(Alt-Market)—In the first article in this series I examined the issue of militias and the public taking its security into its own hands. I did this because frankly, without security, you have nothing. There are millions of people out there, each with their own pet concerns and many of these people think their primary issue is the secret silver bullet solution to everything. It’s not. Security comes first, everything else is secondary. That said, the most important factor next to physical safety is economic preparedness.
If you were to examine the entire spectrum of globalist policies and programs from the US to Europe to Asia, including climate controls and carbon credits, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), cashless societies, vaccine passports, biometrics, agricultural controls, the “Great Reset,” the Fourth Industrial Revolution, AI monitoring of transactions, etc. you will come to the same conclusion I have – Almost everything they do revolves around locking down and micromanaging trade and access to resources.
Not just international trade and the import/export of resources, but ALL trade including the average person’s grocery purchases and private barter. If they get their way you won’t even be allowed to grow a garden in your backyard. Think I’m exaggerating? Just look at what happened during the attempted covid lockdowns – There were leftist state governments trying to deny people access to jobs and food without vaccination status, and at least one (Michigan) tried to stop people from buying garden seeds.
In many places (including Hawaii), they tried to arrest people simply for being outside in parks and beaches. Keep in mind, it is nearly impossible to contract or transmit a virus in the outdoors where open air and sunlight actively kill diseases. Yet, the science was completely ignored in order to control people’s behavioral patterns, social interactions and economic participation.
I have long argued that one of the primary purposes of the covid lockdowns was to acclimate the public to the idea of rationing – The government takeover of production and consumption as a means to bottleneck trade. Rationing erases any last vestiges of the free market and turns the buying of necessities into a privilege instead of a right. It was also an attempt to demonize the concept of prepping as a form of “hoarding.” In other words, if you planned ahead and bought food and medical supplies years in advance, you were a selfish person withholding valuable goods from others in dire need.
I think the chaotic flurry of activity during 2020 and 2021 had a lot of people confused; many have forgotten how incredibly close we came to full authoritarianism, including total economic tyranny.
The purpose of economic controls is obvious: If you control people’s access to supplies and income then they are far less likely to rebel against you when you turn the screws and take their freedoms. This has been the strategy of every communist/socialist regime around the world since the 20th Century, and was a mainstay of feudal empires in the Middle Ages. The process of trade controls is at the core of the agenda of our modern day oligarchy – Ruling at the barrel of a gun is not as viable a strategy today (at least for now), so, they are opting to used indirect methods to gain compliance until the population can be completely disarmed.
This trend forces the liberty minded to adopt alternative economic systems. If we do not, then we will not be able to maintain our ability to fight back against authoritarianism. If you can’t feed yourself, then you can’t fight. But what would these alternative systems look like?
Essentially, they would be black markets. Study the tactics of gun runners and drug dealers of the past several decades and the alternative economy of the future will probably look similar, though on a much larger scale. Most of what we do will eventually be treated as illicit unless it is specifically sanctioned by local or state governments, but this will not stop centralized authorities from doing everything they can to shut down private production and trade.
Then there is the issue of economic collapse, which we are already beginning to experience in the form of a stagflation crisis. Trust me, it’s going to get a lot worse in the next couple of years, so establishing alternatives today should be our top priority. If your currency is consistently losing value, prices are rising and you have to work harder everyday to attain the same amount of resources then the end game will be slavery and servitude – Unless you can walk away from the broken economy.
Here are the steps that would be necessary to defeat the socialization of trade, and all of them will require a certain level of risk.
Localized Resource Production And Taking Back The “Commons”
Large groups of people in counties and states will have to organize the extraction of vital resources from areas typically managed by the federal government. Meaning, if your state produces a lot of oil, or timber, or coal, or copper, or steel, etc., then the production will have to focus on domestic markets rather than foreign export. Americans either at the state or county level will need to ignore federal restrictions on resource management that favor large corporations and create a supply chain for domestic use only.
The more groups at the county and state level do this, the larger the resource network will become and the harder it will be for federal or global interests to shut down wider production of goods and services. If you want to bring back an economy of independent producers and tradesman in the US, it all starts with localized resources and the end of access for government protected corporations that siphon wealth out of communities.
Barter Markets
I’ve been writing about the value of barter markets as a means of rebellion for almost 20 years now, and I continue to believe that this tactic is an incredible tool for defeating economic tyranny. The bottom line is this, though: Barter markets need producers in order to stay viable. They need people who make things, grow things, fix things and teach things. It can’t just be about trading goods you already have on hand; you have to be willing to add value to the market by creating useful items and services.
Barter markets can operate on a small neighborhood scale up to a county level, while states can trade with each other to stockpile vital commodities. All of this, though, would have to act as a stopgap because barter relies on an erratic value system – Any item or service is going to be worth something different to each person, making standardized prices difficult. In the end, some kind of universal trade mechanism (currency) will have to be introduced that functions outside the failing dollar system and separate from CBDCs.
