By Michael Snyder.
Is the prepper movement in the United States dying? At one time it was estimated that there were 3 million preppers in the United States, but in late 2016 interest in prepping has hit a multi-year low. The big reason for this, of course, is that the election of Donald Trump has fueled a tremendous wave of optimism among those that consider themselves to be conservatives, patriots and evangelical Christians. Not since the election of Ronald Reagan has the mood on the right shifted in such a positive direction so suddenly. But now that everyone is feeling so good about things, very few people still seem interested in prepping for hard times ahead. In fact, it is like a nuclear bomb went off in the prepping community.
As the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, I am in contact with a lot of people that serve the prepping community. And I can tell you that sales of emergency food and supplies have been crashing since Donald Trump’s surprise election victory. Firms that help people relocate outside of the United States have seen business really dry up, and I know of one high profile individual that has actually decided to move back to the country after Trump’s victory. It is almost as if the apocalypse has been canceled and the future history of the U.S. has been rewritten with a much happier ending.
Personally, I am quite alarmed that so many people are suddenly letting their guard down, but it is difficult to convince people to be vigilant when things seem to be going so well. Just consider some of the things that have been happening in recent weeks…
-Donald Trump was just named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
-The Dow just keeps setting brand new record high after brand new record high. In fact, the Dow has now risen by more than 1,200 points since Donald Trump won the election.
-The Russell 2000 has shot up an astounding 13 percent just since Trump’s victory.
-Donald Trump has convinced heating, ventilation and air conditioning giant Carrier to keep about 1,000 jobs in the United States instead of shipping them to Mexico.
-Donald Trump has convinced SoftBank to invest 50 billion dollars and create 50,000 new jobs in the United States.
-The U.S. dollar index recently hit the highest level that we have witnessed since March 2003.
-We just learned that U.S. Steel wants to bring back somewhere around 10,000 jobs to communities that lost them.
At this point there is an overwhelming belief among those on the right that Donald Trump is going to be able to do what he has promised to do.
And the numbers back this up. A recent Gallup survey discovered that the percentage of Republicans that believe that the U.S. economy is “getting better” increased from just 16 percent immediately prior to the election to 49 percent immediately after the election.
I don’t recall ever seeing such a shift in public sentiment in just a few days. Tens of millions of Americans have put their faith in Donald Trump, and time will tell if he will be able to deliver. As billionaire Mark Cuban recently pointed out, Donald Trump is like a number one draft pick that has not proven himself yet…
“I’ll analogize it to the NBA draft: He’s the No. 1 pick,” Cuban said. “He’s who we put our hopes and dreams with, and we’re going to believe in him. Right now it’s a little bit easier because we haven’t played a game yet.”
“There’s no reason to rush to judgment or come to any conclusions now,” he continued. “Let’s see what happens starting January 21 and go from there. I hope he’s a superstar, and I hope everything turns out the way we all hope it will. But until January 21, there’s no real point at going into detail.”
Let us hope that President Trump will be everything that people are hoping that he will be.
I would love it if 2017 is a year filled with peace and prosperity. I don’t think that is the way it is going to go, but I do hope that the optimists are right.
At this point I could start listing out all of the reasons why our economy is doomed no matter who is president, but unless you are already convinced all of that reasoning would probably fall on deaf ears.
Tens of millions of Americans are completely convinced that we are heading into a new golden era for America just because Donald Trump won the election, and for the sake of the nation let us hope that they are correct.
But what if they are wrong?
What if the rioting, violence and civil unrest that the radical left is planning for the Inauguration on January 20th sparks a movement that plunges many of our major cities into chaos throughout Trump’s presidency?
What if all of the incredibly bad decisions that were made during the Obama years result in the biggest economic downturn we have ever seen early in the Trump years?
What if Trump’s inability to get along with China results in a major trade war between the two largest economies on the entire planet?
What if the growing financial instability in Europe results in a new global financial crisis that Trump will not be able to do anything to stop?
