Notes from JWR:

I just got word that the US House of Representatives voted down the $700 billion USD Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Bill. I’m glad to see that it was defeated. There is simply no proper substitute for allowing the credit market to correct itself, by working the bad debt out of the system. Propping up the system would have made the eventual reckoning day even worse. There will probably be some substitute or “bipartisan compromise” legislation offered, but don’t fall for it. If it extracts money from your wallet to bail out the banks from Credit Default Swap derivatives and other toxic debt, then it is bad legislation. Please contact your congresscritters to let them know your position on the legislation.

On news of the defeat of the TARP bill, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost 555 points (more than 5% of its value) in just one day on Monday. I expect further declines in the DJIA this week, perhaps dropping below the psychological 10,000 threshold, regardless of the political posturing and promises on Capitol Hill. I hope that SurvivalBlog readers took my advice and long ago got out of stocks and other US Dollar-denominated investments. Buy productive farm land (that can double as a retreat), guns, tools, and other tangibles.

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