Category: Economics & Investing

Two Letters Re: A Bank Run Reality Check

Dear Mr. Rawles, While the quantity of FRN currency and coins on hand at a bank branch certainly makes or breaks one’s ability to withdraw one’s funds in a “run” situation, the overriding factor of which most depositors are completely unaware is that only checking accounts are “demand” accounts, meaning that you have a legal and immediate right to all of your money when you demand it. If you read the account disclosure fine print for your certificate of deposit (CD) or savings account, you will find that the bank is under no obligation to return your money when you …


Economics and Investing:

A new age of uncertainty: Why Arab turmoil could mean an orgy of bloodletting and rocketing oil prices rather than a Utopian world order. (A hat tip to J.B.G. for the link.) K.A.F.send us a story about “voting with their feet”: Irish Remedy for Hard Times: Leaving U.S. crop boom not enough to rebuild thin supplies. (Thanks to Nick F. for the link.) Natural Gas: A Cure for America’s Crazy Oil Addiction Items from The Economatrix: Regulators Close Small Illinois Bank; Makes 23 in 2011   State and Local Budget Cuts are Slowing US Economy   Oil Prices Spike to …


Economics and Investing:

Reader F.G. sent the link to this entertaining video clip: Investing Ferraris Versus Gold. FDIC: 884 ‘Problem’ Banks Remain Even as Profits Grow. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) Reader Michael P. sent this from David Chapman: The End of the US Dollar? Analysis: Oil prices could be game-changer for world economy Paul Farrell: Market Crash 2011: It will hit by Christmas. (Thanks to Pat S. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: If all else fails, bribe them: Saudi ruler offers $36 billion to stave off uprising amid warning oil price could double Why I’m Buying Silver at $30 …


Letter Re: A Bank Run Reality Check

James Wesley, I have been trying to take the blinders off my wife’s family.  While they are not ready to don tin foil hats with me yet, they definitely don’t think I am quite as eccentric as I was before.  A failing economy can do that for people.  I did have an interesting conversation with my Sister-in-Law though concerning banking.  She is a branch manager of a bank;  a very large banking institution.  I don’t want to say the name, but as of 20 minutes ago, they have over 24,000 branches and ATM locations around the world.  I asked her …


Economics and Investing:

Jim Willie: QE2: The Road to a Gold Standard North African Turmoil Could Rocket Crude to $220 John R. recommended this article: Middle East Chaos: What To Learn And What To Expect Items from The Economatrix: Crude breaches $119 in frantic trading Market Jitters As Oil Price Heads For The Sky   UK:  Petrol to Hit £6.50 a Gallon; Mideast Crisis Cuts Supplies   (That is $10.52 USD, folks!) US House Prices Plumb New Depths   Video of Eric Sprott Speech: The Government Lied…There is No More Silver!


Inflation Watch:

Trapped: The Fed Has Painted Itself Into a Corner Charles Kadlec reports at Forbes: Higher Inflation Is On The Way. Wegman’s freezes prices on 40 products. (JWR Asks: How long can that last?) Cost of…everything…about to go up Inflation-hit India gains new price measure tool


Forever Preps – Preparations You Can Buy Once, and Have Forever, by Andrew D.

As a self-confessed budgeting fanatic, I’ve constrained my prepping budget on a monthly basis where I spend in one month what I made the previous month.  For example, I spend money in February that I earned in January, and so on.  Given the uncertain times, I never want to be “on the hook” with paying for things with “future money”.  So confession out of the way, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start with your preparations.  I know all about the rule of 3, etc., but when it comes down to it, there really are a lot of choices.  …


Economics and Investing:

$4 Gasoline? Definitely in California, but Maybe Not for Everyone Else US House Prices to Continue Falling: Economist. [JWR Adds: That is, until mass inflation kicks in, and makes us all millionaires.] Englishmen warned: House prices ‘to fall by 20%’ De Borchgrave: Mideast $400 Oil Imminent With Mideast Upheaval John R. suggested this piece by Bob Chapman: Public debt: unsustainable and simply unpayable Items from The Economatrix: On-going Overnight Short Squeeze Takes Silver to Fresh 31-Year High   Credibility Blown (The Mogambo Guru)   Silver Bankers May Be Sitting On Big Derivatives Losses And The Fed May Be Funding Them …


