This Is What A Real-Life Economic Collapse Looks Like....

Long lines, some stretching for blocks, formed outside grocery stores in the South American country’s capital as residents search for scarce basic items such as detergent and chicken.

“I’ve visited six stores already today looking for detergent — I can’t find it anywhere,” said Lisbeth Elsa, a 27-year-old janitor, waiting in line outside a supermarket in eastern Caracas. “We’re wearing our dirty clothes again because we can’t find it. At this point I’ll buy whatever I can find.”

…

Inside a Plan Suarez grocery store yesterday in eastern Caracas, shelves were mostly bare. Customers struggled and fought for items at times, with many trying to skip lines. The most sought-after products included detergent, with customers waiting in line for two to three hours to buy a maximum of two bags. A security guard asked that photos of empty shelves not be taken.

Police inside a Luvebras supermarket in eastern Caracas intervened to help staff distribute toilet paper and other products.

…

“You can’t find anything, I’ve spent 15 days looking for diapers,” Jean Paul Mate, a meat vendor, said outside the Luvebras store. “You have to take off work to look for products. I go to at least five stores a day.”

…

“This is the worst it has ever been — I’ve seen lines thousands of people long,” Greisly Jarpe, a 42-year-old data analyst, said as she waited for dish soap in eastern Caracas. “People are so desperate they’re sleeping in the lines.”

photo credit: Bloomberg.com

A combination of economic factors has all contributed to Venezuela’s disintegration — a lack of foreign capital and declining oil prices among them — but the country’s socialist economic policies are at the root of every problem.

There are shortages of virtually everything, from car batteries to toilet paper — even McDonald’s french fries. Annual inflation rose to 64 percent in November.

“Don’t fall into desperation — we have the capacity and products for everyone, with calmness and patience. The stores are full.”

Prepping Is Not the Answer

Today’s lesson is that when times get tough, the government can and will persecute those who have planned ahead.

The Attorney General of Venezuela, Luisa Ortega Díaz, called on prosecutors to target people who are “hoarding” basic staples with serious sanctions.

She called on prosecutors to seek their detention.

The attorney general called on people to remain calm, not to fall for provocations, and not to be afraid of the “alleged” food shortage.

Based on the figures provided by the Central Bank of Venezuela, shortage hit 20% in August; in other words, 20 out 100 items are missing from the shelves.

According to a press release, the Attorney General Office has designated an ad hoc group of prosecutors to work nationwide with other authorities and cope with the threats against food security and, consequently, against the State. (source)

There are approximately 3 million preppers in the United States today, and often they appear to be singled out for punishment by bureaucratic control freaks that are horrified at the thought that there are families out there that actually want to try to become less dependent on the system.  So if you use alternative methods to heat your home, or if you are not connected to the utility grid, or if you collect rainwater on your property, or if you believe that parents should have the ultimate say when it comes to health decisions for their children, you could become a target for overzealous government enforcers.  Once upon a time, America was the land of the free and the home of the brave, but now we are being transformed into a socialist police state where control freak bureaucrats use millions of laws, rules and regulations to crack down on anyone that dares to think for themselves.

So, what can you do?

• Looking for the thrifty answer using things you have on hand, instead of purchasing a solution to every problem
• Fixing things that are broken instead of replacing them
• Eating simple food you prepare from scratch
• Producing as much of your own food as possible
• Learning to forage
• Using “old-fashioned” alternatives for disposable things like diapers, wipes, feminine hygiene supplies, paper towels, and the like
• Learning to make cleaning supplies and soaps, especially from accessible supplies (like vinegar, ash, and foraged natural ingredients)
• Learning to make pantry basics like vinegar, sourdough, and cultured dairy products
• Learning to preserve your harvests to see you through the lean days of winter
• Providing your own services like heat, garbage disposal, and water
• Learning about natural remedies from accessible sources
• Learning to protect your family and property

Books can be your best pre-collapse investment.

• The Prepper’s Blueprint: The Step-By-Step Guide To Help You Through Any Disaster:This is the be-all and end-all Bible of prepping and self-reliance
• The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual of Living Off the Land & Doing It Yourself: This gives detailed how-tos from pretty much anything involving homesteading, including butchering and preserving meat, building your homestead structures, and growing food
• The Organic Canner: Confession – this book is mine, but it’s a fantastic resource for both beginning and advanced canners
• Prepper’s Natural Medicine: Life-Saving Herbs, Essential Oils and Natural Remedies for When There is No Doctor: This is a pre-order, but Cat Ellis knows her stuff. I don’t have to read it to know that the quality will be as top-notch as her website
• The Survival Medicine Handbook: A Guide for When Help is Not on the Way: This guide is different, as it includes a lot of information about caring for traumatic injuries when there’s no hospital available
• Prepper’s Home Defense: Security Strategies to Protect Your Family by Any Means Necessary: When the economy goes down, the crime rates go up – ’nuff said
• SAS Survival Guide: How to Survive in the Wild, on Land or Sea:  This small book goes everywhere with me, and my kids have a copy in their bags as well. It isn’t extremely in-depth but it’s an easily portable comprehensive guide to dealing with most survival situtions
• How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times: This is a classic by James Wesley, Rawles, the founder of SurvivalBlog
• Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The Time-Honored Ways are the Best: This book contains over 700 recipes with detailed instructions – cooking from scratch is something of a lost art, but this book has something for everyone from the complete beginner to the accomplished cook
• The Prepper’s Pocket Guide: 101 Easy Things You Can Do to Ready Your Home for a Disaster: This guide was written by Bernie Carr, The Apartment Prepper. It’s loaded with solid, low-cost ideas that you can implement on nearly any budget
• Sew Everything Workshop: The Complete Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide:  If you don’t know how to sew, this simple guide breaks things down into the easiest possible steps. It’s geared towards using a sewing machine, as opposed to sewing by hand
• The Forager’s Harvest: A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants: This guide is general and will work for most parts of the country, however, you can also look for guides specific to your region

Here’s the challenge.