by Pete Thorsen
And groceries prices were sky rocketing. Art used to shop only once a month but now shopped on the way home from work once a week so he could take advantage of any sales on the things he ate. When something he used was on sale at what he perceived was a good price he bought a lot of it, like a two or three month supply. He knew he was saving money because the prices were rising so fast.
The number of doomsayers seemed to be rising also as just about everyone could see that things were going downhill in the country. Following the lead from the many conversations he over heard Art had contacted a company that installed solar panels. He ended up leasing the panels on a twenty year lease.
The huge advantage to this was it would have cost him nothing down and his lease payments were basically just in place of the normal payments he made to the electric company. The solar company got any excess money from what electricity that the panels produced and got the ‘green energy’ rebate from the government along with a rebate from the electric company.
Also Art was ‘locked’ into this lease for the whole twenty years which would make it difficult to sell his house but he did not see that as a problem.
While it would have cost Art nothing for the installation he opted to pay for added equipment to be installed so if the power went off he could switch over to using his own solar power. He had to pay for that option. Normally if the power went off so did the solar output so it would not power the lines and maybe electrocute a power company linemen when they were working to restore the power.
With the added equipment there would still be no power going into the grid in a power down situation but just into the house. Art would still only have power during the day but he thought that would be enough to keep the freezer and refrigerator cold enough so things would not spoil and provide power to his well pump during the day so he had water. It again was a preparation that could be a big benefit and had cost him really very little.
Art could get by without a freezer most of the time but needed it at those times he drew a deer or elk tag and managed to shoot one of the animals. It was a smaller chest style freezer which he unplugged when he did not need it.
With groceries so high and especially meat Art had started shooting quite a few rabbits, both jack rabbits and cottontails and freezing them for later. There were many quail and doves in the area and soon the freezer contained many of these small birds.
He also bought some extra ammunition for the guns he owned. For some time there had been a big shortage of ammunition but with the downgrade in the economy people bought less and stores had been able to restock enough to fill their shelves again.
When it again became available at reasonable prices Art had bought quite a lot of the 22 rimfire ammunition that he used for rabbit hunting. It had been in very short supply for quite some time and he had been just about out so he really filled up when he had the chance. With so many quail in the area Art also bought many boxes of shotguns shells in the fine shot used for quail hunting. These had the added bonus of being one of the lowest priced of cartridges.
With his cut back in hours Art was just able to make a living even with his very frugal lifestyle. The auto insurance had gone up; they said primarily because so many people now were driving without auto insurance. Art thought that was surely true because everyone it seemed was hurting for money.
The county had raised everyone’s property taxes even though property values had dropped (and had really dropped lately). The county said they needed to raise those taxes due to the smaller amount they were now receiving from the state.
While it was surely true that the county was getting less money from the state Art thought that there would also be many cuts the county could still make so taxes could actually go down along with everyone’s income and property values.
But the county did not want to do any cuts and it angered a large number of the people living in the county, after all they had cut back in their own lives so they expected the county to do the same thing. This same scenario was being played out across the nation in cities and counties.
With the loss in wages from many people losing their jobs or getting cuts in their work hours all across the country they had less money to spend and led to tax revenue decreases to a large number of cities, counties, and even some states were in dire financial straights. A lot of cities had already filed for bankruptcy and a very large number were considering doing so along with many counties.
A lot of the states were in similar trouble but did not have the option to file for bankruptcy and it looked like their only option was a bailout from the federal government.
Of course the federal government was also feeling the pinch. Federal tax revenues that had once been close to three trillion a year at the peak were now a fraction of that amount. Businesses were closing at a rapid pace and most of those had quit paying taxes long before they closed for good.
Citizens were not paying taxes because many had no jobs or even if working they were still in the poverty bracket. Along with severely reduced tax revenue the government’s spending was not going down.
Well over a hundred million were now on the food stamp program and more were signing up every single day. With the sharply rising grocery prices the monthly food stamp money that people received would not even keep them fed and most tried to find odd jobs for extra money or went to food pantries to try and get more food or just started stealing to get by.
All crime was also going up by leaps and bounds all across the nation. The jails and prisons were mostly all full to over flowing and many of those caught if it was not a violent crime were just released.
The courts were so swamped that police were basically doing the job of police and the courts both in many cases. If you were caught shoplifting the police would not even come to the scene to arrest you. Many stores had hired guards and these guards would stop shoplifters and take the merchandise back and then just release them. Rumor said they would sometimes ‘rough up’ the shoplifters also.
