How to prepare for a depression

The economy, in short, is in a world of hurt.

I’m caught in quite a quandary. I can’t afford to retire but I worry about a depression hitting the US and/or the world. Whenever there is a glitch in the US economy it is felt throughout the world.

In an optimistic situation, I could retire comfortably in 5 years, more or less but now none of us know what’s going to happen. So retirement is out of the question but getting laid off isn’t. It can happen to long term employees if the financial crunch is bad enough.

So my question, to those who frequent this group, is what should we be doing to prepare for a potential depression? What shortages, besides money, were there during the last depression and can these be used as a prediction as to what would be good to have if the economy tanks.

Will we see the return of the WPA ( a public works program to employ people who couldn’t find a job during the great depression)?

Will the economy just slowly slide downhill or will it take an abrupt drop?

During the great depression approximately 30% of the people were unemployed. Will this happen this time?

In short, what are your thoughts, predictions and/or other details that you’d like to share.

Thanks

Basically I think wages will drop,living conditions will drop,repossessions causing housing relocation will increase.
People will probably have to consider shared accomodation.
The Government will buy out all the respectable neighbourhoods.
Families will suffer depression,
Education will suffer.
Crime will soar as people see it as the only option to 'improve' their lifestyle.
This generation will feel the effects badly for years.

Who wants to go for extra schooling to go for low wage jobs to fund low quality lifestyles.

I'm seeing the depression everywhere.. I'm just waiting for the resentment and anger aimed at the people who have it all at the cost of everyone else.

The UK and US Gov MUST have known this was coming.
Why else would they allow the flood of cheap foreign labour( into a country already severely overcrowded...UK).

Anyone with any money/sense should be looking elsewhere..ANYWHERE out of the UK and USA.

Anyone who is already fairly isolated with a 'rustic' lifestyle anyway won't even notice.
They're going to be the lucky ones psychologically.

Where will the people go that lose their houses? If you don't own your house outright and wages go down, what happens when you can't pay?

We've already seen this to a certain extent but this was for people who bit off more than they could really afford. What happens when it hits people that had reasonable mortgages?

reply to post by AGENT_T


I'm one of the ones that has a rustic lifestyle but I still have to pay a mortgage.

reply to post by Wildbob77


This is the scary bit..there'll be no choice but to apply for government funded housing schemes.

I've been trying for two years to get housed myself.. it just isn't deemed urgent and homeless families(and immigrants,pregnant teens etc) are taking everything.

Yeah I could get somewhere if I was willing to accept a squalid little hovel surrounded by dealers and scroungers.

It's that bad already..but I have a choice..
Imagine when it's respectable families that have to move into that kind of slum.
How much is that going to affect the breadwinner and cause family friction.?
But when it's either a scummy neighbourhood or the street.

Nothing hits people harder than that reflection of their 'success' dwindling.
It's always harder for the people who have it,to lose it,than for people who had nothing to start with.

I jut saw your last reply.
You sound like you are in a more fortunate position,with a shorter time to go on your mortgage..You can only hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

If you can even get employment which just covers your expenses should the worst happen.. It's much better than the prospect of starting out with no hope at all and your whole life ahead with no sign of improvement.

I'd take any crappy old job if I knew it was going to see me through the last few years of a mortgage.

If you have land,start thinking about growing/selling veggies for a wee bit extra.

We're planning a big garden next year, which means a lot of work this year to get ready. If the situation gets better, I'll be giving free veggies away at work. If it really goes down, it will provide a lot of nutrition.

I just started my first attempt at making wine also. I'm hoping that it turns out drinkable. If it's OK I'm ramping up next year to far more than I consume. I think that would be a great barter item.

Originally posted by Wildbob77
.. wine also. I'm hoping that it turns out drinkable. If it's OK I'm ramping up next year to far more than I consume. I think that would be a great barter item.

Definitely
Put me down for a couple of bottles.

Bartering is still in practise with some farmers here,though I've never had any luck myself swapping rabbits for a bit of lamb or beef.

An honest days work is still valuable though.

I mentioned in another thread putting in a week or two worth of work in Greece,painting fences/woodwork/gardening etc for a nice regular supply of Mediterranean veggies.

Originally posted by Wildbob77
We're planning a big garden next year, which means a lot of work this year to get ready. If the situation gets better, I'll be giving free veggies away at work. If it really goes down, it will provide a lot of nutrition.

I was going to suggest people at least learn how to garden immediately. Plant some seeds in small flower pots in your windowsill - herbs are a good way to start if you've never grown anything before. Even rudimentary knowledge will help in a worst-case scenario. Even if we don't find ourselves living like Neolithic man, there remains a very good possibility that convenience foods will become more expensive than many can afford. If you're able to supplement or replace what you buy at the grocery, you'll be in better shape than if you had to rely on others.

