OK, Now, Friggin, Flange the Flacid Floppers. Back to the post. Just because I came up with a partial answer....its not the only answer...or questions...so dont give up the post yet. Keep the brainstorming comming. Ive got some other thoughts comming but I will wait for a wile to not hog the post...and I can only type so much each day. What are future problems that you will have to deal with if its Slow Decline without a climax.

Prepping for this means living in a country which is sparcely populated (i.e. Canada, Australia or NZ), not one of the 'major players' (keeping their heads below the parapet, and not making a target of themselves),

Hate to be a party pooper, but look into how China is getting control of canadian farmland. They have a workaround in place to avoid those pesky canadian ownership vs foreign ownership laws, and many canadian farmers are jumping right on the band wagon. Money talks very loadly. They just flew in 850 chinese investors to Ontario for a how to seminar. It was only a drop in the bucket. There are real estate companies out there working on nothing else.

The good thing that I found 'Cernunnos5', and you will no doubt agree is that when you have to use your stored resources, at least you get to see for real what is and isn't needed...we did this when work ran out for quite a few months. At least with a slow decline you have a chance with a little luck and hard work to re-establish yourself and your stores.
We did this and it totally changed what we stored down to a very basic list that cost a lot less, we have a garden and yes that is essential and even on a bad year you still get enough to survive even though it may be a bit repetitive hmmmm...yep lots of chilli's again 😆

Prepping for this means living in a country which is sparcely populated (i.e. Canada, Australia or NZ), not one of the 'major players' (keeping their heads below the parapet, and not making a target of themselves),

Hate to be a party pooper, but look into how China is getting control of canadian farmland. They have a workaround in place to avoid those pesky canadian ownership vs foreign ownership laws, and many canadian farmers are jumping right on the band wagon. Money talks very loadly. They just flew in 850 chinese investors to Ontario for a how to seminar. It was only a drop in the bucket. There are real estate companies out there working on nothing else.

Australia has had the same problem...can't remember if it was a very large cattle property or cropping but, it went up for sale and was sold to a Chinese company despite the fact that an Australian company had offered more...Hmmmm, I smell something fishy and it's not the contents of Baldrick's trousers - Blackadder

The slow death of the economy is encouraged, created or directed by the hmm ummm Public Servants that are elected...and may I offer an Irish blessing to them, 'May the road rise up to smack them in the teeth'.

A slow death is much harder to watch and no doubt a lot harder and more stressful to participate in as it feels like you are suffering alone and as we all know from our school days that if you got in trouble it was always easier when you were in trouble with others than on your own.

Very good point Cares about less stress of being in trouble in a group. Makes me think that networking and friendship building would be less of who has your back in a gun fight and more about seed and plant sharing in a slow crash scenario. Slow crash life might look a lot less post-apocalyptic and more transition town.

Slow crash life might look a lot less post-apocalyptic and more transition town.

A lot less like they portray in the movies 😆

I don't really doubt that eventually we plunge over that cliff, but how and when I don't know. Most likely when, is when we least expect it!

Before I get around to talking about the whole RED scare and its distraction of the REAL mosters in our back yard (Dont even get me started on truely evil mother F$$$$$s like Canadas own GoldCorp and its Machavelian swath of murder and destruction, backed by its paid for puppet government or how much of our True north strong and free is owned and controled buy the States)....Easy, there C5. Take a breath and step away from the pipe fittings and cannon fuses.

