[budgetprepp-n]

What will the last few hours or days be like just before our world changes forever?
Will the stock market tailspin in a few hours or will it take days?
And what about commutation? Like cell phones? Will they work right up to the last few hours or even keep working? And the grid?
What will be the sines that we only have hours or days left?
Or will we all get blindsided?
What else can we all watch for? And how will people respond?

 

[Go2ndAmend]

IMO it will happen so slowly that most people will not see it coming. And then it will happen so suddenly that for most people it will be too late. Prices will rise on consumer goods, interest rates will rise on debt, the dollar will continue to devalue (sound familiar?). When the sudden part comes, phones and electrical service will stop, full-stop, period, and suddenly. There will be some event which will be the trigger. It will be a major event most likely natural, but with things the way they are headed in the orient, that is also a strong possibility. Most people will not respond well.

 

[Lucky Jim]

IMO it will happen so slowly that most people will not see it coming. And then it will happen so suddenly that for most people it will be too late....

Yeah, the Government will put on a phoney "everythings OK" smiley face right to the end to stop us rushing to the bank to draw out money, and when we get there we'll find the doors locked in our faces like the poor slobs in these pics.
By declaring a 'national emergency' govts will be able to close banks without notice, or the banks themselves might decide to shut up shop on their own initiative when the fancy takes them.
Personally I spread my cash equally between the bank, my wallet and a kitchen drawer at home rather than put it all into the bank.

US Depression closed banks-

This Brit bank went bust a couple of years ago-

This one got shut down-

 

[Panhandle461]

Good thread...

 

[pastornator]

I am of the mind -- like most of us -- that we are already in the spiral to the end. Several things in place to precipitate further calamity:

We only think about a problem when the media tells us there is a problem, but ironically, the media is a big part of the problem and in their effort to continue propping up the tyrannical regime all we can rightly expect is propaganda.

Life goes on, and by that I mean that we grow accustomed to a decent into the morass in such a way that if we could transplant someone into out era from the 1970s, they would likely go insane in short order. What is now considered normal is anything but...

We have now largely forgotten how to live without technology. For instance, even most prepper rely heavily on electronics and the web, and worse, on being able to BUY preps instead of grow, harvest, or produce preps.

Many prepper think that they can isolate or shoot their way into survival. War is probably not the answer and it hasn't worked out that well where it has become a way of life.

Most prepper are not thinking about what will really have to take place in order to survive beyond the first month or so of some scenario. Even the novels are all in for just bugging out and/or getting home where the hero then does fine. Of course, the only real test for this is to actually live ones preps every day. Then, life just goes on.

 

[Lucky Jim]

...We have now largely forgotten how to live without technology. For instance, even most prepper rely heavily on electronics and the web, and worse, on being able to BUY preps instead of grow, harvest, or produce preps...

Ha ha yes, people from the past would think we've gone cuckoo..
They lived simply like this (below) for thousands of years on their homesteads, growing their own food, getting water from a nearby river, brewing their own booze, hunting bunnies, making candles and doing other basic crafts.
In a post-Apoc world that's how it'd be again so it won't be so bad, who the heck needs boring electricity, piped water, phones, TV, cars etc anyway?
(The coils of barbed wire around the house will stop cheeky zombs and mutants coming up and peering through the windows)-

"Farming" to most of us nowadays means going down to harvest the supermarket shelves, but if things get bad, this is all we're likely to see-

 

[Verteidiger]

What will the last few hours or days be like just before our world changes forever?
Will the stock market tailspin in a few hours or will it take days?
And what about commutation? Like cell phones? Will they work right up to the last few hours or even keep working? And the grid?
What will be the sines that we only have hours or days left?
Or will we all get blindsided?
What else can we all watch for? And how will people respond?

Honestly, there are no simple answers to your questions. The various ways SHTF can occur means there are just as many things to be on the lookout for.

A stock market crash will occur in one day. That is how it is today with flash crashes.

A hurricane coming gives you warning. An earthquake gives you none (except for aftershocks).

War happens gradually as troops are massed and equipment built up; conversely, nuclear war can happen in a nanosecond.

Personally, from my own experience, whatever the calamity is, when it happens, it will likely happen pretty fast, so you need to be ready.

 

[Ripon]

Please, OP, don't take this the wrong way. I asked a similar question on another forum that was about preparing and was blasted by the "preppers." Their blast was because "if you are prepared this doesn't matter." Man they were brutal about it. I didn't find it that way at all. I don't think anyone can be 100% prepared unless they are already bugged out and 100% self sustaining. Then "maybe."

Wondering how it might all collapse is something I write about often. I do so for my nephews, neices, a church group we put together for prepping and a few friends. I personally think al queda will probably be the catalyst. They have wasted their first shot on 9/11, they continue to waste resources with stupid events like Boston and beheading the soldier in England. Eventually they will get a wise leader who realizes how vulnerable capitalism is and that without it - S.W.H.T.F (will). I just think they realize they will survive "SHTF" far better than the 47% living off our government. Our markets will be destroyed creating a SHTF for the other 53% too. I don't think they can cause that over night, but probably within 2 weeks. During that time there will be long lines, then crashes, and finally violence at retail outlets. Late in it our police will give up, hunker down and protect their own. Don't expect fire trucks to arrive either. Governments won't have the resources to pay them and showing up would be too dangerous. The grid / water / sewer will be the last to "go down."

 

[Denton]

What S hits the F, is the deciding factor.
Economics is always the driving force, not the killing of an archduke or the bombing of a naval installation. Still, how it all plays out is yet to be seen. If we are fortunate, we will see the economic earthquake even before our markets open and before the debit/credit cards are turned off. Then again, the proxy and currency wars could go extremely hot in a millisecond and we learn about the flung S as the atom is split.

