Pat’s Product Review: Springfield Armory “Loaded” 1911

It is no secret in my family that my all-time favorite handgun is the good ol’ 1911 – in some shape or form. A 1911 was one of the first (not the first) handguns I ever owned, and my love affair only grew over the years. I have lost count of the number of 1911s I’ve owned in my lifetime, but I’m sure its a safe bet, that I’ve probably owned a couple hundred 1911s. I’ve had everything from plain old Mil-Spec 1911s, to custom made guns from big-name makers, and well as building a good number of custom 1911s for my own use over the years.
 
John Moses Browning, the designer of the 1911, was truly a gifted man, when it came to firearms. However, I believe, his crowning accomplishment was (is) the 1911 – no other handgun is as famous, or as copied, or customized as the 1911 is. The 1911 was one of the longest-serving firearms in US military history, and it was the longest-serving handgun, until it was replaced in the mid 1980s. And, to this day, I believe it was a mistake to replace the 1911 with a double-stack, 9mm handgun – when it comes to using Full Metal Jacket ammo – that the military is restricted to using – the .45ACP round is far superior to the 9mm when it comes to stopping power. I don’t care to get into a debate over which handgun round is a better stopper. It all comes down to shot placement, no matter what caliber you use. However, handgun rounds have benefited greatly over the years, when good Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP) rounds were introduced. The early JHP rounds didn’t always expand, however, today’s JHP rounds do the job, no doubt about it. But the military is restricted to FMJ ammo, and that is a shame if you ask me. We always play by the rules, and the bad guys don’t.
 
For several months, I’ve been testing and evaluating the Springfield Armory “Loaded” 1911 .45ACP in stainless steel. I’ve owned several “Loaded” Springfield Armory 1911s over the years, but this is the first stainless steel model with fixed sights. Let’s take a look at the “Loaded” model, it includes all the modern-day improvements that used to be performed by custom gunsmiths – and it could easily cost you $500 to $1,000 to have all these improvements done – depending on which gunsmith you selected to work on your box-stock, Mil-Spec 1911. And, there was no guarantee that your gun would be returned any better than it was before you sent it off, depending on the gunsmith you sent it to. And, you could easily have been without your 1911 for six months to a year – I kid you not ’cause some of the better-known gunsmiths were (and are) backed-up that long.
 
Some of the features on the “Loaded” model include; a precision fit forged frame, slide and barrel, lowered and flared ejection port, delta light-weight hammer, loaded chamber indicator, titanium firing pin for faster lock-time, carry bevel package, dovetail front sight and premium fixed rear sight with white dots in the front and rear sights, Torx head grip screws and light-weight, adjustable speed trigger. The trigger is set at the factory 5-to-6 pounds – my sample was dead-on at 5 pounds and very crisp, with no slop.
 
Did you pay attention when I said this gun comes with a forged slide, frame and barrel? Yes, a lot of 1911s are cast – and in my very humble opinion, some of these cast 1911s don’t hold up very well. And, the reason is, some aren’t cast properly or heat-treated, though when done properly, cast frames and slides are very acceptable. Also, no matter how great the materials are, that any firearm is made out of, if they aren’t properly fit, they won’t be reliable or as accurate as they should be. My Springfield Armory “Loaded” sample is, without a doubt, the tightest fitted 1911 to pass through my hands – and I’ve owned a couple custom 1911s from big-name custom shops, that weren’t this tightly fit. And, the barrel-to-slide-to-frame were expertly fit, to be sure. Springfield Armory has been doing 1911s for a lot of years, and they do ’em up “right” if you ask me.
 
One thing I can take or leave, is the  two-piece full length guide rod on a 1911. There was a time, when I thought they improved accuracy and function, and I no longer believe that to be a true statement. So, if you’re like me, and don’t care for a full-length guide rod, you can easily replace it with a Mil-Spec guide rod. I left the full-length guide rod in place. I made two changes in my sample, and I didn’t “need” to make the changes. First I applied some skate board tape to the front strap on the frame for a secure grip on the gun under any weather conditions. Secondly, I took off the beautiful Cocobolo hardwood grips, and replaced them with a pair of “Code Zero” 1911 grips, from Mil-Tac Knives and Tools. I designed these grips myself, and I prefer them to any other design. My good friend, Craig Sword, who owns and operates Mil-Tac, worked with me for a year, to perfect this design, and get it absolutely perfect. Be sure to check ’em out on their web site, they really are great feeling 1911 grips – and no I don’t make any money off of sales to the public – but Craig keeps me supplied with “Code Zero” 1911 grips whenever I need them. So, don’t think I’m hawking my own design to make money – I’m not!
 
The “Loaded” model also comes with an ambidextrous safety – these were all the rage at one time – and I confess I put them on more than a few of my own 1911s. Today, I can take ’em or leave – and many people still want ambi-safeties on their 1911s, so Springfield Armory fits them to the “Loaded” model – and the safety snicks on and off with authority. I couldn’t tell you how many factory, out-of-the-box 1911s I’ve owned that had mushy safeties – they just weren’t fitted – they were “installed” and there’s no reason for that. Springfield Armory gunsmiths know how to properly fit a safety, no doubt about it. We also have a beavertail grip safety, with a speed bump on the bottom edge – this ensures that the grip safety is properly depressed, and it helps spread out recoil, too. Again, this part was expertly fit – no slop, and it released about one-third of the way in when depressed – outstanding! The Delta speed hammer (skeletonized for fast lock-time), make the gun more accurate. Another nice touch.
 
The barrel on my “Loaded” sample was perfectly fitted, which contributed to the outstanding accuracy I obtained from this sample. We also have a throated and polished chamber on the barrel, as well as a polished feed ramp on the frame – there were no feeding problems at all – no matter what type or brand of ammo I put though this pistol. The slide has grasping grooves fore and aft – another nice touch. The low-profile combat sights are some of the best in the business – designed by custom gunsmith Wayne Novak – one of the top 1911 builders in the world! The sights are fast and easy to pick-up, too – made for a great sight picture. The sides of the frame and slide were highly polished, and the remainder of the gun was subdued – very kool looking.
 
The “Loaded” 1911 comes in a great carry case, that includes two 7 round magazines, as well as a holster and a magazine pouch. The gun is ready for carry, as it comes out of the box – just clean-off the packing oils, properly lube the gun and take it out to the range for a test-drive. The 5″ stainless steel barrel gave me the best accuracy I’ve ever had, out of ANY 1911 that I’ve owned – bar none, period, end of story!
 
