Mr Rawles:
I sent you a link awhile back about the old timer from Wall Street who is still working in the industry and lived through the first Depression – he was greatly worried about what was coming. I agreed with your assessment that he was wrong about staying in stocks. My own former husband is a Wall Streeter who has moved much of his money out of the country now. He manages part of my own retirement portfolio and has been saying that what’s coming is going to be horrific to bear. His grandparents arrived in the US at the start of the Depression and proceeded to buckle down and weather it out. He agrees that we just don’t have that kind of overall wherewithal left in our collective psyche to ride this out nicely.
I work in dual careers, one for a consulting firm. My other career is as a critical care RN – I went to business school on my employer’s dime, so no loans. No debt. I know now that I can never give up nursing altogether – it will be needed in any coming disaster on a large scale.
My husband and I now faithfully read your blog and are implementing more than our standard for hurricane weather, as we still spend so much time in Florida. Being debt free is God’s blessing because it allows more to be freed up for preps and emergency spending. (We are buying from your advertisers.) As I casually send links to friends and warn them of life changing on a massive scale, there are more in agreement, even if they don’t understand the economic lies being fed into the machine. One is on the edge of liquidating solid performing accounts to buy waterfront property that is about $300,000+ than they could be comfortable in. They own almost free and clear now, near the water. I told her to stay put.
People are already flipped out about $4.00 gas and it’s hitting the lowest tier of workers – they are fast being unable to get to work to keep the jobs they do have, never mind other errands. What happens as it creeps out further – violence will erupt.
Many of the patients I see (I work two weekends a month in a major city university hospital) are at the bottom of the barrel – fewer and fewer people are coming in with full insurance – almost all have great stress as to how to pay for the care they’re receiving. All of this: food/oil prices, corn diversion for ethanol, mortgage mess by crooks, stagnant wages/layoffs, now floods in the Midwest, have combined to give us the perfect economic storm. (As an aside, watch the CNN special this weekend titled “Out Of Gas” – it’s from a few years back, but still timely. James Woolsey, former CIA director, is probably a SurvivalBlog reader: The man has had his home and life prepared for years, and is interviewed in the piece. A CIA Director thinking ahead like that says that there was something in the mix years back that portended this…)
You also had a piece from Mike Morgan up this week – part of his real estate blog. I’m from Florida, still own a home there in Sarasota that is safely rented and cared for by family. Everyone in Florida listens to Mike Morgan – he’s the “E.F. Hutton” equivalent for real estate and trend casting. Now he can legally dispense investment advice having passed his Series 65 [license]. Here are a couple excerpts from the blog this past week that show he’s not mincing words about looming human disaster ahead: – Lisa, RN