THE END IS NEAR

BANZAI7 NEWS--Like a growing army of fellow Americans, Tess Penniless is learning how to grow her own food, has stored emergency rations in her home and is taking courses on treating sickness with medicinal herbs.

"I feel safe and more secure. I have taken personal responsibility for the safety of myself and of my family," Penniless said. "We have decided to be prepared. There all kinds of disasters that can happen, natural and banker-made."

Pennington is a "prepper", a growing social movement that has been dubbed Survivalism Lite. Preppers believe that it is better to be safe than sorry and that preparing for disaster and doom – be it a hurricane, the end of civilisation or yet another Wall Street innovation– makes sense.