I had a good assortment of .45 ACP ammo to test in this gun, from Black Hills Ammunition I had their 185 grain TAC-XP Barnes all-copper hollow point +P load, and their 185 grain JHP steel-cased ammo – which is fast becoming a favorite with many shooters on a budget. From Winchester, I had their 230 grain FMJ USA-brand load – always a good load for target shooting and function testing. From Buffalo Bore I had their 185 grain Barnes all-copper TAC-XP +P load, their 185 grain JHP +P load, and their 255 grain Hard Cast +P load. I’ve had great success with the 185 grain TAC-XP +P loads from Black Hills and Buffalo Bore – the Buffalo Bore load is a bit hotter than the Black Hills load, however, the Springfield Armory “Loaded” 1911 handled ’em both with ease – either one would be a great carry load on the street for self-defense. I was getting 1.75″ groups, at 25-yards with either one of these loads, if I did my part – using a rest, over the hood of my SUV. The Winchester 230 grain FMJ load was giving me 2 1/2″ groups – always a good load. The steel-cased JHP load from Black Hills was giving me 2″ groups – and the recoil was very easy on the gun and myself – I like the savings using this ammo over brass-cased ammo – and this is newly-manufactured ammo – not reloads. Black Hills was having a difficult time getting high-quality once-fired .45ACP brass for making their reloads, so they started using steel-cased ammo – and this is brand-new ammo! It’s a bargain. The Buffalo Bore 185 grain JHP +P load – it was also in the 2 to 2 1/2″ range and would be an excellent self-defense load.
 
The winner in the accuracy department was the Buffalo Bore 255 grain Hard Cast +P load – if I hunkered down, I could get 1″ groups – and that is outstanding accuracy from a custom 1911 – but this “Loaded” 1911 is a factory gun. While not my first choice for a self-defense round against two-legged critters, this is my load of choice, for stoking in my 1911s, if I’m out in the mountains, where I might run into 4-legged critters like black bear! Now, with that said, this would be a good load to carry as your back-up load – if you engaged in a gunfight, and the bad guy took cover – behind something “heavy” – you want some serious penetration – and this 255 grain Hard Cast +P load will do it for you. Still, for street work, I’d opt for either the Black Hills 185 grain Barnes all-copper TAC-XP +P or the Buffalo Bore 185 grain Barnes all-copper TAC-XP +P load – same bullet from Barnes that Black Hills and Buffalo Bore are using, except Buffalo Bore is sending their load down-range with more velocity. But nothing is free in this world, and the Buffalo Bore load recoils more than the Black Hills load does. To be honest, the Black Hills load recoiled less than the Winchester 230 grain FMJ load did – and I’ve found this to be true in all the .45ACP handguns I’ve tried this load in – I like it!
 
I’d have no problem carrying the Black Hills 185 grain JHP steel-cased ammo in any of my 1911s for self-defense – even those that recommend that you don’t shoot steel-cased ammo through their guns – it’s an excellent load and penetrates and expands nicely – plus you’re saving money. The Buffalo Bore 185 grain JHP +P load – again, no problem carrying that one for self-defense. What it comes down to, with any caliber or loading is, you have to pick the caliber and load for the job. There isn’t a one load do-all round – at least not yet. If you’re looking at facing down two-legged critters, the Barnes load from either maker will get the job done. If you’re looking at being out in the boonies, and you might face four-legged critters, the Buffalo Bore 255 grain Hard Cast load would take care of things. Everything is a compromise, to some extent, so pick your loading according to you needs. For plain ol’ target practice and “killing” rocks and tin cans – the Winchester 230 grain FMJ load is economical and always a great shooting round.
 
In all, I fired more than 1,000 rounds through my “Loaded” sample, without a hint of a bobble or malfunction. Most of the ammo run through this gun was the Black Hills 185 grain JHP load – Jeff Hoffman made sure I had a good supply of this great shooting ammo on-hand for testing in several .45ACP handguns I’ve been testing for SurvivalBlog. In 20 years of writing about guns, I’ve probably fired well over 100,000 rounds of various Black Hills ammo through my guns – and I’ve never once had a problem with any rounds – not once!  I’ve been shooting Buffalo Bore ammo for about a year and a half, and they are producing some premium ammo – it’s not for plinking – this ammo is for serious self-defense and hunting purposes – they are an up and coming company, and I’m seeing signs of growth there. Winchester? What’s not to say about them? Great ammo – always has been. And, the USA-branded stuff is economical and good shooting. I like running this stuff through new guns to help get them broken-in.
 
I don’t believe my Springfield Armory Loaded Stainless Steel sample is a fluke – Springfield Armory is producing some outstanding 1911s – and they know how to build them right. I don’t ever recall having a 1911 from Springfield Armory that wasn’t a really great shooter – this one was better, and I think Springfield Armory is just doing an even better job than ever fitting their 1911s. If you want a full-loaded 1911, with all the stuff you’d pay a custom gunsmith to add, at a great expense over this “Loaded” sample, then check one out at your local gun shop. Why purchase a Mil-Spec, bare bones 1911, then spend a small fortune having it customized like the Springfield Armory “Loaded” model? I’m sure you won’t have anything better than this “Loaded” model, and you will probably spend a lot more money, too.
 
The retail price on thee Springfield Armory Loaded sample is $1,039 but you can oftentimes find these same guns for $100 to $200 less, if you shop around. You could spend a lot more, and get a similar 1911 from some of the well-known custom 1911 makers – you could spend twice this amount, or three times this amount, but I don’t know if you’d be getting two or three times better 1911. Check out a Springfield Armory “Loaded” 1911, and I think you’ll be impressed – they are not only a great handgun for self-defense on the street, but also an outstanding survival weapon – they rarely break, and when they do, they are easy to repair.

Harry’s Book Review: Castigo Cay

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Castigo Cay, by Matt Bracken
Copyright Date: 2011
Publisher: Steelcutter Publishing
ISBN: 0-9728310-4-5
Kindle edition available.
Suitable for children? No. Probably not for most of the ladies either.

Castigo Cay is an intense novel, as evidenced by the fact that I managed to find the time to devour all 537 pages in only 36 hours, while also living the rest of my life. Once you get into this one there is no good time to put it down.

At its core it is reminiscent of Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game and not just in the plot twist, but also the aristocrat, the tough brute and the small remote Caribbean island, but it is much more developed, and much more sinister than Connell’s short story.

Spoilers Ahead!

The protagonist is Dan Kilmer, a relatively young man who served a stint in the sandbox as a USMC sniper, came home to go to college but had to drop out quickly when he snubbed the advances of a gay professor. From there he went to help an uncle rebuild an old steel schooner, and Dan inherited the schooner when his uncle died in an accident in the rebuilding process. Dan names the boat “Rebel Yell” and finds himself enjoying a life of freedom on the water. His only problem is that he can’t come back to America because he hasn’t been paying his health care tax and thus his boat would be subject to confiscation by the IRS if he were to bring it into American waters. Yes, this novel is set in the future, but it’s just a short jaunt forward. No fancy, new science fiction technologies, just the logical progression of current policy.

Dan’s life is fine until Cori Vargas gets impatient with him over her desire to get to Miami. Dan had picked her up in Venezuela. Her dream was to bring her “newly impoverished family” to America, and she was willing to be Dan’s girlfriend in order to achieve that. Dan got her to the Bahamas, but she wasn’t willing to wait for Dan to figure out how to get the rest of the way to Miami. She jumped ship and found herself in with the wrong crowd.

This particular “wrong crowd” is probably worse than anything anyone’s mother ever warned them about. There is a lot of power and influence in play, and some seriously sick minds. Matt Bracken is judiciously sparing of details, but it is clear that the young women who fall into the hands of these guys would be much better off dead. Not that these girls won’t end up there, but what happens to them on the route they take is the product of pure evil.

