Global Police State

Editor’s Note: Here you can find Part I of Greg’s three-part series on “Being Prepared.”

I personally witnessed what can happen within a very short period of time when food is no longer available to the public.

I was in my early twenties, living in Paris, France.

Because of an extended truckers’ strike, the food stores were cleared out within 24 hours of the announcement. Within five days, normally law-abiding citizens took to the streets and began threatening anyone who had food…

Those with no food quickly crossed the line of sanity and started desperately looking to take food from those who had it by any means necessary.

These events were never properly covered by the news media (what a surprise!), but I saw firsthand how uncivilized a so-called “modern country” can become within a matter of days because of a lack of food.

If I had not witnessed this myself, I probably would not believe this could happen so easily.

And even as a strong young man, I found myself quite frightened at times before the trucks started rolling again.

That particular truckers’ strike lasted three weeks — but it left me with a lasting impression.

The following are Items to Consider that I feel are prudent as you make your own preparations based on the problems that could potentially threaten our way of life.

Each of the items below could fill a book… but my intent is to at least get you thinking about the most important things related to being prepared.

1. Should I stay or should I go?

Many have already decided where they will go if and when any such disaster occurs. One of the questions I get more than any other regarding this topic is: Should I stay in the United States or leave to another country?

Personally, I know many who have already left the United States — and they have never looked back. I have been invited to their retreats in Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, and the Caribbean Islands, and they seem very happy with their decision to leave.

This is a huge decision. My hope is that the following discussion may be of some help when thinking about this topic.

Because I travel internationally so much in my search for quality mining assets, I often compare notes on my trips with other folks (geologists, newsletter writers, etc.) about their travels…

One of the realizations you see firsthand as you travel extensively worldwide is the extreme wealth, extreme poverty, and extreme corruption that exists in all of its world flavors.

If you think the United States is corrupt, you should try going to Peru, or Bolivia, or Panama. And if you think those countries are corrupt, you haven’t see anything compared to Russia, Haiti, India, or some places in Africa…

The fact is corruption and the growing global police state is EVERYWHERE!

So while we certainly see much to complain about in the United States, which is definitely going the wrong way fast, from what I have seen in most other places on the planet, the U.S. is still less corrupt than most. There are bad apples everywhere throughout politics, local police, FBI agents, and most certainly the court system — but for every bad apple, there are probably three times as many honorable people who are truly just trying to do their jobs.

Leaving the country is a decision you must make before the event takes place due to the sheer amount of time and effort it takes to accomplish such a task.

You must also think about being away from family and friends who don’t share your enthusiasm to leave the country and what affect that could have on everyone over time.

For most, I think it’s probably best to just hunker down in your own country (U.S. or Canada) and prepare as much as you can. If you can afford a retreat cabin somewhere far away from the big cities, that would probably be best — but again, you still need to get there once the event occurs.

Studies have clearly shown that once a SHTF (Sh*t Hits The Fan) event occurs, you have two to three days to get to where you ultimately want to hunker down. After that, travel becomes extremely dangerous and it is unlikely you will reach your final destination.

Highways will become kill zones targeted by the bad guys. To a gang of armed looters who forgot to prepare or plan ahead before the event, there is not a better target than an RV loaded down with stored food, ammo, and gold.

Don’t be foolish and attempt travel once things have gone south: If you need to get somewhere, plan to leave the moment the event happens and arrive where you want to be within 72 hours.

This may require several false starts (meaning the situation looked bad at first, but didn’t materialize, and you need to return home) on your part as events start to unfold. But it’s better to be safe than sorry if you are planning to get somewhere when an event happens.

Military strategists know from historical accounts of what happens when governments fail or when SHTF events affect a country: The rule of thumb is that roads are to be avoided at all costs.

If you cannot afford a retreat cabin of some sort, there are things you can do to hunker down in your own home…

First, you need to stock up and find a way to defend it. Like-minded friends and neighbors can be a huge support network — as long as they have prepared as well.

There is a great book (it’s not well-edited, but has solid content) on how to live in your home and defend it called Holding Your Ground: Preparing for Defense if it All Falls Apart by Joe Nobody, which in itself is a lesson in laying low.

This book isn’t about turning your home into a concrete bunker armed to the teeth; it’s more about using cosmetic deception to fool would-be marauders into thinking your place has already been hit. It includes plenty of clever techniques that go far beyond “shooting back.”

Ultimately, everyone must decide for themselves based on finances, family concerns, and individual preferences what he can or cannot do in his preparations.

