Venezuela Shows Us What an Electricity Shortage Looks LikeBy Daisy Luther Thats exactly what has been going on in Venezuela, since they dont have enough problems running out of food and other suppliesin a previous development of the excruciating economic collapse of the country. In the latest installment of collapse propaganda, bus-driver-turned-Venezuelan-President Nicholas Maduro offered some beauty advice. He wants the women of Venezuela to stop using hair dryers to save electricity aside from special occasions. He said, I always think a woman looks better when she just runs her fingers through her hair and lets it dry naturally. Its just an idea I have. This sage advice came along with announcements of further cuts and suggestions. State employees will now have Fridays off for at least the next two months, and he also recommended that citizens make small changes, like embracing the tropical heat and hanging clothes out to dry instead of using tumble dryers. (source) This isnt a new issue, but a worsening one. In May of 2015, they tried to sugar coat the rationing of electricity by saying they were just being green. Vice President Jorge Arreaza explained: This is, of course, linked to global warming and the excessive industrialization of capitalism, which never stops, nor has ever stopped, for the effects that it can have on the climate, on society and on Mother Earth. When the electricity concern began, public employees saw their work hours cut to 6 per day. Businesses were required to reduce their usage by 10% and new laws permitted police visits to inspect the businesses to ensure that they werent exceeding their allotments. In February, citizens who were already facing shortages and long lines for items like cooking oil, laundry soap, diapers, and food were absolutely stunned when shopping centers were forced to shut off power from1:00 to 3:00 pm and again from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in a measure to save electricity. Heres why we need to pay attention to whats going on in Venezuela: It provides a modern-day glimpse into what an economic collapse really looks like, much like the collapse of Greece was a cautionary tale. These are both direct case studies of what happens to the middle class during an economic collapse. Previously, I wrote about how it could happen here. (Excerpt) Do you think it cant happen here? Consider the forced rationing of water amidst the drought in California. Rationing that only applies to regular folks, not wealthy people or massive corporations. Its obvious that the state really is in the midst of an epic drought. But conservation mandates are not applied equally, much like the electricity rationing in Venezuela. Golf courses for the rich and famous remain lush and green, while wells across the state run dry. Ordinary people arent allowed to have lawns or to even have vegetable gardens, and newspapers are calling upon good Samaritans to snitch if they feel someone is wasting water. Theres even an app for that, and Smart Meters are in place to target wasters. (Unless they happen to be wealthy corporations, of course. They have different rules and snitching on them will do no good.) One small community, Outingdale, just received word that strict rationing is now in effect. Residents will be allowed only 50 gallons per day, per person, and no outside watering of any kind will be permitted. This is not good news for folks who rely on their vegetable gardens for food. Meanwhile, the Nestle corporation is busy pumping out the states remaining water, bottling it, and selling it back to people for an enormous profit. Anyway, back to electricity. Im reminded of the series, The Hunger Games, in which residents of the outlying districts are only allowed power when the Capitol deems they should have it, such as when they want to air propaganda entertainment to keep people in line. In the movie, citizens of the Districts were relegated to cooking over open fires and lighting their rooms with candles. No one had transportation or power. They were not allowed to hunt to supplement their meager food allotments and in the heroines District, they were not allowed to use the coal the area was rich with. Uniformed peacekeepers patrolled the districts to ensure that the rules were strictly adhered to and that the excruciating poverty was the standard for all residents. They can already remotely turn off appliances they deem are using too much energy. At the press of a few keys on a central computer, our electricity usage could be monitored to make sure we stay within the designated limits, strictly slotted to only certain hours of the day, or even cut off entirely if we exceed our rations. It may not even be direct rationing that cuts us off, as it is in Venezuela. As prices of electricity keep climbing, how extreme is it to think that one of these days, electricity might only be for rich people? However it goes down you can be sure that no one in the government will admit to mismanagement or a desire to enhance control and dependency. It will be couched in warm, fuzzy terms of saving the planet from carbon emissions, much like the propaganda coming out of Venezuela. Its easy for us to see it when it happens to them, but many people here are so deeply entrenched in cognitive dissonance that theyll swallow the green pill with a smile, moving into their Agenda 21 microhomesand martyring themselves for the good of Team Green. (Find the original article HERE) Its not that far-fetched, and if you dont fall into the category of rich people it is definitely something you should prepare for. What if