If the coronavirus is not a serious threat, why are countries all over the world acting so crazy all of a sudden?  Perhaps someday we will look back and laugh about how this coronavirus outbreak caused so much hysteria, but right now government officials around the globe are certainly acting as if we were right in the middle of a really bad science fiction movie.  Are they just being overly cautious, or is this virus actually more dangerous than we are being told?  As I discussed yesterday, one AI-powered simulation is projecting that this virus could kill 52 million people.  Even if that projection is off by 95 percent, it would still make sense for countries to do all that they can to keep infected people from crossing their borders.

So that may help to explain why there is such a frenzy of panic about confirmed and potential cases aboard cruise ships right now.  For example, a cruise ship named The Diamond Princess is anchored off the coast of Yokohama, Japan at this moment.  There are 2,666 passengers and 1,045 crew members on board, and the ship has been placed under strict quarantine since Tuesday.

And they are being quarantined for good reason.  At this point, the number of confirmed cases on board the ship has now risen to 61…

At least 61 passengers — including 11 Americans — aboard a cruise ship in Japan have been infected with the coronavirus. The number of cases on the ship tripled overnight from 20 to 61, CNN’s Will Ripley reports.

Ripley reports that passengers aboard the ship have to stay inside 23 hours a day. They are allowed outside for less than an hour under close supervision, and they have to stand 3 feet away from each other and wear masks.

The quarantine of the ship is scheduled to last for 11 more days.

There are 428 Americans on board, and when the quarantine is over they will want to come home.

But will it be safe from them to do so?

In an interview with Fox News over Skype, two of the American passengers were pleading for help from President Trump…

‘We are kind of worried because we’ve still got two weeks on here assuming that works out in our favor and we still have to get onto American soil,’ passenger Gaetano Cerullo explained to Fox News over Skype from their cabin on board. ‘And, if Donald Trump could help us in any way…’

‘We need help. We are in a desperate, desperate state,’ his wife Milena Basso pleaded. ‘We’re American citizens and we just want to get home.’

Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas is currently docked in Bayonne, New Jersey.  Of the 27 passengers that had “recently traveled from mainland China”, four were taken off the ship to a nearby hospital…

More than two dozen passengers on a cruise ship docked near New York City have been tested for the new coronavirus, state officials said Friday, and four have been hospitalized.

Personnel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention boarded the ship to test 27 passengers “who recently traveled from mainland China,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.

We haven’t been told if any of those passengers are infected or not, but what we do know is that the emergency workers that took them to the hospital were not wearing masks, and considering how easily this virus spreads that is quite alarming.

A third cruise ship that is making headlines doesn’t have anywhere to dock because it has been turned away from four different countries.

The MS Westerdam is operated by Holland America, and it left Hong Kong on February 1st carrying 802 crew members and 1,455 passengers.

The crew insists that there are no coronavirus cases on board at all, but they are being turned away at port after port…

More than 2,000 people are marooned at sea after four countries denied entry to a cruise ship over coronavirus fears – despite the crew’s insistence that there are no virus cases on board.

Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and the US territory of Guam have all denied permission for the MS Westerdam to dock.

Japanese leader Shinzo Abe yesterday said his country would not allow foreign passengers to disembark, saying there were suspected virus patients on board.

Is this a case of needless hysteria, or is the crew not being entirely honest with authorities?

According to CNBC, a fourth cruise ship that is currently docked in Hong Kong is being quarantined after “several crew members reported symptoms” that are associated with the coronavirus…

And almost 2,000 tourists are being held on a cruise ship operated by Genting’s Dream Cruises in Hong Kong and being tested for the coronavirus after several crew members reported symptoms associated with the illness.

Things are getting crazy out there, and I have a feeling that they are only going to get crazier as this year rolls along.

Stock prices had been doing relatively well this week, but concern about the coronavirus pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 270 points on Friday…

Stocks fell on Friday as worries over the coronavirus’ impact on the Chinese economy outweighed the release of stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 277.26 points lower, or nearly 1%, to 29,102.51. The S&P 500 dipped 0.5% to 3,327.71. The Nasdaq Composite also slid 0.5% to close at 9,520.51.

If this coronavirus outbreak fizzles out, and that is what I am still hoping, then the impact of this crisis is not going to weigh too heavily on Wall Street.

But if the number of cases worldwide soars into the millions, it is going to be absolutely devastating for stock prices.

We will wait and see what happens.  Here in the U.S. authorities continue to insist that we don’t have very much to be concerned about, but at the same time the WHO is warning of “a chronic shortage of gowns, masks, gloves and other protective equipment” around the world…

The world is facing a chronic shortage of gowns, masks, gloves and other protective equipment in the fight against a spreading coronavirus epidemic, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.

The U.N. agency has been sending testing kits, masks, gloves, respirators and gowns to every region, Tedros told the WHO Executive Board in Geneva.

Will lots of “testing kits, masks, gloves, respirators and gowns” soon be needed in every part of the globe?

Is there something they aren’t telling us?

Unfortunately, there is probably quite a bit that they aren’t telling us.

In any crisis, one of the top goals for authorities is to keep the public “calm”, but that comes at a great cost.

Right now most people are not doing anything to get prepared for a potential pandemic, and that could have very serious consequences down the road.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

The post Cruise Ship Horror: Confirmed And Potential Coronavirus Cases On 4 Different Ships Cause A Frenzy Of Panic All Over The Globe appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

There is only a difference of one between a 43 and 44 right? What about a G43 and a .44 magnum?  That’s my thinking….just kidding! Over time, my bear guns have been getting smaller. From a 12 gauge pump, to a 30-30, to a .44 magnum revolver then to a 10mm, to a double stack 9mm Glock 26, and now to a single stack Glock 43. I’ve learned much over that time. While I’m not ready to consider a +P .22LR Glock 44 for bears, the progression has been both one of practicality and need, and actually makes sense. Sort of.

By Doc Montana, contributing author to Survival Cache and SHTFblog.com

Over 99 percent of the time I’m headed out into the wilds with little more than a water bottle and pocket knife, and often without a water bottle. And that’s because I wander into the sticks almost every day. That said, I have had to make decisions about what to carry, and if minimalism is essential, then I need an essential bear gun option as well. Thus, the G43 Bear Essential.

Let me be very clear: I do not want to ever kill a bear unless I am deliberately hunting one. But the bear might have different ideas about me or the people I’m with. All that said, I do believe that bear spray is the first and best alternative. However, bear spray doesn’t last forever, and it has a limited range, is sensitive to wind, and can be hard to use for more than a few seconds. Therefore I have a go-to backup of a bear gun of some sort.

