Year: 2006


Three Letters Re: Some ARM Twisting in the Near Future

James, I wanted to help explain some of the upside to general hyper-inflation. This current well managed hyper-inflation that has been rolling strong since about 1995 went first into the financial markets and then after the dot-com-9-11 went into the overheated housing market,. This inflation is a result of the massive infusion of dollars through fractional reserve bank financing creating new money by loaning out non-existent money. We can likely expect the dollar value of homes to not drop too far if this alleged bubble pops as the fed much like in Australia and the UK central banks try to …


Letter Re: Canned Coffee Beans

Mr. Rawles: The way to store coffee long-term is by purchasing green beans and roasting them yourself as you need them. Green beans (whole beans) stay “fresh” for up to a year in a normal container, like a tin or glass jar or foil lined bag. If you completely seal them off from light and oxygen and maybe even nitrogen purge them then they should stay “fresh” indefinitely, well for several years anyway. See the Terroir site below for how they store their green beans. The thing about roasting coffee beans is that they go stale within two weeks after …


Letter Re: Preparedness-Oriented Homeschooling Curriculum

Hello Rawles Family, We have been viewing your site for a few months after reading “Patriots” (loved it!) and have a suggested resource for other families. We are long term veteran homeschooling family, self sufficiency oriented, husband former military (Viet Nam), ordained ministers who choose to develop house church networks in view of the likely future. We currently reside in upper northwest Montana after being in other regions gaining broad experience. We wrote a preparedness homeschooling curriculum based on Swiss Family Robinson and a sequel based on Robinson Crusoe. The first year builds academics around family teamwork and the second …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Michael Z. Williamson sent a link for this interesting piece of ordnance. Too bad about that pesky $200 transfer tax. OBTW, you gotta love the picture of that WECSOGed fifth wheel trailer hitch mount. A also BTW, I woudln’t be surprised to see one of these Anzio 20mm rifles show up in one of Mike’s upcoming novels.    o o o From NewsTarget: The top ten things food companies don’t want you to know.    o o o Market Watch: The United States is headed for a recession that will be “much nastier, deeper and more protracted” than the 2001 …



Note from JWR:

I just added some goodies that I imported from Finland to my Mail Order Catalog, including an original Finnish Defense Force Valmet M62 field carrying case, a Valmet M62 brass catcher, and a small batch of original Valmet M62 “green waffle” magazines with lanyard loops. (These will fit other AKs chambered in 7.62×39.)


Some ARM Twisting in the Near Future

The mainstream media finally is starting to report on the nascent U.S. real estate collapse. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that perhaps as much as a half trillion dollars worth of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) in the U.S. will be “reset” in the coming year. The article mentions: “To head off potential problems, the largest mortgage originator in the United States, Countrywide Home Loans, has begun sending out letters to thousands of borrowers who have been making only the minimum payments on the company’s popular PayOption adjustable-rate mortgages. The letters explain that ‘this is an early message to alert …


Novel H5N1 Bird Flu Sequence in Garut Cluster?

Hello Jim: Thought that this might be important, so am sending you a link to an article from Recombinomics. Read carefully–and between the lines. On the first page, click on the ‘alarming’ link. Then on that page, click on the ‘rapidly growing cluster’ link. From there, the next interesting link is ‘have failed to match’. Hopefully this is not the beginning of rapid H2H transfer, but Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) does seem to be mutating rapidly. When the folks at Recombinomics, ProMED, and CIDRAP all seem to be concerned, I get just a bit on edge. Thanks, – Cactus …


Letter Re: Do It Yourself Meat Preservation Methods

Jim, Have there been any writings different methods of preserving meats, such as canning, drying, smoking or any other methods? I was going to try canning. Is that what you’d recommend? Any other instructions on safe methods? Thanks, – Greg in Michigan JWR Replies: The topic has been briefly discussed in SurvivalBlog, but we ought to encourage more extensive discussion. The Memsahib and I have made lots of jerky over the years, but have never tried canning meats. Canning meat makes sense for a fixed location retreat. But for “Get out of Dodge” use, jerky is preferable. (Less weight and …


Distance Learning College Teaching–A “Remote” Living Possibility?

Jim- Those with an advanced degree (at least a Master’s) plus experience in education, business, government may be qualified to teach for the U of Phoenix in their online program. Before I moved to Hawaii, I taught for them for several years, the last two in the online program. The pay is generous (up to and perhaps over $1,200) for a 5-week course. U of P. is the largest (by student numbers) university in the US–it is a quality program and if you look into it you will be impressed. Here’s the part I thought would intrigue you: you physically …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Please check out the web site for our newest advertiser, Comet Gold, a site dedicated to analysis, commentary, and charts on precious metals and base metals investing. They also host some lively precious metals discussions at the Comet Gold Forum.    o o o The high bid is now at $100 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a copy “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. The course was kindly donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Please submit your bids via e-mail. This auction ends on September 15th.    o o o Zimbabwe’s new currency (sans three zeroes, versus the …



Note from JWR:

The high bid is now at $85 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a copy “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. The course was kindly donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Please submit your bids via e-mail. This auction ends on September 15th.


The Coming Energy Crisis: Hubbert’s Peak Or Not–Be Prepared!

There has been a lot of ink spilled in recent years, debating the Hubbert’s Peak (“Peak Oil”) theory. FWIW, I am a believer in global oil depletion, but I think that those in the “Peak Oil” crowd are about 20 to 25 years too early in their predictions. In my estimation we cannot depend on the slow-moving bureaucracies of national governments to rescue us from the coming energy crisis. Even if we were t overcome the problem in the First World, the second World and the Third World–with less money available for massive crash programs and probably with a more …