# Surviving An Economic Collapse



## dantesshoes (Sep 19, 2017)

I have been looking into *Venezuela's situation* recently as a way to learn more about financial preparedness. They are going through what is the world's highest inflation at the moment, where money is so useless it is worth more when it is made in crafts than it is as a tradeable currency. It seems in situations like this, money becomes irrelevant and other tradeable variations such as skills, services and essential items are worth more to trade for than excess piles of inflated currency.

As a source, I have been making my way through the posts of Venezuelan Prepper (published on The Prepping Guide), a prepper currently living in Venezuela that writes about how he has prepared his family and himself for a financial collapse. There are some great treasures we can learn from people like this that are actually living through the stuff we have planned for.

Here are some of the issues from his posts I have been using as a way to learn more about what I might need to survive a financial collapse:

 What happens to food and medicine in a financial collapse
 What happens to currency in an economic collapse
 How important a family and support network is in these times
 What happens to power and the grid reliance in a societal and economic collapse
 How to financially prepare for a financial collapse and job loss

These are some great lessons written from a perspective of someone actually going through what we generally prepare for. It's great that we have the internet as a place to experience this through someone's writing to learn more about what we can do to ready ourselves.


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## C.L.Ripley (Jul 6, 2014)

I've read those. At one point I believe he said he had about six months of food and while it did help in the begining, it ran out a looong time ago. The overall picture he painted is the importance of being self sufficient for the long term. 

While the experiences of people from other countries would not necessarily be transferable the thing that did surprised me the most about what he's written is him saying he wished he had stored away years worth of antibiotics. He almost seemed to put more importance on that than anythng else.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

One thing about prepping.. if you got food, water, shelter, security... it does not matter if it is economic collapse, pandemic, EMP, aliens, or antichrist, or black lives matter.... as long as you have TP and enough popcorn for the show


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## 0rocky (Jan 7, 2018)

There’s a lot going on here. Number 1 solution would be becoming self-sufficient, the topic is economic collapse. In the past a few fellas carried diamonds which allows you to have considerable value on your person with little weight and space. By virtue of it being an economic collapse the very definition of which would be that local currency is as valuable as Confederate money or maybe Monopoly money. If it’s a global economic collapse see number 1. A means of survival or middle of the road solution is the universally accepted barter system. To go further would take a book or read every post on this site


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

What happened in Venezuela isn't really a similar comparison to what will take place in the US, IMHO. 300 million guns for one quick point. Plus the race card will come into play. 

I see it more like what is happening in South Africa but with guns, not machetes and clubs. Shiny objects will be of little use, unless it's brass and copper.


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## rstanek (Nov 9, 2012)

Basic staples to survive and dollar bills for butt wipe....


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## yooper_sjd (May 14, 2017)

Having some set skills for barter would be one of the oldest forms of currency would it not??? I can repair weapons, I can repair some electronics (depending on the tech), I can make propellants for firearms (both black powder and smokeless) I can cast bullets. The only tricky thing is primers. Wish you could still buy rolls of caps, they use to be perfect for refreshing an expended primer. But anyway, I got manuals tools for doing firewood, felling trees, digging, ect So ya where there is will, there is always a way.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

Read something awhile back-- "no matter how prepared you think you are, you ain;t ready for what is coming"
Hope that is untrue!


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

One of the issues with a stockpile weather in Venezuela, here or else where is being able to keep it. Not only from neighbors and roving bands of thugs but also government. Everyone will feel entitled to what they do not have. Venezuela would be Extra difficult in that the government took civilian arms away long ago.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Camel923 said:


> One of the issues with a stockpile weather in Venezuela, here or else where is being able to keep it. Not only from neighbors and roving bands of thugs but also government. Everyone will feel entitled to what they do not have. Venezuela would be Etta difficult in that the government took civilian arms away long ago.


 If you can't defend it . It aint yours , you just holding for those coming to take it.


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## RJAMES (Dec 23, 2016)

That is why I looked for pasture land in an area with good growing season that gets plenty of rain. Look for an area with small farms mix of livestock and crops - pretty hard to find now days. I would never live were I could not have my cattle and livestock , garden and an Orchard. We raise and grow are own . 

If I never had anther penny come in we can eat. We got heat, screens and wind in summer. Sleeping porches are a good thing. We would get rid of internet , TV, cell phones . Got worse I would cut off electric . 

I hope we never have a great depression like my mother, aunts and uncles lived thru. They talked about having no money but they could trade and had plenty to eat as they lived on farms with hogs, cattle, horses - for pulling wagons and such. Orchards and gardens as well as field crops. 

You got to get your self, before any troubles with economy start, on the land and in a community that will work together to get everyone through tough times. Have at least a small garden now as a hobby - expand a you have time /need. 

Starving in a city is not my idea of fun.


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## okey (Sep 13, 2018)

they still can trade and import things. Once the US falls, the rest of the world will fall with it. So it will be FAR worse than Venezuela's situation. It will be cannibal time, no kidding, within a few months. Venezuela still has some non hybrid seeds, horses, people who know how to do subsistence farming and not even 1% as many guns as the US. Here, it will be looting and slaughter beyond imagination, disease, dog packs, bugs, rats, beyond belief.


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## Squadus (Dec 11, 2019)

As a prepper you should be fine in the event of an economic collapse. Be sure to stock up on items you could use to barter with i.e. cigarettes, lighters, salt, pepper, canned food, etc

More importantly, it would be wise to diversify your assets into alternative assets like precious metals, cryptocurrencies, titles and deeds, oil, land and other types of assets. 

Btw, a ton of farmers in Venezuela were able to profit from the economic collapse by holding Bitcoin. Personally, I own quite a bit of Bitcoin as it by definition a global form of money and someone in the Caribbeans would be able to do business with me regarding of whats going on with the government backed dollar.


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