You Cant Eat Gold And SilverMichael Snyder Now dont get me wrong I actually love gold and silver. I believe that they are both going to multiply in price during the years ahead. I particularly love silver for a couple of reasons. Unlike gold, silver is used in thousands upon thousands of different consumer products, so the physical supply is constantly diminishing. And historically, silver comes out of the ground at about a 10 to 1 ratio compared to gold, but right now the price of gold is about 65 times the price of silver. At some point there is going to be a massive adjustment there. But if you just rely on accumulating gold and silver bars and you never store up any food, you could end up deeply regretting that choice someday. If things get bad enough, people are not going to want to trade you their precious food no matter how much gold and silver you may have. When a real crisis arrives, priorities change very rapidly. When you realize that you cant feed your family, the need for basic supplies become extremely important. Just check out what is happening in Venezuela right now Alvaro Villarueda starts his morning the same way every day putting in a call to his friend who has a friend who works at a Caracas, Venezuela, supermarket. Today, hes looking for sugar, and hes asking his friend if he knows if any shipments have arrived. As he talks on the phone, his wife Lisbeth Nello, is in the kitchen. There are 10 mouths to feed every day in this family five of them children. The two youngest are still in diapers. The things that are the scarcest are actually what we need the most, Nello says. Flour, cooking oil, butter, milk, diapers. I spent last week hunting for diapers everywhere. The situation is really tough for basic goods. In such an environment, people become extremely desperate, and desperate people do desperate things. That is why self-defense needs to be another high priority for preppers. When desperate people in search of supplies get desperate enough to break into your home, things can get Medieval very rapidly. For example, one homeownerin Detroit was recently forced to use a hammer to confront a man that had broken into his home late at night Police say an elderly man fended off a home intruder by hitting him on the head with a hammer. On Sunday, March 9, 82-year-old George Bradford was asleep when he was woken up by the screams of his daughter and granddaughter. Someone had broken into their house through a basement window. I could hear him walking up the stairs. I had my choice to get ready, Bradford tells FOX 2s Andrea Isom. He says he went into the kitchen and got a hammer from the drawer. Bradford says he asked the intruder to leave but he wouldnt so thats when Bradford says he let him have it. Could something similar happen to you and your family when things start really getting crazy out there? That is something to think about. And even without a major emergency, food supplies in this country are already starting to get tighter. The size of the U.S. cattle herd has been getting smaller for seven years in a row, and it is now the smallest size that it has been since 1951. But back in 1951, the size of the U.S. population was less than half of what it is today. A few days ago, we learned that during the month of February the price of beef increased at the fastest pacesince November 2003, and it is now at a new all-time record high. Earlier today, one of my readers sent me the following photo. It shows a price of $24.32 for 0.695 pounds of beef tenderloin steak. This isnt even prime rib In addition, the crippling California drought threatens to drive fruit and vegetable prices up to unprecedented levels. Below, I have posteda recent video news report about the drought. As you will notice, in this clip they use the term Dust Bowl to describe what many farmers fear may be happening So now is the time to get prepared while food prices are still relatively low. They certainly arent going to go any lower than they are now. To some, this type of talk is gloom and doom, but I do not believe that is the case at all. I believe that there is great hope in understanding what is happening and in getting prepared. These sentiments were echoed by a Canadian prepper namedDaisy Luther in one of her recent articles Preparedness: It means that whatever may come, you intend to not only grimly survive, but to thrive. It means that you foresee a day when the imminent threat, whatever that may be, diminishes, and you will rebuild. It means that you have taken responsibility for yourself and your family, and that you will not be forced to rely on others. It means that your mind is focused on life itself, not some imaginary life of some reality star that actually has no grasp on reality whatsoever. You have chosen not to be misguided by the lies that the media uses to pacify you. Preparing yourself is the most optimistic and hopeful thing you can do in a world that would prefer to choose immediate gratification over a firm grasp on reality. Readying yourself to deal with whatever might happen isa joyful act, an expression of gratitude to the Creator, peace made tangible, and the personification of faith itself. So what do you think? Is now the time to ramp up our preparation for the years ahead? Please feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below This article first appeared here at the American Dream. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here. 