology was to apply ever larger doses of poisons like DDT until they get banded because of the harm do as they get concentrated up the food chain. The chemical industry needs to constantly come up with new products to sell to farmers like fertilizers (that contaminate our water supply disrupting the reproduction of fish & humans) so they can grow the same crop in the same field year after year; new pesticides because the old ones do not work as spaying is not ever 100% effective as does not go evenly under the leaves (where the pests live) so the pests develop resistance to the poison.

In order to survive the lack of official money circulating during the great depression over 3000 other currencies (LETS) were created to enable the local exchange of transferable skills for mutual benefit to occur.

As Einstein said “Doing the same thing over & over again yet expecting different results is the definition of insanity”

So if you have a problem you need to change your thoughts to find the solution. Why do you believe the lies you are told like “Buy this and you will have women falling for you” when Happiness is an emotion so comes from with in you?

Modern society is geared to those who know how to Make Money Work for You so get to set the nominal value that the people, who will not be able to live in retirement, have to pay for things. Money only has power over your life when you choose to accept the lies you are bombarded with by the TV.

As a professional physician having always lived in a big city, I never imagined that at some point in my life, the social and economic situation of my country, Venezuela, would lead me to learn and use survival skills that I had read about but never even thought of applying.

Without being in a declared war or a formal armed conflict, we have experienced different situations of chaos for about 10 years in Venezuela. But in the last three years, the country has become a true SHTF scenario, where the only way to move forward is to learn how to survive.

I feel that the lack of food, clean water, and, at the lowest point of the situation, electricity, has given me new skills that have undoubtedly prepared me for any catastrophic situation.

After three years in this contingency, I can now share every situation that took me by surprise and the techniques I had to learn by doing.

There is no such thing as “too much” stored water

Water is one of the most important resources we need for life. Unlike other supplies, it is not interchangeable with another product, and to be ingested, it must go through a purification process.

I have never been prepared for a water shortage before. Now I know it is important to keep water stored safely in closed containers. If water is not drinkable, it must be purified before ingesting it since contaminated water can cause serious gastrointestinal diseases.

Water is not just for drinking but is used in many other activities, such as cooking and cleaning, so I had to learn some purification techniques that can be done at home.

One of the most popular techniques to decontaminate water is to boil it for three minutes. Purification tablets are also very useful, not that expensive, and easy to use.

Adding five drops of chlorine per liter of water as an emergency measure is another way to clean the stored water.

Grains are my friends

To eat properly, it is necessary to consume proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

The moment I realized that animal protein was scarce—in addition to the fact that the electricity problems spoiled it—I had to investigate the nutritional content of other foods in order to keep myself well-fed.

Lentils are grains that are easy to store, non-perishable, and high in protein. Together with a cereal like rice, they make a complete meal that keeps us well-nourished and in good health.

Let there be light: candles, matches, flashlights, and batteries

After spending more than four hours without power, I began to worry. I had some candles saved, but I did not know where they could be. I also had a couple of flashlights, but I had removed the batteries to prevent them from being sulfated.

Candles and matches must be in several easily accessible places. Likewise, the batteries should be in the same place where the flashlights are kept, and we must be sure that they have a charge.

During this year, the country suffered the most serious electrical crisis. In several areas, there were blackouts of up to five days.

After a couple of days without electricity, the candles will not be enough, so learning to make oil lamps becomes a vital skill in this situation.

The lack of electricity can lead to a state of anguish that grows with the passage of time. It is important to do everything possible to minimize that effect.

Be prepared with medicines, but it’s better to learn from nature

Due to my profession, I am always very attentive about keeping basic medications, such as anti-inflammatories, analgesics, and antibiotics, in the cabinet.

When I had to live in an SHTF situation, my medical supplies became insufficient, and I couldn’t find any in the pharmacies or they were too expensive. So I had to learn a little more about natural medicine, its uses, and its benefits.

I must say that this is one of the most important things I learned during that time.

Many anti-inflammatory drugs and synthetic analgesics damage the stomach mucosa as a side effect. In situations of stress, there is a large production of acids in the stomach, so using drugs that further damage this organ is not the best idea.

Roots such as ginger and turmeric are excellent anti-inflammatories. They are easy to get and easy to store. Likewise, garlic is a potent analgesic.

In the case of presenting wounds or cuts and not having antibiotic ointments, honey, ginger, and cloves are foods that have scientifically proven antibiotic properties.

Chamomile and lavender are natural relaxants and help fight stress and insomnia.

No matter how big the supply of medicines we have, it will always be more economical, favorable, and easy to store the natural product, with equal and, in some cases, greater effects.

Cash

Banks have made life easier for us with the use of debit and credit cards. However, there are situations in which having a lot of money in the bank does not help much, and I learned it the hard way.

When there is an electrical fault, despite the fact that light and other electrical services have been restored already, the digital communication of the points of purchase become so affected that it is impossible to buy anything in this way.

For this reason, I understood that it is always important to keep some amount of cash for this type of contingency.

Take advantage of any time you get to replace supplies

Although during those years I did not have to be locked in a bunker without being able to leave, the feeling of confinement was quite similar. When, in spite of having the money, you can’t find what you need to eat or, despite having a private vehicle, you can’t move for lack of gasoline, the situation becomes desperate.I understood that in those moments in which there was an opportunity to replace the supplies I had at home, especially water and non-perishable food, I had to do it.

The situation in my country has improved. Although still not at the best economic and social level, and with many problems of scarcity and lack of some supplies, society has been regularized.

However, I appreciate the years that taught me these valuable lessons that I still apply.

The most important thing I learned was to be prepared for when an SHTF situation strikes again.

The formation of the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been hailed by many people as a game changer. When its formation was announced, Elon Musk, one of the two men chosen with the task of leading it suggested he could cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending. Hope immediately soared with many people reacting like this claim was a done deal. Unnoticed by many Musk enthusiasts was that he soon rolled back expectations calling this a best-case scenario. 

