Recent Calamities: On the Frontlines of Collapse
It's been a while since we added information to the "On The Frontlines of Collapse" series. Truthfully, both CD and I have been busy with other writing projects. I'm earnestly working on finishing my forthcoming book, The Psychology of Collapsing, and CD has spent most of his spare time working on a book I'm excited to read myself. He's breaking down almost every single element of the Appalachian region and explaining how to set up systems to make the area and its residents self-sustainable. To say the book is going to be epically awesome and groundbreaking is a vast understatement.
The U.K. and Europe
The ups and downs of the great British story would give even the most stationary person whiplash. In the past three months, they’ve been through two monarchs and three prime ministers. Locally owned small businesses are going out of business because they cannot pay their bills or keep up with the dramatic rise in inflation.
I mentioned the U.K. energy crisis in my article “Lights Out: On The Frontlines of Collapse” in early September—what has the U.K. government done in the meantime to ensure the safety and well-being of their subjects? Diddly squat. They took the approach of the United States by printing money they didn’t have to throw at the problem, thereby sinking the country into more debt and all but guaranteeing people suffer and die this winter.
Liz Truss, the darling daughter of the World Economic Forum (WEF), embarrassed herself and the country she was supposed to take care of with her dismal performance as Prime Minister for exactly forty-four days. At first, she was celebrated as the third female Prime Minister in U.K. history—they even wrote a book set to be released on 06 December of this year. From day one, she stumbled her way through the job and disgraced herself in the process.
The new PM, Rishi Sunak, is another WEF implant whose household wealth is nearly twice that of King Charles III. How can Sunak be the people's voice if he knows nothing about them or their struggles? Easy, he is not the voice of the people. Instead, he’s the voice of a struggling political party with no mandate to lead. Sunak has already categorically ruled out a general election which, in my book, is tantamount to a dictatorial takeover—the people never voted for him as their leader. The party insiders did that for them.
The rest of Europe is, for lack of a more diplomatic term, fucked. The infighting has already begun to manifest as the continent slides gently into a long winter. After Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, the E.U., along with many other countries worldwide, imposed misguided sanctions on Russia, which backfired rather quickly. Now, the E.U. is doing almost anything it can to fill the 40% void in its natural gas supplies.
With such a dramatic reduction in the energy supply, what little oil they are able to find is costing a considerable fortune. In France, the limited supply of natural gas mixed with a strike of refinery workers converges at the pump. Nearly 50% of France’s petrol stations are without supplies leading to rationing, price gouging, and pissed-off motorists. How long do they expect to hold off the inevitable? Winter is closing in fast, and instead of getting out in front of the storm, the government autocrats are being reactionary and ignorant.
The United States
The U.S. has officially crashed through the looking glass—there’s no other way to spin it. The concept of objective reality has been hijacked and sold to the highest bidder. The supposed leader of the U.S., “Joe Biden,” is nothing more than a walking corpse at this point. His abject failure as a president should be apparent to most people, except if you get your news exclusively from the White House press office—in which case you probably think he’s the best president ever and certainly doesn’t have any cognitive function issues.
Three days after Biden was inaugurated in Washington, the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) was at 634.97 million barrels or 89% full compared to the capacity of 714 million barrels. As of 14 October, the total SPR supply is 405.13 million barrels or 57% of capacity—the lowest level since 1984. The Biden administration has been systematically selling off the SPR to artificially keep gas prices lowered in the U.S. This information isn't a conjecture or a conspiracy theory—it's policy.
In an emergency situation where the U.S. is unable to get a regular supply of natural gas, the SPR is meant to stand in temporarily. Instead, the "President" and his administration have used the SPR for purely political motives to give the appearance that the United States is in control of the energy situation, all while the waves of pent-up destruction are churning just below the surface. When the system breaks, which it will, the consequences will be explosive.
While the U.S. is not in as severe an energy crisis as Europe (yet), rising inflation mixed with a roller-coaster economy is plaguing the lives of the 99% of Americans who need to work to survive. Since the Q2 of 2021, credit card balances in the U.S. have risen by nearly $100 billion. That’s a 13% year-over-year increase, the most significant jump in twenty years. To the untrained eye, this means people cannot afford their essential bills and turn to their plastic to cover them until the system implodes.
