Category: Current Events & Politics

Letter Re: The Best College Degrees for the Next Depression?

James, longer this [economic death spiral] goes on, the more it looks like this is going to be at least a decade before normality returns. So, if you’ve got a teenage kid you’re probably thinking, what kind of career (assuming we don’t totally melt down at a societal level) path he or she should take… I was talking to someone the other day and he told me his kid was studying art. “Oh, I asked, is he any good?” He replied “No, not really.” This family man is spending good money, money that could be put into preparations into a …


Two Letters Re: What Are the Best Magazines for Investment?

Jim Here’s my feeling on what pistol mags to obtain. Obviously, if you have a high capacity handgun, it behooves you to have at least ten mags for it. I actually have 30 Glock Model 19 mags since I already have one and contemplate picking up another that a friend wishes to sell. I’m also trying to pick up Glock 17 mags, even though they stick out the bottom of my G19. I really want a Glock 34 long slide 9mm, and figure that the only way I may be able to get mags for it down the road is …


Letter Re: Winter Solstice Slam 2008–Observations from the Pacific Northwest

Hello Jim: I send this to you from the snowy Seattle, Washington metropolitan area where we are digging out of a fairly impressive storm of snow and icy temperatures that have plagued an unprepared area. As a cop and a Preparedness Oriented Person (POP), I have been watching the lead up to and duration of this weather event. Here are some observations: Advance Warning & Notification Folks in these parts complained that there was little warning of the impending snow event. Some stated that since weather forecasters were often wrong, they would be wrong about this. When you had local …


Letter Re: What Are the Best Magazines for Investment?

Dear JWR: I took your wise advice posted in the blog back in October and stocked up on magazines for all my guns. I ‘ve even bought some mags [for other guns] that I just plan to buy, such as M14 magazines for my eventual super match M1A buy. But what I’m thinking is, I should also do is by even more magazines just “on spec”, knowing that with Obama coming in[to office, that] a ban of some sort is more likely that not. What types/model high capacity magazines would be best to invest in, for the most possible gain? …


Fear and Loathing in America’s Age of ZIRP

You’ve surely heard by now that the Federal Reserve has effectively lowered interest rates to zero. Obviously having learned nothing from the mistakes of Japans’s decades-long recession, Ben Bernanke & Company have instituted their own Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP). By artificially lowering interest rates, many economists predict that the Fed will actually delay economic recovery for many years. ZIRP was a failure for Japan, and I predict that it will be a spectacular failure for the United States. The Fed could, in fact, lower interest rates below zero, to the so-called “Super Zero” range. Such absurdities are not impossible …


Letter Re: A Company Layoff Underscores the Need to Be Well Prepared

Jim, What a surprise my wife and I received at work yesterday. My wife and I work for the same manufacturing company and after two banner years and a huge Christmas bonus the company is reducing everyone to 20 hours a week. The company we work for is a total “team oriented” place to work and if one person gets a bonus we all get a bonus and the same is true when it comes to layoffs. While our company sets and exceeds the world standard for what we do many of the companies we are dealing with are unable …


Letter Re: Speeding Coyote Hunters Arrested in Illinois

Jim, I enjoy reading your blog and have improved my preps exponentially since I began following you. I don’t know how many dozens of [telephone] consultations you do annually, but you and I spoke for an hour earlier this year. I live on Long Island, if that rings a bell. I feel that it was money well-spent. The post on vehicle stops was informative. You mentioned Boston T. Party’s “Boston’s Gun Bible” as a reference source. I have read all his books, fiction and non-fiction alike, and found him to be both entertaining and informative. If I may, I suggest …


Three Letters Re: Speeding Coyote Hunters Arrested in Illinois

Jim I went to college at Western Illinois University [WIU] and now live 30 miles from there. I don’t know much about the guys that got arrested but I can give you some info on Illinois gun laws. No NFA [“Class 3”] items are allowed except for possibly AOWs. I have heard conflicting reports on AOWs, but know for sure that “silencers” (sound suppressor) are illegal under the state law. As for transporting guns, all guns must be unloaded and inside of a closed case. This goes for handguns and long guns. And no a glove box, center console, or …