DOGE’s Efforts May Be Halted By Lawsuits

Now that Trump is in office, reality sets in, and what happens next is far from certain. Cutting government spending is easier said than done. This is apparent when Musk talks about cutting the jobs of government workers. He said the aim of DOGE was not to be cruel. He went on to say, “We will reduce a lot of government headcount, but we’re going to give very long severances. Like two years, or something like that.” To reality seekers, this conflicts with the idea that DOGE will bring about rapid and long lasting cuts.

While itwon’t be an actual federal agency, other government agencies will hire DOGE teams to interface with them in an effort to find savings. This story just gained a new wrinkle, as an article following the inauguration revealed that one of its two co-leaders, Vivek Ramaswamy, plans to leave DOGE. This leaves DOGE needing someone to run the day-to-day operations and interface with Congress. A very busy Elon Musk already runs SpaceX and his other companies. 

This is starting to feed into Tesla’s futureand even Tesla’s stock price as Musk is left with too much to do. It does not help that President Donald Trump pledged in his inauguration speech to undo the huge “electric vehicle mandate.” This means Biden’s multibillion-dollar effort to usher in a transition to electric vehicles is slatted to be rendered void. 

The goals of the DOGE are huge, they include;

• Restructuring the federal government of the United States.
• Removing regulations to reduce expenditures.
• Increasing government efficiency.
• Cutting wasteful spending.
• Recommending elimination of unneeded government spending.

Still, government waste is huge and many cuts can be made.A few days ago, on the floor of the Senate, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) outlined the goals of the DOGE Caucus. Six and a half minutes into this video from Forbes Breaking News, Ernst claims if you can’t find waste in Washington, you aren’t looking. She then talks about the cost of making both the penny and the nickel. The cost of producing the penny has now soared to three cents and producing the nickel is eleven cents. These are the low fruit on the tree of government waste.

The cost of producing coins many people don’t want represent billions in waste and making matters worse there are not hundreds of wasteful government programs but thousands. Over the years I have written several articles about how it is time to toss the penny into the dustbin of history. This is not an obsession but rather an observation based on reason. Today, getting rid of small value coins is even more relevant.The the post-COVID war on cash and inflation has eroded their value and buying power.

In 2018, when it costs only 1.6 cents to produce each one-cent coin stamped out discontinuing the penny would have saved $11 million a year.It was pointed out here on AdvancingTime that the President could pay for his wall by stopping the production of the penny saving America billions of dollars, most of it from handling the near worthless little coin.  

Even back then,the penny was a perfect example of our government’s inefficiency and waste, and the cost is a burden carried by business. I explained that if an employee is paid $12.00 an hour they receive twenty cents per minute. Businesses simply cannot afford to pay an employee to handle and count pennies, the cost of the labor exceeds their value. Back then, the “citizens to retire the penny” said more than 15 billion dollars annually is wasted just in handling the pathetic little coin.

Is DOGE A Self-Serving Tool For Musk?

Back in 2018 during Trump’s first term the government shut down over an impasse concerning 25 billion dollars to build a wall on America’s southern border. Many people who are not fans of big government did not have a problem with the shutdown. The problem is that in the end, unlike life in the private sector, it is standard operating procedure to grant all these government workers retroactive pay. In short, it is stupid to pay government workers to stay home over a few billion dollars in a  budget of well over five trillion dollars.

Most Americans agree there is a lot of waste in government spending.The big question is whether DOGE will be able to have any real impact on reducing spending and the size of our government. This will be an uphill battle. It is the nature of government to expand. Much of our governments growth has been hidden by outsourcing, forming quasi-governmental entities, and expanding its power through mandates. Until I see significant results, paint me skeptical.

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In the history of the world, nations and even empires have risen, then declined and were lost to time, leaving only artifacts behind for archaeologists to piece together what happened.  From our vantage point, it’s easier to see what happened, the slow decline in so many areas that finally led to a collapse.  Fortunately, we understand today many of the factors that have to be in place.  Unfortunately, even knowing these signs of decline may not be enough to slow or stop the momentum of your nation’s collapse.  In this video, we will lay out the eight signs of imminent collapse.  You may recognize one or all eight in your country’s recent history.  Having them all doesn’t guarantee that a collapse is inevitable, but it makes it more probable, especially if you have them all to a high degree.

The video below will shock you because you will be among the first to watching this secret!

1. Financial Decay

One of the most visible outward expressions of a collapse is the bottom falling out of the financial system.  From double, triple, or higher-digit inflation pricing people out of basic necessities to dramatic market declines evaporating a lifetime’s accumulated wealth instantly, economic collapse can aggravate other conditions that can domino into a full-on failure.  Many market collapses actually have a long build-up.  The housing bubble, the commercial real estate bubble, trade wars, and the loss of faith over time in a single fiat currency all happen slowly over the years and then reach a tipping point.  In some cases, the ultra-wealthy cheer on the decline in some ways as they profit off selling short and feel that they can maintain profits by shifting their money to other assets or more stable countries.  However, that doesn’t always work as assets are often frozen, withdrawal limits are established, or the currency becomes so devalued that it doesn’t retain any fluidity.  Nobody wants it nor transacts in it anymore.

The financial decay is often preceded by a growing income gap, enormous corporate profits at the same time everyday consumer goods become luxury items for the masses, and wages that fail to keep pace with the nation’s prior growth.  Economic inequities breed resentment in the citizens, resulting in high crime, fraud, and eventually protests, looting, rioting, and even revolutions like the French Revolution.  You may recognize several of these indicators of financial decay in your nation.  While it’s not a guarantee of a coming collapse, you must continue to monitor.  Your insulation from it starts with recession-proofing your life. Still, it continues with increasing your skills and abilities to sustain yourself independent of the commerce system, like growing your food instead of expecting to purchase it at the grocery store after having traveled 5,000 miles from where it was grown.

