Survivalist News

SurvivalBlog.com
First off, I just want to say that I really appreciate what you’re doing with your blog site. I’ve learned so many useful things and feel that I am beginning to have a basic understanding of how to prepare for and live in and a survival situation.

Second, I’d like to give you a quick bit of background about myself so you can hopefully help me with my dilemma/question…

I am a young adult working on the 9th floor of a large building in Manhattan [on Long Island, New York City, New York]. I do not own a car and so I use public transportation, typically the subway. My apartment is about a 30 minute walk from work. In my apt I have started building up my survival gear, food, Bug Out Bag, etc…But I realize that I spend most of my days not in my apt but in my office, working. So I’ve decided to start planning my office survival gear because if Manhattan was ever attacked with some form of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, and I’m still alive, I don’t believe there would be time for me to get back to my apt before being affected (as subways, buses, and foot traffic will be clogged and slow). I figure my best bet for survival would be to hunker down for the first 48-to-72 hours in my building probably the library.

What are your thoughts/advice on staying in the building??
Also what kind of survival gear can I bring to work that would be discreet but really help me in my first 48 hours of survival?

This is what I have so far, which my employer has provided in a fanny pack for everyone:

[Mylar] bags of water. (We also have water coolers)
flashlight and batteries
goggles
emergency blanket
small first aid kit
mask
whistle

Office Worker Special - 72 Hour Bug Out Bag

SurvivalBlog.com
I am writing to ask for your advice and for your charity, and also because I think this subject may be of interest to many of your readers. I discovered your web site a week ago and have found it to be both very informative and also very alarming! It was major wake-up call for me.

In my opinion, I am not at all prepared for the upheavals that are already underway and that lie ahead of us.

I would very much like to change that situation, but it all (considered as a whole) seems so overwhelming. I don’t know what to do, where to start and how to go about it. Also, I don’t feel that I have the same resources and freedom as some of your other readers.

I also have the feeling that many, perhaps most, of your readers may be in exactly the same situation as me:

I am a 50 year old average guy with a wife and two young children to support. I work in a medium sized metropolitan area and live in an average house in the suburbs, about 10 miles out of town, on a 1/5th acre lot. My kids go to public school, my wife works part-time and I work full-time. We depend on the income from my job to support the family. It is not the kind of job that allows me to just uproot myself and live out in the sticks. My wife and I make just enough to pay the bills and set aside a little bit for my 401(k) [retirement savings account]and my kids’ college education. We do not own any real estate aside from our home. We have about $50,000 in savings, $90,000 in home equity and about $190,000 in my 401(k) .

In my opinion, we are not prepared at all for any sort of natural, economic, social or political upheaval or disaster:
- We don’t own a ranch or farm or remote property of any kind.
- We don’t own gold or silver.
- We don’t own any weapons and don’t know how to use them.
- We don’t have any food or emergency supplies stored up.
- Our house is not “hardened” or “secure”.
- We don’t have a generator, etc.
- We are not EMTs and don’t know how to grow crops or butcher a hog.
- We don’t have a G.O.O.D. plan or vehicle or provisions.

Pork Politics Still Doesn’t Triumph The Ongoing Collapse
This is a riot, the ‘bailout bill’ (American Ripoff) was 3 pages long, now it’s already 102 pages long. Looks like pork politics to me (again). The Demonrats are fighting the Republirats, but they’re going to pass the cursed thing.

I’m absolutely certain that this is being seen as a golden parachute opportunity for many failing institutions right now. And who knows what’s in the fine print. I wonder if our lameduck politicians will even read it. Belay that — I don’t wonder at all, I’m just being rhetorical.

Obama and McInsane are going at it on the radio right now. Can’t believe anybody would even consider McInsane for the White House. What are they thinking?

Gasoline Shortages
This has been brewing for a while, since Hurricane Ike wrecked havoc, but I have not reported on it at all. I’ve simply been too busy.

U.S. gasoline inventories lowest since 1967: EIA

Post-Ike gas shortage may take weeks to end

Gas shortages: get ready for more

Major Gas Shortage in North Carolina

Gas Shortage Fuels Fights

Mexico’s Oil Products Falls 9%

Horrid US Economic Data on Housing Market, Jobs and Durable Goods :: The Market Oracle :: Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting Free Website
In the week ending Sept. 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 493,000, an increase of 32,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 461,000. It is estimated that the effects of Hurricane Gustav in Louisiana and the effects of Hurricane Ike in Texas added approximately 50,000 claims to the total. The 4-week moving average was 462,500, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 446,500. The spin above blames hurricanes. I do not buy it, at least to the extent claimed. The fact of the matter is this economy is rapidly falling apart.