Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Michael W. noticed some great advice on assembling “Grab-‘n -Go” kits, by Kim du Toit. o o o Seven readers sent us this: Fed Defies Transparency Aim in Refusal to Identify Bank Loans. ($2 Trillion dollars in taxpayer funds, and no need to reveal the recipients?) Reader Dave S. made this comment: “I’m a little steamed. These guys are sinking the country and hiding it from the owners of this great land. They should be tarred & feathered.” o o o The latest economic news and commentary from Cheryl: Circuit City Files For Bankruptcy Protection — GM Shares Plunge After …

Abraham”s new blog on suburban survival looks like it is off to a great start. His most recent post selecting “Get Home Bag” contents was excellent. (A hat tip to the gents over at Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest (TSLRF), for the link to Abraham’s blog)    o o o Our friend Commander Zero up in Montana recently had a very well-reasoned post on handgun proficiency that quotes my mentor, Mel Tappan: Standard Controllability Test    o o o Bob at Ready Made Resources mentioned that after some record sales, they are now down to just 30 of the used water-tight …

A correction to yesterday’s post: There were actually two bank failures announced by the FDIC on Friday. Here a link to the announcement of the second one.    o o o Lead bullets under fire    o o o Lee C. sent this: On Concerns Over Gun Control, Gun Sales Are Up    o o o The latest reading selections from Cheryl, our Economista: Automakers Struggle to Survive Past Mistakes — GM Could Be Bankrupt in a Matter of Months — China May See Severe Economic Slowdown — Latvia takes over 2nd largest bank as crisis hits — US Jobs …

“Nines” sent us this: Another Friday, Another Bank Collapse.    o o o You probably saw this announcement last month: Bush Calls Economic Summit for November 15. This could portend a new financial order announcement by the G20, either at this meeting or at their next one, early in 2009. I suspect that the US Dollar will lose its primacy as a reserve currency. As the Chartist Gnome told me “this will likely go far beyond ‘a new Bretton Woods.’” A country with these numbers, and these numbers, and these numbers, and these numbers cannot negotiate from a position of …

Three readers sent me this noteworthy blog piece: Over 1 Trillion Dollars Worth of Credit Default Swaps Against Governments. The article mentions that there are still $33-to-$47 Trillion (notional) in CDS derivatives still outstanding. This skunk won’t be washed clean until the real estate market bottoms, and all the “Marked to Mystery” paper gets marked to the real market. And, BTW, that bottom may not be for another five years. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The fallout from the nascent derivatives collapse may topple some national governments.    o o o The latest huge download from …

Several readers have e-mailed to ask me for investing recommendations, following the election of Barack H. Obama (BHO) to the American presidency. My basic recommendations are unchanged. The dollar is still doomed as a currency unit. If anything, the Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB), will grow even larger in the BHO era. Mass inflation (following some distinct deflation) is even more likely. So your need to get out of dollar-denominated investments and into tangibles is now more urgent. Specific advice: I now put a stronger emphasis on purchasing any semi-auto firearms or full capacity magazines that are imported. I suspect …

The latest news and commentary gleanings from our economic editor: Despite $143 Billion Bailout, AIG May Be Tottering Towards Collapse — Global Financial Crisis Drives EU Toward Recession — Auto Sales Worst Since 1992 — US Manufacturing Shrinks to 26-year Low — Battered Global Markets End October With Worst Losses Ever — Global Financial Matrix Disintegrates — HBOS, RSS to Reveal Massive Asset Losses — Brits Hoarding Cash? — International Trade Slowed ‘Savagely” By Credit Crisis — The Financial Next Shoe To Drop — Blue Mountain Capital Freezes Withdrawals From Its $3.1 Billion Hedge Fund — Bernanke Push For Lower …