2. Agricultural Decline

The rise of agriculture also gave rise to cities, states, and nations.  Without harnessing nature in agricultural practices, thereby increasing yield and concentration of food sources, nations would have never formed out of nomadic, hunter-gatherer groups.  While weather patterns may be perfect for agriculture in a particular area for several centuries, they can change.  The lack of floods in the Nile contributed to a dramatic decline in food production in the 13th century.  Excessive rain in 14th-century Britain caused massive crop failures that resulted in massive food shortages.  The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, began in 1845 when a mold caused a destructive plant disease that spread rapidly throughout Ireland.  While the Egyptians, British, and Irish survived the downturn, they all suffered through what can only be described as a period of collapse.

I often point out that while some plants have thousands of varieties, societies tend to gravitate to the most prolific single cultivar.  They then also open themselves up to large-scale crop failure when disease or blight strikes that monoculture.  There are 1,000 different types of bananas worldwide, but we only mass-produce one variety- the Cavendish.  What happens when the Cavendish succumbs to a plant fungus that the Blue Java banana has resilience against?

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Sometimes agricultural decline isn’t a result of weather or blight but merely a result of economics.  As the Great Depression took hold in the United States in the late 1920s, many farmers saw their milk prices drop, and by 1933, prices were less than half what they had been just three years prior. Farmers reacted with milk strikes, and the protests often turned violent.  Raiding parties stopped trains laden with milk and dumped it into the ground.  A cheese factory was attacked, and the angry mob poured kerosene on 600 pounds of cheese.  An even more extreme impact on agriculture can be war.  From scorched earth to land left fallow as wars rage to starvation of the masses and even cannibalism, a more significant societal collapse could be imminent when agricultural output is threatened or in decline. 

3. Health Decline

The health of a nation can also be measured by the health of its people.  There are obvious factors like plague, disease, wars, and pandemics, but more subtle indicators like lifestyle and environmentally induced illnesses exist.  From lead pipes used in Rome to cancer-causing pesticides to industrial, even nuclear waste, there are several environmental factors that lead to medical issues that sap a nation’s resources and workforce.  There are also lifestyle choices that can contribute to a more significant decline in overall health.  Refined sugars, preservatives, highly processed foods, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and all those other things we now know have to be taken in moderation or not at all lead to health issues like obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, cancer, high blood pressure, and the list goes on from there.

Increased health issues overburden the established medical care system.  Diseases, famines, and wars can completely obliterate any national healthcare system.  As people turn to blame the established government for their problems, they can sometimes riot against the established order and plunge their nation deeper into a spiraling decline.

Additional- I highly recommend this book: The Home Doctor – Practical Medicine for Every Household – is a 304 page doctor written and approved guide on how to manage most health situations when help is not on the way.

4. Decline in Birth Rate

A decline in the birth rate indicates a nation’s decline.  While environmental and social factors can impact fertility and fertilization rates, it is more indicative of a general lack of faith in the future.  The future may appear too uncertain, chaotic, or rife with conflict that raising a child is just too difficult.  Or, the future’s financial prospects are so dismal, and the current economic situation would only result in poverty for anyone trying to raise a family.  Birth rate and fertility rate are helpful in analyzing and understanding a nation’s replacement rate.  Populations that increase can put a strain on economies and infrastructure.  Populations that don’t replenish themselves can experience slowed services, a decline in transactions and commerce, or even be left unable to defend themselves from foreign adversaries.

Birth rates are falling in the U.S. after experiencing a high with the Baby Boom in the mid-20th century and a low from the Baby Bust in the 1970s, birth rates were relatively stable for nearly 50 years. That all changed with the Great Recession, from 2007-2009. Birth rates have declined sharply since then.  Russia’s birth rate has declined since 1994, just after the official fall of the Soviet Union.  Obviously, there is a correlation between societal collapse and birthrate in Russia’s history.  China reported in January that its population had fallen for the first time in 60 years. In 2022, there were just 6.77 births per 1,000 people in China.  India’s General Fertility Rate has declined by 20% over the past decade.  Japan’s birthrate is so dire that the Prime Minister warned, “Japan is on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society.”  With all these superpowers and super economies experiencing declining birth rates, they cannot replenish their aging populations and maintain their traditional systems.  This can contribute to a more significant societal collapse.

5 Places In America You Don’t Want to be When Society Collapses!

5. Misinformation & Rumor As Fact

There are signs of decline that are less obvious than a financial collapse, unhealthy people, and declining birthrates.  Sometimes it’s what you know, don’t know, or think you know that can destroy a population.  During the First Inquisition, created by religious courts to combat heresy and witchcraft, Pope Gregory IX ordered the witch’s familial animal, the cat, especially black cats, to be burned and killed with the witch.  Hundreds of thousands of cats were killed, leading to the rapid proliferation of rodents, particularly a bacterium carried by rats.  That bacterium was ultimately the source of the Black Plague.  From prescribing opiates for crying babies to sanitized tapeworms to lose weight, it’s often the misinformation informing medical practices that can cause death rates to go up in society.  

Rumors that lack substantiating facts can also erode accepted norms that cement stability in culture.  When one class or group of people labels another an enemy or dehumanizes the other, and rumors and stories, and a whole narrative spring up to support that contempt, a society loses its unified sense of forward progress and erodes from within.  Misinformation and assumptions about race, ethnicity, religion, politics, caste systems, and even governing philosophies between rural and urban areas can all foment contempt among people.  When people act upon or react to this misinformation, false narratives, and pseudo-facts, societies move from a desire for unity to a culture of discord.