Dan finds himself trying to rescue the girl who snubbed him, spending his life’s savings and risking his life in the process. He is helped by Nick Galloway, a one-time Army Ranger, also in his early thirties, a fellow ex-pat, and by Kelly Urbanzik, a college co-ed who is a friend and neighbor of Mike and Sharon Delaney who Dan met when he rescued Mike from some local thugs when the Delaneys were vacationing in Cozumel, Mexico.

On account of the fact that Nick also recently served in the Sandbox, even though he and Dan were in different branches of the military, the two of them are able to work together effectively and efficiently. Their training and discipline is similar. A chain of command is immediately established with Dan as “Chu-tau” (Vietnamese for Captain).

Kelly is a hip college student who still lives in America and is able to help Dan and Nick navigate the new landscape which is Matt Bracken’s take on where America is headed. Kelly knows how to create fake IDs, how to acquire gasoline on the black market and how to sweet talk the police-gone-militia who now control a deeply depressed America.

Once the story gets moving (about sixty pages) the action and suspense are non-stop. There is risk in every move. Nowhere is there safety, nor is there any way to call for justice from any authority. Dan goes from Captain of Rebel Yell to Captain of his impromptu team and has to work through everyone’s personality challenges on the fly. Resources are scarce and there are few people who can be trusted, even when you are paying them. It makes for a very exciting read.

As survival literature this book has plenty of merit. I have seen several articles in which SurvivalBlog readers have suggested the water as a means of escaping the collapse. This novel addresses that strategy head-on, showing what it would look like and where some of the challenges lay. Boats are high maintenance items, and even with sail power available they have their limitations. Castigo Cay shows how to cope with some of those challenges and the lengths to which one must be able and willing to go.

There are some excellent parts dealing with camouflage, particularly of the types needed in the concrete jungle of society. A great deal of effort is put into what it takes to blend in and not show up as a target to either law enforcement or the criminal element, and how to change one’s identity in a matter of moments.
Going from the concrete jungle to the natural world there is a matter of finding and creating weapons, the value of that para-cord bracelet, plus what it takes to deal with a serious psychopath, who, by the way, is also prepping for the collapse of society and has plans to thrive when it happens.

Just for good measure, there is a bit of intrigue regarding politics, blackmail and just where all that money poured into environmentalism actually goes.

Provisos: Be advised that this is a book for a mature audience. While Matt Bracken will leave a sentence unfinished in order to avoid stating the graphic horror, it is still quite clear just how low and depraved some men can get in the abuse and torture of women. There is material in this book which can leave you awake at night.
Profanity is present, but it is used sparingly and for dramatic realism.
There are no sex scenes, but there are times of reminiscing for when there had been.
There are several fairly graphic deaths.

Again, this is a book for the mature, and at that, I would not hand it to my wife to read, but it is well written and offers some very practical considerations for the prepper. It is absolutely a page turner.

JWR Adds: SurvivalBlog readers will of course recognize Matt Bracken as the former U.S. Navy SEAL who authored the well-known novels: Enemies Foreign and Domestic, Domestic Enemies, Foreign Enemies and Traitors.

A B2Ops Book Review: Rohan Nation

Rohan Nation: Reinventing America after the 2020 Collapse. A Novel by Drew Miller; 583 pages. I read the book’s introduction and was immediately drawn to this story not unlike how Katniss drew me to The Hunger Games.

“ACE continued her slow, careful sweep of the valley with the night vision scope of her rifle. The first rays were oozing over Cuchara Pass, starting to reach the western, upper mountains of Forbes Park. Dark or light, anyone foolish enough to walk out in the open meadow valley would be easily spotted…………..She lifted the assault rifle up to her left ear and gazed through the scope at the dull green images. The low light scope was on maximum magnification. A soda straw view, but since ACE knew exactly where the threats would be, a narrow field of vision worked….”

The story opens with Ace, the seventeen-year old heroine  is standing sentry duty next to her horse, Prismatic. And it is their story, woven through the disaster of a post-apocalyptic world in which the horse is fundamental to the survival of the community. Your heart cannot help but be affected; this story of a community determined to survive will endear those wonderful creatures to you even more.. If I found any drawbacks, it was too much of the author’s input couched as “lessons” over meals and campfires about political / historical and governmental useless and tedious policies and regulations. Happily, much like some of the overly long monologues in Atlas Shrugged, these “lessons” can be skimmed at the reader’s discretion in order to get back to the story line, a story strong enough for me to overlook much of this.

The story’s battle to remain and stay free reinforces our instinctive knowledge that freedom will never, ever be free and that the price is substantial. All members of Rohan Nation’s community have a reborn daily purpose to produce, protect and live active lives. If marauders, murderers and thieves were not enough to constantly worry about, a tyrannical, post-apocalyptic government rears its ugly head and eventually, Rohan Nation must confront it. As the story draws down, life goes on, living in a new rebuilding world. Hero’s continue to teach for survival, a life worth living and planning against continued distant threats.

I would recommend this book. The author, Drew Miller, is a good story teller. If you are interested in learning of how life might realistically unfold in varying communities after a collapse, you will find this a believable story and gain insights into life now versus then.

Letter Re: Water Quality in the Inland Northwest

James,
I am just getting ready to explore the Pacific Northwest.  What has come to my attention is the horrific nuclear  (Hanford) and toxic metal (mining) contamination of all the rivers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  The Columbia River and its tributaries are a toxic soup. Even Lake Roosevelt, above Spokane is filled with heavy metals due to mining in Canada. 

[Some deleted, for brevity]

Thanks for all your hard work. – Barbara H.

JWR Replies: To start, the Hanford Nuclear reservation sits right next to the Columbia River. It is down river from Idaho. Furthermore, the Columbia is down river from all of the rivers in Oregon and southern Washington–they are feed into the Columbia and out to the sea. The contamination at Hanford is now a non-issue. The water there has been studied in excruciating detail, and at great expense. To the best of my knowledge the Hanford Weapons Lab never affected anyone’s drinking water outside of the immediate Tri-Cities (Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland) area.

Some key points, in summary form:

If you want to avoid mercury contamination then simply don’t drink river water or live in a current or former mining district.  All of the rest of the drinking water in the Inland Northwest region is fine. In fact it is some of the best water in the country.

Heavy metal contamination is indeed a concern, but in the Inland Northwest, the culprit is usually just iron, and that has few deleterious health affects. (The trigger for hemochromatosis is genetic, not environmental.)

There is some arsenic contamination, but most of that comes from arsenic in the bedrock, rather than from industrial use.

The radioactive contamination that shows on this map is from uranium in the bedrock, rather than from careless atom bomb scientists at Hanford.

I’ve had few queries about radium in groundwater. The USGS reports: “Elevated concentrations of combined radium were more common in groundwater in the eastern and central United States than in other regions of the Nation. About 98 percent of the wells that contained combined radium at concentrations greater than the [maximum contaminant level] MCL were east of the High Plains.”

Another issue is nitrates from chemical fertilizers. But again, overall, the Northwest has some of the lowest levels of contamination in the country.

Ditto for pesticide contamination–at least in the Redoubt portion of the northwest.

