This may sound dumb, but we have enough food and water for a month in our house.

Federal funds keep gas prices down. Federal funds keep food prices low. Federal funds keep state governments going. What happens if they don't raise the debt ceiling? Maybe I'm being an alarmist, but we have enough to get by for a month, maybe more, just in case. I even told my mom the same. You just never know. This isn't a familiar situation, and I want to be prepared. Anyone else?
Duckie

but its just not true.

Oil and gas are subsidized by the government. The government subsidizes farming so that certain crops aren't planted all at once and prices are steady.

Simple economics. The federal subsidies to oil and gas is petty compared to the federal taxes on a gallon of gas. Take a look the next time you buy it.

They go to corn production in Kentucky and corn subsidies. There would be more corn grown, as well as other foods, if we did not have corporate welfare. That corporate welfare also includes the corn taken out of production for ethanol. That has raised the price of food everywhere in the world not just in the U.S.

Or big ag would go broke producing the stuff. You can't keep selling a product for less than the cost of production. Yet year after year more, higher yield acres go into corn production because of the per bushel subsidy. Without subsidies, production would go down and prices would go up. It's simple math.

Why do you support corporate welfare just for Big Ag? Why not everyone then the prices would go down for everything. Everybody wins.

But we need to approach the argument honestly. We in the US spend less for food as a percentage of income than any other country, if we subtract tax-paid subsidies from the equation. That makes it easy to see the benefit of the practice. The costs are more subtle and not easily defined.

Concentration of the control of our food supply in the hands of few producers is frightening. The impact of our cheap exports on food production in countries which can't or won't subsidize agriculture is devastating. Variety is sacrificed for uniformity. In the end, our food supply is less nutritious, and less diverse. It's no accident that almost every product you can buy for consumption has either corn based ingredients, soy based ingredients or both.

I would be in favor of weaning our agricultural system from subsidies, but I don't think it would be a good idea to withdraw ag support in one fell swoop. If such a thing happened, we would surely notice at the supermarket checkout, immediately and painfully.

and need to build back up.

to live now? Simply to survive and service the factories and workplaces to make bombs for our imperial owners?

We keep cans of water in the house. CANS of water. It is weird. Skip (the husband) is just sad we don't have bags of water like they do in Canada. LOL

for the circle d american dream..

a very sane and provoking question. I mentioned that to someone the other day, that it seems this nation is bent on imperialism and world dominance. They said no, but when I look around at what we are doing, all I think is WTF.

And it's suppressed by MSM, very suppressed. Just looking at our MIC initiatives one has to wonder WTF. We are willing to let our nation crumble to serve the MIC, that's what I see, and so do many others. Dwight Eisenhower was sooooo correct.

After that I start eating people. :evilgrin:

For us it has been moving our life savings. We also paid up all of our state taxes into next year. Here where we are nobody with a gun would ever go hungry. We've got plenty of guns. We also grow large gardens that are producing right now.

Can you imagine what is going to happen if we default? There will be runaway inflation at the same time that cash disappears. And food prices will soar almost as fast as agricultural exports increase.

We also have plenty of guns. Cash will dry up, and financial institutions will start going bye bye. I don't even want to think about it, honestly, but I'm a little scared.
I guess China could come and take over. That would be a little amusing to watch, actually.
Duckie

been for years. And this can happen overnight. As you know, there's nothing magical about the dollar bill.

If faith in this country crumbles, so does the dollar, like in a run on a bank. If other countries lose faith in the US (which I think some are) we could fall apart quickly.

And the spectacle going on in DC has to be shaking confidence in the US. As you say, exactly, "There will be runaway inflation at the same time that cash disappears. And food prices will soar almost as fast as agricultural exports increase."

i don't get how that works... besides, won't cash be a moot point? I mean, won't we go to bartering and such on a local level?

:shrug:

better job of that here of planning to have supplies on hand.

Of fresh carrots at last. Had run out of fresh apples, lettuces, etc. Fortunately the power stayed on most of the time but I was ready for that too.

It's not crazy to be prepared, it's a good thing. I've got quite a bit, not like some of the survivalists have, but it's just common sense. If one is running low on fresh, there's always bean sprouts.

I have alot of soup and spaghetti sauce and canned veggies and rice a roni and the like....don't know why....maybe cause my Mom did. When there is a "short week", we'll be okay.

We just had a BBQ with my family....bought meat at Costco and could have kept all of the leftovers in the freezer, but sent the burgers and dogs home with my niece....she's got 3 kiddos to feed and there is no way we could eat all of that (you know how Costco sells in huge sizes!! :-0)

Water....not so much. I should think about that.

Though we now realize it's probably kind of pointless for that.

Diablo Canyon will most likely go Fuku when the Big One hits, and the radiation from that wouldn't take more than a few days to get here.

with that. You may also want to keep 20-50 gallons of gas on hand also. Of course I live in a hurricane zone too.

I would like to live in a community where we all took care of each other... it has become too crazy... what about my neighbor if he is hungry? do I share with him, knowing that there will be less for me if I do?

If I had a home, I suppose I would stock up, but do it realizing that I would share with others when the need arose... I can't be in this all by myself

have some stocks of food on hand, the coming apocalypse where everything breaks down isn't really as likely to happen as many fantasize. There's a greater danger of some kind of natural disaster -- earthquake, tornado, hurricane -- depending on where you live and that leaving you stranded, without power, and no incoming food, water, or fuel than a total breakdown of the social order.

If the government goes into default, there will probably be all kinds of serious economic consequences, but most of the country will keep on functioning.

Anyone who doesn't have food and water is dumb.

Most people have NO IDEA how fragile our just in time food delivery system is.

It could fail for any number of reasons, and if it does the supermarket shelves will be empty in days.

to get picked clean.

ALWAYS smart! No matter what the reason!! :)

That practice may be fading, but I have a very wealthy Mormon friend who still does it.

I tend to only stock up during the winter, when travel conditions are precarious. And then only for a few weeks at most.

Not a bad idea for anyone, anytime to have supplies for a lengthy period of time -- especially ones that don't require power to stay usable.

Did you know the CDC has a Zombie Apocolypse plan? LOL Seriously. Go look at their site.
Duckie

Mormon's do but I never have en ought money to quite get there. If we make it out of this mess I am going to make sure that I finally make that goal. Our gardens are getting ready to start producing and I am going to preserve everything. Nothing is going to waste this year.

I cannot imagine what it will be like if overnight the government programs we need just stop. I fear for my daughters life although her foster parents have stocked up a years supplies for her. Medicines is another matter. The laws make it impossible to stock up on them.

enough food for a week or two, if possible, even if it's just canned goods.

I'm rural. It's a 40 mile round trip into the city for stuff, so we try to keep shopping trips to a minimum, although there are two small markets within 7 miles for smaller things.

We have at least a three week supply of food here, and we use well water, so that's not a problem unless the power goes out, but even then there's the line from the spring house up the hill that runs constantly so there's always water someplace.

Water is more important then food. You can only go 3-4 days without it. Food, a lot longer. Recomendations are 1 gallon of good water per day, per person. You probably could make do with less.

Don't forget the water in your water heater. Turn off you outside source and drain as needed.

What hasn't been discussed is, if you have a store of food, do you have means to protect it?

We're fed this constant fear message and the natural instinct is to do what we can within our own locus of control to deal with that message.

If your logic is that prices may go up due to the default and you want to save yourself some money should that happen, then I wouldn't call that alarmist in the least bit. If you're preparing for the end of the world if the debt ceiling isn't raised then yea I'd say that's alarmist. Judging by what you've said though, all you're doing is trying to save yourself from a potential additional expense.