...why dont I answer RPs thoughts "Makes me think that networking and friendship building would be less of who has your back in a gun fight and more about seed and plant sharing in a slow crash scenario. Slow crash life might look a lot less post-apocalyptic and more transition town"
Well, a slow crash is actually more apocalyptic, not less. Full on extincion level event...and not a temporary die off or reset. far less action movie inspiring. I wouldnt sell your guns and trade in your biker buddies for Hydroponic bud arangement just yet.
Convieniently, I was drinking with some serious Transition Town folks last night. When these guys say Local sustainabilty... They mean LOCAL...so much so that they had gathered and brought in a banker to discuss the options of running a credit union out of someones basement to break the towns dependence on the one and only corporate bank and potencialy linking it with their local barter currency, For both ethical reasons and as an act of Building Reliliency for fear of what would happen to the town if the bank decided to leave town as often happens in small communities.....I digress....
Not sure how the coversation came up but I said something I often do. "one of the problems with the prepper movement is an unhealthy facination with all things death dealing wile the transition town movement doesnt have enough intest in defence. You will need to provide for your own local food production and local energy production...but also your own Policing and security." The woman next to me added, "...and conflict resolution". Fair enough. Its probably exactly what I would say when hanging with a different group. A breakdown in centralised controle means more personal resonsability and self controle, and conflict resolution, not less. Your decission to shoot someone stealing your cabbages might get back to the dead kids parents and suddenly have your farm burned out by 2 dozen wrathfull relatives and set off a multigenerational blood fued where the killing of your grand children and a constant fearfull state of slaughter for slaughter goes on long after you are dead and cursed.
Lets also talk about the whole Drum beating, torch waving and flag raising, thang . Lots of bastards need to be hung...but there is also the problem we face about the whole glorious revolution thing. I shouldnt need to point out that only one out of a thousand revolution actualy succeeds...and 9 times out 10 produces something worse. Every one is conviced that they are the hero and more hero...'er than thou.
In a Slow Crash, something I expect to see is not some, God is fighting for us, enlightened revolution that unites us all, but more of what we see in post colonial Africa. A thousand bloody little revolutions and counter insurgencies, cartels, death squads, oil and mining corporation paid mercinaries, spies and warlords, all starting as someones desire to save the population and take Justified vengence...only to become a hundred thousand little infighting, blood drenched devils. What we now belittlingly call Brush Fire Wars. Its very important to never be thinking in your head that it could never happen here because we are different and enlightened and somehow superior to Those Dirty Thirdworld savages. In a slow crash we ALL become third world and one of Those Dirty Third World Savages.
So, That little Brushfire War goining on the next provence over occasionaly spills into your town as the driven out "Freedom Fighters" come to raid your cattel for survival, rape your women for recreation , distraction and punishment or abducting your son for child soldiers...But the government still taxes you...and occasionaly also comes through doing the exact same thing because you are theoreticly giving aid and comfort to the rebels

OK. Now I know I am opening up a whole new can of worms talking about Brush Fire Wars and there is a part of my brain going,"This post could turn realy ugly and bring out the worst part of some of our posters predudice. Lets talk about this subject but I will ask all of you to show some restraint and, self reflection and self editting wile talking about the subject. Just a warning. If this post suddenly goes in an ugly direction, I will imediatly go to the moderators and ask them to shut the post down. I wont have my name associated with that.

I used to live in Rhodesia, back in the 70's, before it became Zimbabwe and an example of how NOT to run a country, and at that time there was a civil war going on. I used to drive diesel trains for a living at that time (I have a checkered past), and I found it very disconcerting to be quietly driving along, in the middle of nowhere, humming away to myself, and have a rifle bullet come crashing through the window. That sort of thing can ruin your day!

The problem with the Brush War scenario is that you can never settle down and get on with a job - you're constantly swivelling your head around, trying to watch in all directions, so you can not concentrate on the job in hand. In the sort of scenario you talked about, you would need a group, with armed guards watching over those who were getting on with the necessities, like growing food, repairing machinery, and whatever. Now, would you rather be the armed guard, walking around all day, or one of the workers, sweating under a hot sun? There's a good chance of the armed guards becoming overseers, because walking around all day, watching the workers and making sure they do their share is a lot easier than walking around looking for people who might be trying to kill you, i.e. armed gangs, and a HELL of a lot easier than back-breaking work in the fields! When do the guards become the overlords, with anyone who objects being put up against a wall and shot?

Or am I just paranoid?

Thats a good and legit point. Ive heard it said that in a collapse world (fast or slow) that their are only 2 profesions. Farming and controlling farmers. That division will be something to keep watch over. No one wants to farm. Thats why the cities are full. You are actually starting to see that happen in the States at the moment http://prospect.org/article/common-dirt-0?src ="longreads" . We all know of the Sociology experiment (at least I hope we do) dividing a test group into gaurds and prisoners that had to be shut down because it went really bad, really quik. This is a common human problem. A similar subject came up last night. Personal or town defence is not the problem. The problem comes when the defenders decide to expand out and enforce their will on others. I guess rotating watch positions wile keeping everyone with a weapon at hand is what I hope for. Use watch as a rest job. On watch for say 2 hours at a time only. Besides, It keeps the watch fresh instead of sloppy and just killing time, mind wandering and not noticing the ninjas. Hey...why the heck dont we have ninjas in our emoticons. Never a ninja when I need one.Then again... Perhaps there are but they are invisible 💡

I thought I would jump the queue here. Im sure a few of you are thinking, "geez cern, Its quite a logic jump from slow regional collapses and partial recoveries all the way over to Brushfire Wars". Well, as I gaze into my crystal ball, Its actually one of my easier prognostications. My reasoning is that, as we slowly bump down to our own new third world status, we are going to be subject to all of the same uncomfortable situations that we are used to hearing about...and ignoring, Over There. The reason I guess at it is because when I look at places that arent first world, those situations are common. Not a big war but a whole lot of little regional conflicts. Its pretty easy guess work on that one but it might take several decades...or not. Bosnia happened pretty quikly after hosting the Olympics and being the worlds darling.