I could go on and on, but I think that you get the point.
All of the things that myself and other watchmen have been warning about all this time are coming.
My hope is that the optimists are right and that the horrible events that are coming will be put off for as long as possible.
But I wouldn’t count on it.
A day of reckoning for America is fast approaching, and those that are wise understand the signs of the times.
This article was written by Michael Snyder and first appeared on The Economic Collapse Blog.
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It could be that, like me, many people have prepared to the point they intended and slowed down a lot. Also, at this time of the year, money goes a lot of other places. At 80 years old, I have decided not to leave my home in case of SHTF, because my wife is not physically able, and I won’t abandon her.
Good call Shipmate, many of us have already fulfilled our preps to the point of slowing down a bit after all, you have to consume some of the food and water just for the sake of rotation and keeping fresh stock.
EXACTLY, Shipmate! I’m 56, Disabled Vet, a Grandad & me and my Wife of 31-years will Remain in Place/Home! Our neighbors are WONDERFUL & literally EVERYONE in our corner of GA has one-to-MANY RIFLES/Pistols/’ARTILLARY GUNS’, too! I can’t imagine a better place to Set our heels & become a fixture…quite a few of my local buddies are VERY INTO Long-Range Shooting. Besides, my Heart & Hearth is PURE Georgian! Glad to hear another American Patriot, Shipmate (Navy?)???
We are in Georgia too! In the mountains. Absolutely the best place to live! Love the surroundings and the God fearing folks. As for me, I am still prepping as I got started later than most of you. I don’t feel as driven now that Trump is coming into office, but I would not say that bad things could happen. Obama has let so many muslims into our country that the odds say they WILL kill Christians. N Korea is close to having an EMP that could wipe out our grid and say they are going to use it. We are $20 Trillion in debt thanks to O’bozo. So I could see us in a Venezuelan situtation where many starve. Sigh.
Blessings to all and stay prepared!
I am hopeful that things will be better now and I am slightly less worried about the near future but things can still go bad regardless of whom is president. Natural disasters, terrorism, war, social unrest, disease, etc. still happen regardless of which party is in office. I am continuing to prepare because bad things can and do happen. I am slightly more hopeful that the greater good will prevail (the good of the many must out weigh the good of the few) but things can still go sideways. The cost of freedom and liberty and life are eternal vigilance. “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” Little has changed for me, I will still prepare, still learn new skills and sharpen old ones, still put away food and supplies just not with as great a sense of urgency as before. S**t can still hit the fan, I am hopeful for the short term that it may not be as likely or as bad as I feared before. I highly recommend that people keep preparing for what may come. Bad things can and will happen regardless.
I’m not letting my guard down!! I’m more convinced than ever that prepping is something that needs to be done NOW. What goes up must come down. The Dow is at an all time high. There WILL be a crash. I don’t know when but it’s coming and the 1930’s will look prosperous by the time we get in the middle of the next depression. Heaven help us.
I’m afraid you are right. President Trump might be able to delay the crash, or perhaps the Globalists that hate him will cause a crash? We owe too much money to other countries to be let our guard down.
For myself, I have been ramping up even more so because now I know that the globalists are desperate. They have invested millions into their puppet Obama, had many “obstacles” removed ie; Scalia, Seth Rich, Shrf. Dever (immigration), etc.,etc. along with having to bribe and/or threaten Congressmen/women (just like what the Mex. Cartels do, Lead or Silver?). I fully expect them to unleash their anarchists, radical Muslims, BLM, La Raza and their affiliated gangs, Snowflakes and other “useful idiots”. All starting just prior to the inauguration.
Exactly my fears as well.
This has been confirmed. They are planning riots for inauguration day.
As with any situation, there are those that are prepared and those who are not. The trump victory has signaled an attempt to move in the right direction, the silent majority spoke out. However, the last dozen years have buried America in burden……. time will tell if it is the beginning of a Phoenix or something else.
