By Mac Slavo
While the world’s super elite prepare everything from stylish bunkers to emergency submarines, most couldn’t care less about their millions of employees should a widespread crisis strike financial markets or the economic system.
There is, however, one notable high-net-worth exception according to a recent speech from Overstock.com Chairman Jonathan Johnson who notes that after many years of getting hammered by short-sellers they’ve lost total trust in Wall Street and the government’s ability to look-out for the little guy.
As such, Johnson’s company has taken preemptive measures in anticipation of a major event that could take down payment systems, lock up credit flows and make it impossible for employees to meet their basic needs.
Little did we know that Overstock’s Chairman Jonathan Johnson is as vocal an opponent of the fiat system, and Wall Street’s tendency to create bubble after bubble, if not more than Byrne himself. That, and that his company actually puts its money where its gold-backed money is and in preparation for the next upcoming crash, has taken unprecedented steps to prepare for what comes next.
One week ago Johnson, who is also candidate for Utah governor, spoke at the United Precious Metals Association, or UPMA, which we first profiled a month ago, and which takes advantage of Utah’s special status allowing the it to use gold as legal tender, offering gold and silver-backed accounts. As a reminder, the UPMA takes Federal Reserve Notes (or paper dollars) which it then translates into golden dollars (or silver). The golden dollars are based off the $50 one ounce gold coins produced by the Treasury of The United States. They are legal tender under the law and are protected as such.
What did Johnson tell the UPMA? Here are some choice quotes:
“We are not big fans of Wall Street and we don’t trust them. We foresaw the financial crisis, we fought against the financial crisis that happened in 2008; we don’t trust the banks still and we foresee that with QE3, and QE4 and QE n that at some point there is going to be another significant financial crisis.”
‘So what do we do as a business so that we would be prepared when that happens. One thing that we do that is fairly unique: we have about $10 million in gold, mostly the small button-sized coins, that we keep outside of the banking system. We expect that when there is a financial crisis there will be a banking holiday. I don’t know if it will be 2 days, or 2 weeks, or 2 months. We have $10 million in gold and silver in denominations small enough that we can use for payroll. We want to be able to keep our employees paid, safe and our site up and running during a financial crisis.”
“We also happen to have three months of food supply for every employee that we can live on.”
Hoarding these items is better than having money in the bank (Ad)
Like many Americans who see the writing on the wall, Johnson understands how serious the next financial crisis could be. He specifically mentions a bank holiday, wherein we could well lose access to our money for days or weeks at a time. Such an event would not be unprecedented and it is exactly what we saw happen in Greece when their economy detonated under the weight of excessive debt. What came next was total panic in the streets as Greeks rushed ATMs and grocery stores.
If the money stops flowing we can fully expect a complete breakdown in the regular flow of commerce, a topic that Tess Pennington covers extensively in her highly rated book The Prepper’s Blueprint. She explains that this is what you can expect within 72 hours of a breakdown:
Have you ever heard the saying, “We’re three days away from anarchy?” In the wake of a disaster, that’s all you have is three days to turn the crazy train around before crime, looting and chaos ensue. In reports during the aftermath of hurricane Sandy, residents from Staten Island were pleading for help from elected officials, begging for gasoline, food and clothing.
…
Multiple factors contribute to societal breakdowns including failure of adequate government response, population density, citizens taking advantage of the grid being down and overwhelmed emergency response teams.
For whatever reason, 3-5 days following a disaster is the bewitching hour. During this short amount of time, the population slowly becomes a powder keg full of angry, desperate citizens. A good example is the chaos that ensued in New Orleans following the absence of action from the local government or a timely effective federal response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In such troubled times, people were forced to fend for themselves and their families, by any means necessary.
Several years ago the notion that our financial, economic and monetary systems could fall apart was laughed at by just about everyone. To this day many still don’t believe that it is even a remote possibility. But the elite, including some of America’s biggest business leaders, have the foresight to understand just how bad things can get in a short period of time should the system as we know it experience even a minor disruption.
Even the U.S. government has been simulating the collapse of our financial system, the collapse of our society and the potential for widespread violence. While the results of these dry-runs are being kept secret from the public, we know that they, too, have been stockpiling millions of emergency food rations, firearms, bullets, and other supplies.
It should be obvious they know something significant is on the horizon and that means you should be preparing in earnest just in case they’re right.
You can read more from Mac Slavo at his site SHTFplan.com
I’m stocking up on toilet paper and cigarettes for bartering purposes….
