Economics and Investing:

Michael Lombardi: National Debt to Double from $17 trillion to $34 Trillion? Mark J. sent this: Picture of the Day: Bitcoin Reaches Record Market Capitalization of $2.64 Billion. Mark added this caveat: “Remember the difference between currency and money.” (Real money is tangible and inherently has value.) Burke C. suggested a great piece featured at Zero Hedge: Mike Maloney’s Top 10 Reasons to Buy Gold and Silver Items from The Economatrix: Fed to Test Banks for Interest Rate Rise, Housing Collapse Paul Craig Roberts:  Fed Trapped By Money Printing Tide Thefts, Cargo Hijacking And Cattle Rustling: Why Is An Epidemic …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Bill in Colorado sent this: 51st State Question Answered “Yes” in 6 of 11 Counties Contemplating Secession    o o o Pat S. suggested a useful primer: How to Save Seeds    o o o L.D. mentioned a great article at Reason.com about the Free State Project: The Free State Project Grows Up: Libertarians are changing the face of New Hampshire. L.D.’s comments: “[This project] seems to be gaining traction. It’s actually yielding results when you start small and build within the framework we have in place right now. It is possible to bring about positive change. I also believe …



Notes from JWR:

November 6th is the 69th anniversary of the day that Al Millspaugh’s B-24 Liberator bomber was shot down over over Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, in 1944. I got to know Al at some John Birch Society chapter meetings back in the late 1970s. Hearing his stories was fascinating. He told me that during one part of the war his squadron flew black-painted B-24s that were used to parachute-drop weapons and Jedburgh-type OSS teams behind enemy lines to organize resistance. I also recall that he mentioned that one of his fellow internees at Stalag Luft I was a USAAF radio operator who soon …


The Cycle of Prepping: One Man’s Approach, by Steve in Wisconsin

Although I’m sure far wiser people than I have said it before, I certainly subscribe to the notion that prepping is a road, not a destination.  In other words, although the pace may vary, I’m continually prepping and always will be.  Possible exceptions to this rule, to one degree or another, are the folks who have the means to simply take one of the “list of lists” available and write a big check to cover virtually all of their needs, but even that will require some ongoing maintenance.  I am certainly not in that camp and I think it’s clear …


Three Letters Re: Hand Wood Splitting Tools

James, Here’s a wood splitter that I’ve been using for years.  The Woodwiz Splitter is easy to using and safe way of splitting wood and it’s made in the United States. Respectfully, – Tim McC.   Jim In my experience, over several decades of processing hardwoods for fuel in the lake country of mid-Ontario Canada, I found no maul which can out split the venerable “chopper 1”.   With or without operational springs on the wedge face, these axes, usually marketed with a tough composite handle in Canada would be my candidate to recommend as the “American made splitting tool …


Economics and Investing:

Alt-Market reports: International Monetary Fund Recommends Stealing Americans’ Wealth Now! 3D Printed Gun Inventor Embarks on New Project: Dark Wallet Today, America’s Foodstamps Program Gets A 6% Haircut: What Happens Next? (Thanks to B.B. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Medicare docs face 24% pay cut … again Manufacturers Shake Off Effect of Budget Impasse Manufacturing in U.S. Expands at Faster Pace Than Forecast


Odds ‘n Sods:

Next on my reading pile is Richard J. Johnson’s book Redoubts: Paleopopulism at Twilight. Though ranty in spots, this looks like a cogent collection of essays.    o o o Several readers mentioned a propaganda piece in the Washington Times that quotes Chinese military planners boasting about their nuclear strike capability on the United States. In my estimation this blustering is more about China’s economic goals than it is about actual military plans. China aims to crush the United States economically in the long term, but in the near term they need the American consumer market, to keep their many …



Notes from JWR:

Wow! The benefit Redoubt silver coin auction for Orange Jeep Dad in the aftermath of his traumatic house fire brought a high bid of $1,709! My sincere thanks for everyone’s generous bids. Since the bidding was so strong, I threw in a lot of bonus items, plus an hour of free consulting. — Today we present a guest article by Dr. Philip J. Goscienski. I’m sure that this article will be controversial, because there are two sharply divided camps in American prepperdom regarding vaccines. The continuing threat of vaccine contamination and the strange side effects (which are sometimes sudden) and …


Immunization: Your First and Last Defense at TEOTWAWKI, by Philip J. Goscienski, M.D.

If the nation’s infrastructure should crumble at TEOTWAWKI more than two centuries of medical advances in immunology will go down with it. The loss of the power grid in a massive solar flare or EMP will eliminate our capacity to make vaccines that protect us against serious, often fatal illnesses. The physicians who survive will face infectious diseases that they have never seen because they have been eliminated by vaccines. Survivalblog readers are aware of the need to stock up on beans, Band-Aids and bullets but it is vital to acquire a supply of immune substances within the body. We …


Letter Re: Hand Wood Splitting Tools

James, I concur with your desire to purchase items made in America, but I have had some trouble finding wood splitting items made here that are of the same quality as made in Europe.  I also split my wood by hand and I have found these items very helpful:   This great maul, and   this Gränsfors splitting maul, and   The spiral twist in this wedge makes it very effective with increased mechanical advantage.   If you know of any American made wood splitting devices that are of the same quality as these, please let me know, because I …


Letter Re: Advice on Family Preparedness

Sir, I’m a suburbs dweller, living about 25 miles out of Milwaukee. I’ve gotten my mom–who lives nearby–into prepping. (Loaning her my copy of your “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” book worked!) So what do I do next, to get her farther down the road [to prepping]? I bought her a Kat[adyn water] filter. She has no clue about storage of foods. (We aren’t one of those “canning” families.) I bought myself a bunch of MREs and Mountain House foods, but she can’t afford to [do likewise], since she’s a retired school teacher. …


News From The American Redoubt:

Fascinating Maps: Deserted America: The maps that show how 60 years of white flight and brain drain have sucked the population from the Midwest. It will be interesting to see migration patterns in the next 20 years. I predict that most of the Redoubt will continue to benefit from net in-migration.    o o o Reader Tom L. mentioned: Mayor Mike Bloomberg sends $1,000 campaign contribution to Moscow. (Idaho, that is.) Needless to say, Chaney, who is running for re-election, is one of the handful of members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns in the American Redoubt region. I’m tired of …


Economics and Investing:

Ed in Michigan suggested: Paul Singer: Obamacare rollout a ‘fiasco’. (In a recent parody, even Hitler was furious.) Man throws away $500,000 in gold to spite ex-wife Meet the American Nomads of Walmart’s Plentiful Parking Lots Items from The Economatrix: Are Constitutional Conservatives Really The Boogeyman? Weekly Consumer Comfort Index Tumbles To Lowest Since October 2012 Initial Claims Miss As California Catches Up With Claims Backlog