Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Cheryl, our Economic Editor, sent us these: Congress Restarts Troubled Bailout Talks — Stocks Mostly Decline As Investors Remain Tense Over Bailout — WaMu Becomes Biggest Bank To Fail In US History — Wachovia In Huge Mortgage Mess — UK Banks May Get $180bn From US Bailout — Wachovia Shares Begin Dive After WaMu Death — JPMorgan Buys WaMu For A Mere $1.9 Billion (“To put the size of WaMu in context, its assets are equal to about two-thirds of the combined book value assets of all 747 failed thrifts that were sold off by the Resolution Trust Corp. – …

Several readers sent us this article, suggesting a correlation with my recent Pre-Crash Checklist: China banks told to halt lending to US banks    o o o Cheryl found this for us: Shipping Container Homes    o o o Rod McG. sent us this: In Israel, Kibbutz Life Makes a Surprising Comeback    o o o Dan and Becky flagged this: confirmation that the growth of the Mother of All Bailouts is not slowing: House clears $25 billion for car makers    o o o Some news and commentary gleanings from our Economic Editor: WaMu’s Hopes For Capital Drying Up …

Norman in England suggested a piece of commentary about the Mother of All Bailouts: The Rescue of the Wealthy    o o o Brad E. and Kevin A. both forwarded some bad news from Forbes, that confirms what the Peak Oil crowd has been telling us: Here comes $500 oil. The law of supply and demand is inescapable. I do, however, have my doubts about the supply side of the equation. (See, for example, the arguments presented by the Abiotic Oil proponents.)    o o o More Odds ‘n Sods gathered by Cheryl N., our Economic Editor: Dow Down 373 …

Eric sent a link to a London Telegraph article: Financial crisis: Default by the US government is no longer unthinkable.   o o o Wayne S. suggested this article: Great Myths of the Great Depression. Wayne’s comment: “I found it to be a great educational primer on the Great Depression. It is interesting to draw parallels with today’s tumultuous times and MOAB with the government policies of the 1929-to-1941 Depression years.”    o o o Eric also found this important tidbit in The Des Moines Register: Brasher: Corn, soybean supply on brink of shortages. Stock up!    o o o Laura …

Nanny State Britannia run amok: YouTube bans knife and gun videos in England. I suppose that this ban will also include instructional and safety videos, but worry not: They tell us that it is all for the public good! (Tut, tut! We mustn’t “glamorise!”) OBTW, I think that using a third party web browsing portal such as Anonymizer will probably remove any do-gooder impediments. (And, BTW, it is wise for everyone to use  Anonymizer, just on general principle, to prevent leaving an audit trail of your web browsing. Think OPSEC!)    o o o From Cheryl, our Economic Editor: Bush, Congress …

From the folks over at The Oil Drum: How Much Will Gustav and Ike Affect Gas Supplies? An Update    o o o More on the MOAB, from The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Bailout Plan Calms Markets, But Struggle Looms Over Details    o o o Another slug of cheer from SurvivalBlog’s Economic Editor: Stocks Soar As Investors Look To Gov’t Rescue Plan — Current List of Failed Banks (another bank failure was announced on Friday) — Wall Street Dumps Mortgage Corruption on Taxpayers — New Wall Street Crisis Will Create a New Financial World Order — Forecast: US Dollar …

Our Economic Editor sent us another huge batch of news and commentary–plenty for you to digest over the weekend: But I’ll focus on perhaps the most important article, that confirms my prediction of a gargantuan Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB): Paulson plan could cost $1 trillion. And now for the rest: Treasury pulls out stops to support money markets — Fed, Central Banks Move to Boost Global Confidence (“Wall Street’s biggest crisis since the Great Depression forced the Federal Reserve and central banks in other countries to pump billions of dollars into the world’s banking system in an urgent bid …