Pray for guidance. Dad will be able to steer us better than cable news.

 

[Lucky Jim]

I personally think al queda will probably be the catalyst...Eventually they will get a wise leader who realizes how vulnerable capitalism is and that without it - S.W.H.T.F (will)"...

Yeah my guess is that the "wise" muslim leaders are patiently biding their time until they get suitcase-nukes, then it'll REALLY REALLY hit the fan.
Bin Laden spelt it out years ago-

"Hostility toward America is a religious duty, and we hope to be rewarded for it by Allah.. I am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so-called superpower that is America."-Bin Laden in Time Magazine

"We, with Allah's help, call on every Muslim to comply with Allah's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.." Feb 1998 Bin Laden edict

Responding to the question 'are you trying to acquire chemical and nuclear weapons?'-
"Acquiring weapons for the defense of Muslims is a religious duty. If I have indeed acquired these weapons, then I thank God for enabling me to do so. And if I seek to acquire these weapons, I am carrying out a duty. It would be a sin for Muslims not to try to possess the weapons that would prevent the infidels from inflicting harm on Muslims."- Bin Laden in Time Magazine Dec 1998

 

[paraquack]

Unfortunately, I feel the same as Lucky Jim

 

[PaulS]

I am watching the market for a moderate up-turn followed by:
1. Israel going to war. This make happen in days or a protracted span but when they are up against the wall with three or four countries joined together then...
2. followed by the USA helping Israel. This will happen in less than a week after Israel has more than one country they are fighting.
3. The market might taper off or just go flat with no increases except in the defense contractors.
When that happens we have a short period of time before the Old USSR and China form a pact and save the world from the big bully - the USA!
It may be a pre-emptive nuke strike or a monetary attack but it will be fast once it starts.

The money brokers are not going to let the dollar fail - I believe that will be the real reason we go to war but we won't be alone. It will also be an excuse to bring in the UN. The UN will make policy in order to "help" us including their UN Gun Ban.

I don't expect any of this to happen in the next year but probably in the next five years.

 

[roy]

Look back. What happended in the great depression, the depression before that, the depression before that, WWII, WWI, black death, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. The end of the world ain't coming.

 

[PaulS]

Roy, for the 130000 people killed in the two blasts of Nagasaki and Hiroshima the world did end. It ended on a nice day, with the sun shining and folks going about their business like any other day. If a pre-emptive strike took out only the primary targets in the USA it would be nearly the end of the world for a long time. FEMA wouldn't be there to take you to their relocation centers until some of the cleanup was completed. Anyone not prepared would probably starve or die from water related problems long before help came.

 

[budgetprepp-n]

I am watching the market for a moderate up-turn followed by:
1. Israel going to war. This make happen in days or a protracted span but when they are up against the wall with three or four countries joined together then...
2. followed by the USA helping Israel. This will happen in less than a week after Israel has more than one country they are fighting.
3. The market might taper off or just go flat with no increases except in the defense contractors.
When that happens we have a short period of time before the Old USSR and China form a pact and save the world from the big bully - the USA!
It may be a pre-emptive nuke strike or a monetary attack but it will be fast once it starts.

The money brokers are not going to let the dollar fail - I believe that will be the real reason we go to war but we won't be alone. It will also be an excuse to bring in the UN. The UN will make policy in order to "help" us including their UN Gun Ban.

I don't expect any of this to happen in the next year but probably in the next five years.

Next five years? I got to tell ya,,, Every Time I hear the emergency broadcast system make that noise
I get a shiver up my back.. And for an instant I ask myself "has it started?"

 

[PaulS]

Well China is going to take another few years to complete their Pacific fleet and the USSR is still building underground manufacturing plants so it won't be real soon. It's a little like waiting for a volcano to erupt. It is rumbling occassionally and there is some steam but nothing is moving very fast yet. When the quakes get more numerous and harder and the ground starts to swell then it might be time to go.

 

[paraquack]

I look around every day and wonder if the S*** hitting the fan has started.

 

[PaulS]

Frogs, the water is just warming up.... It won't get to a boil fast but it will get there.

 

[Ripon]

Saddam was a teenage militant with no formal education, and was caught in a future grave hiding. Quadaffi was the same only he was caught trying to drive some of his riches to safety. Assad is western educated, no slouch for common sense or reality. If he felt the rebels were about to win and could pin some support on the US I think he lashes out at America. He really has two choices and both would work, and the first is mentioned here and that is to draw Israel into war. Iran will jump on board real fast, but SHTF when Egypt does. His other choice is to attack us but not in the traditional sense. He wouldn't want the blame. He'd just want the impact like on our markets and economy. He can see how China is fairing at this right now. They deny deny and deny they do anything wrong. Syria can simply claim any event they caused were done by rogue agents / terrorist angry about our support of the rebels and deny any responsibility.

The conversion, by o'failure, of using criminal justice / courts for the blame of terrorism instead of simple militarily justice will be a huge undoing for America. It will empower enemy states to needle us into weakness with no blame what so ever.

 

[Moonshinedave]

Strange thing the other day, ( I don't know if this fits into this thread or not)
I was at Sams the other day with my wife, she had went her own way as we most of the time split up when shopping. Anyway, I was walking down the isles looking at all the stuff stacked to the ceiling and all the people so peacefully shopping. Then I envisioned hoards of people running stripping the store of anything and everything, fighting with each other, for what one had and another wanted.
There are so many SHTF scenario's that might happen, nobody knows what the few days before the shoe falls might be like. But if things fell right, I could see a mad rush of people trying to "get theirs" from every store and everywhere they can think of.
I know everyone could use more supplies, but getting involved in such a scene would probably not be wise, and probably fatal for a great many people.