Edge

If the center of something is collapsing, you want to get to an edge. If you believe that the American state is collapsing, sucked into the huge vortex of debt in Washington, then you'll want to get as far away as possible.

I mean this both figuratively and literally.

Figuratively, you'll want to reduce your exposure to Washington's decisions. The way in which Washington influences us most profoundly is through the currency. Money effects everything -- if you need a wheelbarrow full of bills to buy a loaf of bread, then you cannot say that Washington's actions don't affect you. We're not at that stage yet, but anyone can see that the endless spending, borrowing, and printing of money ends one way -- in a worthless currency. I would not care about the currency, but for two reasons: 1) it is what my retirement is in, and 2) I need it in order to buy things in order to survive, such as food and water.

My home is dependent on the state for water and for sewer; it is dependent on a large public utility for electricity; it is dependent on a transportation and refining network for heat. My home is also dependent on a social contract -- I live in close proximity to neighbors I don't know very well, and on a police force that may or may not arrive in time should I be attacked. These dependencies all create risk. In my lifetime, these risks have been minimal, for society has been prosperous and well-ordered.

But the risks have not been eliminated. And doing as the folks in Washington are doing right now -- pretending that the risks do not exist -- is extremely foolish. The only thing more foolish than not recognizing the precipice towards which we are heading is to keep following those leading towards the precipice.

In other words, you may pretend that there is no precipice. I no longer will. I can see it. I have read my history, and I have studied enough economics to know that a day of reckoning is coming.

The folks in Washington are building a black hole of debt. That black hole will suck everything into it, unless you are far enough away to escape the pull of it.

I have been thinking about Asimov's book, Foundation. In it, a social scientist foresees the end of the current civilization, and sees no way to forestall it. What he decides to do is set up a Foundation to preserve civilization's knowledge so as to minimize the destruction wrought by society's collapse. He locates this Foundation on the planet Terminus, at the extreme edge of the galaxy. The Foundation's goal is a great encyclopedia of knowledge, primarily focused on science, to preserve human knowledge. He chooses Terminus because it is far enough away from the center to survive the collapse.

In a literal sense, I think one needs to get to the edge. The survivalist James Wesley, Rawles at Survivalblog ranks the states by their potential for being locations for a retreat. He takes a rather dim view of the states east of the Mississippi, when he considers population density. I respect his opinion, but I am a New Englander by birth and I cannot, at this time relocate west. In other words, I accept that his judgment may be correct, but I am going to hope that it is not.

My likely retreat has to focus on two possible places -- Vermont and Maine. Northern New Hampshire is also a possibility. These places, at the remote edge of New England, have a shot at surviving the collapse of Boston.

Once at the edge, I then have to start gathering a community of like minded people. I also have to think of ways to keep knowledge alive. I do not have the requisite knowledge to eliminate all of my dependencies, but the knowledge is out there. Much of it is on the Web; it is a question of dowloading and storing it, assuming I come up with a way of preserving a) an off the grid source of power, and b) a few working computers. It is possible -- and over the long term, likely, should the collapse last for long -- that electricity will fail and computers will die; but if I gain a few years and get the requisite knowledge preserved, those who survive me in the community will be able to grow in strength and knowledge. This will give them an edge in the dark ages.