| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Monadnock Guide |
Posted - March 24 2014 : 11:14:04 AM
30 Survey Results That Sound False But That Are Actually True
By Michael Snyder, on March 23rd, 2014
You will be shocked at what some Americans actually believe. For example, close to 90 percent of us believe that we are eating a healthy diet, and yet more than third of the population is officially obese. 65 percent of all Americans say that they are dissatisfied with the government, and yet nearly a third of us would be willing to submit to a "TSA body cavity search" in order to get on an airplane. As you will see below, Americans are angrier and more frustrated with government and with their lives than ever before, but we also exhibit almost unbelievable levels of sloth and apathy. Some of the numbers below are quite funny, and others are absolutely stunning. But they all say something about who we have become as a nation. The following are 30 survey results that sound false but that are actually true...
#1 According to a recent Rasmussen Reports survey, 52 percent of Americans "do not think the economy is fair to those willing to work hard".
#2 70 percent of all Americans do not "feel engaged or inspired at their jobs".
#3 According to another recent Rasmussen Reports survey, 59 percent of Americans believe that "less government involvement in the economy" would help reduce the size of the income gap in this country. (And those 59 percent are actually correct.)
#4 20 percent of all government workers and 26 percent of all Obama supporters consider the Tea Party to be "the biggest terror threat" that America is facing.
#5 Approximately 30 percent of all American workers have $1,000 or less saved up for retirement.
#6 A worldwide survey conducted by the Worldwide Independent Network and Gallup found that 24 percent of people around the world consider the United States to be the biggest threat to peace. Pakistan was in second place with just 8 percent.
#7 60 percent of Americans report feeling "angry or irritable". Two years ago that number was at 50 percent.
#8 36 percent of Americans admit that they have yelled at a customer service agent during the past year.
#9 29 percent of Americans believe that "cloud computing" involves an actual cloud.
#10 A survey of employers that currently pay minimum wage to at least some of their employees found that 38 percent of them would start laying off employees if the minimum wage was raised.
#11 One survey found that 56 percent of Americans believe that it is okay for the government to track "the telephone records of millions of Americans" in order to keep us safe.
#12 When George W. Bush was president, 61 percent of Democrats considered NSA surveillance to be "unacceptable", but now that Obama is in the White House, only 34 percent of them consider it to be "unacceptable".
#13 67 percent of Americans support the use of unmanned drones in "homeland security missions" inside the United States.
#14 One survey found that 51 percent of all Americans agree with this statement: "it is necessary to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism."
#15 Close to one-third of all Americans would be willing to submit to a "TSA body cavity search" in order to fly.
#16 65 percent of Americans are dissatisfied "with the U.S. system of government and its effectiveness". That is the highest level of dissatisfaction that Gallup has ever recorded.
#17 Only 8 percent of Americans believe that Congress is doing a "good" or "excellent" job.
#18 70 percent of Americans do not have confidence that the federal government will "make progress on the important problems and issues facing the country in 2014".
#19 According to a survey conducted by the National Geographic Society, only 37 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 24-year-old age range can find the nation of Iraq on a map.
#20 Close to 25 percent of all Americans do not know that the United States declared independence from Great Britain.
#21 Right now, 29 percent of all Americans under the age of 35 are living with their parents.
#22 According to one survey, 24 percent of all U.S. teens that have a sexually-transmitted disease say that they still have unprotected sex.
#23 Approximately one out of every five teenage girls in the United States actually wants to be a teenage mother.
#24 The percentage of Americans that "believe there are signs that aliens have visited Earth" is actually higher than the percentage of Americans that believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
#25 According to one recent survey, only 35 percent of all Americans say that they are better off financially than they were a year ago.
#26 It is hard to believe, but 56 percent of all Americans are considered to have "subprime credit" at this point.
#27 89.7 percent of all Americans believe that they are eating a healthy diet. Meanwhile, approximately 36 percent of all Americans are obese.
#28 44 percent of all Americans do not have a first-aid kit in their homes.
#29 48 percent of all Americans do not have any emergency supplies stored up at all.
#30 53 percent of all Americans do not even have a 3 day supply of nonperishable food and water in their homes. What will they do when a major crisis or emergency strikes? Do they actually believe that the government will swoop in to save them if something happens? |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| SgtMunro |
Posted - March 25 2014 : 4:45:08 PM
Already thought of that MG, and almost 20 years ago. My EWO 'Genny' & commo-equipment (including a short-wave transmitter/receiver) is sealed inside a DIY Faraday Cage-spec storage container...
