Month: October 2008

Odds ‘n Sods:

Craig R. and Costa Rica Jones both sent us the link to this amazing video clip: Life in Foreclosure Alley. Do you remember what I wrote about “Midnight Flits”? Don’t miss the part near the end where they spray paint a dead lawn green. Its all about “curb appeal.”    o o o More Nanny State meddling, aimed at reducing bovine flatulence: Meat must be rationed to four portions a week, says report on climate change.    o o o Michael Z. Williamson sent us this video link showing home-brew autonomous gun developments. This kid could get a DARPA contract! …



Notes from JWR:

Courtesy of the liberal majority in The U.S Senate, the TARP Bill (which is supposedly limited to $700 billion USD) appears to be a fait accompli. (It now headed to the House of Representatives.) Both senators McCain and Obama voted for it. (So much for us making any meaningful “choice” in the upcoming presidential election.) Disregard all the headlines, folks. In my estimation, the all-fired hurry to enact the TARP bailout was driven by a.) the sudden huge jump in the LIBOR rate, and b.) the chaos that is quietly is going on in the background with derivatives. The politicians …


From the SurvivalBlog Archives: Hedge Funds–A Disaster Story that Could Unfold in Quarterly Episodes

One of the consequences of the collapse of the credit bubble and the subprime lending fiasco in particular is with hedge funds. There is a substantial risk of uncontrollable instability in hedge funds that could potentially be disastrous for investors. This instability will likely be seen in waves of bad news that will come roughly once a quarter. First, let me provide a bit of background: 1.) Most hedge funds have rules that allow only quarterly redemptions (“cashing out”) by by their investors. (A few hedge funds even have only one annual redemption “window.”) Typically, the redemption requests must be …


Letter Re: Advice for City Folks on a Budget?

Dear Mr. Rawles, I read the two letters that were posted on September 27, “Advice for City Folks on a Budget”. What struck me was how similar Mike H.’s situation is to mine. I too have a wife similar to the Mike H’s. At first my wife thought I was out of my tree when I began preparing years ago. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, she came to believe that what I was doing was prudent, but somewhat overkill. Now that we have entered this period in history, she’s starting to pay attention, and has become a participant. I …


Letter Re: Questions on Short Term Survival in an Urban Office Building

JWR, To follow up on Flora in New York City’s “Questions on Short Term Survival in an Urban Office Building”, here is a link to Aton Edward’s highly recommended book Preparedness Now! which also contains a link to the April 2008 New York Times article that allowed me (thankfully) to find Survivalblog.com for the first time. Additionally, here is a video interview with Mr. Edwards recorded in New York City and addressing exactly the kind of equipment/tools and awareness/preparedness issues that an office-bound urbanite like Flora needs to survive. Since April, I ordered and read “Patriots“, the Rawles Get’s You …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Rourke flagged this article from Marysville, California: Preparing for financial apocalypse: Wall Street scare has some thinking chaos coming    o o o Commander Zero posted some interesting commentary in his blog about why people don’t prepare, even in the face of immediate and overwhelming threats like the current economic meltdown.    o o o The gasoline shortage in the southeast has intensified.    o o o The latest news is that the banking crisis isn’t any better in Europe: France seeks €300 billion rescue fund for Europe. And meanwhile, Senator Harry Reid drops a bombshell: Another major insurance company …



Notes from JWR:

Now we’re a fashion trend! Details magazine just published a well-written and humorous article that features a SurvivalBlog reader, titled The Yuppie Survivalists. That’s not what I would have titled the article, but then I don’t publish a trendy men’s fashion magazine. And I’m no yuppie. I’m neither young nor urban, and I’ve never had that sort of shopping budget. (The Memsahib keeps me on a short leash.) OBTW, they included just one brief quote from yours truly and one from Jason over at SHTFblog. Oh, and speaking of men’s fashion, another article on survivalism will appear in the upcoming …


Our Changing Times: The Advent of Rule 157 and Perhaps Rule 308

We are living in unprecedented times. The global economy is being asphyxiated for lack of credit, and we face the prospect of an economic depression that could be worse than the Great Depression of the1930s. The Advent of Rule 157 One of the contributing factors in the unfolding banking debacle was the advent of Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Rule 157, that went partially into effect on November 15, 2007. This was a financial accounting rule change that yanked the bankers back from the Fantasyland games that they had been playing with Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), Credit Default Swaps (CDSs), …


Letter Re: Finding Archived SurvivalBlog Topics

Mister Rawles: First off, I want to thank you for running SurvivalBlog. Its an awesome resource–sorta “one stop shopping” for folks like me that are getting prepared. I first read your book three years ago, when I was on my second deployment in Iraq. Your novel [“Patriots“] was in a big pile of books in our unit’s MWR [Morale, Welfare and Recreation] room. They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but I was following advice from my home-town librarian when I picked your book. She once advised me: “Look for books with ‘broken’ spines and that show …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Back in 2005, I began warning SurvivalBlog readers that derivatives were a much larger threat than the housing bubble. Now we read in the mainstream media: The $55 trillion question. The article begins: “The financial crisis has put a spotlight on the obscure world of credit default swaps – which trade in a vast, unregulated market that most people haven’t heard of and even fewer understand. Will this be the next disaster?”    o o o Safecastle just a started an unusual 25%-off Mountain House sale. The sale ends on October 14th. Get your order in immediately for the best …



Notes from JWR:

We had an amazing 17,945 unique visits yesterday, gobbling up almost 17 gigabytes of traffic. Those are both new records for SurvivalBlog. Thanks for continuing to spread the word about SurvivalBlog and making it such a success. It is not too late for your “head in the sand” relatives, friends, and co-workers to get themselves prepared. Spread the word! Even just a one line mention in your-e-mail footer would be a huge help. Here is what reader Paul G. uses in his footer: survivalblog.com — Bookmark it. It may save your life! We’ve completed the judging for Round 18 of …


Letter Re: Some Practical Notes on Third World Living

Jim, As this is not a competition entry, it has not been reviewed by an outside set of eyes yet, and I’m sure its kind of disorganized, but this is some info about third world life, as I can see it here, after things stabilize. My wife is from Peru. She was born during the Peruvian hyperinflation and transition to its next fiat currency, the Nuevo Sol. (Yeah, we’re young whippersnappers) She recently started to help out in getting ready. What helped her was comparing the current economic climate here to Peru. This allowed her to correlate things that occur …