Buckeye RINO

I have a recommendation for every household this weekend: stockpile food and other household goods–perhaps 3 months worth.  The financial house of cards on Wall Street is ready to collapse.  It might happen next week, it might happen next month, it might happen next year, but our nation’s financial foundations are not on good footing.

In a prior post, I urged the Federal government to not bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  It looks like the fix is in and they will be bailed out.  Lehman Brothers is apparently pleading for federal guarantees so that someone will acquire it.  A decision is expected by Sunday.  Other financial institutions are at risk, as are other industries.  Whether the Federal government bails everybody out or not, there is a risk that our currency could take a big hit, and if that happens, expect an inflation spike.  If inflation spikes, expect that the stuff on store shelves will be really expensive.  If you can manage it, I think it’s good to keep a stockpile on hand to keep your family afloat no matter what happens to the financial markets.

With a short-term inflation spike, some prices won’t be able to move much, such as rent (already stipulated in a lease agreement), mortgage (a contract already agreed to when you purchased your home), and utilities (utility companies would have to get the state of Ohio to agree to a tax hike before they could raise their rates).  Prices of anything not already locked in, though, could skyrocket.

Of course, we are already experiencing financial distress in Ohio, but, believe it or not, it really can get worse.  Among those who think it could get worse is Governor Ted Strickland, who is trimming the state budget to anticipate impending shortfalls rather than tap the state’s “rainy day” fund. (Hat tip to Lisa Renee at Glass City Jungle.)

On the lighter side, maybe another step one can take to prepare one’s family for a nationwide financial collapse is to obtain fishing licenses and hunting licenses, so if food temporarily becomes too expensive, we can gather it ourselves, just like Sarah Palin’s family fishes and hunts for food.  It’s too late to plant a vegetable garden now, but you might want to plan on planting one next year.

Speaking of hunting, the deer population in Ohio is many, many, many times larger today than it ever was at the time the state was first settled.  According to early accounts of Ohio at the time of settlement, Ohio was wall-to-wall carpeted in trees with very few clearings.  The forest canopy shut out sunlight necessary for thick forest undergrowth, so deer didn’t have a lot to feast on in Ohio.  The Native American populations were also small in Ohio, as hunting was not as successful here as elsewhere because of the relative lack of game.  Often, the Miami nation, that inhabited SW Ohio, would make major hunting treks into Indiana and Kentucky, where game was much more plentiful.  These days, there’s lots for deer to forage upon in Ohio, and the large size of the deer population reflects that fact.

In any event, I encourage families to have a meeting to launch an action plan to be prepared in case of severe economic shocks.