Odds ‘n Sods:

I hope that readers took my advice and bought precious metals during the recent dip. The bank credit crisis seems to have woken the gold bull from his short nap. (Gold had one of its best one day gains ever, on Wednesday.) I believe that the bull’s charge will resume, shortly. Because the consumer economy now looks weak, I predict that gold will probably outperform silver in the next run-up. (Since silver is more of an industrial metal, whereas gold as seen as a safe haven when currencies are in turmoil.)

   o o o

Tim T. mentioned that any SurvivalBlog readers with an interest in farming with draft horses should check out The Small Farmer’s Journal. BTW, they also have a great book catalog,

   o o o

Bill N. recommended a blog piece by Bayou Renaissance Man about his local Neighborhood Watch on Steroids.

   o o o

A puzzling article from Der Spiegel was flagged by reader Jack B.: ‘Certain Mistakes Just Can’t Be Allowed to Happen’–“Hundreds of millions of euros from a German government-owned bank went down the drain with Lehman Brothers on Monday after a strange deal that has left many people scratching their heads. Why would a German bank transfer €300 million to an American Wall Street firm after it filed for bankruptcy?” JWR’s comment: I suspect that they were hoping to limit some massive outstanding counterparty risk from derivatives contracts with Lehman Brothers. If they can help keep them afloat by chipping in €300 million, then they might avoid the far bigger risk of a disappearing derivatives contract counterparty. The stakes in the global derivatives casino are almost too huge to imagine.

   o o o

The Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB) grows a bit more: Fed announces $180 billion cash flood to fight crisis. Eric (a frequent SurvivalBlog content contributor) alerted me that as of Thursday, $105 billion had already rolled out the door of the Fed (electronically). Meanwhile, we read: Morgan Stanley Said to Be in Talks With China’s CIC. The global credit collapse is completely out of control, folks. Be ready to hunker down, if and when things get ugly.