While these society-altering flare-ups have led from the extremes of concentration camps to minor confrontations in communities, we collectively live now in a time where complete false narratives can be established and erroneously supported through word-of-mouth, the internet, doctored images and photos, deep fakes, and even Artificial Intelligence.  Often, you can see governance based on misinformation or an assumed interpretation of data and information.  Often you see a dismissal of data and facts because it conflicts with the more extreme narrative.  Even state-sponsored propagandists, internet trolls, and sensationalist pundit entertainers profit from spreading controversial misinformation.  All of it signifies a lack of cohesive unity in a society, which is a sign of a possible more significant collapse in the future.

6. Infighting

By extension of the misinformation and rumors, the next sign of imminent collapse is uncontrolled infighting.  Scapegoats are sought for failures ranging from the response to natural or industrial disasters to inflation and financial market collapses. One group elevates itself and blames the other.  Looking even casually at parliaments and congresses worldwide, you can see this play out in real time.  If you look at the struggles of the oppressed or have-nots and the ruling classes and wealthy elite, history is littered with examples of infighting.  That fierce infighting, inflamed rhetoric, and scapegoating often translate to the neighborhood level.  Eventually, people don’t trust their own neighbors, family, or friends.  Distrust is the first stage of infighting.

Typically, both parties claim and play the role of victim and aggressor. There is a rise in conflicts and expressive exchanges. The opposing side is seen as the enemy. Often dehumanization labels are ascribed to the opposition.  Eventually, neither the government nor neighbors can work together for the greater good of society.  With no forward progress or planning and absent the feeling that we are all in this together, society erodes from within and is one step closer to collapse.

7. Enemies Foreign & Domestic

Even as the enemies within are formed anew, the enemies of other nations continue.  Right now, there is a rising and outward expression of disdain for heavy-handed Western diplomacy.  Europe and America are seen as imperialistic forces that have for too long reigned over and dictated the policies of other countries.  Russia, China, Iran, and many others condemn the tactics of the US even as they deploy autocratic, harsh, and heavy-handed tactics of their own, dominate and invade smaller nations, and commit human rights violations.  In the big picture, neither side is right. They simply try to bend the world to support them while profiting from the resources.  These differing philosophies label each other enemies.  They seek to dismantle and deconstruct the other.  Wars are fought from nation to nation, and civil wars are fought within nations.

This gives rise to proxy wars, wars, invasions, cyberattacks, state-sponsored terrorism, sabotage, and conflicts that range from the battlefield to the boardroom.  When a country erodes from the other warning signs mentioned, it is more vulnerable to foreign and domestic enemies.  Russia and its predecessor culture by geography have been involved in 185 wars and armed conflicts that range from the Mongol Invasion to the War in Ukraine.  America has been engaged in conflicts ranging from the Bay of Pigs to the Contras to World Wars, a Civil War, and even a Revolutionary War that created the country.  Every society and nation has a history of armed conflict fighting enemies from within and without.  For each overt and extreme conflict we can see, there are thousands of more minor and unnoticed wars being waged.  All combined, they erode the structure and peaceful state of a unified society, and as they pick up momentum and intensity, they may also indicate an imminent future collapse.

This final push of foreign and domestic enemies facilitates all collapses. Foreign influences have always been there, but in a global market with instantaneous communications, enemies can attack from computer screens thousands of miles away from computer screens. Domestic vigilantes and those emboldened by a “cause” or purpose-driven philosophy, dogma, or idealogy like accelerationism or anarchy actually seek to hasten the downfall of order by attacking others or infrastructure.  Foreign and domestic enemies come in many forms and are always lurking in the wings to give that final push into societal collapse.

8. Resource Depletion

One of the most significant indicators of an imminent collapse is resource depletion.  When a river changes course or runs dry, when wells and aquifers are depleted, and when energy can’t be produced to control the extremes of hot and cold weather, life in some areas becomes untenable.  Forced migrations, immigration, and emigration create imbalances and competition for resources that may not have existed before.  

We collectively live in an agrarian society like we are still nomads, often using the last of every bit of local resources without considering replenishing those resources.  When we run out, instead of moving on like our nomadic ancestors, we take from some other region where we care even less about replenishment or conservation, or reduced consumption.  Any resource imbalances from water to food to raw materials can only be compensated for for just so long.  Eventually, society is so far removed from something like growing its own food that when the delivery system fails for long enough, the people starve, and society fails.  Watch for signs of resource depletion from drought restrictions to poisoned water from crop failures to fossil fuel prices rising.  All of these are indicators of resource mismanagement, if not also a sign of a future possible collapse. 

You likely see one or all of those signs of an imminent collapse in the country you live in right now.  That doesn’t mean collapse will happen overnight.  Based upon the intensity and frequency of these eight signs, you may just see a gradual decline from your nation’s pinnacle of perceived greatness.  Societies change, and the past is often longed for as “the good old days,” though it was a different time with different thinking, problems, solutions, and resources. There is still a city called Rome, though the Roman Empire has long ago receded to the pages of history books.  It could be that your nation has seen its pinnacles, and the eight signs of imminent collapse are picking up overwhelming speed.  You can still weather that coming storm.

When you endeavor to prep, learn skills, grow your food, source food and water locally, learn to become more self-sufficient, and lessen your dependence upon national and global supply chains and governance, you take back control of your world.  Be sure to check out our playlist on gardening and water harvesting which I’ll post at the end of the video.  Don’t look to others for help or to assign blame when you control how much you will feel the rise or fall of your society.  That’s not to say these conflicts won’t appear at your doorstep.  They might.  Your ability to survive them, however, is greatly enhanced.  When you lessen your dependence on external systems that are genuinely beyond your control and focus on the things you can control in your own environment and life, the rise and fall of nations are less impactful on your day-to-day.  You will still feel the effects but will be better equipped to survive them.

