Preparedness for when

Frugalsod

sb44 wrote: »

Wouldn't one of these be ok for you re safe drinking water when out and about (or for anyone in the North West at the minute!).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAWYER-MINI-WATER-FILTRATION-SYSTEM/dp/B00FA2RLX2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440362844&sr=8-1&keywords=sawyer+MINI+FILTER

yes it would but I have heard that they can slow down considerably if not back flushed regularly. So some are switching to this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAWYER-SQUEEZE-WATER-FILTRATION-SYSTEM/dp/B00B1OSU4W/

Same brand and slightly larger, heavier and more expensive but does not slow down. You can with some adaptors use it a gravity feed set up as well.

[Deleted User]

A useful thing spotted in A*di last week for just under £10 they have a 2 compartment stainless steel vacuum flask with a cup at either end for taking 2 different hot drinks, quite a wide mouth to the flask compartments and would certainly take soups, stews with the pieces cut small. Came with a carrying strap that looked long enough to go over the shoulder.

sb44

jk0 wrote: »

Bear in mind though you've still got to buy rechargeable batteries and a charger for them.

Yes,we have 3 battery chargers and quiet a few high power rechargeables.

The reason for buying though was for a long time outage where I wouldn't be able to use rechargeable batteries, or, were I couldn't get access for anywhere to charge up batteries.

1Tonsil

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/24/wall-street-prepped-for-meltdown-as-futures-plunge.html

moneyistooshorttomention

...and then theres the stuff going round the Internet saying that the recent incident in China was down to America retaliating for (in advance of?) the Chinese devaluing their currency (but conspiracy theory is the Chinese have been stashing gold away and are doing this deliberately - and planning to wage a War of 2 C's on America - ie major attack on their Internet and another on their Currency).

I don't know what to think any longer as to what is going on personally...

[Deleted User]

Events too big to stop, nothing the individual could possibly do to prevent them happening except to be as prepped as possible and HOPE that's enough!

Karmacat

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Events too big to stop, nothing the individual could possibly do to prevent them happening except to be as prepped as possible and HOPE that's enough!

Agreed! This hasn't come out of the blue for us, at least, which has given us time to do *some* of what we can - I've been focussing over the weekend, as all the posts on electricity make clear

Frugalsod

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

...and then theres the stuff going round the Internet saying that the recent incident in China was down to America retaliating for (in advance of?) the Chinese devaluing their currency (but conspiracy theory is the Chinese have been stashing gold away and are doing this deliberately - and planning to wage a War of 2 C's on America - ie major attack on their Internet and another on their Currency).

I don't know what to think any longer as to what is going on personally...

It is nothing as complicated as that. Conspiracies are abound but most are junk.

The Chinese are trying to maintain their economy. Global trade is slumping and the Chinese property market is tanking so many ordinary Chinese people have been suckered into speculating on the Chinese bourse. Now some have added leverage with margin debt so did very well initially but that also cuts deeper when the market turns.

So there will be big losses for some and the Chinese shadow banking industry is looking insolvent again so there could be huge losses there. This could mean the Chinese Middle class being financially wiped out. This could mean risks of civil unrest. The recent devaluation of the Yuan was to boost exports nothing more. This is also causing all their neighbours to devalue which will accelerate losses on the dollar carry trade. This will harm the US banks but this is more a matter of bad lending than conspiracy.

The Chinese may be under reporting their gold but that does not discount the Chinese citizens buying the stuff as well. In India it is individuals that are the biggest buyers of gold. Remember that most people talking about a return to the gold standard have big holdings and will become rich if they can convince the rest of us it is a good idea.

The problem everywhere is too much debt and that is coming home to roost. The Chinese have created trillions of credit and so have a huge credit bubble to unwind somehow. There has been massive investment in productive capacity and this is resulting in deflation globally. This is bad for most economies as they struggle to compete to maintain sales so they cut costs mainly wages. While companies had all the bargaining power wages were kept down and profit margins increased but the problem is that their customer base has been hollowed out by wage cuts and now many companies in many countries are reporting falling sales. So for a few years they managed to mask this by buying back shares so the rising share price created the image of a normal recovery, but the fundamentals of these businesses are at their extreme and so with their now bloated balance sheets I do expect to see some big name companies go bust over the next few years.

Frugalsod

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Events too big to stop, nothing the individual could possibly do to prevent them happening except to be as prepped as possible and HOPE that's enough!

For most of us here we are far better prepared than the general public at large. Also the events will not happen overnight. The 2007/8 crisis took many months to become apparent for the masses. I suspect that the press might be a little quicker off the mark this time especially as more than a few have said things were unbalanced and could not go on as they were for long.

[Deleted User]

Thank God for this thread then and thank God also for our collective alternativeness and ability to quietly buck the trend of thinking that anything can be fixed and will be by TPTB. Worth more than rubies and certainly more use than any amount of gold bars!!!