the Big Event isnt an EMP, but that no one could afford to pay the electric bill? Power prices are going up what if they rise to the point that its a choice between food and electricity? What if the lights in the middle-class neighborhoods just start going out? Lets face it, if you really had to pick, youd choose to feed your kids over having the lights on, right? What a control mechanism that would be. What better way to return to a Lords and Serfs lifestyle than the strong visible delineation of who has power and who does not? The rationing of electricity or the lack of affordability would change life as we know it. Our society is incredibly dependent on the power grid, not only to keep us comfortable, but also to keep us entertained. Weve grown soft. As well, we depend on others having access to electricity to make our lives easier by keeping us fed and clothed, and by making the things we purchase easily accessible to us. You dont have to return to serfdom, though. The steps you take and the things you learn now can help you overcome any hardships presented by the lack of affordable necessities. Learn to provide your own food. If the stores are closed or supplies are limited because manufacturing plants cant produce food, youll have to provide for yourself. For more self-reliance information, be sure to check out this round-up manifesto with more than 300 resources! Reduce your dependence on the power grid and use less. If prices skyrocket, there are lots of things you can do to cut your usage. Before anyone starts arguing that this is caving in to the demands of those who are rationing power, (because theres always someone who says that) sometimes its a matter of personal economic survival. Whoever survives, wins. If its a matter of the price of power skyrocketing, your ability to use minimal electricity may allow you to still afford to use a freezer, a laptop, or a medical device. It only makes sense that the less dependent on the grid you are, the less you will be affected by a shortage. Find other ways to stay warm. If you cant afford to run your central heat, its important to have back-up methods for staying warm. Methods that use fuel: If you have no secondary heat source, no fuel, or limited fuel, the following options can help. An electricity shortage doesnt end with lack of lights at the flick of a switch. It can have very broad ramifications, such as a harsh cutback on manufacturing, transportation, and retail outlets. Make sure you have your preps in order with long-term emergency food, a well-stocked pantry, back-up plans, and non-food necessities. Take lessons fromthe way folks survived the last Great Depression and use their hard-won wisdom to survive the next one. The great thing about prepping is that your general efforts will see you through a wide variety of disasters, even those which gradually creep up on you, like energy shortages. Do you have any suggestions about reducing your reliance on the utility system? How would you foresee an electricity shortage affecting the average person? Share your insights in the comments below! Image Credit Please feel free to share any information from this site in part or in full, leaving all links intact, giving credit to the author and including a link to this website and the following bio. Daisy Luther lives on a small organic homestead in Northern California. She is the author ofThe Organic Canner,The Pantry Primer: A Preppers Guide to Whole Food on a Half-Price Budget, and The Preppers Water Survival Guide: Harvest, Treat, and Store Your Most Vital Resource.On her website, The Organic Prepper, Daisy uses her background in alternative journalism to provide aunique perspective on health and preparedness, and offers a path of rational anarchy against a system that will leave us broke, unhealthy, and enslaved if we comply. Daisys articles are widely republished throughout alternative media.You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Is the great city experiment over? Time to get off gridtrucks bringing food is not the best answer. Who cares about Venezuela, when the rest of the world is in serious meltdown. I have a friend (a Missionary) that travels to The Dominican republic and he says there are at times forced power outages. What people do to deal with it is to install a battery bank and charge it with with an auto battery charger when the power is on. And use it for the times they gov shuts the power off. Add a few solar panels, a charge controller and you have an off-grid system. Buy the stuff for this now while its inexpensive and you will be way ahead of the masses that will be trying to deal with it while the power is going on and off. I see this as one way to handle the down times of the grid and still do things with electricity. A generator would be a good investment too. I have one for my work in vacant hoes without power. But I would use it other times if needed. Also for lighting I dont see LED camping lanterns mentioned. I have a few several of these, a few are solar powered. The solar ones work great and need nothing more then to set them in a window during the day. A solar battery charger can keep batteries charged and do it for free. Amazon sells these for $60.00. For cooking a Butterfly stove (used by 20% of the people on the planet) would work well. (Who cares about Venezuela, when the rest of the world is in serious meltdown.) We all should as people are people the world over. And only a real fool thinks it cant happen in the USA. Learn from it and plan to deal with it so you are ready. And a serious meltdown will bring rolling blackouts. 