If you listened, you know that besides talking about DestinySurvival, I shared a surprising secret or two about yours truly.

Plus, I announced a special “Warm Up Wish List” offer good through March 31st for those who don’t yet receive the “DestinySurvival Dispatch.”

James Talmage Stevens is the author of Making the Best of Basics. If you’re ready to explore practical preparedness tips and food storage wisdom without having to buy ready made storage food, click on the ad for the book below or on the sidebar and order your copy today.

My thanks to James Talmage Stevens for the opportunity to be a guest on his Blog Talk Radio program.

The link for Mr. Stevens’ Blog Talk Radio page is  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/doctorprepper  You can hear a replay of the show there, and you can download it as well by right clicking on the Download button below the blurb about show #72 with the original air date of 3/13/2010.

            The daughter of an acquaintance in another state has been out of work and receiving unemployment benefits. Now her former boss is contesting the benefits and wants the benefits received so far to be paid back. I don’t know how this will be resolved, but this woman would greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers, I’m sure.

            I can’t help but wonder how much of this is going on. It’s not something I’ve heard anything about in the news. Have you?

We hear about unemployment statistics all the time, and I think many of us recognize that the numbers are cooked. Unemployment is worse than stated. People are nearing the end of their benefits in many cases.

Working for the government isn’t the answer either. While the federal government may be adding more jobs, state governments are cutting them. States don’t have endless money supplies, as the federal government pretends to have.

            On perhaps a related note, I’ve read a couple items recently that describe the attitudes of young people toward work. One article said they have expectations for higher salaries without having to climb through the ranks. What are the chances of that happening any more?

            Another piece said all young people want is work to pay the bills. My first reaction is to ask, “What’s wrong with that?” Was the articles’ author suggesting young people aren’t seeing work as fulfillment of life’s grander goals? You know, do what you love, etc. Are young people not dreaming big enough?

            Haven’t our dreams been too big? Aren’t we paying for that now?

            Once when I expressed dissatisfaction with the job I had at the time, a good friend reminded me it was a way to make a living. It paid the bills. Not everything is going to be glamorous and fulfilling, such as is taught in that book, What Color is Your Parachute.

            Am I suggesting we should stop dreaming and settle for being feudal slaves? That’s the way things seem to be going. But remember you can start your own business enterprise. Of course, that’s another story.

            Meanwhile, one of the reasons DestinySurvival is affiliated with SnagAJob.com is to give you or someone you know the opportunity to find hourly work that will pay a few bills. You may not find the job of a lifetime. You may not find fulfillment in ways you’d never dreamed. You won’t want to deliver pizzas or bag groceries for years to come.

It’s a bandaid approach, I freely admit. And you’ve probably heard the definition of a job—Just Over Broke. But it’s at least something. These days that’s important.

            Something I read recently stated that temporary and part time jobs haven’t led to as many full time positions when coming out of the last couple of economic downturns. The trend isn’t good, but this is what we have to cope with.

            Having said that, check out SnagAJob.com. They’re featured in the news and on talk shows from time to time, as well as in magazines like “Entrepreneur.”

SnagAJob.com is the number one source for hourly employment. They connect you with jobs in your area. There are still some businesses looking for qualified hourly employees.

            At SnagAJob.com you can hook up with various hourly and part time jobs, including seasonal work. Also, it’s not too early for teenagers to start looking for summer jobs.

            Click on the SnagAJob.com logo below and discover what opportunities there are for you where you live.

            We’re seeing history in the making, and we’re all part of it. These may not be glory days, but do the best you can, and remember to think survival.

            But there are undercurrents to be aware of, and they affect our attitude and actions regarding preparedness. Many things in our world are not as they seem.

            For example, what’s our money worth? Does anybody really know? What should be our outlook on money and wealth? It takes lots more money to get by than it used to. There never seems to be enough. Money makes the world go around, as we so often hear it said.