I hope that readers took my advice and bought precious metals during the recent dip. The bank credit crisis seems to have woken the gold bull from his short nap. (Gold had one of its best one day gains ever, on Wednesday.) I believe that the bull’s charge will resume, shortly. Because the consumer economy now looks weak, I predict that gold will probably outperform silver in the next run-up. (Since silver is more of an industrial metal, whereas gold as seen as a safe haven when currencies are in turmoil.)    o o o Tim T. mentioned that any …

Krys in Idaho flagged this one: Ike Holdouts To Be Forced From Home. Some comments from Krys: “This story shows the importance of two things: 1) Proper retreat location and2) Having multiple plans in place for multiple scenarios WTSHTF. Just because you plan to stay in place, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to.How many of these folks were perfectly able to weather the storm in place, but are being forced to move anyway, possibly at gun point? Food for thought.”    o o o Reader “M” sent us this: Money Market Fund Says Customers Could Lose Money. Money market accounts …

If you feel like you’ve waited too long to Get Out of Dodge, and you need to buy a complete, turn-key retreat, then listen to this: I’ve personally visited a northern Idaho retreat that just went on the market, through our spin-off site: SurvivalRealty.com. This retreat has some very special features (most of which I’ve seen) that will be revealed only to qualified buyers.   o o o Eric sent us this: Japan Stocks Dive to 3-Year Low on Lehman, AIG Capital Concern. “[The] Nikkei closed early as the volume was approaching their load limits…”    o o o A …

From Naish Piazza’s blog: I Love This Little Girl… and So Will You. OBTW, speaking of Front Sight, don’t miss out on their “Get a Gun” training and gear package offer. This offer will probably end soon, so don’t hesitate any longer!    o o o Our hard working Economic Editor Cheryl N. sent us an enormous batch of news and commentary. Note, BTW, how many of these highlight the derivatives market: Meltdown Shakes Up Wall Street Workers—Wall Street Crisis Could Put Fed Rate Cut Into Play—Stocks Tumble Amid New Wall Street Landscape—Obama, McCain Blame Economic Woes on Greed, Policy—Greenspan: …

Craig R. Smith of Swiss America asks: Will government bailouts spell end of dollar? (A hat tip to Jack in Texas for the link)    o o o TheOtherRyan over at TSLRF (one of the eight-or-so blogs that I read frequently) posted a succinct and commonsense list: 10 commandments for buying gold and silver    o o o One of my “Secret Squirrel” contributors mentioned that because the price of 128 MB and 256 MB USB memory sticks (aka “jump drives” or “USB thumb drives”) has dropped to less than $2 each, readers that want to contribute any articles or …

SurvivalBlog reader “Cyberiot” mentioned that readers with concerns about pandemic flu may be interested in a new and growing online storybook sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Pandemic Influenza Storybook: Personal Recollections from Survivors, Families, and Friends” includes first-person accounts of the 1918 and 1957 flu pandemics. Readers are encouraged to contribute their own recollections. Speaking of flu pandemics, earlier this year, New Scientist magazine published a detailed analysis of how a 1918-scale influenza pandemic would affect the US economy.    o o o I’ve heard from a reader that he plans to attend the ASPO …

U.K. state memo warns of “anarchy” in the city streets. (Thanks to Florida Guy for the link.)    o o o Yishai flagged this for us, from The Morning Brief: “This could be the mother of year-ends,” Brian Sack, of Macroeconomic Advisers and a former Federal Reserve chief market analyst, tells Bloomberg, which says the Fed may have to increase the cash it provides to banks and brokers beyond already-record levels to help them balance their books at the end of the year in the wake of six bank failures in the past two months and rising concern about Lehman’s …

With a web search, I came across a couple of Tsunami e-mail alert pages. One for coastal Alaska, coastal Canada, and coastal United States, and one for the entire Pacific Ocean. Speaking of alert e-mails, Weather.com provides free regional e-mail/cell phone severe weather alerts. And, as I’ve mentioned in SurvivalBlog before, anyone interested in radio propagation can get free solar flare alerts. (The latter is also useful for those of use that enjoy watching auroral displays.) But presently, of course, we are at a sunspot minimum.    o o o David F.sent us a link to an article that confirms …