Electromagnetic Pulse (26 page)
Read Electromagnetic Pulse Online
Authors: Bobby Akart
In summary, focus on your immediate family. You shouldn't tell anyone else about your plans. This means, if you tell your parents that live outside your house (which of course you will), you will need to save supplies for them as well. If you tell your close friends, you will need food and water for them, too. If you tell anyone, they immediately become part of your plan. This is why the final step is getting those special people in your life to prep as well. This way, you now have a network of trusted preppers that can help one another now, and when times get tough. Once you have them all at your location, then you can begin to take a more active role in your neighborhood survival group. Your close-knit group of family and friends can defend your preps, in case there is an uprising amongst your neighbors.
So the big question is,
who should I tell about my prepping
? The answer is anyone that you feel comfortable surviving TEOTWAWKI with. If you want to house enough supplies for all of your neighbors to come and enjoy, tell them at your own risk. Even then, you run the risk of them telling their friends and so on, until you have a hundred people at your door looking for a handout. Help people with knowledge and never let on to the size of your prep or the weapons that you have. Getting to know your neighbors will be a big help. You will be able to determine who has the will and aptitude to survive a collapse event. After a collapse, cautiously approach those neighbors to form alliances, and encourage them to use their skills to help themselves and your group.
This is only a start to the concept of beans, bullets and band-aids. The one thing I haven’t discussed yet is the importance of research and knowledge. If money is an issue, this is a great place to start. This necessary step to survival just happens to be free. There are many great books and tutorials online, or at local libraries, that will teach you anything from CPR to fishing and gardening at no cost. Now that you know about beans, bullets and bandaids, you can start preparing for any scenario you see fit.
John F. Kennedy once said
the time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining
. Because you never know when the day before—is the day before. Prepare for tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!
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APPENDIX A
Excerpt from The Loyal Nine
The following is an excerpt from Amazon Best-Selling Author Bobby Akart
Chapter 25
February 8, 2016
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Sarge was late for class. A massive pileup on the Mass Turnpike, near the Beacon Park rail yard, forced him to drive the long way, via Beacon Hill and East Cambridge. Ordinarily, he would enjoy the change of scenery, but he had already been running late. He and Julia had a sleepover—devoid of much sleep.
He entered the classroom to a round of throat clearing, followed by sarcastic applause. He gathered his thoughts and brought up the first slide on the screen:
ALL EMPIRES COLLAPSE EVENTUALLY
He turned to the class and took a moment to gauge their reaction.
Let’s see what they think about this topic
.
“Okay, guys, what do you think I mean by this?” asked Sarge.
A few hands shot up. Sarge pointed at a meek student in the back of the room.
Time to come out of your shell
.
“Mr. Lin, what say you?”
“Professor Sargent, I believe that in the history of mankind, every civilization ever formed has eventually disappeared or been replaced,” said Lin.
“How does this come about, Mr. Lin?” asked Sarge.
“They either go broke or get their asses kicked,” said Lin.
This elicited a round of laughter from his classmates. Sarge was also amused.
So much for Mr. Lin’s shell.
“Thank you, Mr. Lin, for that concise, articulate answer,” Sarge chuckled. “All empires collapse eventually when they are defeated by a more powerful enemy or when their funding runs out.”
“Ladies and Gentlemen, there have been no exceptions in the history of mankind. Empires are not typically the result of conscious thought. Empires form when a group of people is large enough and powerful enough to impose its will on others—or
kick their asses
,” said Sarge with a nod and smile to Lin.
“But empires are expensive,” continued Sarge. “Throughout history, how did the mighty empires of the world finance themselves?”
Sarge saw the hands pop up. He chose Miss Crepeau.
“To the victor go the spoils,” she replied.
“Exactly. Thank you, Miss Crepeau,” said Sarge. “In the early 1800s, this phrase was coined by a New York politician, but we have President Andrew Jackson to thank for the modern-day patronage system, which is so prevalent in our government today. President Jackson believed it was healthy to clear out the prior administration’s workers and bring in fresh faces. This patronage policy resulted in many
Jacksonian Democrats
, his political supporters, being placed into important government positions.”
Sarge allowed the playful banter between warring political factions in the class to settle down before interrupting.
“Before the Republicans point fingers, I will remind you—the Southern Democrats of the early nineteenth century are the political equivalent of today’s Southern Republican base,” said Sarge.
The class erupted in another round of political posturing.