Not all Preppers are Republican. Donald Trump is VERY far from Christian, Look up the actual definition of fascism. Our government agencies are going to headed by big business or military agents. Donald Trump may just be EXACTLY what you are most afraid of. Don’t be caught by surprise
I agree with the fact that not all preppers are Republican or Christian. But I think that most of us are.
Preciously! I got into prepping recently BECAUSE of Trump. The divide in this country got a helluva lot bigger (was widening anyway but this really puts it into view) and a billionaire just got a country and millions of lives to play with.
Thank you! I thought things had gone silent because people had actually bugged out. I’m more worried now than ever.
God has used MANY people that were far from what we would ever consider Christian. Read your Bible. I honestly believe God Blessed our nation and gave us another chance with Donald Trump.
I personally have no use for anyone that is a liberal/progressive.
Saul came a long way, didn’t he?
I agree. I became a Prepper precisely BECAUSE trump was elected! He has so far proven true most of my fears about him by choosing the most incompetent people possible to head up various agencies, worked to take away health insurance coverage – which under Obama was the first time my husband had been able to afford coverage; and has done everything possible to destroy our natural environment either directly or by repealing protective laws! I truly believe that if he “serves” (what an oxymoron term in reference to him!) his entire term, we will be at war, due to him putting his foot in the wrong mouth! That’s besides ISIS being emboldened by his actions.
So beware, religion or political party will be irrelevant, only survival of those who realistically plan ahead.
That’s all very nice, but this is a forum for serious discussion of prepping issues. There are plenty of online sites where you can grandstand. Please take your political rants elsewhere!
Did you, by any slight chance, happen to read what this specific article was about? I would suggest you do so, including the title, and the various comments.
The followers of this forum are all Preppers, but we are not all the same religion, nor are we all on the same point on the political spectrum. Many comments were made by others that if I were as narrow minded as you, I would also consider political rants because they did not agree with my personal views. If you don’t want to hear other viewpoints, then I would suggest you avoid reading anything other than something written by someone whose views you have personally vetted as agreeing with your own tunnel vision of the world.
Whatever …. I come here to hone my prepping skills; not listen to some whiny ass liberal spouting about how they lost they election. If you don’t have anything of value to add to prepping knowledge, then I guess you are a waste of my time …. have a nice safe space day!
HEY Y’all,
I know that all we are doing is taking a short breath before investing in more supplies. Most of us are now well supplied and are now involved in ensuring that our security set up’s are up to snuff. None of us that have been preparing for the worst but praying for the best believe that so much has changed that we are satisfied with our preps. The opposite is really true since we know that we have made a commitment to ourselves, our families and in some cases our communities. We know that prepping is a lifestyle that will make us better able to fulfill our commitments. I know that my family has benefited greatly by pursuing our goals of self sufficiency. DJ Trump has given many Hope for a better future but we also know that so much Liberty and Freedom has been given away (LOST) in the last 100 years and that there is so much debt in the world that it will take a very small incident and the whole shaky mess will come falling down.
We haven’t stopped, we have assessed ourselves and find that there are other things that need to be completed.
So to all my fellow Americans who walk and talk the self sufficiency life; keep your guard up.
We are done with our prepping. Enough of your F4P food to last well over a year. A large water filter 99.999%, 10 deep storage batteries 60 gallons of gasoline, natural gas powered fireplace inserts that heats the whole house, gas stove that can be lit with match if electronic burner doesn’t have power, but see above. /we have bathtub liner to store fresh water before water towers go dry. Small lake backs up to our lot, use untreated for flushing, plumbers plug for sewer in case it starts to back up. Homemade toilet to use if sewer doesn’t work w/1000 liners. Ice auger if we need to get water from lake in winter.
Only thing I can think of is F4P having a meat offering which isn’t so dang overpriced, same with solar panels. You are getting greedy Frank.
