SHTF has arrived

a reply to: 38181

The Fed apparently thinks they can start selling their ~ $9 trillion in govt bonds and mortgage backed bonds, starting June 1. They plan to sell $30 billion per month, then $60 billion per month 3 months later.

Let's see if they can get away with that...

originally posted by: Liquidiron
a reply to: Halfswede

In my humble opinion I think it’s over consumption of things we don’t need. I don’t think technology will be able to solve that issue. We have to come to understanding that our lavish lifestyle in society is not practical as our population continues to increase. Technology, if we put it to use recycling and focusing on a sustainable lifestyle will maybe buy us more time. But as of now god forbid the local millionaires golf course gets shutdown due to water shortages or water is redirected from the Napa valley winery to grow food crop. I just don’t see that happening or the rich making those sacrifices. It’s a domino effect and I think the whole thing is about to come crumbling down piece by piece.

You are hitting on the root of the problem. Yes, we should be returning to traditional materials such as metal, paper, wood, ceramic, glass, etc. as opposed to a bunch of short-term "cheap" solutions. The average home size built in 1970 was 430 sf. per person. Now it is over 1100 sf per person.

There are many many examples of short-term thinking due to strong immediate profit-driven decisions and over-consumption just out of laziness, unwillingness to share resources, or keeping up with the Joneses and many other things that were traditionally part of the community. Everyone wants their own full set of tools, cars. Every birthday party is filled with wads of throw-away plastic doodads. This list goes on an on. We've all added fuel to that fire.

Maybe inability to get some things will put stuff in perspective. We only have control of ourselves as individuals.

a reply to: LordAhriman

This. My job is groceries. We have the opposite of shortages, our DCs and stores are running out of places to store stuff. The only thing we are having a little trouble getting is chicken breast.

HUH!~ That does seem odd and information worth mentioning in
the interest of possible advantageous early indicators. Considering
the truth is we have no idea what's coming down the pike next.

But I would say that since they choose to play the hell out of
the fear card? Constantly over many years. We should at least
for once place that fear directly where it belongs. Where it has
always belonged. On them of course. We could easily take out
the source of all our fear just by fearing the fear mongers.

Fear is a great motivator.

originally posted by: LordAhriman

originally posted by: Randyvine2

I drive over the road and I sure don't see any shortage of trucks on the road.

Truck stops are full if you get in to late you have to park roadside.

Fuel prices are really just different numbers that get passed on down the line.

So as of right now I can't see the difference. I am sure that could change.

This. My job is groceries. We have the opposite of shortages, our DCs and stores are running out of places to store stuff. The only thing we are having a little trouble getting is chicken breast.

This makes no sense. Why are you ordering more stuff than you can store? Are people just not buying what you are selling?

I can only speak to my local target. I often take pictures when I am there. There are always a bunch of sections completely empty or with just traces of goods or some single product spread over several shelves to hide the gap. Last time I was there it was cheese, prepackaged lunch meat, and pet food that were just wiped out. It varies every time, but even the store says they are having problems. I'm pretty sure they aren't just hiding goods in the back and lying for fun.

Well I used to drive OTR pulled $0.41/mi or max of just mileage of $291.51 before taxes per day in 2006.

I understand that to be maybe $0.55/mi today or $391.05 per day based on the same 711 miles.

711 miles is 64.63 mph for 11 hours. A standard used to keep you from “speeding” in your logbook. I was far more likely to make $270 on a good day which would be $363 today. $1500 in a good week or probably about $2050 today. But that is a company driver not paying for fuel or repairs and upkeep. And those are good weeks. I had a week where my check for the week was $23. As a “sharecropper” paying fuel I have lost $1500/wk two weeks in a row. And I dropped another $500 in fuel in order to not have a third week in a row of a $1500 loss.

2006…we are still two good years from “The Great Recession” after the “housing bubble” popped. Today those losses would been much higher. Because that $1500 per week was just food and fuel, I didn’t include lost earnings from no loads. Tack another $3,100-$3,800 per week on to that. Anyone want to guess? Diesel was $4.25/gal back then. Pushing $6 now. Meals are not cheaper either.

