RETURN TO SURVIVALISM

Growing up during the cold war era, we often heard about the "survivalists," those people who stockpiled supplies, weapons, and other items essential to everyday living for the day when the bombs fell. Fast forward thirty years, and the survivalists may yet return, except instead of bombs falling, they're preparing for the impending collapse of the world economy. For the day when the oil runs out, the stock market collapses, or the monetary system, as we know it, implodes. Think this is impossible? Think again.
Imagine if you will, international terrorists hack into the world financial system via the internet, and infect it with a virus.....and the virus spreads, from server to server, around the world before we can stop it. All financial records are corrupted, from the foreign exchange all the way down to individual bank accounts at local banks. If we suddenly had absolutely no idea what money was worth, in any market, or any idea how much anyone had in the bank, what would happen?
The answer. Total chaos. Impossible, you think? Look in your wallet. How much cash do you really have? Five dollars? Twenty? None? That's right, lots of us carry little or no cash. If your debit card was suddenly worthless, and your credit cards, too...what would you do?
Now, imagine that happening everywhere.....how long would it take before people began to simply take what they needed? How long before riots started in the streets because no one had a way to buy food or gasoline? It's a chilling thought, isn't it? But not too far fetched to imagine either...is it?
As more people awaken to the very real chance that something like this could happen, expect a return of the survivalists of yesteryear. Just like the people who live in areas threatened with extreme weather (think Hurricane Katrina), there are people who already have emergency survival kits in their homes, whether that home is in an urban area or a rural area, and that number of people is growing and will continue to grow. In times of trouble, there are always people who try to plan for their own survival, and we are definitely in times of trouble, aren't we. Still sound impossible? Or, more likely, it begins to sound probable, doesn't it? Should you do anything? Nothing?
Actually, the truth is that we should all be prepared to live on our own for a minimum of three days, and preferably up to seven, at any time, for any reason. Think about it, another hurricane, a tornado, an ice storm...these are all common, everyday occurences, and we should be prepared for these things. Why not be prepared the uncommon? Why not be prepared to live, with no cash, no gasoline, no support from any outside sources for a period of time? Why not be able to take care of ourselves, our family? Perhaps a return to survivalism wouldn't be so bad after all, would it?