2013 - some thoughts...

Happy New Year.

The World:

I think that the new year will bring higher food prices while the working wage will remain the same or decrease. The unemployment rate will decrease but only because the lower average wage makes the United States more competitive. After all, labor is part of the final cost in any product. Ross Perot was right about free trade benefiting no one except the stockholder and the corporation. Free Trade is not in the worker's best interest.

Gardening and prepping will make great strides in the mainstream consciousness of the American people. The media will portray the latter as weird, as it already does. Gardening will get a boost as a way to combat higher prices and portrayed as a glorious relic from the 50's when America was at it's peak. I recommend getting ahead of the curve and ordering heirloom seeds this season as it may be your last chance to purchase them. Learn how to properly store them.

The Chinese will continue to battle the United States economically and win. Sun Tzu anyone? China continues to improve their infrastructure and military, while we figure out how to maintain our own infrastructure and military. More trade agreements that don't use the US dollar as the reserve currency will become more common. The dollar is on a downward spiral that will leave America in ashes and chaos. I hope an pray that our family has enough time to find our homestead before the storm really thunders. Get out of debt and learn a second home based business as a second income.

The common man is on their own. The government does not have your best interest at heart. This is obvious from the fiscal cliff and all the posturing going on. They have had a long time to work out some sort of deal, but prefer to wait and cast blame on the other party to win votes. They are not doing their job. Kicking the can down the road two months is not a solution. It's like putting a bucket under a leaky roof, it doesn't solve the problem. They will not be there to rescue you in your time of need. Prepare yourself and family. Watch the politics of the gun legislation, and see how they are more concerned about their own power instead of the Constitution. They just passed the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) that costs $560 billion just for one year for spying on America citizens in the name of security. And so, we’re focused on whether or not we’re going to cut domestic programs now? Really?

The crime rate will rise. Times are rough. Desperate times make good men do the wrong thing. Make your home less appealing to others, thieves like soft targets. Whose house looks easier, yours or the neighbors?

Get ahead of the curve. Follow current events, and learn from recent events to better prepare. Plan and use your foresight. Do your own research. Acquiring items does not make you a prepper, knowledge and how to use these items makes you a prepper.

The Blog:

I have really been humbled by the amount of people that dropped in to read what thoughts or information I might have to say on any given day. Over 20,000 page hits from 67 different countries, 21 unique visitors per day, and over 5000 different people have graced my site. More importantly, 50 people have decided to publicly follow my blog, to all of them, "Thank you very much."

The direction of the blog has remained fairly steady, our personal preparation in the hopes of spreading the knowledge to others. We hope that it has prodded a few people into acting in their best interest and preparing for an unlikely event to happen in their life. I will not sacrifice my family's well being because you didn't plan ahead. Remember the ant and the grasshopper fable? Be the ant.

I'll be tweaking and adding new features as time and knowledge allows onto this blog. I will try to focus my articles on more information. I'll also focus on my personal prepping progress as a blogging reference.

I'd like to take a few minutes to thank some people in the blogging world that have helped and encouraged me:

To Stephen at Standing Outside Looking In for doing a welcome post that exposed new people to my blog. I had been putting a lot of time into my blog with very few people reading my posts, and I was starting to get discouraged. For that reason, this is why I too do a welcome post for new followers, and provide a link to their site. "Thank you."

My stat chart 

To Pioneer Preppy at Small Hold for being a kindred spirit. I always looked for your new posts first. Your insight and outlook closely mirrors mine. The prep level threat chart was great, unfortunately it went to level threat 5. Always remember, "The gray man is your friend."

To the people that have donated to my site through PayPal,  you restore my faith in humanity. The money has gone for books, both school and resources for the eventual homestead.

To JUGM, Kelly,  JMD, Beth, LyndaK, LindaG, MamaBear,  Monsoon Matriarch, Senior, OJD, Connie, and others that have left comments on my blog. It is encouraging to get a response from everyone. I've enjoyed getting to know everyone, even though chances of an actual meeting are very slim. If things go terrible, everyone of you will be in our prayers.

Most importantly, to the military that chose to serve our country. Thank you, and you have this family's full support.

Keep Right On Prepping - K