CONQUERING THE COMING COLLAPSE

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2 LEGAL DISCLAIMER THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN CONQUERING THE COMING COLLAPSE, AND ITS SEVERAL COMPLEMENTARY GUIDES, IS MEANT TO SERVE AS A COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF TIME-TESTED AND PROVEN STRATEGIES THAT THE AUTHORS OF THIS COURSE LEARN OVER THE YEARS, RELATED TO ECONOMIC SURVIVAL/PREPAREDNESS. SUMMARIES, STRATEGIES, TIPS AND TRICKS ARE ONLY RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE AUTHORS, AND READING THIS EBOOK DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT ONE S RESULTS WILL EXACTLY MIRROR OUR OWN RESULTS. THE AUTHOR OF CONQUERING THE COMING COLLAPSE HAS MADE ALL REASONABLE EFFORTS TO PROVIDE CURRENT AND ACCURATE INFORMATION FOR THE READERS OF THIS COURSE. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY UNINTENTIONAL ERRORS OR OMISSIONS THAT MAY BE FOUND. THE MATERIAL IN CONQUERING THE COMING COLLAPSE MAY INCLUDE INFORMATION, PRODUCTS, OR SERVICES BY THIRD PARTIES. THIRD PARTY MATERIALS COMPRISE OF THE PRODUCTS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY THEIR OWNERS. AS SUCH, THE AUTHORS OF THIS GUIDE DO NOT ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY THIRD PARTY MATERIAL OR OPINIONS. THE PUBLICATION OF SUCH THIRD PARTY MATERIALS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE AUTHORS GUARANTEE OF ANY INFORMATION, INSTRUCTION, OPINION, PRODUCTS OR SERVICE CONTAINED WITHIN THE THIRD PARTY MATERIAL. WHETHER BECAUSE OF THE GENERAL EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNET, OR THE UNFORESEEN CHANGES IN COMPANY POLICY AND EDITORIAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES, WHAT IS STATED AS FACT AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING, MAY BECOME OUTDATED OR SIMPLY INAPPLICABLE AT A LATER DATE. THIS MAY APPLY TO THE CONQUERING THE COMING COLLAPSE AS WELL AS THE VARIOUS SIMILAR COMPANIES THAT WE HAVE REFERENCED IN THIS EBOOK, AND OUR SEVERAL COMPLEMENTARY GUIDES. GREAT EFFORT HAS BEEN EXERTED TO SAFEGUARD THE ACCURACY OF THIS WRITING. OPINIONS REGARDING SIMILAR WEBSITE PLATFORMS HAVE BEEN FORMULATED AS A RESULT OF BOTH PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, AS WELL AS THE WELL DOCUMENTED EXPERIENCES OF OTHERS. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION SHALL BE REPRODUCED, TRANSMITTED OR RESOLD IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM, WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AUTHORS. ALL TRADEMARKS AND REGISTERED TRADEMARKS APPEARING IN CONQUERING THE COMING COLLAPSE ARE THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNER.

3 1. Surviving an Economic Meltdown It seems like every couple of months there s some new financial crisis in Washington. The government has yet to pass a budget since President Obama entered office. Shutdowns loom at every corner. Democrats and Republicans can t agree on what we should be spending money on; so instead, they just keep spending more and more. On top of all this, there s a looming national debt that our great, great grandchildren will probably still be paying for. The government has been working the presses overtime, trying to print enough money to keep inflation down. Regardless of what might happen tomorrow, they re trying to make things look good today. While that has kept Wall Street happy, it s like covering up an infection; eventually you have to take the band-aid off and find out how bad things are underneath. It s looking like we have an economic meltdown coming, whether we want one or not. The issue is no longer whether one is coming or not, but rather how soon it will be coming and how bad it will be when it gets here.

