gpop said:
I'm actually thinking in more "agrarian" terms... "what service or product can I barter for things that I need for my family"? Most of my work history is in IT and computer related which would mean squat during something like that; I hold more faith in my carpentry skills and what I can produce that is TRADABLE.
In the absence of a working currency, you are left with your productivity to sustain you. I've been distancing myself from reliance on this digital age in favour of back-to-basics. You can't eat digital food!
Yeah, I'm in the same boat being completely dependent on the IT market right now to provide as well.
Thus my thinking about a move to Paraguay and eventually being able to go live with my in-laws and help them produce their farm - and defend it as well.
Right now, I know of so many Paraguayan families in their area (the poorest Department in Paraguay, which says a lot) that don't have electricity, internet or cars (although motorbikes are common). My father-in-law hires a couple of guys right now to plow the hectare and a half that he works with oxen (seriously). They often butcher their own meat (in which I have participated a few times) If anyone could survive relatively unscathed, it would be in an area like that where everyone is already used to fighting for survival on a daily basis.
I was a carpenter hobbyist when I lived in the States (I sometimes dream of my 3-car garage, one space of which was my small workshop, with all my tools and a bit of storage for my wood stock...
). I also worked construction in various positions, from grunt dirt digger all the way up to drafting plans and erecting major commercial buildings (including many buildings on the ex-Compaq campus in Northwest Houston).
I'm right with you - physical skills are good.
I figure I can survive ok if it hits, but it will be a hard life.
Being in a place like Buenos Aires can be anywhere from difficult in a local economic collapse to downright deadly in a world-wide collapse.
