Aside from the usual, and I think mainly naive advice about how to survive inflationary depression (goods for barter, etc.,) I have gone out of my way to talk to folks that had experienced some incredibly difficult financial times to see what advice they could give. For example, the Great Depression and the economic collapse of the USSR.

These things were just suggestions from the discussions that we had. It was average (but educated and knowledgeable) people, not the rich, and it was people who were most directly impacted by these problems at the time. Take them for what they are worth to you. At least it gives you a few things to think about.

It must be broken down, somewhat, because of different circumstances and some assumptions that are made by the bunker mentality people that aren’t particularly helpful.

Inflation/hyper-inflation

Let’s start with hyper-inflation. The value of the money you do have drops so fast that you need to spend it as soon as it is in your hand, or the prices of everything will be higher the next day, or even in the next few hours. Therefore, if there is something you NEED, like dental care, GET IT NOW while it is still ‘cheap.’ If you are able to finance it, do so. If the credit industry completely collapses, repayment will be impossible and therefore you will have saved yourself the out-of-pocket expense, and done your part to keep the credit card criminals from getting back up anytime soon. There will come a point when the monopoly money in your game set will be worth more than the paper currency we’ve all been used to. (See the caveat below with electronic funds.)

However, keep in mind the recent changes to the bankruptcy laws. Like income taxes and student loans, now credit card debt is not dischargeable in a bankruptcy court (for average people). Therefore, no matter what happens to the economy you could still be on the hook for your credit card debt. I don’t recall seeing any language in the new law that accounts for hyper-inflation, so those bills could actually become ‘cheaper and cheaper’ to pay off as inflation gets worse and worse. It was a temporary oversight, I’m sure and once it dawns on the powers-that-be, they’ll be working overtime to get that ‘adjusted’ as quickly as possible.

Medical care and highly regulated services.

Many industries like medicine are so super-regulated that the days of visiting the neighborhood doctor (who is now as poor as you are in the inflationary depression environment) will be gone. They will not be able to practice medicine legally. If they do help, it will be a great risk to them if something goes wrong, and there will be no malpractice insurance that will cover them, if they could afford it in the first place. This has been an extremely litigious society, and our medical practitioners have been trained to be very careful of that; and patients and lawyers are careful to find things upon which to sue. This mind-set will NOT CHANGE just because everyone is just as poverty stricken as everyone else. It has fomented a hideous distrust among doctors and patients, and tolerance of difficult situations is gone. Therefore expect that medical attention will be difficult to obtain. Hospitals are already closing because of the inadequate funding and huge demand for services by uninsured people. In an inflationary depression, hospitals are extremely likely to close all over the country, as will clinics and emergency rooms.

With big pharma having been able to obtain regulation over wholistic medicines, in its own favor, it will be almost impossible to get any of those, either. You may want to have lots of vitamins, medicines and home remedies set aside. In other words, GET THEM WHILE YOU STILL CAN. Big Pharma won’t permit it much longer.

Now the Depression part. Collapse of all financial institutions.

Friends of my family who had lived through the economic collapse of the USSR explained that when the whole financial industry went down, everyone just stayed in the homes they were in. There came a point when it was just much too expensive to go through the process to throw people out. In our country we also have squatters laws that enable people to obtain ownership of an ‘abandoned’ home based on their staying in it for a certain length of time. This may apply to you and your home in the event all the financial institutions collapse. You may want to discreetly check around and see if there are any such laws in your area. Friends or families could ‘exchange’ homes and squat in order to keep the properties.

FDIC insured savings & pensions.

Understand that, like the Savings and Loan debacle, the savings of average people were NOT paid by the FDIC insurance, in many many cases, but only the larger depositors. Many people had saved all their lives and lost their funds when the S & Ls collapsed, although this was not widespread knowledge because the MSM did not report on the fact. The current situation is far, far worse for the FDIC, who has a barely functional amount set aside for such catastrophes. IF they do happen to pay out, it will (if you are lucky) be pennies on the dollar. Do not expect to receive your life savings back.

Since the first Bush administration, there have been people waiting for a catastrophe to take down the pension funds. During that administration laws were changed that permitted pensions to USE the money for other investments, rather than keeping those funds set aside. Immediately pension funds did, in fact, invest that money elsewhere and so nearly all pension funds are purely paper tigers. This is another case of the chickens coming home to roost at the worst possible time for it. Like the sub-prime mortgage debacle, there were PLENTY of people warning about the danger to the pension funds at the time, but they were ignored, even thought the amount of money at risk was vastly greater than the S & L losses. Its one more case of legalized looting of the people’s savings, that is only now coming up on the radar of the average person.

This will also be true of your 401k programs, IRAs, CDs, and other ‘highly recommended’ investment vehicles. Your money is already gone.

Worthless cash.

Some years back when I was travelling Mexico, I found that tourists from other countries were very surprised that Mexicans believed that Americans walked around with bags of money. It was one of the reasons that the war on drugs was so difficult to wage, because nobody was surprised by people walking around with bags and bags of money. The reason is that the peso had so little value that if you ‘cashed in’ a couple of hundred American dollars for spending money, it actually took bags to hold all the pesos you would get in exchange!

Since that time, the value of the peso has been ‘reset’ from 3500 pesos per dollar to something in the area of 7 per dollar, perhaps even less now. However, do not expect that to be the case with the American dollar in the event of a collapse. The American debt is just too great to recover that currency.

The Mexicans were able to re-value the peso because their country had some assets that belonged to them.

We have no such assets any longer.  They have all been sold to foreign investors and, as many people believe, even Fort Knox is most likely empty.  Ron Paul’s requests for an inventory of the people’s gold have repeatedly been ignored.  It isn’t there but the ones who have it don’t want us to know it for sure, at least not yet.

