Party Like Its 1929

When the stock market crashed in 1929, most Americans saw the value of their investments evaporate overnight, and then watched helplessly as their cash disappeared in a seemingly endless stream of bank closings. During the Great Depression, few people had jobs, few people had access to any cash, but life still went on. Much business was done on the barter system. Friends and neighbors helped each other when they could, and people with skills traded their labor and crafts for food, wood to heat their homes, items of clothing, etc. Shanty towns sprung up all over the country when people lost their homes and farms to foreclosure.

On Christmas day in 1991, the Soviet Union officially ended its own existence, and the only remaining value of the Soviet ruble was as a fire starter! Most Russians survived the collapse of the Soviet Union through the use of barter, and kept themselves fed using produce grown in their own “kitchen gardens”. These gardens had been widely used for years to supplement the meager food supplies that had been available via official communist food stores, and helped fend off starvation during this period of great tribulation and uncertainty.

In the days of our grandparent’s, someone in each town knew how to grow, fabricate, or manufacture everything that was necessary to lead a reasonably comfortable life. In those days, if the ships stopped sailing due to war or weather, one might miss a few luxuries and comforts, but life went on quite well with what could be found, fabricated, or grown locally. Not so anymore! In 1998, the average item of American food traveled 1,518 miles before reaching our homes! Most of our shoes, clothing, household goods and small appliances are fabricated in far-off lands and the factories and skills to make these items have long since disappeared from American soil.

How will you fare if the local utility shuts down? Can you grow your own food or fabricate the basic clothing and shelter you need for your family? What skills and essential goods do you possess that you can trade or barter for food and other essential items? If you don’t have the money to pay for medical services, do you possess a knowledge of alternative low-tech healing methods to cure most diseases with minimal expense?