Have you stocked up on food and water yet? Because the collapse of the dollar is happening right before your eyes:

The dollar has tumbled to 15 year lows against the yen:

TOKYO (AFP) – The dollar tumbled to a fresh 15-year low at 82.22 against the yen in Tokyo trading hours on Thursday on persistent fears over the US economic outlook.

The dollar fell from 82.87 in earlier trade to well below the level at which Japan last month carried out its first currency market intervention since 2004 to weaken the yen and protect an export-led recovery.

It later strengthened back to the mid 82-yen level.

The markets increasingly expect the US Federal Reserve to pump more money into the system to boost the flagging economy, even if doing so weakens the dollar and risks fanning inflation.

“The basic trend is dollar selling on the expected credit easing… The market is now sensitive to any negative news on the US economy,” said Yasuyuki Takeuchi, dealer at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking.

The Australian dollar on Thursday surged to an all time high of around 99.00 US cents, traders said, outstripping the record of 98.49 since it was allowed to float in December 1983.

The euro was trading close the key 1.40 dollar level, at around 1.3983.

“A lot of the trading community thinks this has further to go,” Daragh Maher, a senior currencies analyst at Credit Agricole in London told Dow Jones Newswires.

Further to go means that investors are expecting a further debasement of currency, which means a massive loss purchasing power for Americans who will be buying goods that are already getting more and more expensive.

The debasement of the dollar has caused oil hits $84 a barrel:

(Reuters) – Oil slipped from a five-month high above $84 a barrel on Thursday on concerns that a rally driven by a weakening dollar had run ahead of the market’s fundamentals of supply and demand.

A falling U.S. dollar, linked to an expected inflow of fresh dollars into the economy, has spurred money flows into oil and other commodities. Oil reversed course as the dollar pared its losses and equities slipped.

“It highlights the nervousness in the market about underlying fundamentals and worry the rally may be getting ahead of them,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

U.S. crude for November fell 40 cents to $82.83 by 1431 GMT, after trading as high as $84.43, the highest intraday price for a nearby contract since May 4. ICE Brent slipped 50 cents to $84.56.

“The market is very nervous and there was some profit-taking,” said Christopher Bellew, an oil broker at Bache Commodities in London.

A French oil worker strike has is disrupting European oil supplies which is ironically supporting the wider market and may be keeping oil from spiking further.

Gold has another record and as the Fed has publicly announced a plan to increase inflation. Their reasoning is not just wrong, but evil:

In the past week, two Fed officials raised the option of explicitly pursuing above-target inflation for a time to offset periods in which inflation is below target. New York Fed President William Dudley suggested that if inflation were to undershoot the central bank’s target by half a percentage point next year, the Fed could offset the miss with an additional half-point increase later on.

And, in an interview, Chicago Fed Charles Evans said, “It seems to me if we could somehow get lower real interest rates so that the amount of excess savings that is taking place relative to investment needs is lowered, that would be one channel for stimulating the economy.”

In other words the Fed’s policy, already designed to punish savers, is to force them to stop saving as they see the value of their savings disappear.

I’ve purchased Mayday Honey Buckets and emergency food buckets as a complement to the larder I have. That larder includes Mountain House #10 Cans as well as an at years supply of regular long storing food (canned goods, rice and pasta for example) and bottles of water. The collapse of the dollar will look like a natural disaster as you quickly find you can’t get to the  grocery store, gas is out of price for you and utilities become too expensive so part of your preparations should be to prepare as if you’re expecting a hurricane. When the dollar truly hits bottom you should be prepared to use whatever worthless dollars you own to keep the roof over your head, and should have the supplies you need to live until the system re-boots.

If it does at all.