New Forum Logo

Hey Everyone,
I'm getting geared back up to return to blogging and to (hopefully) posting in the Forum.  Thanks for all your patience in this crazy season of life.  BTW...  Here's the new logo for the Forum:

Blog On Hiatus Until Further Notice

Although it is my desire to do some blogging on a daily basis related to the Chip Monk Family Survival Podcast, the reality is that my personal situation and recurrent lack of online access has caused me to put this part of my preparedness efforts on hold.
If/when things change to allow more time in my schedule I plan to return to daily blogging but until then keep an eye on our main web site for information: http://www.chipmonksurvival.com/

Census: Report shows nearly 50% of American people are poor or low-income

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/census-shows-1-2-people-103940568.html

QUOTE: Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.
The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families."Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too 'rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty. 

Yet another reason to ignore the statistics put out by the Labor Department each week.  By ignoring those who have exhausted their benefits the unemployment rate magically shrinks.  Hmmm...  I'm curious if anyone believes those Employment press releases anymore?  

USA TODAY: Home electricity prices skyrocking

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-13/electric-bills/51840042/1?loc=interstitialskip

QUOTE: High taxes, limits on air-polluting fuels and the expense of maintaining an underground transmission system keep consumer costs high, says ConEd spokesman Chris Olert.

Sadly, the pinch is already on families these days because of the economy and this can only make it worse.  I've noticed that nationwide more people are turning to alternative heat sources (such as wood) in response as heat in the winter is one of the bigger drivers of electricity usage.
All of this of course suggests yet another reason to try to be as independent of the electrical grid as possible, but I've probably beaten that dead horse to death enough on the podcast. :)

Time of the Signs?: People Living In Storage Units

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/12/12/fire-destroys-several-units-at-gloucester-city-storage-facility/

QUOTE: According to eyewitnesses, two people have been living inside one of the units due to tough economic times.

I've seen this in my own area in recent years and do not find this to be surprising at all.  With the real unemployment rate much higher than the "official" statistics, we should expect to see even more of these sorts of creative living arrangements in times to come.

Other evidences of how bad things are getting:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-12-12/homeless-children-increase/51851146/1?loc=interstitialskip
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-13/u-s-retail-sales-climb-less-than-forecast-at-slowest-pace-in-five-months.html
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/12/13/salvation-army-has-warning-after-three-red-kettles-stolen-in-northeast-philadelphia/


And perhaps the worst of all---tubas?: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/12/12/rash-of-unsolved-tuba-thefts-plagues-southland-high-schools/

Cops use Predator drone to nab cattle rustlers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073248/Local-cops-used-Predator-drone-arrest-North-Dakota-farm-family-stealing-6-cows.html

QUOTE: Meet the Brossarts, a North Dakota family deemed so dangerous that the local sheriff needed unleashed an unmanned Predator drone to help bring them in.  The Brossart's alleged crime? They wouldn't give back three cows and their calves that wandered onto their 3,000-acre farm this summer.
The same aerial vehicles used by the CIA to track down and assassinate terrorists and militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan are now being deployed by cops to spy on Americans in their own backyards. 

I began writing a book sometime back about a post-collapse scenario, and in that book I used the idea of Predator drones being used to hunt and kill American citizens.  At the time, I thought it was sort of a science-fiction-y idea but you can see it isn't all that far beyond the scope of possibility these days.  Reminds one of the Hunter-Killer robots in Terminator...

Washington Post: Do-It-Yourself Trends a Step Back For Women?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-new-domesticity-fun-empowering-or-a-step-back-for-american-women/2011/11/18/gIQAqkg1vN_story_1.html

QUOTE: But lately, many women (and a few men) are diving into domesticity with a sense of moral purpose. The homemade jar of jam becomes a symbol of resistance to industrial food and its environment-defiling ways. This view has been brewing for a while, a thick stew of Slow Food and locavorism and DIY brought to a boil by recession and anxiety. Suddenly, learning the old-fashioned skills of our great-grandmothers seems not just fun, but necessary and even virtuous.

QUOTE #2: But Paska’s daily life more closely resembles a 19th-century farm wife’s: soaking beans for stews, feeding her backyard chickens and rabbits, drying herbs, baking bread, keeping bees on her apartment roof. Her frugal, home-based life allowed her to leave a desk job she disliked; she now lives on $1,000 a month earned by teaching classes on DIY urban food production and writing about beekeeping and other pre-industrial skills.

QUOTE #3: A few years ago, her friends thought she was nuts. Now, with the economy stagnating and career disillusionment growing, they all want to imitate her. 

How can "self-empowerment" of this type be a step back for women?  If anything this movement to increase what we would call "self-sufficiency" is one of the best things to happen to women (and families in general) for a long time.
Let's hope it really catches on.