Ditto for salt water intrusion and salt buildup.

Ditto for acid rain.

Ditto for potential contamination from hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”)

Ditto for organic and industrial toxins.

Ditto for declining aquifers.

In conclusion, the Inland Northwest is far from perfect, but the very low population density and the absence of heavy industries make its water quality better than most of the eastern U.S. In essence, since the region was settled later and settled more sparsely, people have simply had less time and fewer opportunities to mess it up.

If you are worried about “toxic soup” rivers, then look elsewhere. There aren’t many in the Pacific Northwest.

Letter Re: Smart Phone Maps

Mr. Rawles,
My wife and I don’t have a lot of money and we didn’t want to pay to have a smart phone so we chose to have basic phones.  A friend recently upgraded to a new carrier and gave me his Android X with a 16GB SD card in it for $25.  I was happy cause we could use to entertain the kids on road trips or what have you.  But I recently found out that I can download Offline maps onto the SD card.  I’m sure you’ve seen an SD card for these phones.  Its about the size of your fingernail.  The phones battery wouldn’t keep a charge that well, but I bought a brand new battery online off amazon for $5 shipped to my door.   I’ve downloaded a map for every state that I would travel, or walk through if TEOTWAWKI happens.  But even more impressed I am finding out that I can get Topographic maps downloaded offline onto my SD card as well.  This could become very helpful in case of a long hike, to be able to navigate terrain. 
 
Even if I had to pay $100 for this, it would be a good investment.  With a portable solar charger the battery would only need to charge for a few hours and the battery unless used continuously will last for several days.  I’m going to get an extra phone and keep it in an ammo can to protect it and get the biggest card 32gb that will fit in it and prep it for WTSHTF.  I don’t get a lot of time to read your blog anymore due to the bad economy and the necessary increase of hours in order to make up the loss of income.  But I hope that you and your readers find this information helpful.  I have informed my family and will help as many people as I can to get this squared away as an aid. 
 
We can also put medical information and color schematics on the phone.  Almost anything and everything that books can provide can be produced to a format for smart phones.  This is really exciting for me. Thank you, – Justin C.

Recipe of the Week:

Rose’s Bean Hamburger Casserole

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Sauté in a large skillet:

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green pepper, chopped (optional, or other chopped veggies or olives)
1/4 to 1/2 lb. hamburger (or ½ pint jar hamburger or other meat)

When the meat is brown, stir in:

1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2-1/2 cups cooked beans
1-1/4 cups (about 1 can) tomato soup, tomato sauce or diced  tomatoes
1 beef bouillon cube, dissolved in 1 cup hot water
2 cups cooked rice

Chef’s Notes:

Heat and simmer a few minutes.  Place in a greased casserole and bake 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with 1/2 cup of grated or sliced cheese.  Return to the oven just until cheese melts.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Tuna Casserole Recipe

More Casserole Recipes

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Economics and Investing:

Chipotle Ends the Penny Before U.S. Mint Does. (Thanks to Gregg P. for the link.)

Food prices jump will hit poor, World Bank warns. Global food prices have leapt by 10% in the month of July

More Monetization: Debt crisis: ECB should launch ‘unlimited’ bond buying, says OECD. Somehow, I don’t think that a country buying their own bonds is what Bing Crosby had in mind. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.)

Items from The Economatrix:

Charlie McGrath:  Collapse, Civil Unrest are Unavoidable

The “Euphoric” Economy and Why “They” Didn’t See it Coming

Into The Meat Grinder:  A “Market Meltdown the Likes of Which We’ve Never Seen is Upon Us”

Illinois Debt Cut By S&P After No Action on Pension Funding

Odds ‘n Sods:

Most of New Orleans still without power; patience ‘wearing thin’. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.)

   o o o

I will be a guest speaker (via teleconference) at CharlottePrepCon, on September 8th.

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F.G. sent this: Guns in America, a Statistical Look. The article mentions that there are more than 129,817 federally licensed firearms dealers in the United States, compared to 36,569 grocery stores. F.G.’s comment: “Is this a great country, or what?”

   o o o

To round out our family battery here at the Rawles Ranch, I’m looking to purchase an antique Swiss 7.5mm Model 1896/11 Schmidt-Rubin straight-pull rifle from a fellow private party. Must have a nice bore and be in very good mechanical condition. Model 1896/11 rifles with serial numbers under 236,500 are Federally exempt antiques. I am ONLY looking for a Model 1896/11 arsenal conversion in the antique serial number range–not any other model. I might consider a sporterized Model 1896/11 if it was nicely done and it is priced right. Oh, and I’m also in need of 10 to 20 original brown cardboard stripper clips (“chargers”) for Swiss 7.5mm Schmidt-Rubin rifles. Please e-mail me if you have any of those available.

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Reader R.P.C. mentioned this: Three charged in $200,000 Pennsylvania. home invasion slaying. R.P.C.’s comments: “The local news is reporting that these men knew of the $200,000, and the cash in his safe was the target. I think that it speaks to the value and need for vigilant OPSEC. My other thought on the matter is that he was armed and used deadly force attempting to defend himself. Had he more practice, better access (ready on his hip, multiple firearms strategically placed, et cetera), or a firearm designed for defensive purposes he may have even survived the attack. What is interesting is that in the end he had the last laugh. The invader he shot was forced to seek medical attention, and that is how these three criminals were caught.”

Notes from JWR:

Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse is still on track for release. Please wait until its release date (September 25th)–which is also our planned Book Bomb day–to place your order. Thanks!

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Today we present another two entries for Round 42 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A $200 gift certificate, donated by Shelf Reliance.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.)Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 42 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

How To Find A Post-TEOTWAWKI Job, by D.M.

The Schumer has hit the fan. Hyperinflation has crushed the economy, an EMP has disabled the United States, or some other disaster has brought TEOTWAWKI.
And you’re not ready. Your retreat isn’t stocked up, or you haven’t found one that fits right. Or you have, but you’re far away from it. You’re stuck in the city when the SHTF, or you’re out traveling and you’re far away from your new home. The credit-card infrastructure has sizzled. Your credit card is only good for opening insecure doors. All you have is the cash in your wallet.
Travel to your retreat, if you have one, is now out of the question. The highways are jammed and plane service is gone. You’re stuck where you are, or face a hike that may last weeks. Panic is beginning to spread; at the Wal-Marts, it’s a new Black Friday or worse. People are beginning to run for food, gas, generators and other obvious survival goods. Pollyannas are still legion, but their ranks are thinning as the SHTF news sinks in. Where you’re at is becoming dangerous.
Time is short; you need to survive. You need to prepare to job-hunt.

Where The Jobs Are
Should a TEOTWAWKI disaster strike, the only jobs worth having will be in the countryside. You may have to hoof it. If you’re in a strange locale, then find a Pollyanna and ask him where the farms and populated woodlands are. These locations will be the booming areas for TEOTWAWKI jobs. Farmers have food; so do woodsmen. The overlap between the two is the place where fellow survivalists are going to be. Where there’s food, where there’s land that can tide over survivalists, there’s work.