I know, right! I told my husband we needed to stock up on tp…cause what else are you going to use? I told him remember when the Soviet Union collapsed and people had to wait in line for tp, and not everybody was able due to lack of supply…Horrible! I know I can use rags, but you either have to wash them or have a large supply of old t-shirts.
It’s the little things in life that is missed the most.
Yes..like ice and refrigeration. I think I will miss ice the most.
You had best reconsider that bartering thing for a while. You would be exposing yourself to attack.
ok
Lots of places in the world don’t use TP and manage to keep clean. Think about it – and get over it!
The only precious metals during a time of crisis is lead … stock up on ammo, long term storage foods, and water.
Don’t be too snobby about precious metals, Oldest money in the world. I would rather barter with my neighbors than shoot them and steal their stuff. You have to maintain some level of humanity for your children.
And when your children are shot for food and water because you couldn’t defend them with your gold, silver, and toilet paper, who are you going to turn to for protection?
“when your children are shot for food” …wut is this? A Hansel and Gretel moment?
I’m expecting that scenario too. People will do crazy stuff to stay alive.
I never said I wasn’t armed…but I have extras stored up because I know my neighbors and family will need help. You won’t be able to fight off everyone with out some people to back you up…plus, if my neighbors act anything like you, I’ll shoot them before they make it down the driveway.
heh…if it gets down to hand to hand combat, it’s already too late for the good ol’ days mentality.
Keep your site lines clear and use your peripherals….heh heh
later
If you help your neighbors you had better be prepared to keep supporting them as they will turn on you in a blink of the eye. You had better pretend to be as bad off as they are. Leave the bodies in the drive way as a warning to others.
OK, let your neighbor shoot you!!
I never said I was unarmed.
When you expose yourself to barter you will be dead. Who will take care of your children then?
If you think I would want your gold when my family is starving you are out of your mind. All the gold would be good for is melting into bullets. The gold might be worth some thing later on, when order is restored. You are focusing on getting rich and I am focused on staying alive. Your gold will be like rust to you.
Completely wrong!. . . . Those who isolate themselves behind
a shooting parapet are much more vulnerable than those who involve the
neighbors and then the whole region in a program of survival and food
production. This little idiot shooting culture is exactly what is wrong with
contemporary society.
You are denying reality. If things do go south all your neighbors will be your sworn enemies, if they even think you may have food or water. You would do well to hunker down and try not to be noticed by anyone. Starting now. Do not tell anyone about what you have, not even your children if you can do that. They might talk to their friends. Have a plan and practice it as a natural disaster plan, say a tornado or flood plan. Keep it simple, where to meet, what to bring stuff. The less people that know, the better your chances of survival. Good luck to you and yours. No lights, even if you do have power as it will attract unwanted attention. No fires or cooking, same reason. No hot food because of aroma will draw attention. After a week or so the herd will be thinned and then you can do some things. Of course by then they will be eating each other. The cities will be empty in about a month and still burning, no one to fight the fires. Be sure your house is fire proof, no trees close to the house, firebreaks around your property and open fire zones for defense, grass kept short. All doors and windows sealed to prevent looking in.
It will be better to prevent the local population from
collapsing into marauding gangs by bringing everybody into a communal survival strategy. Obviously it will not be easy but there are always very intelligent, resourceful people spread all around any local area. All it takes is to bring them together
with their families.
How do you propose to do this minor feat? You will have no means of communication. How do you vet the ones you accept into your little group? How will you eject the undesirables? You must be able to perform miracles as it has failed to happen in recent history as in Katrina. All attempts at communal living have failed at least going back to the ancient Greeks. How will you form your government as a government is necessary for humans to live together. You also overlook the fact we already have gangs running in the streets now and they will get bigger and braver in a shtf situation. I wish you well in your endeavors, but I for one will try to disappear from attention for at least a month or more. I do not advocate violence against anyone, but I will not be a victim either. When things have settled down some what I will look for groups like yours, if any have survived. You are aware that the US government estimates that in the event of the electric grid going down from an EMP or solar flare that 90% of Americans will be dead in a year. Also by gathering together you increase the risk of disease. If it happens I hope to meet you at the end of the year.
Once we can defeat that idiotic… “Ahm gonna shoot me a man” culture then everybody will jump in and the infrastructure and agriculture will be operating in a very short time.
