PREP The Good Old Days Are Over ......

MC2006

Veteran Member
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/the-good-old-days-are-over_10192012

Do you remember “the good old days”? It’s a simple question, but a question that induces different images to different people. I have found myself spending a lot of time lately thinking of the way things used to be and hoping that someday our country can somehow get back to those days again. Looking at our current state of affairs in this nation and around the world, there is only one conclusion that can be made…the good old days are over.

I wrote this article because children being born today, in my opinion, will not be able to look back and remember the near future as “the good old days”. As I write this, the US national debt is at $16.2 trillion with unfunded liabilities of $123.3 trillion. With Uncle Ben’s QE3 promising to print fiat money perpetually can there be any doubt that the days of the US dollar being the world currency are numbered. Everyone reading this article has a share of $442,881 of the nation’s debt and liabilities. If your children or grandchildren can’t read yet, please tell them that they also owe $442,881 as well and thank them for supporting our wasteful spending that got us to this point. Source: http://usadebtclock.com/

But don’t worry, there are elections coming. Surely the American public can see the dire straits our nation is in and elect leaders who can recognize and deal with the nation’s problems and bring us back to becoming a nation of producers instead of consumers, right? Leaders will be elected who will make the extreme sacrifices necessary to bring forth a United States where the outstretched hands of the masses will be filled with charitable donations from a robust society instead of being empty, waiting for them to be stuffed with their entitlement from the government, all the while feeling as though they earned it because they stand unproductively on dirt within our border.

I have to apologize for the last paragraph; I have always wondered what it would feel like to write fiction. The hard cold reality is that there is no possible orderly way out of the financial mess our society is in and the above mentioned dirt was probably the last thing made in the USA. To break it down simply, here are some simple and easy to understand economical facts:

You need to produce more than you consume or you are broke.
You cannot pay off a credit card with a credit card without consequences.
There is no possible way the nation’s debts and unfunded liabilities will ever be paid.
Currently, the Federal Reserve purchases the vast majority of the US Debt. There simply aren’t many buyers left who believe it to be a sound investment anymore. In 2011, congress waited until the last minute to raise the debt ceiling after much political wrangling back and forth. Was there ever any doubt by anyone that it would happen? Is there any doubt that it will happen again? What happens when it hits $50 trillion? As long as we have the ability to continue to print more money to fund our yearly deficit and make payments on the interest of existing debt, it will continue. As it continues, the US dollar will continue to be worth less and less. Commodities such as food, gas and all physical goods purchased will get more and more expensive, leaving less and less purchasing power for the American people.

You don’t have to be Nostradamus to predict that we are on the cusp of a major financial collapse. I’m not only talking about the United States, I’m talking about the world. The can has been kicked down the road almost as far as it can be kicked and we just passed a dead end sign. We will soon see massive inflation or hyperinflation, riots in the streets as we have seen around the world and as I have heard stated many times, people with nothing left to lose will lose it.

So what can we do? The answer can be summed up in one word. Prepare. Prepare as though it may happen tomorrow. Prepare as though your life and the lives of your loved ones depend on it, because it does and they do. Start exercising and working out to prepare your body for the tough times coming. Prepare yourself mentally so that when it hits the fan you don’t find yourself in the panicked state that 95% of the public will be in. Prepare to be warm when it is cold outside or cool when it is hot outside. Prepare a plan of what you and your family will do at different levels of collapse. Prepare to eat when grocery store shelves are bare. Prepare to drink when the tap fails to deliver water. Prepare for what to do when your neighbors or family or friends show up at your doorstep because they were too busy watching television. Prepare to defend what needs to be defended. Prepare prepare prepare.

Realize that at this point there is nothing you can do about the debt of this nation. There is nothing you can do to change what is coming in the Middle East. Regardless of the result of the upcoming election, neither candidate has dared utter the words broke or sacrifice. Your only job at this point is to get yourself and your loved ones you choose to help through what is coming, whatever it may be. This isn’t being selfish. This, my friends…is survival.