4 1.1 Predictions? There s no real way to predict that. Oh, I m sure that there are economists somewhere who will tell you that you can predict it, and I m sure that they ll be glad to give you their own forecast about the meltdown; but that doesn t mean they re right. Every economist out there will have their own ideas, and no two of them will agree. After all, where else can you find a professional field where the professionals can t even agree on the rules? Yep, that s right; economists can t even agree on the rules of their trade. Fortunately for us, we don t need to listen to what they say in order to see what is going on around us. The economy is in trouble, and we don t need someone with a degree in economics to tell us that. In fact, we might even be better off not listening to them. There is an ample precedent in the world for countries to face economic collapses; they aren t new. In recent years it has struck Argentina, Greece and Cyprus. Going farther back, we can see that the Soviet Union had one, which was a major factor in its ultimate collapse. Before that, the Weimar Republic in Germany had one, which eventually led to the rise of Hitler as Der Fuhrer. So, it can hit countries of any size and of any economic level. Some feel that the United States is too powerful economically to suffer an economic collapse. With the world s largest economy and the dollar being the money used for worldwide exchange, they feel that we are immune to such problems. However, with the government s continued expenditures, the continued operation of our country depends upon borrowed money. If people stop lending money to our government, things will come to a screeching halt. There are several common signs that we can identify from these countries whose economy has collapsed. There are also common ways in which the various governments have reacted to those signs; things that take the country s economy over the cliff and into full collapse. Those things are: High national debt High unemployment High inflation High number of people dependent upon government handouts The government dumping money into the economy A friend of mine, who lived through the Argentinean collapse, says that there were two phases of entering the collapse. The first phase was the slow slide into high debt, high unemployment and high inflation. Then when the economy hit a critical point, there was a sudden collapse, like the economy going off a cliff. Unemployment and hyperinflation skyrocketed; seemingly overnight.

5 I realize it s old news, but our national debt has topped 17 trillion dollars. That s over $56,000 per person. Just recently, Congress authorized an increase in the debt ceiling once again, under the pressure of President Obama. Once again, our government is saddling our children with more of our debt. If we compare the current U.S. national debt to the debt that Argentina had before their collapse, it works out to 11 times more per capita. Some would say that our economy is much larger and stronger than Argentina s. That is true; however, at its peak, the Argentinean national debt equaled only 3/4 of their GNP, while the U.S. national debt is already at 109 percent of our GNP. How much more can our economy support? Perhaps even more importantly, how much more will the world accept from us, before they stop loaning us money? 1.2 Is the Unemployment Rate Really Dropping? We have had high unemployment since the 2009 housing crash. Still, the official figures show that our unemployment is gradually dropping, with an official rate as of this writing of 7.3 percent. That raises the question of how that figure can exist, yet there are still so many people looking for work. To answer that, we need to understand how the official figures are calculated. The official unemployment rate depends upon two pieces of data. The first is the number of people who are receiving unemployment compensation. The second is the number of people who are in the workforce. Using the number of people who are receiving unemployment as a basis is a false basis, because it assumes that everyone who is out of work is receiving unemployment. But, what happens when their unemployment benefits run out? Many people have used up their unemployment benefits, even with the extensions that were part of Obama s economic stimulus package, and still couldn t find a job. It s not that these people had oddball careers either; we re talking about teachers, engineers and accountants. When those benefits run out, they are no longer considered unemployed, whether or not they have found a job. Actually, what has been happening is that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been dropping them from the roles of the actively working. We have a higher percentage of our population which is not actively working than we have ever had. There are currently 101 million working aged people who are not working. That makes for a workforce participation rate of only 63.2 percent. In other words, 46.8 percent of our working age population is out of work.