The government estimates that in the event of an EMP attack or a major solar flare it will take at least two years to repair and perhaps as long as three years. That is assuming that the USA is the only victim. If it is world wide it is unknown how long it would take as it takes about two years to get the large transformers now. They are so expensive that no one keeps spare ones. At any rate very few people know how to grow anything or even what they can grow where they live. How ever at the end of the year there would only be about thirty million people left in the USA so we would not need nearly as much food and as far infrastructure it would be largely unused as there would be no fuel. As far as the “Ahm gonna shoot me a man” culture, you have not been paying attention to the news have you? Just a two day outage of electricity results in looting. It takes nothing to start a riot and burning today. When the thugs know you cannot call the cops and that no cops are coming anyway, because the cops will be at home protecting their loved ones, what do you plan to do? I do not think you will survive on rainbow stew and pie in the sky. Agriculture with out fuel or electricity will be subsistence farming. They will eat what they grow and not have any to spare, if they can even feed themselves. Do you have any heritage seeds that you can plant? Hybrid seed will not germinate. They have to be replaced each year, so you can’t save back part of them for the next year. Where will you buy seeds? No water and no fertilizer either. No pesticides so you will have to pick the insects off your crops by hand. How ever I will not worry about you as you will be among the dead in the first two weeks at most. I have seeds, land and a plan, all you have is empty dreams that some one will rush to your rescue. It won’t be me, but it might be a gang of looters. Good luck.
Well Daniel, you make a very good argument and I would not dispute that the danger from humanoid scum type predators and scavenger mobs will certainly increase exponentially. This now in a worst case, natural disaster scenario.
Anything else would be the government itself orchestrating disaster, or exacerbating the effects of an event, in order to increase control of the population. This is the more likely scenario.
When people are not aware of these possibilities then the reaction to the situation will end up being the more detrimental to the people than the actual event. This is when the Sabbatean/Zionist psycho-freaks have actually attained their diabolical goal.
I do feel that our government is not acting in our best interest, either from malicious intent or just real stupidity is open to discussion. I lean towards the latter. LOL In any case, if it be natural or government created I expect no help from the government. My first plan of action is this, no actions that will attract any attention to me or my family. The best fight is the one you don’t have. I hope that most of the animals on two legs will have eliminated each other or disease and starvation will have thinned them out. How ever I also have plans for different scenarios, which I hope I never have to use. I have extensive training in combat and evade and survival skills. Evade is usually the best course of action as any action is likely to cause even more unwanted attention. Gun fights are noisy. As I have stated before, if I survive in the short term I will be seeking like minded people to join and try to rebuild a new and better life. The first two or three months will be critical. By the end of the year it will be clear just what the result will be. Will the good guys prevail or not. Will people of good sprit rise up and take what is rightfully theirs or will the warlords, or what ever they are called, take over and be a repeat of history? Historically those who are willing to use violence against their fellow man have ruled. Oh well time will tell.
The fact that the US government will use tax funds to order
2500 absolutely useless, grossly expensive, single seat aeroplanes (F35 ) but will not spend any money on back-up transformers is a clear indication that “government”
is the number one enemy of the people. Their apparent “stupidity” is a well orchestrated façade propped up by the colluding corporate media.
You seem to have your plans well figured out and I wish you
best of luck that you never need to put them into action.
You and I seem to be on the same wave length, just at different points on it. Yes what they have spent on the obsolete F35 would have hardened and bought backup transformers. Our electric grid is unprotected by design. I believe it was FDR that said all we have to fear is fear itself, today the only thing I fear is my own government. I don’t fear any terrorist as they are the puppets of government whether they know it or not. I don’t fear Russia as they are not stupid enough to start a war, but they will fight if forced to. It does seem our government is trying to force Russia into something. As I have said before If shtf I hope we will meet in the future and try not to make the same mistakes. I have enjoyed the conversation. It is always good to air your plans as it causes you to re-evaluate and maybe improve. I do realize that I am not able to visualize all the possibilities, nor can I afford to prepare for all of them. I must make a choice as to what is the most likely to happen and leave the rest to my God.
Let me just qualify my statements regarding the F35. My term
“useless” would not be in regard to the function that it was created for. I think it probably is a highly competent and superiour aircraft for the invaded and terrorise applications that it is to be applied to.
This program, and all the other similar military programs, is nothing more than total obliteration of vast financial, material, energy and intellectual resources. Resources that could immediately transform this planet into the luxury utopia that 95 percent of the global population really yearn for but are too stupid to implement. Then we will never need to have discussions about protecting our families from primitive hordes when the psycho-cabal controlling “our government” creates disasters to increase their control over the general population.
