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UndercoverElephant

Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 5839
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 1:56 pm Post subject: |
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| vtsnowedin wrote: | | UndercoverElephant wrote: | | vtsnowedin wrote: | | woodburner wrote: | | kenneal - lagger wrote: | | If people kept a store of food in, even a weeks worth, as their grandparents would have done, it could greatly reduce the chaos that will ensue from a short dislocation in food supplies. |
I suspect most people have a store. It's kept in the freezer, until the date expires, then they get it out when they stumble across it looking for something elas, look at the date, and bin it. |
You can't count on the freezer as you stash as power cuts are among the most common emergency occurrence. A couple of feet of shelf space stocked with canned goods, a jar of rice, a few pounds of pastas and a bag of flour will go a long way in an emergency as well as provide daily utility. |
It seems pointless to me to do this at the moment. If I thought we were heading for immediate, serious problems then I could get to the local supermarket, stock up on said items and be back home inside an hour. It would take a day or two, even in the fastest of crash scenarios, before the shelves were stripped bare. So I keep an eye on what is happening, and I'm prepared to react quickly if I need to, but I don't think I need six month's supplies of canned and dried food right now. |
Katrina type events have shown that a lot of people have that same plan. They all show up at the supermarket at the same time and chaos ensues.
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Not very likely in my own personal case, given the amount of free time I have to monitor what is going on and the number of places I can buy food within a 15 minute walk from my house (4 large supermarkets, countless smaller outlets.)
I'm confident I'd be in and out considerably ahead of the main herd.
It wouldn't take that much for me to make that trip to the supermarket. I will probably do so if I hear news of a uncontrolled Greek default, for example. |
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emordnilap

Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 9467 Location: way out west
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:27 pm Post subject: |
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| UndercoverElephant wrote: | | if I hear news of a uncontrolled Greek default, for example. |
What about the prediction contained in this article?
| Quote: | It appears banks are no longer lending to each other. Just as the credit crunch of August 2007 was heralded by a freezing up of inter-bank lending, so history is repeating itself. According to the FT (£), banks deposited a record €777bn overnight with a state-backed bank, the European Central Bank last week, up nearly two thirds from the previous day.
Banks borrowed from the ECB at 0.5% on one day, and then the next, re-deposited funds with the ECB for less – 0.25%. This would normally be odd behaviour, because banks could earn a great deal more by parking the money with other banks in the inter-bank market. However, because they know the truth of the solvency of other banks, that market scares the hell out of them. Which is why they are parking their (our) money with a bank that cannot go bust: the taxpayer-backed ECB. |
_________________ The human appears to have no idea what its ideal diet should be; has self-inflicted diet-related diseases; causes extensive environmental destruction through basic food production & creates pathogenic infestations that widely infect its food supply. |
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UndercoverElephant

Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 5839
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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| emordnilap wrote: | | UndercoverElephant wrote: | | if I hear news of a uncontrolled Greek default, for example. |
What about the prediction contained in this article?
| Quote: | It appears banks are no longer lending to each other. Just as the credit crunch of August 2007 was heralded by a freezing up of inter-bank lending, so history is repeating itself. According to the FT (£), banks deposited a record €777bn overnight with a state-backed bank, the European Central Bank last week, up nearly two thirds from the previous day.
Banks borrowed from the ECB at 0.5% on one day, and then the next, re-deposited funds with the ECB for less – 0.25%. This would normally be odd behaviour, because banks could earn a great deal more by parking the money with other banks in the inter-bank market. However, because they know the truth of the solvency of other banks, that market scares the hell out of them. Which is why they are parking their (our) money with a bank that cannot go bust: the taxpayer-backed ECB. |
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That's just part of the background story. It doesn't indicate empty supermarket shelves next week. |
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RenewableCandy

Joined: 12 Sep 2007 Posts: 10683 Location: York
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | The fact is that for every firm that loses a government contract, and for every person made unemployed, there will likely be a defaulter on a loan; for every weakening firm and unemployed person, there will be one more customer cancelling an order or snapping their purse shut. | I find it incredible that HMG and the people dealing with Ireland, Greece and the like, don't seem to know this. _________________ Soyez réaliste. Demandez l’impossible.
Space and Spaceability
The Year-Long Lunch Break |
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woodburner
Joined: 06 Apr 2009 Posts: 1442
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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| RenewableCandy wrote: | | I find it incredible that HMG and the people dealing with Ireland, Greece and the like, don't seem to know this. |
They probably do, but they keep telling everyone (and themselves) another story hoping it will come true. They were almost certainly brought up with stories that ended ".....and they all lived happily ever after", not "....and the grisly bits were spat out and left to rot on the beach". |
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SleeperService
Joined: 02 May 2011 Posts: 923 Location: Nottingham UK
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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 11:23 am Post subject: |
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| woodburner wrote: | | RenewableCandy wrote: | | I find it incredible that HMG and the people dealing with Ireland, Greece and the like, don't seem to know this. |
They probably do, but they keep telling everyone (and themselves) another story hoping it will come true. They were almost certainly brought up with stories that ended ".....and they all lived happily ever after", not "....and the grisly bits were spat out and left to rot on the beach". |
+1
I wonder if the next 'employment opportunity' will be for financial advisors who help people arrange their debts so the default causes the least damage to themselves. A bit like the rich exploit tax 'loopholes'  _________________ On the point of giving up and dropping out.... |
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Kentucky Fried Panda

