This Is What a Real-Life Economic Collapse Looks Like (and how to prepare for it)By Daisy Luther What if you couldnt run to Wal-Mart to get soap? What if the grocery store had supplies so limited that they were rationed out to people in such small amounts that the food you got was not enough to meet your needs? What if there were no diapers for your baby or aspirin to cure a headache? This is exactly what happens in a serious economic collapse. It happened a couple of years ago in Greece, and its happening right now in Venezuela. Bloomberg.com reports a scene of desperation: Long lines, some stretching for blocks, formed outside grocery stores in the South American countrys capital as residents search for scarce basic items such as detergent and chicken. Ive visited six stores already today looking for detergent I cant find it anywhere, said Lisbeth Elsa, a 27-year-old janitor, waiting in line outside a supermarket in eastern Caracas. Were wearing our dirty clothes again because we cant find it. At this point Ill buy whatever I can find. [] Inside a Plan Suarez grocery store yesterday in eastern Caracas, shelves were mostly bare. Customers struggled and fought for items at times, with many trying to skip lines. The most sought-after products included detergent, with customers waiting in line for two to three hours to buy a maximum of two bags. A security guard asked that photos of empty shelves not be taken. Police inside a Luvebras supermarket in eastern Caracas intervened to help staff distribute toilet paper and other products. [] You cant find anything, Ive spent 15 days looking for diapers, Jean Paul Mate, a meat vendor, said outside the Luvebras store. You have to take off work to look for products. I go to at least five stores a day. [] This is the worst it has ever been Ive seen lines thousands of people long, Greisly Jarpe, a 42-year-old data analyst, said as she waited for dish soap in eastern Caracas. People are so desperate theyre sleeping in the lines. So what a real economic collapse looks like is actually this: Heres a video via The Dave and Chad Show: The situation is dire, and shows no signs of improvement on the horizon. Why is the economy so bad in Venezuela? A report by JD Heyes of Natural News gives a snapshot: A combination of economic factors has all contributed to Venezuelas disintegration a lack of foreign capital and declining oil prices among them but the countrys socialist economic policies are at the root of every problem. There are shortages of virtually everything, from car batteries to toilet paper even McDonalds french fries. Annual inflation rose to 64 percent in November. The government there sounds a lot like the government here. Military forces have deployed to the nearly barren stores to protect shoppers and store employees. Meanwhile, like something out of a dystopic movie, Interior Minister Carmen Melendez took to the airwaves to utter blatantly untrue propaganda in an attempt to assuage the hungry and increasingly desperate citizens. Dont fall into desperation we have the capacity and products for everyone, with calmness and patience. The stores are full. This reminds me of that scene in The Interview where one of the main characters, Dave Skylark, discovers that the abundance he was assured of wasnt real and that the food in the grocery store window was actually made of plastic. If youre paying attention, youll be able to see the writing on the wall. More and more businesses are closing here in America, and we could soon be going down the same chaotic path as Venezuela, and Greece before them. You probably never expected to read that on a preparedness website, did you? You might think that if youre a prepper, youre immune to all of this. Unfortunately, thats not the case. In the case of Venezuela, prepping became illegal last fall. Todays lesson is that when times get tough,the government can and will persecute those who have planned ahead. The Attorney General of Venezuela,Luisa Ortega Daz, called on prosecutors to target people who are hoarding basic staples with serious sanctions. She called on prosecutors to seek their detention. The attorney general called on people to remain calm, not to fall for provocations, and not to be afraid of the alleged food shortage. Based on the figures provided by the Central Bank of Venezuela, shortage hit 20% in August; in other words, 20 out 100 items are missing from the shelves. According to a press release, the Attorney General Office has designated an ad hoc group of prosecutors to work nationwide with other authorities and cope with the threats against food security and, consequently, against the State. (source) So basically, the Venezuelan government intends to treat those who prepared ahead of time like domestic terroristssound familiar? Executive orders are already in place to crack down on preppers should the government decide to do so.The game pieces have already been moved into place to ban hoarding in America. In 2012, President Obama signed an executive order thatgives the federal governmentauthority over every resource and infrastructure element in the United States. And every resource includes your pantry. Michael Snyder recently wrote about the war on preppers on his site, The Economic Collapse Blog: There are approximately 3 million preppers in the United States today, and often they appear to be singled out for punishment by bureaucratic control freaks that are horrified at the thought that there are families out there that actually want to try to become less dependent on the system. So if you use alternative methods to heat your home, or if you are not connected to the utility grid, or if you collect rainwater on your property, or if you believe that parents should have the ultimate say when it comes to health decisions for their children, you could become a target for overzealous government enforcers. Once upon a time, America was the land of the free and the home of the brave, but now we are being transformed into a socialist police state where control freak bureaucrats use millions of laws, rules and regulations to crack down on anyone that dares to think for themselves. What can you store? is not the answer to this conundrum. What can you make? thats the answer. Your focus has to be on long-term sustainability, frugality, and self-reliance. Dont get me wrong a stockpile is sensible and an important course of action. It should definitely be part of your preparedness plan. However, you need to also be ready for the time when the supplies in your well-stocked pantry are no longer available. You need to be able to meet as many of your own needs as possible or youll end up being one of those people wearing dirty clothes because you cant find laundry soap or going hungry because you cant find any food at the stores or cant afford it if you can find it. Lots of us have taken steps to free ourselves from the chains of the local Wal-Mart, but we can take it a step further. We can learn to be self-reliant. This means: Its only by reducing your need for the things sold in stores that you can exempt yourself from the chaos and desperation that will erupt when or if an economic collapse situation occurs here. Take the time to revisit the situation in Greece a couple of years ago. Families were so desperate they gave up their children to be raised by the state when they could no longer afford to feed them. People worked longer hours for less money, while the cost of everything went up, causing instant crippling poverty for the former middle class. Suicide rates sky-rocketed and the countrys lifestyle changed dramatically and not for the better. Knowledge and skills are among the most important things you can collect to prepare for an economic collapse. However, if you havent been at it your entire life, its difficult to remember everything. Create a library of references to help you in your quest for self-reliance. These are some of my favorites: Id like to issue a challenge. What can you do right now to reduce your reliance on the stores? How can you take your prepper skills to the next level? Can you start making your own soap? Heat exclusively with wood? Grow sprouts in your windowsill? How long can you go (dipping too deeply into your stockpile is cheating) without a trip to the store for consumer goods? How can you stretch your groceries and make your supplies go further? Can you cut down on the supplies that you require from the store? Pick one thing (at least) and let us know about it in the comments. This isnt just for people who live in farming communities or for those who are off-the-grid already. Nearly anyone can lower the amount of consumer goods they require, regardless of their living situation. Please share your ideas the challenge you take on might help someone else in a similar situation see a way to reduce their dependence too, when they previously felt there was nothing they could do. None of us are trapped in a hopeless situation. We can prevent ourselves from being those desperate people being policed and rationed in the near-empty stores by learning self-reliance skills today. Top Image Credit Daisy Luther lives in a small village in the Pacific Northwestern area of the United States. She is the author ofThe Organic Cannerand The Pantry Primer: How to Build a One Year Food Supply in Three Months.On her website, The Organic Prepper, where this first appeared, 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, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca 