About SurviveUSA
SurviveUSA – About Us
SurviveUSA started while two of the owners were cleaning up damage caused by the ice storm and discussing “The End Of The World As We Know It” (TEOTWAWKI.) Attempting to find a strategy to ensure their well-being under conditions of economic collapse in the U.S., they found the alternatives all seemed to have significant drawbacks and risks. Finally Tom Norvold stated, “If we need to acquire a lot of things to prepared, why don’t we start a store that will carry everything so people around here can to stockpile them?” The virtue and irrefutable logic of that statement catalyzed the formation of the store and the SurviveUSA.biz website.
Turning the concept into reality proved more difficult than coming up with the idea. By May relationships had been set up with over seventy suppliers, but some of the most important items were unavailable. In particular, solar power units, water treatment systems and food processing equipment had delivery times from six weeks to over six months. The nuclear disaster in Japan had commandeered many of these items, particularly the water treatment units, and FEMA had placed large orders for many of the others. There is a lesson here that everyone should heed – during emergencies critical supplies and equipment are unavailable.
In addition to natural disasters caused by weather, other trends are troublesome. A type of Asian stink bug is voraciously feeding on American apples, beans, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables, reducing forecasts for 2011 yields by twenty percent. Apple juice from China, comprising fifty percent of U.S. domestic consumption, is frequently contaminated with arsenic, and other third-world produce likewise endangers Americans. Bees necessary for pollination are still declining dramatically, and floods and drought in the US have removed millions of acres from agricultural production. Corn has been diverted from food to energy uses, and droughts in the Third World are lowering production so drastically that widespread starvation in the coming years is a near certainty. Worst of all is the demand for water. The American Southwest is facing a calamity, and if Las Vegas continues its current trends, not only will it soon run out of water, but the level in Lake Mead will be too low for power generation. Southern California is facing a bleak future, and with its broken state government, there seems to be no way out.
There are people who continue to rely on the Federal Government for their well-being, and vote “business as usual” as long as checks and grants keep coming. During the past four years Izard and Sharp counties have been declared Federal Disaster Areas four times, and local people have seen the difference between Federal promises and action. The most effective actions were taken by friends and neighbors, and those who had prepared in advance for emergencies.
But the situation is growing worse. The National Debt is continuing to climb, and literally all economists and financial experts have stated the rising debt is “unsustainable.” What does that mean? It means that at some point the dollar must be devalued, not merely by inflation, but by government fiat, thus making most necessities prohibitively expensive. U.S. prices are primarily set today by foreign companies and nations, most particularly China. Our debt to China makes us dependent on them, and with the current momentum moving towards an international medium of exchange – something other than the dollar – the U.S. dollar will become no better than a Greek drachma or Mexican peso.
But the U.S. is the most productive nation on earth, some say. That’s true, in the production of goods and services, but not solely in goods. Manufacturing jobs – the producers of wealth – have fled the U.S. for Latin America, India and the Far East where much cheaper labor rates prevail. We can’t compete in labor, and “free trade” is only honored by the U.S. American companies have been unable to break into many of the world’s markets due to national policies to keep the U.S. out. Foremost among countries applying unfair trade practices on U.S. goods and companies are China and Japan, and with international agreements, the European Union. Japan has effectively stonewalled American entry into its markets for years, Mexico does not allow Americans to own real property in Mexico, and France protects its critical industries by prohibiting majority foreign ownership of corporations in France.
American companies seeking to break into the 1.3 billion person Chinese market must form subsidiaries owned 51% by Chinese enterprises effectively controlled by the Chinese Communist government. Not only that, but U.S. corporations must surrender their technology to Chinese control, thus transferring any and all American patents, proprietary knowledge and intellectual property to the Chinese. But the worst of all is that American companies must agree to move all their research and development facilities to China, in effect robbing the U.S. of its seed corn and the ability to compete in the long run. One might think that our Federal Government would pass laws to prohibit such transfers, but alas. General Electric has already transferred its entire avionics technology to China and Westinghouse its nuclear know-how. Amazingly, those companies are favored by the current administration. Our jobs are going overseas, our technology is going overseas, our R&D is going overseas, what is left? Energy production? The current administration has shut down American oil exploration in the U.S. and off-shore while allowing Chinese companies to drill. Exactly who are our politicians working for?
So we American citizens must go back to the basics and work to produce what we need locally. It will be difficult, and Arkansas itself is hardly business-friendly, in spite of what Little Rock says. Try starting a business and see. We citizens have lost control of our government and the ten most frightening words in the world are, “I’m from the Government and I’m here to help you.” Thank you very much, but we don’t want any more of your “help.” We are Americans, not supplicants with hands out for someone to take care of us. If that’s not slavery, it certainly is serfdom. Americans are better than that. We prefer Liberty.
Remember and cherish the slogan: “Localization, Not Globalization,” and trust in God. Our strength is in ourselves, our families and our communities.