Suddenly that $30/hr factory job No Experience Required looks pretty good. Drop that CDL in front of them and mention that you could be used to do other things as they arise and watch that $30 be treated as an insult wage. A midnight run to a customer comes up more often than places admit. That is why I made $0.83/mi minimum sharecropping in 2006. The owner of the truck had me running for an expedited company. They charged expedited rates too. Had I owned the truck (24’-26’ Straight Box) I would have pulled $1.65/mile min (saw a $2.50/mi once) and a fuel surcharge of $0.18/mi min. (Some paid $0.60/mi)

Wouldn’t do it on a dare today. At least not under the conditions I did in the past. To dangerous now for one, I slept in places I would take most of you too in the daytime. A lot of them are gone now anyway. They were dangerous then too but I was younger. Money and instability. I kept a box and roll of packing tape back then just in case I had to do an on the road eviction. A lesson learned from the story of Consolidated Freight (CF) just before I started trucking. Troopers were pulling them into scales and telling the drivers to pack up, lock up and hand them the keys…

Think that CF story won’t be repeated? Next time you dive on the interstate look at how many JB Hunt trucks there are. Or Swift or those orange Schneider that you see. Count the JB Hunt Intermodal trailers on a train next time you are stuck at a crossing. Each one will have a driver hauling it eventually. Although there are less today because of the Port of LA problems.

a reply to: Ahabstar


Consolidated had a yard in Ontario Ca at one time I believe.

When you see another stolen election, that's when the next major SHTF... While America dives into Civil War and enters into chaos, the world and Russia will lose all hope and send those nukes flying.

a reply to: imitator

They have to send nukes, their troops would not survive 72 hrs after initial contact. Armed civilians would take out anything they thought was “Rooshies” Bad day to be a stutterer with a baritone voice then.

a reply to: Ahabstar

Right on... Russia has much to lose, they will suffer no matter their move, as well as the US government. After all the chaos, it will be armed civilians rebuilding a better world.

a reply to: Halfswede

I couldn’t agree with you more. I was born in 91 and seeing the amount of change in that short time has blown my mind. It’s consume more and more and people always think they need more. The amount of waste I see day to day on things that could be reused is crazy. I’m a Union Ironworker and the amount of construction going on is insane right now. This summer is gonna be crazy but, at the same time I’m trying to piece together how prices are so high on everything yet construction is booming. Where is all this money coming from ? It’s tough as hell to even get steel fabricated for us right now it’s so busy. Everything seems to be so artificially so propped up it has to come crumbling down.
Prices on fuel are insane, there’s signs of things in stores that all is not well on the supply chain. I always try to get a little extra things when I go shopping (shelf stable foods) because I think rough times are aloof. Thankfully it’s just me and I don’t have any kids so I can skate by on minimal things. I think this fall is when things are going to get jurassic as my old man says. My extra income will be spent on pickled and canned food on fridays at the farmers market and buying freeze dried meals. I think it’s nice to be able to have these open discussions here and know that I’m not the only one seeing these alarms.

a reply to: StoutBroux

Gas prices in my area were at an all time high of $4.23 back in 2008-2010.
Today they haven't gotten higher than $3.80. Lowest I got two days ago was $3.69.

The country didn't end and trucks had no problem delivering goods back then when gas was higher so I have no fear of a collapse now.

G’day Nugget, I think sending billions in aid to the corrupt Ukraine is just a way for Robinette and his cronies to make bank on a ‘crisis’.

It is also a convenient way to add huge amounts to the US debt without benefiting it’s populace.

Socialise the debt, privatise the profit.

a reply to: nugget1

originally posted by: Halfswede

We don't order anything, our DCs send us what they want. They don't like to take the hit when something expires, so they unload it on us. We are donating several pallets of food a week because we can't sell it before it goes out of date. We had to rent a reefer to store frozen food in because we are out of freezer space, and it's now almost full.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

That is nice. My little part of Ohio was like that 2-3 weeks ago, the $3.80/gal. Trenton, OH, not even a 30 minute drive from the Lebanon, Ohio terminal where all the local gasoline comes out of the pipe, was $4.15/gal last Wed.

AES, formerly DP&L (Dayton Power & Light), announced a more than doubling of electric rated from 3.8 to 10.9 cents per kWh. If you used 1000 kWh and your bill was $38 in May, you are paying $109 in June for the same usage.

Enjoy your next car fill up, might just be the last one since a doubling of electricity is a pretty sudden change. I have said it before and I will say it now, when it finally hits it is going to make the Great Depression look like a picnic because people still knew how to preserve food like salt curing and raising gardens. This time people will shoot one another over the last couple bites of a hot dog out of desperation.

