Anonymous
The OP make many interesting points but, as many post/articles do, relies on the author perception of WHEN a collapse is going to happen. In prepping, time is an important factor and predicting the future is hard and risky business.
For example, not paying the mortgage if you are short of money can have smaller consequences if the economy is really folding fast. But, if you time it wrong, you can be homeless because your house will be repossessed.
Same thing can be said about debt. Paying off your debt is good because take some stress off your life in case you lose your source of income. But if you know that all banks are going to fail tomorrow you should load all your credit card spending on survival items because that debt will never be collected. The problem is that if the collapse doesn’t happen tomorrow you have to sell your equipment at a loss to pay off the credit cards.
So, be careful. The current down phase of the economy could last longer than we think (it has lasted longer than I thought possible) and your plan should be designed so you do not take a loss, whatever it happens.