Hopefully, this discussion will help you make the best choices for what is in your best interest.

2. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

This is a good motto to live by, despite how you think about things.

Individuals can still hope for the best (that things can and will eventually work out), but what good is your prosperity going to do if you don’t have anything to eat or a safe place to hang out for an extended period of time?

Why not prepare while you still can — when things are readily available and can still be purchased at cheap prices? The coming hyper-inflation will make any such purchases beforehand look very intelligent…

To prepare for the worst, you need a plan. Why are most people so against doing basic preparations that could be the difference on how they survive — or whether they survive?

History shows time and again that those who prepare always fare better than those who did not. Having a plan and being determined to act on that plan will always be the best way to handle any contingencies, should they occur.

After disaster strikes, your mind is going to be racing around like a car on a race track. Pre-planning and having a written set of measures to take will make someone’s life go much smoother when the SHTF.

Your own personal plan is ONLY what best fits what you are going to do during and after a disaster.

People should also have back-up plans — Plans B and C, at least — because nothing ever seems to go as planned. Haphazard approaches to the aftermaths of catastrophes are kind of like a chicken running around without its head.

3. Prepare 72-hour “bug-out” bags.

This is an easy, cost-effective preparation that makes a ton of sense — no matter what happens. Even a small preparation like this can have an enormous impact on how you survive the first few days after any type of catastrophic event.

I’ll bet there were a lot of people after Hurricane Katrina that would have loved to have such a bag for each member of their family…

This could be a backpack or bag of some sort for each family member that contains all the items that individual may need during the first 72 hours after a disaster strikes.

Items to include in such a bag would be toiletries, important papers (see below), change of underwear and clothes, some bottled water, snacks, a few bags of freeze-dried food that only require two cups of hot water to reconstitute within self-contained bag, water purification device, metal cup and small pot for boiling water, backpacker mini-cook stove with fuel, sleeping bag, towel, ability to make fire, flashlight with extra batteries, glow sticks, ground cloth, tarp, rain gear, plastic forks, knives, spoons, parachute cord, personal cleaning wipes, a first aid kit and medication, good sharp knife and a multi-tool, fishing line, small fishing hooks, compass, cash, physical gold and silver, map of areas you may need, and any other items that would make sense for you.

Special items required by the elderly, babies, and pets need to be considered as well.

Important paperwork you should bring with you includes: birth certificates, insurance policies, passports, medical records, pet medical records, bank account information, deeds and titles to cars, homes etc., computer backup.

Gather these and put them in a suitable container and wrap in plastic against the elements.

Having such preparations after a tornado, hurricane, or any calamity would allow you to grab and go because it’s already prepared.

Each member of my family has such a bag. I keep each one of them in the basement of our house in a heavy-duty large trash bag for protection against the elements.

4. Understand what “just in time inventory” is — and how this can affect you.

Most Americans take for granted the intricate systems that make it possible for us to engage in seemingly mundane day-to-day tasks like filling up our gas tanks, loading up our shopping carts at the local grocery store, obtaining necessary medications, and even pouring ourselves a clean glass of water…

When we wake up each morning, we just expect that all of these things will work today the same way they worked yesterday.

What very few people have considered is the complexity involved in the underlying infrastructure that allows goods, services, and commerce in America to flow. Fewer still have ever spent the time to contemplate the fragility of these systems or the consequences on food, water, health care, the financial system, and the economy if they are interrupted.

The truth is our “just in time” inventory and delivery systems leave us incredibly vulnerable to a nationwide disaster.

You see, it is very expensive to hold and store inventory, so most manufacturers and retailers rely on a continual flow of deliveries that are scheduled to arrive “just in time,” which significantly reduces their operating expenses.

This is considered to be good business practice for manufacturers and retailers, but it also means that if there was a major nationwide transportation disruption, our economic system would grind to a halt almost immediately.

Once store shelves are picked clean, they would not be able to be replenished until trucks could get back on the road. In the event of a major nationwide disaster, that could be quite awhile.

A report prepared for legislators and business leaders by the American Trucking Associations highlights just how critical our “just in time” inventory and delivery systems are, and assesses the impact on the general population in the event of an emergency or incident of national significance that disrupts the truck transportation systems responsible for carrying some ten billion tons of commodities and supplies across the United States each year.

A shutdown of truck operations as a result of elevated threat levels, terrorist attacks, or pandemics would, according to the report, have “a swift and devastating impact on the food, healthcare, transportation, waste removal, retail, manufacturing, and financial sectors.”

