Tag: collapse

Daily Life, Government, Solving the wrong problem

Should I Care?

Last night Mrs Troutdog and I watched a two hour discussion with Vivek Ramaswamy on the Shawn Ryan show. I HIGHLY recommend watching it, regardless of your political beliefs. The dude is scary smart and has seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of everything. Even if you disagree with his political views, you have to admit – there is no other candidate would could conduct this type of long-form discussion with his level of candor. None. (maybe JFK Jr) Why aren’t we, as a population, demanding this level of candidate to represent us? Never mind, don’t answer that.

So we’re watching this interview and I’m getting myself spun up about politics and the state of the country, and Mrs Troutdog shared some insightful wisdom. She said, “I don’t care. All I care about is that the market stays healthy, our money stays secure, and we can enjoy retirement”.

She’s right.

In the big picture, none of the nonsense these meat puppets running for office are babbling about is really going to affect me. Of course there could always be some sort of cataclysmic change and civil war or zombies in the street. But in the next twenty years… probably not. Could we suddenly become Venezuela and need wheelbarrows of cash to pay for our mocha lattes at Starbucks? Sure, but not likely.

Things will get a bit more expensive. Random silly rules will get passed. I might not be able to replace my gas stove. There will be more cricket meal inserted in the food. But that’s about it. We’ll still be able to travel and see the countries largest ball of string and the museum of socket wrenches. I’ll still be able to buy and read books. Pretty sure there won’t be any restrictions on hiking, mountain biking, skiing, or riding the motorcycle. Fly fishing will always be an option.

So as usual, she’s right. There’s no point to getting my panties all in a bunch over the latest political outrage. I was equally outraged at the last four or five elections and somehow we survived. I’m pretty sure the next four will be about the same.

Don’t get me wrong, the country is heading in a bad direction. Fortunately for us, the car crash will happen long after we’re gone. Is that selfish? Yeah, a bit. But you know what? The younger generations have by and large voted for all this crap. So, you reap what you sow.

It makes me sad to see where we’re headed. Don’t worry, I’ll still be getting on my soapbox and ranting about whatever the latest outrage is like an old man shouting ‘get off my lawn’. But it’s all for show.

Behind the scenes, I love the beauty and adventure this country still offers and that’s where my head is at most of the time. You should do the same. Unless you’re young and just starting out. In that case… I’d be worried about what your future holds. You younger folks may want to really think about where we’re headed and decide if that’s really what you want.

But that’s not me. I’ll be sitting on the back porch, drinking a beer and looking out over the lake. Fondly remembering what used to be, and happy it’s not my war to fight.

Content, knowing that I’m well armed, and have plenty of food, water, and survival gear. I may be past the age of getting all worked up about politics…

But I’m not a complete idiot.

Government, Politics

Do They Even Listen?

Public service. Representatives of the people. Elected officials. Doing the work of the American People.

How many times have you heard these pithy phrases in the last ten years? Whatever the number is, it’s a lot. Our elected politicians LOVE to campaign and talk about being champions for the people, to represent the good folks who sent them to government to be your voice. To fight the good fight. Maybe it’s just me, and call me crazy, but I’m getting the feeling that they don’t really care what you think.

When you’re out and about talking to regular people, they have concerns. Mundane worries about things like the cost of living, health care costs, taxes, and paying for their kids education. If you’re one of those far right, ultra MAGA extremists, you might even be worried about the border invasion or foreign wars. None of these things seem to be anything local or federal government cares about. Don’t get me wrong, they pay lip service to them in campaign speeches and on X/twitter. But in terms of actual legislation or executive orders… crickets.

It feels like an episode of that TV show Pawn Stars. CITIZEN: “I’m really worried about the cost of groceries and the flood of migrants crossing the border”. POLITICIAN: “Best I can do is spend cargo planes of cash for improved Amtrak service. Oh, and we’ll throw in another ten billion for Ukraine”.

Is it that they honestly don’t understand what the citizens want, or do they know and don’t care? Don’t answer that, it was rhetorical.

I know I tend to be on the skeptical side, but I’m getting the feeling that my elected officials don’t really care what the people think. Perhaps the mechanisms of government are simply too complex for us regular people to grasp. Maybe we’re just petulant children who need to be quiet while the adults talk. It just seems that nobody cares what we, the people, want.

