Category: Current Events & Politics

Spotlight Falls on Silver’s “Poor Fundamentals” by Jason Hommel

An article by Pratima Desai that was circulated by the Reuters news service, included this: LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) – Investment money flooding into silver has overwhelmed poor fundamentals and helped it to outperform gold, but the tide could be turning for precious metals and the probability of large losses is rising. THE REAL TRUTH IS: Silver has outstanding fundamentals, and silver’s downside is minimal, and, in fact, it probably just bottomed, as I will show. Silver’s price falls in percentage terms are likely to dwarf those seen in gold, which some fund managers say has stronger supply/demand fundamentals. Again, …


Letter Re: Food Shortages at COSTCO and Sam’s Club Stores

James, I visited COSTCO store in Woodinville, Washington Saturday morning, right at the store’s opening time. I had my doubts about the reality of the shortages, and needed to shop, anyway, so I thought I’d check it out for myself. They had eight big warehouse guys escorting two pallets of rice out to the showroom floor just about the time I arrived. Six of the eight then stayed with the rice, handing it out to customers as needed. Both pallets were completely sold out by the time I left the store about 45 minutes later. I talked with two of …


Two Letters Re: Food Shortages at COSTCO and Sam’s Club Stores

Sir, Yesterday I went to COSTCO to check out the rice situation (and grab a cheap lunch). Today, a friend said he wanted to go, so being that he doesn’t have a [membership] card I went with him. Not only was all the rice gone except for a few very small bags of some long grain nasty stuff, but where there had been pallets of rice 24 hours earlier, now there was other items (macaroni and cheese and something else). I overheard about a dozen people complaining about the rice situation, and all of them just wanted “a few bags …


Letter Re: The British Perspective on Food Storage and Preparedness

Dear Sir The two articles linked below detail issues surrounding world food shortages (and possible solutions) from a UK perspective. I thought that they might be of interest to you. Certainly there is increasing concern here about rising food and drink prices and its increasingly becoming part of the national conversation. It seems there are now almost daily broadsheet newspaper articles on the subject and I can categorically state that the UK is now experiencing similar trends to the US, as identified by your readers. Although rationing has not made the news yet, my father – who is a restaurateur …


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 …


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) …


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, …


Preparedness Considerations for College Students, by Sam

I am presently a sophomore at a small, private, liberal arts college, in the northeastern United States. First, I will start with the important criteria [for survivalists] in choosing a college (after the decision of a major and program you want to be in), which I followed in High School three years ago: 1. Do not choose a school in a heavily urbanized/suburbanized area. 2. Choose a school in a small city or town, ideally with less than 50,000 people and ample farming in the region. (places like Ithaca New York, Burlington Vermont, Amherst Massachusetts, and other small-city sized college …


Letter Re: Food Riots in Haiti

Mr. Rawles, The BBC and several other news outlets are reporting Food Riots in Haiti, where food scarcity and price increases have resulted in violence. Reports say mobs are looting shops, burning cars, blocking roads, and shooting at UN Peacekeepers. It is also reported one man was shot to death by UN Peacekeepers. The rioters are responding to food prices increasing some 50% over the past year. Apparently the United States and France will be sending more money to assist in subsidizing food prices. There’s plenty of information about this showing online. Here are a couple of links, one from …


Letter Re: Implications of High Grain Prices for Livestock Owners — Stock Up!

Dear JWR, The prices for wheat and soy and orchard grass crop seed have risen 40% in our region this spring. And that is the farm supply co-op pricing. The N and Phos. fertilizer is pretty well matching this increase. Lime is only 20% higher than last fall. Most of the larger crop farmers (200 acres or more) in our eastern central area (which 5 years ago used to be primarily tobacco fields) are now counting on a moderate to large profit in return because these edible cash crops are being currently negotiated and purchased in bulk to be shipped …


Letter Re: Sign of the Times–An Ambulance Service Shuts Down

Howdy; My name is Ed and I am a paramedic in central Mississippi. Last month a private ambulance service shut down with only eight hours notice that they would stop operations, leaving 26 counties without 911 Emergency Medical Service (EMS). Other local providers and services were able to help provide coverage. But this is difficult with increasing fuel cost, the ongoing War on Terror and overseas deployments, shortages of personnel and lack of payments from medicare and medicaid and people without any coverage. These are all are driving the remaining ambulance providers out of business. Be safe out there! – …


Economic Climate Change: The Long Winter May Begin This Summer

I’ve had several consulting clients contact me in recent weeks, all with notes of fear in their voices. They realize that something is horribly wrong with the economy, but they cannot properly isolate and articulate the problem. I haven’t been able to calm them, however, because to an extent I share their anxiety. In my estimation, the “something wrong” that we sense is nothing short of a monumental shift in the economic climate. America is clearly headed for a recession. Most economic recessions are simply a product of the business cycle. These recessions are relatively mild and they often last …


The Hedges Get Trimmed

Just as I warned the readers of SurvivalBlog many months ago, hedge funds are vulnerable to rapid swings in interest rates. (My first warning was even before the pair of Bear Stearns hedge funds collapsed in the summer of 2007.) As the global liquidity crisis has expanded, other hedge funds have started to collapse en masse. Here is an article is from England that is indicative of what is happening globally. (This is a global collapse, because again, as I warned, the current liquidity crisis is global in scale.) Hedge fund legends hit by financial crisis. And here is an …