3 months (90 days) of _everything_ has been my benchmark for several years now. Seems anemic against current news but life happens while making other plans... Because caloric/nutritional needs are now substantially bolstered by seed-to-seed gardening, I _might_ have wherewithal to weather chaos for a year. Losing weight, oh yeah. Trapped by the seasons, with no more "out-of-season" goodies on the shelves anymore (at a price I can afford). Eating a rather monotonous diet. Animals all included.
This "cashing in" on some of my small gold holdings comes at an intersection of thought.
One: any form of currency can be "called in". When FDR and his cronies made mandatory exchange of gold for fiat paper, they helped themselves to a premium, those that had to turn in their gold (or face becoming outlaws) took a wee bit of a bath the way I read it.
Two: Inflation is running up faster that the price of gold is. Of course I don't believe that trend line will last... However. The generous quote I got from a dealer in town here reflects his bet that gold will go higher, perhaps much higher...
which leads me to the tipping point...
Three: Windows of opportunity to secure critical hardware will be closing ever faster as both availability and surveillance gather speed careening down their separate paths. Can you get it? Can you get it without your Overlord _KNOWING_ you got it?
TEOTWAWKI has been front and center in prepper thinking for some time now. The stuff of legends and nightmares always put off, dodged, worked around.
But forever is a slippery thing.
So are bets in Vegas or Jersey.
Considering the odds, the costs, the probabilities, the possible ramifications... I'd say the FBI telling their people to have 3 months on hand for them and theirs? A conservative and optimistic target.
