There are plenty of people out there with big plans for “if things get bad.” Many of them have some sort of Mad Max scenario in mind. Yep, should the Apocalypse come they plan on being lords of the wasteland or have some big bug out plan in mind. They are keeping their powder dry for that fateful day.
Maybe so. On the other hand, many people are living in places that are in a slow motion collapse. Few preppers have that sort of thing in mind. Year after year things get a little bit worse. The infrastructure slowly goes down hill. Roads fall apart. Pubic transport gets dirtier and less reliable. City government, police, fire, and all the other services have continuous budget cuts. The schools become nothing more hoodlum warehousing.
There are plenty of reasons for living in a bad area. Maybe you’ve got a good job. More likely, you have a good enough job on which to survive, but not good enough that the skills transfer somewhere else. Besides, moving is expensive. Maybe you have family and friends around. Plenty of people find themselves upside down in a house they can’t sell.
It’s no surprise which areas are doing poorly. Just a quick Google search will reveal the worse cities, states and countries. Does the place you live in appear fairly regularly in those lists? If it does you’ve got to ask yourself what the heck you are doing there.
There are those who are aware that they live in a bad place, but feel there can bug out before things really get bad. That’s a form of Russian roulette. If you leave too early, it could cost you a lot of money and make you feel like an idiot. Stay too long and gangs roam the streets and the bridges are on fire.
If you find yourself in a crap location move out. Do it now while it’s still relatively easy. The worse that could happen is that you move into a better area when you didn’t really have to. Okay, that’s not fair. Moving can be hard. On the other hand it’s a lot easier when no one is shooting at you.
-Sixbears
A location may look good . . . expensive homes, good jobs but . . .
ReplyDeleteNorth Texas is an example of a "crap" location. Yuck!
Over 117 millions gallons of sewage has actually entered yards and some houses in North Texas due to heavy rains. Saw this on the WFAA Dallas news today.
Oh heck no! Raw sewage is the most direct way to see it's a "crap" location.
DeleteThen there are those of us living on an island, surrounded by a combination of extreme influx of government spending for defense and space. Where it will unlikely stop until the day we all glow in the dark.
ReplyDeleteAt our age, we are comfortable with the Bison five year food storage. Yet in this highly conservative area , it will be debatable as to whether you or the neighbors have more ammo...for sure all those yuppie scum defense contractors are food storage poor...
Got claymores ?
I like your fence plan. That makes all your neighbors better targets than you.
DeleteCritical government areas will probably keep the lights on longer.
Bet you'd feel better with another boat handy.
Of course another boat is an avenue which is always available. Plenty of those , just down the road...
DeletePerhaps one of those many unattended boats might accidentally float away? In a crisis?
DeleteIts hard to move when your family is living in the area. I'd choose a better neighborhood if possible. We've lived in an older neighborhood which people have lived by each other for decades. We mostly get along, but keep to ourselves in general.
ReplyDeleteThe possible trouble maker - the city park across the street. Lots of people visit there, some good, some not so much. So showing displays of toys may tempt the the Bad Guy visit. A good watch dog goes a long way there. Our neighbors have three dogs and they are a noisy crew if anything gets near their fence.
Family is a big one. Then again, once family moves to a better area, they it's easier for more to move in.
DeleteOn the flip side, my lovely wife has almost zero family left in the town she grew up in. High taxes and real estate prices pushed them out.
takes $$$ to move and lots of research of the area you choose. also youthfulness is a plus. the rest of us make do.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying it's easy, just that it might be worth considering.
DeleteI forgot to mention a lot of the sewage water went into the area lakes, even those supplying drinking water. The pipes carrying the crappy water started leaking because the infrastructure has not been maintained and they now have cracks and leaks. The rains exposed and exacerbated the situation. Very expensive fix now.
ReplyDeleteIt just keep getting worse. The breakdown of infrastructure is a major problem in this country.
DeleteThat's an excellent synopsis of the survivalist thought process. I think both points of view are actually valid. Anybody can look at the news over the period of the last few years and be amazed at how fast we've deteriorated. The future looks like the process with accelerate, especially, I think, after 2020 when my pessimistic view is that the Dims will rule the roost.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the worst experience of my life was something that came out of the blue, was unanticipated (at least, by me), and happened in the blink of an eye. That was the Beirut bombing. Good post.
Thanks. Not much that we can do about the stuff that comes out of the blue. All we can do is roll with it. However, it doesn't make much sense to ignore the things that we can do something about. The problem is that many problems slowly get worse over time. Before we know it, we are living in a hell hole.
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