2012, Be Ready Before End of Summer
January 13, 2012, Submitted by: Ken Tweet
Guest post: by ‘TripodXL’
How far back do you remember hearing about “2012″? I was a field service engineer for a company that mfg’ed CAT scanners and other high end, medical, imaging equipment and on one service call in 1997, the customer asked me what we (the company) were doing to prepare our equipment for Y2K. It was a deer-in-the-headlights moment.
My response was “Y2 what?” I can assure you that after appropriate research that within 6 months I had a two years supply of preps for Y2K.
It (Y2K) was not in common public knowledge until well into 1998, going into 1999 (less than a year away). The movie, “2012″ was released almost 2 years ago and was advertised for 6 months before that. I can find references for 2012 that go back to 2006, that’s a 6+ year lead time. What am I getting at? 2012 has reached the level of becoming a “self-fulfilling prophecy”.
Okay, what do you mean by that? Well, most people will tell you that they don’t believe in it, but deep inside, they wonder, “could it be true?” They don’t know if it is, but it nags at them, they just don’t want to seem stupid in front of their “peers”(?).
This is getting much more press than Y2K. There wasn’t, as far as I remember, a Y2K movie. There was really only a widely known run up to Y2K for the last 8-6 months before. There were long term preps that you could not find in the last 6 months. Well, 2012 has been on History/Discover/NGC/TLC/etc. for several years, 3-4 at least.
Here’s one scenario. It’s just past Halloween, October 31st, 2012. The weeks running up to Thanksgiving have been mostly uneventful, for the average do-nothing/know-nothing person. The summer before, Texas and the southern-central plains experienced the second “most severe drought on record” year in a row (this is, by the way, the 10th year in a probable, 20 year drought cycle).
It’s two weeks to Thanksgiving, a Thursday, and you are at the store and you notice that turkey is $5 a pound, wow that’s high (You’ve been watching the Kardashians, American Idol, Dancing with whomever, etc.) so you haven’t really noticed the food prices til now.
You begin to realize that many of the things that you use for the holiday aren’t there. “Well, I guess they’ll put them out this weekend.” Saturday, you go to the store, early, to get what you will need for turkey-day, and they’re out of many of the essentials. You can find string beans, for $1.89 a can, but nothing else and now the turkeys that are left, are $7.00 a pound.
The manager on duty explains the things that you haven’t been interested in for years, about the drought, the food shortages, grain prices, inflation and “these crazy-assed 2012 preppers” buying up everything. When he explains that even after the two trucks come in on Monday, it won’t be much better and the prices will probably be higher still, well, now, you’re pissed, and go around the store trying to find what you want, passing up things that would save your life, the more mundane items, like beans, rice, high calorie canned meats, pasta and sauce,peanut butter, crackers, cereal, dried milk, canned soups, cans or packages of complete meals, salt, Crisco etc.
You find all of the over-priced items for turkey-day “hors d’oeuvres” and a bunch of other high priced crap that won’t last long, plus one of those $8.00 a pound turkeys. You go home, mentally exhausted and frustrated. After a few hours on the internet and some deep breaths, you realize what has happened. While most people do not believe in catastrophe on December, 21st 2012, apparently most people are hedging their bets and have finally tried to stock up for it, just in case, and have created a retail grocery shortage.
After a few hours of contemplation you decide that you have the solution. You have a warehouse card, you just hate to go there with the “masses” just to save money, but that is where you will go, today. When you get there, the parking lot is jammed and after 15 minute of driving around you get a place and go in. You have to wait for a cart and then you have to wait to get in as there are too many in the store. I won’t continue the story, you get the picture. Just for happy endings let’s say she gets 50#s of beans and 50#s of rice, 5 12 packs of Mac&Cheese, and different kinds of canned meats etc. and some other things. For the sake of happiness, which is not reality, let’s just say she got what she needed, just in time.
Two weeks later the store was closed due to violence and lack of product to sell. It is the day after Thanksgiving and most grocery stores have little or nothing to sell except odd produce and other strange items.
It is now three and one half weeks to December 21/22, 2012. Will anything happen then? Personally, I doubt it as far as just the date itself. However, the problem is that you have a lame duck president that doesn’t want to leave office and HE is in charge of the military and through Executive Orders and other wonderful legislation, can declare martial law and suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus. He can declare a national emergency and keep the new president out of office, even arresting him for sedition and treason, if he so chooses.
2012 can become a self fulfilling prophecy. I suggest that you have ALL your preps done by the end of summer. I personally will try for the end of July, not that I have a lot left. Watch what unfolds, very carefully, you need to understand what is going on and how to persevere. Survive well. Enjoy.
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Also keep tripodxl’s situational awareness in mind over the coming year. There are people out there who truly believe the end is coming in December. Imagine how this will affect their already unstable mind as the time slowly gets closer and closer and closer. They will be counting the days and as each one passes, it will remove another little piece of their sanity.
TripodXL. Excellent article. There is so much hard truth to self fulfilling prophecies. People CAN make events occur, maybe not natural disasters, but certainly manmade calamities. As for people panicking and buying up before the first day of winter in 2012 it might not be a bad idea to put a little money into food companies and other necessary items that certain companies sell as if people do start stocking up then their stocks will rise considerably.
