HS 147 - SURVIVE Magazine with N.E. MacDougald

Welcome to the Holistic Survival show with Jason Hartman. The economic storm brewing around the world is set to spill into all aspects of our lives. Are you prepared? Where are you going to turn for the critical life skills necessary to survive and prosper? The Holistic Survival show is your family's insurance for a better life. Jason will teach you to think independently, to understand threats, and how to create the ultimate action plan. Sudden change or worst scenario, you'll be ready. Welcome to Holistic Survival, your key resource for protecting the people, places and profits you care about in uncertain times. Ladies and gentlemen, your host, Jason Hartman.

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It's my pleasure to welcome Ne McDougall to the show. He's the former survival editor for Soldier of Fortune magazine and the managing editor of Survive magazine. He's also the author of Soldier of Guide to surviving the the ultimate guide to protecting your family against societal collapse. And he goes by Mac and is coming to us from California today. Mac, how are you?

I'm well, thank you very much, Jason.

Well, good. Pleasure to have you on the show today. There's a lot going on, a lot of concerns people have, and I think they're very valid concerns, especially in light of what is going on in Europe, in Cyprus specifically. We've had a bank holiday. We have an outright government seizure of assets. Scary times, huh?

They're unparalleled in terms of my being concerned about the. I've not seen it like this in.

My lifetime, and I don't think anybody has unless they've lived in Argentina or Hungary or Zimbabwe or some of the other countries that have really faced this. But it's getting to be where we see highly developed westernized countries on the verge of collapse. I mean, look at what's Next. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland's got problems. The US has a terrible balance sheet, obviously, but we're in that sort of enviable position, at least for the moment, of having a reserve currency and the largest military on the planet, which means we can throw our weight around a bit. But times are scary. I mean, what do you think could happen in the us? You know, you talk a lot about the Federal Reserve and the treasury and how they work together to basically impoverish the population and debase the currency. Give us a little background on that. Your thoughts and then what you think people should prepare for here.

Well, it's a great question. I devoted a chapter to it in my book. And when you go up to 50,000ft and look down upon all of the bad financial, economic and fiscal choices that we've made, the monetary policy in this country is in essence turned upside down. The worst news is that almost every country is now inflating its currency. There's sort of a race to the bottom.

That's exactly how I say it. It's a race to the bottom.

Yeah. So years ago the United States treasury backed the US dollar with gold and with silver, and both of those have now been removed. So we have a quote, floating currency. And it floats in relation to the euro, the Japanese, these several other currencies, and they all float against each other. And that's all well and good until the bottom falls out. And none of these currencies, including Switzerland, is backed by gold or silver anymore. So they're all basically printed in bad faith. And the citizens take them in good faith.

Yeah, they're all fiat money. It's like a bunch of houses in a bad neighborhood. Who's got the best house in that bad neighborhood? I had Jim Rogers on the show use that analogy with him and he said, well, the US is the worst house. But you know, I gotta be honest, Mac, I disagree with that because even though the balance sheet looks bad, we still have abundant natural resources if we would actually use them. Who knows if we can ever get, we'll ever get the chance to do that with the powers that be, but. Or use them in any real major full scale way. But it's kind of a question of how long can we just keep playing the same game with currencies and paying for our imports and in constantly devaluing dollars. The other countries make rumblings about it, but I don't know, maybe that can go on for a long time, I'm not sure.

Well, I don't think anyone knows that answer. And my Hat's off to you for having Jim Rogers on the show. I think he's more realistic. He really has his head screwed up in terms of us being the biggest house on the block. Yes, you're right, but I have to disagree because countries like Norway, Switzerland, even tiny Denmark are going to recover quicker because their economies are smaller. Their countries are smaller, and they can get their feet under them quicker in the event of a depression or an inflationary spiral and stop it. Whereas we are big, we're unwieldy, we have an extremely wasteful government. Amount of abuse and fraud and waste in our government is almost incalculable now, Mac, really?

That's so shocking. I'm being sarcastic, of course. That's like the understatement of the millennium. But yes, okay, fair enough. We sure do. It's just ridiculous.

