Our currency is being destroyed with full cooperation of D-rats and other DC swamprats. We can improve our chances of surviving the storm by prepping.

Last week, we discussed living a budget to conserve the cash needed to prep.

Education and Training

Even with the best budget, it takes time to conserve enough cash to stockpile the things we'll need. A first step crucial to success, but that costs very little, is educating ourselves-we gain skills necessary to handle emergencies and improve our direction later. Many of these topics are covered in this series.

We suggest all gain Red Cross or American Heart Association certification in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and Red Cross certification in first aid. At lower levels, these classes are short but can prove very useful in emergencies. In a group, it is nice if one member can go beyond and get state certification as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).

Having and getting familiar with a good emergency medicine text can be helpful

Since stored food is critical for lengthy scenarios like hyperinflation, reading a good textbook (not a fad diet book) on nutrition can help select storable foods. Look for a book covering vitamins A, various B-vitamins including B12/cobalamin, C, D and K, with sections on deficiency diseases like beriberi, pellagra, rickets and scurvy, and food sources of these nutrients. The book should cover protein and calorie needs as affected by age, environment, body size and activity, and the classic protein and protein-calorie deficiency diseases. The book should also cover simple vs. complex carbohydrates, and essential minerals and electrolytes like sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, iodine and magnesium.

Since basic staples like rice, white flour, sugar, dry beans, oatmeal, textured vegetable protein (TVP), unground whole grains, tomato powder, and dry carrots and onions store well, a cookbook that covers cooking and baking those foods is desirable. New editions are not necessary, sometimes older editions better cover basic foods than new ones. It is also good to experiment with that type of cooking. Similarly, a book, like the Ball book of canning and preserving, with some practice, can help us learn how to preserve foods.

Since gas and car parts can get pricey in some scenarios, now may be the time to lose weight and get into better physical shape.

Since prepping is not taught in schools, books covering prepping, including food storage, and training in marksmanship and self-defense may be helpful.

Inflation and Consumables

DC swamprats are squandering vast amounts of money they don't have, and, in addition to making themselves rich, propose spending more on pet projects like pre-K child indoctrination. Countries that spend like this trigger inflation. Since the inventions of paper money and currency debasement more than a 1,000 years ago, high government spending has triggered inflation devastating many economies worldwide from 4th century Rome and 13th -14th century China through dozens of 20th century countries to 21st century Zimbabwe and Venezuela.

Inflation means price hikes that often hit long before wage or benefit hikes. This is aggravated by substitution in the consumer price index of “imputed rent” based on past real-estate prices for real prices.

Sharp inflation has become so likely that it must be one of the scenarios we prep for.

Consumables are things we buy often because we use them up. The food and beverages we eat and drink, as well as soap, toilet and printer paper, ink cartridges, medicines, fuel (for heat, cooking, and engines), engine oil and oil filters we use regularly, are all consumables.

We tracked spending to make a cash flow statement for realistic budgeting. We can expand this to track in detail consumables we buy and use for a week or month; this list can be useful to determine what to buy before prices rise. Lists will vary based on your circumstances.

If storage space and product life permits, stockpiling many of the consumables we use before the price hikes hit makes sense. Given the lag between rising expenses and rising income, stocking consumables for a full year makes sense.

Food is of interest among consumables, in part because of the large amount we consume over time (for many, 500 pounds dry weight, 2000 pounds wet), and in part because many foods spoil at room temperature-forcing us to consider shifting diets towards storable foods.

Next week, we'll review food storage again.

WuFlu

Vaccine-resistant Peru/Lambda strain is being imported through Harris/Biden's porous borders and can spread quickly like the India/Delta variant. Stay tuned as more info on this comes out.

Counts

July 12, 2021, 9 a.m. 186,944,168 infected (4,034,317 dead). U.S. 33,854,127 (607,157 dead); India > 30.87 million, Brazil > 19.09 million. Colorado 562,763 (7,070 dead). Fremont County 6,573 (state) with 195 “variants of concern” including 14 India/Delta, Fremont county shows 6,463, 3,236 in community-3,227 in prisons,five in hospitals, 65 dead, 12,573 (excluding prisoners) vaccinated. Neighbors Chaffee 1,783, Custer 232, El Paso 74,171, Park 842 Pueblo 19,678, and Teller 1,933.