Economic Freedom: Modern Survival Philosophy

The Next Great Depression

by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

Along with the ascendancy of the Democratic Party to control of the executive and legislative branches of government has come the repetition of the tired, old mantra of an alleged need for a "new New Deal." God help us. The original New Deal unequivocally made the Great Depression much worse, and much longer-lasting, than it would otherwise have been.

One of the most readable expositions of why the New Deal was an economic debacle is Jim Powell’s book, FDR’s Folly. It summarizes more than a half century of economic research on the actual effects of the New Deal and presents the results in a very readable, conversational style that is suitable to a general reading audience. And every bit of it is being studiously ignored by the powers that be in Washington. After his voluminous survey of the ill effects of New Deal interventionism Powell concludes with "lessons for today." Every one of these lessons is not only being ignored by Washington policymakers, but the policy proposals coming out of Washington are ominously structured to do exactly the opposite of what Powell suggests.

Lesson Number One is that "the basic problem with central banks is that like socialist economic planners, they can never have more than a fraction of the vast knowledge needed to make a society work, knowledge that is dispersed in the minds of millions of people. In addition, when central bankers make mistakes – as they inevitably will, since they’re human beings – these mistakes harm not just the economy in a city or a region but the entire country. The Fed’s response to the current economic crisis, which it created by creating the housing bubble, has been to declare more and more central planning powers for itself."

Lesson Number Two is that "deposit insurance must be priced to reflect the risks of the banks that buy it. Having the federal government provide deposit insurance inevitably introduced political pressures to offer deposit insurance at the same price for all banks, which meant subsidized banks engaged in risky practices and contributed to the instability of the banking system." The federal government recently expanded the coverage of federal deposit insurance, thereby guaranteeing more excessively risky lending in the future.

Lesson Number Three is, "Especially because taxes are the biggest burden millions of people face today, it’s crucial to cut taxes. Tax cuts mean expanding economic liberty . . ." President-elect Obama is promising punitive taxes on the most productive people in America – higher income families and investors and savers, combined with government handouts that he mislabels as "tax cuts" for people who don’t even pay income taxes.

Lesson Number Four is "efforts to ‘soak the rich’ will backfire, because the investments of the rich are needed to create jobs." If Obama’s campaign and, indeed, his entire political career, has been about anything it has been about soaking the rich and "redistributing" income and wealth through the tax system.

Lesson Number Five is "public works and other ‘jobs’ programs must be avoided because they increase the cost and burden of government, making it more difficult for the private sector to function." All of Washington is foaming at the mouth over the prospect of more pork-barrel spending, laughingly labeled "stimulus package."

Lesson Number Six is that "especially during a recession or depression, the government must not enact laws preventing prices from adjusting to circumstances. Prices are vital signals that help people decide what to produce and consume." The government has been doing exactly the opposite. Stopping prices from adjusting to realistic levels is the whole intent of the Fed’s policies as well as the Wall Street Plutocrat Bailout Bill.

Lesson Number Seven is that "government must not enact laws preventing wages from adjusting to circumstances . . . . Labor union monopolies have been major obstacles to adjusting wages." One of the first orders of business for the Obama administration will be to strengthen labor union monopolies by passing a law that prohibits secret ballot voting in union certification elections.

Lesson Number Eight is, "only if investors feel private property is secure will they be willing to make long-term financial commitments needed to spur recovery and boost employment." The government has been busy charging businesses that have simply gone bankrupt with crimes, promising more of the same, placing price controls on executive pay, increasing the taxation of investment with higher capital gains taxes, and generally demonizing the entire American capitalist system as a means of shifting the blame for the economic crisis that its own stupid policies have created.

In other words, everything going on in Washington today is a recipe for another Great Depression.

I thought is was a good idea to add a page on the site about the core philosophy I have about being survival minded and modern survivalism. My hope is that individuals from those areas will enjoy this site but that the “average Joe” and the “average Jane” will also get a great deal from this site as well.

The core of my philosophy about being prepared, life style planning, self sufficiency and energy independence can be summed up with in the following 10 core values…

1.Everything you do to “prepare” for emergencies, disasters or economic turmoil should be blended into your life in a way that improves your life even if nothing disastrous ever occurs.