            Are you familiar with the fractional reserve banking system? For every dollar in the bank, the bank can create ten dollars out of thin air to lend out. Plus, they draw interest on those dollars. It’s easy to create money electronically, and that’s not even considering the stock market or the murky virtual world of derivatives.

            Somewhere recently I heard a statement made that essentially says the economy went from financing capital for business to financing financial arrangements. I think in polite company it’s called “creative accounting.”

An article entitled "Our World Balances on a Sea of Debt" appeared in "The Telegraph" recently, and it’s worth noting because it’s an easy to understand primer on our money system.

The blurb at the beginning says: "The banks that control the world’s supply of money are no better than counterfeiters–-and their system of juggling debt has left the global economy teetering on the brink of ruin. Convicted fraudster Darius Guppy offers a provocative personal view."

            If you’ve read this far, you’re no doubt wondering where this is going. Simply this. If our so-called money is an illusion, why don’t we think of wealth in terms of goods or commodities? We may be wealthier than we realize.

            Granted, to get along in society today we have to play the game. You can’t buy a fast food hamburger for lunch today without forking over paper and coins or swiping a card with an electronic representation of currency. As long as there’s still faith in doing things this way, play the game as long as you can.

            But one day the shell game will be seen for what it is and we won’t be able to buy, sell, or trade as we’re accustomed to today. What will we do when money fails? Will we have no choice but to be slaves of those in power?

            As this relates to survival and preparedness, have things that are of real value. You can’t eat gold. What’s of value for you and your household? What might be of value to others?

It may be difficult to negotiate with goldif you have it, so have some silver on hand. Have plenty of food for yourself and your family, or at least have the means to get food when you need it. Have ammunition, cigarettes, coffee, liquor or other barter items. Swapping services is another matter.

            Our understanding of what is of value will change in times of trouble. For example, the bank might not think my house is worth anything, but I’m glad for a roof over my head. If I’m living in a shipping container someday, that will take on new value to me, which it wouldn’t have had before.

            As the economy has demonstrated in the last couple of years, we’re operating under a changing set of rules. How long can it go on? What’s keeping the system from collapsing right now?

The rules we’re playing by are bound to change even more. In fact, there may no longer be any rules. It’s a question of when, not if.

How prepared are you for such a time? Do you have items of real value to help you survive?

            The link for Mr. Stevens’ Blog Talk Radio page is http://www.blogtalkradio.com/james-talmage-stevens
 

            Besides talking about DestinySurvival and a little about myself, I’ll be announcing a special offer you won’t want to miss.

            My thanks in advance to James Talmage Stevens for this opportunity.

            By the way, James Talmage Stevens is the author of Making the Best of Basics. If you’re ready to explore practical food storage without having to buy ready made storage food, click on the ad for the book on this page’s sidebar and order your copy today.

            It’s common knowledge that the majority of manufacturing jobs has moved overseas in recent decades. Now more women are working than men because more women are hired for the service sector than men. More young people in their twenties and beyond are living with their parents and generally aren’t too motivated to work, assuming they can find any. More and more children are born into single mother families. And on it goes.

            We’d have to add hundreds of thousands of new jobs every month for two years to get back to where we were a couple of years ago. What do you think the chances are for that to happen? We’d better get used to the fact that the employment picture has changed for the long term. In other words, the old economic model is out the window. Isn’t it time to rethink our whole outlook on work and doing what we need to get by?

Click here if you’d like to read a portion of the article from “The Atlantic.” The easiest way to read the whole piece is to select the print option near the bottom of the page.

            If your household has been affected by unemployment, click on the image of The Unemployment Survival Guide below. That will take you to the Amazon.com page where the book is featured. Order your copy and begin the journey into re-evaluating how you’ll survive in our era of growing joblessness.

            Of course, that varies around the country, but whenever it is for you, it’s an important date around which to plan your survival gardening activities. If you don’t know your frost date, check with your nearest university extension service.

            If you’re in an urban area or have poor soil, but want to garden right away, consider container gardening. In fact, why not consider the Earthbox, which is more than a container garden. I’ve chosen it as this week’s Amazon Pick of the Week.

