Notes from JWR:

There is some very significant news in today’s Economics and Investing section, so don’t overlook it. — Today we present guest article, some sage advice from veteran global affairs analyst by Don McAlvany, the editor of the highly-recommended McAlvany Intelligence Advisor. You’ll see that it synchs nicely with my own preparedness Precepts.




Guest Article: Disaster Preparedness–Principles of Self-Sufficiency, by Don McAlvany

1. Change the way you look at everything. Rethink your entire lifestyle. 2. Develop discernment about people. 3. When you invest, invest first in the right people. 4. Honesty, look at yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses. 5. Seek the counsel of others you trust. 6. Find like-minded people who can be part of a mutual support group and who you can cooperate with. 7. Find alternate methods for doing everything. 8. Develop an instinct for what doesn’t feel right. No matter how good something looks or sounds on the surface, go with your gut feeling, with your instinct, with …




Letter Re: A Practical Use for Post-1982 US Zinc Pennies

Sir: I just discovered your site this afternoon and look forward to perusing it in depth. I noted your response to the question about hoarding dimes and your reference to the metal content dollar value. Let me pass on a tip: hoard up a several pounds of pennies. Here’s why. As you know, pennies are roughly 97% zinc and 3% copper. To that mixture, one may add a few aluminum cans and minor amount of copper wire to bring the mix to 93% zinc, 3% copper, and 4% aluminum. This alloy melts at relatively low temperatures and is called “Zamak”. …




Letter Re: Advice on Camouflage Covers for LP/OPs

JWR, The arrival of my Cabela’s catalog today reminded me of how useful a layout blind might be for observation post (OP) duty. Your advice? Regards, ,- K. in Texas JWR Replies: Semi-permanent OPs should be custom-built, to as closely match the local vegetation, as possible. Any store-bought camouflage is a compromise, at best. Ideally, you should grow local vegetation over the top of an excavated position, for the ultimate in undetectable camouflage. Nothing mimics nature like nature itself. (Anything else that you use won’t look quite right, and of course it won’t gradually change colors to match, seasonally.) See …




Influenza Pandemic Update:

UN warns over swine flu in birds; The discovery of swine flu in turkeys in Chile raises concerns about the spread of the virus, a UN agency warns. How many recombinations will we see? New York Mayor To Announce Plans To Combat H1N1 In Schools Colombian President Uribe Ill With H1N1 Flu Hands-Off Plan: Schools Ban Touching to Fight H1N1 Advice on when flu needs TLC or a doctor’s care She’s walking the tightrope on flu; Minnesota’s top flu fighter balances the worst-case scenario with plans and hopes for avoiding it.




Economics and Investing:

This may be one of the most important pieces of economic news in many months, yet is did not receive much mainstream news coverage when the wire story was circulated yesterday: Beijing’s derivative default stance rattles market. This implications of state-owned Chinese industries being given carte blanche to nullify derivatives contracts are enormous. You’ll probably recall that I have been warning about derivatives counterparty risk for almost three years. And it was there that I specifically warned about the risk of “disappearing counterparties”. This new turn of events will likely shake the very foundations of the global derivatives markets. If …




Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious.But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears no traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victim, and he wears their face and their garments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. …