Depression

I am not talking mental depression here, I am talking about this country and probably the world going into a major financial depression. This is the scenario I feel is most likely to take place. This country cannot continue to print money to make the economy on an upward trend. What goes up must come down, that is a basic rule of physics and of the financial world. As I am writing this we are seeing the real estate market taking a beating. Banks gave out loans that never should have been approved. The price of housing just kept going up and up. Now that many of the adjustable rate mortgages are seeing increases in the interest rate, the balloon payments are being called in and the interest only loans are starting to need principal payments, the foreclosure market is booming. If people cannot afford to purchase homes, it will not only affect the real estate market but also lumber, appliances, carpet, paint and all of the other things that go into the making of a home. Others will do anything to save their home and will put all of their money toward the house. This will not leave any money for discretionary spending. Both of these options will cause a drop in consumer spending and eventually a depression. Remember, consumer spending drives our economy. Another thing to be factored in is the price of gasoline and this winter, heating fuel. The more I have to spend on gasoline and heating the less I will have to spend on other consumer goods.

When it all comes to an end the crash may be fast and the landing may be very hard. I do not expect people to stand in employment lines and soup lines like they did in the thirties. People today are too used to expecting the government to give them anything they want. If the government cannot do this, there will be rioting, looting and just general anarchy. Rather than doing for themselves, people will be wanting everyone else to do for them. This is why I stress having supplies on hand and having them well hidden yet easy for you and your family to get at.

There are many ways to hide just about anything. A number of years ago I wrote a book titled "Stash It". In this book I listed a number of ways you could hide anything from food to guns. For instance: a water heater can be gutted and any number of things can be put inside to shell. First take the tank and insulation out and then stand it next to your working water heater. Run pipes to the plumbing that your working water heater is hooked to and make it appear that this water heater is just a second water heater. You can now stand guns around the outside and the ammo in the middle or you can load it with canned and dried food. This is just one of many ways to hide thing in plain sight. Another way to hide small items such as jewelry or coins is the put them into an empty can, reseal the can and just set it in among the rest of your canned goods. All you need to do now is to remember which can the valuables are in. There are many other methods that may not fool the professional crook, but I do not believe that it will be not only the professionals but that most will be amateurs looking for whatever they can find. Having a second refrigerator or freezer in your basement is also an excellent way to hide valuables.

Burying things is a great way to hide things, but it is something you need to study very closely before doing so. You want things buried in out of the way places so they will not be found if someone is looking, yet close enough to be able to get to in a hurry. You also need to know that things will not rot, rust, mildew or otherwise go bad while buried. My suggestion for burying things is to use PVC pipe to bury things in. One can be a glued on cap with the other end a fitting and a screw in cap. You also need to remember where the buried items are. I could do a whole column on burying items and perhaps I will. We will continue this process in depth next week.