Sara's Survival Guide to What's Heading Our Way

 I'm still processing, but part of how I process is making contingency plans. And stress cleaning, so my house looks better than it has in a while.

I don't have answers to the bigger picture of why our fellow citizens can't see the train bearing down on us all, but I do have some thoughts about how to get out of the way, as best we can. I also have thoughts about exactly why certain choices are being made, but that may need to wait.

Here are a few things that are going to happen:

• Tariffs will raise the price of everything. The more tariffs, the worse it will be.
• Because half of the workforce in agriculture and construction are undocumented workers, food and housing prices are going to skyrocket.
• We are going to get into a war with China...and if we don't, it will be because Trump capitulated control of the South China Sea, which is worse.
• We will continue to have devastating storms and wildfires, but Trump will weaken FEMA and withhold assistance from states he doesn't like. 
• The ACA and CHIP Act are likely to be repealed.
• H1N1 is mutating and could potentially turn into another pandemic, and we already know Trump will fuck that up.

Any one of these things would damage the economy; all of them together is going to crash it. 

It's also possible, if they start revoking the charters of unions (it's in Project 2025) that there will be a general strike. Which I encourage participation in, but that also means you need a way to pay for your expenses.

So here's what you need to do...

• Save your money. Cancel your subscriptions, sell your extra possessions, don't buy anything you don't need.
• On the other hand, if you know you are going to need something that will be affected by tariffs, buy it now.
• Stock up on non-perishable food, and grow your own if you can. Find local sources. Learn how to preserve and store food (so you can buy a sack of potatoes when they are in season from a local farmer, and have potatoes for months). Get chickens. 
• Develop a side hustle and otherwise make your life recession/depression resilient. Make as much money as you can.
• Take a look at your housing situation. It might make sense to buy a house if you're renting if you can and you're pretty sure your income will be stable, or it might make sense to live in an RV. Whatever it is, start planning now.
• Have a disaster plan and assume that FEMA will be non-functional.
• Get your finances in order. Renew your passport.
• If you get your health insurance through the ACA, start figuring out an alternative. Get a checkup and address any health problems now.

I'm sure I haven't thought of everything, or anticipated everything, but hopefully this will get you thinking. Basically, Trump is going to be a literal disaster as well as a moral one. Take care of yourself and each other.