IF the SHTF in America, how will it happen?

[melensdad]

First, let me say that I believe there are many times of SHTF so I want to clarify that to which I speak.

• Individual SHTF: loss of a job, physical accident, house fire, etc. This is a SHTF anyway you cut it but it really only effects 1 person/family.
• Localized SHTF: flooded neighborhood or small city, tornado damage to city, local extended power outage, etc. Can be a serious SHTF but affects a modest size group, very localized and plenty of help/aid available from county/state/federal.
• Regional SHTF: Katrina type event with damage to hundreds of thousands of homes, extended damage cleanup that lasts years, covers parts of multiple states.

I'm not speaking toward any of the above types of SHTF.

The SHTF scenario to which I am refering is the type where the US currency collapses (or at least we have rapid inflation) and society becomes generally violent, product shortages become common (gasoline, some food types, etc), life becomes risky, crime picks up, etc.

I guess I don't see any ONE event that would cause this type of SHTF but rather I see it as a progression of events that would take us to a point where people wake up one day and wonder what the hell happened to society. Some people will just presume that people are simply bad but won't actually recognize that the SHTF. Others will recognize the steps toward it and will realize we are there before we hit the worst. Generally in any case, life will continue and people will not But Out and live in caves, hide in the woods, etc. Unemployment will be high for sustained periods and people will be desperate. Government services will not be able to satisfy those who demand them. I think it may be more like life in Bosnia or post-collapse Argentina. Where you go out in groups for protection, where young girls to naive to be careful end up being kidnapped for ransom, where home invasion is common so people start to bar their doors.

What say YOU? Will we have a violent collapse or will it be more as I suggest where life just sucks, shortages are common, and venturing out in public will be dangerous but most will hang onto jobs, society will exist in some form, and it will be a struggle for most folks.

 

[bft131]

Probably when our Congress passes this insane healthcare bill so it should be happening any minute...Good luck!!

 

[melensdad]

Probably when our Congress passes this insane healthcare bill so it should be happening any minute...Good luck!!

So do you believe that if this bill passes the US will erupt into violence? That riots will start. Crime will become rampant? Monday the markets will crash and inflation will skyrocket?

Basically are you saying that there will be ONE EVENT (maybe not this vote, but some ONE big thing) that will trigger a collapse?

 

[Joe Williams]

Probably when our Congress passes this insane healthcare bill so it should be happening any minute...Good luck!!

The slurs and hatred being shouted at Congressmen in DC today (assuming they happened, and weren't orchestrated by the Dems) should be an indicator that you are correct. Lots of folks are moving closer to violence. There have been isolated instances already.

The Dems are overthrowing our Constitution, and moving us to a Soviet style economy. They are acting as if they do not care about the elections in just a few months, elections that are certain to result in an electoral bloodbath that will cause the Dems to look back on 1994 as "the good old days," and that is extraordinary behavior for them if they thought there actually were going to be elections. They are staging a revolution, and at some point I fear there is going to be a pushback.

If SHTF comes in the form of a breakdown in government, and not a disaster, I think it will happen quickly, violently, be prolonged, be bloody, and damage this country's infrastructure (including food and water supplies) to a perhaps irreparable degree.

We will be on our own to survive, in small local/regional communities.

 

[Joe Williams]

So do you believe that if this bill passes the US will erupt into violence? That riots will start. Crime will become rampant? Monday the markets will crash and inflation will skyrocket?

Basically are you saying that there will be ONE EVENT (maybe not this vote, but some ONE big thing) that will trigger a collapse?

There will be one trigger, perhaps not this bill, but just one trigger. It's been building for a long time, and what has been happening isn't all that different than the forces and events that led to the Declaration of Independance. The power in this nation is concentrated in a few cities, and the people in "flyover country" have been growing more and more angry about a government without REAL representation. No matter that we send people to Congress, when those people ignore the express wishes of their employers, there is no representation. 1776 took more than a decade to build up to, and the events over the past decade+, with a government increasingly ignoring and overruling it's citizens, taxes that citizens do not see as reasonable or justifiable, deliberate attacks on our rights and freedoms coming at an ever increasing pace closely mirror the social forces at work then. At some point, there will be one thing that triggers an emergency, but when historians look back, there will be a long chain of events that led to it.

 

[infidel]

The ball is already rolling, but slowly. That being said, it is by default a slow break down .

They will use the divide and conquer technique. Right now with the ObamaCare bill they are doing it. They are seperating the republicans that can't resist the promise of free healthy living from those registered as republicans that love our constitution. They will keep doing this and drawing more to their side, and people will continue to forefit their Constitution to claim the false promises made to them by the government. Bit by bit they will do this until have a large majority on their side with their hands out for "government money", and all they had to do was turn their cheek to a couple of Constitutional principles being walked on. After that the true patriots voices will be but a whimper to the roaring socialist machine once called THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - land of the FREE home of the BRAVE.

I don't think voting people in or out of office will help any more. I don't trust any of them - PERIOD.

