I watched that and two other episodes last night - while studying for an "Ethical Hacking" final exam I've got Thursday. (4 units crammed into a half semester. Between that and a full-semester 3 unit class, I've had a heavy course load - but at least it's interesting material.)
Several of the "preppers" I've seen have been concerned about the Earth's poles flipping, and I found that I was wrong the other day when I posted how rarely it has occurred. About every 700,000 years, they say - not every 700 million years.
So, the possibility of it happening in our lifetimes is at least there, although far-fetched.
Interestingly, one of the pole-flippers also added that when the event occurs, North America would drift massively, either into the arctic or far south of the equator. I don't know WHERE these guys get their ideas, or what makes them so certain. They're nuts, that's all I can say.
Now, I can just imagine one of this forum's readers asking me how I can say that - given that I do the same thing. I have two answers:
1) I'm not POSITIVE about economic calamity. If I were, I'd have dumped everything I had into gold many years ago. I sure wish I had, too, because I was right about gold many years ago and I would certainly be retired... set for life today... if I'd done that.
2) My NEAR certainty about it comes from a combination of:
o Knowing the symptoms of empires in decline.
o Observing the trend we're on and understanding the causes.
o Having a good grasp of human nature. (No one is actually working to solve the problem... and no one will.)
o Knowing fiat money's perfect track record - for failure.
o Not believing Americans are God's chosen people, pre-destined for easy, cushy lifestyles.
So, I've at least got REASONS. So many of these other preppers almost seem to be basing their actions on religion - or they heard about [insert name of bizarre natural disaster here] and fixated on it for some weird reason.
Or, perhaps, they're actually looking forward to Doomsday - as part of a fantasy. I can't speak for any of you, but such a lifestyle is not one I would look forward to. If society truly disintegrated, I seriously doubt that I've got what it takes to survive it. Most people don't.

Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months