Day: April 17, 2006

Note from JWR:

The first letter posted today is a thought-provoking piece directed toward fellow Christians, but the issues that it raises might be of interest to those of you that are of other faiths and even those who are not religious. I often stress charity in my writings. As a Christian, I consider charity my duty, and I feel strongly convicted to have extra food and gardening seed on hand to dispense as charity in the event of a disaster. Even for those of you that are not religious, I still recommend the practice, since it demonstrates kindness, and kindness builds trust …


Letter Re: Questions on Saving, Interest, and Preparation Versus Hoarding,

James:  I offer the following discussion (and answers, I hope) for Christians.   Proposition/assumptions: Good financial planning and even seeming ‘common sense’ dictates that we plan our income and expenditures wisely so as to have the ability to withstand a crisis.  This plan makes sense on an intuitive level, and also can be argued quite easily that as a Christian we have a duty to provide for the life and livelihood of our dependents; and that this provision includes saving money and goods for the event of hard times.  Or does it? Our Christian duty is also unquestionably to be …


Letter Re: Survive or Prevail?

Jim, I wanted to share the following with you. It really made me stop and think. I just finished reading G. Gordon Liddy’s book “When I Was A Kid, This Was A Free Country.” It is a very good read. Chapter seven is titled “Survive Or Prevail,” and in it he makes an excellent point. Do we want to survive, or prevail? The dictionary says that “to survive” means merely “to continue to live or exist.” Yet the definition of “prevail” means “to overcome; to gain the victory or superiority; to gain the advantage; to have the upper hand, or the …


Letter Re: Copper Price Galloping

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have wanted to write to you for a week or two with respect to an oddity.  An increasing number of sources are discussing the degree to which the base metal in the US penny is becoming more valuable than the penny itself.  This is odd, and www.coinflation.comis tracking it with alleged numerical precision.  If I get some spare time this week, I hope to write about the death of the penny in more detail. Best Regards, – K.A.D. JWR Replies: Silver is about 45 times more bulky than gold, (As I’m writing this, gold is $605.10 …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Chuck the Welding Wizard introduced me to an amazing publication, called the Encyclopedia of “Made it Myself ” Ideas. (30th Anniversary Edition, published by the folks at Farm Show Magazine). It has a wealth of knowledge on farm machinery modifications and outlandish inventions, some of which will doubtless prove useful at a retreat. It is available through http://www.farmshow.com. While you are at it, I recommend that you get their collection of magazine back issues on CD-ROM–less than $40 for 30 years of back issues.    o o o Former Federal Reserve Chairman Al Greenspan says that he regrets “irrational exuberance” …