Steve,
You sound well prepared. Can I ask what F4P food is? Sorry if it’s a stupid question. What are you going to do with the deep storage batteries? We are considering solar panels with batteries hooked to them. We have a septic system and I’ve been assuming with water in the back of the toilet that it will still work fine. We are on a medium sized pond I plan to use for water. It is spring fed.
Food for Patriots …. good stuff. 25 year shelf life and tastes good too.
Thank you Farmer!
Steve,
You sound well prepared. Can I ask what F4P food is? Sorry if it’s a stupid question. What are you going to do with the deep storage batteries? We are considering solar panels with batteries hooked to them. We have a septic system and I’ve been assuming with water in the back of the toilet that it will still work fine. We are on a medium sized pond I plan to use for water. It is spring fed and not far from the house.
Steve: The moderately active 150 pound 35 y.o.male needs 2,000 calories per day to exist. Teenage boys need more. Women can get by on slightly less. Older folks can get by on slightly less. In an ETOW situation, I think everyone who is alive will be using more calories per day than the “moderately active etc male”. Please do yourself a favor and check the caloric count of the servings in your Food For Patriots. I think you will find at an average caloric consumption of around 2,000 calories per day per person it will not last nearly as long as is indicated by the advertising on the bucket. I have a 3-day supply of F4P and I can get by on 1400 calories per day for 3 days, but I sure wouldn’t want to do that long term. Everything I have read indicates that the inmates of the Nazi concentration camps existed on 1200 calories per day. We all know how that turned out for many of them. 1400 is about a half of a Cliff Bar more per day.
For everyone buying food that is advertised as so much food for so many days, get the total calories in the container and divide by the number of days. You will be amazed and disappointed. Even Mountain House, the premier freeze dried food company in their 30 day supply of food works out to 1800 calories per day. At 1800 calories per day I will lose one pound a week until I plateau at whatever weight is sustained at 1800 calories per day. While I certainly could stand to lose some pounds of fat, I don’t have that much muscle mass that I can stand to lose any of that. I have a feeling I will be more than moderately active if I am chopping wood, fetching water, digging latrines, burning garbage, etc etc.
The real preppers are still prepping. I just thinned out soon to expire items from my food supply, donated the food to a food bank, and purchased replacement food items. Also met with family and went through our evacuation plan when SHTF. Took daughter to firing range and practiced firing pistols, shot gun and rifle. In life You play like you practice.
I am 75 years old. I have been hearing about the coming collapse since at least the 1960s. The elitists and the Deep State has been building their system since the Civil War. Boiling us like frogs, one degree at a time.
We might have a momentary reprieve, but I fear that they have turned the heat down only for a short while. They will be back. The Donald may be able to forestall some of it, but alas, I fear the damage has been done.
As for the prepping community. They will be back, when they realize that The Donald, can’t change things; 3 months, 6 months, but they will be back.
Obama changed the hell out of things in his time in office, so take off your blinders and realize that THE DONALD as you call him, can change things just as well.
Loanjack, My dad was a prepper and convinced me to start prepping in 1965 when they took the silver out of our coins.
Follow the trend. Slow but sure the are trying to enslave us.
16 years ago the top 1% took 35% of the GDP. Last year they took 95%.
Debt free for over 30 years.
Have you ever thought folks might have already spent most of their prepper budget for a while? You cannot just spend tons of money on prepping and not spend some money on LIFE. Otherwise, what is the purpose of life, if you cannot enjoy it sometime?
