Article by Brandon Smith from Alt-Market written for Prepper All-Naturals.

In 2020 at the onset of the covid pandemic scare and right before the lockdowns I’ll never forget going on a grocery run on a Friday only to find near empty roads and near empty stores.  The few other people shopping had a glassy stare in their eyes, like they were dazed or shell-shocked.  For me and those I know that prep, it was just another day; for those that hadn’t prepped it was a nightmare of uncertainty.

In Montana we didn’t pay much heed to the lockdowns after the first month.  In three months everything was basically back to normal except for the mask mandates which most people ignored.  With more data available on the virus it was clear that the chance of death was being greatly exaggerated.  What scared us far more was the rampant talk of vaccine passports in 2021.  The proposed state and federal restrictions on people that refused to take the jab were familiar – This was the beginning of full blown tyranny unless we stood firm.

In the meantime there was a public rush to buy up as many necessities as they could afford.  And of course, the covid stimulus measures finally triggered a stagflationary crisis that had been building in the US for many years.

In the face of so many potential threats, preppers were still well protected.  If vaccine passports became the norm and access to public places was blocked then we had food storage to get us through for a long time to come.  If the buying panic and inflation led to a supply chain disaster then we were well placed, along with the guns and ammo and training needed to keep what we had.  If a fight was coming then we had the means to defend ourselves.

I have long been convinced that it was the prepper factor that caused the government to rethink their strategy of perpetual medical lockdowns and give up on vaccine passports.  We represent an unknown element, something they can’t predict, a possible monkeywrench in the gears of the machine.

With our own supplies we are not dependent on the system to keep us alive, and the harder they push the more we are compelled to organize into an even greater obstacle.  Just as NATO sanctions have pushed Russia, China and the BRICS closer together, openly authoritarian policies in the west during covid pushed liberty movement people together.  The establishment backed away because they had to.

This is why I have to laugh whenever I see some idiot online say:  “What’s the point of prepping when nothing ever happens?”

Have these people been living under a rock since 2020?  We just dodged one of the biggest Orwellian bullets in our nation’s history with the defeat of the pandemic mandates.  Or, do they not realize that the pandemic was just the beginning?

If that’s the case then it pains me to remind everyone that nothing has fundamentally changed.  Yes, we beat back the mandates but all the same elites are still in power, all the same globalist institutions that exploited covid to create a panic still exist, and the event has acted as a domino in a chain leading to other calamities.  Here’s just a few reasons why you’re going to be needing your survival preps in the next few years…

The Stagflation Crisis That Wouldn’t Die

The stagflationary problem is persistent despite all the media claims that it’s under control.  Readers familiar with my economic analysis know that I predicted stagflation several years ago as the inevitable outcome of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing and near-zero interest rates.  I also predicted the Catch-22 problem of rate hikes vs inflation and debt.  And when I said a couple years ago that the Fed wasn’t going to return to rate cuts for some time, I was right about that too.

Given this track record, trust me when I say that stagflation is here to stay.  Any move to cut rates will automatically trigger an even worse resurgence of inflation and the fed will be forced to hike once again.  And, high interest rates will continue to create a national debt crisis as debt payments skyrocket.

In other words, the economic situation is getting exponentially worse with each passing year.  There is already breakage in the system, but that’s nothing compared to what we face in the next five years.  Any preparedness items you buy today should be considered an investment in the future because all of those items will be far more expensive or harder to find.

Political Riots Are Assured

Recent campus protests have reminded people that they shouldn’t get too comfortable with the fizzle of BLM.  The same leftists that rode the wave of racial division back in 2020 are going out and finding new causes to co-opt.  They’re looking for any excuse to riot, even if it has nothing to do with them personally.

With the 2024 election incoming I have no doubt that civil unrest will be the norm once again no matter who ends up in the White House.  With riots follow the threat of looting, property destruction, political violence and even martial law.  Then there is the public reaction to those circumstances, including the possibility of civil war.  Don’t assume the country will calm down after the election.  In fact, assume the opposite.

The War In Ukraine Is About To Become A World War

Again, I have mentioned in multiple articles the danger of western involvement in the war in Ukraine including the danger of a wider world war should NATO directly enter the fray.  As I write this, France is pressing for “military advisers” to go to Ukraine to train recruits, which is exactly what the US did in Vietnam right before we officially went to war.

Multiple NATO countries also want to give Ukraine the green light to use long range NATO missiles against targets deep in Russia.  If you are an avid student of history you know as I do that this only goes one way.

That’s probably why countries in Europe are suddenly talking about draft procedures and forced conscription laws in order to shore up their ranks. How many people will actually submit to a draft?  I don’t know, but I do know this is not the kind of talk that governments engage in when their goal is diplomacy.  It’s the kind of talk they engage in when they’re getting ready to antagonize the enemy.

A larger war with Russia comes with a host of difficulties that would take me too many pages to cover here.  To summarize, war with Russia means war with China, war with Iran and most of the Middle East, tragic supply chain disruptions, the end of the dollar’s world reserve status and a good chance of a limited or regional nuclear exchange.

I have serious doubts that global nuclear war is on the table because the establishment has nothing to gain and everything to lose from it.  However, a war between East and West is more than enough to cause absolute havoc in every nation on the planet.

The War Over Gaza Is Quickly Leading To A War For The Middle East

I’m not going to cheerlead for either side in this conflict.  My concern is America and Americans.  That said, it’s clear that actions on both sides are forcing the war to expand well beyond Gaza.  Recent Israeli strikes on Syria and scuffles with Egyptian troops are concerning.  Lebanon is highly involved and Iran has already traded missiles with Israel.  Israel has stated their offensive will continue through at least the end of 2024.

In terms of how this all affects the US or Europe, the immediate consequence will be a shut down of oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.  That’s 30% or more of the world’s oil trade slowed down or eliminated.  Energy prices will explode along with prices on everything else.  The price of everything you buy is affected by the price of oil.

Agriculture, for example, relies heavily on fuel and oil based fertilizers.  This means high oil prices will trigger high food prices.

Prepping Isn’t A Hobby, It’s A Duty

Frankly, preparedness should be a social mainstay – An integral part of American life. It’s not a hobby, it’s a duty.   The more prepared people are the safer every American will be.  Most prepared people don’t panic because there’s no need.  And people who don’t panic are less likely to harm others out of fear and desperation.

Think of food storage like a big battery.  A battery is energy storage for later when you need it.  Think about how much time and work and energy goes into growing just one month of food for your family. Isn’t it far better to store all that work in long term foods so that you don’t have to worry about it later during the worst of conditions?  Every bucket of stored food is a battery that saves you precious time and labor.

Growing food and living sustainably is great in peacetime or in the middle of a large, well organized community.  Growing food at the onset of a national crisis in a place where too many people are unprepared is almost impossible.  If a breakdown occurs then your best bet is to hunker down, work with family, friends and neighbors, and live on your preps until there is a large enough community in place to securely grow food again.

There are too many variables right now around the world that can cause catastrophe, and even events on the other side of the globe can cause problems for you at home.  I see very little chance of the situation improving in the next five years and a very high chance of things spiraling out of control.  Take your prepping seriously, even when oblivious naysayers claim “nothing’s going to happen.”  Those will be the same people crying for help before long and you don’t want to share their fate.