Apocalypse later

 -      The Prepper Diaries

In the field by Warblogger Wood

- I like the white, silvery shine of the metal, Dresden grins, a serious prepper with a survival attitude. I have visited his modest hideout in a redbrick building at Oslo east. Nightmarish dreams of economic apocalypse are neatly stacked on shelves of army grey steel.

Fear in the Western World

I can feel the anger when I interview one of Oslo’s Preppers. I can’t quite pin point his fears, but it is a mixture of unease, distrust and rage against the political machine that rules Norway. He says he has taken the name of the German city Dresden. Some might know that their allied air forces dropped 4 000 tons of high explosive bombs and incendiaries on the open city. – You can’t trust politicians, he snarls. - No matter what they are saying about social consciousness, health-care, education and old people care…. It all boils down to a single word. ME! Trust me! I know best… And… I am going to rip you off in more ways than you can ever imagine. - Did you know that the bombing resulted in a firestorm and more than 30 000 people were killed? I nod knowingly, I’ve read Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

2 + 2 = 5

It had not been an easy task tracking down Dresden on The Dark Web, and even more difficult to convince him to meet me. However, preppers are like hackers; they are proud of what they do. If they get a chance to show off their expertise and spread their point of view they can’t resist doing that.

- I am busy exploring my own place in this society and find ways and means to survive different forms of economic and social collapse, or even worse… plague, war or even Armageddon. I am not afraid of the latter, says Dresden. – However, many of my prepper friends are Biblical convinced that a world encompassing, economic collapse will happen in a foreseeable future. The World economy rests on the American dollar and Wall Street. If something disastrous happens to the stock market and the World’s reserve currency, the worst recession since 1929 will hit us with gale force. I nod agreeable to the agitated prepper and encourage his train of thoughts. - I have not forgotten the near economic meltdown of 2008, I say. -Then the World’s economy was saved from total collapse by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He stopped the economic tsunami with mile high stacks of newly printed dollar bills and bought valueless junk bonds from banks and the private sector of finance. - Exactly! Dresden exclaims. – And what will happen when the incredible 45 trillion dollars he called Quantitative Easing seep into the American economy at large? The Central Banks don’t have the capacity to keep inflation in check. This goes double for Norway, because the government spends more than ever oil money to… he he… grease the faltering Norwegian economy. The money The Central Bank of Norway is releasing into our society is circulating faster. My guess is that inflation will hit five percent in less than two years! They steal from the population by reducing the value of their hard earned savings.

Think organic and diversify

I point at the eight meters of neatly stacked goods on the steel shelves and ask why he is prepping goods and not only precious metals? - I am busy exploring The Art of Prepping and finding new combinations of optimal economic survival. One keyword is diversification. I buy and store stuff which will become much more expensive or impossible to get hold of when recession hits. I have a decent amount of cash to weather a bank run. They closed the banks on Cyprus in 2013 and prevented people from getting hold on their deposits. Finally, I have invested in silver and a little gold.

A design with a purpose

Dresden continues to point out that it is important to find a good balance between the life as a prepper and the real life. - Don’t let fear take control over your economy. It is beauty in simplicity.  Bauhaus is a keyword of mine: "Less is more". Make a lot out of little.

I like the way Dresden has designed his modest hideout, and it is not difficult to see that his professional experiences in Logistics are a huge pre. Dresden’s main focus is on the demise of the monetary system as we know it today. He has a triple approach to fuel his convictions. It is what he calls "organic". Try not to get hung up in too many details, but try to see your prepping as a whole. Try to get rid of a little of your ego and concentrate on uniting creativity with knowledge. This is the strength of Dresden. He sees the connections between prepping and real life.

Shine on you crazy Prepper

No doubt Dresden has his economic future orderly stacked in his Made in Germany steel safe. He believes that the plastic tubes filled with American and Canadian silver coins are his insurance. When economic collapse hits Norway’s shores and wipes out digital and paper wealth alike, he hopes that silver still will be the mean of exchange people are willing to accept as payment for whatever he wishes to barter for.

Hard facts – Best and Worst

Profile

Pseudonym: Dresden

Profession: Logistic

Age: 43years

Education: High School with logistics

Worked in logistics for several multinational companies

Favorite prepper scenario

Economic meltdown

Favorite prepper tool

Power Point

Worst prepper trap

Loosing control over stocks

The worst being a prepper

Lack of funds - Spending too much money on prepping

Would really have liked to have

A friend in the Central Bank upper echelons

Favorite prepper item

One ounce silver Canadian Maple Leaf investment coins