Even if you've stocked up your home with all the food, water and immune system boosting herbs you'll need for the next 3 months and you're all set to sit there and read WAR AND PEACE until the bird flu virus burns itself out -- you could still be at great risk.
If you really want to live through the bird flu pandemic, you better have a plan to avoid human germs as well as the bird flu virus.
On a bird flu discussion forum, someone recently posted this advice -- stop tell your neighbors you're storing food and water for the bird flu pandemic. Stop trying to convince them to do the same thing. Make your preparations in secret. Because when there's no more food at the grocery store, and their kids are hungry, they're going to remember that you've stored food -- and they're going to come knocking at your door.
Truly sad words, but obviously have a truth to them.
You definately must think just as hard about the nature of your neighbors as about the nature of bird flu itself.
You must assume that law and order as we take it for granted now will not exist or will be enforced only sporadically.
Your local police are 95% great people with a strong sense of duty. But some of them will catch bird flu too and some will die from it. Some of them will feel their greatest duty is to protect their own families. Others will stay on the job but will be too stretched and stressed out to keep order on every square block of their territory. This is especially true of rural areas. And you cannot depend on the 911 system, which will likely be overwhelmed. And if they're no dispatchers to take calls and send messages -- and no more ambulance drivers or police cars available -- what good is it?
At some point the government may step in and declare martial law, but we don't have enough soldiers to stand on every street corner in the world.
Many neighborhoods will band together for mutual protection.
Many people will band together so they can loot and kill with impunity.
Some people will surprise you. Some gangbangers will use their guns and street organization to defend the people in their hood.
Some "nice" people will take advantage of the lack of civilized constraints to do some not so nice things.
If your neighbors already know you're a bird flu kook, it's too late now to start preparing in secret -- and probably it doesn't matter.
Because if your neighbors get together and decide to go house to house, how're you going to stop them?
And I don't mean they'll be doing it for bad reasons. Neighbors should be keeping tabs on each other to see who's got bird flu. Who needs food cooked and delivered to their door. Who has small children who need watching?
I can understand the stock up on supplies and lock up the door against the world mentality -- I pretty much share it.
But realistically, you'll stand a better chance of surviving the pandemic if your neighborhood works together -- including you.
Because many neighborhoods are going to have to defend themselves against outsiders -- and you don't want to be seen as an outsider who just happens to live on the same block.
You want to be seen as one of the group. As someone smart enough to foresee the pandemic and prepare for it, you should assume a leadership role.
The better you get along with your neighbors now, despite being laughed at for storing food, the more likely you are to keep enough of that food and water for your family.
If your neighbors really are the kind of people you don't want knocking at your door (and I've lived in neighborhoods like that, myself) -- then plan now to get out.
You should do what you can to get out of such a neighborhood anyway, bird flu or now bird flu.
If you have been paying attention to the news lately you may of heard of the threat of bird flu and a world pandemic. What would this mean and how would it affect your financial holdings. The World Bank, which has estimated that a bird flu pandemic lasting a year could, cost the global economy up to $2 trillion dollars. The economic toll on the world economy will be catastrophic. That is a forecast no investor wants to hear. Even a ?mild? pandemic could wreck havoc with your investments.
During a flu pandemic millions of people would be unable to work due to illness and taking care of sick family members. Schools and businesses would be closed, transportation reduced or halted. Ill truck drivers, rail and warehouse workers would bring interstate commerce to a grinding halt. How many air traffic controllers could be out sick before flights were cancelled? International travel would all but be eliminated. Businesses hardest hit would include retail, trade, education, travel and tourism, public entertainment and anywhere large groups of people would gather such as sporting events and concerts. Import and exports markets would be devastated.
With millions out of work and unable to pay their bills including rent and mortgage payments, financial institutions facing mounting defaults would have no choice but to suspend debt owed until the pandemic was over. Other financial institutions would face similar threats of collapse until business returned to normal. But, how long would that take? Thousands of businesses may never be able to recover resulting in the loss of millions of jobs. Large and small businesses alike may loose key employees who would be difficult to replace. Moving forward businesses would face labor shortages due to the millions who died, making a return to full productivity difficult.
The global economy could take years to recover. Individual business recovery could be painfully slow. Government spending to aid recovery would go through the roof, yet they would be receiving less in tax revenue from businesses that closed and individuals out of work. The stock value of the largest businesses could collapse devaluing millions of investor's portfolios. Investors may dump their stock holdings in favor of cash and hard assets like gold and silver. Housing prices could plunge as millions of homeowners go into default. Financial panic could wreck the markets in short order.
Many essential items could be in short supply due to loss of production capacity. Gas and oil deliveries could take months to return to normal production. Consumer spending would be down further delaying economic recovery.
Global instability would be the rule rather than the exception. 3rd world countries devastated by the pandemic could face new internal struggles for power as whole armies could be wiped out by the flu. International trade relations we once had may no longer be there.
A world pandemic would set the dominos in motion. One event would trigger another; one financial collapse would bring on the next one. The results would be nothing short of catastrophic.
As an investor your first course of action is to stay informed. A bird flu pandemic may not happen for years, but health experts say it will happen, it is just a matter of time. But then there is always natural disasters and terrorism to worry about. The more you know about a possible bird flu pandemic the better position you will be in to adjust your portfolio accordingly when the time comes if not sooner.
Both Richard Stooker & Tom J. Smith are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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