What Job To Go For
The most obvious job, if you’re an old hand with a gun, is freelance security. It seems like an easy line to get into, especially if you’ve worked security pre-disaster. The growing mobs will have the farm folks sweating. There’ll be a demand for security personnel once the criminals and gangs figure out they’ll have free rein. It’s the obvious job to aim for, right?
Wrong. Betting your future on a security job is a trap.
There are two reasons. First of all, thieves will pretend to offer security services to case the properties they intend to loot. They’ll also pretend to be law enforcement to gain entryway to sack and pillage. Even now, there are criminals that pretend to be police officers to gain entry into unsuspecting homes. If you’re a farmer or prepared survivalist, once the SHTF, you’re going to remember those stories. You’ll remember them like you remember the flash mobs now.
Secondly, organized criminals will take advantage of the anarchy to prey upon innocent farmers with the oldest gouge known to organized crime: protection rackets. They’ll offer “security” services as their shake-down.

Everyone with sense in the countryside will be cognizant of those two dangers. Since you’re a stranger, they won’t know you. So, beating the bushes for a security slot is much riskier than it appears. Not only are you likely to be turned down hard, but you’ll also acquire a bad reputation. You’ll be lumped in with the predators, even though you’re not one. The strangers you’ll be canvassing can’t give you the benefit of the doubt.
Even a world-class disaster can’t eliminate the grapevine. Once you’ve been pegged as a potential predator, word will spread: count on it. You run the risk of being treated like a real one.

With security out, unless you’re lucky to be canvassing regions where people know you already, what is the best job to go for?
The easiest and most-in-demand skill you can offer TEOTWAWKI job market is one you might not have thought of: firewood cutter.

Firewood cutting is ideal in a disaster scenario because it’s still labour-intensive. The need for firewood is obvious. Depending on the time of the season, the need might be urgent. There are Pollyannas in the farm belt too; it’ll take some time before they realize that the diesel they depend upon won’t be available. In the interim, they’ll turn you away because they think their heavy equipment is labour enough. If they have regular slots, they’ll be reserving those regular jobs for their regular hires. The only exception to this rule will be farmers who use migrant labour in harvesting season. If you’re lucky enough to be near those openings, you’ll have little to worry about – provided those farmers aren’t flooded by your fellow refugees.

Farm jobs will come into play once the farmers realize that their machines are inoperable – once the disaster sinks in. In a sense, an EMP attack is advantageous because reality will intrude on Pollyanaish fantasies quickly. Within days, farmers will realize that their agribusiness had better be shifted towards subsistence farming. They’ll be needing a lot of farm hands then. Finding a job won’t be that hard, especially if you’re unarmed and don’t show a fighter’s reflexes. You can bet a case of MREs that you will be sized up for threat potential by your prospective employer.

If disaster doesn’t strike suddenly, all but a few farmers will stay stuck in the furrow of denial. Hiring farm hands to work on land that’s cultivated by machine is counterintuitive to a farmer stuck in Pollyanna Land. He’ll see it as an unnecessary step backwards, and anything you say won’t convince him. He’ll have to wake up on his own. Under these circumstances, manual farm labour like seed planting is a new kind of job that most farmers will see as obsolete. They have to see the new reality for themselves. 

On the other hand, there’s already a labour market for wood cutters. It’s already an established line of work. Someone who has a need for your services won’t need to make the mental leap that farmers will. Unlike farming, timber felling isn’t fully mechanized. It still requires lumberjacks to work the chainsaw and use the axe for the limbing work that the chainsaw can’t do.

How To Prepare
Preparing for a wood cutter’s job isn’t that hard once the SHTF. If you have a couple of hundred dollars in your wallet, then you can equip yourself adequately. Crowds and Black-Friday-style riots won’t be a problem unless you go to Wal-Mart instead of a locally-owned hardware store. When everyone has food on their mind, who in their right mind would buy an axe, a bow saw, a sharpening stone for them? Only someone who thinks ahead – someone like you. That kind of thinking will be in short supply once the SHTF.

Don’t buy a hatchet or camp axe unless you have the money to spare for a secondary. The most versatile tool will be a three-foot single-bit axe. You need the extra leverage that comes with a long handle and wide swinging arc. [JWR Adds: You will soon find that you’ll need one or more felling axes, plastic felling wedges, single bit utility axes, a buck saw, splitting mauls, steel splitting wedges, several files, and at least one sledgehammer. See the previous discussions in SurvivalBlog for details on timber felling saws, crosscut saws, and buck saws. Without a chainsaw, the most labor intensive work will be crosscutting the rounds for splitting. Buy the very best crosscut saw that you can afford. It is not realistic to think that someone can carry all of their gear on their back. See the many previous discussions in SurvivalBlog about garden carts, deer, carts and bicycle trailers. ]

If you have a choice, go with wood handles. Fiberglass is promoted as better than wood, but wood handles have been around for much longer than fiberglass[, and can be fashioned by hand from some hardwoods like hickory]. I’ve never broken a wood handle on a snow shovel; not ever. But, I have broken the handle of a fiberglass shovel near the blade. A disaster scenario is the worst time to learn that the manufacturer’s claims are hyped-up, or that your axe has been designed to fall apart a month after the warranty expires. Wood is tried and true. If you can carry it along and can afford to, an extra handle would be prudent. You will need a hammer and something solid to get the old handle out. A red Robertson screwdriver will do the trick, but if you want to be safe, also pick up a punch and chisel. Those will work if something happens to your Robertson. [JWR Adds: Be sure to also buy rubber bumpers to protect the handles of your mauls and sledges. This prevents most of the typical handle breaks.]

You might not have your BOB on hand. If not, grab a tool bag and add it to your shopping basket. You’ll also need any waterproof fire-start kit that the store has on hand. Unfortunately, beggars can’t be choosers once the SHTF, so you’ll have to go with what in stock and hope for the best.

A 36-inch axe weighs three and a half pounds, which won’t be that big a load. If you’re strong and can afford it, consider adding a 5-pound splitting wedge and a sledge hammer to your woodcutting kit. Ten pounds and up is best for the sledge, but that might be too heavy if you are traveling afoot. Eight pounds will suffice. Again, the wood handle is tried-and true, so get wood if you can.
As for the bow saw, a twelve incher can suffice for cutting off branches and limbs. You can use the axe for anything bigger. Make sure you get at least three spare blades for the bow saw and the right kind of screwdriver for the blade. If not absolutely sure, buy a multi-screwdriver.  

You should consider the hammer and wedge, despite the weight, because showing up fully equipped makes you look more professional. Remember, your potential employers will be on the look-out for beggars and camouflaged criminals. The more ready-to-work you are, the better your chance of landing the SHTF job.  It might be tempting to buy a chainsaw, but [if your concern is societal collapse,] don’t bother. How are you going to lug around the gas? If you’re not going to lug the fuel, then why carry around a chainsaw at all? Your employer should have one: if not, then [it will be in a circumstance where] he’ll be glad for your axe.

Once you’re through at the hardware store, find a convenience or dollar store that isn’t too crowded and get that cooking glove. Also, get quart and gallon Ziploc bags. Put the sharpening stone in the smaller and the entire package in the bigger. Do the same with your fire starter. Then, get any food items you’ll need for your journey.

