In the 2013 Brad Pitt movie, World War Z, unlike all the world’s other governments caught in the normalcy bias, the government of Israel had a Tenth Man policy which enabled Israel to take seriously an early warning about the impending zombie apocalypse and so secured its borders.
According to the tenth man policy, when nine people agree on something, it’s the tenth man’s responsibility to disagree no matter how improbable the idea.
The normalcy bias refers to human beings’ predisposition to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. Our erroneous assumption is that since a disaster hasn’t occurred, then it never will occur. We then downplay the likelihood of a disaster while, at the same time, interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible or ignore those warnings entirely.
Our normalcy bias results in our failure as individuals and government to adequately prepare for a disaster, as well as our inability to cope when disaster does strike.
Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse warns that America is “steamrolling toward the edge of an economic cliff” because “the long-term trends that are destroying our economy have continued to get worse since 2008, and none of the problems that caused the last financial crisis have been fixed.” Most Americans “in our entertainment-addicted society are totally oblivious to what is going on. So they are not doing anything to get ready for the immense economic pain that is coming.”
Are you prepared for the coming economic collapse? Here are 5 questions to ask yourself:
1. Can you come up with $2,000 right now? According to a shocking study by Atif Mian of Princeton University and Amir Sufi of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 40% of Americans said they could not come up with $2,000 if an unexpected need arose.
2. Do you have 3 months of income saved in an emergency fund? In that same study, an astounding 60% of Americans said they do not have 3 months emergency funds to cover expenses in case of sickness, job loss, or an economic downturn.
3. Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Another study found that 76% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Less than one out of every four Americans (25%) has enough money stored away to cover six months of expenses.
4. How dependent are you on government benefits? More Americans are dependent on the government than ever before. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49% of U.S. households receive and depend on direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
5. How prepared are you for an emergency lasting just a few days? According to a survey conducted by the Adelphi Center for Health Innovation:
- 44% don’t have first-aid kits
- 48% lack emergency supplies
- 53% do not have a minimum three-day supply of nonperishable food and water at home
- 55% believe local authorities will come to their rescue if disaster strikes
- 52% have not designated a family meeting place if they are separated during an emergency
- 42% do not know the phone numbers of all of their immediate family members
- 21% don’t know if their workplace has an emergency preparedness plan
- 37% do not have a list of the drugs they are taking
- 52% do not have copies of health insurance documents
What do you think is going to happen to these people once the economy collapses and there is chaos in the streets?
One reason why so many Americans are unprepared for an economic disaster is because we are being taxed into oblivion. Americans — the 56.7% of us who actually pay income taxes — now spend more on taxes than we spend on food, clothing and housing combined.
~Eowyn
