Day: January 31, 2013

Note from JWR:

Today we present the final entry for Round 44 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for …


What Made Me Begin Preparing for TEOTWAWKI, by Elizabeth in the Northeast

I woke up a few months ago. Literally, I woke up one day and realized if TSHTF, I was toast. In a big way. It all started with Hurricane Sandy. I live in a coastal town in the Northeast. The beach is a comfortable twenty minute walk from my home. Three streets behind me is Water Street, so named because not only is home to various Marina’s and marine supply stores, it has a tendency to flood every high tide. I woke up the morning Sandy hit to an eerily lit sky. Even though a hurricane was heading our way …


Letter Re: Food Storage in the Southern United States

Sir: As a Central Texas Prepper, I have solved my food storage problem affordably, as follows: On my property there was an existing 20 foot by 24 foot sheetrock walled tool shed. I gutted this building and installed slabs of 8 inch styrofoam panels against interior walls. These blocks of foam were salvaged from floating docks on a local lake as most people were installing plastic floats under their docks. The styrofoam blocks were free for the taking..As the floats were used and had been in the water in some cases for years, they looked gross and smelled bad also. …


Economics and Investing:

Reader Michael W. sent this: Zimbabwe Is Down to Its Last $217. Comrade Mugabe and his cronies have absolutely destroyed and looted their nation which once had a vibrant economy. They must be overthrown! The destruction of the US Dollar continues: Bernanke Seen Buying $1.14 Trillion in Assets in 2014 Items from The Economatrix: Economists Growing More Upbeat About Year Ahead [JWR’s Comment: Well, golly gee, with the Federal Reserve and Treasury conspiring to soon double the money supply AGAIN, so stocks must go up, and we’ll all be “millionaires” soon, right? Given their monetary policies in recent years, I …


Odds ‘n Sods:

F Troop strikes again! ATF’s Milwaukee sting operation marred by mistakes, failures. The BATFE should have been disbanded many years ago.    o o o What Postponement Of The US’s Largest Gun Show Says About America    o o o Erich was the first of several readers to send this: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II. If you’ve ever read Robinson Crusoe, then this may sound familiar: “The rest of the family were saved by what they regarded as a miracle: a single grain of rye sprouted in …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“All we need is for the Fed to live up to its promise that it has an exit strategy. I’m here to say that they don’t have an exit strategy. There isn’t an exit. A return to a normalization of interest rates, a withdrawal by the Fed and other central banks in their efforts to monetize debt and artificially suppress interest rates, as soon as that ceases, the system itself will freeze up just as it did a few years ago. The reason it will freeze up is the system can’t handle anything close to what would be considered historically …