“So,” said Sarge, pausing to bring the class back to attention, “to Miss Crepeau’s point, empires have historically financed their governments through force and theft. The great empires conquer their lesser opponents, take everything they have, and extort protection money out of the conquered citizens. This is how all of the great empires of the world were formed.
“Some might argue that the United States is different—and in some respects it is,” said Sarge. “America was not formed by conquering another, less powerful opponent, although the Native Americans might disagree. The Founding Fathers sought independence from what they considered oppressive rule from Great Britain. But the formation of the great American empire, if you will, is only part of the equation.”
Sarge brought up a new screen.
Who’s going to pay for this new empire?
“Part two of the formation of a new empire involves financing its operations,” said Sarge. “America didn’t conquer another nation and plunder its wealth. The premise of the American Revolutionary War included a revolt against the implementation of taxes on the citizenry. Clearly, there wasn’t a stomach for that. What did they do to pay for this new government?”
The young law student, Ocampo, eagerly raised his hand.
“Mr. Ocampo,” said Sarge, “what do you think?”
“They fired up the printing presses, sir,” said Ocampo.
“That’s true to an extent,” said Sarge. “The Constitution provided in Article One that the federal government had the sole power
to coin money and regulate the value thereof
. But the Constitution was devoid of reference to paper money. You see, the Founding Fathers had some experience with paper money. The Continental Congress, as Ocampo suggested, fired up the printing presses and financed the American Revolution with a newly minted currency —
continentals
. Unfortunately, although I would argue predictably, the
continentals
became worthless by the end of the war—to the point they were never spoken of again.
“It wasn’t until the Civil War when the National Banking Act was passed that the paper dollar became the fully accepted currency of the land,” said Sarge. “The United States adopted a gold standard, and its currency value became universally accepted. This leads us to one of the most important acts of participation by our country in global governance in its history—the Bretton Woods Conference.”
Sarge changed the slide.
“After the conclusion of World War II, delegates from the forty-four Allied nations participated in the UN Financial and Monetary Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. This conference produced the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank,” said Sarge. “At the time, the United States was the world’s greatest economic power and had a lot of influence on the agreements reached. Study the history and background of the Bretton Woods system. This is a prime example of the impact of global governance.” Sarge changed the slide again.
The Nixon Shock
“Welcome to the Nixon Shock, the mother of all government economic intervention,” said Sarge. “In essence, among other things, President Nixon abandoned the gold standard and the United States dollar became strictly a fiat currency. This is when we fired up the printing presses, Mr. Ocampo, and we haven’t stopped since.
“You see, America never grasped the whole concept of being an empire. We conquered, but we did not take anything like our predecessors. In fact, history will show that we lose money on every conquest. Typically, after destroying another country in battle, we then move in and pay to fix it back. We lose money every time,” said Sarge, returning to a previous slide.
Who’s going to pay for this?
“So how does a nation that conquers without obtaining the spoils of victory sustain itself?” asked Sarge. “They do it with debt. No other empire has ever tried to finance itself by borrowing from others. No other nation has ever tried to borrow its own currency; which it prints any time it chooses. As we have seen in recent years, if the burden of repaying this debt is too high, the Federal Reserve simply prints more dollars to satisfy its creditors. They call this Ponzi scheme
quantitative easing
. The United States government is paying its prior debt obligations by issuance of new debt obligations or the printing of new money out of thin air. There are people sitting in Federal Prison for this exact type of scheme.
“Today, our national debt, the amount we owe our creditors, is twenty trillion dollars. Every year, we add another one point two trillion to this total,” said Sarge. “Many argue that this trend is unsustainable, which leads us back to our original premise.” Sarge changed the slide back to the beginning. He had come full circle.
ALL EMPIRES COLLAPSE EVENTUALLY
“All empires collapse when they are defeated by a more vigorous empire, such as China, Russia or any of a number of rogue nations who possess nuclear capabilities,” said Sarge. “Or empires collapse when their financing runs out. America has built up a tremendous amount of debt that is owed to countries that do not like us very much—like China and Russia.
“I want you to consider this. Should China and Russia elect to devalue our currency, resulting in our allies such as Germany and Japan becoming skittish about purchasing more of our debt, what would be the fate of the almighty dollar?” asked Sarge rhetorically. “If the United States cannot continue to finance itself via debt instruments, then it must tax its citizenry at an unprecedented rate. I submit to you that there isn’t enough income or wealth in this country to cover the bill.”