Call Me Delusional, by Edgar J. Steele

The following is an e-mail I sent three weeks ago to a small group of exceptionally-forgiving friends of mine, in which I pre-announced my hunch that things have changed fundamentally in the precious metals (PM) markets: There are lots of possible reasons: options expiry last week, new administration coming, new econ[omic] team (same as the Clinton econ team, which ran the [Plunge Protection Team] PPT into overdrive), China going into recession, Motor City going BK, a need to devalue the dollar in the face of global recession, shorter hem length, planetary alignment… Fact is, though, it is just a hunch. …


Letter Re: Speeding Coyote Hunters Arrested in Illinois

Mr. Rawles, I came across this today, and thought you’d be interested: Police: WIU students arrested with cache of weapons. The key points are: 1.) They were stopped for speeding and their truck searched 2.) Both men had gun permits 3.) They were arrested for possession of firearms and ones’ home searched 4.) Both are now facing legal battles – [even though] no laws [other than the speed limit] have apparently been broken Blessings & Good Health, – Christine JWR Replies: A few of my observations: Did you notice the box for the FN FS2000? It looks like they had …


Letter Re: Riots in Greece Illustrate How Quickly Things Can Get Schumeresque

Hi James, I have found so much value in your site, I have contributed to the 10 cent challenge multiple times. I have also spent several thousand dollars with your advertisers. I believe in supporting a site that provides so much value to me and family. I’m passing a couple items along you might find interesting. First, here’s a news item about riots in Greece. It just shows how a variety of things can trigger TSHTF and things can turn on a dime: Also, here’s an interesting personal story about always being prepared and testing your gear: The other night …


Letter Re: Is the US Residential Real Estate Market Nearing the Bottom?

Hello Mr. Rawles: Seeing that houses are pretty much dirt cheap right now, would it be a good decision to buy one? what would happen to our debts (including the mortgage) when/if the Amero comes? would they disappear like they claim the American debt will? I hear radio advertisements about the IRS giving you up to [a] $7,500 [interest-free loan] on your 2008 taxes if you buy a house in 2008. So, again, would it be a good idea? would the Dollar amount be converted into Ameros? Thanks in advance for your response. As always, congratulations on and thank you …


Letter Re: Comments on Two of the Three Bs: Bullets and Band-Aids

Greetings Jim, With [the] November 4th [US presidential and congressional election] behind us, many of us are wondering how to proceed with our preps. With regard to the bullets in the “Three B’s” consider this; your firearm will function with one magazine, most with even no magazine, but they all require ammunition. As a prep (as opposed to investment), I put forth that a good supply of ammunition is a higher priority than spare magazines, after purchasing the firearm, of course! In selecting a firearms battery, ammunition availability is a common selection criteria. You should own firearms that ammunition can …


The MOAB Keeps Growing, and Growing

Last Winter, when I first started writing about the Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB), I predicted that the cost of the bailout would grow inexorably. Sadly, I was all too right. In fact, the scope of the MOAB is now much larger than I had predicted, early in 2008. The latest tally thusfar is an almost incomprehensible $4.28 trillion US Dollars. But wait, it gets worse. In addition to bailing out bankers and insurance companies, more and more entities from outside the financial sector are lining up to the Federal trough. The TARP bailout set a dangerous precedent. There is …


Letter Re: UCLA’s Eye-Opening Colloquium on the Worldwide Financial and Economic Crisis

Hi Jim, I’m responding to Tuesday’s article Letter Re: UCLA’s Eye-Opening Colloquium on the Worldwide Financial and Economic Crisis in which the general cause of the crisis was ascribed to too much economic freedom. The following articles make the opposite case, that it was actually caused by government interference in the markets: The Government Did It The Myth that Laissez Faire Is Responsible for Our Financial Crisis Alan Greenspan vs. Ayn Rand and Freedom Stable Money is the Key to Recovery As pointed out in the article Stable Money is the Key to Recovery, “…some three-quarters of the massive derivatives …