So too would events such as an EMP attack or a coordinated cyber-attack that could shut down global positioning systems and the computers responsible for inventory control.

Another potential scenario that is more likely now than ever before is liquidity problems within the financial system stemming from currency crisis or hyperinflation…

All of our “just in time” delivery systems are built upon the unhindered transfer of money and credit, but when credit flow becomes restricted or money becomes worthless, no one will be able to pay for their goods. Likewise, no one will trust the credit worthiness of anyone else.

This is exactly the scenario playing out in Greece right now and the consequences on the health care industry in that country have left many without life saving drugs. When there’s no money, no one will be transporting anything.

The effects of a transportation shutdown for any reason would be immediate (in some cases, within hours) and absolutely catastrophic.

While an event that disrupts truck transportation systems may seem unlikely to many, recent history suggests it is fully plausible — and the blowback can be devastating…

A day after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, panicked government officials stopped all transportation flow into the region, forcing hundreds of trucks loaded with emergency supplies like food and water to wait for permission before they could enter the area.

As a result, thousands of residents of the city were left without items essential for survival. It took days before truck routes were re-opened and supplies were allowed to flow.

Government officials acting on limited information, lack of knowledge, and personal politics were responsible for restricting the flow of goods into New Orleans, potentially killing hundreds of people in the process.

What this incident demonstrated is that when the trucks in America stop, all commerce and delivery stops with it.

5. Educate yourself on and take measures to store food.

There is plenty of material available on the Internet about the best ways to store food. I personally have read many books on the topic, and one of the most important features is trying to gather materials that have a long shelf life and which keep their nutritional value…

Most store-bought items have very short shelf lives and don’t work well for long-term food storage. Canned goods can work, but these must be stored in a cool, dry environment well below room temperature for increased shelf life (but not freezing). Costco and Sam’s Club are best for these types of purchases.

Freeze-dried food can also work, but can be rather expensive — and the taste can sometimes be questionable. (There are many different manufacturers, and you need to educate yourself before purchasing. I like tasting the items first before making any major purchases.)

Better yet is to store staples such as wheat, rice, beans, sugar, oats, etc. — which, if stored properly, can last up to 30 years.

I look at my food storage as an investment, and I want it to have a long life. There are various methods of storing these staples, and each person should consider what method would work best for their circumstances.

In my own search for getting food storage together, I have come across some great resources that may be able to help you as well…

One company that has many of the products I ended up buying is Grandma’s Country Foods located in Salt Lake City. They have a wide assortment of items related to preparedness and their pricing is excellent. The product they are most famous for is their powdered milk. I have tried at least a dozen different powdered milk products, and this is the only one my kids and I can actually drink.

They also have 45-pound containers of white or red winter wheat, which is ideal for long-term storage. You then, of course, have to have a way of grinding this wheat to make flour, but you get the idea…

Some other items that I have tried from Grandma’s Country Foods that I really like are their canned real butter (long shelf life) and dehydrated foods, which taste better than others I’ve bought.

(Another good source for good tasting freeze-dried foods is Mountain House. An Internet search will give you multiple sources for obtaining Mountain House products.)

6. Obtain water and purify it.

In my search for “safe drinking water,” I found what I consider the best available situation on the planet…

The Lifesaver water bottle uses the latest technology to provide clean, pure drinking water. I have spent a lot of time searching the best way to purifying water, and in my opinion, there’s nothing better.

Also under the water category, it is wise to consider some form of water storage — whether it’s five-gallon containers, 55-gallon plastic drums, or some other form of storage, all of which can be obtained from many different sources.

The bottom line in water preparedness is to always have a safe source(s) of clean drinking water and a way to store it.

To most this may sound absurd, since you can get clean drinking water from the tap in your home, but in times of emergency and/or civil unrest, the water may be shut off — or you may be displaced from your home and will need a way to access clean water.

This leads to the discussion of having a stocked-up safe haven place with two sources of water that is far away from a major city in case of a SHTF event.

This is one of the most rehashed subjects of survival, but probably the most important one.

Most people just assume the taps will continue to flow and water will be there.

People need to know that unless water is from a spring, it will likely need to be purified — and this means some reliable filters or boiling (which requires heat from a fire along with pots to boil it in).

Aside from drinking, water is also needed to rehydrate food, make milk from powder, and of course, for personal hygiene.

How much water will be needed and used is something that is often vastly underestimated.

Stay tuned,

Greg McCoach
Analyst, Wealth Daily
Investment Director, Mining Speculator

P.S. Greg’s final installment of his series on “Being Prepared” can be found here.