Also read: Survival Gear Review: UDAP Bear Spray

While bigger is better, especially when it comes to bears, bigger is also less convenient. Pardon the pun, but heavy weighs on your activities. Playing in the forest with five pounds of stainless .44, ammo and chest rig does get old. So once moving off the Dirty Harry platform, things become flexible. A .44 to a .41 is not too much of a jump. Nor is a .41 to a .357. And if a 10mm is like a .41ish, then a 9mm is like a sluggish .357ish.  But then a plus-P 9mm really blurs the lines. Add some actual intel like the 9mm stopping a charging Alaska brown bear (aka grizzly), and the universe just expanded.

Having experience with bears, +P .44 Mag ammo, and +P 10mm, I can say through experience, that shooting a +P 9mm, even through a mouse-ish pistol like the G43 is nothing to fear. A 9mm just cannot pack enough oomph to recoil beyond expected gun activity. Follow-up shots are quick, and you could shoot 9mm +P all day long if you could afford it. The 10mm is snappy, and +P just makes it more shocking. The .44 mag +P, on the other hand, is like swinging an aluminium baseball bat into a brick wall six times in a row before reloading. It’s a gift that keeps giving through wrists and forearms. So in a nutshell, an advantage of a 9mm +P bear load is that you can rapid fire because the muzzle (in a trained hand) won’t move far off target during recoil.

Another issue with a bear gun is actually pulling it on a bear. I meet many folks new to the real woods that think they will have plenty of time to assess and react when a bear appears. That’s like a new driver thinking they can avoid a collision or a fresh faced motorcycle rider who doesn’t need a helmet because they don’t plan on crashing, and if so, they won’t hit their head. I have to bite my tongue when I see an old high school friend learning to walk again after a minor tumble off his Harley.

Since bears have a habit for appearing without warning, and behaving somewhat unpredictable, there is a very good chance that by the time you get to process and react to a bear encounter, you might be rolled up in a ball on the forest floor. For that reason, I have worked on what I call the “Fetal Carry.”

Imagine curled up in a ball with a bear breathing down your neck. In order to draw from a conventional holster, you would need to uncurl a little and reach around hard to the side. Bad idea if you are trying to convince a grizzly you are dead. Instead, imagine being able to pull your gun with your right hand from somewhere on your left, all while playing dead in a ball on the ground.

My solution was to head to Craft Holsters and get set up with a nice leather cross draw holster for my Glock 43 bear gun. The leather cross draw pancake from Craft Holsters is a wonderfully capable and versatile holster exactly for the purpose I need it for. Cross draw holsters are popular with those who might need to draw from a seated position or have some affinity reaching across one’s body rather than around. Cross draw holsters can mimic appendix carry, or weak hand hip holsters. And speaking of weak hand, while a weak hand draw from a strong hand mounted cross draw holster (sorry, I don’t know where to place all the hyphens), is possible, it takes a little practice to get the bends right. That said, I think you could figure it out with a disgruntled grizzly at bad breath distance.

Related: Survival Gear Review: The Ruger Alaskan

To aid in the wearability of the Craft cross draw pancake holster is the use of a webbing strap or simple belt worn separately from the traditional belt. This strap belt allows for easy on/off of the holster, quick tightening and loosening, and massive adjustability in length allowing for wearing the holster on the outside of a bulky coat, or outside athletic shorts.

A second carry option for more civilized environs was also sourced from Craft Holsters with the Concealment Belt Pouch with internal holster. The G43 fits fine along with an extra magazine. The rip-open design allows for quick access, all while truly exhibiting world-class incognito. The Belt Pouch is also quite effective for all those outdoor pursuits where bulky clothing, specialized clothing, or even the lack of clothing limits carry options. And it is a fine general carry/storage option as well. The coup de grâce with the Belt Pouch, however, includes a SWAT-T tourniquet nestled into the small zippered front pocket. Remember, should the Bear Essential need to be pulled into service, there is a better than average chance that a tourniquet will be needed as well.

All that said, I also have a Blackhawk Serpa for the G43, as well as a Safariland active retention holster. So I’ve experimented with various options all through the lens of minimalism. For if I go outside the minimalist concept, I will move to a larger caliber without hesitation.

Since activity outdoors usually involves sweat, water, and their offspring, mud, I seriously encourage anyone considering this to install something on the pistol grip to improve grip. I use Talon Grips which are a simple stick-on tape-like solution that weighs nothing and will always work.

For 9mm bear ammo, I went to where I usually go: Buffalo Bore Ammo. Their 9mm Outdoorsman solid cast bullets are designed to penetrate, not expand. Rather than the largest wound channel, the solid casts are for penetration and breaking bones. The metabolism of a bear is slow enough that you personally can be shredded and dead long before the mortally injured bear collapses for good.

The Buffalo Bore Outdoorsman 147 grain hard cast bullets leave the G43 barrel at around 1050 feet per second. That’s about 395 foot/pounds of energy at the muzzle, with it dropping to about 365 ft/lbs at 25 yards. Sounds all fine and dandy until you compare it to something like the .44 mag +P+ hard cast rounds I use in my Ruger Alaskan. In that case, the 340-grain .44 Magnum bullet is leaving the muzzle at about 1300 feet per second, carrying around 1275 foot pounds of energy. Or in other words, the energy of the .44 +P+ out at around 700 yards is the same as of the G43 at the muzzle. Okay, not quite so comforting, but whoever said using a handgun to engage an agitated bear in the wild was comfortable? It certainly wasn’t Hugh Glass.

The modern 9mm is not your grandpa’s ballistics. The nine is a true performer, and with the explosion of pistol caliber carbines in 9mm, there is a resurgent interest in the overall capabilities of the nine even out to long distances. And shortly after that is the consideration of using the 9mm as an actual hunting round for critters up to deer-sizes.

In the end, however, bears, like sharks, have a unpredictability beyond most. They can appear without warning. Completely ignore you. Chase you down unprovoked. Or mount a bluff attack. While bear spray is a proven deterrent, sometimes another option is needed. And in my case right now, the G43 Bear Essential is what will be in my hand.

The post The Bear Essential: The Glock 43 as a Bear Gun appeared first on Survival Cache.

Everyone has their own opinion of what constitutes the “best” survival knife. For me it comes down to a quality to price comparison.

