I was listening to a radio program yesterday, and the owner of a survival goods store was the guest. He said that right now he's out of Mountain House dried foods, water filters, and several other things. For me this raises the interesting question: why the run on survival related things? I can understand the run on wheat and rice. Especially restaurants who use rice are afraid of not being able to get all the rice they need. But, for instance, water filters and canned butter are goods that only those putting up a food supply would be interested in. As far as I know, for instance, there's no shortage of the parts needed to make a water filter. So people aren't buying them because they're afraid that the supply will run out. They're buying them because they're afraid that they'll need them.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
See, though, REI caters mainly to campers and people like that. This guy markets specifically to survivalists. So there's something that's spooking this guy's customers. It may be real. It may not. But it's interesting to observe.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I want to say this carefully so as not to offend anyone (if possible).
Aren't an awful lot of survivalists fairly easily spooked? Isn't the expectation of impending doom a common motivator among many in that group?
There is no question that we are seeing a slowing economy, and inflation is worse than we have seen it in many years (in the USA). If someone is prone to plan for the worst when times are good, wouldn't you expect them to be particularly edgy when times are not as good? It doesn't surprise me at all to see survivalists making a run on survival goods right now. I think it makes a lot of sense.
Meanwhile, the church continues to say that we should stay calm, not panic, not run faster than we have strength, but be diligent in preparing temporally and spiritually. What a blessing we have in modern prophets that warned us long ago so there is no need to freak out now, and that provide their steadying voice in uncertain times.
No offense on my part, at least, Dilbert. You do have a point. But I don't remember this sort of run back about 6 years ago when the economy was bad. Granted, people were mainly still jaded after Y2K didn't result in the end of civilization. Still, though, since I've been following preparedness forums and such this is only the second time, including Y2K, that I've seen such a thing. Y2K was a lot worse as far as runs on survival stuff, of course.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
That is a good point Dilbert. Usually these survivalists have some kind of wild theory though and I think it would be interesting to hear what is going on in their heads. We had a friend like that in one area we lived years ago and sometimes just listening to his theories and thought process facinated me. Only because I thought he was a kook. Shoulda seen this guys house during the Y2K thing.
You can take anything to an extreme. Even a good concept like preparedness. Like the church advises us, do things in moderation. That's a tough call to make, though. For instance, would it be moderation to spend your tax rebate on a year's supply for you and your family. If you were depending on that rebate to straighten out your budget, then I'd say yes. But in many cases it would be a great opportunity for someone to get their year's supply.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I frequent Zion's camp and the Glocktalk preparedness boards and have not heard of this. I am going to be ordering a Gravidyn filtration system, have a couple of Combis already, but had planned on that purchase for a while now.
The way I see it, I have seen the flocks spooked and stampeding, so I buy extra too, so I have more and then don't have to dig in to my stores for our daily use. We use what we store, so this way I keep my preserved basics for longer.
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Lo, there I see my mother, my sisters, my brothers Lo, there I see the line of my people back to the beginning Lo, they call to me, they bid me take my place among them In the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live...forever
dilbert wrote:Aren't an awful lot of survivalists fairly easily spooked? Isn't the expectation of impending doom a common motivator among many in that group?
Yes, and quite often yes. But I ain't no survivalist - I'm a "preparedness enthusiast". And I am not spooked. I am optimistic that whatever downturns and warning signs we're seeing will be of limited and temporary duration. I've beefed up my 401K contributions in order to take advantage of the downturn.
LM
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And I'd discuss the holy books with the learned men, seven hours every day. That would be the sweetest thing of all.
I think using your tax rebate to beef up your food storage is a great idea, Arbilad.
That's what bokbadok and I did to get our food storage started. Well, ok, it was a tax return rather than a rebate, but it was still a nice chunk of change that was outside our regular monthly budget. I can't take any credit for that, though. It was bok's bright idea. I just provided the grunt labor for all the lifting and stacking.