I see happening the same thing you talked about above! I live in western Oklahoma and in oil field country and the oil field has driven our economy for over 30 years. The oil field is gone from here now and their money with it. The economy is dead and no one is spending money. My company that use to thrive is dead now. I’m having to sell equipment in a dead economy just to try and get out of debt and pay bills, and in an economy like this it is hard to sell the equipment or even get close to what it is worth. But i know that the only thing that has changed is that obummer so far is leaving office. I hope that occurs. He has destroyed this nation and i don’t think anyone can fix it!! Trump may get assassinated before or after he takes office or the elites cronies may stir up enough trouble in big cities across the nation for obummer to call ML!! Or the dollar collapse starting at the first of the year may cause it. I don’t know! I do know that obummer has done so many things to cripple us that it can not be undone over night!! I’m in fear that a collapse will have to happen before this nation can become great again. There are to many laws against our Lords commandments! Our debt as a nation! Obummer created 3 times more money than our nation had before he took office, 85 billion a month for a long time! The IMF has created a new world cyber currency that other nations are going to be dumping our dollars for across the world because they know we are a nation that can not make enough money to pay our own bills and keep going further into debt. They will dump our money over seas for this new money and our dollars obummer created will start flooding back to the US and cause our money to become worthless from flooding our country with it causing everything to sky rocket in price, except wages! No one will be able to afford to buy anything! The gov wanted this! They want our dollar to fail! They want their own cyber money! They already have it waiting to be implemented called Fed Coin! They want chaos to break out and they want people to kill each other to survive to cause depopulation in this country on a mass scale cause they know we can not support this country with all the health issues (caused by their GMO foods they have been feeding us for over 10 years that are slowly killing us! and the pharm meds that don’t cure no one and make the producers billionaires! ) It is all coming to a head and will blow up soon. I know this as fact. I’m still trying to prep, but is hard in the economy our treasonous pres has created here where i am! I could go on and on about other things they have done and have prepped for like Jade Helm which was just practise for the military to implement ML To the droughts in Calif that will disrupt our food supply! And the water shortages that are coming to many in the west US. And of course the EMP that our own military knows will finally happen most likely in 2017 and when that happens it be all over for us as a nation for a long time. Nine tenths of us will be dead in the first year after an HEMP hits us. To many nations have this that hate us!! I’ll stop here, cause i could keep on going about it. I pray to our Lord God almighty ever day to save us, because he is the only one i think that can, but i think he is fed up with us as a nation now and that he is allowing the devil to have his way with us now! End Times i’m afraid is just around the corner!!!!!!!
I hear You Kenny,
We are screwed because The Donald will not be in office long enough to set the ship right, even if he survives.
As I mentioned in a comment below, there are natural things coming at us that will usher in, what the elites call, “A Black Swan,” an event that will tip the current world wide house of cards.
Word for word my fears…. this is I prep
I, too believe an EMP is coming our way sooner than later. Not sure on when. Why do you think this year will be when one of our enemies hit us?
Also, did you see the other day where the sun has a huge hole in it…which produces a much higher chance for us to suffer another Carrington type event?
Me again,,
There are a ton of natural things that are happening to this ole earth. We are in what is called, “A Solar Minimum,” the sun has cooled and there are a reduction in our magnetic field, which will cause other things to happen.
Prepping is always needed. I suggest You also concentrate on what You will need to have and do, if the SHFT naturally.
I personally am and always have been studying and experimenting on things that can be done long after an event that renders our current system useless, or cripples it to the point to where it can’t function completely. Such as, earth batteries, methane production, aquaponics, vermaponics, small animal husbandry, crude steam generation, seed saving and just plain gardening. I have skills that I will be glad to trade for Your stored supplies.
Lonejack, what do you think of the huge hole in the sun? Could it cause an EMP?
While Trump’s election seems to repudiate the socialist/communist/globalist agenda, what is really going to happen is yet to be seen. With the press seemingly against him there is going to be an unending flood of propaganda from all sides. Part of me is hoping for the positive change that looks to be happening. Another part of me wonders if this could all just be a big political drama put on to quell the right wing dissent that was coming to a boil. They still haven’t disarmed us, which must be done before the agenda can be advanced much more. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
People complain about Trump not having “experience”, but neither did Obama when he stepped into office. We didn’t know what Obama was going to do for almost a year after he was elected, only to find out he’s a raving socialist who hates this country. Trump has the experience I want him to have, and that’s all he needs.