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#morakniv #moraclipper

A post shared by Smaug (@_paul_baumer) on Jun 16, 2018 at 12:12pm PDT

In my opinion, Frost Mora makes a knife that gives you the most bang for your buck, coming in at around $10.00-15.00 depending on the model.

The Mora Clipper is my favorite fixed blade knife, I keep one in my vehicle and two of them in my B.O.B. The only real downside is that it only has a ¾ tang on the knife, but this is quickly counteracted by the fact that you can purchase three or four of these knives for the price of one of the good (more expensive) name brand knives such as Kabar.

Pros

High carbon steel blade
Large handle with plenty of grip
Extremely economical
Plastic handle is easy to sanitize

Cons

Not a full tang on the blade
Plastic case is a bit bulky
Plastic case feels cheap

A little history on Frost/Mora:
With a name that is synonymous with over 300 years of knife-making under its belt, Mora of Sweden manufactures knives that combine the skill of a knife smith with the latest technology manufacturing methods. A variety of specialized models are available in to meet the complete needs of sportsmen active in bush craft survival, hunting, camping, sports fishing and boating; woodworkers, craftsmen and tradesmen; as well as professionals in the commercial fish, meat, and poultry industries.

Mora knives come highly recommended by notable bushcraft teachers Ray Mears, Cody Lundin and Mors Kochanski.

Want to read more about survival knives? Check out these related articles from our site:

Best Survival Knives

Survival Knives: SOG Aura Hunt Review

11 Reviews of Small Survival Knives

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Originally posted on: September 17, 2012 @ 3:45 AM

We have seen lots of strange things happen during President Trump’s time in the White House, and Mitt Romney added to that list on Wednesday when he voted to remove Trump from office.  It was the first time in American history that a U.S. Senator has voted to convict a president that belongs to the same political party, and this probably marks the beginning of the end of Romney’s political career.  Amazingly, Romney voted against Trump even though he knew that it would not affect the outcome of the vote.  In fact, Romney knew that he was going to be the only Republican to vote against Trump and he still did it anyway.

There have been two other instances in which the U.S. Senate has voted to either convict or acquit a sitting president.  In 1868, President Andrew Johnson would have been convicted if even a single member of his own party had voted against him.  The following comes from the Washington Post…

In 1868, Johnson, a Democrat, faced 11 articles of impeachment from a Republican-controlled House. The Senate considered those articles, ultimately deciding that all but eight were “objectionable.” A vote was held on three, all centered on Johnson’s having violated the Tenure of Office Act that Congress passed to try to constrain his behavior in office.

Thirty-six votes were needed to convict Johnson and remove him from office in the then-smaller Senate. On all three counts, 35 Republicans voted to convict. On all three, 10 Republicans and nine Democrats voted to acquit.

Bill Clinton was in danger of being removed from office in 1999, but every single Democrat and several Republicans in the Senate stood with him…

In 1999, Clinton, a Democrat, faced two articles of impeachment of four originally introduced in the House. On a charge of perjury, 45 Republicans voted to convict Clinton while 10 Republicans and 45 Democrats voted to acquit. On the other article, focused on obstruction of justice, five Republicans switched from not guilty to guilty. It didn’t matter, though; Republicans were still well shy of the 67 votes needed to remove him from office.

Most experts were anticipating that every single Republican would side with Trump for this vote, and so Romney’s decision was a huge surprise.

In an emotional speech on the Senate floor, Romney explained that he had to vote against Trump because his “oath before God demanded it”…

“I am aware that there are people in my party and in my state who will strenuously disapprove of my decision, and in some quarters, I will be vehemently denounced. I am sure to hear abuse from the President and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?”

If you have not seen it yet, you can view his full speech right here.

Needless to say, the reaction from Republicans all across the nation was swift and severe.  During a conversation with reporters, Romney said that he was prepared to “accept whatever consequence is sent my way”…

“I will accept whatever consequence is sent my way and recognize that’s part of the job. People don’t expect me to be a shrinking violet,” he said. “I’m feeling the weight of the responsibility for the vote I’ve taken and know that it will have impact on me and my family for a long, long time to come.”

But will there actually be any consequences?

Immediately following the vote, Donald Trump Jr. suggested that Romney should be expelled from the Republican Party…

“Mitt Romney is forever bitter that he will never be POTUS,” tweeted Donald Trump Jr. about the Utah senator’s decision. “He was too weak to beat the Democrats then so he’s joining them now. He’s now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled from the @GOP.” The Republican National Committee blasted out a press release to reporters with the subject line: “Mitt Romney turns his back on Utah.”

Of course nobody is going to actually try to force him out of the Republican Party.  The only way that he would leave is if he does it willingly.

And at this point Romney has nearly five years left in his Senate term.  He is not up for re-election again until 2024, and so he has quite a long time before he has to face the voters again.

But could it be possible that he could be recalled?  A lawmaker in Utah has actually introduced a bill that would make it possible, and Romney’s vote has created a surge of interest in that legislation…

As news of Sen. Mitt Romney’s vote to convict President Donald Trump spread, interest in a Utah lawmaker’s bill to allow Utahns to recall an elected U.S. senator began to catch fire at the state Capitol.

Rep. Tim Quinn, R-Heber City, said Wednesday he received more than 100 phone calls and 250 emails in just over an hour that were “100% positive to the bill.”

We shall see what happens, but at this point we are being told that the bill has very little chance of actually passing.

And if it did, it would probably be immediately challenged in court.

So the truth is that Mitt Romney is not going anywhere, and he will continue to be a thorn in President Trump’s side for the foreseeable future.

There were some other “moderate” Republicans in the Senate that almost certainly were thinking of voting against Trump, but in the end the political cost was just too great to make such a move.  Maine Senator Susan Collins is up for re-election in November, and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski is up for re-election in 2022, and neither of them was interested in potentially committing political suicide.

But Mitt Romney does not seem too concerned about his political future.

Does he intend to only serve one term in the Senate?

Has he totally given up on the idea of ever running for president again?

Only Mitt Romney can answer those questions, and right now he is not saying very much about his future plans.

But this vote will definitely guarantee him a spot in the history books, and Trump supporters will never forget what he has just done.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

The World Health Organization says that we are facing an “unprecedented outbreak”, and they are basing that assessment on the official numbers that we have been given so far.  But what if those numbers are not accurate and this outbreak is actually much, much worse than we have been led to believe?  According to the Chinese government, there are now 9,692 confirmed coronavirus cases in China, and the official death toll has risen to 213.  But the Wall Street Journal has already documented the fact that the death toll is being artificially suppressed.  As I discussed the other day, many of those that have died are being categorized as dying from “severe pneumonia” so that they won’t count as coronavirus deaths.  Meanwhile, it is becoming exceedingly clear that the number of confirmed cases is also much lower than it should be.  Large numbers of victims are being classified as “suspected cases” even after it is quite obvious that they have the virus.

