Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Venezuela.

Tom's Journal. http://tomschuckmanjournal.blogspot.com/




tschuckman@aol.com




Good  Day,  Friends and other Readers,


I am doing well today and even got some sun on a partially cloudy day, today.   I want to talk and write about the good things in life, please.   I am so thankful for the few REAL friends that I have, and thank the Lord, often, every day for my relationships with others.   This week is a big week for me with some nice things coming my way.   "A friend of a friend" helped me in a large way,  by securing a used refrigerator that is now in my house, so that I can now freeze things, meat, ice cubes, etc., to enhance my life.   Much thanks to Barb, Ron and Mickey !   Smile.   And it also makes me happy to give from my own reserves, wealth, riches, and also teach people what I know, especially from God's Word, the KJV Bible.   When that happens --- God blesses many !!  


But,  just a fair warning today.   Bad things are happening in other countries right now, like loss of freedoms, liberty, riots and starvation !!   Sorry to rain on your parade,  but we in America have similar conditions for the same kind of "STORM !"    We are trying to wrestle with our own uber national debt, and perhaps that day is coming sooner than later,  when it could all cave in on us, too, perhaps in a couple of months.    I guess that I am even trying to stretch things/ resources too thin, personally, with investing and balancing my check book, too.    Ha!  I feel like I am doing a 'high wire balancing act in a circus.'   I am not going to tell other 'what to do' anymore, as I think all my beating on a drum has no effect on my readers or anyone else, for that matter.   Just go about your own business and don't worry about tomorrow, friends !   Everything will be OK !  Ha!   You folks go to your church and I will go to mine.  


I didn't eat all day, and now it's 3:30 PM and I am getting hungry.   Just think of all the hungry children in Venezuela right now as we converse, and their parents don't have the money or food to HELP THEM !!    I am thinking that true Christians may not starve to death ---  but I think that they will grow very thin and lean...   Well, isn't that what we always wanted ??   And let me tell you all from  hard won experience that any families that are now under any kind of strain --- will break apart, when the SHTF...  sorry.   And if two people [a married couple] had trouble making ends meet before  --- splitting  up now would really be STUPID !!   And if someone has the habit of hard, excessive drinking and smoking,  they might have to make a big choice pretty soon..... duh.   I am blessed to be living in a pure, pristine area, where the Spring water is said to be very healthy !!  PTL.   They even sell it to other places $$$$ !   


Well,  I will leave you with such happy thoughts....   until you read the short piece below.


Warm Regards,
Tommy


You can easily get on my humble blog by just following the directions on the right side of this page.


Below is a picture of my past wife that died of congestive heart failure, Sharon L. Schuckman,  after 5 good years of marriage to me.   She was a good wife and I loved her very much, and she loved me.   We ate plenty of beef steak and fresh veggies from our organic garden.   She came all the way from Ohio to be with me in Union Grove, WI., and she was an expert with all kinds of animals, and even sewed her own clothes, and Loved Jesus!
















