Category: Emerging Threats

Letter Re: Novel Recommendation–“Solar Flare” by Larry Burkett

Mr. Rawles, I have read your novel Patriots and passed it along to several people that I know. Most of them now own their own copy as well and it has been a big boost in helping them see the need for making preparations for the times ahead. It is with great interest that I have read the recent discussions about solar flares on the blog. The novel that first piqued my interest in survival and preparedness was the book Solar Flare by Strategic Air Command veteran and former NASA employee Larry Burkett. The premise of the novel is an …


Letter Re: Has Family Preparedness in the U.S. Declined Since 9/11/01?

Dear Mr. Rawles, I first learned of your blog site through a New York Times article that ran back in April. Since then, I have spent a lot of time on your excellent site, and have followed many of your suggestions. I think the best you’ve made so far is that people read the book “Boston’s Gun Bible“. Mine is now a well thumbed rag doll, but the amount of knowledge contained within is impressive. My larder and defensive cache are coming along nicely. I want to point out another New York Times article to you: Are You Ready for …


Surviving an Age of Greed and Envy–Criminal Looters and Looters Under Color of Law

Several SurvivalBlog readers recently sent me a link to an article that ran in Britain’s The Independent newspaper: Britain declares war on food waste. So it seems that The Powers That Be have figured out a way to ration food under a novel pretense–the wastefulness of bulk packaging. (I guess they’ve never heard of freezers, dehydrators, and vacuum packing machines. We hardly waste a morsel, here at the ranch. The subtle subtext to this new “war on waste” article ties in to the Fabian Socialist mindset that is so pervasive in England. (And sadly, here in America, as well.) They …


Letter Re: Solar Flare Spike in 2012?

Jim:Regarding your recent interview on Fox Business about the significance of 2012: When I was a teenager, it was the Mayan 2012 [calendar] event that got me interested in preparedness. I ran with a bit of an impromptu Boy Scout like crowd (we weren’t Boy Scouts but our parents encouraged us to hunt, fish and camp). It was fun imaginary scenario when we were kids. I grew out of my Mayan 2012 phase. As an adult, I am preparing for a solar 2012 event. Essentially, a couple of years ago, I came across some research by a guy who was …


Letter Re: The Handwriting is on the Wall for the Big Three Auto Makers

Mr. Rawles, Anyone who is paying attention would have seen the mess that America’s “Big Three” auto makers are in. A smart Peak Oil [market] player would have shorted them a while ago. But consider this little fun fact – As of this last Friday, the market capitalization of General Motors (GM) was just over $5 billion. That’s all. Toyota has about 25 times that. So are several other healthy auto makers and they all know that times are tough yet GM expects sales to pick up later this year? But consider that $5 billion. It’s cheap yet no one …


Letter Re: Securing Needed Prescriptions for Family Preparedness

Dear Mr. Rawles, First, I must thank you for the great service that you provide to society. I simply can’t tell you how much I have learned since beginning to read SurvivalBlog daily. I’ve decided that 10 cents per day is not enough, and plan to double it soon. Though I pray that I will die peacefully at the age of 98 without ever having to activate my prep plans, the feeling of security that comes from preparation will make my remaining years much more pleasant! As a pharmacist, I wanted to make a few additional comments regarding Matt R.’s …


Letter Re: California’s House Prices Plummet to Surprising Depths

Hi Jim, We’ve been good about our refinancing. As the house appreciated, we took a little here and there on two re-fi[nancing]s, to pay off most of our credit debt, and to start a business. At this time a couple of years ago, the house was worth $440,000, conservatively. In January, $351,000. Just last night, using a very good evaluation tool called Zillow.com, we were surprised to find that in the last six months, the house’s value dropped [still further,] to just over $250,000. That was a shock. Almost [a] $190,000 [on-paper loss] in less than two years, in an …