BREAKING NEWS: All Americans Will Lose Their Home, Income And Power By March 17, 2025

In a world undergoing hydroclimate whiplash, the latest apocalyptic catastrophe has now befallen one of the richest cities in the world in the richest nation on Earth. Warm 100 mile per hour winds have spawned walls of fire reaching more than 100 feet in height within the city of Los Angeles, obliterating entire neighborhoods for as far as the eye can see and blanketing the city with a pall of toxic substances. A reporter who was there at the time said those hurricane force winds made it impossible for him to walk, as he was forced to take shelter in an abandoned car. A fire chief for the city said he had never seen a fire storm of such strength and magnitude in his entire multidecadal career. Experts are quoted as saying a firewall from a ten lane highway would not have stopped the Palisades inferno, with winds carrying embers miles ahead of the fire. As of today, warnings have been issued again for the imminent return of those ominous Santa Ana winds. The dryness levels of air, soil, and vegetation in California have been “literally off the chart.” The ongoing LA fires will likely become the costliest natural disaster in US history and help create a record-breaking year for property loss from extreme disasters. As this Pyrocene Age continues to gather force, a climate change-denying US President, who promises to erase any sort of facade about caring for the environment or curbing GHG emissions, has been sworn in again for another round of kleptocracy. Pseudo president-elect Musk, who believes that the primary threat to civilization is a dwindling human population, will have his own office in the White House complex.

Underpopulation concerns and EA(Effective Altruism) are particularly popular among wealthy white men like Musk, perhaps because they justify the push for infinite growth — more people, more wealth, more space exploration, and a continuation of the business-as-usual that favors the rich.

Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist who saw the writing on the wall and left his home in California after observing the increase in heatwaves and its effect on the local environment in recent years, had this to say a few days ago:

“…no place is actually safe. These kinds of impacts of these floods and fires and heat waves and storms, I think of them sort of like popcorn happening around the whole planet. You can’t know exactly where any one of these events is going to happen, but they’re starting to come at a higher frequency, sort of like when the popcorn really starts to get going and they’re starting to pop harder. It drives me kind of bonkers when people say this, especially when climate scientists who should know better say like, this is the new normal, for example. It is not. We are on a rising escalator towards higher planetary temperatures and all of the more frequent and severe impacts that come with that, which is really, frankly, terrifying.”

We could say that the ‘new normal’ is No New Normal for millennia, which is how long it will take Earth’s systems to stabilize after the Anthropocene Epoch has ended. Why did modern humans discount the future so much? If you ask scientist William Rees, he will say it is because humans, like any other organism, will expand and use any tool available to us to consume all available resources until environmental constraints impede us. And this innate biological urge is bolstered by today’s religion of Capitalism which started in the 16th century and today emphasizes infinite economic growth and profit. With fantasies of geoengineering techno-fixes, modern humans have literally externalized the entire cost of destroying the planet’s habitability for humans or any other large or small vertebrate and invertebrate that has evolved to live within the Holocene Epoch. Talk about a behavioral blind spot! The collective failure of modern Homo sapien to grasp the complexities of our environmental impacts and deal with them to any significant degree is our fatal flaw. We are proving our collective intelligence to be not much better than yeast in a wine vat. It’s far easier to imagine a cataclysmic reckoning from ecological overshoot that wipes out Earth’s human population rather than any radical and cooperative effort by nationstates to abandon our fossil-fueled economy and religion of Technocapitalism. Our ever-expanding Technosphere now outweighs all life on Earth and can be considered a parasitic threat as it accumulates ever more nonbiodegradable waste in the biosphere. With the current President-elect having amassed a cabinet of uber-wealthy far exceeding that of any other in American history, you should not expect the habitability of the planet to be a topic of discussion or even a fleeting thought in their $kull. In fact, the first order of business was to withdraw from the Paris Climate Pact. The death drive is alive and well in the human psyche; it will be full throttle into the abyss of the Anthropocene extinction.

You’ve got to love the title of this 2024 report from Munich Re, the largest reinsurer in the world…

Climate change is showing its claws: The world is getting hotter, resulting in severe hurricanes, thunderstorms and floods

Climate change is taking the gloves off

Hardly any other year has made the consequences of global warming so clear: with annual average temperatures reaching around 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time, 2024 will surpass the previous record from 2023. This makes the past eleven years the warmest since the beginning of systematic record-keeping.

The impact of man-made climate change on weather disasters has been proven many times over by research: in many regions, severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are becoming more frequent and more extreme. Although tropical cyclones are not generally increasing in number, the proportion of extreme cyclones is growing. They, in turn, are rapidly intensifying and bringing extreme precipitation with them.

This was the case for Helene and Milton, where World Weather Attribution studies have shown that both hurricanes were significantly more severe and brought much more extreme rainfall than in a hypothetical world without climate change. For the flash floods in the Valencia region, another study found that climate change made an event with this rainfall intensity twice as likely to occur.

And in the case of the flooding in Brazil, a study came to the conclusion that weather conditions such as those seen this year have become twice as likely due to climate change; as a result, they are becoming more frequent…

*Note that their report does not include heatwaves and droughts.

Here is the most current chart showing the upward trajectory of billion dollar weather disasters for the US, from 1980 through 2024:.

Considering we have now gone full Oligarch, you may never see a chart like this again or you may simply be brainwashed into discarding it as fake news. The politicization of our multi-pronged crisis or polycrisis will further fracture the average citizen’s ability to cope with societal breakdown. Some already believe nothing can be trusted in a world of AI and deep fake technology. Will anything convince people of this existential threat, as they continue flocking to the most vulnerable places??? Some of the younger generation are making a conscious choice:

My own daughter, a recent college graduate, told me she’d decided to stay in Chicago not just because of relatively affordable housing, but because it is “a cold climate near a large body of fresh water”. Such are the dystopian calculations of a generation born into a warming world.

