Feasibility of Marine Bug Out in case of Economic Collapse

Uh huh. Just as the dollar was made valuable by the same type of propaganda. Actually, gold and silver have been devalued by a concerted propaganda campaign since Nixon closed the gold window in 1971. Why? Because Gold is one form of MONEY (not currency) where when you hold it, you don't have to count on a counterparty to keep their promise to make it good. And that makes it hard for governments to peddle their worthless paper. (Silver has it's own dynamics but has, for the most part, gone along for the ride with gold) That said, expanding on this is way beyond the topic here. You folks know boats, I know currencies and world finance.

Yes, indeed! Those commodities do have great bartering power.

Capt J: Do you think the pirates had better success when they had the element of surprise on their side when they first started their attacks? Seems to me that once the rest of the world caught on to their game, they stepped up the ability to repel such attacks? I know the marine security industry had a field day whipping up new products to sell.

My other question for you is to ask how the piracy threat changed awareness and policies aboard private vessels to improve the safety of those aboard (aside from staying off the coast of Somalia?) What, if any, defensive capabilities are more prevalent today than before piracy made a comeback?


Be clear, I would not contemplate such an option without the means to put up at least some modicum of resistance to such threats. Even as this would preclude some ports and areas due to laws opposing weapons. (I understand you can get the death penalty for having firearms aboard in some asian 'jurisdictions.')

I never proposed an option of this sort without a defensive capability. But I'd prefer not to develop a reputation as a bartering arms merchant... that could come with WAY too many complications... <grin>

Yahoos indeed! And this episode occurred in "PeaceTime?!?!?!" Actually I once heard that stretch of coastline on the run down to Costa Rica referred to as the "Barbary Coast West" -- Seems to me that "unscheduled fuel stops" are never preferred. And, if these guys really left their boat unattended in 'foreign' waters??? Oh well...

That said, I would absolutely concur with you that bad times would only exacerbate the potential for that kind of thing to occur. Same as on land. In the Argentine collapse of 2000, people would leave their homes to go to the market to try to get whatever meager rations were available, only to come home and find their homes ransacked and plundered in their short absense. It's why, even today, you see so many of the homes there with bars on the windows 13 years later.

...or another form of 'alternative' energy that would reduce if not eliminate dependence on fossil fuels. Energy 'density' is an issue since these boats we use are so cotton-pickin heavy! But that's a topic for another post.

Heh heh, absolutely no argument there... and security was one business that did boom in the Argentine situation there when, according to a few friends who were living there at the time, their monetary system went to hell and social order followed quickly. By contrast, most of those accoutrements here in the US life didn't come about so much as a result of rapid economic collapse as they did as a function of a moral or civil collapse over a longer period of time in this country.

Read my post again! Those weren't MY words. Those words came from my friends/business associates who lived in Buenos Aires and went through that crisis. For you to call their take on their situation 'myopic' is simply not credible. They were in the arena. Were you?

And... first you said, "...And, in fact, Argentina's economy is now thriving more than it was pre-1998." And then, when you were called on it, you then backtracked and said, "Meant to say that Argentina has been in an economic free fall for decades," Well... WHICH IS IT???? I don't think 'laziness' quite captures it.

Perhaps you would be so kind as to distinguish for us on this thread an "underclass being pissed off at the powers that were" from moral and civil decay! What's the distinction? Either way, there was a breakdown of the Rule of Law.

Do you honestly think that, as of Friday's unemployment report with now, 91 million people in the United States today presently SO unemployed that they've actually given up even LOOKING FOR WORK, we aren't fomenting another case of an underclass being pissed off at the powers that BE?? The US Government LIES with their unemployment statistics! 6.7%??? Who really believes that number? It's actually closer to 23% without all the hedonics they've massaged the numbers with since the 1990's to make them look good... Do you honestly think that nearly 50 MILLION Americans (about 1 in 6) on foodstamps isn't a fertile ground for an 'underclass' getting a little edgy at the powers?? If not, then perhaps you'd like to offer a suggestion for why the US Department of Homeland Security has now purchased over 2 BILLION ROUNDS of anti-personnel ammunition in the past year and a half or so and is federalizing the local police and sheriff's departments en masse all over the country?? Who do you suppose they are arming to defend against? Islamic Terrorists??? Really??? @Yachtjocky alluded to people being "disappeared" in Argentina in their periond of unrest. Are you aware of an Executive Order signed by our president which empowers the government to pick up people in this country -- INCLUDING US citizens and hold them in indefinite detention WITHOUT access to legal counsel or due process??? Yes, that's right. Get yourself on the wrong list and the US government might just give you an all-expense paid trip to the tropical resort of Guantanamo!!! Gee, they did something similar to that in 1930's Germany after Hitler came to power. Here in the US, it's called the NDAA. Do NOT get me started here or I will bury you with incontrovertible and undeniable evidence that we are in serious trouble here in the US and in the world. And that's SO far off the topic to what I started here that I wouldn't be surprised if the moderators threw me off Yachtforum if I did unload like that. I wouldn't blame them if they did.

In this country, we have our heads buried in the sand. "Interesting times" of this nature have always happened in OTHER countries and OTHER places in recent history -- NOT HERE IN THE US -- IN OUR FRONT YARDS. In the US, we've always been fortunate to read about these times from a comfortable distance from the mayhem. in limited form, in the news and maybe a TV news story here and there. Historically, those 'interesting times' never washed up on our shores. Well, now, my friend, whether you are ready or not, here they come... no...wait... they are ALREADY here!!!