2.Debt is financial cancer! Minimize it, pay it off early and stay away from credit cards.

3.Growing your own food is for everyone not just people that want “organic” fruit and vegetables. To produce your own food, even as little as 10% of what you use reduces your dependence on “the system”. If nothing else gardening is good for your emotional and physical health and increases the value of any property.

4.Tax is theft, the best way to combat it is to understand every legal deduction you can take or create. I think the U.S. Tax System and the IRS is rotten to the core, but when it comes to taxation either learn the system or hire a damn good accountant to work it for you. Every dollar you keep can be used to improve your self sufficiency, every dollar taken from you at the point of a gun by the IRS can be used against you to make your dependence on the government stronger.

5.Food storage is an exceptional investment. Food is increasing in cost faster than just about any investment right now and certainly faster than the rate of inflation. You simply cannot lose by storing additional food that you use on a regular basis.

6.Plan for any disaster in the following order of priority: Personal; Localized; Regional; State; National; Global. Despite the real possibility of a true economic melt down or catastrophic terrorist attack or some other major global disaster the most probable “disaster” for any individual is personal. Loss of a job, loss of a family member, a fire or localized weather event are the most probable threats to impact you and your family. So plan and prepare for those things first, then continue to build going forward.

7.Renewable energy is great if you do it in a way that saves you money (short or long term) but your solar panels are not going to save the planet. Man made global warming is a scam designed to force the U.S. into a global taxation system. If you want to promote solar, wind, hydro, etc. the best way to help is to develop it in a more cost effective manner. Fuel efficient vehicles for instance, are a logical way to save energy/money. The lesson is that the best way to promote “green energy” is via economics.

8.Owning land is true wealth. I advise people to strive to own land in the country where taxes are low and restrictions are limited. Even if you live in the city finding, buying and improving land within 3-5 hours of your primary residence makes a lot of sense. If you can use it to get out of the city at some point so much the better.

9.In addition to food, water and other common survival stores use common sense methods of hedging against “disaster”. Pragmatic things like, firearms for self defense, cash/gold emergency funds, good insurance and secondary income streams are not just for people in “the system”. These types of protection can make your life a lot less miserable when something goes wrong. Make them part of your planning.

10.Your personal philosophy is more important for you than mine! You are the master of your own life and if you don’t agree with my views, great, define, understand and implement your own. The biggest thing you can do is understand that you are in control of your life and that what you do matters. Those two factors have the greatest impact on individual survival across every demographic you can imagine.

With those points in mind lets look at the things you can do to accomplish your goal of economic freedom and survival in the toughest of times:

Modern Survivalism Tenet Number One

Everything You Do Should Improve Your Position in Life Even If Nothing Goes Wrong

The survivalist community is often perceived as a bunch of gloom and doom types sitting on a pile of MREs, ammunition and guns in some far out corner of the North West. Of course the survivalist is also typecast as expecting TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) to occur any day now, in fact he is actually hoping for it. Honestly it is time for this stereotype to die a deserving death. Modern survivalists are many things but very few are actually concerned about the infamous black helicopters or FEMA Camps. Most instead are simply realists who understand that sometimes things do go wrong and it is better to be prepared than to expect someone else to solve your problems.

The real key to survivalism is the Modern Survival Philosophy (the group of ten key principles listed above), that guide the actions of many survivalists. While all are important it is tenet number one that really sets the stage for separating the doomsday stereotype from the reality. Survivalists are generally thought of as people who prepare to deal with disasters, shortages and anything that disrupts society. Modern survivalists do this but they do so in a way that improves their lives even if nothing major ever goes wrong.

For example many survival-minded individuals grow gardens and develop more permanent food-producing crops like fruit trees, berry bushes etc. on their property. They generally stick to organic production methods, focus on water harvesting and attempt to maximize production per square foot. This is a classic survival technique designed to remain sustainable if anything hits from simple loss of personal income all the way up to a collapse of U.S. infrastructure. So yes in the event of economic collapse this makes a tremendous amount of sense as a modern survival tactic.