We need to keep an eye on Argentina and its new president, Javier Milei. He followed through with his campaign promise and cut the number of ministries in half on day one. He killed the Ministry of Culture, along with the ministries of Health, Labor, Social Development, and Education. Will he be able to wrest some sort of financial stability and improvement, or will he be swallowed by the government blob, unwilling to ceed power to this madman? It will be interesting to watch.

If we had an actual politician here willing to do the same, would it work? Could the right personality actually start cutting back on the deep state and make a difference? Or is the government enterprise simply too powerful?

Let’s look at our options:

  • Biden (Obama) – the meat puppet is a pudding brained Alzheimer’s patient. He’s no longer an effective tool of the Obama machine and irrelevant.
  • Newsom – He’s the very definition of the deep state.
  • Haley – The female Jeb Bush/McCain, eager to be the next deep state representative.
  • Christy – The buffet is calling.
  • Trump – He had all three branches of government and… the deep state steamrolled him. It would be different this time, how?
  • DeSantis – Has the right governing instincts and executive skills, but lacks the charisma to fire up the people. Has run a piss-poor campaign which doesn’t bode well.
  • Ramaswamy – The most interesting of the bunch. Has the charisma. Has the right ideas. He’s a contrarian. The establishment won’t let him anywhere near the nomination.

So basically… we’re screwed. Nothing will change. The deep state, the enterprise, has grown so large and powerful I don’t think it’s possible to change. It’s like a black hole, slowly sucking all light and energy from the room, growing bigger every day. Eventually, like a massive star that triggers runaway nuclear fusion, it will go supernova and collapse.

Hopefully, like the decline of stars and the Roman Empire, that collapse will take some time. Regardless of who captures the throne, it feels like the next four years is an inflection point for the American experiment.

Will the people continue to go along to get along… or will they begin to turn on their masters?

Daily Life, Government

Be Prepared, A Motto

Does anyone remember the Boy Scouts? I know I’m dating myself, but I did the whole scouting thing. Eventually we moved to a different city so I never finished my Eagle Scout, but I was pretty involved as a kid. If you didn’t know, the scout motto is “Be Prepared”. When the scouting founder, Robert Baden-Powell, was asked “be prepared for what?” He replied, “Why, for any old thing”. This way of thinking was drilled into me even further when I was a member of a Search and Rescue team. I saw first hand what happened when people wandered into the woods without adequate preparation. (hint, it was never good)

A looooong time ago I lived in California, in the Bay Area. The possibility of the big earthquake was very real. Having a minor part in my cities emergency management system, I realized what a shit show things would be if the big quake really did hit. Trust me, your government is not ready. If a couple of overpasses came down, say goodbye to your food supply (grocery stores only have 2-3 days on hand at any given time). As a result, I had a fair amount of food and water stockpiled. I felt pretty good about my ability to ride out multiple weeks of no power, water, or food.

I no longer live in California (thank god). My little part of the world is reasonably immune from natural disaster. We have plenty of water sources, don’t suffer from droughts, don’t have earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, or hurricanes. We don’t have the civil unrest plaguing so many cities right now. While we’re starting to see some homeless and a bit of increased drug traffic… snowy winters tend to keep that somewhat in check. Basically our main threat is the Yellowstone super volcano blowing. If that happens, we’re all screwed so it’s not really worth worrying about.

So as you can probably guess, my “prepping” has gotten somewhat lax. I still stock quite a bit of food and things that go bang to defend the aforementioned food. Water is not an issue. So the question is, should I be preparing more?

It’s been a long time since I gave this question any thought. But lately… the political, social, and geopolitical situation has me more nervous. We’re closer to WWIII kicking off than we’ve ever been. An EMP strike is a very real possibility. Side note, read “One Second After” if you want a realistic picture of what that would look like. Complete South Africa-like social collapse is certainly in the realm of possibility. I’d like to think my part of the world is isolated enough to avoid much of it, but you never know. China is nearing a collapse. Inflation, fuel prices and fertilizer shortages are skyrocketing the price of food. The price of cattle futures has doubled. Supply chain interruptions and food scarcity generally lead to bad things. A terrorist attack on our power grid? Yeah, that would be bad. So far this year, 160 people on the terrorist watchlist have been stopped on the border. How many snuck through?