Let’s not mince words; we are returning the planet to the climate volatility characteristic of the Pleistocene Epoch when agriculture was impossible, but we are doing it with fire rather than ice. There is no analog in geologic time for such a Fire Age, other than the similarity with prior mass extinctions wherein the chemical makeup of the atmosphere and oceans was altered through volcanism, albeit at a much slower rate and longer expanse of time. The Permian-Triassic extinction event, considered to be the fastest extinction in our geologic past, played out over 60,000 years. We can already see that the unpredictable hydroclimate whiplash we have set in motion from our fire-catalyzed climate upheaval will eventually make any attempts at large-scale agriculture impossible to sustain. An accelerated water cycle is already locked into the world’s climate system and now irreversible.  A new study shows these wild swings between heavy precipitation and severe drought have increased substantially worldwide since the 1950s:

Using a metric of ‘hydroclimate whiplash’ based on the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, global-averaged subseasonal (3-month) and interannual (12-month) whiplash have increased by 31–66% and 8–31%, respectively, since the mid-twentieth century. Further increases are anticipated with ongoing warming, including subseasonal increases of 113% and interannual increases of 52% over land areas with 3 °C of warming.

Sea level rise, the loss of pollinators and the mutilation of the tree of life, expansion of agricultural pests and pathogens, and the degradation of soil, among other factors will also be at play, causing havoc with agriculture. Those words from a 1989 internal and confidential memo by Shell Oil Company are proving prophetic:

“…The potential refugee problem in GLOBAL MERCANTILISM could be unprecedented. Africans would push into Europe, Chinese into the Soviet Union, Latins into the United States, Indonesians into Australia. Boundaries would count for little – overwhelmed by the numbers. Conflicts would abound. Civilisation could prove a fragile thing.”

Since 1990, global CO2 emissions have increased by more than 60% and they continue their inexorable rise with 2024 marking the highest rate of increase since record-keeping began in 1958, driven by record wildfires:

“These latest results further confirm that we are moving into uncharted territory faster than ever as the rise continues to accelerate,” says Prof Ralph Keeling, who leads the measurement programme at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the US.

Modern industrial civilization is entrapped in a Death Spiral characterized by denial, distrust, dogmatic thinking, flawed decision making, myopic single-minded focus on one ‘solution’, and self-reinforcing dysfunctional behavior. This has lead to a monumental gap between the elite and the masses, rise of authoritarianism, and rampant resource waste and depletion. We deny our way of life is unsustainable and carry on as if we are separate and superior to the environment that gave birth to us and which sustains us. We live and compete within a socioeconomic system which pits neighbor against neighbor and atomizes communities and families, dehumanizing individuals as consumers. Corporate media feeds us scripted narratives to manage and control the information we receive, thus creating an age of paranoia and distrust. Our political leaders are puppets of big-monied corporate interests which prioritize economic growth and profit over environmental and social concern. The fate of humanity rests in the hands of leaders who hide behind greenwashing and promise nothing more than delusional techno-fixes for growing existential threats. Are we not in the final stages of catabolic capitalism where society itself gets consumed and profit is extracted from scarcity, disaster, conflict, and crisis?

Interestingly, a new report says global GDP could be halved in the next half century with more than 4 billion deaths by mid century due to climate change:

…Sandy Trust, the lead author of the report, said there was no realistic plan in place to avoid this scenario.

He said economic predictions, which estimate that damages from global heating would be as low as 2% of global economic production for a 3C rise in global average surface temperature, were inaccurate and were blinding political leaders to the risks of their policies.

The climate risk assessments being used by financial institutions, politicians and civil servants to assess the economic effects of global heating were wrong, the report said, because they ignored the expected severe effects of climate change such as tipping points, sea temperature rises, migration and conflict as a result of global heating…

…If these risks were taken into account the world faced an increasing risk of “planetary insolvency”, where the Earth’s systems were so degraded that humans could no longer receive enough of the critical services they relied on to support societies and economies.

The decline in global human population this century will not be a smooth bell curve, but a precipitous vertical drop. How could there be any other outcome when we have deluded ourselves into thinking that living in megacities of concrete and steel, driving 3,000 pound exoskeletons over asphalt roads, and eating steaks exported from Brazil are all part of a natural and sustainable way of life?!? The apocalyptic hellscapes we see in places like Gaza and Syria are coming to all of the civilized world one day and very soon.

It was about 7am on a cold Saturday morning when 3 teenagers pulled up to 64 y.o. David Pettersen’s Minnesota home.

Two of the teens jumped out and started checking doors on Pettersen’s house, “testing” the easiest access.

Finding them locked, one of the teens – Kyle Nason (18 y.o.) – got a boost up to the 2nd level deck to look for an easier way in.

The homeowner, Petterson, was still in bed when he saw Kyle walk by his bedroom window.

He jumped out of bed to confront the boy – who, scared, leaped off the 2nd story deck, breaking his ankle in the fall – and began crawling his way to the getaway car parked near Pettersen’s garage.

What Happened Next Sent 1 Teen Criminal To The Morgue… And Will Send The “Victim” To Prison!

As the 3 teens scrambled to their vehicle, Peterson ran back to his bedroom to grab his loaded .45 caliber handgun.

Charging outside, he barely made it in time to intercept the criminals’ car as it drove by him in high-speed retreat.

In later reports, Pettersen stated he was trying to shoot out the front drivers-side tire to stop the criminals’ getaway… however, although he was able to get a round into the tire, Peterson kept on shooting… and one of the three bullets he shot hit the driver – 19 y.o. Nick Embertson – in the pelvis, who lost consciousness as he drove off onto the side of the driveway.

Pettersen ran back into his home to dial 911 as the other boys moved their bleeding friend out of the driver’s seat and sped off down the road.

The cops eventually caught up to the getaway car and 2 of the boys went off to jail while the 3rd – the wounded 19 y.o. – later died of his wounds at the hospital.

