The Fifteenth United States Census was conducted in May of 1930, and it was determined that the resident population was 122,775,046, in the United States, which was up 13 percent from the 1920 census. Today there are over 322 million people in the United States. Another great depression would have a profound effect on the country, much more so than in the 1920’s and 30’s.

During the first great depression, the government was much smaller, much less intrusive. There was no question as to whether you could raise chickens in your front yard, side yard, or backyard, you simply did it without anyone demanding a permit or threatening to sue over the noise and smell.

Back then not having a garden was considered an oddity if you lived in a rural area. Today, in some municipalities you can’t even raise vegetables in your front yard. Government dependency is at an all-time high, so what happens when the government cannot provide any more. We are almost to that point now are we not?

Dependency

We are dependent on electricity and technology today. Dependent to the point that some, if not many of us would not survive without either. Technology keeps the pacemakers operational, the dialysis machines running and the tools for complicated surgeries rely on advanced technology as well.

In 1920, there wasn’t much of a dependency. Cities and towns had access to electricity, but few rural homes enjoyed the luxury. If you never had it, you wouldn’t miss it, nor need it. Today, however, it’s a different matter.

It is not the loss of billions, it will not be the shortage of food, and it will not be violent riots and civil unrest, which kills the most people. No, it will be the lack of electricity and lack of access to technology that will be the most devastating in the short-term, because people will not be able to get their government check, their medical care, and their food stamps, cell phones, free heating oil, and food from food banks, which they so rely on today.

People today don’t really know their neighbors in suburbia. It is best not to get involved, not hear the goings on next door, unlike in years past where neighbors were like family. You needed a barn raised 30 people showed up with hammers and saws without being asked and went to work and the only pay was a good meal at the end of the day that the ladies of the home so happily prepared for the hard working crew.

If there was a death in some family down the road people showed up with covered dishes to pass, men helped dig the grave in the family plot and every man removed their hats and bowed their heads in respect, even if the person that passed was a stranger. That is what people did, they cared, and they helped knowing that they too may be in the same position one day, and they knew they could count on their neighbors or even complete strangers in some cases to rally around and help get the job done.

Morality or lack of it will kill people today. When groups of people on a sidewalk can step over injured people, victims of a crime or someone with a medical emergency without even seeing them, let alone offering help, then people will die by the thousands during a crisis like the great depression because no will notice nor care to stop and help anyone.

There is more to prepping today than gathering food, equipment, and materials. Most Preppers by nature are generous and willing to share their knowledge and skills, and even their supplies in some instances. However, Preppers make up just a small fraction of the population today, so to be the only person in the room willing to help means you have a huge task ahead of you. A task you must prepare for along with gathering supplies and learning to live without electricity, natural gas, propane, and technology.

You have to prepare to deal with those that do not care. Some people will change once the SHTF, if for nothing more than for self-preservation but the vast majority of people will continue as they did before the crisis, and so, they will be your worst nightmare.