I truly believe that when the dust settles, we will emerge as a great and free nation. Life will be hard, but there will be more meaning to the tasks of the day. Communities will be stronger. People will be healthier. Families will be closer. To get from this point to that, there will be much misery, but the greater the struggle, the greater the victory. It is up to us in the prepping community to get our families and loved ones through the upcoming collapse. I pray that someday, my children and grandchildren will be able to look back and say “Those were the good old days.” because I chose to prepare.

Proverbs 22:3 A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
 

tm1439m

Veteran Member
The "good old days" of America may be over but keep in mind you still have people who need to thrive as best they can. The good old days of my family both as a child and early on in my marriage include little to no money, and during my childhood many days with family in the hospital and no money. We still had "good days" we just had to be creative. back then we got together all the time and had fun just being together. In resent years I have noticed people drifting apart to the point of seeing their family on holidays as "required"? Could just be that a new version of "good old days" is just on the horizon?
 

Hansa44

Justine Case
The "good old days" of America may be over but keep in mind you still have people who need to thrive as best they can. The good old days of my family both as a child and early on in my marriage include little to no money, and during my childhood many days with family in the hospital and no money. We still had "good days" we just had to be creative. back then we got together all the time and had fun just being together. In resent years I have noticed people drifting apart to the point of seeing their family on holidays as "required"? Could just be that a new version of "good old days" is just on the horizon?



Ayup....I don't remember any "good old days". Almost everyone of them was a tough learning experience. And what's weird, I can remember almost every one of them if I choose. And I don't choose. I look at them now as major tests.
 

Rastech

Veteran Member
Not a criticism of the OP, just 'the good old days' stirred a memory of something I have.

A brass guinea from the year 1603, which is part of a collection of coins, that my great grandmother dug up in the garden of the farm over the years (some Roman coins too). Apparently they were often used as gambling tokens or something.

Anyway, around one side of it are the words "In memory of the good old days".

Which sort of imposes a bit of perspective, doesn't it? :)

All things, will indeed pass.
 

dstraito

TB Fanatic
Nostalgia

Do you remember when you could pull up to a gas station and fill your car up with gas?

Do you remember when the stores were full of food, heck, when there were stores?

Do you remember how silly all the political bickering and posturing was, when now all that matters is how to survive?

Do you remember lamenting the lack of work ethic in this country, now you have to work 16-18 hours a day, just to survive?

Do you remember feeling upset that you couldn't afford the latest car model or more recent Smartphone? Now if only you had any phone that worked.

Do you remember when the future was filled with hope but now is just one daily grind after another not knowing from one day to the next if you will survive another 24 hour period?

Do you remember people telling you to go to college to get ahead in life, and now survival is dependent on your husbandry skills and community cooperation?

Do you remember traveling across the nation so you could go on vacation or possible flying to a remote exotic location? Now it is difficult to get across the city safely.

Ah, the good old days when all you had to worry about was the coming doom, now you are living it.

Coming soon to a neighborhood close to you.
 

PghPanther

Has No Life - Lives on TB
For most people the good old days were when they were young..........in many cases their childhood years..........when for many people life had less stress and no responsiblities...........

In that case most people see their younger days as the good old days.......even depression era babies as who among us as children think about our social status when we are busy playing.........

...its a relative term.....

....but..............

If the SHTF there will really will be good old days that most will concurr to a specific time period independent from there own personal past......

............we aren't quite there yet but we are close..........I sure hope it doesn't happen but I just don't see how we can prevent it.........
 
"...There is no possible way the nation’s debts and unfunded liabilities will ever be paid...."


NOR is there any plan or agenda to do so...in fact there never has been such a plan - here or in the other debt-laden nations.

Rolling debt over again & again is the name of game - and always will be, until someone that holds the debt drops a flag to signal a foul.

The game continues until that flag is dropped...then things get interesting.
 
Do you remember when you could pull up to a gas station and fill your car up with gas?

Do you remember when the stores were full of food, heck, when there were stores?

Do you remember how silly all the political bickering and posturing was, when now all that matters is how to survive?

Do you remember lamenting the lack of work ethic in this country, now you have to work 16-18 hours a day, just to survive?

Do you remember feeling upset that you couldn't afford the latest car model or more recent Smartphone? Now if only you had any phone that worked.

Do you remember when the future was filled with hope but now is just one daily grind after another not knowing from one day to the next if you will survive another 24 hour period?