Alternative Currency System
Yes, this concept has been discussed at great length from every angle within the liberty movement for years. Most of the talk has revolved around cryptocurrencies, though, which I view as a distraction from legitimate solutions. Almost no one you run into on a daily basis owns or trades crypto; why would they when it is a currency based in virtual reality? People want the option to hold their buying power in their hand, to know that their wealth is tangible.
This means a convertible currency mechanism, either a cryptocurrency or physical note that is backed by a commodity or a basket of commodities that are held in escrow safely and securely. These commodities would have to have storage capacity and be relatively portable; gold, silver and copper, wheat, oil, rice, and so on. A basket averaging out relative values can be used to determine buying power of the new currency.
Of course, such a system would have to be developed at the state level. It’s unlikely that counties and cities will have the resources to create such a system on their own. Though, localized script might become common in smaller towns if they are highly organized. This is an idea that needs to be pursued now, BEFORE an economic collapse and dollar collapse play out.
A “Reset” Of The Tax And Corporate Model
If taxes are to exist at all, they should be limited to the local level and the benefits of those taxes should be readily visible to the local population. Federal income taxes should not exist (they didn’t exist permanently until the formation of the Federal Reserve Bank from 1913-1916). They only serve to feed the authoritarian apparatus and grow government ever larger. Federal operations, if they are to exist at all, should be funded through tariff’s on foreign goods as was the practice in the US decades ago.
Corporate charters should no longer exist. Corporations are a socialist concept given protection and special treatment from governments. They should be replaced by legal partnerships and no longer be treated as “too big to fail.” Also, when business management knowingly commits a crime, they should be prosecuted, not protected by limited liability.
The tax model and the corporate model are both massive drains on the modern economic system. They disrupt the buying power and the production power of the average citizen, thereby keeping entrepreneurs from advancing due to rigged competition and dragging down the consumer with steady wealth depletion.
If we are to save the economy, or build any kind of functional alternative, then these two millstones will have to be removed from our collective necks.
Coffee the Christian way: Promised Grounds
Decentralization Prevents Genocide
The greater issue at hand is what happens when governments and oligarchies are allowed to wield centralized authority over resources. Usually, the end result is the exploitation of those resources as a weapon to punish part of the population or all of the population until they submit. Often, genocide is treated as a viable option.
Looking at the communist engineered famines in Soviet Russia or Maoist China, we can see the same elements forming today in the west. The difference is that we have historic reference and the means to prevent it from happening again. Make no mistake, there are psychopaths in leadership today that have no qualms whatsoever in using food or economic access as leverage against the people that oppose them. We saw them try it during covid, and they are going to keep trying under the guise of climate change.
But really, these are only mechanisms for garnering popular acceptance of socialized resources. “We’re all in this together…right?” No, we’re not, and the notion of sacrifice for the greater good is a farce created by parasites trying to convince the host that the bloodletting and feeding is “moral” and necessary. These parasites serve no purpose. The collectivists serve no purpose. There are numerous ways for the economy and society to function happily and successfully without them and their centralized agenda.
But to get rid of them we have to first protect ourselves, and establishing a solid alternative trade framework is a major step towards eliminating the parasites forever.
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Five Things New “Preppers” Forget When Getting Ready for Bad Times Ahead
The preparedness community is growing faster than it has in decades. Even during peak times such as Y2K, the economic downturn of 2008, and Covid, the vast majority of Americans made sure they had plenty of toilet paper but didn’t really stockpile anything else.
Things have changed. There’s a growing anxiety in this presidential election year that has prompted more Americans to get prepared for crazy events in the future. Some of it is being driven by fearmongers, but there are valid concerns with the economy, food supply, pharmaceuticals, the energy grid, and mass rioting that have pushed average Americans into “prepper” mode.
There are degrees of preparedness. One does not have to be a full-blown “doomsday prepper” living off-grid in a secure Montana bunker in order to be ahead of the curve. In many ways, preparedness isn’t about being able to perfectly handle every conceivable situation. It’s about being less dependent on government for as long as possible. Those who have proper “preps” will not be waiting for FEMA to distribute emergency supplies to the desperate masses.
Below are five things people new to preparedness (and sometimes even those with experience) often forget as they get ready. All five are common sense notions that do not rely on doomsday in order to be useful. It may be nice to own a tank during the apocalypse but there’s not much you can do with it until things get really crazy. The recommendations below can have places in the lives of average Americans whether doomsday comes or not.
Note: The information provided by this publication or any related communications is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice. We do not provide personalized investment, financial, or legal advice.
Secured Wealth
Whether in the bank or held in a retirement account, most Americans feel that their life’s savings is relatively secure. At least they did until the last couple of years when de-banking, geopolitical turmoil, and the threat of Central Bank Digital Currencies reared their ugly heads.
It behooves Americans to diversify their holdings. If there’s a triggering event or series of events that cripple the financial systems or devalue the U.S. Dollar, wealth can evaporate quickly. To hedge against potential turmoil, many Americans are looking in two directions: Crypto and physical precious metals.