6 3. What Will You Do When It Comes? Since it s a given that a financial collapse is coming, the next question to face is What are you going to do when it happens? Historically, those who are best prepared for facing any crisis are the ones who make it through the crisis in good shape. That s why government agencies spend so much time and money in preparing contingency plans for every imaginable disaster. The idea behind a contingency plan is that most of the time a crisis doesn t give you time to think. Things happen so fast, that you are merely reacting. At the same time, the human brain has a tendency to become overwhelmed and go on vacation when everything falls apart. So, at the time you need to be thinking the most clearly, you usually aren t. Contingency plans are written up with the advantage of time. Planners aren t pressured to come up with them, they have the luxury of sitting back and looking at the situation from all viewpoints, thinking through different options and then selecting the one that will provide the greatest benefit. Then, when the crisis does happen, all people have to do is pull out the plan and do what it says. Assuming that it is properly written out, the plan will get them through. Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect contingency plan, because nobody has perfect foresight. Situations don t present themselves to use in a perfect way which will fit our plans to a

7 T. Nevertheless, having that plan gives you a series of actions to take, along with the information you need, so that you know what to do. If changes need to be made to it, it s a whole lot easier to make changes to an existing plan, than it is to start from ground zero. So, that brings us back to the original question, what are you going to do? Do you even have a plan? If you don t have a plan, then don t feel bad; you re in the same boat as 99 percent of our population. Of course, that won t help you a bit when we suddenly find our economy in meltdown. Those 99 percent of the people who don t have a plan are either depending on the government to bail them out or don t believe anything bad could actually happen to them. Maybe they should have been living in the path of Hurricane Sandy. That way, they could have learned how poorly prepared our government is to help anyone, even with a regional problem like a hurricane. When the economy melts down, the government will be even less prepared to face the music and deal with the problems. If anything, they will be part of the problem, not part of the solution. FEMA has never been prepared to deal with any large-scale disaster, let alone a nationwide one. It will be up to you and those who are close to you to take care of yourself. Sadly, many will suffer, while waiting for help that will never come. Those who will do the best are those who have a plan and put it into execution. To create a plan, you have to first decide what problem you re creating the plan to overcome. We ve already got that; the coming economic crash. It s not enough to know what problem exists, we also have to know what we will be confronted with, when that problem arrives. Thanks to Pablo, we ve got a pretty good idea. As we discussed in the last chapter, we can expect the financial collapse to bring: High unemployment (which may include you) High inflation Mob violence Ongoing increase in crime

8 Potential home attacks Shortages of all types (especially for critically needed supplies) Irregular utility services Knowing that, an effective plan must be complete enough to include a way of dealing with all of those problems. That s a tall order to fulfill. However, you aren t the only one who is trying to do it. All around you are hundreds of thousands of other people who are also doing the same thing. If they can do it, you can too. We re going to deal with each of those areas, discussing what you can do to provide your family with those needs and providing specific recommendations. Don t just do something because I recommend it; analyze your situation and determine if that s the right thing for you to do. Some people may need to take different action, because of special needs or special circumstances.

9 6. Surviving as a Senior Seniors face special challenges when it comes to surviving any sort of a crisis. Their bodies limit what they can do, making survival a much harder task for them. On top of that, they are seen as easy prey by those who want to take advantage of others. This happens even in normal times. Certain classes of criminals prey upon the elderly. This is mostly because the criminals are cowards and the limitations that the elderly face make it harder to defend themselves. Purse snatchers love to go after the little old lady who just got her Social Security check. Those same criminals won t go after the cop on the corner, because he is able to defend himself. I don t want to say that seniors can t defend themselves, just that there is a perception that they can t. I would encourage any seniors out there to get a gun and learn how to shoot it. There s a gentleman in his 80s, who is a member at the same shooting range where I go to shoot. He s in there three or four times a week, shooting a Colt.45. I sure wouldn t want to be in the shoes of any criminal that tried to break into his home.

10 About the author Bill White is the author of Conquering the Coming Collapse, and a former Army officer, manufacturing engineer and business manager. More recently, he left the business world to work as a cross-cultural missionary on the Mexico border. Bill has been a survivalist since the 1970s, when the nation was in the latter days of the Cold War. He had determined to head into the Colorado Rockies, should Washington ever decide to push the button. While those days have passed, the knowledge Bill gained during that time hasn t. He now works to educate others on the risks that exist in our society and how to prepare to meet them, as an editor on Survivopedia.com.

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