Letter Re: Myths About Income Inequality

Dear Editor, In your post under Economics and Investing, you said: “It’s important to understand that when a person creates wealth, they are not taking more of the pie from you; they are actually creating a bigger pie. It’s really only government that forcibly takes from you.” I wish to respectfully disagree. If a merger and acquisitions corporation, such as Bain capital, buys out the company you worked for (Dade Behring, where I worked for over 17 years), slices and dices, sells off the profitable parts to foreign companies, makes you train the new foreign employees (which I had to …


News From The American Redoubt:

Photos: Boise woman’s tiny house o o o Two Gun bills have been posted on the Oregon Legislative website that may interest our readers there. SB 1551 which deals with an expansion of gun registration legislation, and HB 4068 which deals with people who have had convictions for small amounts of marijuana or who had those convictions before Oregon reduced the penalty to apply for CHLs. o o o Sandpoint ranch raises Budweiser Clydesdales o o o R.B.S. sent these three videos in. I especially like the all-terain wheel chair. Paralyzed vet gets all-terrain chair complete with gun rack Senators …


Economics and Investing:

D. B. sent in this link asking if it is The Beginning of the End for the U.S. Dollar? S.E. sent in a link showing how many Americans feel about the financial future. And M.R sent this email warning of the coming Global Financial Meltdown caused by China’s crdit bubble. Items from The Economatrix: 20 Early Warning Signs That We Are Approaching A Global Economic Meltdown Celente – The Entire World Is Now Unraveling Before Our Eyes JPMorgan’s Gold Vault Has Biggest One-Day Withdrawal Ever Bank-Run Fears Continue; HSBC Restricts Large Cash Withdrawals


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader B.H. sent this news headline, which reads like something out of a novel: Indonesia Moves Warships to Border For some background in the recent growth of Indonesian military power, see this article from The Jakarta Post: TNI gears up, sets sights on foreign threats o o o For those intereted in light weight rifles this one sounds like it has quite a bit of promise. o o o G.G. sent this news report in onNew Hampshire Thieves Raiding Woodpiles For Firewood. o o o Disturbing news that the US Government may have been colaborating with the Sinaloa drug cartel …


Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“The thing was, though: When James Wait got there, a worldwide financial crisis, a sudden revision of human opinions as to the value of money and stocks and bonds and mortgages and so on, bits of paper, had ruined the tourist business not only in Ecuador, but practically everywhere…Ecuador, after all, like the Galapagos Islands, was mostly lava and ash, and so could not begin to feed its nine million people. It was bankrupt, and so could no longer buy food from countries with plenty of topsoil, so the seaport of Guayaquil was idle, and the people were beginning to …


Notes from SurvivalBlog Editors:

Note from JWR: On a recent trip to the eastern U.S., my wife and I had the opportunity to finally meet face to face with sci-fi novelist Mike Williamson, (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) and his family. It was great fun to put faces to names, and to build stronger bonds than is possible through mere correspondence. Notes from HJL: January 27th is the birthday of the late Helen Chenoweth, (born, 1938, died October 2, 2006), a controversial Republican congresswoman from Orofino, Idaho.


Notes from SurvivalBlog Readers:

Sometimes SurvivalBlog gets small emails from our readership that just are not big enough to warrant placement in their own blog post. Some of these can be quite profound too. Rather than just let them fall by the wayside or respond privately, I will post them in this section. – HJL —– A quick note of thank you from B. Jim, Pat will be greatly missed. Us southern Louisiana preppers will keep him and his family in our prayers. – B. —– And another quick note from P.W. HJL said it “The reality is that we can’t go it alone.” …


Pat’s Product Review: SOG Trident Folder

In all the years I’ve been around knives, there are one or two things I’ve learned about what most people think about knives. It really depends on where you live, too. Many folks in the big cities see knives, including folding knives, as a weapon of last resort, and that isn’t wrong thinking by any stretch of the imagination. Folks who live in rural areas think differently about knives. Instead of a weapon, most see a knife as a tool to use in dressing out game. Then we have Preppers, living in the city or in the country. They see …


Pat’s Product Review: C.T. Fischer Custom Knives

There was a time, many years ago, when I collected high-end custom knives. I designed several of the knives myself, and had a couple custom knife makers produce them for me. I was a real sucker for a beautiful hand-made knife; I still am. However, I didn’t want to use any of those beautifully crafted knives because, well, they were so beautiful. They were works of arts, and I didn’t want to see them get all scratched up. Oh sure, I had some custom knives that were “working” knives. I wasn’t afraid to put them to work or get the …


Recipe of the Week

Margaret R’s Pig Pickin’ Cake: 1. Grease and flour two cake pans and pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees. 1 box of cake mix (lemon, yellow, or white– in my order of preference) 1/2 cup of vegetable oil 4 eggs 1 11 oz. can of mandarin oranges (undrained) 2. Mix the above ingredients together until well blended. Pour into prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until tooth-pick comes out clean, when cake is tested. 1 large carton Cool Whip (or 1 pint Heavy Cream, whipped, as a more fluid alternative) 1 pkg. instant pudding (Banana Cream, is our …


Letter Re: A Science Based Technique for Seasoning Cast Iron

Dear Hugh, Hi – first off, I am in NO way an expert or even knowledgeable enough about this matter to offer advice. After reading Chemistry of Cast Iron Seasoning in Odds ‘n Sods,I became interested in the subject as I generally just use grapeseed oil to season my pans. The very first article I pulled up not only refuted the information in the article above, but it also suggested that taking the advice of the article above could be dangerous. Here is the relevant extract: ‘Perhaps no other related topic is so rife with garbage on the internet than …


Letter: Walmart and Augason Emergency Food Supplies

Mr. Rawles, I don’t know if you know about this, I didn’t. I also don’t know if this is an online only type thing. But, I found Augason emergency food supplies online at walmart.com today. I live 2 hours from the nearest Wal-Mart and 3.5 hours away from the nearest Wal-Mart/Sams SuperCenter. So, maybe they sell these in the store, now. I don’t know. But, for those of us who rely on shipping supplies in, this is news of note. Orders of $50 or more ship free from walmart.com. – B.E.


Economics and Investing:

P. sent in this interesting link about Russia:Russia’s Growing Regional Debts Threaten Stability o o o Local governments extending tax breaks to movie production companies is becoming commonplace now; Even to the point where cities and states compete with each other to be the hosting location for the movie company. Several readers sent this link in showing How Leonardo DiCaprio Cost New York Taxpayers $30 Million. HJL Adds: My own city recently released financials showing that in the past year, they hosted four movie productions, giving significant tax breaks to the production companies, with less than $9,000 increased revenue to …


Odds ‘n Sods:

JWR was doing some research on concealment from FLIRs and active IR emitters on starlight scopes for his upcoming novel Liberators, and found an interesting post at the Urban Evasion web site. o o o Mountainview Off Grid Livingsells 5 gallon buckets of Hard White Wheat and Hard White Wheat. HJL Adds: For those not familiar with the Hard White Wheat, it is a product that has the same moisture and protein as the standard Hard Red Wheat but has a milder flavor. We use it almost exclusively, and you can make a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread that …


Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“The general sentiment of mankind is that a man who will not fight for himself, when he has the means of doing so, is not worth being fought for by others, and this sentiment is just. For a man who does not value freedom for himself will never value it for others, or put himself to any inconvenience to gain it for others… The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, …