CNN spoke to a Chinese woman named Shi Muying who has been told by her doctor that she has the coronravirus, but because a fourth test has not been administered yet she is still considered to be a “suspected case”…

By January 26, Shi began to have a fever — one of the symptoms of the novel coronavirus. She went to the hospital’s fever clinic where she found over 20 patients, all waiting to be tested by one doctor.

She says she was given three tests — a nasal swipe to rule out the flu, a CT scan to compare her lungs against those of infected patients, and a blood test. After nine hours of tests and waiting for results she says the doctor told her that she had coronavirus, but because he could not give her the fourth and most definitive test, she could only be considered a suspected patient. Her 67-year-old father is in the same situation.

So this woman and her father do not count as confirmed cases at this point.  Instead, they are among the 12,100 suspected cases that are still supposedly waiting to be confirmed.

Of course Shi and her father were quite fortunate to actually be tested in the first place.  Many others have visited hospital after hospital only to be turned away each time.

The truth is that the Chinese medical system is simply unable to handle an outbreak of this magnitude.  The hospitals are being absolutely flooded by very sick people, and there aren’t enough doctors or enough resources to deal with them all.

According to a nurse that works at a hospital in Wuhan, what they are facing is truly a very desperate situation…

According to a nurse in Wuhan who asked not to be identified for fear of professional repercussions, staff are overwhelmed, resources are running low, and there are no beds. There are so few hazmat suits that staff disinfect them at the end of their shift to wear again the next day, she said. Around 30 of the 500 medical staff at her hospital are now sick and admitted to hospital, and others — including her — have self-quarantined at home.

“There really are a lot of people who can’t get admitted, but there’s no point in blaming the nurses. There are no beds, no resources. Are we supposed to just fight this battle bare-handed?” she said. “Right now, loads of medical staff are at breaking point … I see my sisters charging toward the front line and I feel so powerless.”

Will similar things start happening in other countries all over the globe?

On Thursday, the number of confirmed cases outside of China surpassed 100 for the first time.  The World Health Organization finally declared a global health emergency, and the head of the WHO warned that this is truly “an unprecedented outbreak”…

“Over the past few weeks we have witnessed the emergence of a previously unknown pathogen that has escalated into an unprecedented outbreak,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a news conference at the organization’s Geneva headquarters on Thursday. “We must act together now to limit the spread.”

Of course there has only been a handful of cases in the United States so far, and so most Americans are not really overly concerned about this crisis at this point.

But if this virus continues to spread, that will soon change.

Reuters interviewed a 21-year-old American-born college student that is living in Wuhan named Nicholas Schneider, and he told Reuters that he has been trying to find a way out of the city.  Now that Wuhan has been totally locked down, he says that he feels “like I’m in an apocalypse somehow”…

An eerie calm has descended on the normally bustling streets of the city of 11 million people, where Schneider has been studying geodesy – a branch of applied mathematics – at Wuhan University, about 10 miles (16 km) from where experts believe the new coronavirus originated in a market illegally trading in wildlife.

“It’s like a ghost town, barely any people and cars. It’s a weird feeling. I feel like I’m in an apocalypse somehow,” said Schneider in a phone interview with Reuters on Wednesday.

If this virus starts spreading like wildfire in the U.S., it is just a matter of time before U.S. cities are locked down in a similar manner.

And will our medical system be able to handle a large scale outbreak?

Certainly our system has more resources than China’s does, but the truth is that there aren’t enough hospital beds for all of us.

In fact, right now there are less than a million hospital beds in the entire country.

And there won’t be enough test kits for everyone either.  So far, all testing in the U.S. has been done at the CDC, and officials are hoping to make test kits available to local communities soon.

But what if thousands of sick people showed up at your local hospital demanding to be tested?

Would there be enough test kits?

In China, one journalist tried to get tested, and he was told there are only “100 or several hundred test-kits per hospital per day”…

I tried getting tested at a hospital to see what the process was like. They asked me questions and told me to queue for testing. I went with a patient to Tongji Hospital. Lots of patients had been to multiple hospitals. I was genuinely scared.

The corridors in the out-patients department were all full of beds, lots of people were breathing with masks and oxygen tanks. In the corridors. They had to be seriously ill.

Dr said we need to select which patients to do the test on. There are only I was told 100 or several hundred test-kits per hospital per day. There aren’t enough, so doctors need to select those to check. So some people have been to 5-6 hospitals trying to get tested.

So a lot of sick people in Wuhan may never get tested at all.  Instead, many of them will just sit at home “and wait to die”.

Ultimately, we really do not know how many coronavirus victims there are in China right now.  As I discussed yesterday, researchers at the University of Hong Kong are estimating that there could be 44,000 victims at this point, but they have no way of knowing for sure.

But what we do know is that this pandemic is getting worse with each passing day.  Even if you just look at the official numbers, they are growing at an exponential rate.  Mysterious pandemics are one element of “the perfect storm” that we have been anticipating, and it looks like this current pandemic is only going to intensify in the months ahead.

And the more this pandemic grows, the more fear we are going to see.  Large numbers of people are going to be desperately afraid of getting sick and dying, and that has the potential to paralyze our society to an extent that we have never seen before.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

The post The True Number Of Coronavirus Victims Is Far Larger Than You Are Being Told appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Could it be possible that this coronavirus outbreak will be the trigger that finally bursts the biggest stock market bubble in U.S. history?  As I have discussed previously, stock prices in the United States were the most overvalued that they have ever been during the month of January, and our stock market has never been more perfectly primed for a huge meltdown.  But stock prices are all about what investors believe will happen in the future, and if they remain convinced that the future is bright then perhaps this stock market bubble could persist for a while longer.  Unfortunately for Wall Street, this coronavirus outbreak is starting to create a wave of fear in the financial community.  In fact, concern about the coronavirus pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 600 points on Friday, and that represented the worst day for the Dow since last August…

Stocks fell sharply on Friday, wiping out the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s gain for January, as investors grew increasingly worried about the potential economic impact of China’s fast-spreading coronavirus.

The Dow dropped 603.41 points, or 2.1%, to 28,256.03 in the 30-stock average’s worst day since August. The S&P 500 had its worst day since October, falling 1.8% to 3,225.52. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.6% to 9,150.94.