How To Land The Job
In TEOTWAWKI, the “Human Resources” infrastructure will vanish. That will make finding a job more straightforward. There won’t be any more résumé-and-interview songs and dances.
On the other hand, you’ll have to canvass rural folk who are on their guard. When approaching them, be non-threatening. Hide your hunger and tiredness, else you’ll come across as a beggar. Once you see someone, leave your axe strapped to your belt or in your pack.

If you’re hustled off, go quietly, peaceably and cheerfully. Thank him for his time. The more you establish yourself as a nice guy, the better. That way, the grapevine network will work to your advantage.  
If not, don’t make the mistake of asking “for work.” The more general you are, the more you’ll sound like a beggar. Don’t ask for “work:” ask for a wood-cutting job. Be specific, and show that you’ve got the equipment; that will anchor you as a serious journeyman.
Be polite and respectful, and try to be as “normal” as you can. Being courteous taps into the unconscious hope that things will get back to normal soon. That hope is the secret behind “leadership.” You might as well tap into it while job hunting.

Ask these three questions:

  1. “Do you have any wood-cutting work you’d like done?”
  2. If you get a no, then: “Do you know of anyone else who needs wood laid in for the winter?”
  3. If you get another no, then ask if your prospect has any other work he’d like you to do. 

If the final answer is no, see if you can stay awhile and chat. Needless to say, there’ll be a lot to talk about. Although the goal is to make the grapevine work in your favor, you’ll appreciate the company. After five minutes or less, head down to the next prospect; if one’s not in sight, ask where the nearest neighbor is. If you’re hiking to your own retreat, ask where the nearest neighbour is in the direction you’re going. Rinse and repeat until you’ve landed something. Stay as upbeat as you can.

Payment
In TEOTWAWKI, consider yourself fortunate if you get paid in room-and-board. A berth then will be just as prized as a permanent job with full benefits is now. Unless your employer’s food runs out, you’ll get through until normalcy is restored. Once you’re hired, and do a good job, you’re a good worker. A good person to have around. If you’re lucky enough to be hired by a farmer with a wood lot, then you’ll be first in line once he realizes that the Schumer has truly hit the fan. Once he knows he’ll need labour to replace the tractors and combines that don’t work or have run out of diesel, you’ll be first on his list.

If you’re not lucky enough to land a farm berth, ask your employer how you can be useful in other ways; look out for other tasks he needs. The wood job might not last, so it’s best if you can leverage it into dogsbody work unless you’re on a journey. If you plan to be itinerant, if you’re trying to get to friends, family or your own retreat, ask for a bonus once you’ve proven yourself. Food, of course, is best; MREs would be a real boon. Of course…you might end up liking your berth enough to stay. Either way, you’ll be truly blessed.

Preparing Beforehand
The above advice is contingent upon you being caught unprepared. If you are, you’ll find out quickly which muscles you need to swing an axe and handle a bow saw.
But, if you want to prepare for TEOTWAWKI labour beforehand, there’s no better time to start than now. Get the axe, extra handles, sharpener, bow saw, spare blades, 5-pound splitting wedge(s) and sledgehammer. The basics will cost you less than $300. Once you’ve got your kit, get out and practice a lot– preferably in your retreat, where you can also gain experience in using and maintaining a chainsaw. If you don’t have one, do the best you can at your locale. If you have a house, either find a legal place to cut wood or purchase a cord of wood in rounds and split it further.
If you’re stuck in an apartment, your situation will be a little more challenging. Contact the volunteer services who look after seniors in your area. Ask the field staff if any of the clients have a fireplace. Once you’ve got a name, go over and volunteer to split wood for them. If you don’t get any names, try putting a “help available” ad on Craigslist. Ask for a name from every seller of firewood in your locale. With the practice, you’ll find out what muscles you need to build up. With respect to workouts, keep these two points in mind:

  1. Fatten up. When the SHTF, having “six-pack abs” only means you’re closer than most to starving. There’s no need to become obese, but a small beer belly or fat thighs will mean stored energy that’ll keep you alive longer.
  2. Work Out To The Task. There’s a bit of a vanity component to even a sound workout plan. Consider Sylvester Stallone in the movie Rocky Balboa. He had pythons for arms, so he could swing an axe all day long – but his chest was flat. He didn’t develop the pectoral muscles that you will need for the sawing. Buttonhole someone who knows anatomy to ask what your hurting muscles are called, and find workouts that strengthen them. A Google search will pull up all the routines you need.
  3. Take Up Hiking. Not only is it great exercise, but it also prepares you if you’re caught flat-footed. You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to find out that you’re a stiff stumbler after five miles.

Conclusion
Unless you’re fully prepared and already at your retreat, you need a backup SHTF plan to keep yourself alive and housed. The best way to do so is employment. Since it’s highly unlikely that your current expertise will be in demand in TEOTWAWKI, wood chopping is an ideal field to get into because people will need wood to survive. You can prepare for it on the spot if the SHTF and you’re caught unprepared. You’ll be zigging while others are zagging to Wal-Mart.

Acting professionally, showing up prepared for a specific line of work and asking for that kind of work, will set you apart from the beggars. Even if you’re turned down, you’ll still be respected. You might even get a different kind of job out of it.   
And, in your own small way, you’ll be helping to build a post-TEOTWAWKI free market. As a free worker, and as a free human being.       

Risk and Unrealistic Promises, by Seth D.

The problem so much of this country faces can be sourced back to one common practice that many of us cannot bring ourselves to face.  Unrealistic promises.  The world is full of risks, in fact life could be described as nothing but a massive risk management exercise. Will my paychecks be enough to cover my bills this month? Will I have any unexpected expenses this month? Will a plane fall out of the sky on to me? Will my business be adversely affected by Obamacare? Will the price of oil rise so high I can’t afford my commute? Will the value of stocks, bonds, gold, land, or whatever I use to hold and grow value over time crash?  Will those investments go through the roof and I will have missed the opportunity to invest more?

Many people in business spend a lot of time trying to quantify and figure out manage risks but the important thing to remember is that risk never goes away.  It can be diced up, spread around, shared, concentrated, traded, bought, and sold but it never goes away.  Just because you bought an insurance policy or a derivative to offset your risk doesn’t mean the risk went away. You just replaced it with a different risk.  You got rid your basic risk and replaced it with the risk the insurer or derivative originator won’t be able to pay out according to the policy or contract.  You had better know how much in reserve your partner has to cover these risks and what their total exposure is.  AIG sold contracts with 72 trillion dollars’ worth of exposure with almost no reserves and zero visibility to their clients or regulators.  Let’s put that in perspective, global economic output in 2011 was just under 70 trillion dollars. Lesson learned should be lack of regulation may allow for business innovation but that innovation may not be good thing for the unwise.  Always know your business partners.  Don’t accept what they say on its face.  Dig deep, analyze, if they have a problem disclosing information you need to be a wise investor, walk away.

That’s not to say that risk is a bad thing.  Risk is simply a fact of life.  Let’s define risk.  Risk can be defined as a noun meaning “a situation involving exposure to danger” or as a verb meaning “expose to danger, harm, or loss” Taking risks can result in a reward if the expectations are met or exceeded but result in loss if expectations are not met.  In business we often express risk in terms of probability such as 1/3 chance upside risk outcome, 1/3 chance of expected outcome, and 1/3 chance of downside outcome. Equations are developed for each of these three scenarios and a weighted outcome is calculated usually expressed as a return on investment. 

