Economically, how can concerned Americans prepare for the worst?

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It's not even universally true in red states, unless you want to believe I'm the Super Special Exception. I was thinking of my own failed attempts to reach out recently and got bitter and started saying shit.

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Felt that I should add a few notes:

Storing a small supply of luxury items for trade or making friends may be a good idea. Don't set aside so much that you make yourself into a mark, just a small amount, maybe no more than a grocery bag full. Tobacco, booze, coffee, weed if it's legal, and chocolate are all going to be big hits with a lot of folks, but you know your area better than I do and maybe you'd be better off having a special cheese stash or something. Use your best judgement. Get into this stash when you need a little something to make or sweeten a trade, or when you'd like to make nice with someone (pro-tip, give gifts with no expectations of reciprocity, but if it's offered, don't refuse. Instead of refusing, try to see that it doesn't feel like the exchange of gifts wasn't completely square. Not so much that someone feels ripped off, but enough that the transaction doesn't feel complete. It's a narrow window to thread, and just accept the exchange graciously if you can't hit it).

If you're worried about keeping your food garden low-key, there's a number of plants that can pass as ornamentals that, while not staple crops, will still feed you. Right out the gate, pumpkins are, imo, really able to walk the line between ornamental and food. Corn can go with pumpkins here if you can pull off the fall aesthetic. Going into less conventional food sources, you can put clover, chives, and spring onions into your front yard and they probably won't be meaningfully distinguishable unless you've got some HOA dorks up your ass. There's also a number of clump grasses that will 100% pass as ornamentals but will also feed you. Look into the grasses that the native Americans depended on in your area; they're a little too region specific and too many to get into here, IME. There's also a pretty good selection of trees and herbs that can be treated as ornamentals, but will also keep you fed. Blueberries spring to mind, in particular, as their foliage is very handsome imo.

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Find books written about farming/saving during ww2. Get a freezer and a canner. Stock up on beans/rice/etc (long shelf life foods). Save bones from meat, boil them for 6 hours, then let fool and strain them. Can/freeze the broth (I put mine in quart freezer bags flattened out in the freezer). One quart added to 1qt water is filled with nutes for soups and such. If you have a fireplace, keep a bag of dryer lint for kindling. Buy heirloom seeds, learn how to save seeds (Whenever I grow green beans I always have 100+ dried pods in autumn as I usually only have enough to harvest 2x with any real quantity. Each dried pod has at least 4 beans). Buy things you need now that tariffs will affect the most (electronics, coffee, etc.) Start learning how to fix things yourself, get basic tools (drill, hammers, driver sets, wrenches, etc). Fix car problems now, before parts go up. If you know ANYONE still alive now from the 30s to 40s, pick their brains on what they did. Also, get books on identifying plants. Sorrel is awesome to add to food for flavor, dandelions are a good source of Vit C... my knowledge is limited, but so far that's what I've tried (do NOT eat roots of dandelion).

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Buy gold, keep cash on a safe at home, make sure all documents are current and aren't about to expire (in case you need to quickly leave the country). Prioritize essential purchases over luxury ones and if short on cash pay those over debt payments

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A hungry population is easier to direct in violence. Tell them who the enemy is, who the reason for their problems is, and they will focus on that hatred and prejudice. Blame others for the problems.

That’s what the republicans have been doing, and they will continue to do it.

That’s the kind of control I think the commenter meant.

Right now we’re easy to control because we’re afraid to lose what we’ve got.

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Another way to remove oxygen from stored food to prevent rancidity is to make your own oxygen absorbers (rancidity is caused by oxygen oxidizing fats and other flavor compounds)

Which are literally just iron filings mixed with table salt in a gas permeable packet (coffee filter paper works great)

The salt is hygroscopic (absorbs water) and water + oxygen + iron turns into rust, which sequesters the oxygen

I make my own and put them in opened packages of nuts and seeds :]

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It's a good idea to have documents but realistically if you suddenly have to leave there won't be flights and the border would be shut down.

If you want to get out before then you should probably already do so. Then the problem is that you preemptively made yourself a refugee and are sacrificing most of what you are afraid of losing.

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Depending on where you are sweet potatoes are often grown as an ornamental vine but the tubers are literally what you eat. You can grow them in the ground or in pots (I recommend pots so it's easier to harvest, ymmv). Tomatos, blueberries, herbs, sunflowers, and strawberries are probably pretty easy to get away with too as long as you keep them organized looking.

If you don't have an HOA and you live in its native range, central north america, the sunchoke is a crazy good source of food. Honestly too crazy, once you start growing it, it'll be there forever and it'll try to take over everything, but you'll have the food there buried waiting for you year round. You can also grow it in pots, just be careful with the tubers and the soil, they will seriously spread out of control.

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Great advice! How did I forget sweet potato?! I've heard that all parts of the plant are edible as well, though I've yet to confirm it. Another salad green you can grow as an ornamental is nasturtium, but do so with caution, as I've read that it draws in pests.

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Investment-wise, have a well-diversified portfolio. This is not financial advice, and I'm not a professional, but this is what I'd do with retirement funds and personal stock accounts:

US stocks: Don't be over-exposed to US stocks, especially riskier ones. Historically, bonds and foreign stocks have been recommended to balance your portfolio, but many people have ignored that in recent years due to the dominance of US large-cap stocks, especially the tech sector. Ensure you're diversified in accordance with your risk tolerance/retirement time-horizon.

Non-US Stocks: It would be good to have a non-US ETF or index fund with developing and emerging markets. It may not perform as well, but can potentially hedge against US market volatility. The counterpoint here is that US stocks are globally interconnected enough that getting non-US stocks would overexpose you to that part of the market. Caveat emptor, do research.

Bonds: bond ETFs/funds, I-bonds (inflation protected securities, you can buy $10k per year), and automated bond ladders can give you steady returns. Remember buying bonds directly is fairly illiquid - your money will be stuck in the bond for the duration of the bond's term.

Cash: Inflation isn't crazy right now. Probably wouldn't be bad to have more cash than normal sitting in high-yield accounts (earning around 4% APY right now) since the market is likely to dip. Maybe consider liquidating some investments that are riskier than you'd like. I wouldn't really advocate trying to time the market, but also it doesn't seem like a bad time to be a little heavier on cash imo.

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For anyone that wants it, here's a local copy of this page with all the replies included: https://mega.nz/file/2IdilIiI#cprrG2E58S1Wg2kp5YNEjfLMBh1hPHiQzuWMpsXI3dk

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We can't lol

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If we're really going full warlord-rule society, names on a domestic account at some institution are worthless.

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Take out tons of credit cards, loans etc and max them out with no intention of paying any of it back. Burn it to the ground.

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What do you want to do with gold? This isn't the middle Ages where you can pay the peasants with gold or silver coins.
In an economic collapse canned food, fuel, etc. will be useful. Something people need every day and can be swapped in small quantities.

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Don't spend on anything besided essentials, keep an eye on the news to see if any of the long running institutions Americans use to save their money are being sacked and take your money out accordingly.

The less individuals contribute to the economy the worse the effects of this administration will show.

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Things won't get to that point, most likely. Things can get really bad and still recover. If it's an apocalyptic scenario, better invest in a stock of bullets and a bunker.

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That was incredibly kind and useful thing to do for us. Thank you.

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https://fourthievesvinegar.org/
If your forced to find a solution.

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Good stuff, thanks. Tricky problem to solve, generally speaking

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Economically, how can concerned Americans prepare for the worst?