Wise Citizen is a web site designed to support individuals, families and communities by providing information that is not widely available or understood by the majority of individuals. In our opinion you can dramatically increase your resilience during a crises with some common sense analysis, planning and action once you understand where you are vulnerable.

Our journey started with the 2007/2008 "Great Recession." It was unclear to us what had happened and what precipitated the series of events that caused this global disaster, so we started studying the events that caused the crash of Lehman brothers and the corresponding domino effects.

For further context we began researching the history of monetary systems, previous economic collapses, and what happened in the period after 2008 as the system partially recovered. This included increasing our knowledge and understanding of how the financial systems work and how markets recovered.

By analyzing our own situation, we came up with a plan to strengthen our ability to withstand, to the best of our ability, a significant economic problem or collapse and the accompanying financial, economic, banking, crime and social unrest that can unfold, depending on the depth of the crisis. To 'keep it real' we looked at what actually happened to citizens of the affected countries, and then came up with some relatively straight forward solutions to mitigate the risks.

Philosophy

1. We will provide links to articles and videos that provide information you can use to gain some understanding / context that help frame the discussion. This does not mean everything the authors say is accurate, nor does it mean we believe, or thru implication you believe, everything they say. Feel free to disagree; and if you do, use this information to do your own research.

2. We believe that most people, given appropriate knowledge will make pretty good decisions about their lives.

3. We believe that if individual members in a community are prepared, then during a disaster they can materially improve their own safety by not having to compete for resources with people who did not prepare and are desperately in need.

4. We believe that you can help and contribute to helping your community if you have resources in place as this will help you keep a cool head.

5. We believe that the government's ability to help, and the speed at which that help arrives is based on the size, scale and scope of the problem. Local events like a tornado typically have rapid response due to the relatively localized nature of the disaster. A national disaster (financial or otherwise) means you will be on your own for a lot longer.

6. Government policies, actions, inactions, corruption and penchant for debt pose grave threats to the general public.

7. We believe that freedom of speech is imperative to all functioning democratic / republic forms of government, and is an unalienable right. We also believe you have the right to self-defense. In the case of major civil unrest, the governments ability to maintain law and order will be severely strained and may not reach you in a timely manner (or at all).

8. Common sense and empathy, together, make a great platform for action and behavior toward each other.

9. A community of people has a much greater chance of survival than individuals in a significant disaster.

10. Governments have shown their willingness to take advantage of a crisis to pass onerous legislation that, once in place, can severely erode your constitutional rights.

This site is for everyone. Our goal is to provide common sense information. We are not supporting a specific political position or candidate. We do, however categorize inflation, oversized government debt, financial repression, deterioration of property rights and censorship (via "Fact Checkers" and "Misinformation") as bad public policy. Functioning democratic republics like the US require open and honest dialog and transparency in government operations as this is necessary for proper control and functioning of government. Baloney is baloney regardless whether it is in your sandwich or the mouth of our leaders.

We hope that the information on this site helps you on your journey towards resiliency.

We are NOT financial advisors, safety experts nor clairvoyant, and you should use the information on your site to think, do your research and make your own decisions, which certainly could involve discussions with knowledgable financial advisors. There are no shortcuts or simple solutions to what is facing us.

Nothing on this site was written by Bart Simpson, nor is endorsed by the creators of the Simpsons, their writers, contributors or owners. We simply enjoy Bart's independence and believe he would make a viable candidate for public office.