Surviving in Argentina...

[Cruentus]

A friend sent me the link to this blog, and it is awesome so I thought I would share. This is more of a "survivalist" thing which made me almost put it somewhere else; but it fits here too given the current state of economic unrest and instability that we face here in the USA. We could discuss some of the parallels between their crisis and our situation, and of course, how to prepare for the worst in a reasonable manner.

Some of you might know that Argentina had an economic crash in 2001; but what many don't know is that they had turned from a prosperous 1st world country to a 3rd world country practically overnight. This was due to a financial crisis that caused banks to freeze assets and the infrastructure to go haywire. I suggest going through this person's blog, as there is a lot of good information here on what occurred in Argentina, and of course on what we can do to prepare for a crisis ourselves. Some good posts here on survival kits and so forth as well.

Unfortunately, the real life scenario doesn't fit the quintessential survivalist's modern mad-maxish fantasy of the rugged individual who hides in his compound with a big boobied woman, a bible, and a stockpile of crops, fuel, and weapons waiting to fight off crowds of Nulcear-biologically altered zombies. But the link below is a good read to start with anyway...

http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2008/09/economy-crisis-in-usa.html

 

[Tez3]

Argentina has had a very chequered history, when the military junta ( American backed btw) fell after the Falklands war leading to free elections and democracy, things weren't good financially. I think the people there are more used to "boom and bust" that perhaps other parts of the world.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Good points about firearms reality versus mad max wishful thinking ( Your rifle won't be the main, it'll be your sidearm).

 

[Cruentus]

There were a lot of interesting things about this to me, but one thing that caught me was in various different posts he talks about the denial of the average person, even after the crash. How people whom he knew personally who had been robbed multiple times, lost life savings, and some who even faced starvation, yet still found preparative measures like stocking up on food and medical supplies or carrying a weapon to be excessive. They still were waiting and hoping in desperation for someone else to help them (government or social program or what have you), regardless of the fact that those protective measures had collapsed as well.

I thought about this some because due to my experience of having been out of the country for many months (was out before the bailout and the election), and having come back and seeing the changes. Keep in mind I am in Michigan where things are probably as bad as they could be with our reliance on the auto industry. I would go to run errands on a Monday, and it seemed like EVERYONE was out and about. The roads were crowded in the middle of the day, and people were standing in crazy lines for sales at various stores (most of them angry and staring at each other as if the other person was the enemy trying to steal 'their stuff'). I know it is the holidays, but it was a lot busier then I had ever seen it in previous years. Upon asking a few questions, it turns out that even though most people are still buying a few things for Xmas and such, many are laid off or unemployed for the holiday. That is why they are crowding the stores during the daytime when they would normally be at work. They are buying stuff, but I am sure that most are doing so on credit.

Then, I have been buying gear for some training I have to accomplish over the next few months. Some of this gear would include new firearms and ammo. Ammo prices have skyrocketted from 6 months ago, and simple things like magazines and parts for rifles are comming up out of stock everywhere due to the high volume of sales.

One of the weapons I purchased was a pistol, so I went to register it with my county like a good citizen. I went to the sheriffs dept., and had to swim through a full parking lot and a crowd of about 70 or so people (in a small confined area) to take a number. My number was 94 and they were on 82. This number was just to get to the counter to state your business; then from there you stood in a different line depending on what that business was. Keep in mind that this is vastly different from when I went to register a weapon about a year ago and I was in and out in less then 10 minutes with no line. The reason why? 5 hour wait for fingerprinting, and the reason for the fingerprinting was CPL/CCW permits. My friend at the county was telling me that for the last 3 months it had been this busy almost daily due to triple the volume of CPL/CCW permits that are being processed compared to last year. They had cycled from 1-100 already once that day, and it was 11:30 in the morning. Needless to say, I got through in a half hour because I have some pull, and I was only registering a weapon which didn't take as long as the CPL/CCW processing, but still.

The point is, people seem scared ******** right now. I hear the news, and heard the news even when I was out of the country, but it isn't the same as being able to be on the streets and compare the social climate to a year ago. For me, probably because I have been gone so the changes haven't been as gradual from my perspective, I can really see differences.

People seem to be stocking up on things like weapons and ammo, and people seem to be trying to "consume" and buy things they shouldn't on credit; all this dispite that they are recently unemployed or layed off for the holiday or in jeaprody due to a volitile marketplace. I noticed a clear difference in the social climate, and it isn't good. This was slightly unnerving to me.

Now, I am not much of a doomsayer or "the end is near" type worrier. This doesn't say that we in the US are going to end up like Argentina, as I hope that the differences in our infrastructure and gov. are enough to keep us afloat. But it couldn't hurt to make some preparations. It might not take armagedon to be in need of some extra supplies and survivalist skills; just ask any victim of a natural disaster like Katrina. Preparation can't be a bad thing...