Letter Re: Securing Needed Prescriptions for Family Preparedness

Jim, I’ve been stockpiling medicine since before it was fashionable. My dad is a physician and gave me an Rx for ciprofloxacin and other antibiotics before 9/11 (in prep for Y2K). That is all refrigerated and despite official expiration dates, probably still fine. More recently, my dentist wrote me an Rx for TamiFlu. I won’t drag on about it, but the bottom line is that virtually anyone with a medical degree who is semi like-minded can give you an Rx for whatever you want. All you have to do is assure them you are only worried about shortages and won’t …


Letter Re: Economic Gloom and Doom is Justified

Jim, Ironically, just a day after I wrote an e-mail chiding you [for giving too much attention to economic gloom and doom in SurvivalBlog], I had a meeting with one of our clients that has been a very successful Wall Street trader. He gave me a laundry list of banks that he expects to fail before the end of the year and predicted a complete collapse of the financial sector. Worse [for us], since we are in Michigan, he said that some of the Big Three auto makers are in serious trouble. When I asked him where he saw the …


Letter Re: The Reactive Culture, or 20 Years of Greater Depression

Dear Jim, America, and modern industrial democracy, is a reactive culture. We wait for disaster to strike, then we talk about it, vote, and throw money at it until it goes away. That’s what we’ve been doing since the deficit spending initiated by FDR, socialist that he was. Now we’ve reached the end of deficit spending, having exported our jobs, currency, and control of our economy overseas and become a great big lazy balloon floating over the glass recycling bin at the local dump. Gasoline, food, and other essentials are in a tight 18% inflationary spiral and the public is …


Two Letters Re: The Five Minute Bank Run

Dear Mr. Rawles, Read the letter from W.D. in Texas with great interest. I have been a recent visitor to your blog and read the postings on the banking system with great interest – and shared them with immediate family. As a Florida resident, even though in the less vulnerable northeastern part of the state, it is prudent to be ready for adverse weather as the ATMs and banks could be closed in an emergency. Good luck trying to get cash at that point in time. I strongly suspect that most people nationwide have about as much cash on hand …


Letter Re: Simulation of Pandemic Influenza – Preparedness Implications

Jim, I appreciate everything that you and your readers are doing to help change the mindset of people around the world. I was reviewing the May/June issue of a health care trade magazine that contained a report on a simulation carried out in Philadelphia at the start of this year dealing with pandemic influenza. While much of the discussion was relevant only to health insurers, the scenario that served as the simulation is detailed below. Readers can draw their own conclusions of the type of things that they should prepare for. The following is exerted from: Raymond, A.G. (2008). Pandemic …


Letter Re: The Five Minute Bank Run

Dear Mr. Rawles: I wanted to tell you a personal experience I just had at the bank that scares me to death. If you think a bank can last a few days during a bank run, then you will be very surprised by my story. I wanted to withdraw $10,000 from a JP Morgan Chase Bank branch in a local Houston [, Texas] suburb. Chase is the second largest bank in the US and Houston is the fourth largest city in the US. I went in and said: “Can I please have my money?” The teller disappeared for 10 minutes …


Letter Re: Huge Price Hikes by Dow Chemical are an Ominous Inflation Indicator

Jim, In the news today, Dow Chemical is announcing a 25% price increase, following a 20% increase three weeks ago. Since they produce the feedstock chemicals for almost every industry on earth, this should be a great indicator of what’s coming. – ZBM JWR Replies: Ay carumba! Dow produces a huge variety of chemicals and compounds that go into everything from fertilizers to plastics. This is an alarming indicator of consumer price increases in the near future. When paired with fuel price jumps, this becomes downright frightening for near-future food prices at the consumer level. At this point, precious metals …


Two Letters Re: Tomorrow’s Headlines? — A Nationwide Banking Panic

Hi James, First, thanks for sharing Mike [“Mish”} Shedlock’s recent article with the SurvivalBlog.com community. Like you, I’ve grown to trust his observations and analysis and I read his work as often as I read yours – daily. I wanted to add a couple of comments, which will strengthen both Mish’s and your viewpoints concerning your observations on the potential for a nationwide banking panic. First – is that [as mentioned,] the FDIC is preparing for this crisis right now, by hiring back some retirees, with specific experience in dealing with bank failures, as they are expecting a large number …