Category: Current Events & Politics

Letter Re: An Exception to the Upcoming U.S. Light Bulb Ban

Dear Mr. Rawles:  In reference to D.B.C. in Minnesota’s letter regarding rough service lamps and their availability.  I recently read PUBLIC LAW 110–140—DEC. 19, 2007 which impacts incandescent light bulbs has language which directs the “Secretary” to track the sales of “exempted” bulbs and if their sales grow above historical sales/growth levels, then energy conservation standards will be imposed for exempted lamps, including rough service. Here is a partial excerpt from the bill:  ‘‘(D) ROUGH SERVICE LAMPS.— ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Effective beginning with the first year that the reported annual sales rate for rough service lamps demonstrates actual unit sales of rough service lamps that achieve …


Letter Re: An Exception to the Upcoming U.S. Light Bulb Ban

Jim: You recently posted a link to an article titled: “Time to Stock up on Light Bulbs”. I appreciate very much the helpful instruction I receive on SurvivalBlog. You put a lot of effort into credible and accurate information. It is with that in mind that I share the following with you. I have been selling light bulbs into the Commercial / Industrial market for 17 years. While it is true “most” 100 watt A19 incandescents are outlawed as of January 1st 2012, NOT ALL are. One quick search under “EISA 2007” category “lighting” will yield the real story. The …


Letter Re: Lessons From Latvian Bank Runs

James, I recently read an article at Zero Hedge about a bank run in Latvia.  The run was apparently brought on by accusations of embezzlement, document forgery, accounting fraud, and abuse of authority by two shareholders.  (Honestly, this is not about the US Congress emptying the Social Security Trust Fund, or Congressional insider trading)  The information on the bank’s web site refers specifically to Jon Corzine and MF Global!  “Kinda like Jon Corzine, if not by the actual authorities, then by everybody else. And just like in the US where the lack of confidence in the system following the MF filing, so …


Letter Re: Barnhardt Capital Management Has “Gone Galt” – MF Global Claims It’s First Major Victim

James: We need more business leaders like Ann Barnhardt! As reported over at Zero Hedge, Ann Barnhardt, President of Barnhardt Capital Management (a cattle and grain hedge brokerage) writes an excellent letter to her clients explaining why she is shutting down her business and exiting the markets altogether. She cites the recent bankruptcy of MF Global as the last straw, and predicts the imminent downfall of brokerage firms and commodities dealers in the derivatives market. This was mentioned on Rush Limbaugh’s show as her “Going Galt” speech, in reference to Ayn Rand’s character John Galt in Atlas Shrugged. See: “BCM …


Letter Re: The Occupy Protests as an Illustration of Refugee Camp Living

JWR,   I found this article interesting: Protesters Coming Down With the “Zuccotti Lung”. Park conditions put demonstrators at risk for variety of sicknesses, officials say. The weather and conditions at the “Occupy” protests are likely a microcosm of a post-Crunch refugee camp, along with the attendant diseases and problems associated with lots of people living close together in raw weather.   I think this should give pause to those who believe they can simply pack up and head out into the local woodlot and survive a Crunch-type event. You may leave home healthy, but inevitable contact with other folks will …


Letter Re: An Accountant Sums Up The Greek Debt Quandary

Jim, et al:  I recently read an enlightening ABC Australia news article: Greek Crisis – Migrants getting the blame.  Surprise surprise – the social experiment of open borders and monetary union is not working so well in Greece !   Greece has a population of 11million apparently and there are 1 million illegal immigrants and free loaders. Combine this with a retirement age of 45 there is little wonder the country is in the poo.    Being an accountant, I did a few quick calculations.  Assuming that the population was spread evenly to an average death age of 80 (which …


The Mayor Bloomberg Puzzler

Here is a puzzler for Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City: What two things do all 15 of these mayors (and former mayors) have in common? Mayor Patricia Christensen – Port St. Lucie, Florida Mayor Will Wynn – Austin, Texas Mayor Sheila Dixon – Baltimore, Maryland Mayor Eddie Perez – Hartford, Connecticut Mayor Gary Becker – Racine, Wisconsin Mayor April Capone Almon – East Haven, Connecticut Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick – Detroit, Michigan Mayor Delle Donna – Guttenberg, New Jersey Mayor Roosevelt F. Dorn, Inglewood, California Mayor Frank Melton – Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Samuel Rivera – Passaic, New Jersey Mayor …