Also - learn how to bake bread. It saddens me that we've forgotten how to do something humanity has been doing for tens of thousands of years. Bread is filling, provides good energy, and helps "bulk up" a meal. Spend a few bucks and buy a couple 1lb packs of instant yeast and store them in your freezer. Make a few practice loaves; the ingredients are incredibly inexpensive and easy to find. This is an excellent recipe for regular old white bread that's pretty hard to mess up.
You may find, in some households, the money you save by making bread vs. buying it is tremendous.

Another option few think of - invest in a few pieces of cast iron cookware. If you find yourself with interruption of electric/gas services, even temporarily, how will you cook food? Cast iron can be used to cook on a charcoal grill or even over an open fire. If you take care of it, the cookware will last for seriously a hundred years or more.
Lodge is the best brand to buy and it's pretty cheap if you watch for frequent sales on Amazon. Amazon will also ship for free if you spend over $25, which is an excellent value due to how HEAVY cast iron is. IMO, everyone should have one or two skillets and a camp stove; a dutch oven is great too, but the camp stove can double as one. You can bake bread and desserts, stew cheap cuts of meat, and make soup in the camp stove/dutch oven, and the skillet can be used as you would use a regular skillet - fry or sear meats, cook vegetables, etc.

reply to post by anachryon


We have forgotten how to make so many many things! Many people in the city have not grown anything more than a house plant! I am a vet (which is giving too much information out but what ever) so I am going to get chickens and pigs, but really how many people are left that know how to farm, take care of and breed animals, being a city girl I defintaly would not have known had I not gone to vet school. For instance, if you want to grow corn you need to have a certian # of plants in proximity to each other in order for them to pollinate. I have 5 kids (blended family) so there is 7 of us, meaning we would need about 8,000 calories a day. I live right outside the city, and have about 1/3 of an acre and we had a practice run growing our own garden, this season! It went well so hopefully we will do alright next year. The one thing I forgot was to get some seeds for next year so we are using some of our "crop" to harvest more seeds, I may order some on line as well. The tomatoes grew the best! I have been stocking up but it is hard and when everything goes down this winter is REALLY REALLY going to suck! But my family will be well taken care of maybe they will not like what I feed them but they will have the calories and vitamins they need. Which brings me to the next point...
Nutrition- humans (all primates really) need vitamin C which is a water soluable vitamin found mainly in fruit. The lack of this vitamin causes scurvy which is a terrible disease! One of the most important things you need to get is a %^$& load of multivitamins. Protien is another problem so I got lots of canned meats. Also if you do not go the multivitamin route or your multivitamin does not have it make sure you get salt with iodine. The B and D vitamins are important too!

reply to post by kupoliveson


I don't know if revealing you're a vet is too much info. I'm a baker by trade (pastry chef sounds so pretentious!)...so there's an equal trade of info if it makes you feel better.

Vitamin C could be difficult for people living in northern climes. If people are going to think about growing things, they ought to plant some dog rose bushes and harvest the hips. Rose hips are excellent sources of vit C, and they're pretty darn delicious in a tea!

Your post made me realize that some people are likely to be in a better position, overall, if we somehow are thrown back to Neolithic living. A vet will know how to raise animals and will have a pretty good idea of how to butcher them. You've got the added bonus of being able to translate your animal medical knowledge into human medicine; you'll know how to set a broken bone, perform first aid, etc. Hell, my big skill will be preparing food, which is an excellent skill to be sure, but if I fall and break my leg I'd be screwed.

This year we also got chickens again.

Fresh eggs are simply the best. They have so much flavor that when you taste store bought eggs after you've been eating fresh eggs, the store bought eggs taste like cardboard.

I wondered about vitamins. Right now you can stock up pretty cheap. I don't know how long they last.

Also staples like rice and beans are really cheap now. Perhaps I'll have to read my book about food storage once again just in case I need to make a run to a Costco type store and try to purchase a ton of food(quite literal in the ton mentioned)

Best of luck and hopefully we won't have a depression.

This Depression will likely be more abrupt and far worse than the last one. If banks call in all loans the vast majority of the country will be homeless and penniless and rightfully angry.

The fact that we will lose our homes and property TO the very system that caused the problem would, in my opnion, constitute the basis for a massive class-action lawsuit. We would act to stop all repossession and foreclosures on the basis of bank fraud, and failure of fiduciary duties. I don't believe we can sue the Federal government but we could sure as hell try. But the banks, and the fed are fair game.

If there is a depression where a majority of the people have their house repossessed then what happens to those who just don't leave.

Your house is repossessed. Right now, you would get evicted. Eventually the local sheriff comes to your front door and escorts you from the house.

What happens if so many people are in this situation that the sheriff literally cannot keep up.

