Note from JWR:

Today we present another Retreat Owner Profile, which will soon be added to the Profiles static page. BTW, we still have room for several more international profiles (outside the US). I am saving the last few slots in the US profiles section for people that have very unusual home/retreats. Perhaps someone that lives in an underground house, or someone that lives aboard a houseboat. If you decide to e-mail us your Profile, please closely follow the same format used in the the others. For your privacy, be sure change enough details so that your neighbors won’t recognize you. (You can …


Retreat Owner Profile: Mr. and Mrs. Dulce in Chile

70+ acre Chilean Retreat, plus a 1,500 acre cattle grazing permit. Ages: 43 and 41, and one child age 3 Background: Family is from upstate New York, dairy farmers. I grew up in NC, history major who went into the Army as an aviator. Spent time living, travelling, and working in over 50 countries. Separated from the army as a Major and went into investments. Retired to Chile in the 2000s. Why Chile? – Chile is the best kept secret in the world. A strong democratic country with five major political parties, Chile is very stable. Chile has lived thru …


Three Letters Re: The Savvy Barterer

Hi Jim: That first paragraph touched a nerve, because it was so truthful for me. My senior year in college everybody went to Ft. Liquordale. I went to Marrakech. Amazing experience. And boy did I get burned on some of the things I bought there. Some by as much as 1,000%. But the learning experience I came away with was priceless. The negotiation skills I learned there have become by far my most valuable business tool. That experience really made me think. On one hobby web site where I have collected much feedback my favorite one of all is “He …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Thanks to Mike C. for this article from Forbes: Abandoned Mine Exploration    o o o More Sturm und Drang from Cheryl: Fiscal Cat 5 Hurricane Warning — Asian Markets Drop — Dollar Roars Back As Global Debts Are Called In — UK Recession Fears Sparks Massive Sell-Off Of Sterling — Global Bank Lending Sinks To 30-Year Low — Demand For Gold Soars As Prices Tumble — World Markets On Edge — Credit Suisse Reports 670M Pound Loss — Nikkei Hits 5-1/2-Year Low — Wachovia Has $23.9 Billion 3Q Loss — Credit Crisis A Catastrophe For Auto Sales    o …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"If we find our government in all its branches rushing headlong… into the arms of monarchy, if we find them violating our dearest rights, the trial by jury, the freedom of the press, the freedom of opinion, civil or religious, or opening on our peace of mind or personal safety the sluices of terrorism, if we see them raising standing armies, when the absence of all other danger points to these as the sole objects on which they are to be employed, then indeed let us withdraw and call the nation to its tents. But while our functionaries are wise, …


Note from JWR:

Welcome to the thousands of new SurvivalBlog readers who’ve arrived after yesterday’s prominent mention of SurvivalBLog.com on MSNBC.The same mention also pushed up the Amazon sales rank of my novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” to around #800. (Out of more than two million books listed. Not bad for a novel that has been in print for 11 years!) OBTW, I’ve been getting dozens of e-mails from SurvivalBlog newbies, asking very familiar questions, such as: “What’s the safest area to relocate to?”, “How do I store rice to protect it from vermin?”, “What are the best things to keep on …


The Savvy Barterer–References, Skills, and Tools for TEOTWAWKI Barter

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One of my long-standing Precepts is that every prepared individual should be ready for both barter and dispensing charity. Today, I’ll be briefly discussing barter. Being ready to barter is not just a matter of having a pile of “stuff” to barter. While barter and charity logistics are important, what is even more important is what is between your ears. A Bazaar Experience Bartering takes practice. Dickering is an acquired skill. Short of buying yourself a plane ticket to Marrakech, I suggest that you start attending gun shows, garage sales, and flea markets. Learn how to haggle. One of my …


Four Letters Re: Currency Inflation Expectations for the US

James: The letter [from reader PNG] has severe mistakes and is fundamentally misleading – your readers deserve even more refutation before anyone is lulled into a false sense of security. To quote: “Let’s say the Treasury just invents another two trillion dollars by printing currency and forgiving loans. Let’s say they do that every year for the next five years. How much inflation would that create? The absolute maximum inflation rate from this example is about 20%, because there’s ten trillion dollars in circulation already.” These numbers are incredibly far off the mark. Actually M1 is the narrow definition of …


Odds ‘n Sods:

From Rick D.: Inflation Creates Run On Argentine Coins    o o o David in Israel, one of our foreign correspondents, and a rabbinical student sent us this comment: “It is interesting that you mention the shmita (the jubilee or yovel in Hebrew is a 49 year cycle where sold property is returned and slaves freed) a seven year cycle where all debts are forgiven, and at the end of the year that we let our fields lie fallow. The day of the 777.68 point Dow drop, the largest point drop in history, hit on the exact day that the …



Note from JWR:

SurvivalBlog was prominently mentioned in a front page piece on MSNBC yesterday and the resulting hits nearly crashed our server. (We got almost 90,000 unique visits in one day! That’s nearly as many as we usually get in a week.) Here is the article: Hard times have some flirting with survivalism–Economic angst has Americans stockpiling ‘beans, bullets and Band-Aids’. The story itself was well-written, but the headline was a bit much. Flirting? Flirting? I’d say that it is more like America has run off and eloped in Las Vegas with Survivalism. The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction …


Three Letters Re: Advice on Driveway Alarms for Retreat Security

Mr. Rawles, We’ve been using the Dakota Alert driveway alarm for years. We use the model with the underground sensor that will only go off when a metal object comes near it such as a large (or even small) vehicle. The advantage of this is it has absolutely no false alarms. When the receiver says a car is coming down our (long) driveway, then a car is coming. There is nothing worse than an alarm that gives false alarm all the time and you no longer can trust it. The infrared driveway alarms that I’ve tried do this especially if …


Letter Re: Advice on Silver Coins for Barter

Mr. Rawles, I have only a small amount of silver American coins but I constantly look for more. I find your advice to buy pre-1964 dimes, quarters and half-dollars difficult to realize as coin collectors are not selling junk silver in my area (Dallas/Fort Worth). To be frank the silver coins that are available are being sold at crazy prices (two or more times spot) over priced right now as everyone is freaking out about the economy. Reasonably priced coins, though significantly delayed, are available online and my collection has mainly been purchased this way. On the other hand, silver …


Letter Re: Recreational Vehicles and Investing in Tangibles

Jim, Thank you for the blog and all the great info you put out. I have a couple of questions that I would like to ask you, but first a little info about myself. I am a 40 year old male with a wife and two kids. I live in Kansas, I work at a large manufacturing plant and my wife works for a insurance company. We have a mortgage and other dept. I would like to buy some land out of town and build a retreat for my family and myself for when TSHTF but can not afford it …