The Dexia Bank Collapse Underscores the Fragility of the Global Credit Market and Derivatives

A major bank failure in Europe that began in September didn’t get much press coverage here in the United States. But is bears special mention, because it underscores the fragility of the global credit market and credit default swap derivatives. A victim of the ongoing Greek Tragedy, the Franco-Belgian Dexia Bank failed last month. It had to be bailed out by $6 billion from France and Belgium, and Luxembourg. Inevitably, those bailouts are backed by the “full faith and credit” of their respective governments. Read: French, Belgian, and Luxembourgian taxpayers. Dexia was formed in 1996 when the Belgian Crédit Communal …


Letter Re: Obsolescence in American Coinage

Dear Mr. Rawles, I read your article about US coinage and the opportunity to save nickels.  I must admit that your post about nickels is the first thing I linked to and that it introduced me to the many other valuable and useful topics on your blog. I have two concerns about modern coinage.  The first is obvious and refers to the decreasing value of the coins themselves.  The penny is now essentially worthless and should be abolished.  We spend time making change.  We spend money creating, transporting counting and wrapping them.  Our tax dollar could be better used.  The …


The Mainstreaming of Survivalism

When a news giant like CNBC starts quoting SurvivalBlog at length, then obviously we are starting filter into the mainstream of public consciousness. Here is an article that is a case in point: Buying Coins to Hedge Against Inflation. As one reader put it: “It brings a smile to my face when we’re way ahead of the curve.” By the way, I hope you’ve already got your nickels squared away. You’ve had plenty of warning, since I first mentioned this in SurvivalBlog back in 2007. The window of opportunity for acquiring nickels before their debasement is likely to close soon. Don’t …


Review of Self-Reliance Expo, Denver, Colorado by L.K.O.

I recently spent a day at at the Denver Self-Reliance Expo. It was held September 16-17, 2011. The expo showcased a variety of friendly and enthusiastic survival, self-reliance and preparedness vendors and presenters. Several of the companies there are loyal SurvivalBlog advertisers. It was great meeting many of them in person for the first time. Just one example was meeting Dave Duffy of Backwoods Home Magazine. I had been reading his columns for many years, so it was about time! In the arena of weapons and security, vendors included 5280 Armory, Hilltop Safes, Smart Product Technology (underground security pods), On Sight …


Letter Re: SKS Rifles in Canada

Dear JWR: Fearing confiscations of the more “controversial” VZ-58 clones that have hit the Canadian market, I recently sold one and am actively trying to sell another.  Not wanting to sell the thousands of rounds of 7.62×39 Czech surplus ammunition I have for them, I have been giving very serious consideration to procuring one (or several) SKSs as a replacement. To be clear, I don’t think the SKS is the best choice for a primary rifle.  For me personally, that honour belongs to the AR-15 in .223 (even if, as required by Canadian law, mags must be pinned to 5 …


Three Letters Re: Lessons Learned From a Recent California Power Outage

Dear Jim Yesterday at about 4:00 p.m. there was a massive power outage in the southwest. All of San Diego County And other parts of Southern California were without power for almost 12 hours some still are. I learned a few very good lessons from this experience. I do consider myself a prepper but am limited to how much I can store because I live in an apartment. I had concentrated on food, water, and defense measures for the long run, but had completely ignored some more immediate short term supplies. First and foremost, I overlooked cash. I have been …


Maxine’s Myopic Economic Solution: Buy More Gum Balls!

A recent news headline caught my attention: Representative Maxine Waters Calls For A Trillion-Dollar Jobs Program. After reading that I feel obliged to make a few sarcastic comments. (A privilege that I don’t abuse through over-use, as the editor of SurvivalBlog.com): Well, gosh, Maxine, if your “spending money that we don’t have creating wonderful economic prosperity” concept is so iron-clad, then why not go whole hog by pouring even bigger buckets of slop into the public trough? Why not spend $20 trillion to create zero unemployment? There would be jobs for everyone. We could develop whole new categories of jobs! …


Book Review: Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Dear Mr. Rawles, Here is my review of the book Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick. This a book with great insights for preppers and survivalists, especially in the famine food area.  As you are aware, North Korea suffered a disastrous ten-year famine in which possibly as many as 20% of the population died of starvation and most of the rest were severely malnourished.  This book is about several families and how they did and didn’t make it through those years.  Particularly striking to me were instances where they were eating and, more-or-less, surviving on …