As interest rates continue to rise based on the maneuvering of the Federal Reserve, the economy is reacting as you'd expect—not fucking well. Prices for manufacturing, shipping, and selling goods continue to increase with inflation, causing people (who are not making an increased amount of money) to spend less, thus making businesses decrease their most considerable expense—labor.
The NAHB homebuilder's sentiment is routinely the best place to look for the future of unemployment. The relationship between the U.S. unemployment rate and homebuilders sentiment shows a greater than 7% unemployment rate nine months from now (June 2023). Not only will this continue to throw paraffin on the flames of the economy, but it will also force many Americans into poverty with no end in sight.
Japan and China
In Japan, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has increased its interventions as the yen drops 45% of its value within the last year, currently holding at a 32-year low. In the past two months, the BOJ has pumped at least $50 billion into their economy, with the latest $30 billion infusion occurring this past Friday, 21 October. What did it gain them? Absolutely nothing. They pissed it away, and the people are feeling it.
In China, the zero-COVID lockdowns have crippled local economies as millions of Chinese fight to be heard through their barred doors. Recently, as reported by the YouTube channel China Insights, Zhengzhou in the Henan province of China has an "outbreak" of COVID, forcing parts of the region into lockdown. In addition, on 25 October, there was a reported outbreak at the Foxconn factory, a Taiwanese-owned manufacturing company responsible for high-end electronics, where around 1000 employees were "infected," and 20,000 were taken away to quarantine as a result.
The most notable aspect of this story and what is occurring in China is the quarantine camps that have popped up all over the country. Admittedly, comparing them to concentration or internment camps is a bit pedestrian, but I can think of nothing else to match their equivalence. Sometimes people are only able to get one meal a day, and at some sights, the people in quarantine have broken out to raid supermarkets and supply stores. Any mentions of the disruptions or chaos ensuing around the country in quarantine zones are scrubbed from Chinese social media almost as quickly as they can be uploaded.
Another ominous foreshadowing from China is the use of a social credit system. In China, it is mandatory for everyone to have a health pass called a "Green Health QR Code." If you are not current on your nucleic acid testing, vaccination, or quarantine requirements, your code turns yellow or red depending on the severity of the violation. Without a green health code, people are not allowed to use public transportation, go into public shopping locations, work, or even enter their residential complexes. In essence, the government can change your health code on a whim if you do not submit to their almighty authority.
It's not a conspiracy theory to think that other nations will adopt this technology and policies because western managers have already started showing their hands. For example, Justin Trudeau enacted emergency powers in Canada when Canadian truckers descended on their capital of Ottawa to demand the reduction of COVID mandates for vaccines and travel restrictions. One thing Trudeau did with his emergency powers was to freeze the bank accounts of those involved in the constitutionally protected (yes, in Canada also) protests. In other words, if you do not toe the line that the government sets, they will confiscate your assets and erase you from society. This will only get worse.
Russia/Ukraine
I've mostly tuned out the drivel and noise about Russia and Ukraine, but it's worth talking about as the warmongers in Washington shake with withdrawal. The military-industrial complex doesn't just go to sleep in between military conflicts because it would buckle under its own weight—it must continue to grow and consume.
I wrote the article "Don't Look at the Light: A Guide to Surviving a Nuke" because I'm genuinely concerned with the sabor rattling and taunting on both sides of the conflict. Russia has warned the international community that they have strong reason to believe Ukraine will set off a dirty bomb and blame it on the Russians. The United States bragged openly about placing the 101st Airborne Division just miles from the Ukrainian border in Romania with the ability to fight in the war within a matter of hours. What I find peculiar and disturbing is the lack of adults trying to talk everyone off the cliff's edge. Instead, people on social media and in the halls of congress compete to see who can be the biggest hawk.
Final Thoughts
As our society sails perilously close to the window, we continue to wade into unprecedented waters. Take heed to the warnings of China and other openly totalitarian regimes—they make no explanations for their human rights violations. Instead, they hide them away until enough people forget about them occurring. The United States is no different than China when it comes to suppressing and manipulating the information its citizens are allowed to know.
Now is the time to become as resilient as possible. Grow your own food, produce electricity, and learn the skills that should have been passed to you by your parents. When the IV of cheap resources is ripped from the vein of our nation, the vast majority of people will know absolute poverty. To avoid such a disastrous fate, I encourage you to open your eyes and take stock of the objective reality of our predicament. Becoming the most resilient form of yourself is the only way you'll have any chance of having a life worth living.