Odds ‘n Sods:

More news and commentary, courtesy of our Economic Editor: Layoffs Spreading Across Corporate America — Fed Pushes Purchase of Assets To Bust Credit Logjam —AmEx Profits Fall, Cardholders Struggle — No Chinese Bailout for Pakistan, Next Stop: IMF — Kerkorian Dumps 2/3 of Ford Stock — Bush Says Economic Panic Is Easing — Markets Soar As LIBOR Starts To Fall — Bernanke Wants Second Stimulus Package — Iceland Agrees To $6 Billion Deal With IMF — France To Inject $6.5 Billion Into Top Six Banks — The view from a French think tank: Summer 2009: The US Gov’t Defaults On …



Letter Re: Learning a Second Language as a Survival Skill

Jim, I’m curious about your thoughts regarding a person learning a second language. In America I guess the language of choice would be Spanish simply due to the incredible influx of Hispanics to our shores thanks to our open border policy. Personally, I feel it would be a sound investment to one’s array of survival skills to provide them with the ability to negotiate and communicate with a large segment of the population. Also, if one has to flee south of the border for whatever reason having Spanish under their belt along with a few gold pesos [minted as “Onza …


Two Letters Re: Preparing for Survival Retreat Perimeter Defense

Sir; I noticed the comments about using 1960s vintage flash bulbs as tripwire warning devices for a perimeter. Something that I improvised and used successfully on active duty in the Army in the 70s was also based on flash bulbs. Remember the flash cubes from the 1970s? The four-sided flash bulbs that rotated and flashed on the mass market cameras of the era can be turned into effective and non-lethal warning devices. If they are still available, get a flash cube and look at the underside of it. You will notice a tiny ‘hammer’ that when released strikes a [“primer”-like]device …


Letter Re: Currency Inflation Expectations for the US

Jim, You recently wrote: “The Treasury will undoubtedly be forced to monetize a good portion of the National Debt. This is effectively creating money out of thin air. Each new dollar so created will dilute the purchasing power of the dollars that are already in circulation (Both paper and electronic “dollars”.) This wholesale dollar fabrication will be outrageously inflationary. Be prepared for double digit and then triple digit inflation in the next few years.” 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 …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Eric mentioned this article: Windowsill herb growing    o o o Susan Z. flagged this one: ECB council member foresees ‘tri-polar’ currency system    o o o From our Economic Editor: Dow Up 413 On Signs Of Recovering Credit Market — Momentum Builds For New Package To Boost The Economy — Merrill Lynch To Cut Thousands Of Jobs — Bush Advisor Says “Parts of U.S.” Are In Recession —Turmoil May Make Americans Savers, Worsening ‘Nasty’ Recession — Options Pointing To $50 Per Barrel Oil — Banks Braced For Lehman Bros. Insurer’s Deadline — US Highly Inflationary Monetary Growth Will Lead …



Note from JWR:

In today’s first article, I digress from the usual fare in SurvivalBlog to discuss American politics. You may have noticed that I generally refrain from politics in SurvivalBlog. I only make exceptions for political issues that have a direct bearing on the preparedness and/or liberty of a good portion of the SurvivalBlog readership. Our overseas readers might want to skip reading this article. But be forewarned that in the nascent Second Great Depression, you might be faced with similar situations in your own countries.


Letter Re: Advice on Concealing Storage Food

Hi Jim, I’ve researched the net in vain trying to find a solution to this problem, which I suspect I share with a great many people now prepping. I’m hoping you can help. The challenge: Where to hide my food stores? My situation: I live 10 miles from a city of 80,000 in a residential neighborhood. I live at the foot of a small mountain—the area behind my house is woods. I don’t own all of this wooded property, but I’ve never seen the owner. I have significant stores of canned goods, dried oats and beans, flour, sugar, etc. I …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Matt in Texas recommended a piece by Sam Mathid posted over at 321Gold.com as a “must read”: It is Time    o o o Writing in a recent issue of The Rude Awakening, economic commentator Joel Bowman notes: “From October 10 through October 17, the Dow [Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)] swung a total of 2,225 points at five separate closes. Put another way, that’s an average daily swing, at the close, of 455 points. This is territory of a tumult as yet not encountered in the history of the market. Measured by the volatility index [VIX], otherwise known as Wall …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“…While every bank tries to pass the toxic parcel on to somebody else, the system has to find the money. So will compensation for the near valueless contracts and thus now uninsured debt ultimately be made – and by whom? And because nobody knows – not the regulators, banks or governments – who owns the swaps and whether they are credit-worthy, nobody can answer the question. Maybe holders of insurance policies will get the cash due to them, but will that weaken somebody else? The result – panic. This is the ultra-dangerous downward vortex in which the system is locked. …


Notes from JWR:

We are pleased to welcome a couple of new advertisers: UR-2B-Prepared.com (distributors of the very useful Hydrion fuel test strips), and EM Gear (sellers of a broad line of preparedness and outdoor gear.) You may recall that EM Gear was previously a SurvivalBlog advertiser. They are back on board, now with an even larger inventory! Today’s first letter comes from Mr. Yankee, whom you may remember from the SurvivalBlog Retreat Owner Profiles.


Letter Re: 11th Hour Preparations: It is Not Too Late to Start

Jim: It is not too late to prepare for the hard times that are coming. But time is short, so I am going to be brutally blunt. Prices are going up. If you don’t already expect double digit inflation, you haven’t been paying attention. If you are just realizing that you need to prepare for the future, forget buying barter goods. Forget precious metals to swap for what others may be willing to sell. The idea of buying things so that you can swap them for other goods or services later is bad policy. That’s right. I’m advocating that you …


Letter Re: Advice on Driveway Alarms for Retreat Security

Mr. Rawles, Thanks for the perimeter defense blog today. Can you please give me your opinion on driveway alarms? There are some cool units I found at drivewayalarmdepot.com. They have units that are wireless and reach out to 3,000 feet. I think they also have a unit that reaches out a mile. Are these infrared units suitable to serious perimeter defense? Thanks, – RP JWR Replies: By all means do comparison pricing, but you should beware of the driveway alarms that are made in China. From most reports they are shoddy and unreliable. (Most of them are not truly weatherproof.) …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I spotted a link for a brief video introduction to Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Note that the map of near-surface geothermal heating potential coincides with a lot of my recommended retreat areas.    o o o Courtesy of Cheryl, our dose of Gloomage d’ jour: Lehman Tries To Unwind Derivatives Trade — Bush Plans To Host World Summit To Discuss Financial Crisis Response — NYT: Probe Of Lehman Collapse Escalates — Bleak Economic Outlook For Spain — Mervyn’s To Close 149 Locations — Linen ‘n Things Closing All Remaining Stores — Ron Paul: Our Current Monetary System Is Ending — …