Economically, how can concerned Americans prepare for the worst?

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Remember there have been worse times and you are descended mostly from people who survived them.

I love this

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Mate? I’ve never heard an American say mate.

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Spend some time learning to fix everything. EVERYTHING. Knowing a little bit of plumbing, electronic repair, woodwork, carpentry, and cad can save you tremendous amounts of money. Contractors cost crazy amounts of Money, even for simple fixes.

Yoy dont even need to practice, just read up on it. Recently my sink started leaking, so I though I'd just mess with it. Fixed it with 30$ worth of parts. Dishwasher broke and I fixed it with a 70$ PSU.

Dont learn how to do oil changes though, most of the time it won't save you any money. Autoshops save a lot of money with volume oil changes.

Woodworking is a hobby that can pay for itself, and yoy dont even have to sell anything. Wood is everywhere, and free. You have to wait months for it to dry but afterwards you can make anything.

Ive made spatulas, spoons, snack clips, furniture, tools, storage, cabinets, bookmarks, bowls, cutting boards, knife covers, drying racks, shelves, etc. It gives you a level of self sufficiency that can never be taken from you. It shouldn't even be called woodworking, it should just be called "making shit". It's an extremely useful and valuable skill. Ive even used it to fix computers by making custom brackets and stuff, and a special heatsink mount for an old heatsink.

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As a German, I'm happy it worked out so well for you! Glad to have you in our country, it's not perfect but we're trying!

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Every time I get to know my neighbors, things are going well and then they suddenly drop something wildly transphobic, homophobic, or ableist. The last one was especially horrifying back when people were still talking about COVID— "but it only affects old/disabled people!"— pretty much saying to your face that they're cool if you die.

Relying on other people in a survival scenario seems incredibly irresponsible. It's America. Your neighbors want you dead.

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Vielen Dank! We really enjoy living here and we are working hard to settle here permanently.

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libraries need human rights supporters to just show up and normalize the room as often as possible so badly right now.

Just being there and looking proPOC and proTrans makes the space more accessible to everyone, except the people who are frustrated by inclusive community practice flouting their desire to hunt and torture for sport.

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Damn, I guess I'm lucky. Here is at least +50 Harris, someone wearing a nazi armband and doing a salute will get their ass beaten, and nobody would report it.

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It’s America. Your neighbors want you dead.

Not all parts of America, my area is at least +50 Harris, someone being an open nazi walking around waving swasticas or doing the salute here will get their ass beaten.

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Yea about that...

My family waited 13 years on a waitlist before getting an immigration visa to the US, other places, such as the EU is much stricter, most Americans aint going anywhere. Can't even claim political asylum since most of the world still considers the us a democracy.

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I think the EU depends on your country of entry. Some countries are under much more pressure than others. Also a lot comes down to your skill set.

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See they could fit in here in Australia already!

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IMO, there are three "levels" of economic hardship:

Severe recession: Where the economy shrinks, many businesses go bankrupt, unemployment hits around 7-10%
Legit depression: Core institutions in most or all sectors of the economy go bankrupt. Even highly skilled people cannot find work and are reduced to charity, begging, or stealing. Unemployment hits 15-25%
Total economic collapse: All major institutions in all sectors fail, or cease having any legitimacy. The country's currency becomes worthless due to either hyperinflation or governmental collapse. All people except the super wealthy elite, become destitute.

The last time the US experienced the second level was the Great Depression, where during the depths of the dust bowl and the depression, unemployment hit about 25%

If you genuinely think we are in for anything worse than level 2, you should flee the country now, or buy a gun and stockpile ammunition, food, and medicine.

Realistically, level isn't going to happen. Level 1 very likely will, level 2 I would give a 5% chance personally, but that is based only on vibes.

Have some savings in cash, a few hundred bucks mostly in small denominations should be alright. Don't do more than that.

Buy cheap bulk foods. Beans, chickpeas, lentils, raw oats, rice, four, potatoes. Buy several of those big 24 packs of bottled water. Most large retailers have them for 4-6 bucks a pack. You need A least 5-6 bottles a day to stay minimally hydrated. That's roughly 4 days of water per 24-pack. You should have at least a week of water per person.

Other folks here have good advice. Connect with a local community. If not your direct neighbors, then a group that meets nearby. You need other people for support. If you're in a really bad place, they will be the last line of dependable aid.

Quit your vices. Cigs, alcohol, excessive caffeine, and junk food all cost a lot of money, aren't healthy, and will make you much more vulnerable to economic upsets. It also allows others to take easier advantage of you, because of your desperation to get a fix.

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From my viewpoint, Trump is and will be causing social hardship much more than economic hardship.

I could possibly see a benefit in preparing for a harder times socially. Further division among neighbors might be the main casualty of this administration. Social cohesion is already struggling from his first four years.

Economically, I have no confidence in Trump's actions overall, but I am very confident that his massive ego determines his actions, and that ego is largely held up by the performance of the stock market. He will be very careful not to take any action that will rattle the markets too much. Whenever he see a negative reaction in the markets, but pulls back, claims a moral victory and moves on to the next thing.

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Yeah thats old school. That's where I started try to get back into the trading original but it seems now Facebook is the place tho as much as I hate Faceberg

Network effects strike again

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You can't. Ride the wave. If the market tumbles, everyone will suffer. Which is most likely what they want anyway, because a hungry population is much more easier to control.

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What kind of tools do you use to woodwork? And where did you learn?
I've done some light building but never figured how to do the small detailed stuff you mention.

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I disagree. A sated population is far easier to control. Hungry populations become desperate and have little to lose. Americans are sated and comfortable which is why we have allowed this to happen.

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That's what you would think. Like hungry people would protest or take action. But that's not how it plays out. When everyone is so busy with getting by and staying alive, nobody cares about any atrocities committed by the higher ups. I've seen many countries where the people simply ignore the craziest things their governments say or do.

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You're not wrong. We are seeing that exact scenario play out right now. We can agree on one thing. We are all fucked.

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Economically, how can concerned Americans prepare for the worst?