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Originally Posted by
4x4twenty6
The Gov't will not work for the people like it should until we get rid of the pocket lining and corruption of congressman and senators.
Hopefully the voters that turn out will be fed up enough to do something about our "fed" problem. However, the last 20+ years have shown that its very hard to make large changes outside of a "oil and terry-ism" threat. Only time will tell.
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The cut in defense could spur attacks.
Possible, but I think we are doing a good enough number on ourselves that no one (read China & Russia) will need to assist. The cuts in defense spending might be a good thing, pull the defense industry monkey off our backs a bit and bring the guys home to secure our country. We don't need to be world police, its time for others to step up and play ball.
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The uk riots are going to inspire the idiot ****ing youth of today. We are already seeing it in small forms in the flash mobs.
Here we go. If massive cuts are made to the entitlement spending and we will see a TON of "angry, hungry, and unemployed" action. History does show that people typically bang up there own neighborhoods before they take it to Helicopter Ben or the Mid/upper class areas, so signs of this will be around long before poop hits the scooper.
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I dont see things getting any better and people wont acknowledge how bad things are until it comes crashing down. People are too preoccupied with the wrong shit and are not interested in educating themselves to fix the problem
Look at the voter turn out percentage for an example.
We have been raised that failure is not an option (good) and more recently, that the government will take care of you (bad). Lots of people are putting there heads in the sand due to disinformation campaigns from mainstream media/market cheerleading, government sources, and the fellow sheep.
I think its a simple case of we as a country have our heads up our asses and our situation won't be acknowledged until it bites us in the ass. Then and only then will we wake up and realize because its in front of our faces. Sad.
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Originally Posted by
Doc Maker
Very little will happen here, other than some localized violence, until the police paychecks start bouncing. An all out economic collapse is not enough to cause the US to fail.
The government has shown its determination to keep printing money. The local gov's might start having issues, but at that point, we could here talk of federalizing the police force in the name of restructuring local gov debt. This would enable them to print as much money as it takes to keep the hired help on the books and keep the show going.
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For the State & local's to fall that far behind, we'd have to have a compounding factor. A natural disaster for example. I've been looking into the solar storms, referred to by 4x4.
Solar Cycle 24 (current) began 08 Jan, 2008 after an unprecedented period of spotless activity during cycle 23. This would make us expect a higher level of activity this cycle.
This is an interesting point of view and I would agree that a compound problem would be a place we experience difficulty that may include a surplus of fans and lots of poop. I will look into solar storms. Thanks!
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Storing your back up electronics unplugged, sans batteries, will be plenty of protection. Even in the 1859 storm, the Western Union operators just grabbed replacements off the shelf and restrung the wires.
While our electronics are more advanced, they are not all protected from abnormal occurrences. Nowadays, we work in a just in time system, so those off the shelf replacements are weeks or months down the road. Could be trouble here as well.
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Originally Posted by
LRS143
Still trying to find comms for post SHTF. I can't imagine the landline or celly's working and probably wouldn't use them anyway. I'd like a decent base and a few handhelds with real range. Camo the antenna from the bunker somehow so patrols or hides could communicate with the bunker or each other. And more importantly if the SH'sTF while my wife is 20 miles away at her office It'd be nice to be able to reach her.
Ham radios are the way to go. You and your wife can earn your amatuer radio licenses with little more than 2 days worth of studying and a positive attitude. There is no morse code req. anymore and there are tons of free guides out there to help you study the material in a need-to-know fashion.
I highly recommend this book Technician Class 2010-2014 by Gordon West. Its built around the test and designed for you to succeed. I passed on my first try.
Once you have your ham liscense its time to get started. A nice dual band hand held radio is a good start for you and your wife. You can carry them on backpack trips, road trips or general use in your cars, and on your chest rigs if you have them. A base station at your home will provide more power and range but should be considered after you have your handheld set up and ready. If and when the repeaters lose power you can always operate in simplex mode.
It may seem daunting but its really not. Try calling up or emailing your local amateur radio club and asking if they provide test services. Chances are they do and it will give you a great opportunity to ask questions about gear, etc.
Yaseu, Icom and Kenwood all make great equipment. Find more info on specific units at eHam.net.
Let me know if you have any further questions about comms and I'll try to help.