As for the 2012 end days, it could be a president and a party that desperately want to stay in office and are willing to do anything to, like giving Israel the green light to go after Iran or doing it themselves. Time frame, about the end of summer or start of fall. I think we are more at risk of something geopolitical happening than anything in 2012.
Then there is the remote possibility that 2012 does have to do with something natural happening. If this is the case I would look towards the sun and space more than the planet Earth to GET US.
Everything said in this article people should pay heed to. Never hurts to have something put away for WHEN, not if, things fall apart.
i know this wasn’t your main point, but you think people should buy stock in food conglomerates? if food is scarce on store shelves, it will be scarce throughout the supply chain. stock prices are based on earnings. if there are no earnings because of supply chain disruptions, the stock price will plummet.
don’t invest, save. buy food for storage. buy tools. buy silver. buy fuel. buy aquarium antibiotics. don’t buy RJR stock, you’ll not be able to time the sell-off and probably won’t be able to convert your investmetn into something useful when you need it.
To be honest, I’m prepping for economic meltdown because it’s the one thing I can actually see right now. I do have beliefs about some of the other 2012 stuff, but I’m not sure if or how they will pan out so I’m dealing with what I do know instead of what might be.
And what I do know is that I am in no way shape or form, ready if my preps are needed at the drop of a hat! I have a lot of work to do to get my family to the point of… We’ll be ok for a while… And it’s making me a bit jittery. I think we have about two months safe bet with food, but definitely not enough water. Yes, we will be better off by late summer, but so will all the mindless idiots that want to being about the end of the world as we know it. All we need is the nostrodarmus effect, the Mayan prophesy, Nibiru, solar flares and the Raptor and we’ve got a tinderbox ready to blow by late Autumn – Winter Solstice.
I heard about this a few years ago, and even though I too believed that something was going to happen, it took me all this time to get my arse into gear and make provisions. I really do wish I had begun sooner.
@Damkina; Well, You are on your way, that’s what’s important. Actually, while I see no particular inherent EVIL about December 21, 2012, there does seem to be a “harmonic convergence” of events taking place. You have the economic events in Europe and China, the 2012 self fulfilling prophecy and it’s attending retail run/collapse, there are the U.S, elections and the potential turmoil they will cause, the middle east and the tensions there with Iran, along with the bellicose, sabre rattling of the Chinese and their imperial expansion ideas, and many other issues, that have the potential to turn the world on it’s ear, this next year. Look at it this way, “how do you eat an elephant?”, one bite at a time. You have plenty of time (bites) between now and next fall, to finish off the elephant. As long as you’re prepared before everyone else tries to “get some”, then you are grand. Be stalwart and persevere, my dear. Keep on, keeping on, and you will triumph and persevere. It will be to your advantage. The secondary issue is if you’ll recall, is that I was ready for Y2K. We REALLY DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN (the engineers), so I prepared. The fact that Y2K was a bust has not stopped me from preparing. As a matter of fact, it is probably the reason I’m so well prepared now. It opened my eyes to ALL the potential, realistic possibilities that can befall our race on our little blue ball. It only makes sense to be prepared for “something”. Survive well. Enjoy.
Damkina, I know it’s hard, but don’t fret too much. I too feel very under prepared…even with the basics. I have a few 7 gal water containers(jerry cans), an upright gravity water filter(that one was an expensive purchase) and from what I’ve read, the 2 top brands are Berkey and AquaRain. I also have a few(read:not a lot) water purification tablets, and 2 90 gal rain barrels. And for a family of 5, this is not much…but you have to start somewhere!
And I have posted a link before for a good way to pump up your food storage quick. I cannot take credit for the info as it was passed down from a fellow prepper, but here is the link again for Scotish Broth:
http://christianviewpoint.yuku.com/reply/8636/Scotish-Broth-recipe-and-others
Hope this helps
@Mama Bear; In a “survival situation” you can use UNSCENTED CHLORINE BLEACH to biologically purify water. 8 drops per gallon (1/8 teaspoon) for clear water or double that for turbid water. If you set the water out for 24 hours the bleach will break down and there will not be any bleach taste. Also, turbid water can be filtered through a CLEAN white cotton tee shirt or white cotton sock. A simple charcoal filter should remove most of the chlorine taste if you need to use it right away. Water purification tablets are expensive and a gallon of bleach is cheap. Hope this is helpful info. Survive well. Enjoy.
Things can move very quickly in the coming economic crash.
It only takes an electronic bank run to crash the worlds economy in 24 hours.
Just yesterday S&P have downgraded a host of European countries credit rating. The fallout will be a serious step in the ultimate train wreck.
Note that S&P didn’t do anything with Greece’s ratings – they’re rock bottom already.
Greece is in full blown depression already. There is already a lack of basic commodities (Pharmaceuticals etc.). Single mothers are already abandoning their infant children (leaving them at school in the morning and not returning to pick them up). The coming Greek election in April will be very interesting…. that is, if things don’t collapse before then.
