The following excerpt is from the blog "Surviving In Argentina," by Fernando Ferfal Aguirre.

Ferfal lived through Argentina's economic implosion in 2001. Here, he shares some of his secrets to survival.

So, guys, things don’t look good.



It pains me to see America going through this and the consequences it will bring.

These are critical days. Now is when we’ll get a better picture of how bad things will actually get, how long until we see the economy back on its feet. Instead of trying to guess what will happen, let's go through some things you should to right now, if you haven’t taken care of them already.



First, how about what NOT to do?



*Don’t open your big mouth!



It’s ok that you feel all nice and warm about the 1/5/whatever year food supply you already have, but there’s no need to talk about it with the guys at work, the neighbors, friends or even family that is not directly related.

Other than my wife and kids, these are things that we simply do not talk about with people that know us, know our faces, names and know where we life.



Next thing you know someone’s knocking on your door, asking for favors you simply can’t afford.



Not long ago a friend asked if I could lend him a gun for self defense… yes, right.



Here, the owner of the gun is responsible for it and is not allowed to lend it to other non licensed persons. Other than my brother, I’m not giving a gun away to just anyone.



*Don’t waste your money!



How many times have we read about paper money only being good for TP after a crisis?

Though it may have happened in some extremely primitive nations, or countries destroyed by war, do not expect that to happen in USA. It won't. Rather the other way around, you’ll consider it a precious commodity even more. As prices go up, you’ll save every penny.



If you already have savings you want to protect, buy precious metals, or if you have enough money, buy real estate. It’s a buyer’s market right now.



A small apartment would be a good investment.



Give it a few months, you’ll see rent prices go up in no time.

People can’t get loans to buy or they don’t have the money, so people start renting more. More demand, prices go up.



*Don’t run for the hills



This isn’t a hurricane or flood, you can’t run from this.

Running to your bug-out location and “living off the land” is a terrible idea, almost as stupid as thinking about quitting your day job to start growing corn.



If you are a farmer and that’s what you do for a living, that’s just perfect. But if you are doing it as part of preparedness for the end of the world, you need to think things a bit better. For a farm to be a profitable, you need a margin of production large enough to make it economically sustainable.



Farming as a way of producing your own food is a terrible mistake. Spending an entire day to produce the food equivalent of what you can buy with 15 minutes of your current salary isn’t smart.



Yes, inflation, I know about it, as a matter of fact I know about it very well, but the solution isn’t growing your own food, building your own car, building your own house, digging your own petrol site or fixing your teeth yourself. :)

The solution is making more money and reducing expenses as much as possible.

Money ( in one form or another) makes the world go around and it’s been this way for more than 10.000 years, wont change any time soon.

No more toys, guys, at least for a while.



Ok, now for things to do...

Keep reading at Surviving In Argentina >

See Also: SocGen: We're On The Verge Of Global Economic Collapse