Up until now, investors were very confident that the Fed and the Trump administration could keep the party rolling, but now that is changing.  Just consider what Ilya Feygin just told CNBC…

“The theme coming into this year was the Fed and Trump are going to bail us out of any problems, but the virus is something neither one can do anything about. That’s a reason to become more fearful.”

A reason “to become more fearful”?

That certainly doesn’t sound good for stocks.

And this coronavirus outbreak has also been pushing down the price of oil…

Oil prices have also suffered from the virus outbreak, because China is a big consumer of the commodity.

US oil prices are on track for their worst month since May last year, when the US-China trade war and high inventory levels weighed on prices.

Ultimately, the economic impact of this crisis will be determined by how bad this outbreak eventually becomes, and that is very uncertain at this point.

But without a doubt the coronavirus is already having a substantial impact on the Chinese economy.  The following comes from CNN…

The economic impact of the virus is still impossible to determine, but one state media outlet and some economists have said that China’s growth rate could drop two percentage points this quarter because of the outbreak, which has brought large parts of the country to a standstill. A decline on that scale could mean $62 billion in lost growth.

Goldman Sachs is warning that this outbreak will also cause the U.S. economy to slow down this quarter, but the bank is still convinced that next quarter will be better…

The fast-spreading coronavirus could slow first quarter growth of the United States economy, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs.

Analysts at the firm forecast a 0.4 percentage point decline on US annualized growth through March. But it’s not all doom and gloom: Goldman Sachs (GS) also predicts that growth will rebound in the second quarter by roughly the same amount.

Of course the analysts over at Goldman Sachs are assuming that this coronavirus outbreak is not going to turn into a horrifying global pandemic.

But what if they are wrong?

During the last two weeks of January the number of confirmed cases got 236 times larger, and if this outbreak continues to grow at an exponential rate it is going to be absolutely catastrophic for the entire global economy.

Quite a few experts are now recognizing this reality, and that includes Tuomas Malinen…

Global recession, a European banking crisis and a crash in the U.S. capital markets will produce a global economic collapse which will almost certainly overwhelm any attempts—massive and coordinated as they may be—to turn the tide by over-stretched central banks and over-indebted governments.

This is, why the coronavirus outbreak should be treated for what it is: a potential harbinger of human and economic calamity.

Whether such a scenario materializes in the weeks ahead all depends on how widely this virus spreads.

Personally, I am hoping that this outbreak fizzles out as rapidly as possible.  This virus has an incubation period of up to 14 days, and wondering who might have the virus is going to drive a lot of people completely nuts.

Unfortunately, it looks like things are only going to get worse.  According to a study that was just released, we could soon have “independent self-sustaining outbreaks in major cities globally”.  The following comes from Natural News…

A new, urgent study just published in The Lancet warns that “independent self-sustaining outbreaks in major cities globally” may be “inevitable” due to the “substantial exportation” of symptomless carriers of coronavirus. That same study also calculates that 75,815 individuals are infected right now in mainland China, where the official government numbers are currently under 10,000.

Titled, “Nowcasting and forecasting the potential domestic and international spread of the 2019-nCoV outbreak originating in Wuhan, China: a modelling study,” the study is authored by Professor Gabriel M. Leung, MD and Kathy Leung, PhD.

Coming into this year, so many of us felt such a sense of urgency, but I don’t know anyone that thought we would potentially be facing a horrific global pandemic by the end of January.

The worse this outbreak becomes, the more pain the global economy is going to feel.

And there is no way that this stock market bubble is going to survive a severe global economic downturn.

The only way anyone ever makes money in the stock market is if they get out in time.  And unfortunately the ridiculously elevated prices that we have been witnessing may not last too much longer if this outbreak continues to spiral out of control.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

The post Will The Coronavirus Outbreak Cause A Massive Stock Market Crash? appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Mixed in with reports about stagnant wages and the “evil rich” comes some evidence that consumers are still confident the economy is in a good place.  In fact, the consumer confidence index climbed to 131.6 in January from 128.2 the month before.

Americans began 2020 with the most confidence in the economy since last summer, buoyed by an interim trade deal with China, a soaring stock market and the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years.

Confidence is high by historical standards, though not quite as strong as it was before the onset of U.S.-China trade tensions. The index hit an 18-year high of 137.9 in October 2018.-Market Watch

The share of Americans who said jobs were plentiful rose to 49% from 46.5%. The percentage who said jobs were hard to find fell to 11.6% from 13%. This also likely contributed to the higher spending and mass accumulation of debt among the American middle class. Generation Z is racking up debt pretty quickly, while by comparison, Millenials are trying to get out of debt after struggling to pay for their student loans – the debt that defined their era.

Banks are hoping to sustain record levels of profit amid a borrowing binge by U.S. households. “Our belief is that the desire for credit among this generation [Z] is significant across the board,” said Jason Laky, head of financial services at TransUnion, one of the three big credit bureaus that tracks how households handle debt. “And improving economic conditions will likely serve as a springboard for more credit.”

The optimism in the labor market will likely push consumer confidence even higher unless a major bubble pops in the meantime.  No one knows when that will happen, only that all bubbles eventually pop and this one (the everything bubble) is no different.

Part of Generation Z’s problem is that they have failed to learn from the mistakes of Millenials. According to Crain’s Cleveland, Gen Z’s openness to debt could impact its accumulation of wealth, leaving many worse off than previous generations. Millennials know this well. Last year, they had 2.9% of the nation’s household wealth, Federal Reserve data show. Some 16 years earlier, similarly-aged Americans (Generation Y, those roughly between the ages of 23 and 38) had nearly double that share.

This article was originally published by Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge. 

*HOW TO PREPARE YOUR HOME (QUARANTINE) FOR A PANDEMIC*

With the WHO set to reconvene its emergency committee in Geneva on Thursday for the third time in a week, experts are calling on the supra-national organization to label the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern,” or PHEIC – the official designation of a global pandemic.

Summary:

• 7,921 confirmed cases worldwide, 170 fatalities
• South Korea confirms the first human-to-human transmission
• China reported the largest one-day jump in fatalities on Wednesday with
• Hong Kong warns of surgical mask shortage
• Russia closes border
• 6,000 quarantined aboard an Italian cruise ship
• Thailand leads with most cases outside China (14)
• Chinese national hospitalized and quarantined in York
• The virus arrives in India, Philippines

Update (0920ET): Air France has acquiesced to its employees’ demands and confirmed that it’s suspending all flights to and from the Chinese mainland, joining a host of other airlines who have done the same thing.

