Year: 2007

Odds ‘n Sods:

From The International Herald Tribune, via our friends at SHTF Daily: Dollar hits bottom, and then falls again    o o o Dave Duffy, the editor of Backwoods Home magazine (one of our favorites) offers some very useful Recommendations for Handling/Storage of Specific Fruits and Vegetables:in his latest e-newsletter. If you don’t already have a subscription to the magazine, then I highly recommend it.    o o o “The Fox” sent us a link to a CNN video clip with more about Zimbabwe’s black market and hyperinflation    o o o Frequent contributor RBS recommended this eye-opening primer from Financial …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"It is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve — nor would it be appropriate — to protect lenders and investors from the consequences of their financial decisions." – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, speaking at the Jackson Hole Federal Reserve conference, August 31, 2007. (Just 25 days before doing exactly that–by lowering interest rates by 50 Basis Points, to the advantage of banking lenders and equities investors, and at the expense of the value of the US Dollar in foreign exchange, and to the detriment of all holders of US dollars.)


Note from JWR:

My special thanks to the anonymous SurvivalBlog reader that recently made his 10 Cent Challenge subscription donation in the form of pre-1964 silver dimes. (He sent us a small box containing 365 silver dimes.) Considering that US 90% silver coinage is now worth nearly 10.3 times its face value, that was very kind of him. Many thanks!


Letter Re: New Scanner Technology — An Emerging Threat to Retreat COMSEC

Jim: I was not aware of this until last weekend. I visited a friend of mine who lives up in the hills. I brought with me a [older] handheld 2 Meter radio that I got for free when I bought a Kenwood 50 watt [2 Meter Band] mobile radio. Anyway, this handehld has crystals in it. It works excellent and can be used ether simplex or to bring up major repeaters. I did not know that or what frequencies it had. Now for the story. My friend showed me a new type of handheld scanner from Radio Shack. It has …


Letter Re: Hawaii-Specific Disaster Preparations

Jim, Greetings from another SurvivalBlog newbie. I discovered your site back in the spring of this year and all I could say then was “Wow! I think I’ve found a home!” I’ve been lurking here ever since. I’d been wandering in the wilderness of flame-filled newsgroups and not-quite-filling-enough survival/self-reliance publications since the days of “Survival Tomorrow”, nearly thirty years ago. Back then, I mostly spent time just collecting information on various survival topics while making only small, half-hearted preparations. At last, here is a site that has revived my slumbering interest in the disaster preparedness movement and inspired my wife …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Peter D. recommended a great article on CDOs and their impact on the world economy, written from the perspective of a market insider.    o o o Stephen in Iraq set us this: Canada’s Dollar Nears Parity on U.S. Weakness, Commodity Surge    o o o Thank to Dave R. and Bruce A., who both sent us this: International credit derivatives expert asserts that the current credit crunch is just the beginning. A big bear is looming.    o o o Take a look at this delightful web site and sporadically-written blog by a lady that is a SurvivalBlog reader: …



Note from JWR:

If reading SurvivalBlog has added substantively to your knowledge and family preparedness, then please consider becoming a voluntary 10 Cent Challenge subscriber. All we ask is 10 cents a day. I hope that the blog is worth that to you. Thanks!


Letter Re: Estimate on the Likelihood of an Economic Depression or Full-Scale Collapse?

Jim, I know you get a lot of mail so I’ll be brief. I highly value your information and input on the current economy. I also have read your book “Patriots”, and your current assessment of our economy’s future terrifies me. What are the probable chances of this turning into a worse case scale as seen in your novel? Even if it is not worse case, I have no idea what a Moderate case would look like. Your wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.- William JWR Replies: In the context of America’s current economic situation (namely, the implosion of …


Letter Re: Les Stroud (aka “Survivorman”) Off-Grid Living Videos

James, I’m not sure if you’ve mentioned this series before, but on YouTube there is a video series called “Off the Grid” hosted by Les Stroud of Survivorman fame. He moves his family out of the city and into the country in search of an off-the-grid home and lifestyle. It’s a fairly realistic look and (I think) good introduction to what it would take to make the jump to living in the country and self-sufficiently. The other videos in the series can be found linked from the first page, or just search for “Off the Grid”. Hope you enjoy this, …


Letter Re: The Versatile Propane-Fired Turkey Deep Fryer

James: So here is a cheap, useful item for your preparations: The “turkey deep fryer” kits that sell for around $100 as [the U.S.] Thanksgiving [holiday] gets closer are perfect for all kinds of disaster-related tasks. They often sell for even less on the day after the holiday. The typical kit comes with a large, high-powered propane burner with stand, a 5 gallon stainless kettle, lid, a large thermometer, and often and assortment of pans and perforated steaming/frying inserts. You can boil 5 gallons of water in about 20 minutes with one of these, and they are perfect for steaming …


Odds ‘n Sods:

According to Bill Bonner, editor of The Daily Reckoning, house price over-valuation is not unique to the US. In the U.K., Bonner said, house prices are 20% overvalued. He opines that Britain is one of the three most vulnerable to a house price crash/correction (after New Zealand and Denmark).    o o o By way of SHTF Daily come this article from Australia: US rate cut decried as ‘socialism for Wall Street’    o o o Reader Dave F. told us about an interesting new bullpup stock available for M1A and M14 rifles. If they provide a decent trigger pull …



The Fed’s Monetization Madness: A Word of Warning

I’m sure that most of you remember back in the first week of August when CNBC market analyst Jim Cramer was screaming hysterically: “Open the discount window!” Well, it seems that Bernanke and Company have done exactly what he asked. As of the past week, commercial banks are now taking $2.7 billion in loans per day from the Federal Reserve discount window. With just this lending from the discount window, the increase in the U.S. money supply has jumped to an annualized rate of more than 50%! I’ve said this before: The biggest red flag imaginable for pending economic catastrophe …


Letter Re: Build-it-Yourself Reflux Alcohol Still Plans Available Online

Mr. Rawles I’ve found the discussion of alcohol power and stills very interesting. Building a still has been something on my list of things to do, but I never seem to get around to making it happen. Here’s a link to [a PDF of] the [still building] plans I’d like to follow. The plans are concise, relatively simple and, best of all, free. I think the web site says you can build one of these for about $65, less if you have access to an inexpensive stainless steel milk can.- Tim R.