There are huge advantages to cryptocurrencies, but there are also inherent risks because “virtual” money can become challenging to spend. Add in the push by central banks and governments to regulate or even replace cryptocurrencies with their own versions they control and the risks amplify. There’s nothing wrong with cryptocurrencies today but things can change rapidly.
As for physical precious metals, many Americans pay cash to keep plenty on hand in their safe. Rolling over or transferring retirement accounts into self-directed IRAs is also a popular option, but there are caveats. It can often take weeks or even months to get the gold and silver shipped if the owner chooses to close their account. This is why Genesis Gold Group stands out. Their relationship with the depositories allows for rapid closure and shipping, often in less than 10 days from the time the account holder makes their move. This can come in handy if things appear to be heading south.
Lots of Potable Water
One of the biggest shocks that hit new preppers is understanding how much potable water they need in order to survive. Experts claim one gallon of water per person per day is necessary. Even the most conservative estimates put it at over half-a-gallon. That means that for a family of four, they’ll need around 120 gallons of water to survive for a month if the taps turn off and the stores empty out.
Being near a fresh water source, whether it’s a river, lake, or well, is a best practice among experienced preppers. It’s necessary to have a water filter as well, even if the taps are still working. Many refuse to drink tap water even when there is no emergency. Berkey was our previous favorite but they’re under attack from regulators so the Alexapure systems are solid replacements.
For those in the city or away from fresh water sources, storage is the best option. This can be challenging because proper water storage containers take up a lot of room and are difficult to move if the need arises. For “bug in” situations, having a larger container that stores hundreds or even thousands of gallons is better than stacking 1-5 gallon containers. Unfortunately, they won’t be easily transportable and they can cost a lot to install.
Water is critical. If chaos erupts and water infrastructure is compromised, having a large backup supply can be lifesaving.
Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies
There are multiple threats specific to the medical supply chain. With Chinese and Indian imports accounting for over 90% of pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States, deteriorating relations could make it impossible to get the medicines and antibiotics many of us need.
Stocking up many prescription medications can be hard. Doctors generally do not like to prescribe large batches of drugs even if they are shelf-stable for extended periods of time. It is a best practice to ask your doctor if they can prescribe a larger amount. Today, some are sympathetic to concerns about pharmacies running out or becoming inaccessible. Tell them your concerns. It’s worth a shot. The worst they can do is say no.
If your doctor is unwilling to help you stock up on medicines, then Jase Medical is a good alternative. Through telehealth, they can prescribe daily meds or antibiotics that are shipped to your door. As proponents of medical freedom, they empathize with those who want to have enough medical supplies on hand in case things go wrong.
Energy Sources
The vast majority of Americans are locked into the grid. This has proven to be a massive liability when the grid goes down. Unfortunately, there are no inexpensive remedies.
Those living off-grid had to either spend a lot of money or effort (or both) to get their alternative energy sources like solar set up. For those who do not want to go so far, it’s still a best practice to have backup power sources. Diesel generators and portable solar panels are the two most popular, and while they’re not inexpensive they are not out of reach of most Americans who are concerned about being without power for extended periods of time.
Natural gas is another necessity for many, but that’s far more challenging to replace. Having alternatives for heating and cooking that can be powered if gas and electric grids go down is important. Have a backup for items that require power such as manual can openers. If you’re stuck eating canned foods for a while and all you have is an electric opener, you’ll have problems.
Don’t Forget the Protein
When most think about “prepping,” they think about their food supply. More Americans are turning to gardening and homesteading as ways to produce their own food. Others are working with local farmers and ranchers to purchase directly from the sources. This is a good idea whether doomsday comes or not, but it’s particularly important if the food supply chain is broken.
Most grocery stores have about one to two weeks worth of food, as do most American households. Grocers rely heavily on truckers to receive their ongoing shipments. In a crisis, the current process can fail. It behooves Americans for multiple reasons to localize their food purchases as much as possible.
Long-term storage is another popular option. Canned foods, MREs, and freeze dried meals are selling out quickly even as prices rise. But one component that is conspicuously absent in shelf-stable food is high-quality protein. Most survival food companies offer low quality “protein buckets” or cans of meat, but they are often barely edible.
Prepper All-Naturals offers premium cuts of steak that have been cooked sous vide and freeze dried to give them a 25-year shelf life. They offer Ribeye, NY Strip, and Tenderloin among others.
Having buckets of beans and rice is a good start, but keeping a solid supply of high-quality protein isn’t just healthier. It can help a family maintain normalcy through crises.
Prepare Without Fear
With all the challenges we face as Americans today, it can be emotionally draining. Citizens are scared and there’s nothing irrational about their concerns. Being prepared and making lifestyle changes to secure necessities can go a long way toward overcoming the fears that plague us. We should hope and pray for the best but prepare for the worst. And if the worst does come, then knowing we did what we could to be ready for it will help us face those challenges with confidence.