Oh, and the “victim”, 64 y.o. Pettersen?

Charged with 2 Felony counts that – after what will most definitely be a long and very expensive court trial – will likely put him in a prison cell, right next to even worse predators than the ones who tried to break into his home!

3 Home-Defense Lessons Most Gun-Owners Don’t Realize – Until It’s Too Late!

I see stories like this all the time and it makes me sick.

Law-abiding citizen is in his own home – minding his own business – and then some low-life dirtbags who don’t want to “work” for their money tries to prey on him.

And the “victim” is the one who will could spend the next 10-20 years of his life behind bars dreading the daily trip to “the showers”?

What REALLY makes me frustrated though is that these same law-abiding citizens who are smart enough to own a gun for self-protection… have NO CLUE about how to use it “legally” to defend themselves.

Trust me my friend… it matters! Big time!

In fact, here are 3 things you yourself may not even realize when it comes to using your firearm against a criminal…

1. You’re MIND Is Going To Screw With You

Pettersen was charged with Manslaughter – even though he was the victim – because the 3 teens (in the eyes of the law) were no longer a threat as they tried to get away in their car.

But that’s not likely what your brain is going to be telling you in the middle of the night, as you grip your pistol in your hands and have a bead on your retreating attackers.

What you may be more likely thinking is…

“F*ck that! Not in MY house you don’t!”

“I’m not letting you get away just so you can come back and try again!”

“I’m tired of criminals getting away with sh*t like this!”

Now, that kind of “hell no!” mind-set that could get you to take quick action and save your life…

… but it can also get you to take ILLEGAL action and ruin the REST of your life.

As we say in our “Bulletproof Defense” Certification Course… “Our legal system is NOT about justice… it’s about the LAW! Plain and simple!”

2. Your BODY Is Going To Screw With You

Adrenaline is a funny chemical in your body…

It’s your body’s natural “fight or flight” hormone that can give you near superhuman strength and stamina…

… but it also overrides your critical decision-making ability AND destroys your fine-motor skills you need for accurate shooting.

Case in point…

Pettersen said he was trying to “shoot out the driver’s side tire” to keep the teens from getting away.

While this may sound like a fishy excuse to some, the fact that he shot the driver in the pelvis – which would be at about the same height as the car’s tires – lends some backing to his story, right?

However… not only was it an illegal decision to try to shoot the tires (more on that in a second), but Pettersen’s adrenalized brain didn’t have the ability to account for the movement of the car and the bullet most likely was at least 2-3 feet away from where he wanted it to hit – “accidentally” striking the driver and killing him.

3. The COURT Is Going To Screw With You

At the time of this story, NO CHARGES have been filed against the two surviving teens.

At most, they’re probably looking at a Misdemeanor Trespassing charge because they didn’t actually enter the home, nor did they take anything or threaten the homeowner in any way.

In fact, you’ve seen me refer to these criminals as “boys” throughout this article … and that’s exactly how they’ll be presented to a jury (even though they’re really 18 & 19 y.o. “men”).

The happy pictures of the 3 teens will be shown on a video screen… the parents of the dead boy will be quietly sobbing in the back of the courtroom… and I can tell you pretty much what the discussion is going to be like in the courtroom for Pettersen’s prosecution…

“Mr. Pettersen, you’ve stated that you train at the range with your legally-owned firearm and can hit a target from 21 feet away and put all rounds within a 12-inch box. And now you’d like us to believe that you were aiming for a 3-foot wide tire and couldn’t even hit it from only 10 feet away?

So which is it Mr. Pettersen? Are you lying about how well trained you are with your firearm? Or are you perhaps lying about whether you really meant to shoot the young Nicolas Embertson even though he posed no threat to you?”

The fact is, prosecuting attorneys have all kinds of “tricks” for making you look bad on the stand.

They conveniently leave out the physiological effects an attack has on the “victim” and how it can cause you to do things you didn’t mean to do.

Understanding these effects NOW will help you make better legal decisions AND react better if you really are forced to shoot in your own defense.

As a matter of fact, this is why we filmed real “pressure-testing” of expert firearms users (including military contractors and law enforcement) in our training where you can literally SEE the effects of adrenaline – against a live “attacker” trainer.

It shows the jury – with their own eyes – that it’s actually the prosecuting attorney who might be the one they can’t trust, because he either doesn’t seem to understand these physiological factors, or worse… he’s just trying to “trick” them into finding the victim guilty!

This is why we say you can even enter videos of attacks and training as evidence of the legality of your actions based on the “Reasonable Man Doctrine”.

But here’s the secret…

In order for you to use it in your defense, you MUST have watched and participated in this type of training BEFORE you’re actually involved in a shooting.

It does you no good to follow the program AFTER you’ve pulled the trigger and it won’t be allowed into evidence.

That’s because the “Reasonable Man Doctrine” dictates that only the information you knew BEFORE you pulled the trigger is valuable to your defense.

(A Personal Note From The Editor…)

Ok, I might catch hell for saying this, but I’m going to anyway…

Pettersen SHOULD go to jail!

I’m not saying he’s a bad person or that I defend “criminals” over “victims”.

But the actions he took DID unnecessarily take a teen’s life – and that teen could have been my kid, your kid, (or your grand-kid).

You and I both know that – no matter how well we raise our children – they can take a bad turn here and there on their path through life.

God knows I sure did!

While the teens were definitely up to no good and deserve to be brought to justice, there was no sign that this crime was meant to hurt anyone and he didn’t deserve to die.

But even if you disagree with me on that principle, it’s 64 y.o. Pettersen’s 2nd Felony charge that you should care about also…

“Intentional Discharge Of A Firearm That Endangers Safety <of others>”

Basically that means he pulled the trigger at something he didn’t have to.

For Pettersen, that was the vehicle’s tire.

