Day: March 5, 2008

Letter Re: With Bank Runs Looming, Check Your Bank’s Safety Rating!

Jim, Here is a link to “The Street”–a web site that offers ratings of banks throughout the USA. I checked out the banks in my state (California) and found that I currently bank with a “B” rated bank. However, there are a number of A rated banks that are in my town. It might make sense for each of us to know and check up on our financial institutions on a regular basis. This along with choosing the highest rated bank in your area could provide additional layers of insulation from the bank runs that I believe with be inevitable. …


Letter Re: Alternative News Sources When The Grid Goes Down

Sir, I have been hooked to your blog for weeks now and have a topic suggestion for you. The only news I can trust comes from independent blogs with communities of users working together to bring critical information to light. Web sites like The Housing Bubble Blog have saved me tens of thousands of dollars by being months ahead of the mainstream media (MSM) and by reporting honestly. With the internet we have the means to organize grassroots efforts to support candidates like Ron Paul. We can be kept up to date with the latest injustices and know when our …


Letter Re: A Reminder on the Terrorist Toxins Threat

Jim, I bring this news story to your attention: Ricin Found in Las Vegas Hotel Room; Man in Hospital The Center for Disease Control (CDC) protocols don’t give one much hope if ricin is inhaled or ingested. Unclothing and washing procedures for external contact are not reassuring. Other sources indicate that skin contact is usually not fatal unless accompanied by other agents that enhance absorption. [JWR Adds: DMSO is a well-known transdermal carrier.] Other sources also indicate that ricin is 30 times more potent than VX nerve gas. Full MOPP suit and gas mask seem to be indicated to avoid …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Mainstream market commentator Robert Kioysaki recommends buying silver coins in this piece: The Profit of Doom A SurvivalBlog reader mentioned that Kiyosaki was one of the few mainstream market mavens to recognize silver as a bargain fairly early on. Meanwhile, a lot of his colleagues with stock and bond tunnel vision are still in denial.    o o o Lex found this from The Wall Street Journal: Will Thornburg Join Failed Lenders?    o o o Thanks to Sapa for flagging this: Zimbabwe bans ‘unlawful hoarding’. The illegal “hoarding” threshold is absurd–the equivalent of just $21 USD!    o o …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation . There is no safe store of value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding illegal, as was done in the case of gold. If everyone decided, for example, to convert all his bank deposits to silver or copper or any other good, and thereafter declined to accept checks as payment for goods, bank deposits would lose their purchasing power and government-created bank credit would be worthless as a claim on goods. The financial policy of the welfare …