Joined: 06 Apr 2007 Posts: 1742 Location: NW Engerland
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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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It's been done.
Doomsday Preppers
I do like this show, it's probably the funniest of all the so called reality TV.
The people on it are so detached from the real world that you can't help but laugh.
So just when I thought that was bad enough, along comes Doomsday Bunkers. Effectively a show about a business that profits from the scared and paranoid out there. _________________ amat victoria curam |
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vtsnowedin
Joined: 07 Jan 2011 Posts: 1687 Location: New England ,Chelsea Vermont
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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Kentucky Fried Panda wrote: | It's been done.
Doomsday Preppers
I do like this show, it's probably the funniest of all the so called reality TV.
The people on it are so detached from the real world that you can't help but laugh.
So just when I thought that was bad enough, along comes Doomsday Bunkers. Effectively a show about a business that profits from the scared and paranoid out there. |
I've been watching the Doomsday Preppers, They have each prepper state what flavor of doom they are prepping for. Some of them are off the wall like polar shifts or Yellowstone super volcanic eruptions. Makes the preppers look silly. Then the have a team of experts rate the preppers preps without qualifying their experts or introducing them. the show could be much improved.
Have you seen the episode where the father shoots his own thumb off at the range? |
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Kentucky Fried Panda

Joined: 06 Apr 2007 Posts: 1742 Location: NW Engerland
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Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 3:06 pm Post subject: |
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| vtsnowedin wrote: |
Have you seen the episode where the father shoots his own thumb off at the range? |
I laughed so hard I almost shit my pants.
The bit where the father is talking about how his gun 'misfired' and then his son gives him a look and says, "you told us never to put your hand in front of the muzzle."
The look tells me that the son will never hero worship his own father ever again.
The latest episode with the man who collects seeds was just plain disturbing, talk about educationally sub-normal. _________________ amat victoria curam |
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vtsnowedin
Joined: 07 Jan 2011 Posts: 1687 Location: New England ,Chelsea Vermont
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jonny2mad

Joined: 24 Nov 2005 Posts: 1852 Location: weston super mare
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:46 pm Post subject: |
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| UndercoverElephant wrote: | | vtsnowedin wrote: | | woodburner wrote: | | kenneal - lagger wrote: | | If people kept a store of food in, even a weeks worth, as their grandparents would have done, it could greatly reduce the chaos that will ensue from a short dislocation in food supplies. |
I suspect most people have a store. It's kept in the freezer, until the date expires, then they get it out when they stumble across it looking for something elas, look at the date, and bin it. |
You can't count on the freezer as you stash as power cuts are among the most common emergency occurrence. A couple of feet of shelf space stocked with canned goods, a jar of rice, a few pounds of pastas and a bag of flour will go a long way in an emergency as well as provide daily utility. |
It seems pointless to me to do this at the moment. If I thought we were heading for immediate, serious problems then I could get to the local supermarket, stock up on said items and be back home inside an hour. It would take a day or two, even in the fastest of crash scenarios, before the shelves were stripped bare. So I keep an eye on what is happening, and I'm prepared to react quickly if I need to, but I don't think I need six month's supplies of canned and dried food right now. |
if you store ahead of time you can be sure you have all the things you need, I think you may be surprised how switched on a lot of shops and shopkeepers can be . I think if there was a really big financial crisis the big stores may well have a plan at a high level to just close for a while .
If the main chains close and its on the radio that something bigs happened how long will it take for smaller stores to close or stop selling you supply's for UK money .
If you ran tesco wouldn't you have a plan for a financial collapse, if you were in charge of the UK wouldn't you have a plan to close shops considering most of the UK food stocks are on the shelves of UK stores .
I don't think you will have hours on the last day, also your far more likely to be noticed transporting a big bulk of food in a emergency than adding a little every week in a time of plenty _________________ "What causes more suffering in the world than the stupidity of the compassionate?"Friedrich Nietzsche
optimism is cowardice oswald spengler |
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woodburner
Joined: 06 Apr 2009 Posts: 1442
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:35 am Post subject: |
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| jonny2mad wrote: | | I think if there was a really big financial crisis the big stores may well have a plan at a high level to just close for a while . |
The eager/desperate customers/rioters will just walk through the windows. You have seen it on TV so you know that's how it happens. |
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SleeperService
Joined: 02 May 2011 Posts: 923 Location: Nottingham UK
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:46 am Post subject: |
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| jonny2mad wrote: | If you ran tesco wouldn't you have a plan for a financial collapse, if you were in charge of the UK wouldn't you have a plan to close shops considering most of the UK food stocks are on the shelves of UK stores .
I don't think you will have hours on the last day, also your far more likely to be noticed transporting a big bulk of food in a emergency than adding a little every week in a time of plenty |
AFAIK the big stores have regional disaster plans but nothing to cover a complete collapse. Certainly store mangers don't know anything about it and there's nothing in the big handbook that I could find. They appear to be allowing Big Govt to make the decisions, not that they have much choice. After all shutting down would impact profits, and they HAVE to assume any collapse will be short lived as their business isn't viable if it isn't.
J2M makes a good point about stash building. Keep it low profile or it'll be your windows people will be coming in through  _________________ On the point of giving up and dropping out.... |
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RenewableCandy

Joined: 12 Sep 2007 Posts: 10683 Location: York
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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Which is precisely why this poor lass the OP isn't going to get any takers 'round here  _________________ Soyez réaliste. Demandez l’impossible.
Space and Spaceability
The Year-Long Lunch Break |
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clv101 Site Admin

Joined: 24 Nov 2005 Posts: 6151 Location: Bristol
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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| RenewableCandy wrote: | Which is precisely why this poor lass the OP isn't going to get any takers 'round here  |
Did anyone get in touch with her? _________________ PowerSwitch on Facebook | The Oil Drum | Twitter | Blog |
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