Police were being run ragged by all the crime but at the same time to save money local governments were cutting back on their police forces. Some policemen were just walking off their jobs and taking as much gear with them as they could so they could protect their own families.
Fire department budgets across the nation were also being cut resulting in fewer firemen available to fight fires and more on the unemployment rolls.
Every day things would get worse it seemed with no end in sight.
Chapter Five
When Art had his hours reduced from full time to part time it went from forty hours a week down to thirty two hours per week and he had three days off per week instead of just two. Then it dropped to twenty four hours per week but he was still working full eight hour days. Next it was down to three five hour days per week before it dropped to two four hour days per week. Then he was laid off when the Casino closed and locked their doors.
This did not happen overnight of course. From the first reduction in his hours to the closing of his place of work took just over a year. During that time all the working class in America suffered at little more each day as each worker was feeling the results of the steadily collapsing economy mostly from job loss or reduced hours like was happening to Art.
Obviously the writing had been on the wall for Art long before he was laid off. Business in the Casino was steadily dropping all the time as was business everywhere. Art knew what was coming and that he would lose his job along with the hordes of other workers all around the country that were losing their jobs.
Art did go and sign up for unemployment when it finally happened but he honestly never expected to see a single check. He did not go and apply for food stamp assistance like most everyone else in the country had by now. He guessed the food stamp program’s days were numbered also and he could get by on his own so he would leave his small portion of that particular government handout to others who likely needed it way worse than he did.
Before losing his job Ar
t had started to really stockpile food at his place while he still had a job that he knew was coming to an end. Food had never quit going up in price and he bought and bought as much as he could of the simple things like plain white rice that was relatively cheap and could be kept for a long time.
He also bought a lot of cheap canned goods (or what had once been cheap) because he knew they would last quite a long time also. He bought a quantity of the spices he normally used. Every single bit of food he bought was saving him money because it was going up so much in price and so quickly that the sooner he bought it the more he ended up saving.
He had ordered a bunch of garden seeds because he thought he would try growing a garden at home next growing season. A garden like his folks had done when he was growing up.
He found that he had a hard time buying potato seeds and had to order them from a special place. These seeds came with a pamphlet of instructions on how to grow them. Almost everyone grew potatoes by planting pieces of actual potatoes which could only be stored a relatively short time before they had to be used.
The garden area had not been used any many, many years and truthfully Art did not know much about growing a garden but he thought he would just have to learn. He had read a couple books on gardening that had had checked out of the library so felt that he at least knew how to get started anyway.
The old garden tools and equipment that his folks had used so many years ago was still there on the home place and ready for him to try his hand at gardening. Though he still had electricity like everyone else he was very happy that he also had all those solar panels on the roof for a back up and did not regret that he had to dig up one of his money stashes when he had to pay for the extra equipment to make the solar run if the grid ever did go down for an extended period.
By the time he was laid off Art had also bought a sizable amount of ammunition so he would be able to hunt for meat for quite a long time. He thought he was way better off than most people in the country by far. He was not sure what would happen next and just how bad it would get but he had done everything he could think of to get himself ready; even to buying extra work clothes and boots to have on hand.
Now that he was laid off Art did not go to the library to use the internet anymore. He did not drive to town except to buy a few groceries and necessities at random intervals but not very often at all.
He still could listen to the radio or watch the free broadcast TV which he did most evenings. Though he trusted the broadcast news very little at this point he thought even they had quit sugar coating everything. The news was bad and getting worse all the time. If the media was still sugar coating things that they broadcast then things it must be very bad indeed.
They showed long lines in some cities where people were signing up for unemployment or food stamps. There were pleas from food banks in just about every city asking for food donations because the food pantries shelves were bare from the huge demand for the food from so many people plus donations were down and cash donations now bought little food at the new higher food prices.
The news talked about all the home foreclosures across the nation and the fact that many people now just stayed in the homes even after they went into foreclosure. The police had bigger fish to fry and would not enforce home foreclosures anymore. Even houses that were once empty now often had squatters move into them.
When the Federal Reserve had started all that money printing, many economists had stated that it would likely ultimately lead to runaway inflation. Even regular people knew the more of something there was the less it was usually worth.
That inflation prediction was now showing its ugly head primarily in the grocery isle. And with the service based economy of the United States that depended on the disposable income of the masses to grow was now really contracting due to the loss of that disposable income. The news did not talk of ‘recession’ or of ‘depression’ but it did not have to because everyone knew what was happening all around them.
