End Of The World 2012?

Barter and Bullets. The post 2012 economy.

After a major global cataclysmic event the traditional money economy

will fail completely, and may not be restored for years - depending on

the scale of the disaster and how badly central governments are

affected.

That means that a primitive barter economy will re-emerge. Survivors

will trade items of value in return for the things they need.

The most valuable items for trade will be:

•    Tobacco

•    Medical supplies

•    Tools

•    Guns

•    Ammunition

•    Seed

It’s essential that you keep these items in mind when stocking your

survival cache, and adding plenty of extras to trade.

In my view tobacco is the perfect trade item for the post 2012 economy.

It is compact, light and easy to store. Imagine how much tobacco you

could accumulate if you gave up smoking, but kept on buying cigarettes.

Trading from a position of power - the law of the gun.

The failure of the financial system will also be accompanied by the

immediate breakdown of law and order. That means that unless you are in

a position where you can assert power in trading negotiations, you will

be robbed of everything you possess.

You only need to cast your mind back to what happened in Rwanda or even

New Orleans after Katrina and the Rodney King LA Riots to see how

quickly this can happen.

In this context power means only trading in a safe place and being well

armed while you do it.

A safe place to trade is:

•    familiar ground that’s neutral to both you and your trading

partner

•    several easily accessible escape routes

•    concealment for the family members who will be covering you

with rifles during the trade

Valuing trade items.

In places like prisons where tobacco is the main currency it’s easy to

establish a value for each item traded. For instance a single cigarette

might be worth two helpings of dessert, and everyone would know that.

However in a post 2012 world things will be worth an amount equal to

how much the other person wants them. For example, to some people a

carton of cigarettes might be worth an automatic rifle!

You will only be able to establish the trade value of an item by

negotiation. And it will be different every time depending on whom

you’re trading with and how great their need is at the time. This is

particularly true of addictive substances like tobacco, and medical

supplies needed for loved ones.

So the obvious conclusion here is that the more you have in your

stockpile the more power you have – as long as you are able to defend

it.

The only proviso is that trade needs to be fair to both side – and be

seen as being fair. You should not try to extort unfair trades from

desperate people. They can easily decide that it might just be easier

to try and take it from you by force, which could be disastrous.

Even if you are able to resist them, you might get injured. In a post

2012 world injuries are to be avoided at all costs. Your health and

your ability to support your family is the most valuable asset you can

possibly have.This brings me my final point.

Should your family go it alone or try to band together with other

groups and live in a community – hoping for strength in numbers and

economies of scale in agriculture.

I believe an extended family would work, where blood relations and in-

laws come together in a group of up to 20 or 30 people who already know

that they can more or less get along.

Communes

Groups of unrelated people who come together most often fail to stay

together. The hippie communes of the 60s and 70s showed us that

politics, power-trips, ego, jealousies, envy, lust and all the other

problems of society soon begin to surface and eventually destroy the

community.

In a post 2012 world the damage that could be done to your family by a

split in your community could be fatal. You could be cast out of the

community with nothing, or injured in a fight.

So I believe that you are better off staying as a small, close-knit,

well disciplined unit until the fabric of the greater society begins to

mend itself. You might consider inviting a select few to join you if

they have particular skills you need, but be very careful about who

they are – and make sure you keep the ultimate power safely in your

hands and the welfare of your immediate family remains you number one

priority.

Of course this is just scratching the surface of everything you have to

know if you want your family to live to see 2013. I've put all my

experience as a special forces survival trainer into a FREE book that

you can get

from my website www.survive2012doomsday.com please

take a look. Mike Kerrigan.