Now let’s examine the other side of the issue. What if we never have an economic collapse, what if there are no food shortages in the next 30 years and what if the survivalist never even has a layoff to contend with? Flat out for the foreseeable future absolutely nothing goes wrong. If you have your property landscaped with sustainable organic food-producing crops are you not still better off?

Consider that by setting up sustainable and productive organic agriculture that your property value will be increased if for no other reason than environmentalism is a huge movement right now. You will spend less money over the years on buying food which can be saved, invested, used to reduce debt, etc. Further your health will be improved by eating high-quality fresh produce not to mention the exercise you get. Of course the list of benefits from having a solid sustainable edible landscape on your property is exhaustive and could go on a lot further but hopefully this begins to make the point.

Let’s examine more briefly a few more common things that survival minded individuals do and consider what benefit they have to us even if nothing ever goes wrong.

One key to modern survivalism is debt elimination. In the event of a disaster from personal up to global those in less debt are better suited to handle what comes their way. Yet even without any type of disaster having low to no debt will result in a much more sustainable and rewarding lifestyle.

Having firearms and the training to use them is useful in anything from a garden-variety home invasion to a true societal breakdown and it can be the difference between life and death. Yet if nothing goes wrong the armed citizen is still more confident and makes decisions based on reality vs. fear.

Storing extra food is “Survivalism 101” and there are many things that can go wrong from a personal up to a global level where such stored food is potentially life saving. Yet by following the mantra of “store what you eat and eat what you store” modern survivalists actually spend less money via a classic method known as “capital deferral.” This is accomplished by purchasing what will be used anyway at today’s prices to beat inflation, much the way Southwest Airlines does by purchasing fuel contracts while prices are lower.

This concept simply continues though just about every facet of survivalism. If you put in solar panels and/or wind generators, and you are ready to handle a black out no matter what the cause or how long it lasts. Yet even if nothing goes wrong, and you pay less for you electric bill and increase your property value.

Learn to “live off the land” with hunting, fishing and foraging and you will be more likely to survive a disaster but if nothing goes wrong you are enjoying the outdoors, getting exercise, saving money and eating better quality food all at the same time.

This formula is practically bullet-proof as long as you keep the first tenet in mind as you make lifestyle and purchasing decisions; again that tenet is,

“Everything You Do Should Improve Your Position in Life Even If Nothing Goes Wrong”

This keeps you from using survivalism as a convenient excuse to blow money and go into debt, which would violate one of the other tenets anyway. For instance fishing is a great way to add another low cost protein source to the household if done with practical and modestly priced equipment. Yet if you go out and purchase a $25,000 bass boat and fancy equipment you will never get an ROI on your production. Now if you want a nice boat, this is America, there is nothing wrong with that but if you want to be a survivalist, save your money and buy what is adequate with cash. One version is an expensive hobby, the other is a way to improve your lifestyle.

It is really a simple core guiding principle: each time you are making a decision about where to spend time, money or resources you simply ask the question, “Will this action improve my ability to live a sustainable lifestyle if we have a disaster or even if we don’t.” When the answer is yes you make it part of your survival planning. If the answer is no, that doesn’t mean you don’t do it, it simply means it is a luxury not an investment in an asset that provides for your future and hence you prioritize it accordingly.

There is a fundamental reality that most Americans are living beyond their means in an unsustainable way. They are one or two paychecks from poverty, consuming food that is unhealthy, working far to hard for far to little and above all many are miserable. Yes miserable! They work at a job they hate, drive on a commute they hate even more and give up the best parts of their lives simply to earn enough money to pay the interest on their debts. They then retire with a social security check that keeps them just to the south side of the poverty line and by the time most 30–40 somethings retire they won’t even get that.

The modern survivalist simply realizes that is not good enough, that life is precious and as humans we have a fundamental liberty that many choose to sell for far to low of a price. The good news is you have a choice, you can choose to walk though life with a credit card at the ready or you can choose to live a life that can be sustained in both good times and bad. It all starts with asking the simple question, “will this choice improve my long term sustainability,” on a daily basis. Simply asking that question will put you on the path to becoming a modern survivalist.

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