It was a good discussion, thanks
Only if you assume complete and utter collapse, a mad max scenario is unlikely historically. We always seem to wind up with some type of order even if it is a strongman type. While I understand your point, it would be unwise to have all your eggs in either basket.
I do not have all my eggs in one basket as you put it. I have fall back plans already in place in the event the first one fails. You can expect that certain types of people will emerge as leaders of small groups and after a while some of them may join together for protection from each other. Today we refer to them as warlords. They exist in Africa and parts of the Middle East. In Mexico they are called drug cartels. These existing strongmen will extend their power and domination as far and wide as they can. The earliest leaders will be those who are willing to use violence to conquer and dominate others. They will survive no matter what the cost in human lives as long as it is not theirs. There are three kinds of people, there are wolves who are ever ready to attack and take what ever they want. There are sheep and that is most people who will not even defend themselves or their loved ones. Then there are the sheepdogs who stand guard over the sheep. The sheep hate both the wolves and the sheepdogs because they fear both. All is well as long as the sheepdogs remain on watch, but when the sheepdogs go home to protect their own from the stampede of the sheep, the wolves will attack and the slaughter will be great. I have spent my life defending the sheep from the wolves, but in my old age I will only defend my own. Those of you who looked down on me and cursed me and vilified me a I strove to protect you will be on your own. I am old and retired, but this old dog still has teeth. I loved you sheep and did my best for you, but now I am through. Run fast, the wolves will take the slow and unprepared first. Good luck
I wasn’t replying to you. I was replying to this comment….”Shorty Stuff • 6 days ago
The only precious metals during a time of crisis is lead … stock up on ammo, long term storage foods, and water”. Like you I have long served as a proverbial sheepdog. I have not looked down on you or cursed you. Good luck to you as well.
Thanks and good luck to you also. Luck always favors the best prepared. Like any sane person I hope to never need to use any of my plans, but I hope for the best and prepare for the worst and life is usually some where in between. You and Doug seem like people I would enjoy knowing.
The most likely thing to happen is a government orchestrated break down. The government taking out the power grid and blaming terrorists or Russia for it. I would not be shocked if our government nuked one of our own cities as a pretense for more control for our own protection, of course. I really don’t expect a Mad Max movie, although that is possible if the powers that be have made an error and lose control. It could be as simple as a bug in their super computers. There will always be those who are willing to do harm to their fellow man and they will try to seize power. History seems to bare out they will succeed in that at least in the short term. That may be our renegade government or a new group that takes over, but yes there will be some form of control, if we allow it.
Nice to see a company that cares for its employees unlike most.
3 months of food and some silver/gold, barter items are an excellent idea. U just never know anymore what could happen.
Dont forget water, candles, medicines, a way to heat food /boil water.
three months food that will be worth more than the gold lol
Right you are. You can’t eat gold. Gold will be worthless at least for a while. A good distillery and a supply of yeast might be a good investment. You can use the alcohol for fuel or drink it or trade it or melt lead with it. And a lot of lead and gunpowder with primers. I guess the gold would make a fair bullet. A distillery would also produce drinking water.
That’s a good company if they do what they say and not just blowing smoke. Unfortunately living on a megar monthly income I can’t stockpile much of anything. But the only thing I can is bullets, molded from wheel weights. So if things get very slim at least I can either hunt or do some neighborhood hunting. Hopefuly water won’t be too much of a problem. The bigest problem for me will be medicines, if something goes on to long. Just cross your fingers and hope God takes a likeing to us and removes the brown clown from the picture.
I have done major business with this company…always treated fairly and the phone people speak ENGLISH…
Great plan…I see his PM is to “pay salary” ie: in exchange for “work” keeping his site/business open as long as possible… does he think that DELIVERY will still be running?…how about phones/internet??? Having the food laid in may be the best “retirement fund” ever… But…only 3 mo ??? Most everyone in Utah already has 12 mo worth under the bed or in the closet…mandated, eh?..
The lack of “mention” of any arms or ammo – maybe just good sense, eh?..OR, he may have a blind spot…remains to be seen. All that food in one building, now known to the neighbors, may become a real magnet, eh?… You might just want some sort protection from those “neighbors”, eh?…
Some how, I doubt that this SHTF event is going to be over in 90 days! Nor, do I think there will be “any normal amount” of any workforce reporting for work anytime soon during such… Got internet?…