Category: Current Events & Politics

Letter Re: Keeping a Low Profile is Crucial for Preparedness

James, To amplify on the excellent recent letter from SoCal titled “Keeping a Low Profile is Crucial for Preparedness”, I have some suggestions that all of us SurvivalBlog readers should implement to keep a low profile in our online activities. Anonymizer and Comprehensive Risk Solutions (both mentioned in the letter) are great ideas. They are cheap insurance. I can also recommend a few other measures, to wit: 1.) Use the Scroogle Scraper for web searches. This allows you to use Google through an intermediary site. That way Google cannot create a profile on your searches. On background: Google is notorious …


Letter Re: Comment on the Planned U.S. “Economic Stimulus” Tax Rebate

Jim, Not directly related to survival but more aligned with money management, please note that the Bush administration’s tax rebate is in fact an advance on 2008’s tax refund, and most or all of it will be deducted from taxpayers’ refund within a year. So if one spends it, plan to be short that amount next year. Be sure to thank most of your current crop of presidential candidates for supporting this fraud. – Bruce F.


Peering Over the Precipice: The Future of America’s Credit-Driven Bubble Economy

Here in the States, the newspaper headlines are full of bad economic news: “Credit Collapse”, “Housing Market Tailspin”, “Credit Rating Agency Scandal”, and “Three Trillion Dollar Federal Budget”. Most recently, the Federal Reserve (our central bank, operated by a private banking cartel) made a panic move, cutting interest rates in two jumps in just eight days, a whopping 125 basis points (1.25%). A drop that great, and that fast, was unprecedented. This maneuvering did little to calm the markets. If anything, the Fed’s actions confirmed the suspicion that the credit market is essentially broken and our economy is headed for …


Letter Re: The Recent Blizzard on I-90 in Wisconsin

JWR, I read the link that was submitted by Craig in Odds ‘n Sods. The Channel 3000 story couldn’t be farther from the truth. As a local first responder, I can attest that we are getting the short end of the stick. The State Patrol didn’t even acknowledge there was any problem on the interstate until hours after our crews were already on scene. They didn’t even know that Dane County had set up an incident command headquarters at the Highway 51 interchange. The first semi trucks started losing traction as early as 10 a.m.that day. Near blizzard conditions had …


Letter Re: Consumer Price Inflation is Upon Us

Dear JWR, I thought you’d like to pass this on if people want to save some of their hard earnings. Now is the last call to purchase before the commodity price increases. Shipping cost increases are to hit us again on February 19th. Here in North Carolina, we’re seeing an average of 20% increases in prices of staple shelf items like flour, corn milled products, honey, milk, eggs and canned goods within the last two weeks in the grocery stores. One bell pepper now costs a dollar. Other produce is following the same increases. Products made of plastics, paper and …


Letter Re: Keeping a Low Profile is Crucial for Preparedness

Jim, My missus and I have been into “prepping” for about 15 years. Our house has a basement and it is practically wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling with shelves–with just narrow aisles in between. The shelves are chockablock with storage food (all labeled and organized “FIFO“-style), medical supplies, assorted “field” type gear, tools, barter/charity stuff, ammo cans, propane cylinders (that fit our camp stove and camping lantern), reels of field phone wire, paper products, and so forth. Following the example of Mr. Whiskey (from your “Profiles“) we have recently built up 27 sets of designated “charity duffles”, each packed in a cheap …


Letter Re: A Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Disaster

Dear Jim, I just read on a[nother] blog about an imminent Federal Reserve disaster. There’s no [mainstream] news coverage on it yet so this qualifies as a serious heads up. Note the second numeric column. $40 Billion, has been since 1913, by law. Then notice it suddenly drops to $198 million and then two days ago the report lists the banks as minus $8.7 Billion, something which has never happened before. How bad is it? Think Weimar Republic. The Fed can no longer stop inflation because the banks can’t secure new money with debt. People aren’t buying debt anymore. Ergo, …


