Day: April 15, 2006

The U.S. Housing Bubble– Yea, the Pinprick Cometh

I am now convinced that the housing bubble in The United States is about ready to pop. Once home sellers see that “the Spring buying season” does not reappear along with hay fever this year, they will get panicky. Up to 30% of the homes that have been sold in the past two years have been sold to over-extended speculators who were hoping to “flip” them–taking advantage of the rising house market. The old saying goes “A rising tide raises all ships.” But the inverse is also true. When the flippers realize that they are on a down escalator, they …


Letter Re: Unintended Consequences of a Failure of Basic Services in a Disaster

Mr. Rawles: I have maintained that next to water, food, medicine, and defense; waste disposal is going to be a BIG unexpected problem if and when any prolonged interruption of services occur after 9/11 part 2 or some other calamity eventually happens.   One of the reasons New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) is not rebounding is that garbage that piled up after Katrina is still rotting in the streets.   People that I have seen at my place of work from that area say that less than 5000 people showed up for Mardi-Gras this year because of the stench of rotting garbage …


Letter from Rourke Re: A New Breed of Feral Dogs, by Buckshot

Dear Jim: The article “A New Breed of Feral Dogs”, by Buckshot was excellent.  I think he’s right that far too many of us only have “Lassie” or “Benji” idea of dogs.  One generation back my family had labs and would have trusted them with their lives.  Remember the old dog lover vs. cat lover saying, “If you die alone in your home, your dog will die at your side, but if you have a cat, it will eat you”.  I certainly prefer dogs to cats, but I  was over to friend’s home who had a Doberman and felt very …


Odds ‘n Sods:

For those of you that own .223 AK-47s, I just noticed that the folks at K-VAR got in a batch of those nifty Bulgarian “clear” plastic AK magazines. Tell them that Jim Rawles at SurvivalBlog sent you.    o o o DEA Agent shoots himself in the foot during lecture–stupidity caught on tape    o o o The markets were closed yesterday for Good Friday, but the New York Access (“after hours”) Market was open, and the commercial traders bid spot silver up to $12.91 per ounce! With silver consistently holding over $12.70 and the launch of two silver ETFs …