And my concern is that we're going to have to wait for this government to fall of its own weight until it's squandered all of our resources and run up the debt. Right now, we're barely able to service our debt. Let me define that for your listeners. To service the debt is to pay the interest on it. That has nothing to do with the principal that's been borrowed, the $16 trillion with a T dollar. So we're barely able right now to pay the interest each month or if it accrues. And what's going to happen at some point, you can't have virtual zero interest forever. And as other countries raise their rates, we are going to have to raise our rates to remain competitive. And what that means is we will no longer be able to service that, and we will then begin to default on our loans. And that's when the real trouble starts.

So about 40 cents of every dollar, I believe, is going just to pay interest. Is that about the right number?

Yes, it is.

Yeah. So that's just a totally imbalanced equation. The question is, how long can we get everybody else to participate in this game? Raising rates means that we have to pay our lenders, China and Japan mostly, a higher rate because we're debasing our currency through inflation. And it's becoming more risky as we're less and less solvent. But with those other sort of unique factors, I wonder if all of the rational thoughts that you have and other intelligent people have, do they apply? It's just sort of like the question is, how long can we defy gravity? I'm just sort of wondering if it can't go on for a long, long time. It's illogical.

Yeah, I don't believe that it can go on too much longer. It's one thing to know, at least in theory, to know that our monetary underpinnings are in a shambles. What to do about it is the real question. And if I may, I'd like to give the listeners a few ideas of what they can do rather than putting their money under the mattress.

Sure. Yeah. Good. Let's do it.

All right. If you own tangibles, which is to say tools, precious metals, oil, you know, in terms of oil for your automobile, any of those things.

Food, water, ammunition.

Yeah, food, water, ammunition, right at the top. And all of these things have an intrinsic worth. And regardless of whether the dollar is worth a few pennies more or less doesn't really affect the worth of the things that you have. And you mentioned food. The only thing that I'm sure of is that during an inflationary or a deflationary collapse, my family's going to need to eat. So we have quite a bit of food. And to the extent that one can go out and buy food, you are saving in a way that's better than putting money in a bank.

I would agree with you. Because real things, things matter. Currency is questionable, but things matter. Resources.

Exactly. So that would be my advice to the listeners that know something bad is going on.

Well, let's talk a little bit more about preparedness specifically and what people can do to prepare. So those are some of the things you mentioned. Those. But maybe let's kind of drill down on that a little bit more. What, what should the sort of standard preparedness be? Maybe for each person in a family. So if you have one person in your household, this is what you need. If you have four, multiply times four.

Well, I don't think anyone can go wrong by buying the new precious metal is ammunition. No secret there.

That's a great way to put it. And the price is rising dramatically on that precious metal.

Absolutely. So I don't think anyone can go wrong in buying some of that. And whether or not you shoot or have that particular caliper weapon, it really doesn't matter because if push comes to shove and you need a tank of gasoline or a loaf of bread or a jug of milk, you can take some of that ammo and trade it to someone who needs it and gets what you need. So having ammunition or having certain tools, these are worth their weight in gold. They're wonderful. Having junk silver coins of any denomination, whether they're silver dollars or dimes, it doesn't matter. People are familiar with that, even the younger generations have seen it, and they know that they're made out of coin silver and that they're worth more than to face value. So those are the kinds of things I would urge people to buy. Quartz of oil, the small bottles of whiskey that they serve on airplanes. Commercial aircraft are wonderful. Cigarettes and tobacco. People who are smokers are going to want that. I could go on and on.

Yeah, well, cigarettes and vodka probably worthwhile. Yeah. But, you know, is there any safe way to store gasoline, or is that just impossible? To do it safely?

If you have a cistern that leaks or that's no longer used to store water, that's really a great way to store gasoline. Or diesel fuel. You stabilize it with diesel. I prefer something called Pride. That's Papa Romeo India, and then D as in Delta. That will preserve diesel fuel for years. There's a thing called seafoam. There's another preservative called. Oh, it'll come to me in a minute. But just going to an automobile store and saying, what do I need to preserve gasoline? The person behind the counter should know. Staple is the one I was looking for as steel.

Stable. Okay, but that's preservative. I mean, how long can gasoline. So it decays. You can't store it for a long time.

Not without a preservative in it, no. It goes bad within 90 days. You're gambling.

