Ask yourself the following questions:

1. How organised are you in terms of being prepared for future problems?
2. What will I do if Council Rates go up with the new goverment?
3. What will I do if the cost of vehicle fuel or heating fuel goes up?
4. If I loose your income, how will you pay your bills, or even worse, your debts?
5. If your rent goes up, will you still be able to pay it?
6. If your mortgage interest rate goes up to 18% like in the 1980’s, and the value of your house drops by another 20%, what will you do?
7. If one or more major banks close their doors, like what happened with Northern Rock, will you survive the time until the government covers you by their £50K guarantee?
8. If the Katla volcano next to the present Eyjafjallajökull volcano errupts, will you survive without air travel?  What if medications cannot get across the Atlantic as was about to happen with the initial air closures?
9. If you live in a city and riots occur near your house, like recently in Greece, how would you cope if this was prolonged?
10. If crime rises significantly when the people illegaly claiming benefits have them cut, will you feel safe in your present home location?
11. If the mobile phone masts were to fail for a prolonged period of time, would you have any serious consequences from this?
12. If any or all of the electricity, gas or water supplies to your neighbourhood, stopped for a prolonged period of time, how would you cope, would you freeze or run out of drinkable water.
13. If the local supermarket were to close, because of financial collapse, how would you keep fed along with all the other people in your community.
14. If an organised criminal gang moved into your neighbourhood, and you were at risk of being attacked, would you be able to avoid conflict, and if you or your family were approached and attacked, could you defend yourself by legal means?

While the above list might appear long, these are only a fraction of the scenarios that we should all have thought through, and if we havent already, then we really should make a start as a priority.  Preparedness is a very important way of life.  Our ancestors lived by this on a daily basis, planning for the next meal, the next days work, the next seasons farming, keeping ahead of the game.  But nowadays, for many of us in the UK, things are just too easy.  Our food is all prepared and provided for us by supermarkets, electricity, fuel and water is all on tap.

It is a well known phrase in the preppers world that the average person in the UK is only a few days away from starvation.

Think about it. It might save your life.

Over the last few years the credit crunch, bank bailouts, volcanic ash clouds, homes flooding and so on, to name just a few, everyday people in the UK have started to think more about how to best prepare for these types of situations, big or small.

In many cases recently, Joe Public has learned about prepping the hard way, by having their home flooded or loosing their job and having been ill prepared for it in advance.

This is what the ‘Prepper’ movement is all about, Prepper being a play on “Preparedness”

Preppers come in various forms however, depending on your concerns for the future,  some of us are looking for ideas to keep ahead of the game in case of losing our job perhaps, while others are concerned about much bigger scenarios that may come our way such as H1N1, economic collapse of the EU, peak oil and global warming.

How much you feel you need to prepare all depends on your awareness of what is going on in the world, and how much you perceive that you are at risk from these events.

Prepping in some peoples minds is essentially a form of Survivalism, however the general term Survivalist has a lot of stigma attached to it, primarily from visions of a stereotypical extreme US citizen that has an underground concrete bunker filled with enough amo to fend off the US army for months.  Preppers are not gung ho gun toting maniacs living in remote forests.

Prepper cannot be loosely pigeon holed into this ‘Survivalist’ category.  Preppers are just ordinary every day families, individuals and groups seeking to better insulate and protect themselves from the problems the world faces now faces with ever growing alarm and uncertainty.

A Prepper will primarily aim to have all the knowledge and preperation done in advance so he/she can survive for as long as possible without the need for supermarkets, water supplies, electricity or gas supplies.  A prepper is usually a more enlightened, better educated but equally concerned member of society that the image of a US survivalist might portray.

More and more people across the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Europe have reacted in response to the huge rise in global terrorism, natural disasters and massive economic and social instability affecting the world.

Internet communities or hubs of Preppers have flourished in the last five years, and from this trend a  ‘Preppers’ Network has evolved, first as is so often the case in the USA, then expanding into Canada, Europe and now in the UK with UKPreppers.com.

The UKPreppers.com website is primarily aimed at families, so that they can plan in advance to minimise the effect of any potential problems that may come their way.  In it’s basic form this can mean having the best First Aid books at hand, having other irons in the fire in terms of employment or family income, stocking up on storable food, having appropriate fire extinguishers or even learning about cooking and gardening so that if money gets tight, it doesn’t evolve into a complete disaster.

Please feel welcome to join the UKPreppers.com forum to learn more about us.

Al – Admin

New Video about Preppers on – BBC World News America

Extract: – Over the past decade, the US has seen its fair share of disasters and from terror attacks to financial collapse many people are now on edge.

As a result, some are taking matters into their own hands and joining a group known as “preppers.”

The BBC’s Madeline Morris has gone to see what the growing movement is all about.

The BBC states, It’s not an organised movement, but across the US, people there are people stockpiling food and emergency supplies – so they can look after themselves and their families in the case of disaster.  Laura Sheeter meets one such “prepper” in New York City.

Listen Here… http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p006lhkw/Outlook_16_03_2010/

The prepper section starts at 11m27s.

“Peak oil” scenario under assessment by Whitehall today

Booming demand in China, India and Middle East for crude oil, is likely to  push the price of crude above $80 a barrel, with a “stakeholder meeting” in Whitehall organised today to discuss the potential of a global shortage of oil.

Lord Hunt the Energy Minister, in a report by The Guardian, is meeting key “stakeholders” today to calm fears that oil reserves in the UK are low, which could result in a “sudden shortage of supplies of oil”.