The point is, I think it’s time to starting thinking about worst case scenarios. I filter “prepping” down to the following:

  • Does my family have enough food, water, and the ability to cook it for several months? Can we function without electricity for that length of time? Do I have the ability to defend it from people trying to take it?

That’s it. No more, no less. Nobody’s bugging out or going on the long march. We’re not setting up radio communications or coordinating neighborhood assault/patrol teams. I’m not digging a fallout shelter. None of that’s realistic. If something really bad happened, could we hunker down for sixty days and survive? If it’s still really bad beyond that… well, it’s probably end of days and Mad Max time. Nobody but the gangs and most brutal will survive that. I’m not sure I’d want to be around at that point.

My personal weak points are cooking, heating, and light. The hard part is that the solutions to those problems are somewhat expensive. It’s hard to spend money on something you hope to never use. Depending on what happens in the world this next year – it may be time to pony up and prepare.

How about you? Could your family survive a couple months without power or government infrastructure? One month? A week? It’s worth thinking about.

Whether contemplating the societal breakdown scenarios, or going backpacking, fishing, or riding a motorcycle into the backcountry, there’s a saying I like:

“Expect to self-rescue. No one is coming.”

Keep that in mind when planning stuff and you’ll be better off than most of the population.

Daily Life

It’s Too Late

“Point of no return” noun

: a critical point at which turning back or reversal is not possible

The mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, lost her bid for reelection yesterday. This is a good thing. She was a truly awful mayor who did real harm to that city. The problem is that it made no difference if she won or lost. If you live in one of the larger cities in this country… it’s too late to recover. All the bigger cities are headed rapidly towards societal and economic collapse. There is nothing that can be done about it.

Rudy Giuliani managed to make a huge difference in New York during his tenure in the ’90’s. He did it via aggressive policing and prosecution. This was before the modern cell phone camera and instant social media. Officers were free to do their job without ten people filming their every encounter, just hoping some outrage will happen that can go viral. Today an officer has zero incentive to do anything other than write up a report after the latest mugging or smash and grab.

Work from home has decimated commercial real estate in big cities. Amazon and the big box stores have killed downtown shopping districts. Why go downtown to shop when you risk dealing with mentally ill homeless people and the chance of being mugged, when you can order online and have it delivered the next day?

Today, there is no mayor who would risk implementing the level of aggressive policing it would take to clean up a major city. No mayor or city council would approve pushing out the homeless and their camps or stopping panhandling. Even if there were, the city’s legal team would put a stop to it right away. The city would be mired in lawsuits from day one if they tried any of this.

Nope. It’s too late. I don’t care how much you love your big city. If you value your family, it’s time to get out. Like a drug addict who’s fallen off the wagon time and time again, at some point you have to recognize they can’t be helped. Things aren’t going get better. Homelessness is going to get worse. Crime will keep increasing. Your taxes will continue to increase. Sorry. That’s reality. The sooner you accept it, the better off you’ll be.

It’s happening everywhere. My little city is rapidly becoming a medium sized city due to a massive influx from California and Washington. The signs of decline are starting to appear here as well. More panhandlers. Small homeless camps here and there. For the first time ever I’m starting to see graffiti and gang signs. Drugs are showing up. We have a very liberal mayor and city council, so there’s no way they’ll attempt to do anything to nip this in the bud.

Don’t get me wrong, I still live in a very safe city. I’m comfortable walking downtown at night. But as growth continues, that will change. It’s the broken windows theory. Visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder creates an urban environment that encourages more crime and disorder. If you don’t take steps to combat those minor crimes, the problem will get away from you.

Unfortunately, nobody has the appetite to honestly discuss building more prisons, prosecuting criminals, dealing with mental illness, or letting police be proactive again. Those topics have become the new third rail of politics. Until we’re willing to face reality… society will continue on a downward spiral.

I laugh at the socially liberal folks who honestly think if they just implement the right social program, pay enough money, and encourage people to just be more compassionate… the problem will magically fix itself. Nobody wants to be intentionally cruel or uncaring. But in the real world, a little tough love is the only solution that actually works.

It’s a little depressing to think about. But I managed to get myself out of a big city years ago. Fingers crossed, my little piece of the world won’t collapse in my lifetime. My family is in a good place. Take a long hard look at the city you live in. Whatever the condition it’s currently in – it’s going to get exponentially worse. When it does, do you still want to be there?