Is this SHTF, or are you expecting something much more dire?

This seems "calm" to you? Yes, it might get worse, but it certainly seems like we're in the storm already.

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"Among the signs of a learned man is criticizing his own words and being informed of various view points."
- Hussein ibn Ali, Grandson of the Prophet Mohammed

Not yet.

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99RB, I agree completely; however, even in your case it depended upon the elderly lady having the financial means to have the house and food she exchanged in return for care. As for medical care; living carefully would be fine, but MIL was born with a form of muscular dystrophy that, in her advanced years, caused a multitude of problems that no amount of "careful living" could avoid.

I guess my point is, DH and I depend upon managing our finances as best as we can in order to assure that we have some level of liquidity when we reach old age because we have no idea what kind of situations we will find ourselves in if we should reach a stage where we are not able to work anymore. This kind of planning may not be for everyone, but not everyone shares the same life situations. As a woman who umm... "carries a few excess lbs" I can tell you that the concept of the "one size fits all" dress is NOT true. And I feel the same way about ANY concept of planning for the future

Can't argue with that. Guess I was looking at it from a relative perspective...today may seem like a walk through the park compared to what's coming down the pike.

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CJ

Depending on what happens over the next few years, we may have an entire generation who have their savings and investments wiped-out just before retirement. Dealing with that is going to be a challenge. The baby boomers may not be able to retire at all.

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Ask Me About Linux System Administration

I would normally agree with you, but I believe that at the present rate of borrowing by the Federal Government, the US credit rating will drop and I do not believe, in no way shape or form, that scenario has been priced into the equity markets.

I'm 80% into CDs currently, thanks to the stop losses on all of my stocks. Had I let them slide, I would have lost 20% more of my portfolio. Dollar cost averaging works as long as people have faith in the dollar.

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Hillbilly and Proud of It!

You'll know when it happens when folks start showing up at your door to move in with you...they'll have a few meager belongings, but no food or cash. Many will be too unhealthy to do much physical labor.

Once you take in Cousin J, then her MIL, SIL and their assorted kin folk will start to trickle in, too. Stew them before they lose more weight. Only cook one at a time, though, so the others don't panic. Tell folks the missing "relative" left a note saying they were heading to so-and-so's for better meals.

Fertilizer is expensive now. Commercial fertilizer will be unobtainable, at any cost, after the system completely fails. Some fertilizer, will appear from the cities...

Native American's had a foolproof way of fertilizing their three sisters (corn, beans, squash)... bury a fish under each hill.

When the golden hordes arrive in the countryside, something will have to be done with their bodies. Hopefully, they won't simply be dumped in the rivers... I doubt it, as that takes resources. More'n likely, they'll rot where they fall... what the buzzards, maggots, and hogs don't get... the soil will be richer there.

You see, my shtf and teo scenarios are much direr than the folks that are thinking the 'end' has come, just because they've lost 20% of their investments... When you go down the road, on your horse or bike or on footback, and you see corpses, and it's not shocking anymore... [and you size them up to see if there clothes or shoes will fit you]... that, my friends, is the End! And, if you see a live person, you instinctively grab whatever weapon you have, and get ready to determine whether this person is a friend or foe...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Research GSA, Government Savings Account........

Then get back on here and tell us how you feel about 401K's....

Hahahaha


You got a sad day coming.

Very true, and we are very fortunate to have set up a fairly diversified portfolio of assets. However, one thing I've learned; NOTHING in life is for sure, and NOTHING can be counted on to "be there" in our time of need; not 401Ks, not pensions, not family. We can only do our best and realize that sometimes our best simply isn't good enough. Life is a gamble, and the winners today may very well be tomorrow's losers (and vice versa.)

The beauty of the whole thing is, that tomorrow the sun will rise and then it will set. It will do the same thing the day after that, and the day after that. What is happening at this very moment in time (whether it be a "SHTF" scenario or just a "bump in the road") will very likely have little meaning 1000 years, 2000 years from now. Strange as it might sound to some, THAT gives me much comfort

Warren Buffett apparently thinks we are near the bottom since he has been sitting in a cash position for quite a while now and he is now buying billions of dollars of preferred stocks. Some of the companies he is buying is Exxon-Mobil, Cocoa-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard and Fastenal. I hope he's correct.

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A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
--Thomas Jefferson

I was just thinking about this.
The Great Depression VS.Today.
Did they have welfare then? No
Did they have people collecting disability checks? No
Could people walk into a hospital & get care,whether they could pay or not? I doubt it
Did people have SS retirement checks? No
Could seniors get medicare? it didn't exist then.
Could our current day society survive without entitlements? I doubt it
Whats going to happen when the fiat currency crashes?
What is the true # of unemployed?
I figure its around 50%. By the time you factor in the above government program's, & the people that have just quite looking for jobs,because the jobs are in a foreign country.
That leaves 50% of people to pay, - 10% uber wealthy, that don't really pay taxes, -10% or more illegals that don't pay taxes,yet don't hesitate to collect any benefit they can.
I think that leaves roughly 30% to pay for the rest of us.
Unfortunately Nixon took us off of the gold standard where our money was backed by something of value, like gold. Now we have a printing press,called the Fed reserve, which is an organization owned by private bankers( I think the founding mentioned we should never let that happen) & prints paper dollars backed by nothing.
I think 1 day soon the ponzi scheme is going to collapse, & it will be global,
Then this country will see starvation, food/race riots & gestopo police forces.
I hope Im very wrong,yet that is what I see coming when the G checks stop coming & there are no jobs to speak of.

Nope, I haven't shot anyone yet...

This is calm.

I have been in lands where compared to this, this is paradise.

When all banks have failed, when nobody that you know still has a job, when troops have road blocks at most street corners, when there is no electric power, no phone lines, no municipal water/sewage.

When you are nearly out of ammo,...

Then we can ask if it is 'calm'.

A compost pile will reduce a body to just a slight grey stain in just a couple of months. When we have a pig die we compost it. This returns the nutrients to the soil. I have composted pigs as big as 800 lbs in under 3 months. Wood chips work well. The results are a rich black fertilizer that is most excellent, complete, slow release, organic and a lot cheaper than commercial fertilizers. Smaller bodies compost faster. Even the bones vanish, crumbling to a fine dust in the soil and adding much needed mineral to the compost.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Lime helps when composting a body.

Buffett has made his fortunes composting the bodies of failing companies...

what else is he going to do with all of the cash he has lying around? eat it? nope, might as well buy more.

Buffett has always been a vulture... I wouldn't take any advice from him, if I were a business, knowing full well that he might have ulterior motives... like wanting to pick over my business's corpse.
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If I wanted to compost a hog or other large critter, I'd have to reinforce my compost area... as the dogs would have the bones dug out pronto... if I composted bodies in the garden, I'd probably have to stand guard against coyotes and wild hogs... both will clean up a carcass quickly, if not hindered...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

???

are you perhaps confusing buffett with someone else, like t boon pickens, or carl icahn?

buffett buys companies and holds them for years. he's had his investment in geico since the mid 1960's or so, his coca cola stock since the early 80s, similar for washington post, see's candies, etc. few would call these "failing businesses".

--sgl

Warren Buffet endorsed Obama.

Interestingly, Buffett was also finance advisor to California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger during his 2003 election campaign.

That's the same California that is bankrupt.

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I was living in Moscow when they revolted for their independence. I still don't think this is the calm before the storm. The storm just hasn't reached you yet. There are many people who think that it can't get much worse for them.

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"Among the signs of a learned man is criticizing his own words and being informed of various view points."
- Hussein ibn Ali, Grandson of the Prophet Mohammed