Alternative currencies.

Ron Paul has talked about an alternate currency of silver and gold coin. So far that idea has had NO FLOAT among other members of government, and in fact, the government has been extremely vigilant and harsh if it thinks there is an alternate currency of any type being developed in the country. Even bartering associations have had great difficulty with the government because the barter ‘credits’ were considered an alternate cash form by the government and those associations had to develop suitable methods of reporting transactions to the IRS before they were able to continue operations. Recently in Minnesota, a company that was minting commemorative coins out of purchased gold was shut down and wiped out by the government without explanation.

The euro is also a fiat currency and will most likely be severely impacted by inflationary depression here. It is NOT a safe haven for you to invest your funds into.

Electronic replacement currency.

All signs point to the government getting ready to substitute the American dollar for an electronic currency of some type, whether it be the Amero for three countries, or an American hemisphere currency. In any case, it will certainly be another fiat currency, and it will only be available to those who carry or have implanted, an electronic chip of some sort.

This is the primary reason that credit and refinancing has totally dried up, as it did in the Great Depression. Then, it was a strategy for certain robber barons to purchase people’s assets for pennies on the dollar, making a few people very, very rich. Now, the commitment to turn to a RFID based identification and currency is primary, and would never work if alternate forms of currency were available to the people who refused those chips.

Combined with the massive data collection on all Americans that has been going on, in banks, loan companies, credit reporting agencies and etc., and the institution nationwide of the REAL ID, all of your bills are known to someone, or many people electronically, and your obligations and income (if you have any) will be transferred over to the electronic bookkeeping that manages the new alternative electronic funds.

Therefore, it is conceivable that there could be a return of ‘debtor’s prisons’ or some sort of indentured servitude to force payback of debts, especially if there is no job market to access. Perhaps the government will provide ‘busy work’ to get some income into the hands of the populace, but most likely it would be paid in the electronic currencies just described. In any event, if it is possible the creditors will do everything within their power and influence to get a payback and will work to legislate that.

Other issues to consider.

Like the Amish, there are still many people who own their properties outright. Also like the Amish, you can have every single thing paid for, but still be subject to property seizure due to inflationary tax rates or, like the Amish, for refusal to participate in the chipping program. Like Tara in Gone with the Wind, while the land was paid for, there was simply no income of any kind to pay the taxes. Unlike Tara, the government agencies have such a far reach that they have no consideration for the constitutional rights of the Amish, and have no need to. There is no one with power who is interceding for the Amish to save their properties and animals from fines and seizures.

No one will intercede for you, either.

New regulations have changed important things.

The Amish are an excellent example of the difficulties people will be facing. Because of Homeland Security, and the NAIS program, because of the rare instances of mad cow disease or tuberculosis among wild deer herds, the government can seize food/farm animals at its discretion. If the animals are chipped as required by law, they cannot be hidden or moved around without being able to be traced.

The organic produce scare from out west has also brought regulation down on crop production and limitations to the ability of people to grow food on their own properties. Zoning laws in your community most likely prohibit keeping chickens, goats, rabbits or any other ‘livestock’ that could provide you a living. You might try for a time to keep such animals, but be advised they will most likely be seized when the government is alerted to their existence.

Without professional standard facilities, even farmers are no longer able to offer fresh baked pies or other homemade goods at their roadside stands anymore. Trade or exchange of foodstuffs may be facing enforcement of Homeland Security food safety regulations.

Furthermore, since that horrendous and illegal debacle called WACO, it is now illegal to have more than a two month supply of food on your premises.

Transportation

Inflationary prices will affect your transportation as well, as the prices of gasoline, oil and all fluids having to do with maintaining your vehicle properly will skyrocket in price. This will be much more difficult for suburban dwellers than city dwellers, because in urban areas deliveries of foodstuffs and necessities are more likely. Suburban areas with large lots and spread out community areas will have farther to walk (or ride bikes) to get to supplies, and much farther to get them back home.

Keep in mind we haven’t even discussed the chips that will be put into your license plates on your vehicles (as long as they’re AMERICAN vehicles), corporate owned toll roads, built at taxpayer expense, roadblocks and etc. Expect problems with all of these.

Social Chaos

The 1967 riots in Detroit were in large measure a response to severe economic hardships, and things became very violent and dangerous. My own father was severely beaten and left for dead simply because he worked in the area. Even a severe shortage of food supplies can bring on food riots, not to mention the gasoline shortages, rationing and high prices.

It is reasonable to expect that there will be some sort of a sweep by militias (constitutionally illegal ones) to take away all types of firearms, regardless of your right to own them. Martial law will certainly be declared, perhaps just over the economic collapse, but unquestionably because of the social chaos that is likely to break out at some point.

In all this we haven’t even discussed the recent legislation passed by our current administration and representatives in the house and senate. For example, the Patriot Act, etc. Now, for simply protesting, you can be branded a home grown terrorist and disappeared for up to three years without recourse to a court or lawyer.

There are others which you are aware of I’m sure.

In sum, the government will, at some point, provide some relief to the inflationary depression, but it will be done in such a way that you will be forced to accept radio chipping and a host of other things that are intolerable for Americans, such as relinquishing sovereignty to a hyper-political organization.

Because of the sheer desperation that will ensue from inflationary depression, it is certain that most people will accept the compromise.

There is only one thing that can protect us from much of this, and that is a STRICT RETURN TO THE CONSTITUTION. Without that, there is no basis for your rights and, under the scenario that is all set up and that we are awaiting, you will be given no rights either.