Really? Okay, but what about the safety aspect of it?

Well, gasoline is really a bomb. It's not the gasoline that. That explodes into the vapors of the gasoline. So that's why I was suggesting a cistern, because it's below ground. It's a concrete, usually concrete shelter. And if, God forbid, there is an explosion, well, it's out in the back 40 and it's below grade, and it's not going to hurt anyone. But storing it in your garage is not an option. Storing it in your basement or home is not really an option. You need a tank or something buried somewhere.

Right. And so to do anything with gasoline, you got to have a piece of land. Otherwise you're just not going to have the ability to store it.

Right.

It just can't be done safely.

It cannot be done safely.

All right, what else?

In terms of vehicles, as long as we're talking about diesel fuel and gasoline, the vehicle that you own is probably the vehicle that you will have in the event something goes wrong or you need to get somewhere in a hurry. So investing money in that vehicle is a good investment. You want it to be reliable, don't take a chance on a faulty battery. Don't put off that maintenance, don't put off those oil changes. No case should you be riding around on bald tires. You need that vehicle to be the best that it can be because we don't know what's going to happen and we don't know when it's going to happen.

Any advice on type of vehicle?

I like four wheel drive. I like big vehicles like a Tahoe or a Suburban or a Ford Excursion, something like that. I drive a big diesel truck myself. And the thing is, if you put a big reinforced bumper on the front, if you need to push a car out of the way because it's blocking the road, you can do so. So basically bigger is better. And four wheel drive certainly beats two wheel drive. And four wheel drive will do you no good if you have all tires.

Okay, anything else on preparedness? And then I'd like to just circle back to some other issues, but more on preparedness.

Well, we were talking about what kinds of vehicles a moment ago and what you have in the vehicle is what you will probably have in the event something bad happens. So if you throw a couple of sleeping bags in there, if you have some food that doesn't need preparation, those food bars, although most of them taste like construction adhesive, they're good calories. And you don't need a stove, you can have some water in there. Of course, if you have a cold winter that will water will be useless. You're going to have to have a stove with it because you're going to have ice cubes. You'll need a first aid kit, you'll need jumper cables, you'll need clothing. Let's assume you have a minor disaster like changing a flat tire in the mud and you're in a suit. You're going to need a change of clothes in there or a pair of coveralls or something. So just sit down and think. What would your, what would your wife need? What would your husband need? And my truck? If worst comes to worst, I can live out of that.

Dr. And let's talk a little bit about some of the stuff in Soldier of Fortune. The magazine has for yours profiled a variety of tools and things. What about weapons?

Well, it's a difficult topic because if one doesn't know how to shoot, the weapon is academic. Let me give you an analog here. What you're asking me is like asking me about pianos. And that assumes that one can play the piano. And if you can't, then it doesn't matter whether you have a Steinway or a Bosendorfer. It really is academic because you can't play the piano. So the training comes first. I happen to be an alumnus of Vietnam, 1966, so I've shot before. And you can put virtually any rifle or shot benefits on my hands. Within a few seconds, I'll know how to fire it, where the safety is. Give me a couple of hours, maybe I'll know how to take it apart. More importantly, how to put it back together. So those are the things. It's the training, it's the skills, it's the knowledge. Those are the things that. Not the weapons, per se. It's really one's determination and one's faith that gets one through difficult times. It's not so much having a lock in your desk drawer or an AR15 in your closet or a shotgun in your truck. It's really the knowledge that you have, your attitude, to a lesser degree, your physical fitness, and those are the things that get you through.

Well, okay, so do you have a recommendation as to the type of, type of weapon? You know, say it's someone's first one. Obviously they should go to the shooting range, they should get training, but, you know, any recommendations there?

Well, for a beginner, I'd probably recommend a revolver because it's a simpler, super simple. Yeah, yeah. And if you're an intermediate shooter or an expert, certainly a semiautomatic pistol is a wonderful thing to have because it can be reloaded more quickly than any revolver. The same goes for long guns if you're new to it. If you're a beginner, then you probably want a bolt action rifle. Get a caliber like the.223 Remington and learn how to shoot it. Spend a lot of time shooting it. Spend a lot of, you know, whatever you spend, spend on the gun, spend as much on ammo because that's where the real training comes in, is shooting the darn thing, not buying a bunch of ammo and a gun and putting it in your closet. You're not going to be learning how to use that weapon when the wolf is at the door.

