Treasury Department seeks survival kits to prepare employees at every major bank for coming collapse

(NaturalNews) The Treasury Department is looking to buy survival kits for all of its employees who are proprietors of the federal banking system, according to a new government solicitation posted online.

As reported by The Washington Free Beacon (FB), the emergency goods and supplies are for every employee at the Office of the Comptroller and Currency -- the OCC -- which is in charge of conducting on-site reviews and audits of banks around the nation.

According to the solicitation, each survival kit contains everything from water purification tablets to solar blankets. And the government is willing to spend up to $200,000 on the kits, the solicitation says [which can be viewed here in PDF format: FreeBeacon.com].

The FB noted that the Treasury Department specified that the kits come in either a fanny pack or backpack that can hold all of the requested items, which include a 33-piece personal first aid kit containing "decongestant tablets," many different bandages and other medicines.

Why do bank examiners need survival kits?

In addition, the Treasury wants each kit to include a "reusable solar blanket" that is 53 inches by 84 inches long, as well as a 2,400-calorie food bar, "50 water purification tablets," a "one-size fits all poncho with hood," a "dust mask," a rechargeable lantern with a built-in radio and an "Air-Aid emergency mask" to help the wearer guard against airborne viruses.

These are serious kits for personnel you would never imagine should need one -- in normal circumstances.

The Free Beacon further reported:

Survival kits will be delivered to every major bank in the United States including Bank of America, American Express Bank, BMO Financial Corp., Capitol One Financial Corporation, Citigroup, Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Company, and Wells Fargo.

[Here is a link to an Excel spreadsheet showing the banks that will receive the kits: FBO.gov]

Also, the report said, kits and other survival items will be sent to OCC offices all around the country, "from Champaign, Ill. to Billings, Mont. The agency also has offices in Sioux City, Iowa; Joplin, Mo.; and Fargo, N.D.," said the Free Beacon.

[Here is the link to that database: FBO.gov^[XLSX]; in all, around 76 locations are listed.]

According to its website, the OCC's mission is to "ensure that national banks and federal savings associations operate in a safe and sound manner, provide fair access to financial services, treat customers fairly, and comply with applicable laws and regulations."

In sum, the agency has more than 3,800 employees, the FB report noted, and each of them would be getting one of the new kits.

Economic collapse on the horizon?

The OCC staff includes "bank examiners" who lend "sustained supervision" to major banks around the country. These officers take a look at banks' financial health, operations and other facets of the banks' business.

"Examiners analyze loan and investment portfolios, funds management, capital, earnings, liquidity, sensitivity to market risk for all national banks and federal thrifts, and compliance with consumer banking laws for national banks and thrifts with less than $10 billion in assets," the OCC website says. "They review internal controls, internal and external audit, and compliance with law. They also evaluate management's ability to identify and control risk."

The FB reported that OCC officials did not return requests for comment regarding the ordering of the new kits prior to the story being published. So it is not clear yet why the agency would be ordering kits normally reserved for military or federal law enforcement personnel.

That said, Natural News has reported on the worsening financial and economic conditions of the U.S. and the entire West for years, though conditions have seemed to stabilize in recent months. That may simply be an illusion, however, as this equipment request from a federal financial management agency suggests.

Sources:

http://freebeacon.com

http://freebeacon.com^[PDF]

https://www.fbo.gov^[XLSX]

http://www.occ.gov