Economics and Investing:

I recently bookmarked the Total Investor blog. It is has become my favorite aggregation sites for economic and investing news. Yesterday, they featured a video clip: Marc Faber On CNBC: “Marc Faber is expecting an ‘ultimate crisis’ that will ‘clean the system. ‘If you pump money into the system and you create large fiscal deficits, you create volatility,’ Faber said’” Items from The Economatrix: Making Sense of Second Quarter Earnings, So Far “As you can see, a consumer retrenchment is happening here. And in my opinion, that is an even bigger story than the individual earnings reports or big profits …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader KAF wrote: “I was most interested and thankful for the recipes in the articles discussing making your own laundry detergent. I also could not find the ingredient Washing Soda. After some searching, I discovered that it is Sodium Carbonate (aka Soda Ash). Here is a bulk supplier for the powder. They also sell Borax (aka Sodium Borate). I’ve ordered some and I can’t wait to try my hand at this lab experiment!    o o o Blacksheep sent this: Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle. OBTW, let me know if your Kindle edition of “Patriots: A Novel of Survival …



Notes from JWR:

A segment on the Today US network television show on Tuesday morning featured SurvivalBlog regular Kathy Harrison (the author of the excellent preparedness primer Just in Case), and briefly showed the SurvivalBlog web page. Another three seconds of fame. Huzzah! — Just one week left! Ready Made Resources is continuing their special 25% off sale on case lots of Mountain House freeze dried foods in #10 cans, with free shipping to the Continental United States. Please don’t miss out on this sale, as they don’t happen very often. Place your order soon, since the sale ends next Wednesday.


Often-Overlooked Readiness: Preparing for Joy, by Carla

I am sitting here and it is raining, and raining and raining and… Four inches so far, nobody can water like God can! After our last rain, everything in the garden had a tremendous burst of energy. The dreary, raining day for some folks though, is especially depressing. I enjoy those occasional days, when I feel like I can actually sit down at the computer without feeling guilty because there is so much to do outside that I really shouldn’t be here. It got me to thinking again about “what if?” How can we defeat those occasional bouts of dreariness, …


Six Letters Re: Self-Sufficiency in England? Take the Gap

Hello Mr. Rawles, Thank you for taking the time to reply to my previous e-mail. I must confess your original post on your blog and your reply left me feeling somewhat bothered and a little defensive. I have been mulling this over all day and deep down I know the reason why, it’s because you are absolutely 100% right. My wife who makes my world go round could not leave her family, my son who has special needs is receiving very specialist care locally, my community, friends and neighbours who have worked this land for generations rely on me for …


Economics and Investing:

GG sent this article by Henry Blodget: Gary Shilling: Stock Market Will Crash as US Consumers Retrench Reader HPD sent a link to a recent post by Mish Shedlock: 500,000 Will Exhaust Unemployment Benefits by September, 1.5 Million by Year-end Desert T flagged this: As Boom Times Sour in Vegas, Upward Mobility Goes Bust Summers urges Banks to Lend Mores, Says Recovery Pace ‘in doubt.‘ Americans Pay Back Debts Most Since ’52 as Jobless Spur Savings More bodies go unclaimed as families can’t afford funeral costs. (First family pets, now family members) DD Sent these three items: Subprime brokers mutate …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Garnet sent this: China dust cloud circled globe in 13 days. Garnet notes that this is something to keep in mind for a variety of emerging threats, including Ug99 wheat rust.    o o o I was pleased to see that one of my recent blog articles was re-posted by The Silver Bear Cafe: The Nascent Depression: Be Ready to Barter and Adopt the Rhodesian View    o o o Guns are consistently “the great equalizer”. See these recent news articles: 82-year-old man kills invader and Child shoots intruder during home break-in, and Teen allegedly shoots and kills intruder.    …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 23 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. First Prize: A.) 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $350. Third Prize: A copy of …


The Simple Reality of EMP — Different Than You Might Expect, by Andru

One topic I have paid close attention to for the past 10 years has been our nation’s risk to Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP).  There are a few points I would like to make that are often overlooked—mostly dealing with the magnitude of the threat.  I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject, but I have consumed as much information as possible that doesn’t delve into the high-level physics—the kind of knowledge required to truly be an expert.  What may set me apart the most is the simple fact that I actually read the 181 page Critical National Infrastructures (CNI) …


A Multiple Family Retreat — Lessons Learned The Hard Way

I have been a follower of your blog for a couple of years now and find it to be the best source of self-sufficiency information on the Web. You and your readers have provided me with a wealth of information that would have otherwise taken a lifetime to research on my own. –and for that, I thank you and all those who took the time to contribute. While the plethora of advice handed out on a daily basis is extremely helpful, the one thing that I have found to be sparse is the first hand accounts of failure. A wise …



Economics and Investing:

F.G. forwarded this news story: Bank ‘walkaways’ from foreclosed homes are a growing, troubling trend. If foresaw buyers walking away from houses, but not banks! A piece that I missed from earlier this month: Banking system like South Sea bubble, says senior Bank of England official Reader MAM sent this fascinating piece from Columbia Journalism Review: Goldman Sachs to the Forefront. The plot thickens! LJ on England spotted this: Deflation fears as the underlying rate of inflation reaches its lowest level since 1948 Items from The Economatrix: Lawmakers Blast Paulson for His Response to Crisis Philadelphia Suspends Payment of Contracts …


Odds ‘n Sods:

John (“The Midwest Hiker”) reminded me that The Discovery Channel will begin to air “The Colony” tonight (Tuesday, July 21) at 10 p.m. eastern time. John’s comment: “As far as I can tell, is a show about an enclave of survivors rebuilding and struggling after a major TEOTWAWKI event; a plague of catastrophic proportions. I have some doubts about the technical accuracy of the show–the survivors, after all, are living in a ‘compound’ in L.A.–but even so, the show employs a talented cast of ‘survivors,’ everyone from a rocket scientist to an electrician. This should at least be worth the …