Nothing will change, in fact if you were doing the hiring (an HR person) do you really think you would hire a Donald Trump as the all around savior of the country. I cant believe so many people think things will be better, odds are he cant come true on any of his promises and with the world looking at us like what are you going to do now there are so many groups that can cause problems for us on all levels.
I’m a little sick of all the negativity. I believe Trump can turn things around but I am also a realist. I believe it’s going to escalate until he can turn it around. Too many radical Muslims in the country and criminal illegals. They are going to come for us because we ruined their free ride. So we need to be ready for whatever comes.
I think that there’s a very good chance someone of these crazy people will try to kill Trump. I’m not letting my guard down and I will continue to prep and learn to the best of my ability.
Dumbest shit I ever heard.
You really should be more specific. Or, if you are trolling, just ignore this message.
I agree. Gratuitous comments like Masai000’s don’t do anything to add value to the thread. A positive comment can make the reading worthwhile. A comment like M’s is really not helpful at all.
We feel like we can take a breath now but we are NOT stopping our preps. We have switched methods to save money and have expanded what we have for preps, but no, we are not stopping getting ready for anything. Remember everyone, complacency kills. Keep prepping, keep sharpening your skills, gather as much intel as you can and keep your head on a swivel. I have a feeling this isn’t over yet.
If you’re openly prepping, you’re making yourself a target.
Very true, the only ones who know I’m a prepper are my immediate family. Everyone else can prep for themselves. I have a friend who is a retired greenbrier. His advice is Don’t tell anyone your a prepper. Learn as many skills as you can. Knowledge weighs nothing, and hide everything you prep….
Didn’t change my Plans or preps at all, hoping this actually buys me more time, but that doesn’t mean let up, like others hoping for the best and prepping for the worst. Prepping is just plain common sense something most Americans seem to be lacking these days. Our forebears where prepper’s, it was a way of life.
Remember folks …. prepping for total societal collapse is one thing but don’t we prep for all the other scenarios too. What about hurricanes, job loss, inflation, pandemic, or earthquake.
I have recently stumbled across this community as I was looking for answers to my questions of “what if” scenarios in what I feel is an increasingly unstable world we live in. Having done a little research I feel at a disadvantage living in England! When the SHTF home security is a major worry due to extremely strict laws! Some heavy locks will have to do! Great tips though guys on storing food etc. Thanks.
Piceroo: Ordinary kitchen knives can be turned into pikes fairly easily. Obtain a hardwood pole about 6 feet in length. Remove the rivets in your kitchen knives, especially the larger butcher type knives. Cut a slot in the hardwood pole that fits the tang of that particular knife. Refasten the scales to the kitchen knife with ordinary bolts and nuts that will fit flush with the handle. You will need to drill out the hole for the nut. Use your ingenuity. Do the same for the pole that you have the the knife, making sure that you can fit the blade quickly and easily to the pole. Now, put the pole in your garage or attic or basement, some place where Nosey Neds aren’t likely to stumble on it, but not so deeply buried as to be unavailable in a hurry. You now have a spear or pike. A spear is better for warfare than a short knife. Of course, in Old Blighty you can’t own something like a machete or, if you can, then slowly acquire machetes for everyone in the family who can wield one. Make sure you know how to sharpen them. Make spear poles for everyone in the family who can wield one. Make sure your kitchen knives are ready to be converted in an instant. England used to be the home of the long bow. Just ask the French about Crecy. If you can own a long bow in G.B., I would acquire one and join an archery club. If you are married and/or have teenage children, have them join too. They aren’t weapons, they are sports equipment. You can arm yourself for exigencies in an EOTW situation when the Booby at the end of the lane isn’t available. (That’s not a typo. It was intentional.) While a long bow will not beat a firearm, it will certainly beat a cricket bat.
It must have been devastating as you realized that everything projected to happen in the future….DIDN’T
I’m so sorry.
And sunrise tomorrow didn’t happen yet, but I’m betting it will!