Happy 250th America in 2026…

i'm hiding in honduras, i'm a desperate man..
send lawyers, guns and money, the SHTF!


the late great warren zevon.

originally posted by: scraedtosleep
a reply to: StoutBroux

Gas prices in my area were at an all time high of $4.23 back in 2008-2010.
Today they haven't gotten higher than $3.80. Lowest I got two days ago was $3.69.

The country didn't end and trucks had no problem delivering goods back then when gas was higher so I have no fear of a collapse now.

We hadn't gone through almost two years of pandemic lockdowns which started this snowball of lack of products, lack of employees etc. We didn't have the Ukraine Russian conflict and the affects it will leave. We didn't have the massive border crisis and inundation of illegal immigrants we now have which will drain our resources even further. We didn't have UBI that so many have been existing off of instead of working. We didn't have limited fuel options and restrictions like we now have.

As far as the country ending.....that's debatable. I guess it depends on if one is referring to the ground we walk on or the foundation of our principles. I read this post today and it pretty much says it all.

Paul Hanson
1 day ago
This is my home and I was privileged to be born here. But today I woke up and as I had my morning coffee, I realized that everything is changing for the worse. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, no matter how much I pray, something very evil has invaded our nation, and our lives are never going to be the same. I have been betrayed and confused by the hostility of even family members and long time friends. I look at people I have known all my life--so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone. We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind!
You can't justify this insanity:
• If a guy pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him.
• Somehow it’s un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America.
• Russians influencing our elections are bad, but illegals voting in our elections are good.
• Twenty is too young to drink a beer, but eighteen is old enough to vote.
• People who have never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves.
• People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees.
• Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you’d better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated.
• Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate to the US must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gang member or terrorist who jumps the southern fence is welcome.
• $5 billion for border security is too expensive, but $1.5 trillion for “free” health care is not.
• If you cheat to get into college you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country you go to college for free.
• If you cheat in an election nothing happens to you, but if you point out the mathematical errors of that election you are a conspiracy theorist & disdained.
• People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female President.
• We see other countries going Socialist and collapsing, but it seems like a great plan for us.
• Some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, and other people are not held responsible for what they are doing right now.
• Criminals are caught-and-released to hurt more people, but stopping them is bad because it's a violation of their rights.
· Then there is the whole Afghanistan, vaccine, endless COVID variants, election cheating, deficient president, violence in the cities, defunding the police, confiscating my guns while arming terrorists, etc., etc.
·And pointing out all this hypocrisy somehow makes us "racists”?!

Nothing makes sense anymore - no values, no morals, and no civility. People are dying of a Chinese virus, but it's racist to refer to it as Chinese even though it began in China. We are clearly living in an upside-down world where right is wrong and wrong is right, where moral is immoral and immoral is moral, where good is evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong but killing unborn babies is okay!

Wake up, America, the great unsinkable ship Titanic America has hit an iceberg, it's taking on water, and is sinking fast. We Americans are drowning. Speak up while you still have breath and a voice for soon you will have neither if you don't!

They’re pretty ingenious unfortunately.

We will have to work on developing local economies. Go back to square one.

originally posted by: gb540

originally posted by: Ahabstar
My local Dollar (and a quarter) Tree is out of helium until further notice. Not that I ever bought one but they did sell quite a bit of Mylar balloons every day. Not now.

Try getting helium for welding. Stuff was in short supply before Covid.

For transportation, we’re directly flirting with a transportation collapse and this is not hyperbole. Not helping is chip makers prioritizing “high value” smart phones, while “low value” vehicle chips are on the back burner. Isn’t this how Rome collapsed?

My local supplier air gas won’t sell helium unless you’ve been a long time customer with an account. And it’s expensive.

So is argon.

10 years ago co2 20lb was $25. Now it’s $160.

a reply to: sarahvital

Yo ho ho and a bottle of $500 rum, gonna plant some
Sugar cane and make my own. Love WZ. RIP. His last concert was to see Bob Dylan.

originally posted by: anonentity
a reply to: incoserv

So where do all the parts for military vehicles come from? if they are from China as well, then they are stuffed, if not they must ramp things up for civilian supply if they don't they are the problem.

Military equipment is safe for now. Many of the things in the US military are made by the Military Industrial Complex. We still make the best war machines.