...Most may not have lights and/or comms, but I will 
YMH&OS,
The Sarge
|
| Monadnock Guide |
Posted - March 25 2014 : 4:24:33 PM
If you want something to think about on a sleepless night - imagine the grid going down, especially in winter, for an indefinite period. Whether is by a natural event or design. - IMO ... about the most important people in this country are the linemen that maintain the grid - take them away and "our way of life" (as we know it) is kaput - INSTANTLY. - It wouldn't even have to be a nation wide event, - just one coast or the other. - A retired Russian General said not all that long ago, - they had plans (if necessary) to explode one or two nuclear bombs in the low atmosphere whose sole intent was to take down the grind - not blast away to 20 cities. |
| SgtMunro |
Posted - March 25 2014 : 2:27:42 PM
Well MG, I like to think that over the years I have developed a fairly adequate response to various 'What if?' scenarios. My preparations did not happen overnight, and I actually started planning for survival options during the Clinton years (Like Obama today, Bill and his kind were my 'muse' back then).
In regards to your theory about the FSF's (Food Stamp Folks) being contained in the cities so long as the 'guberment freebeez' hold out, I admit that in most scenarios, that will be the case. I still look at Hurricane Katrina as a good example of a worst-case scenario, where aid could not get to the affected, and it didn't take long for them to start 'killing & eating' each other. During this time, some of the affected attempted to go into outlying neighborhoods (when they were not shooting at military relief helicopters, or assaulting each other at the Super Dome), so as to 'liberate' the belongings of those residents. Thankfully, some of those residents had taken steps to prepare, and were able to create secure entry control points into their neighborhood, thereby preventing the Leeches & Looters from molesting persons and/or property located within.
It sounds like you are fairly well prepared too, and I am glad that you mentioned the importance of wood-burning stoves as a source of heat. I have a fireplace and a wood-burning stove, and I've tested the abilities of both to heat my house without the use of my normal central heating. I also have a gas-powered generator, which can run my refrigerator and microwave oven at the same time ("Yes", I've tested that as well)
So between the two of us, we stand in an embarrassingly small minority of Americans (our Forefathers would be ashamed of our culture today... in many, many ways  ), but we will endure most anything thrown at us. And when it is all over, and the situation stabilizes, I think that the ones who endure (folks like us) will be able to rebuild a better society than the one which had preceded it.
YMH&OS,
The Sarge |
| Monadnock Guide |
Posted - March 24 2014 : 4:40:33 PM
Sounds like you're certainly well prepared Sarge - to say the least. I have about 3-4 weeks of food & two weeks of water. We have an occasional hurricane, - but winter blizzards & even worse ice storms will take out power for days, even weeks at a time. Back in Maine "just north of us" an ice storm took out power for 20 days (in mid-winter) once. Thank Gawd for wood stoves - "up there" everyone has one, even if it's not their primary heat source. - In so far as folks/hordes coming out of the cities - could happen, but as long as the supply of welfare & food stamps is maintained (the status quo) will keep the lid on. .... A number of years ago I read an article about a "government study" on that possibility. - To make it short - the estimated time until "civil unrest" broke out in our major cities after a weather event or attack - was only three days. |
| SgtMunro |
Posted - March 24 2014 : 12:59:17 PM
That is an interesting set of survey results MG, and the last one is particularly telling of how low 'the bar' has sunk. The fact that over half of all Americans do not have at least a 3-day supply of food & water would be laughable, if it was not a symptom of a chronic disease... that of government dependence.
Personally, I have four (4) weeks of long-term storage rations (MRE's), along with another four (4) weeks of canned food. As for water, I have a rotating supply of one (1) week, but I also have a portable collection/filtration system, and Chlor-Floc purification tablets which should get me through the better part of a year or more. Additionally, I also keep a good supply of first aid/immediate medical care supplies on hand. And I always try to keep at least twenty (20) gallons of gasoline on-hand, in addition to never letting any of my vehicles go below the half-a-tank mark on the fuel gauge.
Most of the lemmings will try to flee the urban areas when the 'balloon goes up', whereas my plan is to 'fort-up' and wait for at least 3-4 weeks before bugging out (and "yes", I do have a secondary deployment area, far from the suburbs in which I now reside). The reason for this 'fort-up' period is simple; the lemmings, leeches & looters will be trying to bug-out immediately, and bung everything up. At that time, with a clear exodus unreachable, they will also turn on each other (look at post-Katrina New Orleans). With my extensive supply of small arms ammunition and other ordinance, I can hold any number of them off, while waiting for the 'burn-out' stage of the situation (and "yes", I have all approach routes to my residence, 'dialed-in' for range). This holding action shouldn't be too hard for me, since these folks do not like to work for their bread to begin with, and will soon learn it is better to look for easier pickings. The leeches & looters will then turn on the weaker lemmings, after they see the extreme terminal cost involved in trying to take my food & water 
After the burn-out period is complete, I then can move my loved ones safely to my secondary deployment area (what Lady Munro affectionately calls 'The Bunker', and I simply call 'Location Bravo'), where my loved ones and I can either weather the storm, or build a new life
YMH&OS,
The Sarge |
| Monadnock Guide |
Posted - March 24 2014 : 12:23:53 PM
LOL - That's exactly what I was thinking Fitz, ... ;) |
| Fitzhugh Williams |
Posted - March 24 2014 : 12:18:30 PM
There is no hope for us. We should make our own peace with the French. |
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