Do you remember people telling you to go to college to get ahead in life, and now survival is dependent on your husbandry skills and community cooperation?

Do you remember traveling across the nation so you could go on vacation or possible flying to a remote exotic location? Now it is difficult to get across the city safely.

Ah, the good old days when all you had to worry about was the coming doom, now you are living it.

Coming soon to a neighborhood close to you.



ALL seen in the current "Atlas Shrugged", Pt. 2 movie - go see it, it will rivet you to your seat.
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
The so-called good old' days have never existed except for those who habitually wear rose-colored blinders and those with convenient memories.
 

China Connection

TB Fanatic
Um, never existed huh! You must be young!

Let's see when I left school in 1965 jobs were everywhere. People had about two third of their wages left after rent, food and transport. An average man could support a family and buy a home and run a car. Now forget getting married unless the wife can support herself and forget the house and family thing.

Now nearly half of the young can't find a job. One is hard put covering living costs on an average wage.
 

Jubilation T. Cornpone

Veteran Member
The so-called good old' days have never existed except for those who habitually wear rose-colored blinders and those with convenient memories.

The period after WWII was probably the peak for America.
We were the strongest, richest, most productive nation on Earth
and had the highest standard of virtually EVERYTHING.
Compared to the rest of the world we were like Heaven.

But I remember catching hell for forgetting to ask, "check your water?"
You had to wash all the windows, ask "check your water and oil?"
You had to check the water in the battery, if low, fill with water
and check the cell with an hydrometer.
Also check the engine oil, and transmission fluid if automatic.
All while filling up the car with gasoline. Then of course fill in with
fixing flats.
Those were my Saturdays as a kid. So I guess "Service with a Smile"
came with a cost, like everything else.
And Vietnam was looming on the horizon.
 

tm1439m

Veteran Member
Boy o boy we have some miserable people here.

I find it sad that some of you can look back and see no good old days.

Life is what you make of it.

I am not saying the economy or all situations in your life have to be good.

If you cannot find a way to have happiness in your life then it is your own fault for the self pity you put upon yourself.

Your children will watch and learn from you. Show them nothing but misery and that is what they will live by.

The longer I live the more I realize that without a positive driving force a family will fall apart. That positive driving force is what bonds families. It takes one or more people who have the drive to make family stick together. Without it only misery will prevail.

The young learn through example set by the older figures in their lives.

Life will always be a struggle. Walking around pouting with puckered out lips isn't going to make it any better.
 

dogmanan

Inactive
Yes their are some very miserable people on here.

It is so sad to see that.

I'm born in 1958, and me and my brother say and talk about how we were luckly to have lived in some of the best most safe times this country has seen and now we will live through some of the most worst times we will ever see if what we see coming comes.
 

tm1439m

Veteran Member
Yes their are some very miserable people on here.

It is so sad to see that.

I'm born in 1958, and me and my brother say and talk about how we were luckly to have lived in some of the best most safe times this country has seen and now we will live through some of the most worst times we will ever see if what we see coming comes.

+100
 

fish hook

Deceased
Any day that is passed is a good old day.The fact that the day is gone,and YOU are still here,means you succeeded.Any day that is past is a good day,you got through,and hopefully you learned something and might be a little stronger,smarter,wiser,better prepared for the days to come.
 

NoName

Veteran Member
The period after WWII was probably the peak for America.
We were the strongest, richest, most productive nation on Earth
and had the highest standard of virtually EVERYTHING.
Compared to the rest of the world we were like Heaven.

But I remember catching hell for forgetting to ask, "check your water?"
You had to wash all the windows, ask "check your water and oil?"
You had to check the water in the battery, if low, fill with water
and check the cell with an hydrometer.
Also check the engine oil, and transmission fluid if automatic.
All while filling up the car with gasoline. Then of course fill in with
fixing flats.
Those were my Saturdays as a kid. So I guess "Service with a Smile"
came with a cost, like everything else.
And Vietnam was looming on the horizon.

You too, huh? My very favorite day was a mid summer Saturday about noon when a Trimuph TR6 pulled in for a fill-up, cute young lady in a mini driving, car left with a full tank and very clean windshield, LOL AND I got 75 cents an hour!! The next summer I was in Ft Knox...
 
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