Letter Re: Countrywide Turns Off the Home Equity Lines of Credit Tap

James, I just received an email from my Countrywide Account Executive that they are suspending further draws against Home Equity lines [of credit]. They have reportedly started mailing suspension letters last week to 122,000 borrowers. Who knows how many more could get those based on the markets and Countrywide’s present situation. If you know someone who has [a home equity line of credit] and is going to need the funds, they might want to draw out the money right away and put it somewhere safe. A lot of people use home equity lines as emergency funds. – MB in Boise …


Letter Re: I Told You So

Jim: My pessimistic mentor in preparedness frequently says: “I hate being so d*mn right all the time!” I can’t help but wonder if you share the sentiment. I’m beginning to do so! The more I read the current news about market volatility, Peak Oil, and CCD the more I am reminded of the pieces I wrote and you published on SurvivalBlog months ago! The full texts are still available in your archives and the advice is still valid! For new readers and to refresh the memory of others here are a few quotes pulled out of the late in 2006 …


Letter Re: Deciphering HK Magazine Date Codes

Mr. Rawles, I’m confused about the two-letter date codes that are stamped on many [Heckler und Koch] HK [firearms] magazines. How does the date code system work? I’m not asking you this because I’m a collector that’s into arcana or minutiae. It is because I live in [New York,] a state that restricts civilian ownership of mags that were made after September of 1994. By the way, I’ve also got some 40 round [aluminum] alloy HK93 magazines with no markings whatsoever on the mag body, but they do have followers with “78” mold marks. What is the story on those …


Four Letters Re: A Honeybee CCD Disaster Soon?–Bee Prepared!

James, Here is a link to a somewhat less pessimistic article on CCD, the current state of affairs with bees, and a likely possible cause. I agree that the consequences of a loss of Apis mellifera would be a severe blow, but I think the reality is not (yet?) quite so dire as a recently linked article predicted. Best Regards, – MP   Jim; Your comments miss the fact that solitary bees, such as the Orchard Mason bee, are roughly 10 times more effective [per capita] as pollinators than honeybees, and are plentiful in most locales. Bumblebees ain’t bad at …


Davos Delegates Deeply Denigrate the Dissipated Dollar

The once Almighty US Dollar got its comeuppance this week at the annual Davos, Switzerland conclave. After too many years of maxing out her credit card at Macy’s, the weak sister of the currency world was strongly chided by her siblings. The Federal Reserve’s unprecedented one-day 75 basis point cut in interest rates was seen as exactly what it was: a desperation measure. Jean-Claude Trichet, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) said that there is little chance of a European interest rate cut, to match the Fed’s rate cut Soon after, Steve Forbes went so far as to …


Two Letters Re: Retreat Group Recruiting and Organization

James, Some tips when looking for like-minded suitable people for a survivalist group: At work look for people who carry a pocket knife–a real pocket knife not a tiny little Swiss Army knife– in these politically correct times it’s one of the first thing that sticks out in an office environment When sharing a ride to lunch you may notice some people always have some hiking/camping gear always in their cars. Having a spare pair of shoes such as hiking boots at work. Observe if anyone goes for a walk at lunch or any other indication that they are staying …


Letter Re: Does Future Inflation Justify a Higher Level of Indebtedness?

Sir, In reading the recent economic commentary on your blog site I have to wonder – if one is convinced that we’re to see a significant increase in inflation, then why get out of debt? Take a mortgage for instance: with decent credit it is now possible to refinance (or purchase) and get a fixed rate mortgage under 5% and rates will likely go lower before we’re done. With tax breaks and even normal inflation this is essentially free money. In an inflationary environment (which I don’t argue we’re in) it would make sense to keep this debt and instead …


The Countrywide Bailout and the Macroeconomic Picture

As I mentioned a few days ago, Bank of America (BofA) is buying out troubled Countrywide Financial (a home mortgage lender) for more than $4 Billion, and taxpayers are going to help them finance the buyout. This is good news for Countrywide (whose CEO is being given a ludicrous $110 million going away present), but bad news for the economy as a whole, and for taxpayers. I should mention that it has been rumored that BofA felt obliged to acquire Countrywide, because the two firms had some large derivatives contracts, and if Countrywide had folded, BofA would have to write-off …