Venezuela: A Prepper’s Nightmare Come to Life



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venezuelan flag
Two years ago, Venezuela was a normal functioning nation, relatively speaking of course. It was by no means a free country, but the people still had a standard of living that was higher than most developing nations. Venezuelans could still afford the basic necessities of life, and a few luxuries too.
They could send their children to school and expect them to receive a reasonably good education, and they could go to the hospital and expect to be effectively treated with the same medical standards you’d find in a developed nation. They could go to the grocery store and buy whatever they needed, and basic government services like law enforcement and infrastructure maintenance worked fairly well. The system was far from perfect, but it worked for the most part.
However, this standard of living was a mirage. Venezuela was and still is a leftist socialist nation, and the only thing propping it up was their glut of oil reserves and $100 per barrel prices. The state owned those resources, and they provided so much wealth that even Venezuela’s highly inefficient command economy could provide everything the people needed. But socialist systems do not by their nature, respond well to shock and disruptions. They’re not flexible.
As soon as the price of oil fell, the country started crumbling rapidly. The infrastructure has fallen apart, leading to rationing of both water and electricity. Inflation is out of control. Price controls have led to shortages of basic necessities. Crime is skyrocketing, and vigilante mob violence is now commonplace. All of these trends have been building over the past two years, but they have finally reached a crescendo over the last few weeks:
  • What really kicked Venezuela’s slow motion collapse into high gear, was when their inflationary currency reached an absurd new level. At the end of April, it was reported that the government couldn’t print enough money to keep up with inflation. Their cash is printed overseas, and the central bank was so short on funds that they could no longer afford to pay the manufacturers of their cash. Venezuela literally doesn’t have enough money to buy more money.
  • The government began scheduling rolling blackouts to save energy, which eventually led to riots in some areas. President Maduro ordered all 2.6 million of the nation’s public sector employees to only work 2 days a week for the duration of May, in an effort to save electricity.
  • An autocratic regime can hold onto power for a very long time, so long as their soldiers and cops are well fed and paid. That’s certainly not the case in Venezuela, where on May 5th it was reported that 6 soldiers were arrested for stealing goats, because there was no more food in their barracks.
  • As shortages of every necessity you can imagine run rampant, many Venezuelans are now so hungry that they’ve resorted to hunting down cats, dogs, and pigeons. In their desperation, many have turned to stealing from their neighbors, which often doesn’t end well in a society teetering on the brink. One mugger was caught by a mob, beaten, and set on fire before the police could show up.
  • 5000 people reportedly stormed a grocery store after they heard that the store might have a few items that couldn’t be had elsewhere. Only a handful of police officers were on the scene to control the crowd, one of who was beaten by the mob. 2 people were killed, dozens were injured, and millions of dollars in property damage was caused. And that was just worst case seen in recent weeks in the country, which has seen countless lootings of grocery stores, pharmacies, and shopping malls.
  • Venezuela’s hospitals are turning medieval due to a lack of power and supply shortages. People are dying from easily preventable diseases, and in some cases the doctors themselves are looting the hospitals and selling expensive medical equipment on the black market. Equipment we take for granted like x-ray machines and kidney dialysis machines are in disrepair, as injured patients lay on the floor in pools of their own blood, waiting to be given a bed. Children are being hurt the most from this situation. The infant mortality rate has risen from .02% in 2012 to 2% in 2015, a hundred fold increase. It is no doubt far worse a year later.
  • The Maduro regime is beginning to crack under the pressure, as the collapse of his government rapidly approaches. A state of emergency has been extended for another 60 days as the state seizes crippled factories and arrests their owners. Maduro has claimed that the US government is threatening to overthrow him at the behest of the nation’s far right. Anonymous US officials responded by saying that they believe his regime won’t last through the summer:
In Washington, the US intelligence officials told reporters they believed a crisis was imminent.
“You can hear the ice cracking. You know there’s a crisis coming. Our pressure on this isn’t going to resolve this issue,” said one official.
Another said: “This is really not the case that the US is rooting for any outcome other than there not be an economic meltdown or social violence. There are reasons for concern that over the summer as Venezuela gives importance to payments on debt over imports that these events could spiral.”
If you’re a prepper, pay close attention to what happens next. What’s playing out in Venezuela right now is the kind of worst case scenario that many of us have been preparing for in the US. It should be very informative. It just goes to show that if you live under a corrupt authoritarian government that can’t manage its resources, all it takes is a heavy ripple in the global economy to send the whole system careening over a cliff.
I wouldn’t say the US government is in nearly as bad of shape as Venezuela’s. We have corruption, waste, and a degree of tyranny, though perhaps not on the same scale. But then again, Venezuela didn’t seem to be in very bad shape a few short years ago. Under the right circumstances, any government can collapse, and our system has many of the same vulnerabilities as theirs. All that means is that it would take a larger event to cripple our nation.
If you’re curious about what that may look like, keep your eyes on Venezuela for the next few months. They’re about to become the 21st century poster child for how easy it is for socialist pseudo democratic governments to collapse, and drag their citizens along with them. And unfortunately the differences between our system and theirs aren’t that vast.
Prepare for collapse: A step-by-step guide
Joshua Krause was born and raised in the Bay Area. He is a writer and researcher focused on principles of self-sufficiency and liberty at Ready Nutrition. You can follow Joshua’s work at our Facebook page or on his personal Twitter.
Joshua’s website is Strange Danger

This information has been made available by Ready Nutrition
Originally published May 16th, 2016

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