The Earthbox is a self watering system reviewers rave about. They’ve given it 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com. In fact, one reviewer prefers growing in the Earthbox to square foot gardening. Another plans to buy more Earthboxes.

            What’s so special about the Earthbox? To start with, it’s a maintenance free system you can put just about anywhere. Start plants sooner and grow them into the fall longer.

It’s made from durable UV stabilized plastic. It holds two cubic feet of potting mix and the reservoir holds three gallons of water, so you won’t have to water your plants constantly. Plants take the water and fertilizer they need, and a plastic cover reduces evaporation. Casters allow the Earthbox to be moved indoors if it’s cold or windy, or move it to a sunnier location on a deck or patio.

The instructions that come with the Earthbox show you just how much you can grow of vegetables or flowers. Depending on what you grow, it will hold up to 16 seedlings. Grow lettuce, radishes, peppers, carrots, even tomatoes. A friend I knew grew tomatoes successfully in his Earthbox until he decided tomatoes disagree with him. The last time I spoke with him, he hadn’t put his Earthbox back into service. He just hasn’t gotten back into growing some of his own food for reasons I don’t understand.

            But you can’t argue with success. Why not get at least one Earthbox for yourself and put it to the test. Click on the image below, and you’ll be taken to the amazon.com page where the Earthbox is featured. Place your order there.

            If you’re like me, it’s fun to experiment and find out what plants grow best in different kinds of containers or watering arrangements. Since the Earthbox is such a low maintenance system, why not find out what you can grow in it this season?

            I listened to the program with Stevens and Miller and recommend it to you. I’ll put a link to it and a few other things at the bottom of this post.

            You may recognize the name James Talmage Stevens if you’ve read my previous post about his book Making the Best of Basics or have seen the ad for it on this site.

You may also be aware there’s a link to Miller’s Grain House on the sidebar. Plus, there’s an ad at the bottom of this page for Healthy Whole Foods, an interactive site Donna Miller provides for you..

            Among other things, Miller’s Grain House offers small kitchen appliances, such as electric and manual grain mills, Bosch Mixers and the Excalibur Dehydrator. Donna Miller has over 50 tutorial videos on YouTube about kitchen and household skills and stretching your grocery budget.

            By listening to the interview, you’ll get to know a little about both Donna Miller and James Talmage Stevens. It originally aired on January 27^th and lasts about an hour and 20 minutes. When you click the link below, have a cup of tea handy, and enjoy. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself taking a few notes.

            Here are a few highlights from my own notes.

*   If you have wheat allergies, you might find milling your own flour doesn’t cause you problems. Refined flour has only a few of the nutrients found in whole wheat grain.

*   Donna Miller believes strongly in living a prepared lifestyle. Don’t just buy preparedness and survival goods and stow them away. Practice using what you’ve got, or you won’t be able to use it in times of emergency or crisis.

*   Popcorn is a versatile grain. Donna says the Wonder Junior Deluxe Manual Mill is the best for grinding popcorn.

*   If you make homemade bread and mess it up, there are ways to salvage it. Making croutons is one example.

*   Donna explains the features and advantages of the pails she sells with spin-off lids.

Sorry I didn’t pass along the info about Donna Miller’s interview much earlier because the sales mentioned in the interview are long over. However, you can find out about current sales by subscribing to the Miller’s Grain House Newsletter. Also, any time you get in contact with Donna, it helps both of us if you mention DestinySurvival.

            Click on the highlighted phrases below to go to the links I promised above.

Note about listening to the program: If you click the first link, the show will start playing on your computer. If you want to download the show, here’s what to do. Go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/doctorprepper Look through the show blurbs on the left. You may have to click the link for Previous Episodes a couple of times to get to the blurb for the 1/27/2010 show. On that blurb, right click on the Download button and save to your computer.

