5 Commitments You Must Make Before the Next American Depression

I can hear the snickers in the back of the auditorium already. Those of you who would consider it nearly impossible for this great land to tumble back into depression. To that, though, I pose but one question. How much debt was your grandfather or great grandfather carrying at the time the stock market lost 15 billion dollars in one day?

Sidenote: That is 15 billion dollars in their time which would be more like trillions today.

The answer for most would be minimal. There were no student loans and outrageous car loans to deal with. Now consider the follow:

“One in six prime-age guys has no job; it’s kind of worse than it was in the depression in 1940,”  – says Nicholas Eberstadt, an economic and demographic researcher at American Enterprise Institute

Michael Snyder from The Economic Collapse Blog reported these five chilling facts on April 20th

• The number of Americans that are living in concentrated areas of high poverty has doubled since the year 2000.
• In 2007, about one out of every eight children in America was on food stamps. Today, that number is one out of every five.
• 46 million Americans use food banks each year, and lines start forming at some U.S. food banks as early as 6:30 in the morning because people want to get something before the food supplies run out.
• The number of homeless children in the U.S. has increased by 60 percent over the past six years.
• According to Poverty USA, 1.6 million American children slept in a homeless shelter or some other form of emergency housing last year.

#5 Limit Your Debt

Let’s talk about carrying debt. Did you know the average American household is carrying around 260,000 dollars in combined debt whether it is mortgage, car loans, and student, what have you? Many Americans are living an ugly reality that is covered up and manipulated by the easy access to more debt and cheap trinkets from China.

Americans are most vulnerable right now based on this debt. It has to be eliminated. In fact a plan should be put in place in your household to focus as much energy on debt as possible. Sit down and look at just how much debt your household is carrying. Now imagine what it would look like if you were out of work for three months. This probably paints a pretty terrifying picture.

#4 Security

Our homes hold everything sacred. From the irreplaceable personal belongings to wealth to the members that make up the family itself they are all within our four walls. How do you feel about window locks and key locks protection all that? Leaves a lot to be desired right? That doesn’t necessarily mean you need bars on the windows but here are some considerations

Imagine your property had a set of concentric circles dropped onto it. Inside the smallest circle sits you and your family in the living room. The next circle is your home itself and the access to it beyond that is the outside the home and the final circle is where your property meets its end. The application of protections and deterrents at each circle are imperative. These are things you must think about and talk about. Here are some great deterrents for each of these areas.

• Door locks aren’t enough and deadbolts should be an option. Just make sure everyone in the family, even the smallest member knows how to disengage them in case of a fire.
• Dogs are a tremendous deterrent but only make the commitment if you have the time. They are little furry family members.
• Outside think about floodlights, your castle doesn’t have to be the most secure it just has to be less appealing than the others on the block. A spotlight will handle that.
• At the boundary of your property plant some nasty prickly bushes or hang some of those lovely signs that express your love for the 2nd Amendment.  

Related: Home Security Tips From an Ex-Burglar

#3 Community Watch

You laugh but trust me it’s just like we talked about in the above mentioned. Make sure that this is an active group that walks every evening and also cycle different people at different times. The community watch can be a very effective tool in stopping crime and recognizing people who may be scoping out the neighborhood.

Include some level of communication with this as well. The watch will be useless without the use of reporting and follow through no issues. It wouldn’t hurt to put a little one page community watch procedure together for those involved so they understand exactly what to do when they find an issue. I think of the now famous Zimmerman case as a great example

Finally make sure you let the local police know what you are doing and give them a lot of detail. You don’t want to get picked for walking around your neighborhood at 3 A.M. with a flashlight especially if you are investigating something in one of your neighbor’s yard!

Related: What You Need in Your SHTF Survival Team

#2 Food Production

I know there are very real limitations on this one. Space is an issue for some. To you I will offer solutions as well. If you do have the means you should be growing/raising some food. Vegetable gardens are the most common of course but chickens are catching on even in suburban areas. The nutritional quality of your own homegrown food is far superior that any supermarket. Start growing now!

If you are challenged when it comes to space then I need you to go to your local farmer’s market and begin to develop relationships with the farmers. Buy from them, visit their farms, and give them cards during the holidays. If the food trucks ever stop running and shelves go bare these are the folks you will want to have a relationship with. They will be selling food.

Related: 33 Essential Foods to Stock Pile

#1 Natural Healing

Are you aware of the fact that the weeping willows bark contains salicylic acid? What is salicylic acid? Its nature’s aspirin and reduces fevers as well as inflammation. There are cures and healing agents all around you. It takes some time to learn them but you can do that too.

Cherry Tree Bark – when simmered in large quantities with some honey or sugar this creates a natural cough syrup that is extremely powerful. It should be reduced to a syrupy consistency similar to what you’re used to and strained through a fine sieve.

Plantain Poultice – This grows in your driveway, literally. It’s found all over North America. It’s basically taking the herb, not the banana which you find at the supermarket, and crushing or mincing it until it is a fine green spread. This will heal wounds, bug bites, blisters and boils

Mint salve – Think vapor rub – You can add other herbs as well but basically you are using essential oils and beeswax to create a rub that will aid in localized muscle pain and even congestion.

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