Robert C. alerted us to “a real life synopsis of what happened post-Hurricane Katrina from folks who witnessed it.”    o o o Where will the Dow bottom? This was recently posted at The Trader Blog: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly – Three Scenarios For The Stock Market    o o o We warned you about the precipitous drop in overseas shipping long before the mainstream media picked up on it: Investors shun Greek debt as shipping crisis deepens. The article begins: “Freight rates for shipping are crashing at the fastest pace ever recorded as banks shut off …

More gloomage from Cheryl, our Economic Editor: Germans Freeze £21 Billion in Property Fund (“Nearly €30bn of German property funds were frozen between Tuesday and Friday last week in what industry experts fear could foreshadow a UK commercial real estate collapse.”) — The Federal Reserve is Inflating at 341% Per Annum — Cash Was King, Now Gold Is God — Fed Interest Rate Cut May End Up Making Matters Worse (“The Federal Open Market Committee’s half-point cut in its Federal Funds target does not address the leverage and credit issues in the banking system.”) — Gold, Faith And Credit (The …

Congolese behind rebel lines try to return home. Once again, we see that the last thing you want to be is a refugee–or an “Internally Displaced Person” (IDP) in the modern parlance.    o o o Ted suggested this article over at Gold-Eagle, by Scott Wright: Commodities Bull Market?    o o o Reader Marsha U. asked about a good place to find full capacity magazines for her FN PS90 and HK93. (She notes: “I feel the need to stock up well before Bush leaves office.” ) For commercial vendors, I recommend CDNN Sports. For finding private sellers, I recommend …

Ready Made Resources (one of our original advertisers) just launched an unusual 25% off sale on Mountain House and AlpenAire freeze-dried foods. Unlike many storage food dealers, they actually keep considerable stock in-hand. This is a limited-time offer, so don’t delay in placing your orders!    o o o They say a picture is with a thousand words. Well, these photos are worth 100 Billion: Chuck mailed us a link to a series of amazing photos from Zimbabwe, posted at blogoncherry. Make sure that you scroll all the way down to see the Z$100 Billion note. I suppose that next …

Reader Mark A. wrote us to mention that he had found this web site that houses “more information then in one spot then I have seen anywhere else. The site is maintained to provide Third World countries information on farming and sustainability. All their information is free to download. Note, however that their ZIP files are very, very large. There are 4,000 titles, totaling 13 gigabytes.”    o o o In a recent e-mail, The Chartist Gnome mentioned two things about the precious metals market that confirm my observations: 1.) The COMEX spot prices now have no correlation with “real …

Larry in Cincinnati spotted a link over at the excellent Urban Survival blog to a classic book in the public domain: Handy Farm Devices & How To Make Them. (BTW, there are lots of other free references available at the Journey to Forever site.)    o o o Adrian mentioned an article over at The Trader Blog with some observation on Iceland’s economic turmoil and potential for hyperinflation: What Happens After A Country Implodes? Also, don’t miss this very recent piece by the same blog author: “We are approaching the apogee of the Treasury bubble”    o o o Ready …

KAF bookmarked this one for us: FuturePundit: Face Masks And Hand Sanitizers Slash Flu Risks    o o o From our Economic Editor comes another big batch of news and commentary: Gun Sales Thriving In Uncertain Times — Europe On Brink Of Currency Meltdown — Iceland: IMF Cash Not Enough — Current Volatility Hints At Next Crash — Financial Crisis: Latin America Hit Hard — Customer Panic And Bank Run In Kuwait — Dow Up Almost 900 Points, But No Sighs Of Relief — Iceland Raises Interest Rates To 18% — White House To Banks: Start Lending Now, Stop Hoarding …

Reader Willa. J. e-mailed me to ask if we have “…now seen the bottom of the stock market?” She went on to ask if it was safe to starting “buying back into the market” as some of the cheering section “analysts” on MSNBC have suggested. Don’t get suckered in! As I mentioned a while back, price to earnings ratios have a lot farther to fall, to match typical recession lows. And since the current slump in not just a typical market cycle manifestation–rather, it was triggered by the worst credit collapse in history–the markets could get hit even worse than …