But that round (or any of the rounds) could have ricocheted off of the car – or missed the target completely – and struck an innocent bystander.

In the end, he got 90 days for his act… which seems like an insanely light sentence considering it could have been anyone’s kids.

Like MY kids… YOUR kids… your grand-kids… your spouse… your dog… or YOU!

Always remember – you’re legally responsible for every damn bullet that comes out of the end of your weapon, no matter where it goes or who it hits.

Bottom line is that – as much as I believe in our right to own a firearm to protect ourselves – I DON’T want untrained gun-owners out there who put MY life (or the lives of those I love) in jeopardy because they aren’t trained well enough.

And I’m not just talking about “marksmanship” training…

I’m talking about “legal” training that will keep you out of prison… and me and my family safe from their stupidity.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ve got it all figured out.

I talk to hundreds of gun-owners (and even many, many instructors) who don’t have all the facts.

As A Gun-Owner Yourself, What Common Mistakes Do You See Others Make When It Comes To LEGALLY Protecting Themselves?

Please Share Your Insights Below Now…

Of the many tragedies which have struck our nation through the years, the Great Depression of was the longest lasting and in many ways the most severe.

Few people made it through those trying years without feeling its impact. Millions of families lost jobs and homes, and even those who lost neither one often felt the pinch of hard financial times.

But even in the midst of those trying times, there were those who emerged victorious. Mostly, those were people who did not let the circumstances get them down, but instead sought ways of overcoming it. A large number of today’s well-known corporations were founded in those years, attesting to the indomitable spirits of their founders.

There are many who are saying that we are standing on the brink of the next great depression, and that our national economy is being held up by a flimsy house of cards.

If things really worsen you will want to be prepared. Here are 9 simple ways on how to survive the coming great depression.

1) Store Your Food.

Food is a necessity to life. Don’t become one of the panic merchants hunting for food when its too late. Most families don’t have enough food to last them 4 weeks in a recent study. So don’t become one of the statistics.

Other than the wealthy, the people who were impacted the least during the Great Depression were those who grew their own food. Millions of people had a vegetable garden and a henhouse behind their home. At a minimum, they would be growing some vegetables and have a steady source of eggs to feed their families. While that may not be much of a diet, when you don’t have a job, it can seem like food fit for a king.

2) Learn how to cook

Speaking about food fit for a king, we’re losing the art of knowing how to cook. We are used to using instant meals, frozen foods and “just add meat” packaged mixes. That’s great and it’s convenient, but when you don’t have the meat to add or the right ingredients to add to the packaged meal, it comes out rather flat.

Truly knowing how to cook means knowing how to make something well worth eating out of the ingredients you have available. How many people today know what to do if they don’t have butter or margarine to use in a recipe? What can you use if you don’t have enough flour? How can you turn that milk into yogurt or cheese, instead of letting it go to waste?

True cooks can turn simple ingredients into that meal fit for a king. They know how to get the most out of their spice cabinet and what they can do to make a disastrous recipe turn out anyway. Those skills can do a lot for the family’s morale and nutrition in hard times.

3) Store Clean Water.

You can survive without food for weeks, but without water you can perish quickly. Your body is made up of more than 80% water and some say it is the foundation to life. If the water is cut off to your home what is your plan? Make sure you are stocking water in case an emergency situation arises.

Water stored in plastic containers should be filled to the top so there is no air space and should be stored in a cool, dry location away from petroleum and insecticide products, and away from strong odor food or perfumed products.

4) Store Sharp Tool.

Tools such as an axe are simple but effective when gathering firewood, and hunting. Without a sharp tool, you life can be very difficult. You will want to have this tool and a sharpener close by, especially if live in an area that experience power failures.

5) Keep Warm.

Store firewood, matches, lighters to help keep you and your family warm at night. If there was a true emergency situation, how can you light a fire without these tools. Also it is a good idea to store candles. They are extremely cheap and reliable if the electricity is somehow shut off.

6) Keep a radio handy.

In all major crisis’s you want to be able to look after your family right? So you will want to know what is going on in the outside world. If there is a major power failure how will you keep up to date. With a radio you are able to keep up to date with the latest news, and events.

7) Store toiletries.

Personal hygiene is a must in any situation, good or bad. Be sure to store plenty of toilet paper, shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, and other necessary products to get your through your daily hygiene rituals. We sometimes take these things for granted in our society. What would happen to you if one day all these items simply became unavailable?

8) Store Extra Gasoline.

This is a must in any situation, but especially if the economic situation gets worse. Inflation would creep in and send gas prices sky high, so stocking up on gas prices while they are cheap now will not hurt in the long run. Not only will you save money, but you will be well prepare if you have to move from one location to the other quickly, or need to travel somewhere urgently.

9) Make Good Friends With Neighbors.

Ever heard the saying two heads are better than one? Well you should get to know your neighbor yesterday. Forming small communities back in the great depression was how they each got by from day to day. For moral support and to help each other with food and water. This is a powerful way to get by hard times.

10) Have a Simple Backup Plan.

In today’s day and age, many people just simply rely on the government or other people. If the economy was to fail tomorrow these people would be in serious trouble. Have a failsafe backup plan for everything. If you rely on one system that is not designed for the conditions you are left with. You are bound to fail. Make sure you are ready today, and have several backup plans in case one of them systematically fails.

11) Keep your chin up

No matter how bad the situation is, you can always do something to make it better. I mentioned earlier that there were many great businesses which were founded during the Great Depression. That wasn’t an accident. These were men and women who spat in the eyes of destiny. They decided that they weren’t going to become part of the depression and made some bold moves. But they had the guts and the drive to make it happen.

I don’t care what survival situation you might face. The thing that will do the most to see you through is to stare the problem in the eye and laugh. You can overcome if you are convinced that you can. But if you are convinced that you can’t, you’ve already lost the battle.