 

[melensdad]

The ball is already rolling, but slowly. That being said, it is by default a slow break down .

That is pretty much my thought. Sort of a time released break-down that will cause government and society to devolve. High unemployment, high taxes, lower standard of living, growing despair in daily life, loss of opportunity and individual freedom, increasing crime and violence. Not all happening in one day, but happening over 6 months(?), maybe 2 years(?), but certainly devolving over some period of time.

 

[SemperFiUSMC]

S will HTF when the government is no longer able to pay off the welfare class.

 

[infidel]

That is pretty much my thought. Sort of a time released break-down that will cause government and society to devolve. High unemployment, high taxes, lower standard of living, growing despair in daily life, loss of opportunity and individual freedom, increasing crime and violence. Not all happening in one day, but happening over 6 months(?), maybe 2 years(?), but certainly devolving over some period of time.

And the thing is, since it is slow and gradual, this keeps the masses from realizing it. I mean, people now might say "Well if the government ever tells me how much I can get paid or what job I will have I will tell them to F off"......but the thing is, over 99% of them won't do anything until it gets to that point. And when it does get to that point they will be so used to that lifestyle that they won't even consider it that much of a change.

However, if people woke up and gas was $7.50 a gallon nationwide, or all fast food was raised 1000% overnight, I do believe we would see a considerable amount of violence.

 

[IndyMonkey]

I dont think it will happen until there is a shortage of Food, shelter or money.

It will take a breakdown of one of those to push the masses into action.

Too many people will sit back and think the government will take care of them, instead of starting to act on there own.

 

[Lex Concord]

And when that does finally happen, I think it will be like Argentina peppered with numerous episodes similar to the LA riots in '92.

 

[Eddie]

S will HTF when the government is no longer able to pay off the welfare class.

I think this is it. Right now we are at a stage of "bread and circuses". It's easy to get on disability, its easy to get on welfare. Living off the government has become a lifestyle. We have an enormous and growing body of people in this country who produce nothing and live off of the taxes that the government takes from other people. The balancing act that our government is playing with debt and taxes can only last so long. They can only take so much from the shrinking group of folks that actually work for their money before the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. When that happens, when the zombies out there can't look to the government to feed them and give them a house and money to spend at the mall that is when the S will HTF in America.

 

[E5RANGER375]

there will probly be small violent outbreaks (riots against police) and then it will evolve into larger groups, and so on, until there is total war in this country. Im sure there are already large powerfull groups with lots of money who have been secretly building stockpiles of guns, ammo, gear, etc for years to create army's to take over. I do believe america as we know it today will fall if we continue down this path of spending way too much money. when china comes to collect what are we gonna do? its not gonna be pretty. i dont think peace in america will last more than 10 years. if a war breaks out in this country, i think we will break up into republics, or smaller countrys. america as one big nation will cease to exist in 20 years in my opinion, unless something drastic is done. maybe im wrong, im no expert on this topic, but theres lots of powerfull people with money who would love to see it happen, and they have the power to push the buttons on disaster.

i dont wanna see a civil war, but i would like the federal government to realize the power given to individual states by the constitution. its bull that the feds try to come into our states and overthrow our local law. now a court upholding the guidlines of the constitution i believe in,like what happened in D.C. or in chicago right now with the gun stuff. get the federal government out of our business!! if they dont i seriously think you will have states that will seceed from the united states. and we all know what will happen if that comes to pass.!!

 

[djl02]

[
closed

 

[cosermann]

The term "SHTF" has a connotation of a point in time when things suddenly go wrong; like flipping a switch. That sort of thing happens sometimes. However, socially/politically, right now, I think we’re on a descent into bad times. We’ve been on this trajectory for over a year. If it isn’t stopped/reversed, we’ll wake up one day in a “SHTF” environment with none of the suddenness that the term implies. There may be an event that people will look back on historically, like the Argentine people look back to parity or 1:1 (the Peso with the Dollar) as their turning point. Maybe for us it will be the loss of the U.S.’s AAA rating. Maybe it was the 2008 election. Who knows?

At any rate, I blame 30% of my fellow Americans (and I use that term loosely) who have no moral character to speak of, no clue what’s going on, and voted a bunch of socialists into office.

 

[garlic_b]

I see just the opposite happening,Mexico ,U.S. and Canada merging into the western union.

I'm fairly certain "Western Union" is trademarked...

 

[irishfan]

 

[360]

It will be:
Prepared gun owners 1
Sheep 0

Game over.

 

[patton487]

It will continue to be a slow progression, but one day soon our country won't be able to pay the interest on all of the debt we have with foreign countries.
Then it will happen very rapidly(maybe 6months to a year)........
-Our government will start printing money on an unprecedented scale.
-The dollar tanks
-Hyper inflation hits. A loaf of bread will cost a hundred dollars, a thousand dollars.........
-Peoples savings and retirements wiped out
-Riots
-Poverty
-Martial Law
-End of game

It will happen here if our government doesn't change course.

 

[henktermaat]

Massive dollar crash. Everyone I speak to about this has that concern on top of their list.