Something bizarre happened in China recently that has been largely ignored in the West. However, the implications for the West may be huge.

Perhaps you have heard of the term “LIBOR.” If you are tracking the economy, it’s an important indicator related to the financial industry.

LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate, which is the average interest rate estimated by leading banks in London that they would be charged if borrowing from other banks. It is used as an indicator for the interest rates banks charge for short-term loans between themselves, such as for overnight lending between banks.

A spike in LIBOR can indicate financial trouble and distrust between banks when there is fear that other institutions may go belly-up before repaying short-term loans. During the 2008 financial crisis in the US, LIBOR shot up to 6.88%.

China has its own version of LIBOR called SHIBOR (replacing the “L” for London with “SH” for Shanghai). As is reported by CaseyResearch.com in their post, “The Beginnings of a Chinese Banking Crisis?”, SHIBOR hit at astounding level of 25% on June 19, 2013. It’s one of several indicators that there is serious trouble brewing in China, in spite of best efforts to follow America’s steady example of hiding and downplaying inconvenient realities.

If China faces a credit crisis, it will have implications for all of us, eventually. China is a major player now in the financial world and its economy is closely linked to Western economies in multiple ways. I definitely don’t want to see China’s economy sink.

Meanwhile, back in the States, economic policies continue to add to debt and increase the control of bureaucrats over the economy while making it harder than ever for entrepreneurs and innovators to create growth and jobs. The prospects of long-term inflation from our burgeoning deficit spending and crushing debt demand immediate corrective action, not more of the same.

This is a time for nervous and resolute preparation — a time to build provisions for the future. Do you have a solid food storage program?

Do you realize that the lives of your loved ones may literally depend on what you have stored? Your food storage may become more than just a great way to get through a period of unemployment. It can be the key to survival for you and others around you in a natural disaster or in a man-made economic disaster.

Zimbabwe may be on the other side of the world, but they have been following very similar economic policies and are reaping the consequences of insane government spending and crushing debt with massive hyperinflation that wiped out the financial hopes for much of the nation.

This can happen to once prosperous nations. If we can't get our government to restrain itself with the flood of fiat money it is creating to fund its spending orgy, who can stop the tsunami of debt and inflation from eventually reaching our shores? Sober preparation is needed, coupled with active efforts to elect honorable men and women who will not burden future generations with impossible levels of debt.

In addition to food storage, I also recommend that people have a portion of their investments in some areas that may survive inflation. This is a complex topic since no investment is safe from corruption, theft, market surprises, and the vagaries of government out of control.

Precious metals, certain commodity stocks, agricultural investments, and other vehicles may be useful. Some people recommend owning some physical silver or gold in a truly secure location — the challenge is finding such a location.

As an alternative, one example of an asset backed by physical bullion (gold and silver) is the Canadian Exchange Fund, which trades as CEF on the New York Stock Exchange. It has its own risks, as does everything, so I’m not necessarily recommending it but I will disclose that my 401K has a portion invested in CEF and some mining stocks, energy stocks, agricultural stocks, and other vehicles.

But stocks and investments of any kind will be worthless if you aren’t prepared for the brutal realities of survival in a crazy world. Start with food storage, financial discipline, and research that does more than accept the sugar-coating diet of often irrelevant news from the mainstream media. This is a time for preparation.