Category: Emerging Threats

Are Your Neighbors Contrapreneurs?

The American newspapers are presently full of stories about declining suburban home values and the galloping foreclosure rates, mainly in the coastal markets. (The erstwhile “hot” real estate markets have turned bitter cold.) As more and more foreclosures get dumped onto an already over-saturated “buyers market”, there is a strong likelihood that prices will spiral downward. Anyone that bought a “spec” house is now trying to get rid of it, even if means taking a loss. The downward pressure on house prices is likely to continue for several years in the coastal areas, and in few inland markets like Phoenix …


Letter Re: Lack of Government Preparedness and Infrastructure Upkeep Necessitates G.O.O.D. Planning

Jim, Popular Mechanics magazine outlines five scary Katrina-esque scenarios in various parts of our country might face in the coming years. I find it interesting that two of the five involve California and three of the five involve large bodies of water. People in the affected areas need to seriously consider moving out or having a Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.) plan. Also, just because you don’t think you are near any bodies of water, it does not make your home immune to floods. When checking a local university’s Emergency Preparedness Plan, I found out that my neighborhood is part …


Letter Re: The Southeastern US Drought

JWR: I was talking to a friend in North Carolina this afternoon and he was telling me about the drought conditions in the Charlotte area and he relayed to me some interesting drought news. – The several acre sized lake on his property has dried up. – Duke Power has issued a statement, in the local area, to expect power disruptions in the coming months due to low water levels in the reservoirs that Duke operates that is used for hydro power, cooling towers, and such. Here is a link from the DOE about a drought’s drain on power. The …


Letter Re: The Fragility of the US Power Grid

Hi , I read the recent statements about the power grid and have to tell you the telephone network in in a similar condition. The reasons are the same as power guy’s statements. I was a tech for the phone company for 26+ years, much of it as a lineman but also in repair and splicing. Fiber optic cables are great but the electronics at each end require [grid] power to run the equipment. [Some other topics deleted, for brevity] The point is that things are a mess. You are doing a great job [with SurvivalBlog] to get people to …


Perspective on the EMP Threat: Looking Back at Starfish Prime, by David in Israel

James, Since there seems to be big interest in the nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effect, SurvivalBlog readers might want to see some footage about the Starfish Prime test, [a part of Operation Dominic, a series of tests intended to test nuclear weapons effects in space], which knocked out some power substations on Oahu, Hawaii, around 800 miles away back in 1962. Video clip 1. Video clip 2. – David in Israel


Letter Re: The Fragility of the US Power Grid

Hello: I enjoy your web site every day and am very close to the 10 Cent Challenge, I promise. I work for a medium sized electric utility in the west and I can tell you first hand how weak and ratty the executives have allowed the system to become. The name of the utility game has now become ‘defer maintenance to artificially inflate the price of your stock and pay your executives large salaries with massive stock options.’ In the old days we had over 250 guys in construction and maintenance staying on top of pole change outs, system upgrades, …


Letter Re: The Fragility of the US Power Grid

James: An article posted on 10/16 on Internet Evolution has some sobering thoughts on the state of network security of the US power grid. It is written by Ira Winkler, a former NSA analyst and current security expert. His prognosis: “the power grid remains incredibly vulnerable.” Keep up the good work, – MP JWR Replies: In my writings, I often refer to the national power grids (there are actually three, eastern and western, and Texas) as the lynchpins of our modern societal infrastructure. Any interruption for more than a few weeks could precipitate a societal collapse. There is just so …


Homeschooling During the Crunch, by Nathaniel

Let’s say that you and your family having been taking the advice provided here by Mr. Rawles and are squared away for the Crunch—you’ve got your bullets, beans, and band-aids, all piled high in a structurally reinforced home out in the middle of nowhere. You’ve got just about every survivalist book ever printed, plus the tools and skills you’ll need to provide for yourself and your family. You also, of course, have the basic life skills that you’ll need to simply stay alive—things like shooting, tracking, cooking, and first aid. Have you thought, however, about the education of your children? …


Letter Re: A Political Solution to America’s Pending Economic Catastrophe

Mr. Rawles: I recently read your novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”. I actually had to read it twice. (The first time for enjoyment, and the second time to take down notes.) With all of the recent news about the collapse of the credit market, monetizing of the National Debt and out of control Federal spending (which all sound frighteningly close to the first chapter of “Patriots”), I can only wonder how much longer America can hang in there before we suffer a total economic collapse. I can only see one possible hope: a return to a fiscally-sound constitutional government.And …



Letter Re: BBC/Discovery Channel Documentary on Asian Avian Flu

Hi Jim, Last night I watched a superb two hour documentary on one of the science [cable television] channels about the coming avian flu pandemic. It was a co-production of the Discovery Channel and the BBC, so I’m sure everyone with cable television will have a chance to see it. The documentary weaved between the predictions and projections of top epidemiologists, and a fictionalized account of the breakout in Cambodia, and its spread worldwide. The 1918 Spanish Flue pandemic was also used as a major point of comparison. All of the experts on the show said it is not a …


U.S. Foreclosure Numbers are Up–Some Retreat Property Possibilities?

There has been a lot of news in recent weeks about real estate foreclosures in the US. Foreclosure.com (one of SurvivalBlog’s Affiliate advertisers) just published the following US residential real estate foreclosure statistics: National Highlights: * Foreclosure activity increased 36 percent from July * Foreclosure activity increased 115 percent from August 2006 * REO (“Real Estate Owned”)s increased 59% month over month, the biggest increase of any of the three foreclosure categories (Default, Auction, REO) State and Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Highlights: * Nevada, California and Florida posted the top three state foreclosure rates * The states with the most …


Hedge Funds–A Disaster Story that Could Unfold in Quarterly Episodes

One of the consequences of the collapse of the credit bubble and the subprime lending fiasco in particular is with hedge funds. There is a substantial risk of uncontrollable instability in hedge funds that could potentially be disastrous for investors. This instability will likely be seen in waves of bad news that will come roughly once a quarter. First, let me provide a bit of background: 1.) Most hedge funds have rules that allow only quarterly redemptions (“cashing out”) by by their investors. (A few hedge funds even have only one annual redemption “window.”) Typically, the redemption requests must be …


Letter Re: A Security Contractor’s Convoy Experience in Iraq

Dear Jim, A friend of mine who is a contractor sent this. It’s been posted elsewhere. Foul language warning. – Michael Z. Williamson Info from Iraq From Someone Who is Doing the “Run and Gun“ Yesterday a friend of mine who runs a small security company here in Iraq emailed me. He is standing up a protection detail and wanted my opinion on tactics and equipment running the roads of Iraq; Tactics, SOPs, hard car or soft? I have been giving it some thought and here is where I am at. I am willing to speculate I’m as well traveled …


Letter Re: Estimate on the Likelihood of an Economic Depression or Full-Scale Collapse?

Jim, What a lot of folks don’t think about is that during the last depression, almost 80% of the population was still connected to a family farm. They also knew how to can meats and vegetables and had all of the equipment to do so. It was a way of life for them. Today less than 1% is connected to a family/small farm. That is daunting. Even if some of the population knows how to can and has a small garden, How many of them have 500-600 jars, lids and rings? Got lots of Salt, a working smokehouse that doesn’t …