Update (0855ET): The UK is reporting shortages of facemasks amid several virus scares, the Guardian reports. Shortages have also been reported in Hong Kong and across China.

On the Boots website, a six-pack of “safe & sound” surgical face masks is sold out, with a note saying they will not be receiving any further stock.

Another product on the Boots website, a box of 50 masks, is also sold out and carries the same message about not being restocked.

Boots said surgical face masks are available to order in stores as a special line from the pharmacy counter, adding that they are “working to make additional stock available for customers to purchase in store and on boots.com which we hope will land over the next week”.

A branch of B&Q in London appeared to be low on stocks of face masks, with racks empty on Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, on amazon.co.uk, a pack of 12 “anti virus” flu surgical face masks is sold out, with the online retailer saying they do not know when, or if, the item will be back in stock, although there are other masks available on the site.

-Source: Guardian

And for those who can’t get their hands on a mask – we suggest you improvise.

From WeChat, the cutest mask. He’s 95. He lives so long for a reason~ pic.twitter.com/qHUeDICyac

— Li Yuan (@LiYuan6) January 30, 2020

Meanwhile, Vietnam said it will stop issuing visas for Chinese tourists, as have the Philippines and Russia. In China, Beijing has removed the city health commissioner in Huanggang. We suspect he may never be heard from again.

* * *

Update (0816ET): Hubei has reported 317 new cases as of noon Thursday local time, according to local Party Secretary Jiang Chaoliang. Hubei is the province at the epicenter of the outbreak: the virus originated in the province’s capital, Wuhan. The most recent count put the number of confirmed cases at 7,921 and the death toll steady at 170.

Hong Kong is reportedly struggling with a shortage of face masks. Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said the government had bought 13 million masks, but public hospitals have been using 5x to 6x as many as normal. Hong Kong is stepping up local production at correctional facilities to keep up with demand, and another 24 million should be available at retail outlets soon

* * *

Update (0800ET): Has the virus come to Yorkshire?

A Chinese national has been rushed to a hospital after taking ill at a hospital in York…

More on this as we get it – Chinese national taken to hospital after taken ill at York hotel https://t.co/gN9QGJzMmp

— Chloe Laversuch (@ChloeLaversuch) January 30, 2020

No cases of the virus have been confirmed in the UK so far, though there have been a handful of scares.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Thursday that the first British evacuation flight could take off from Wuhan as soon as Thursday evening UK time. The flight was supposed to leave Thursday morning, but there was a delay as Chinese officials were slow to grant permission for takeoff.

As the viral outbreak turns neighbors against each other and inspired a wave of suspicion in towns and cities across China, some have chosen to seek comfort by playing children’s games.

While many are stuck at home in China because of the #coronavirus, some are finding comfort in humor or children's games at an otherwise anxious time pic.twitter.com/wVNbs6aYco

— QuickTake by Bloomberg (@QuickTake) January 30, 2020

* * *

Update (0745ET): South Korea just joined Japan, Thailand, and Germany (and possibly the US) in confirming a case of human-to-human viral transmission that occurred within its borders, involving one individual who hasn’t recently traveled to China.

South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed two more cases Thursday, bringing the total to six. However, the sixth patient to be confirmed, a 56-year-old South Korean man, was diagnosed after “coming in contact with a third patient” inside South Korea, according to CNA.

He has been quarantined at a hospital in Seoul. The other five were diagnosed after returning from Wuhan, the city where the virus first emerged, which is now under a draconian government-imposed lockdown.

* * *

Update (0725ET): Following several unconfirmed scares, India has confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus. That means all three of the world’s most populous countries have now confirmed at least one case of the virus.

And that list could soon expand. Brazil, the world’s fifth most-populous country, reported three suspected cases yesterday. Malaysia has confirmed at least 8 cases. Reports that a Thai woman died of the virus on Kolkata were never confirmed.

First case of #coronavirus in India. One positive case of Novel Coronavirus patient, of a student studying in Wuhan University, has been reported in Kerala. The patient has tested positive for Novel Coronavirus and is in isolation in the hospital: @MoHFW_INDIA @IndianExpress

— abantika ghosh (@abantika77) January 30, 2020

Meanwhile, here’s the most up-to-date map we could find:

Earlier, the White House said it had launched a task force that will meet daily to oversee the response to the coronavirus outbreak that has resulted in at least five confirmed cases in the US, NBC reports. However, an expert who appeared on CNBC Thursday morning pointed out that the administration is a little behind the 8-ball.

If the administration wasn’t so bogged down with impeachment, maybe Trump would have more time to focus on the virus response?

“Let’s remember we have fewer than four cases in the United States, and they’re concentrated in four states,” he said. The maximum country is Thailand, with 14 cases, he said – and the US is nowhere near that.

Reports out of Atlanta claimed that more than 20 passengers had been quarantined at Hartsfield-Jackson airport as they undergo advanced screening for the virus.

In other news: The Philippines has also reported its first case:  A 38-year-old female Chinese patient who arrived from Wuhan via Hong Kong on Jan. 21.

* * *

Update (0710ET): Airline employees are putting their feet down and demanding that their bosses halt flights to China, as more than a dozen airlines around the world have already done.

Air France cabin crew unions have demanded Air France stop flying to China, Reuters reports.

“Air France is monitoring the rapidly evolving situation in real-time. The health and safety of its crew remain the absolute priority,” said Air France-KLM.

We’ve heard whispers of employee discontent before. But expect to see more to forcefully object.

* * *

National health officials in Beijing announced their biggest one-day jump in virus deaths and hundreds of new cases early Thursday morning (nearly 8,000 have been sickened, another 12,000 cases are suspected, and roughly 170 have died), but since then, things have been quiet.

If the recent past is any guide, this would suggest another dump of new cases and deaths is in the offing.

Three new cases were confirmed in Vietnam overnight. But in terms of news flow, most of the drama during the early hours of Thursday centered around Italy and Russia.

A map of cases hasn’t yet reflected the suspected cases in Italy.

With the WHO set to reconvene its emergency committee in Geneva on Thursday for the third time in a week, experts are calling on the supra-national organization to label the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern,” or PHEIC – the official designation of a global pandemic.

The 16 independent experts on the WHO’s emergency committee will advise Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the decision and give recommendations for managing the outbreak. Earlier this week, Tedros met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing earlier in the week to discuss the situation. Twice last week, the WHO decided to hold off on declaring a public health emergency, saying it was “too soon,” according to the SCMP.