Economics and Investing:

Thor sent this bit of news on the global food supply: Planet could be ‘unrecognizable’ by 2050, experts say Luis (At Sea) sent us this link to Seeking Alpha: Case-Shiller: Home Price Declines Continue. Luis notes: “Notice that Washington D.C. had the only positive number, and even that was marginal.”   Several Items from Kevin S.: A Tipping Point Is Nearing   Food/Financial Crisis of 2011   The Collapse of America’s Labor Force   Items from The Economatrix: How Much More Demand Can Silver Handle?   Despite Oversupply, US Gasoline Prices Leap   Oil Surges 6% as Libya Tension Intensifies …


Affordable Preparedness, by Phil in East Tennessee

I enjoy reading SurvivalBlog each morning as I prepare for my day. I have only been a reader of the blog for six months, and enjoy all the varied insights. So I feel compelled to share some of my experiences. Let me start off by saying I was raised in a Christian preparedness household.  Both my parents suffered through the Great Depression as children and my mother was deeply impacted by the possibility of being hungry and cold again. As a teenager in the mid-1970s I remember we had a basement full of Neo-Life brand long term storage food, thousands …


Letter Re: Investing in Nickels, in Quantity

Dear Mr. Rawles, Regarding people eventually mailing U.S. nickel [5 cent coins] in bulk, you had asked: “Is there a box manufacturer that makes a sturdy corrugated cardboard box that fits tightly into a Medium size Priority Mail Flat Rate corrugated cardboard box?” At ULINE you can get a box to fit nicely inside the corrugated Medium Flat Rate Box (“FRB1″, with dimensions 11″ x 8-1/2″ x 5-1/2”). It is item #S-4517. It measures 10″x8″x5″. These boxes cost 54 cents each in lots of 25. (OBTW, leave it to the government to make two “medium” flat rate boxes. The longer, …


Economics and Investing:

The short squeeze in silver that I recently mention seems to be on, in earnest. Check Monday’s spot silver chart. That is a 31-year high. KAF sent us a link to a great piece by Patrice Lewis over at WorldNetDaily: Connecting the dots to anarchy. (SurvivalBlog readers will recognize Patrice Lewis as the editor of the excellent Rural Revolution blog.) Companies Raise Prices as Commodity Costs Jump. (Thanks to Daniel S. for the link.) Anthony S. sent this sign of the times: Pan American Silver Shifts Assets to Canadian Dollars John R. suggested this: Six Charts Which Prove That Central …


Economics and Investing:

Along The Watchtower reports on the COMEX‘s severe shortage of physical silver for delivery, amid strong open interest (OI) for March contracts: Wow! If a higher than normal percentage of buyers demand delivery, then the market will implode. There is already short squeeze in progress. The COMEX governors are likely to resort to drastically raising margin requirements to near 100% in an attempt to cool the market. (As precedent, they did this back during the Hunt Brothers silver short squeeze, three decades ago. Silver was then approaching $50 per ounce, and the COMEX hit the brakes hard.) A repeat of …


Inflation Watch:

Reader C.D.V. mentioned this: Inflation: It’s Here. “This is an important topic because with an expanding money supply, one would expect to see price inflation, yet the official statistics reveal no substantial price increases. And that begs the question: Why not?” Deutsche Bank on the Imminent Inflationary Outbreak in America. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) Why Are Food Prices Going Crazy? Cotton hits $2 a pound Cotton values surge owing to increased demand Following Beijing’s lead, news from Taipei: Prosecutors Office vows to crack down on food hoarding. (Hmmm… Could it be that double-digit inflation is on the horizon?)


Economics and Investing:

From Peak to Valley. Dr. Housing Bubble reports: Beverly Hills real estate selling for 1989 price levels. Home sold for $920,000 in June of 1989 and has a pending sale at $920,000 in 2011. [JWR Adds: So much for oft-touted “buy and hold” strategy! Oh, by the way, how much did the owner(s) of that house cumulatively pay in mortgage interest, property taxes and insurance, for those 22 years? Doubtless somewhere north of a million bucks. And how much has the purchasing power of the Dollar declined in those 22 years? So… Cui bono?] J.B.G. sent this: Government Has Borrowed …