Strangely one of the best expressions of the benefits of risk was not expressed by a capitalist but a communist and not just anyone but The Communist Karl Marx.  He advocated that the flaw in Capitalism was that in any capitalist endeavor workers must be paid less than what the contributed to the bottom line in order for the Capitalist (entrepreneur or investor in modern usage) to make a profit.  By this definition even athletes or actors making millions of dollars per year are “exploited” because their employer is still making money.  By Marx’s definition only co-ops and not for profit organizations could ever be considered non-exploitive.  What Marx didn’t understand is this is the ultimate thing right about Capitalism.  Business owners put their capital on the line when they start the business, when they take a premium on what the workers contribute to the organization they are reaping the reward from their risk. 

The worker on the other hand is taking a discount on what his labor is truly worth because he is not taking as much risk.  He is the first one paid if a business fails, is usually paid sooner and more often than vendors, and he does not invest his own capital. The employee is not without any risk as his employment is not guaranteed nor is his wages fixed.  These all have to be determined by supply and demand in a free and open market place. Just as consumers and suppliers must assign a value to the utility they get from a purchase, employees and employers must assign values to the time, effort, and wages exchanged in the labor market.  Both sides must be free to change those values as their needs change.

Many conservatives express a lot of anger at unions for the contracts they sign with management.  Some of the worst of these contracts promise unrealistic continuation of benefits such as minimum number of workers, fixed wage rates, and benefits regardless of the financial health of the organization.  The thing to remember here is that management agreed to this.  They agreed to offload all the risk of the employee and take it on themselves.  Lots of reasons for this come to mind but the simplest are that times were good and they were short sighted enough to believe good times would last longer than the contract. This is one of those unrealistic promises people make.  Simply put even unions shouldn’t seek contracts that promise too much for too long with too little flexibility.  The company just won’t be able to keep their unrealistic promises.

A second form of unrealistic promise we buy into are pensions.  Pensions are usually classified as guaranteed benefit or guaranteed contribution.  Let’s look at the guaranteed benefit first.  Everyone needs a certain amount of money to stop working and retire.  Hence we have a risk situation: upside we have more money than needed to retire, expected situation we have enough to retire, and downside we have too little to retire.  In a defined benefit plan, the company promises to provide a certain level of retirement income based on some formula usually centered on your wages.  They calculated the amount of money they will need at your retirement time.  Then they discount this (the opposite of compounding interest) by some interest rate back to today’s dollars to determine how much they need to fund in the current period so that investment can grow until you reach retirement. The defined contribution plan varies because they instead guarantee they will contribute so much each year towards your retirement but do not guarantee how much in benefits you will get out of the plan at retirement.  The main difference is who will accept the risk that the investment won’t grow according to plan.  In a defined benefits plan if the rate of growth on the plan’s investments doesn’t meet or exceed the rate used to discount the amount needed to fund the benefits then the company must contribute more in the current period.  In a defined contribution plan, the employee accepts the risk of the plan not having enough to fund their retirement.  Currently most retirement plans are defined benefit plans but companies have made ridiculous assumptions about growth rates or other variables in the calculations to allow them to underfund these pensions. The lesson learned is to check what promises your company has made and see if they are making the contributions and using realistic calculations.  If not don’t expect your retirement to be comfortable.

The way we chose to deal with many of our largest risks in the last century has largely been through government. “The problem is we have socialized risk and privatized reward.”-(Sen. Christopher Dodd)  What do Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and virtually all other “entitlement” programs have in common? They all involve socializing risk and privatizing reward.  This also includes tax breaks for specific industries, bail outs, and preferential regulations for specific industries.  “We the people” are expected to bear the burden to make sure private citizens and corporations get to succeed regardless of what risks they took but they got to keep the rewards of taking those risks. Government has told the poor “you can’t afford healthcare?” That’s okay, we will take care of that.  Didn’t save enough for retirement? We got your back. You don’t produce an airplane anyone wants to buy? Don’t worry we’ll lease them for more than what you want to sell them for. Your competitor makes more than you? We’ll agree to additional regulations that benefit you! (Most regulations don’t come out of thin air or from citizen special interests, they come from rival businesses or industries seeking to straddle rivals with additional costs. If you don’t believe me, then look at who pays the lobbyists.)

The worst part of this is that many of these programs are essentially defined benefit programs.  Congress, in their infinite wisdom, wrote the laws creating Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as guaranteeing benefits rather than levels of funding.  Hence it isn’t as simple as they stop cutting checks to the beneficiaries.  Those beneficiaries are legally entitled to those benefits and if the US Treasury doesn’t fund them then it will just turn into a huge legal mess with the Supreme Court eventually citing the 14th amendment not allowing the government to repudiate its debts.
Reforming the programs to fit our current funding the is simplest fix but trying to cut these programs down to size is politically unlikely as most benefit senior citizens who reliably vote as a block against any attempt to cut their benefits.  Requiring a balanced budget might work.  Since these programs often require funding this would force massive tax increases.  That might produce consensus on how to reform these programs but would rob the government of short term funding needed for things like fighting wars or dealing with a large crisis.  No solution is easy or someone would have already implemented it. 

Another important thing to think about is that people bought into these promises and are depending on them.  If you think a Crunch is coming, then think about the situation if Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security suddenly ended (this is essentially what would have to happen to balance our federal budget).  How many people would die?  How many elderly would starve as their only source of income dried up?  How many children would go without any sort of medical care? How many elderly would die without their medications?
We can say that this should be left up to private charity but lack of private charity is what led to Federal Government taking up these obligations that are now strangling the country!  Remember Christ commanded love of your neighbor. Ayn Rand extolled reason over faith and self over others. Gordon Gecko said “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good”.  Christ said “…You cannot serve both God and money.” (Mathew 6:24).

Simply put, we can’t continue to make unrealistic promises and not deal with the risks of life.  It leads down a path of self-deception and folly.  We have to find ways to make this world hospitable to all in a way that doesn’t destroy our urge to better ourselves.

Letter Re: State Government Debt Levels

James,
I just finished reading one of the financial articles you linked in yesterday’s post.  The topic of the article was debt levels of U.S. states.  In it, the author broke down the debt burden of each state citizen; for example, a Californians’ per capita obligation is just over $16,000, while Texans are at a lower level of around $11,000.
 
So:  Two things.
 
First:  I think in doing this we are perpetuating the concept of the State’s (used here in the sense of a nation-state/political entity) authority to impose the public debt burden on non-sovereign individuals.  While I know that the sovereignty concept is hotly debated in many circles, for the purposes of this discussion I am strictly limiting that definition to one’s ability to create currency, conduct foreign policy, wage war, etc…  A sovereign entity may indeed, through processes (or around them….) encumber itself with debt.  In this regard a State is no different than an individual.  We see the same principal demonstrated in corporate activity: a corporation (literally-body: individual) conducts business in a manner that seeks to maximize shareholder value.  When things go well, shareholder value increases and dividends are distributed.  Conversely, corporate actions leading to losses, whether through market forces, loss of comparative or competitive advance or, in some cases, malfeasance, ultimately reduce the value of each share.  At this point the shareholders have various remedies available to them: they may sit tight and ride it out, they may express individual dissent by selling their shares, or they may choose to change management so as to correct the course of the fiscal ship.
 