It looks extremely unlikely that Greece will get their next tranche of bailout funds on time or without countries like Germany breaking economic rules to give them a handout.
Italy has been downgraded two notches. This will put great strain on their economic austerity measures. Remember the fact that Italian leftist extremists take a murderous approach to those politicians that try and break the welfare dependency.
The world economy is like a tire with a hole that they keep putting can after can of “Fix-A-Flat” in which only makes the hole bigger. By now, the hole is so big, no amount of air or fix-a-flat will re-inflate it. Do not listen to the main stream media about finances, or anything else for that matter. The acronym for US media: M E D I A = Making Everyone’s daily Information Ambiguous
@Beano; You are so right. The EC is the economic black hole that will pull the U.S. into it as well. Greece can’t produce the political and social will to meet their austerity goals, to merit the next ECB/IMF payment (tranche) of aid and they will eventually be put out of the Euro. With the economic ills of both, Europe and the U.S. and their consumption of imported goods, will come the body slam on the struggling Chinese economy. The new way of life that they’ve gotten used to in the past 15-20 years will come crashing down. Who knows what effect that will have on the world geopolitical situation? If the Europeans don’t produce the will to control their situation, VERY SOON (6 months, tops), the above mentioned is almost a foregone conclusion. And, coming into the U.S. election cycle and the potential “self fulfilling” 2012 situation, it will be like gasoline on fire. Survive well. Enjoy.
@TripodXL thanks for the confidence booster, for some reason I just got a bit despondent and rattled yesterday, and no, it wasn’t because of it being the 13th… I didn’t give that the time of day. The amount of work I have yet to do seemed a little overwhelming for a while and it turned into an OMG! And headless chicken situation.
Back to practicality today.
What I have noticed is the “Raptor” instead of Rapture in my last post! Lol Dont know how he got there, the cheeky little blighter! Interesting scenario! One way to get rid of the looters!
I remember prepping for Y2K many years ago. I had a multi-disciplinary approach to the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it back then:
1. Years prior to Y2K, I invested in some companies that sold supplies to preppers back then such as Brigade Quartermasters, Mountain House foods, Olin-Mathieson (Parent company to several firearms and ammo manufacturers)
2. Years prior to Y2K, I invested in several pharmacuetical companies that manufactured sleep aids and anti-anxiolytics. The best performer was Glaxo Smith-kline which held the most patents on stomach remedies and gastro-intestinal upset meds back then. That was until Pfizer came out with Viagra.
3. I went out and bought several weeks worth of food, water containers, ammo and components for my weapons.
4. I had cash on hand to see us through at least 1 week.
5. My brother convinced me and my dad to invest in a company that specialized in backing up of financial records to a distant site in the desert southwest. It was profitable.
Most of the investments were profitable at that time. The stockpiled ammo was either used up, sold or donated to the local chapter of Future Farmers of America. The food was rotated and consumed.
On the actual morning of 1/1/2000, I was off-duty that night. My wife was asleep and I was on my front porch listening to the town people firing their guns into the air. I had a good dark beer and the end table that night was made of stacked cases of 12 gauge shells. (5 in all)
These days, the investment landscape is different. Recent disasters have seen several companies rise to the occasion of being open for business within hours of the disaster striking: Waffle House Restaurants and Home Depot. Their response has been so fast, good and organized that the Red Cross has consulted with the upper managers of these companies and in some cases, hired them away. (this is from the Wall Street Journal) The firearms industry has been changed by the formation of the Freedom Group which has become the parent corporation over many manufacturers of guns and ammo + reloading components. If the world does not end, You can still hedge your bet today.
Prepping is a state of mind. Survive well and enjoy.
@Ted K; I must be out of the loop as far as FFA, do they have a shooting program? Where I live it is the BSA and the 4-H that do the firearms training. I teach the BSA rifle and shotgun merit badges. I have maintained, consumed and expanded my food preps since Y2K. I do this for general preparation and disaster preparedness. I suppose that Y2K was a “bust” for some, but for me it was a learning experience on how to prep “properly”. I have discovered a number of food prep factoids, from experience, that I will share in an upcoming post. I hedged some bets at the gun show today!!! ;-} Survive well. Enjoy.
@All; Today, January 20, 2012 National Geographic Channel (NGC) announced a new show, “Prepping for Doomsday” to start on February 7th. If anything was a precursor for self-fulfillment, it would be a TV show. LOL. I will of course, watch it. I can’t believe the idiocy of the people that would let someone film them!!!!! Doh! Ooohhhh sshhprinkles! Doesn’t mean there isn’t something to learn. I suggest you watch it. Survive well. Enjoy.
@ TripodXL. You know what I hope is that this show doesn’t portray people that are preparing as the media has been, as paranoid and out of touch. This is something that really gets my ire up tremendously. The people that are ready and get prepared for when there is a disruption of services and goods, no matter how long, are the wisest most in touch with reality individuals that there is.
Interesting. I was asked to interview for this show as they were wanting to talk to people who were members of ARC Bunkers. Never did interview but wonder if ARC director Jim Lawhorne will be on the show.