If you Google the phrase “worst case scenario” you will notice a large spike occurs over the past week as opposed to any other year at this time.

I.e. You get “417” hits that have been filed with various News outlets such as Reuters etc as of now as opposed to “3” hits filed a year ago.

A conclusion could be that this “Worst Case Scenario” being upon the minds and lips of many is that the odds are in favor of a “Worst Case Scenario”.

This thread is not about the above conclusion, (which I think may be entirely off base),lol, but more along the line of “What can we do to get ready for a “Worst Case Scenario:…?

For example:

I have stocked up big time with canned goods, rice, beans, shot gun shells.

Have made friends with my neighbors and I have had a Worst Case Scenario talk with them over a few drinks.


What else can I do?

I need a few months supply of water.

Any others think along this line?

WOW...synchronicity...I just turned to CNBC and they said the phrase "worst case scenario" two times in a 15 second period.

Thanks for the reply.

It seems as if the folks at CNBC are all doom and gloom today.

I am going to have to change the channel!

and YES..

..The survival forum is great. I have just started looking at it.

Im not even living in the USA and i stocked up on emergency stuff. Food and water are accounted for. As for the rest, the flaws in the plan always appear when you are executing it .

I have read that some citizens are ready to bugout?

They gave a bug out plan but if a man has a family with young kids that kind of plan is not practicle?

Mutual and Neighbourly relations with your geographic peers may be a good idea!

And it could be just this. Paulson's bail-out plan was never going to prevent a recession - which was likely even before the financial turmoil of recent weeks. Instead, it's purpose was to reduce the probability of a financial catastrophe in which banks failed; markets soared after he initially presented his plan not because the economic outlook improved, but because the probability of the worst-case scenario fell. Congress's rejection of the plan has restored this probability.

This is from the Investors Chronicle.

This may be the meat and potatoes of the coming few months.

Economic downturn is a sure thing, Paulson's plan will shore the US market up enough that it will only be a recession not a depression.

So if a person has a family, kids, school, wife the best bet is the middle road.

Food, water and some extra cash or/and some silver/gold.



[edit on 2-10-2008 by whiteraven]

Extra cash, silver and gold wont do you a bit of good in an economic collapse when the value of those things are zero.

The extra food, water, emergency supplies, knowing how to hunt, fish and make your own clothing and shelter will be far more valuable than any gold/silver or extra stashed cash.

And the knowledge of being able to be self sustaining in an economic collapse is even more valuable than stashing cash or precious metals.

For example, lets say the economic system has collapsed, and money and precious metals are worthless because there is no value in them. And I have supplies like stored foods and hunted game on hand and you wanted some. What would you be able to trade in exchange for some of that basic needs to survive besides your worthless stashed cash and metals???

Since money and precious metals would be worthless, I wouldnt accept those things in exchange for the needs you must have to survive.

If you came to me and said you had some hunting tools or extra home made clothing or something that would help me continue to survive, then you would have something of value that would be worth trading.

Another example, a person comes up to me and has a briefcase full of money and jewels. He knows how to make hunting tools. He needs some things to keep him and his family alive and to survive. He offers what is in the briefcase for it. I would not accept anything in that briefcase in exchange for things I have that could help him and his family to survive. But I need some extra hunting tools. If he has extra hunting tools to trade or shows me how to make them, I would be happy to negotiate a trade then.

Teach others how to survive and be self sustaining will save alot of people, and perhaps our very exsistance.

Cheers!!!!

[edit on 2-10-2008 by RFBurns]

I have been slowly stockpiling basic grains and rice and I have a contingency plan in place in case I do have to lock down. I am fortunate to live in a rural setting and work has me in remote locations. If Sit-x came to be - be it marshal law, invasion, weather or what I would hope if anything were to happen Zombies! I am on track for survival. Hopefully I will never have to go down the route of survival of the most prepared, but if I do...
- I say zombies because that would be the only scenario where the government might be on the citizens side.

I think this is bad, real bad, but far from what I'd consider the "worst case scenario". Yes, we're ready, and have been for the better part of 14 years. First as hurricane preps, and then later on as the potential patterns manifested themselves, additional knowledge gained. One of the best things I did was to learn how to fish as the locals do. I've been an avid angler all my life, but each system requires a somewhat different methodology, and I learned pretty quickly that my old methods didn't do so well here.

I think one of the best things we can do is learn to live minimally ..... NOW, before you need to. We live well. We live simply, and if I lost power for good tomorrow, the biggest pain would be no internet, followed by having to use a different system to keep cool when it's hot. We're working on making those transitions permanent.

I don't have any faith whatsoever that my retirement will be there for me when I need it. I feel that counting on it puts us in a vulnerable position. Better to assume it'll be worthless and if by chance or circumstance it isn't, well, that's a bonus.

I think if we keep our heads and wits about us and make plans for things we hope don't happen, the U.S. and affected nations can recover. There will be growing pains, even for those who fancy themselves prepared. I have heard a person or two express the idea that if things get so bad, it wouldn't be much of a life and they wouldn't want to live like that. I wonder..... What I do know is that I don't relate to that point of view. I wouldn't want to have to watch people starve or die of diseases or be murdered for their meager posessions, but if we can pull together, maybe whatever comes down the pike in the way of adverse changes, we call pull ourselves up and out of it.

[cue folk guitar and Kumbaya singing in the background]

That said, a good protection/weapons plan doesn't seem like a bad fit for the times.

p.s. it's been raining for two days with LOTS of lightning. I'm running my lappy off a deep cycle battery/inverter. We have power but everything is unplugged. The four batteries are usually outside, being charged by two 10W solar trickle chargers. Good stuff.

[edit on 2-10-2008 by argentus]

We live in a world that has doomsday devices pointed at nations, political unrest and environmental uncertainty. Basic planning for anything might mean the difference between surviving the storm so you can ride the wave, or perishing in the storm itself. Once the calamity is over society will resume, but not at the hands of Parliament but rather in the communities that will band together in the aftermath.

Knowing how to filter water with an earthen filter could be the most vital way to survive. Our lives could be sustained with what kids use as science fair projects now. Homemade filters, hydroponics, basic astronomy... D students will rule the world.