A lot of preppers either already live in the country, or they wish to escape there. I understand that - if necessary, I will relocate my family to the family spread up north.
Unless things become quite degenerate, however, cities are going to remain centers of commerce and sources of resources. Just think of how many junkyards and surplus stuff is lying around in the city. I was just in a store named Ax Man on University Avenue in St. Paul yesterday. I hadn't been there in years, and it was still a great place to go to find... well, just about anything. Old surplus electric motors, electronics parts, storage cases... even a Swedish stomach pump, whatever that is.
Those of you living in the countryside - do you REALLY think you will be able to get along without any help from the city? What if something in your country dwelling wears out? What if you need a solar cell, or you need your generator fixed?
The fact is that cities came about in human history, because when humans live together in a concentrated population center, synergy is possible. Synergy is the idea that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Change encounters and ideas discussed at the coffee shop or bar can turn into life-saving ideas or inventions. Something about just hanging out with other people and talking leads to a higher level of commerce and invention.
Thus, even in a TEOTWAWKI scenario, we might expect human commerce and markets to survive in some form, even if it requires barter or a new currency.
With that in mind, why not start to form the commercial alliances and marketplaces of the future NOW? Why not form a network of like-minded people in the city and the country who can trade with each other, even if it involves travel by horseback, canoe, or bicycle?
If you are at all interested in discussing this idea, or forming a future trade relationship with someone in Minneapolis, just leave a comment.
The time to start talking about these ideas is now, because our government seems hell-bent on destroying our currency and therefore the economy. We need to reinvent the meaning of "economy" now.
Monday, February 16, 2009
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Great post. There are tradeoffs in every situation and physical distance from trade, markets, and infrastructure is one of the disadvantages of remote survival retreats. Even in total chaos, informal barter and cash networks formed in places like Somalia or Yugoslavis (during their civil war in the early 1990s) within weeks of the crisis hitting. This is one aspect where Rawles' book Patriots is totally unrealistic - the "Barterfaire" would have started within weeks, not years after the collapse.
ReplyDeleteI can envision a sort of village outside the main city that could be a center for trade. I don't think a city would be much fun to live in post collapse...No power, no water, no phone, no emergency services, no grocery stores... cities aren't set up to survive that. You might be OK if you had a wood stove and an off grid way to power your well. Then it would just be you and any others armed and prepped (if you managed to fend off the golden horde)
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