The news interviewed many people who told their tales of financial woe to the TV listeners. Job losses even when they had worked at the same job for many, many years. Or businesses that closed down even though they had been in business for decades.
The news also interviewed people on food stamps who said that groceries cost so much now that the food stamp money every month would only buy about two weeks of food and it was getting less every month.
They interviewed humane societies where they were swamped with pets that people would drop off because they could no longer afford to feed them. Even the so-called ‘no-kill’ animal shelters now admitted that they had no choice and euthanized sometimes hundreds of dogs and cats every month.
Almost all of the animal shelters said they now only had volunteers working there due to lack of funding. Dogs, cats, and other pets that were dropped off were usually euthanized on the same day they were dropped off because they often had almost no food in the shelter to feed them. It was seldom talked about on the news but human food was not the only one that was drastically rising in cost.
Farmers were interviewed and said they had to shoot dogs that were dropped off because the dogs would then end up attacking the livestock trying to kill to survive. After several of the many farms’ livestock had been killed the farmers had resorted to killing every dog and cat they would see on the farms.
Some said they also set traps to catch the dogs that were smart enough to keep hidden during the day light hours. In many cities there were now feral dog packs that would attack anything that moved be it another dog, cat, rat, or human. Police in many areas now shot any dog they saw running loose to help protect the citizens.
The news did not talk about what was happening around the world in other countries but sometimes would say things like ‘the world-wide depression’ or after showing some shocking video they would say ‘scenes like this are now commonly found around the world’.
Chapter Six
Art would watch the evening news and think to himself that things could not get any worse then the next night it would be worse. It had been some time now since he had been to town and he decided to drive in and buy a few more groceries.
He could not look at the grocery ads to see what was on sale because they had quit sending them out awhile back. He doubted they even had sales anymore. He thought he would just go to Walmart and buy what he wanted there.
He had gotten a statement from his bank and the unemployment checks were being deposited in his account which did rather surprise him. He would also stop by the bank and withdraw some cash he decided.
Art’s first stop was at a gas station to top off the tank in his old pickup. Gas had bumped up some in price but not a whole lot and he used his credit card to buy the gas simply because it was way handier to do it that way.
Next was the bank and walking in he saw a sign that stated withdrawals were limited to five hundred dollars per week per account for individuals. This shocked Art more than anything else that had happened so far.
When it was his turn and he took out the maximum amount then he asked the teller if the limit was only this bank or all banks. The reply was that it was all banks as it was a federal mandate. That had never been on the news Art thought.
Then it was on to Walmart to buy what he now decided would be quite a lot of groceries. Inside Art was amazed to see armed guards standing or walking about near the front of the store. Taking a cart and getting to the grocery isles Art noticed right away that the shelves while not bare did not contain near as much stock as normal.
This reinforced his decision to buy a lot of groceries on this trip. He filled the cart he had and finding another loose cart in an isle he almost filled that one also before heading to the check out. He had originally planned to use a check but used his credit card instead. It was automatically paid from the checking account at the end of the month anyway so it made no difference.
After it was scanned and he had paid the checkout asked if he wanted an escort to his car
. When she saw that he did not understand she just said take an escort and though it’s free most people give them a tip. Art thanked her and she called an armed man (he even had a military type rifle slung over his shoulder) over to escort him to his truck.
The man made no attempt to push one of the carts but Art could handle both anyway. Once outside Art saw why the man did not help with the cart. The guard unslung the short rifle and scanned the whole area constantly while following Art to his truck.
While Art unloaded the carts the guard kept a very watchful eye everywhere the whole time. Art noticed the man had his finger inside the trigger guard and looked ready and able to shoot at moments notice. When he had the carts empty Art handed the guard a five dollar bill and thanked him for his help. The man just saluted him and turned back toward the store without ever saying a single word to Art.
Art wasted no time and left the parking lot and drove straight home. He had noticed what he thought were a few more people than normal carrying guns while in town but did not think much about it until the checkout told him to take a guard escort.
Even before things had gotten bad a few people could always be seen carrying guns in town. This was perfectly legal in Arizona and especially in the rural towns was not uncommon. There were just more carrying now than before.
The trip to town was definitely an eye opener for Art. The cash limit at the bank he knew was a very big deal. If the government was setting a cash limit that could only mean the next step was a bank holiday or complete bank closures. That would mean the end of any kind of normal trade. If the banks closed no businesses could operate for very long at all.
The armed guards at Walmart meant that things were very dire even in this rural town. They would never have hired the guards unless they had been having trouble plus the fact that the checkout had told him to definitely take an escort.