Hopefully this won't happen.

reply to post by anachryon


Thanks! Made me feel a bit better! My oldest daughter wants to be a chef. The scary part about all of this that my teenagers, growing up with me know what is going on! They are sharing it with thier friends in school I print a bunch of stuff out and send them off into the world! My eldest, came to the relization that there maybe no college for her, yesterday!
Yeah some people will have useful skills and some will have none! Truthfully we were all going over it the other day and we could think of NO one we knew who could farm or raise animals! I feel good that as long as I am around and no one nukes us, I can get my family through this! I worry about a lot of people! Also I worry that it may last more than one winter, I am planning and trying to stock up for one winter and I better move my plans along by the looks of things.

Also people are going to need antibiotics on hand- amoxicillin and clavolinic acid, baytril, doxycyclin and maybe some injectable stuff you could add to a bag of fluids. ESPICALLY IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN

Be careful with medicine if you stockpile it.
Unlike food which can store pretty well, when medicine goes off it goes toxic and can be deadly.

Good Posts--I thought I wold mention another alternative to shelter--I have a VW vanagon camper with comfy shelter, bed, stove, fridge, storage and would not at all mind living in it if I lost everything else. I have it stocked with emergency items, an extensive first aid kit, tools, cookware, blankets & bedding, clothing, books on survival and finding food in the woods, etc. It is basically a lifeboat, and of course living in California it is also an earthquake shelter (as long as the building doesn't fall o it!). Anyway, it is such a good idea to have SOME preparations for emrgency. Good luck!

I think we would have a much more difficult time then they did in 1929 due to a number of factors to include just how many people there are now. i.e. less open land, etc. I think the need for defending your family and property would be a daily priority. With all our technology we are so much more far removed from the basics of living from what they were in those days.

To survive, you would need water, shelter, fire, food, and some type of access to medical and dental care.

As for food you would need protein but would also need veggies and some fruits. Meat is likely most the easy to come by. Rabbits are easy to raise and prepare. (Sad to say because their so darn cute).

You would also need firearms and ammunition.

Silver, gold, and other items for trading and buying.

Horses could possibly be superior to other forms of transportation depending on how much land you have and how much food is available.

Hopefully, you would have a job.

So I googled "How to prepare for a depression" and in addition to this post, I found some others.

There is a book on amazon but there weren't any reviews.

There were a bunch of hits to forums like this but it doesn't seem that anyone is really preparing.

I'd really like to know what kinds of things that are readily available now that might be in short supply should there be a sever economic downturn. What will still have value (for barter and or bill paying).

There was one article that talked about people hunting squirrels in Golden Gate park and said that people are doing this right now.

Here's one link that seems to have been copied quite a bit.

10 Ways to Prepare for a Depression

Start planning.

Check out the survival forum here. You will find out a world of info. Also try simple survival.com put out be a member here, it too is full of useful info.

Do not depend on rabbits for food. They do not have enough fat for a person to live on. You will die from this.

Things to stock up on:
Flour
beans
smoked or canned meat
toilet paper
baking powder
cooking oil
just a few things for i am short of time.

respectfully

reluctantpawn

I'm looking into asking for a transfer to Canada from the multinational company I work for, because although this is a global crisis, I think the USA will be hit hardest...and I want to be out of the way of the nightmarish scenes to come, if possible.

I'm creating a very detailed survival checklist which is already about one-third stocked.

I have cut my personal spending down to essentials only (survival items qualify as essentials in this current climate). I strongly urge everyone to get out of any credit card debt you may now carry and conserve, conserve, conserve.

Although I am against any run on banks, I am considering a gradual withdrawal timetable for stashing actual cash in a safe place where it will not be "frozen" when I need it in an emergency. Who knows how much time there is to do this before what they are calling a "collapse" or "meltdown"? I, for one, do not believe that the $700B bailout will stop the impending disaster momentum for any longer than 30 to 90 days. I think they are throwing good money after bad and this bailout scheme may very well not work. Then what?

I think people should stock up now on canned meat/vegetable soups... anything with good nutrition and long shelf life. Your ability to buy food now is much greater than it would be if we get into a situation like Germany in the 1920's when people were out of work, penniless, and the deutschmark was practically worthless. Your current buying power may be the best you'll have for the next several years. Better use it on your survival checklist and get organized. I'm preparing several footlockers of gear and stocking the pantry.

Everyone should be prepared to scale way down. My apartment lease is up in December. I'm considering finding a much more modest and cheaper place to live as a hedge against the depression that's coming. I've got to free up more income.

Now is the time to start preparing in earnest for the depression. You don't have to panic. Just start making progress towards your goal of stashing survival items and some cash for the possibility of the worst. Imagine how a false flag op or something like a deadly virus could suddenly tip the scales and you will absolutely need to have some survival items. The economic sit is now bad enough, but the second blow of a one-two punch could really be dire.

Get prepared!