Past vs Present/Future Survival

I wasn't sure where to put this, and this seemed as good a place as any.

Let us draw an imaginary line in the sand of time....for arguments sake, lets pick 1960 (only because it is 50 years ago, and some on this board may remember that period).

Pre-1960, jobs=plentiful...dollar=solid(ish)....homes=paid for(more paid cash than mortgaged, back in the day of have cash to buy)....

Today-jobs=scarce (or fill in blank, ie, have to be employed to be considered, fit an ethical quota, whatever-join the 500 others applying for the same job that they already have an internal candidate that is going to get the job)....the dollar=basically worthless (they just haven't admitted it yet, song and a dream mean anything?).....homes=mortgaged for way more than they are worth, so have instead of being a sort of retirement fund as they used to be, have ended up yet one more black hole of debt a family has to suffer.

Okay, now to the point of this thread....

Pre-1960's- a family would have had basic survival abilities.....grow plants for food, hunt/fish for game, even move to a wilderness region, set up shop and survive off the land. An individual could do it even better, not to use grizzly adams as a reference.....but you get the point.

Today-Please fill in the blank....If you had no money, and were facing eviction in two weeks....how would you survive? What resources do you have at your disposal to create a life without the all mighty dollar? This is the thought I want you guys/gals to have, "if I had no money=how could I survive in today's world?"

this was really spurred by the show Hell on Wheels, where in the old west, they jumped on a train and headed west and then just found something to do....Is that even possible now, considering it is illegal in phoenix to sleep in your car....

I think about this daily, not that I fear losing my job, but rather that there would be some oncoming event where I wouldn't have access to clean water, refrigeration, electricity...I have began to search the web and study some survival techniques. When I grew up, I pretty much spent the entire day outdoors, I wasn't even allowed in the house unless it was raining/snowing. My friends and I made small fires in the woods w/o matches/lighters, we ate berries that we found and yes, we figured out which ones not to eat eventually. We weren't hobos, but it was fun to play in there all day, make our own small tents/forts out of dead branches and what not. As long as I have some necessary equipment like a hatchet, knife, tent, first aid...I think I can get me and my family far enough away and rebuild on my own. If you care (and this has been posted plenty of timer) watch this video, I saw it on PBS on day and I could not stop watching it

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by Wheelindiehl


You really have the theme i was trying to get across, but I was aiming at more, 'if the structure was still in effect, how would you survive?'.....Meaning in the 1900's, there was still unclaimed land, a person could go out and with just very little make a life.....How would one do that today? If you lost all, lost everything you had, what could you possibly do to survive on your own or with your family.....there is no longer any unclaimed land in the US....there are no great expansion projects that you could just walk up to and sign on to. Joe Smith lost his job in NYC, been unemployed long enough, that he has spent the last dollar he has......what does he do? Put Joe in whatever city you feel knowledgeable about.