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Merchandise and Food Shortages in a National Crisis
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Sharing my notes on the potential shortages we may all be experiencing soon. These notes are based on examples from Venezuela and Argentina back in 2014 and earlier. The one article I based the prices on is a paid subscription Bloomberg page. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...tion-order

Items that become scarce (Venezuela Examples)

    Bottled Water
    Foods - Chicken
    Medicines - all esp. prescription
    Gasoline
    Detergents - Laundry soap, dish soap, etc.
    Toilet paper
    Diapers
    Car batteries

Studies have shown these short-term items go first when a crisis happens.

    Bottled Water
    Powdered Milk
    Pancake mix
    Ramen Noodles
    Popcorn
    Cereal
    Beef Jerky
    Cooking Oils
    Nuts
    Dried Fruits
    Power Bars
    Juice Powders
    Spices (salt, pepper, etc.)
    Honey
    Crackers
    Baking Essentials (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder)
    Coffee
    Liquor
    Hard Candies
    Baby Food, Diapers, Wipes
    Pet Food

Services
    Natural Gas
    Electricity
    Gasoline

Possible Costs
Based on current crisis in Venezuela and former crisis in Argentina
The inflated prices only apply if normal stores have the product available.

                                2014 US Avg    Inflation (X 6.3)    Blackmarket (X 187)
Reg. Milk (1 liter)        $ 0.92             $   5.80               $  172.04
Lettuce (1 head)         $ 1.06             $   6.68               $  198.22
Water (1.5 ltr bottle)   $ 1.40             $   8.82               $  261.80
1 Domestic Beer         $ 1.50             $   9.45               $  280.50
Eggs (12)                  $ 1.91              $ 12.04               $  357.17
White Rice 1kg           $ 1.96             $ 12.35               $  366.52
Potatoes (1kg)           $ 2.20             $ 13.86               $  411.40
1 Imported Beer         $ 2.33             $ 14.68               $  435.71
Loaf of White Bread    $ 2.68             $ 16.88               $  501.16
Chicken Breast 1kg     $ 5.87             $ 36.99               $1,097.69
Tomatoes (1kg)          $ 6.15             $ 38.75               $1,150.05
Apples (1kg)               $ 6.39             $ 40.26               $1,194.93
Pack of Cigarettes        $ 6.60             $ 41.58               $1,234.20
Local Cheese (1kg)      $ 7.17             $ 45.18                $1,340.79
Oranges (1kg)             $ 7.41             $ 46.69              $1,385.67
Bottle of Wine             $ 9.00             $ 56.70               $1,683.00

A thrifty food cost of $300 per adult, per month today would equal approximately $1,890 inflated cost or $56,100 in black market mark-ups.

Have Cash on Hand!

With communications cut-off (FEMA did this in New Orleans) and electric out, checks, credit and debit cards wouldn’t work for 100 miles. Banks closed because they couldn’t use their computers, phones, etc.

Cash - Enough to cover the black market mark-up, basically every penny you have. Given these Venezuelan figures, a dollar would = 16 cents, so it would be approximately $6.25 for an item valued at a dollar, or as much as $187 black market for an item valued at one dollar.

About the Black Market (Argentina Crisis)

"Once the SHTF the black/gray market will take no time to appear all around you. At first it was all about trading skills or craft products for food. Districts and towns would form their own barter markets, and created their own tickets, similar to money, that was used to trade. This didn’t last long. Those tickets were easy to make on your home computer, there was no control and eventually people went back to paper money."

"What can be found at a local markets? Mostly food and clothing. Some have more variety than others but cheese, canned food, spices, honey, eggs, fruits, vegetables, beer, wine and cured meat are generally available, same as bakery products and pasta."

"Since it is impossible to determine the true mineral percentage of gold, small shops and dealers will pay for it as regular jewelry gold. Besides gold coins, have a lot of small gold rings and other jewelry to sell or trade."

Surviving the Coming Economic Collapse (Greece crisis)

"Earlier this year pharmacies and hospitals in Greece were unable to provide life saving medicines due to a shortages caused by a freeze in the flow of credit from manufacturers to distributors to patients.  A collapse in the country’s economy has forced many Greeks to turn to black market barter economies and has left millions financially devastated, with no hope of finding an income stream for the foreseeable future."

"The credit system of the entire country is in shambles. So much so that reports are emerging about food shortages and hunger within the Greek prison system, suggesting that serious problems in the food delivery chain have begun to materialize."

" 'RAE is taking crisis initiatives throughout next week to avert the collapse of the natural gas and electricity system,' the regulator’s chief Nikos Vasilakos told Reuters."


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Merchandise and Food Shortages in a National Crisis - by Michigan Swamp Buck - 05-19-2022, 04:48 PM

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