So, what do we do now?

After the kerfluffle in Europe with the government closing the banks and robbing the people, what can we do? 

I sure as hell am not going to be trusting the banks any time soon.  I barely trust them now.  I sure as hell will not trust the government to be constrained by the Constitution--after all, they're already circumventing it to infringe on my right to own a fully-automatic weapon of my choice. 

So, what can we do?

Speaking hypothetically, you can do what the government advises: stock up on food and make sure you have water.  You can figure out a way to keep enough cash on hand to deal with the government deciding to close the banks for a while.  You can figure out a way to keep your liquid assets far below the limit set in Cyprus--maybe buy tangibles when you get to a certain point.  Consider your location.  Do you trust your neighbors not to try to rob you if you have cash and/or food and they don't?  If the answer is no, you might want to consider moving.  A longer commute might be worth it.

I cannot stress this enough: if you have any consumer debt--credit cards, student debt, car, or mortgage--pay it off.  Now.  Because if the banks get shut down, guess who's going to be blamed for the default?  It certainly won't be the banks.  It won't be the government.  

Also, consider this: how are you paid?  Do you get a paper check every month, or direct deposit?  And, if there is a bank shut down, will you get paid?

So, what can you do if you're of limited means?  You can do what Odysseus and I are doing.

We are doing needed maintenance on our home.  Paying cash, so that we don't have a huge debt hanging over us in the event of a shut-down.  We are stocking up on non-perishables.  I'd consider a garden, but I'm not sure our soil is safe, and wouldn't know where to put one, since we're in town and on a fairly small lot.  We are thinking about scenarios, and what we need to be doing with each one, while being grateful that we live in a small town with a small population of government dependents who would riot at the drop of a word.

Personally, I'd love to slap the dog-shit out of the next individual I run into that voted King Putt back in office.  I'd love to slap the dog-shit out of the members of the SWMO Conservatives Association, who helped put more leftists back into our state and federal offices by insisting that social issues were more important than fiscal issues.  I'd love to slap the dog-shit out of anyone who thinks that who's having sex with whom and how, or whether people are taking their genetics out of the breeding population is more important than the possibility of our government pulling a Cyprus on us. 

I'd like to, but I won't.  Yet. 

If we get to the same point Europe is at financially, I may well re-think that.