Food Shortages in the US Underscore the Weakness of JIT Inventory Systems

The mass media is currently in a frenzy about spot shortages of rice, flour, and cooking oil at COSTCO stores. I’ve fielded seven radio interviews in the last couple of days. The only good news is that we set an all-time record yesterday, with 22,217 unique site visits to SurvivalBlog in one day! The rationing situation is getting worse. Several SurvivalBlog readers sent me this: Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club limits rice purchases. Meanwhile, we read in The Washington Times: Americans hoard food as industry seeks regulations. Josh Gerstein, the reporter that interviewed me for the recent New York Sun piece, just …


Letter Re: Dramatic Increases in Food Prices

Jim: Two months ago you could purchase Almond Nut Butter for around $7.50 per 16 ounce jar. Today the Almond butter is selling for $17.00 per jar. Today Cashew Nut Butter sells for around $11.50 and two months ago it sold for around $6.00 per 16 ounce jar. A clerk at Walmart commented that prices are rising fast. Rosauers Grocery Store in Kalispell, Montana had raised its prices more than 11 percent in February and has raised them again in April, some up to 17%. They blame rising fuel costs. What you purchase today will not cost the same next …


Letter Re: Will Peasant Farmers Fare Better than the Rich in TEOTWAWKI?

Hi, I’m finding SurvivalBlog very interesting in these troubling times. I came across it in the bibliography of a good novel, “Last Light”, by Alex Scarrow, which took me to Peak Oil, and then to your blog. I live in a small city in the most unknown part of Italy , a southern region called Basilicata . It’s always been a region bypassed by history and its inhabitants have known a modicum of well being only in the past 20 years. You might have heard of a book called “Christ Stopped at Eboli” by Carlo Levi. Well, that’s here. Though …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Jeff B. flagged this in The Wall Street Journal: Green Acres II: When Neighbors Become Farmers. Jeff’s comment: “I like how this guy took the idea of leased farm or grazing land and applied it to his neighborhood yards! The best part is that his neighbors are much more accepting of it then the trend toward 50-page home owner covenants would leave one to imagine”    o o o Eric Roseman of The Sovereign Society uses the term “inverse stagflation” for the current market that simultaneously has both inflation and deflation. (A term coined by Renee Haugerud, back in …



Notes from JWR:

I just got off the phone with Charles Feldman, a reporter with radio station KNX in Los Angeles. At the end of my interview, he asked me to poll the SurvivalBlog readership: If you live in the greater Los Angeles area, and have experienced any food rationing or empty shelves at a “big box” store or at a supermarket in the past few weeks, please give him a call. (He is trying to gauge how widespread the rationing is.) You can phone him at (323) 900-2070. If you call on Wednesday, please call between 9 am and 5 pm, PST. …


Fostering the Survival Instinct in Babies and Young Children, by Andrea J.

There has been a great push in this country by child rearing experts and the medical profession that children must be “socialized”. It has been a pivotal buzzword for educators and parents alike. It is a main reason for the negative swell toward homeschooling. Yet, it is my contention that what we need to foster, from birth, is natural instinct. Natural instinct is what we understand as the survival instinct. It is an innate instinct of distrust. It is the instinct that alerts us as we start down a dark alleyway on our way home from work. It is the …


Letter Re: The Food Shortages Are Real–Will There Be Panic Buying Soon?

James, I’ve read the recent article in the New York Sun (Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World) regarding the [informal] food rationing that has now begun. Everything is starting to unfold quicker than expected, but it is not a huge surprise. I personally own a small and private operation (cash only) which sells large amounts of bulk food storage for those who have their eyes open and are awake to what’s going on which is not many. We generally move large quantities of bagged and cleaned Wheat, lentils, soup peas, flax seed and all other manner of legumes( beans) …


Letter Re: Free Downloadable Military Manuals and Uncopyrighted Books

Greetings Rawles family! I am a member of a forum online that I think has a real gem for your readers. Gary, the administrator over at Post Apocalyptic Media (which focuses on post-apocalyptic science fiction, but has some preppers as well) has put together a great project. He edited [US military field manuals] (FMs), and other non-copyrighted books taking out information that would not be useful to non-Army personnel (nothing tactical or important, strictly Army procedural things). He then put them together in books with titles like “Survival”, “Survival: Health” which includes FM 4-25.11 First Aid, Emergency War Surgery, FM …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Bank of America Net Income Falls 77% on Writedowns. Something tells me that their acquisition of the mortgage lender Countrywide will not do good things for their balance sheet in the coming year.    o o o UN chief warns world must urgently increase food production    o o o Just as I predicted, lots of fallowed land in the CRP is again being tilled: Land Once Preserved Now Being Farmed    o o o Don’t miss reading this one, from The Market Oracle: Commercial Banks Heading for Huge Derivatives Losses- Credit Crisis Turning into Credit Armageddon



Notes from JWR:

A link to an article in the New York Sun is getting forwarded like wildfire on preparedness web sites and blogs, and was both linked at The Drudge Report and mentioned by talk radio host Glenn Beck: Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World. It is notable that the article specifically talks about shortages at the “big box” warehouse stores like COSTCO and Sam’s Club. Those are where I recommended stocking up, in my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. Even with these current shortages, the course explains how a family can economically stock up 90% of what they need …


A Warning on Buying Full Capacity Magazines in “Kit Form”

Thankfully, the Federal ban on 11+ round firearms magazines “sunsetted” in September of 2004. But sadly some bans are still in effect at the state and local level. Most notably, these laws are still on the books: No pistol or SMG magazines with a capacity over 10 rounds in Hawaii. (High capacity magazines that only fit rifles are allowed. (For example, since there are AR-15 pistols, AR-15 magazines are banned.) No magazines with a capacity over 10 rounds in California, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and New York. (See State Penal Code 265.23 for details. To the best of my knowledge, …


Three Letters Re: Hiding Things in Plain Sight

Jim, I have very carefully concealed my gun safe but in order to fool potential crooks, but I also have an old one that is very poorly hidden. It has stickers on it from my favorite firearms manufacturers. Once the [burglars] get it back to their den and peel it open, they will find themselves the proud owners of five large sandbags full of gravel. – Andy B.   James, My wife and I were recently discussing hiding places – what about inside a bucket of paint? Securely wrapping “the valuables” up in appropriate containers (likely several layers of Ziploc …