Hitoshi Oshitani, a former regional adviser on communicable disease surveillance and response at the WHO’s Western Pacific office, told the SCMP that there is an “imminent risk” of a dangerous global outbreak.

“I think the WHO should have declared a public health emergency of international concern earlier. They are supposed to declare PHEIC based on a risk of international spread. There was already significant risk of international spread one week ago,” Oshitani said.

Oshitani added that controlling this new coronavirus is proving more difficult than suppressing the 2003 SARS outbreak, largely because the virus can spread via individuals who are infected, but exhibit few – or no – symptoms.

“For Sars, patients were infectious only when they developed very severe illness. But for this virus, patients are likely to be infectious even during the incubation period. If so, rapid isolation is not enough to contain the virus,” he said.

SARS infected 8,000 people and killed 813 worldwide. The coronavirus outbreak has already surpassed SARS in terms of the number of cases in China. Globally, the virus has already effectively tied SARS for the number of confirmed cases, though if skeptical epidemiologists are correct, the true number of cases has already far surpassed the total for SARs.

A number of evacuation missions have been completed, as the US and Japan have flown citizens trapped in Wuhan to safety. However, Japanese officials discovered that several citizens on the flight were infected with the virus, leading to a mass quarantine. UK officials said that citizens evacuated from Wuhan must agree to spend two weeks in quarantine after returning to the UK.

About 6,000 passengers and crew aboard the cruise ship “Costa Smeralda,” owned by the Carnival Corporation, have been confined to the vessel on Thursday amid new fears that two Chinese passengers are suspected of having coronavirus, reported Reuters.

Two Chinese tourists, traveling from Hong Hong and, originally, from Macau, have been placed in “isolation in separate rooms of the ship’s sanitary space,” said local media outlet, ANSA.

Coppia di cinesi con febbre alta su nave crociera a #Civitavecchia, bloccati seimila passeggeri: sospetti per #Coronavirus, in isolamento nell'ospedale di bordo, raggiunti dai medici dello#Spallanzani per realizzare i test#ioseguoTgr @TgrRaiLazio pic.twitter.com/ZOZXihg3G6

— Tgr Rai (@TgrRai) January 30, 2020

The tourist arrived in Italy on Jan. 25 and boarded the vessel in the port of Savona in Italy. The two have come down with high fevers and breathing problems.

“The cabin of the Hong Kong couple on the ship has been isolated and they are closed there with the doctors. They told us that it is the woman who has a very high fever, while her husband is visiting him as a precaution. We arrived in the morning, returning from Palma de Mallorca. Of course, we are a bit worried. From the ship, apart from the doctors, no one goes down and no one goes up. Someone, who has only the flu, remained in the cabin. It is a vacation that risks ending like a nightmare, we hope to go down soon,” a passenger of the ship told ANSA.

The cruise ship has already moored in Marseilles in France and several Spanish ports this week before docking on Thursday at Civitavecchia, north of Rome.

Reuters notes that all passengers have been confined to the ship as tests are underway to determine if the two Chinese tourists have coronavirus.

Carnival shares plunged as much as 6% in pre-market Thursday after the ANSA report.

Now the cruise company has a difficult decision to make: those infected with coronavirus may not exhibit symptoms of the virus during the 7-10 day incubation period but can infect others at high rates. This means if the Chinese tourist test positive, they might have infected the entire ship. That many cases will likely overwhelm Italy’s ability to rapidly respond.

Here’s a live view of the cruise ship docked at Civitavecchia.

#Coronavirus Update : The Cruise ship Costa Smeralda in #Civitavecchia , #Italy with around 6,000 people on board is on lockdown . There are fears a Chinese couple have the virus. Passengers are not allowed to leave the ship.
Live Video : https://t.co/5DBIPgXWEW

— Shark NewsWires (@SharkNewsWires) January 30, 2020

Russia’s newly appointed Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Thursday signed an order to close the country’s border with the Far East to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Russia joins North Korea, becoming the second country to completely shutter its border with the world’s second-largest economy. Although Russia hasn’t provided details about the plan, Russia also borders China, Japan, and North Korea along the Far East.

Mishustin has also asked Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova to inform the population on a daily basis about the current situation and preventive measures, according to the Russian press.

Both Russia and the Czech Republic have decided to suspend the granting of visas to Chinese.

Meanwhile, villages and apartment complexes across China are “taking the fight against a deadly viral epidemic into their own hands,” according to AFP.

Some areas are starting to look like something out of sectarian conflict, complete with checkpoints and makeshift barricades. Groups of locals have constructed makeshift barricades across access roads to keep potentially-infected strangers out.

More holiday extensions have been reported across China as economists expect that most of the country’s economy will be shuttered well into February. Bloomberg reported that at least one Chinese city and several provinces have extended the Lunar New Year holiday beyond Feb. 2 in an effort to control the spread of the virus. Shanghai, the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia and provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, have suspended business until least Feb. 10. Hubei province said its holiday will continue until Valentine’s Day.

In one residential compound in Beijing, “a motley stack of shared bicycles have been haphazardly woven together and wired to a wooden ladder, blocking a side gate and forcing visitors to register with guards at the main entrance.”

With more than 50 million people still on lockdown, resentment against the ruling party has intensified, and more Chinese are speaking out on social media, according to the NYT: “We gave up our rights in exchange for protection,” the user wrote. “But what kind of protection is it? Where will our long-lasting political apathy lead us?” That post was shared more than 7,000 times.

While we are being bombarded with news from the mainstream media that the current United States economy is “booming,” 90% of Americans say they are stressed out about money.

What could possibly be stressing us out if the employment rate is low, there’s no inflation, and everyone has disposable income?  Or are we being manipulated by the government’s lapdog media to keep us spending and consuming?

Millions Of Americans Are On The Edge: One Paycheck Away From Financial Disaster

Food Prices Will Rise In 2019 Adversely Impacting Those Living Paycheck To Paycheck

According to a study from Thriving Wallet, a new partnership between Thrive Global and Discover, the vast majority of Americans are stressed out about money.  The goal of Thriving Wallet is to: “Reframe our relationship with money so that we can reduce financial stress and achieve positive behavior changes,” Arianna Huffington, founder, and CEO of Thrive Global tells CNBC Select.

