Hmm, sounds like the makings of a new conservative movement, lol.

But does Cody Lundin have flat feet though??

Its been mentioned before in other threads but LDS has canneries that allow non-LDS to participate. Its incredibly cheap to score great long term supplies. Ask an LDS friend to get you on the list or inquire with a local church (or whatever they call them)

Has nothing to do with politics in my case, I'm proud to be a progressive. I just like the idea of being prepared and more self reliant. I don't know what anyone means when they say things like "the system is going to fail...", there are millions of people invested in keeping the system alive and well. I simply enjoy being more self reliant because it pleases me. I enjoy eating the eggs laid in my backyard more so than the ones that come from the store, that doesn't mean that I'm afraid that the store is gonna run out of eggs any time soon.

Contrary to what a lot of people think, one needn't be a "conservative" to want to be more self reliant. Given the number of so-called conservatives who willingly and eagerly take subsidies from the government that they claim to despise, one wonders who is really more dependent.

That borders on political talk so I'll stop there.

I'll simply add this, there are a lot of people who have realized that there is profit to be made from scaring people, a lot of them are simply opportunists who fan the flames of political and social change in order to make a profit.

Having spent a fair amount of time living in the country/backwoods, self reliance has nothing to do with politics - it just makes sense.

Now I live in a fairly urban environment; it still adds up.

Self reliance has ALWAYS been a good idea. I like the idea that more people are doing it. Even if they're not doing it quite right (according to us), they're doing something, which is more than most.

Sue

JohnE: The growing concern that people have that the system is "going to fail" is not coming simply from paranoia. It's not a new Y2K thing.

By the way ... I agree that the whole Y2K mess that happened a decade ago had a huge amount of exploitation and fear mongering built into it.

There are several good reasons why people are losing confidence in our current political system. One factor is the spiraling levels of financial debt that are building up in the USA, UK, Japan, and some other western economies. Average citizens are sensing that these levels of debt simply cannot be sustained, and that therefore serious consequences MUST come from this irresponsible behavior. Hence, it seems likely that we will see either serious cutbacks in services from governments, OR big tax increases, OR big increases in the prices we pay for basic items like food, oil, etc. Any way you look at this, people will have to change their living habits substantially to cope with this.

One small - but good - example is already coming from the state government in Arizona. The governor of AZ has publicly acknowledged that the state is way over-committed financially, and that they MUST make serious cutbacks to get things back in line. I view this as an honest and realistic approach to the problem. But it will cause hardship, and force people to be more frugal.

In contrast to this, take a look at the "denial" that is still going on with my own state of California. The budget deficit for CA is huge compared to AZ, and we still don't see state politicians who have the guts to be realistic about the consequences. CA is risking the possibility of a major crash because of this behavior.

Looking beyond these economic concerns, there is a set of even bigger concerns about trends in our world over the next 30-50 years. I might take the time to post some of these scientific predictions on the forum - so people can take a look. The picture is not good. But keep in mind that these are based on scientific concerns. This is not something related to doomsday prophecies, or the Mayan calendar. It is also not related to the current controversy of global warming. The main drivers are population trends, an energy crisis, and scarce resources.

Still ... I notice that there are big differences in attitudes across America about these issues. If I visit people in Utah or Missouri (for example), they seem much more relaxed and much less concerned. Life is slower, and they have not been impacted by the changes yet (not too much!!). But Americans living in the larger cities are already feeling the consequences ... families feel like they are not getting ahead, and frankly are struggling just to stay even. There is more stress, and living standards are eroding.

The move to sustainable living is really a good idea at this time ... an essential one actually. Those folks here who have already made the transition are well ahead of the rest of the country.

other Pete

Interesting, my family of four spends about $100 a week for food, 4,000 for 3 months, Yikes!

Cheap shelf stable items, and spices.

toss in $6 worth of tea and you have good tasting water.

I'm glad she's prepared though, in an emergency those supplies can become priceless, money well spent indeed.

Wow. Just wow. We're spending so much more than than on food - I mean like 2 or 3 times that. east coast living I guess.

We spent over $750 at Kroger last month, I know because with their rewards program we earned $.50 per off per gallon of gas.