Yeah, good points. Well, what do you see as a possible scenario unfolding in the US in the light of Cyprus? I mean, as things deteriorate here, what do you see next? What's probable, probable outcome of this? We talked about how they might be able to just kick the can down the road forever, but if you look at just the numbers and the logic of it, it doesn't look like they will. But who knows? What do you see as a possible outcome?

Well, let's use Cypress because it's on everyone's mind these days. We'll use Cypress as an example. Cypress is unable to pay its debts. And the eu, the European Central bank, went in with the imf, the International Monetary Fund, and said, well, we're going to do something unheard of. We're going to take money out of your depositors accounts and punish them for your folly. This makes no sense at all. This is like faulting the manufacturer because you run your car into the fence. So what happened there? What happened in Cyprus? They declare a bank holiday, they shut the banks down while the IMF and the European Central bank arm wrestle with the owners of these two banks. And eventually they reached some figure, whatever the figure is that they're taking out of people's deposit accounts, it's too much. It's not the people's fault that the bankers made poor choices. Well, this can happen in this country. Even with the big money center banks, the five big banks, they have made poor choices. There are things called derivatives and they are going to come home to roost. At some point we are going to have to pay people. When I say we, I mean the big banks and they won't be able to. So the government, meaning the Fed or the treasury or the Banking Commission, will step in and say, all right, we're going to take 10% of everyone's bank account and pay off these debts with it. And that's where the problems start, because it is unfair to punish depositors for the stupidity of the bank owners. So as these banks remain closed and people can't feed their families, we may not be as civilized and genteel as the Cypriots were. We have a Wild west mentality in this country and we have more guns per square foot than any other country.

That gives me a lot of hope that things can't fall too far in this country. Or at least it gives me a lot of hope that we can't be too taken advantage of, if you will.

Well, I hope you're right, Jason, but.

Go on with what you were saying. Over 300 million guns in private hands.

Yes. So there's a wonderful saying that we are only seven meals away from anarchy. And I think the meaning is clear as your children look at you and say, I'm hungry. Daddy, you are going to go and get food, or Mommy, they're going to go out and they're going to get food the best way that they can. And if that involves doing something illegal, so be it. Because they're not going to let their families starve. And if you've watched any of the old riots in the U.S. the Watts riots, the Newark riots, the Detroit riot, just go on, put that into a search engine and see just how quickly those riots started and the incredible inhumanity that took place there. People dying, people, stores being burned, billions of dollars of damage caused by a shortage of food or a shortage of restraint on the parts of the participants.

Yeah, it's scary stuff. So we shall see what happens. And that's what we'll keep profiling on the show, folks. I think just basic preparedness makes so much sense. You know, I think you can really do this, Mac, for about $200 per person, person in your household, I mean, that's a bug out bag for each person. That's a 72 hour supply and some other things, $200 a person, you can be more prepared than probably the vast, vast majority of the American population. Would you agree with that, by the way?

I would have to agree with that, yes.

It's not hard, is it? I mean, you can go all out and go, go wild on this stuff and spend tens of thousands of dollars. We had Joel Skousen on the show. You're probably familiar with him. He's a survival architect and, and you know, you can design a bunker if you want and do all kinds of crazy stuff, but just $200 a person is going to put you dramatic. I mean, in. Can you imagine in New Orleans during Katrina if people had $200 per person worth of stuff? They could have, they could have written that out just fine.

Absolutely.

Yeah. It's a big difference. Well, give out your website and tell, tell people where they can get the book too.

The book is available@skyhorsepublishing.com it's also available at major bookstores everywhere. I personally do not have a website, but if you just put in Soldier of Fortune guide to surviving the Apocalypse, you'll get a very good idea of what the book covers and does not cover in a few minutes.

Great. Well, Mac, thanks so much for joining us today. Appreciate it. And the book is also on Amazon.com.

Of course, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, all the major booksellers.

Good, good stuff. Hey Mac, thanks for joining us today.

Thank you, Jason. A pleasure.

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