Economics and Investing:

From Theo M.: Deficit grew by $181 billion in July Chris H. flagged this: No Longer Jobless, But Still Struggling Frequent contributor Karen H. kindly sent several items: Fed Focusing on Real-Estate Recession “The collapse in commercial real estate is preventing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke from declaring the economy and financial markets are healed.” (JWR has predicted this for quite some time.) Treasurers’ Fear of Next Credit Freeze Shown in Cash Hoarding “Cash is king,” said Paul Kasriel, the chief economist at Northern Trust Corp. in Chicago. “Businesses are in survival mode right now.” Minneapolis Federal Reserve Inflation …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I was doing some research on sunspot cycles (whilst pondering whether it would be worthwhile to buy some more ham radio gear to work the 40 and 80 meter bands), and I stumbled across this web page from Finland: Timo Niroma: One possible explanation for the cyclicity in the Sun. Part 5 talks about possible climate change. It would be incredibly ironic if this new century were to be a Little Ice Age rather than the much-heralded Global Warming that Al Gore et al have been shouting about. Needless to say, the climate change jury is still out, and there …



Notes from JWR:

We’ve reached the milestone of 10 million unique visits for SurvivalBlog. When I first set up the blog visits counter in 2005, I thought that it would take a decade or two before we’d ever fill up all the places in an eight digit counter. My, was I wrong! Thanks for making this the world’s most popular blog on survival and preparedness topics. We get more traffic than all the smaller survival and preparedness blogs, combined. Please keep spreading the word. A link to SurvivalBlog in your blog or web page would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Today we present another …


Terminal Ballistics for Big Game, by Old Dog

The following is based on over 25 years making a living as a licensed guide in Alaska and as a professional hunter in Africa. Between clients shooting game and cull hunts I have personally seen over 7,000 big game (250 lbs or more) animals die from gunshots. I have formed my opinions on terminal ballistics from this experience The Biggest Myth that I hear is faster projectiles (Velocity) kills better than slow ones. As long as the projectile stays above supersonic it will kill big game effectively with a properly constructed bullet. Second Biggest Myth is that more foot-pounds of …


Letter Re: Preventing Steel Food Cans from Rusting in High-Moisture Environments

Hello James and Memsahib! Greetings and prayers for you both. In the Saturday August 8th blog there was a report of damage to underground storage food, with cans rusting. When we traveled for years on our sailboat we varnished our canned goods to prevent rusting. We removed the labels, wrote the contents of the can with a permanent marker, then varnished each can. We never had a can rust with this protection. Our cans were exposed to salt air and an occasional dousing from bilge water. B.B. thought that waxing his cans would help. That may work but any contact …


Economics and Investing:

GG flagged this: Banks still getting sicker; The economy may have turned, but banks will be cleaning up after their lending mistakes for years. Several big banks may already be doomed to fail. Also from GG: Bank of England surprises markets with move to increase ‘printing money’ plan This was linked at the excellent news aggregation blog Total Investor blog: ‘Lost Couple of Decades’ Looming for U.S. Economy: Chart of Day Several SurvivalBloggers sent us this: Obama announces $2.4 billion grant for electric vehicles Items from The Economatrix: Audio Clip: Unemployment Decline “A Little Bit Misleading” Analyst says “people have …


Odds ‘n Sods:

F.G. spotted this bit of inspiration for SurvivalBlog’s older readers: Never Too Old: The Story of Captain Samuel Whittemore. (Who went to war at age 80.)    o o o Do you remember my comments back in May, on the “Three K” depression-proof jobs? This Fox News article confirms it: Now Hiring: Everywhere You Didn’t Want to Work    o o o The recent much-publicized dehydration death of a child in Death Valley, California, prompted several SurvivalBlog readers to comment. The consensus on vehicular off-pavement travel in desert country is to over-prepare: Carry two spare mounted tires, extra fuel, sleeping …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I told a reporter here a while back–young girl, seemed nice enough, she was just tryin’ to be a reporter. She said: ‘Sheriff how come you let crime get so out of hand in your county?’ Sounded like a fair question. Anyway I told her, I said: Any time you quit hearing ‘Sir’ and ‘Ma’am’ the end is pretty much in sight.” – Tommy Lee Jones as Terrell County Texas Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, from the movie No Country for Old Men, 2005 (originally written by Cormack McCarthy)



Delay and Pray: Why the FDIC is Broke, by Dr. Gary North

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” — Burt Lance “If it is broke, don’t admit it before you absolutely must, and then blame it on events that no one could have foreseen.” — [Gary North’s] universal law of bureaucracy Burt Lance was briefly the head of the Office of Management and Budget under Jimmy Carter. He was a Good Old Boy from the banking world of Georgia. A William Safire piece, “Broken Lance,” created enough bad publicity to persuade Lance to retire in September 1977. The article won Safire a Pulitzer Price. Lance’s aphorism, taken from the South, has …


Economics and Investing:

From GG:The FDIC is in Trouble. (Only 2/10ths of one cent in reserves left available for each dollar of deposits.) Karen H. sent this: Recovery “not in sight” says BMW Also from GG: U.K. Royal Mint Doubles Gold Output as Demand Swells Greg C. found this one: Regulators close 3 banks in Florida, Oregon; total 72 “Bank failures have cascaded as the economy soured and loan losses soared, sapping billions of dollars out of the deposit insurance fund. It now stands at its lowest level since 1993, $13 billion as of the first quarter.” Also from Karen H.: Crude Oil …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Eric S. recommends the following story from PhysOrg.com: UK conservation agency launches plastic beehive    o o o From Karen H.: Wind Promises Blackouts as Obama Strains Grid with Renewables    o o o Federal Judges Order California to Release 43,000 Inmates. The streets of California may soon get a bit more mean.    o o o Mr. Cleans for Hire Tasked with Tidying Foreclosed Homes. (Thanks to Jeremy L. for the link.) OBTW ,SurvivalBlog readers should take note, and consider this a “growth” industry for the next decade. It fits with my recommendations of setting up a recession-proof small …