Year: 2008

Letter Re: California’s House Prices Plummet to Surprising Depths

Hi Jim, We’ve been good about our refinancing. As the house appreciated, we took a little here and there on two re-fi[nancing]s, to pay off most of our credit debt, and to start a business. At this time a couple of years ago, the house was worth $440,000, conservatively. In January, $351,000. Just last night, using a very good evaluation tool called Zillow.com, we were surprised to find that in the last six months, the house’s value dropped [still further,] to just over $250,000. That was a shock. Almost [a] $190,000 [on-paper loss] in less than two years, in an …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader KMA found a web site with photos of Antique Farm Tools dating from about 1600 to 1940 (chaff cutters, dibblers, flails, etc.). Though most are from England, Wales and Scotland, others from the USA are also included. Remember: Part of of our future lies in the past. Nineteenth Century technology is appropriate technology.    o o o Jack B. sent us this commentary link from The Economist: Bearish battalions. Continue to stay away from equities for the next few years, folks. They are a losing proposition in a credit-starved and slowing economy. As I’ve often said, if you want …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“From housing to the dollar, banking to commodities, national debt to soaring Medicare and Social Security obligations: it’s difficult to see the period since 2002 as anything other than one of profligacy and utter fiscal mismanagement. I am not a bear by nature, but when you consider the average debt of the average household and the concentration of household assets in housing, it’s difficult to see happy retirements for many baby boomers.” – Brett Steenbarger


Note from JWR:

The following is another article for Round 17 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win two valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificates. (Worth up to $4,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 17 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entries. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.


Checking Your Preparedness with the PACE System, by Wolverine

I had been using the PACE system for years, I just didn’t know that is what it was called, or that it even had a formal name. I first read about the PACE acronym over on the Viking Preparedness site, in a post by Joe. Growing up we joked that the system was called one’s good, two’s better, and three is about right. It is the same spirit of “two is one and one is none” that the PACE system stresses. PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency. It is a good solid way to break down your preps …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Luke Z. wrote to ask about a source for the bayonet socket light bulb adapters that I mentioned in my novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” (These adapters allow standard table lamps to be converted to use 12 VDC with either automobile tail lights or bayonet-base halogen lights.) They no longer seem to be stocked by Real Goods, but they are currently available from Kansas Wind Power. (Scroll down to item # L450.)    o o o I hope that this article isn’t just hype or wishful thinking: Engineer Gets 110 MPG Out Of ’87 Mustang. (A hat tip to …




Buying Storage Food Locally–Prepare While Keeping a Low Profile

Food storage is perhaps the single most important preparedness measure that every family should take. It is insurance against any number of perils, ranging from natural disasters and disruption of transportation to something as mundane as simply being laid off from work. In part because of galloping food and fuel prices and some spot shortages at the wholesale level, demand has recently far exceeded supply for most long term food storage vendors. Many vendors now have orders backed up for as much as three months. I most strongly recommend that you get your family’s food storage squared away soon, before …


Letter Re: Securing Needed Prescriptions for Family Preparedness

Jim, I’ve been stockpiling medicine since before it was fashionable. My dad is a physician and gave me an Rx for ciprofloxacin and other antibiotics before 9/11 (in prep for Y2K). That is all refrigerated and despite official expiration dates, probably still fine. More recently, my dentist wrote me an Rx for TamiFlu. I won’t drag on about it, but the bottom line is that virtually anyone with a medical degree who is semi like-minded can give you an Rx for whatever you want. All you have to do is assure them you are only worried about shortages and won’t …


Letter Re: Economic Gloom and Doom is Justified

Jim, Ironically, just a day after I wrote an e-mail chiding you [for giving too much attention to economic gloom and doom in SurvivalBlog], I had a meeting with one of our clients that has been a very successful Wall Street trader. He gave me a laundry list of banks that he expects to fail before the end of the year and predicted a complete collapse of the financial sector. Worse [for us], since we are in Michigan, he said that some of the Big Three auto makers are in serious trouble. When I asked him where he saw the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Jack B. recommended a very interesting series of video clips from a seminar presented by economist Don McAlvany.    o o o Today is the last day for BulletProofME.com’s special sale on Interceptor Body Armor and Kevlar helmets, just for SurvivalBlog readers.    o o o Facing a soaring trade deficit and 25% annual currency inflation, the government of Vietnam has just banned gold imports. I guess that Vietnam’s bureaucrats failed Econ 101.The citizenry rushing toward the stability of gold isn’t the cause of economic trouble. Rather, it is a symptom of a horribly mismanaged currency. In the absence of …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"With respect to our rights, and the acts of the British government contravening those rights, there was but one opinion on this side of the water. All American whigs thought alike on these subjects. When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification. This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the …


Letter Re: The Reactive Culture, or 20 Years of Greater Depression

Dear Jim, America, and modern industrial democracy, is a reactive culture. We wait for disaster to strike, then we talk about it, vote, and throw money at it until it goes away. That’s what we’ve been doing since the deficit spending initiated by FDR, socialist that he was. Now we’ve reached the end of deficit spending, having exported our jobs, currency, and control of our economy overseas and become a great big lazy balloon floating over the glass recycling bin at the local dump. Gasoline, food, and other essentials are in a tight 18% inflationary spiral and the public is …


Letter Re: Advice on Getting Started in Precious Metals Investing

Jim, Your reader TheOtherRyan wrote asking about how to get started in precious metals investing, especially the challenge of purchasing only a small amount each month. First, Ryan is wise to realize that you want to buy in small amounts, and not wait until a big “buy,” which might be at an unlucky price spike. Investors call the process of buying a little each month with a disciplined approach “averaging in.” It means you’re buying more on the months when the price is low than when the price is high, lowering your average total cost. Unfortunately, it can be difficult …