BlogTalk Program with James Talmage Stevens and Donna Miller

Wonder Junior Deluxe Manual Mill on Miller’s Site

Video demonstrating Wonder Junior Deluxe Manual Mill

Previous Post on Storage Pails with Spin-off Lids

Previous Post on Making the Best of Basics

            Perhaps our unusually cold, snowy winter killed off flu bugs. Or perhaps it kept down the spread of the flu because fewer people were in public places when they might have been otherwise, making it less likely to pass around communidcable diseases. Whatever the case, we can be thankful the swine flu didn’t live up to early predictions.

            Did you take any precautions or make any preparations to avoid or cope with swine flu? It is still strange stuff, regardless of the actual threat level. Are you now feeling hoodwinked?

            Don’t.

            The survival attitude calls for awareness and alertness. When a tornado threatens and you go to the basement or other shelter, do you feel scammed if the tornado passes five miles away from your home? Of course not. You did what needed to be done under the circumstances.

            Sure, it gets tiresome when someone cries "Wolf!" Then nothing or very little happens. Nevertheless, preparedness means taking precautions based on common sense. Life teaches us fear isn’t warranted as often as some would have us believe. But the wisdom gained adds to our mental survival tools and we live another day.

            I mention this because there’s an instructive scholarly book that can show us both what’s going to happen in the future and, by way of implication, what we can do in our own lives to live differently. That’s two sides of a coin, so to speak, and I’ll touch on both briefly.

            The book is The Collapse of Complex Societies (New Studies in Archaeology), by Joseph Tainter. It begins with an outline of basic principles, then goes into greater detail to describe why complex societies fail.

This book was written by an academic for academics and is full of data, as you might expect. His ideas are worth noting, especially when you consider it was originally written about 20 years ago, before Gulf War I, 9-11, and all that has followed in recent years.

            Why have nations and societies risen and fallen in the past? Tainter observes that every complex society throughout history has collapsed. Among other things, this book shows how blending archaeology and social sciences can note changes in political and cultural institutions in societies.

            How is this relevant? We’ve heard the phrase “too big to fail” quite a bit in the past couple of years in relation to banks and major car companies. What’s really being said is, “These entities are so big we don’t want to live with the consequences if they fail.”

In reality, the larger an organization gets, the more complex it becomes. It expends so much in the way of resources, diminishing and negative returns will bring about its collapse. We should really be saying, “These entities are so big they’re bound to fail.”

            When it comes to nations and societies, they must become more complex by their nature, but they  can’t cope with all that is demanded of them. Inflation, taxes, an overextended military, and high energy consumption are just some of the factors that contribute to a society’s downfall. They may break up into smaller, more efficient societies. Sound familiar? It should.

Some predict the break up of the United States within the next few years or even months. There’s also a growing secessionist movement saying the U.S. is too big to be manageable. The author of the book Reinventing Collapse says we’re headed for breakup like the former Soviet Union.

            As one reviewer of Tainter’s book observes, the future may look a lot like the past. A friend of mine who has this book puts it this way: “Thoreau would say ‘I told you so.’”

            Can we indeed live a simpler life with less money and energy consumption? This is something many of us anticipate. It’s why we’re making preparations for survival. Tainter might say the very existence of survivalists and preppers makes a statement about the coming collapse of our complex society.

            To order your copy of the Collapse of Complex Societies, click on the image of the book below. You’ll be taken to the Amazon.com page featuring the book where you can place your order.

            I’m aware most who read this post today aren’t going to buy or read this book. It may be of limited interest. On the other hand, the principles it puts forth will have an impact on each of us sooner or later. We can benefit from the negative examples of our complex society today. How prepared are we to shape our thinking and lifestyle accordingly for survival?

Click here for thoughts on peak oil and prepping.

            Is it science fiction B.S.? Is it outrageous sensationalism? Watch and draw your own conclusions. I include it here because manmade earthquakes and weather modification are not out of the realm of possibility. Awareness of the world we live in is imperative if we’re to have any hope of personal survival.

            How much does it matter what causes disasters we attribute to natural forces? Isn’t it important to be as prepared as possible to survive any disaster? How prepared are you? How prepared will any of us be?