The Government, is believed to have a renewed sense of “urgency” to deal with a potential “peak oil” scenario”, with risk assessments to be undertaken to see the impact on the economy.

In the capital we have already seen petrol prices rise to 1.1609 pound per litre from 1.1210 in mid-February.  Diesel rose to 1.1687 pound a litre, up from 1.1384 a month ago.

Summarised from TheLondonDailyNews.com – 22nd March 2010

Staff have been told their bonus payments, holidays, pensions and even sick pay will be slashed under plans being drawn up following the takeover by Lloyds Banking Group.

However, senior executives will retain or even increase benefits for those on higher pay grades, despite announcing losses of £6.3billion last month.

A strike would cause major disruption to day-to-day banking, with the likelihood that most branches would not be able to open.

The public rightly find the bonuses, perks and pensions being paid to top bankers as grotesque.   Under new terms and conditions for employees, some of which are set to come into force from April 1, many HBOS staff will be moved to lower level roles or given a lower pay grading than their colleagues at Lloyds.

The new bonus structure will see rewards halved for the poorest paid employees down to five per cent, while highest earners can expect increases of up to 50 per cent.  Similarly, those on lower salary grades are set to lose up to two days of their annual leave while better-paid colleagues will gain the same amount.

One disgruntled bank employee yesterday said emotions within branches are running high.  He warned that unless there is “some positive movement” workers are ready to strike.  He added: “It’s not looking good at the moment.

Source… Dailyexpress.co.uk

The cutbacks begin, now that fiscal stimulus has stopped.  Al

Extracts from – The 5 Stages of The American Empire Collapse – Source

An English-born American artist who is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School created a series of paintings he named The Course of Empires between 1833-1836. Thomas Cole’s paintings depicts the growth and fall of a city and is notable of reflecting today’s popular views about America,

We are leading into Stage 4 – The Destruction of Empire

The fourth painting shows the action of the sack and destruction of the empire. Partly thanks to the Federal Reserve, with all the debts and deficit that it is facing, the coming destruction is inevitable.  Besides the financial collapse, the American Empire will also experience collapse in unity. Back in Jan 2009, a Russian professor predicts the US disintegration by 2010.  He said around end of June or July 2010 the US will break into 6 pieces with Alaska reverting to Russian control. Many thought of it as being the “music to the ears of the Kremlin” but the fact is that the CNN and Fox News just do not tell the world that the Russian professor’s prediction may come true as a growing number of states are already declaring sovereignty!

Too many Americans may not believe this but click on each state below to read yourself the declaration of sovereignty by each respective state: Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, California and Georgia.

Stage 5 – Desolation

The final painting shows the moon rising over a desolate place. No living beings are seen. The once great city has been abandoned, the remains of their architecture is buried under mantle of trees, ivy and other overgrowth.

The final end of the Empire will be complete desolation. Whoever can leave before this all happens shall leave and never return. Just like the Jews in Europe fled to Canada and America before the Holocaust and never returned. The land will be left and will return into wilderness as it is written in the Book of Lamentations 1:1 .

Source

Extracts from commodityonline 14th March 2010

Western investors have long speculated China will start Buying Gold and selling its hoard of US Dollars at some point. (China’s hoard could be literally trillions of US Dollars.) It would be the first step in a “Doomsday” scenario for the greenback.

Just imagine – China trades in its Dollar reserves for Gold Bullion. The value of the Dollar crashes…and US interest rates soar, as China is no longer willing to buy US government Treasury bonds.

However, Mr. Yi is to be taken at his word, in short, China doesn’t have plans to Buy Gold in the open market.

So how would China acquire gold if it doesn’t buy it? This is where it gets interesting…

An official from the China Gold Association told the China Daily that rather than acquiring Gold from the IMF, China would Buy Gold directly by buying gold mines “abroad”. Rather than buying physical gold in the open market (where China would be the 800-pound gorilla in the room), China plans to buy future production instead.

Source… commodityonline.com

An excellent video titled “Times of Crisis”, which brings home the fragility of our society is showing on Reuters.

It highlights the serious risks we take by being in debt, having a mortgage and having too much reliance on the fundamentals of the social system.

We just have to extrapolate forwards from the scenes in this dramatic video to get some kind of insight as to where we are heading with the coming social stresses due to with Peak Oil and the effect it will have on the economy.

Al

Link to “Times of Crisis” Reuters – http://widerimage.reuters.com/timesofcrisis/

Extracts from the Telegraph 19th Mar 2010

• “For oil markets, it as if the Great Recession never happened. Surging demand in China, India and the Middle East is making up for decline in the debt-crippled West, ensuring another global crunch within three or four years.”
• “The groundwork for the next sustained step up in oil prices is now almost complete. Global spare capacity is likely to be reduced to low levels within a relatively short time. The global economic crisis was postponed, but not cancelled, a crunch which would otherwise be starting to bite now,” said Barclays.
• Francisco Blanch, from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said crude may touch $105 next year, with $150 in sight by 2014. “Approximately 1.7bn consumers in emerging markets with a per capita income of $5,000 to $20,000 are eagerly waiting to buy cars, air-conditioning units, or white goods,” he said.
• Painfully high prices are needed to unlock fresh supplies as reserves are depleted in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Deep-water rigs off Brazil are costly and require drilling far below the seabed. Canadian oil sands and US biofuels have break-even costs near $70.

Source… Telegraph