C.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Argentina has had a very chequered history, when the military junta ( American backed btw) fell after the Falklands war leading to free elections and democracy, things weren't good financially. I think the people there are more used to "boom and bust" that perhaps other parts of the world.

Yes Argentina has a history of having great ups or downs. Highlander II (* I know it sucked not the point here *) was being filmed in Argentina. They would get up in the morning and the director would see how much his Coffee, Orange Juice and Pastry would cost and then decide what could be filmed that day and what had to be re-written for lower cost.

 

[Rich Parsons]

There were a lot of interesting things about this to me, but one thing that caught me was in various different posts he talks about the denial of the average person, even after the crash. How people whom he knew personally who had been robbed multiple times, lost life savings, and some who even faced starvation, yet still found preparative measures like stocking up on food and medical supplies or carrying a weapon to be excessive. They still were waiting and hoping in desperation for someone else to help them (government or social program or what have you), regardless of the fact that those protective measures had collapsed as well.

I thought about this some because due to my experience of having been out of the country for many months (was out before the bailout and the election), and having come back and seeing the changes. Keep in mind I am in Michigan where things are probably as bad as they could be with our reliance on the auto industry. I would go to run errands on a Monday, and it seemed like EVERYONE was out and about. The roads were crowded in the middle of the day, and people were standing in crazy lines for sales at various stores (most of them angry and staring at each other as if the other person was the enemy trying to steal 'their stuff'). I know it is the holidays, but it was a lot busier then I had ever seen it in previous years. Upon asking a few questions, it turns out that even though most people are still buying a few things for Xmas and such, many are laid off or unemployed for the holiday. That is why they are crowding the stores during the daytime when they would normally be at work. They are buying stuff, but I am sure that most are doing so on credit.

Then, I have been buying gear for some training I have to accomplish over the next few months. Some of this gear would include new firearms and ammo. Ammo prices have skyrocketted from 6 months ago, and simple things like magazines and parts for rifles are comming up out of stock everywhere due to the high volume of sales.

One of the weapons I purchased was a pistol, so I went to register it with my county like a good citizen. I went to the sheriffs dept., and had to swim through a full parking lot and a crowd of about 70 or so people (in a small confined area) to take a number. My number was 94 and they were on 82. This number was just to get to the counter to state your business; then from there you stood in a different line depending on what that business was. Keep in mind that this is vastly different from when I went to register a weapon about a year ago and I was in and out in less then 10 minutes with no line. The reason why? 5 hour wait for fingerprinting, and the reason for the fingerprinting was CPL/CCW permits. My friend at the county was telling me that for the last 3 months it had been this busy almost daily due to triple the volume of CPL/CCW permits that are being processed compared to last year. They had cycled from 1-100 already once that day, and it was 11:30 in the morning. Needless to say, I got through in a half hour because I have some pull, and I was only registering a weapon which didn't take as long as the CPL/CCW processing, but still.

The point is, people seem scared ******** right now. I hear the news, and heard the news even when I was out of the country, but it isn't the same as being able to be on the streets and compare the social climate to a year ago. For me, probably because I have been gone so the changes haven't been as gradual from my perspective, I can really see differences.

People seem to be stocking up on things like weapons and ammo, and people seem to be trying to "consume" and buy things they shouldn't on credit; all this dispite that they are recently unemployed or layed off for the holiday or in jeaprody due to a volitile marketplace. I noticed a clear difference in the social climate, and it isn't good. This was slightly unnerving to me.

Now, I am not much of a doomsayer or "the end is near" type worrier. This doesn't say that we in the US are going to end up like Argentina, as I hope that the differences in our infrastructure and gov. are enough to keep us afloat. But it couldn't hurt to make some preparations. It might not take armagedon to be in need of some extra supplies and survivalist skills; just ask any victim of a natural disaster like Katrina. Preparation can't be a bad thing...

C.

C,

There were two types I saw. Those that were buying anything they could assuming that the Credit market would shut down or decrease their limit again. Or the second half of waiting to see if the auto industry would be given a loan. After the loan on Friday before Christmas was reported tobe approved, I saw more people buying as they thought they would be able to have a job in the new year, even if their plant was down for a couple of extra weeks.


I have seen the increase in cost of ammo and weapons. I think it will adjust again, it is just that people are afraid that the country will go the way of Illinois of not issuing or allowing a Carry/Permit nor recognize that of another state.


On a side note, when ever I would say have a nice day people would look at me and then smile when they realized it was not total sarcasm. Many people were extremely frustrated and upset and worried.


It is good to get a data point from someone who did not sit in the hot water as it began to boil, to know that this frog was not being paranoid.

 

[Cruentus]

It is good to get a data point from someone who did not sit in the hot water as it began to boil, to know that this frog was not being paranoid.

Thanks Rich. And it is good to know that I am not just a crazy frog who is saying the water is hot when it is really just luke warm. :ultracool

 

[Ian Kinder]

A friend sent me the link to this blog, and it is awesome so I thought I would share.

I'm glad you liked it. It's great to have you back.