Brushfire wars, home defence, it'll all be done with home made bows, knives or any old rusty single shot guns that you've had buried out back. Any crash, slow or fast one of the first thing any gov. is going to do is send swat teams to registered gun owners homes to get our guns and thanks to a previous gov. party thats a pretty easy task. I'm expecting some day for a knock on the door and armed police officers to say " good day Mr. x we are here for your two shotguns, three .22's and two savage's that you have registered and all your ammo and any thing else you shouldn't have. either give them to us or go to jail." Or they might wait untill your not home so you have no chance to hide anything. Don't get me wrong i do SOMEWHAT belive there should be a form of gun control, some people shouldn't be allowed to have a sharp stick, but its just one more way for the gov. to track you, free country my butt. FYI every time a police officer makes a traffic stop the offenders name gets run through the registry data base, at least it used to not sure if it still does or not, but thats how the pro gun control partys had such big numbers of how many times a day the registry was used. Thats just my opinion, i could be way out in left field swatting flies. p.s. i'm also pro garden and am working on being as self sufficient as possible, mabey not this year or next but someday... also liked the posts about paying off personal debts, lots of good ideas here.

I have to say that I too am in favor of some gun control. I think that the balance we have now is just about right. Personally I would like to see it a little more relaxed in the area of what firearms you may own but not in the background checks and certainly not the training aspect. Actually I would like to see the training aspect enhanced a little more. I know this might not be the view of many current firearms owners but at the same time I know licensed owners today that I would not go out hunting with.

You know they scrapped the gun registry right? If you're worried go get some second hand long guns now.

yes we know they scrapped the LONG gun registry but i don't think all the files were sent to mr. shread-it to just go away. I still got carded when i bought a couple new ones last fall, they never wrote the serial number down or took my name but i still had to show my pal, same as when you buy ammo you still have to show a valid pal. They might not now know what you have for firearms but they know who has them. I agree with icrcc its a nice balance now but the training should be enhanced.
But in any event the higher powers would want to disarm the general population so they could push us around even more and try to prevent any uprisings, so they could try to hold on to any little remaining power they still had. i would think any war-torn country's goverment would love to be the only ones to have arms or at least know where they all are, but there is always the black market to deal with to. Is Obama still talking about some kind of gun control down there? i'm pretty sure thats why ammunition and gun makers can't keep up with the demand now, any gun shop will tell you the same thing, the americans are buying everything they can get their hands on.

Prepping for this means living in a country which is sparcely populated (i.e. Canada, Australia or NZ), not one of the 'major players' (keeping their heads below the parapet, and not making a target of themselves),

Hate to be a party pooper, but look into how China is getting control of canadian farmland. They have a workaround in place to avoid those pesky canadian ownership vs foreign ownership laws, and many canadian farmers are jumping right on the band wagon. Money talks very loadly. They just flew in 850 chinese investors to Ontario for a how to seminar. It was only a drop in the bucket. There are real estate companies out there working on nothing else.

Australia has had the same problem...can't remember if it was a very large cattle property or cropping but, it went up for sale and was sold to a Chinese company despite the fact that an Australian company had offered more...Hmmmm, I smell something fishy and it's not the contents of Baldrick's trousers - Blackadder

The slow death of the economy is encouraged, created or directed by the hmm ummm Public Servants that are elected...and may I offer an Irish blessing to them, 'May the road rise up to smack them in the teeth'.

A slow death is much harder to watch and no doubt a lot harder and more stressful to participate in as it feels like you are suffering alone and as we all know from our school days that if you got in trouble it was always easier when you were in trouble with others than on your own.

For the first time ever China and Australia are trading without using the world reserve currency of US dollars. This is significant people. Australia and New Zeeland are going to be ruled by Chinese policy. They just slipped under the Chinese thumb...