Yes Y2K is comming life will end!!!
Huh, is this a repeat of something I have heard before? Like before 4 years ago? Mass panics by lunitics? Not meaning anyone here, I mean people I knew in person.
Always good to plan ahead and be prepared in a REASONABLE manner. I also try to keep alot of food on hand, just so I don't have to drive in town to buy it if I don't want to for a few weeks or months. Right now I ate it all and have to buy more soon, but then again I save money buying in bulk this way too, so if the world ends, I normally can eat awhile anyway and save money doing it too 
I often buy non-perisable foods buy the skids, great variety, great savings. $500 per skid or about $1000 at the store! Anythng we don't eat we donate to charities, plus alot of stuff we do eat too. So being prepared has advantages! Even the local stores will often sell buy the case or several cases far below retail, I have to order and wait a few days till the truck brings it in. Alot depends on the store managers and some won't do it no matter how much you buy.
For Y2K I did stock up about 150-200 gallons gas over a slow period before it, not a mad dash rush at the last minute like alot of folks. Not that I was worried about the end of the world comming on 1/1/2000, but I expected many people to be in a panic all at once that hadn't prepared anything. Some tiny little thing and people go into a panic and create a rush on a store. The other people NOT in a panic go to that store and it is nearly empty and then they go into a panic. THAT is how many disasters and panics and problems get started. Not the event, over reaction!! Also I KNEW gas prices would go up, not because of Y2K but just because they do go up, so it still saved me money buying the gasolene at the lower price then and using it later when prices went up.
On 9/11 I needed gas for most my vehicles, for absolutley no reason concerning gas itself gouging accured imediatly here. Prices shot up $0.50 a gallon everywhere here but one indpendant station that stayed the same price and did not gouge. I just filled up at home and did not care, everyone else was making a made rush on the independant or paying far to much and it was a mild panic. Never before had I saw traffic at this little town blocking the road waiting to turn into a gas station!! Never have since, just on 9/11
Problems don't cause problems, PEOPLE cause problems!
Of course the next day gas prices were back to normal anyway. So many people paid $10 too much to fill their cars and trucks in a panic that should have never happened to begin with, good for them!! Some probably just needed gas as normal and I felt sorry for those people having to pay those prices.
And yes, all those gas guzzling SUVs and big trucks used for just joy riding were in that line filling those 25 gallon tanks and deul tanks too!
There is never any reason to panic, well unless maybe the IRS is knocking on the door.
As mentioned, the earth will take care of itself! It can clean itself, it can shake us off like fleas if it wanted too. But there is no need to harm it anyway, especailly needlessly for no reason.
After all, my hand will heal just fine if I cut it, but I won't just sit here cutting it with a knife so it can heal itself either!!
"The value of the dollar is falling internationally. Energy prices as well as prices for all foreign made goods are going to continue to rise unless something happens to strengthen the dollar."
HUH, that would be a bad thing??
Gee I certianly hope foreign prices don't rise so far that US companies are forced to creat jobs in the US and produce stuff at home, gee that would be terrible if people had jobs and we had to stop importing everything from overseas! What tragedy!
Less people unemployed, less on welfare, gee it could do something awefull like lower taxes even since more working people would mean a larger number of people to tax. More people less per person, less spent on support programs for the jobless etc.. Lower taxes is just wishfull thinking, they would find other things to waist the money on and still need to raise taxes all the time no matter how much they get!
Another terrible thing that might occure is that US made goods might get close the the same price as foreign made goods and we might actually sell stuff to other countries agian.
No probably none of that would happen, people would just demand more money for the same work and our products will always cost more!
As for being self suficient, yes always a good idea, anything you do for yourself you don't have to pay someone else for! And if you do it for yourself then your never stuck without it if a problem pops up and you can't buy it for some reason!
And in any type of disaster you are at the advantage, rather the weather snows you in, the grid goes down (gee has that ever happened large scale), or major tornados/hurricans, Flooding. It's not paraniod to be prepared, it's common sense. Every part of the US has some type of problem at some time. Did I mention forest fires or earthquakes??
City dwellers are at the disadvantage, not much room, zonning, codes, nosey neighbours etc...
Country folks can survive
