Day: June 25, 2008

Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is at $350. This auction is for two cases (12 cans) of Mountain House freeze dried foods in #10 cans donated by Ready Made Resources, valued at $260, a course certificate for a four-day Bushcraft & Survival Course valued at $550, 25 pounds of green (un-roasted) Colombian Supremo coffee courtesy of www.cmebrew.com valued at $88.75, and a set of 1,600 U.S. Military Manuals, Government Manuals, and Civil Defense Manuals, Firearm Manuals on two CD-ROM disks, valued at $20. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.


Letter Re: My Real, Live-Fire Self-Sufficiency Test

Well, I am back on the Internet for a time at least. Mind you, from the look of the soap opera world, I didn’t miss much. Grin A bit of background first for context. I am forecasting grim things for the fairly near future, particularly in financial terms. In one sense I am a type of survivalist, in that I want to prepare. Most survivalists tend to plan and prepare for a type of bunker at a fixed location to survive whatever doomsday they foresee coming. Such a plan has very distinct, real, and important advantages. However, the armed forces …


Letter Re: Huge Price Hikes by Dow Chemical are an Ominous Inflation Indicator

Jim, In the news today, Dow Chemical is announcing a 25% price increase, following a 20% increase three weeks ago. Since they produce the feedstock chemicals for almost every industry on earth, this should be a great indicator of what’s coming. – ZBM JWR Replies: Ay carumba! Dow produces a huge variety of chemicals and compounds that go into everything from fertilizers to plastics. This is an alarming indicator of consumer price increases in the near future. When paired with fuel price jumps, this becomes downright frightening for near-future food prices at the consumer level. At this point, precious metals …


Letter Re: An Amazing Closeout Sale

Jim, Memsahib, et al: I just finished an order into LAPoliceGear.com they’ve had this clearance sale going on for about three weeks. And I didn’t take a close look at the boots section, until today. Some of the Bates boots (women’s) are $9.99, regular price as much as $169.99. And the sizes available tend toward those with smaller feet. They also have a closeout on 5.11 pants, if you buy this stuff new it’s $50 a pair, on sale for $17. Lensatic compasses for five bucks (non-tritium). And some other nifty stuff. Thought you might like to pass along the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Thirty years on, inflation makes global comeback. I’ve said it before: In many ways, the current economy is starting to resemble the 1970s.    o o o From a San Diego, California newspaper: Diesel shortage hits other cities. The article mentions Americans crossing the border to buy government subsidized gas and diesel.    o o o Hawaiian K. notes: “Awareness seems to be bubbling up across the political spectrum. See this article [from a left-of-center web site].”    o o o Bill in Wyoming was the first of several readers to send us this article link: Food brawls among Wisconsin …