The key takeaways from the survey are:

• 90% of individuals say that money has an impact on their stress level
• About 65% report feeling that their financial difficulties are piling up so much they can’t overcome them
• Roughly 40% report that they are currently taking no notable steps to secure their financial future
• Over 40% wish that they could have a ‘fresh’ financial start
• Less than 25% feel extremely optimistic about their financial future
• Nearly 25% make purchases they later regret when experiencing significant stress
• 40% say managing their money on a daily basis limits the extent to which they can enjoy their day-to-day life

The study found that financial stress is either very or extremely influential on many major life milestones and everyday activities, including:

• Retiring: 51%
• Buying a home: 51%
• Purchasing/leasing a car: 44%
• Daily leisure activities: 36%
• Purchasing clothing/groceries: 34%
• Making social plans: 32%
• Getting married: 28%
• Having/adopting children: 28%
• Daily personal care routines: 26%
• Engaging in exercise: 24%
• Getting a pet: 23%
• Choosing what to eat: 1%

 

If you are one of the Americans struggling with stress related to money, there are some ways to alleviate some of the burdens. First, pay down debts and decrease the amount of outflow each month. This may require cutting back on extras like cable and eating out, but once you’ve eliminated several monthly bills, you’ll have extra money each month.  Not living paycheck to paycheck can go miles in reducing financial stress.

Next, reduce stress in other areas of your life. This will help free your mind for things like remembering to pay bills on time to avoid late fees. Stay on top of what you spend and stick to a budget.  This isn’t fun the first time you do it, but it gets easier and you end up wondering where all your money had been going before you started tracking it.

Origin stories are always interesting. Whether the first life on earth, or the beginnings of a Super Hero, the origin story starts the character arc. In the case of a knife, for some, the origin story can be as important as the actual blade. The Bowie Knife, for instance, or the Puukko. Some like the Fairbairn-Sykes might not carry household name recognition, but anyone in the knife-know would quickly say, “Oh yes, I know that knife.”

By Doc Montana, contributing author to Survival Cache and SHTFblog

There’s another knife popularly known as the “Tracker.” It’s a unique shape, or rather combination of shapes that are baked into a single blade design. While the knife has a documented history that dates back to the 1980s, the uniqueness of the overall knife silhouette really hit the big screen, the actual real big screen in the 2003 movie “The Hunted” starring Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro. Although the knife in the movie was promoted as a combat blade, the actual Tracker was a dedicated survival knife.

Through documentation and primary sources, the initial design of what will become the famous Tracker Knife, or more specifically, the Tom Brown Tracker, had its roots with Robb Russon whose son Mark runs Utah Knife Works and produces a Tracker variation named the Survivor. The story about Russon and Brown would make a fine Hollywood movie on its own.

By any measure, the Survivor Knife is a beefy blade. Built of 9CR18MoV stainless steel, and almost a quarter-inch thick, the starting slab of steel of the Survivor is plenty for anything hand-operated. Six main features of the Survivor knife jump out on first view. Forward of the handle is a flat knife blade followed by a strong curved front end, The point of the spine has aggressive and offset saw teeth, and behind that is a cutting hook that doubles as both a seatbelt cutter and sharp gut hook. Rounding out the features is a distinct flat hammer face protruding from the back end of the handle.

The famous profile of the knife shape is mainly the transition from a somewhat inset flat blade to a seperate curved blade profile with saw teeth of some sort gracing the front end. In the case of this Survivor Knife, the presentation is about a foot long, and in a bright stainless with black glass-reinforced canoe-shaped nylon scales each fixed in place with three bolts.

Also Read: Survival Gear Review – Fallkniven A1Pro

Other versions of the Tracker knife use high carbon steel, powder coated blades, and various scale choices. There are even larger and smaller versions being sold. What they all have in common besides an ancestor from Utah is an obvious shape; the shape of the Tracker.

In the field, the Utah Knife Works Survivor Knife produces results. The first thing you would notice when hefting this blade is the heft. It’s substantial at a full pound. The six-inch blade doesn’t get any thinner until the final half inch of tip. And care needs to be taken given the top of the blade also cuts both with saw and hook.

The initial two-and-a-half inches of straight blade just forward of the grip is steeper flat grind with its six covered by a solid thump ramp with melted jimping. The Survivor Knife’s flat blade works as draw knife and batoning face as well as a traditional cutting blade. And when batoning, care is needed because you don’t want to strike the saw teeth. Instead, you can go easy and aim just in front of the teeth where a small tip platform is open space, or you can strike to the rear of the gut hook on a sloping plain of steel directly above the straight blade. Of course you will quickly exceed the girth of the blade but at that point I’ve found I can often twist the knife handle counter-clockwise (right handed) further splitting the workpiece.

There’s a hard stop to the blade before it transitions into the frontend curved blade. There’s no drop on the point, and given the forthcoming safety hook as one follows the blade edge up and around, the tip of the Utah Knife Works Survivor is more of an upswept ending easily inline with the top of the grip or maybe a touch above it.

Cutting surfaces on the Utah Knife Works Survivor Knife do their job without complaint. When making feather sticks, the straight blade works wonders. And as a batoning section, it works well up to its full length. Given that it is a portion of the overall blade length, you can use it’s entire dimension to baton branches and section larger wood.

As a chopper, the Utah Knife Works Survivor Knife performs, but not at hatchet-level. The weight-forward blade has the mass and edge to hack wood, but being at the end of the blade, it also curves up rapidly leaving only an inch or two of chopping surface. Chopping with the straight portion of the blade sacrifices much of the moving mass.

The cross-cut saw teeth address the first two inches back from the point, and they are aggressive. Making more of a grinder than a saw, the teeth are exceptional at carving notches, short-throw sawing, and producing more sparks off a fire rod than you can imagine. Trying to saw a branch with the teeth is questionable. The short throw of the saw means you have to use it more as an oscillating tool.

The cutting hook is the most factory-sharp surface on the knife. Second is the straight edge, and the third is the curved edge. The cutting hook can be used for domestic survival chores including cord and strap cutting along with linear slicing. On the homestead, the hook will quickly delimb small branches with efficiency, and provide a precision carving surface for making pointed sticks. As a gut hook it is more of a gut cutter that works great for initial skinning, and, well, gut cutting.

The black leather sheath is a single-stitched, two snap, belt loop design. The unique shape of the Utah Knife Works Survivor all but demands an unconventional sheath design. It works well. A nice touch in the future that would also accent the “Survivor” nature of this blade would be to sew a firesteel loop onto the sheath.

Another one of the appealing features of the Utah Knife Works Survivor Knife is its price. Retailing for $150, the knife is a strong contender for a bug out, planned or otherwise.

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