The value of the corporation is decreased, or increased, by  several factors as we see above: consumers can choose (or not) to purchase goods from the corporation, management can change strategy, or shareholders can move to change leadership.  The political analogies to these three are as follows:
 
·         Consumer choice = any international interactions with the State.  Those interactions run the gamut from mutual aid and trade agreements to belligerency and armed aggression
·         Management strategy shifts = internal and external policy changes.  An example of internal policy change would be a requirement for  voter identification, and an external policy change would be adoption of an international standard or treaty
·         Change of management = elections, where the polity (authorized voters) take legal action to affirm or negate the candidate, or coups de etat, whereby the leadership of the polity is forcibly removed
 
So here we see the three methods by which change is affected.  In the case of the State encumbering (lawfully or unlawfully-not under review here) the citizens recourse is expanded by one further item, that of disassociation with the State (for the purposes of this discussion this option remains tabled).  The citizen, lawfully or unlawfully encumbered by the state, may choose the options listed above in order to remedy the condition with which the State has burdened her. 
 
The question on which this issue turns is as follows:  does the citizen bear personal fiduciary liability for the encumbrances of the State?  If we can agree that the above-listed methods of redress are valid, and that, further, that just as the corporation is fiscally whole and separate from the fiscal wholeness and separateness of the shareholder, so too is the State fiscally whole and separate from the polity.  The natural course of events, then, flowing from fiscal dissolution of the State, does not in and of itself mean the fiscal dissolution of the polity.  We can, however, easily discern that due to the dependencies between citizen and State, the dissolution of the State will most certainly result in some degree of degradation of the individual (and this is the premise behind JWR’s novel, Survivors). 
 
So yes, the State can encumber itself, and yes, the reduction of the State’s performance (in the contractual sense, performance means adhering to the terms of the contract) translates into a reduction of the State’s international and domestic relations.  And it may indeed result in the dissolution of the State.  But in and of itself, Statal (‘of’ the State) dissolution does not equal individual dissolution.
 
 
Second:  notwithstanding the arguments re. ‘who owns our national debt’ and ‘the Chinese’ (insert raised fist here), not all sovereign and/or public debt is bad.  See this link for a viewpoint contrarian to the ‘all public debt is bad’ argument:  http://www.multiplier-effect.org/?p=3192 
 
The issue we are all dancing around/thinking of/writing about is balance.  What is the proper (a subjective term) level of debt to benefit?  In the life of an individual, perhaps mortgage debt is seen as ‘good’ and credit card debt is seen as ‘bad’.  Well, perhaps.  This is subjective territory.  So a little explanation is called for:
 
I tell my students (civil-military operations) that the way to think about subjectivity v. objectivity is this:  an ‘objective’ utterance is one made in reference to an observable, measurable, mutually recognized ‘thing’.  The physical.  A ‘subjective’ utterance is ‘subject to debate’: in other words, open to more than one interpretation. 
 
So when someone says that public debt is ‘bad’, we need to be rigorous in our assessment of the term.  Bad with regard to degradation of national security?  National security as measured how?  By whom?  Over what time period?  In relation to which set of potential negative influencers?
 
The trepidation most of us feel when thinking of the current level of debt (not to be confused with deficit) is likely well-founded.  Individuals tend to think of things in relation to themselves; in other words, I earn $56,000 yearly, and I owe $212,000 on my home, and perhaps $12,000 on a car loan.  So my yearly income relative to my total debt (good/bad/ugly) is 1:4.  So we tend to use a similar ratio when thinking of national debt.  As such, we would look at the yearly salary of our State (U.S. GDP  $15 trillion (CIA World Factbook 2011)) and a debt of $15.9 trillion (http://www.usdebtclock.org/ ), rendering a ration of 1:1.
 
So from a purely mathematical standpoint, why worry?  If the average U.S. citizen earns $49,000 (ibid) and has a personal obligation in excess of 1:1, that means the State is actually behaving in a more conservative manner than the individual.
 
Here, then, is the reason I spoke earlier of the subjective v. objective:  I don’t earn $56,000, and I don’t owe $224,000.  I earn more, and owe less.  So my objective condition informs my subjective opinion, and both of those items are substantially different than yours, or his, or hers.  The reasons I earn my own level of income and owe my own level of debt are my reasons, not yours.  Hence, the importance discerning the subjective from the objective.
 
Now, back to the lead paragraph of this rant:   California v. Texas.  Objectively, California may have a larger debt than Texas.  Further, California may have a larger state GDP than Texas, rendering a different (perhaps better, perhaps worse) income to debt ratio.  That is a state problem.  If, however, the state’s fiscal performance incurs remedy from its creditors, the polity suffers.  And this is the heart of the matter: when governments opt to use the GDP to debt ratio as it relates to individual earnings v. individual debts, the state surrenders the protections offered by it to the polity. 
 
So what does all this mean?  It means that each time the state incurs additional debt, our fiscal lives are encumbered, and our liberties are further constrained.  So why can’t we, as citizens, stand together and demand that the state no longer have the power to financially encumber the polity?  We can. 
 
Vote conservative.

– X.

Letter Re: When the Antidepressants Run Out

Hello Mr. Rawles,
In response to the Dr. S.V.’s article, which I thought was fantastic, I would like to take a moment to describe my experience with Effexor, which as the Doctor points is in a different class of medication than Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro. That being said, the withdrawal symptoms are just as devastating and in my case began within 24 hours. My fiancé and I were on a short weekend trip to see her folks and in our rush to get on the road, I forgot to pack my Effexor. At the time I was currently taking 150mg once per day. The next morning when I woke I realized I had forgotten my Effexor and rather than make a call to my doctor or pharmacy I decided I would just tough it out. Before noon I started to experience the Neurological, phenomena called “paraesthesias”, which The Doc said feels like “electric shocks”. I and others, who have experienced this, call it “The Zaps”. Over the course of the next 12 hours I experienced the full gamut of everything from headaches, to sweating, nausea, insomnia, tremors, confusion, nightmares, vertigo agitation, anxiety, irritability, decreased concentration, slowed thinking, confusion, and memory/concentration difficulties. It was a nightmare.
 
It was at that moment I decided I was getting off Effexor. I got on-line and found that my experience was far from unique. My story of withdrawal was very common. I blame two people for my situation. First, myself; although I had taken this drug successfully for 3 years I had no knowledge of its side-effects. I was completely ignorant of what I could be looking at during withdrawal. Second my doctor. My doctor never explained the down-side of coming off the drug or warned of what an abrupt stoppage could be like. Furthermore, I’m not even sure I was a good candidate for the medication. It was prescribed to me after I had a bad week at work and was feeling down. There isn’t a person on the planet that hasn’t experienced that.
 
I can only imagine would happen in a TEOTWAWKI survival situation where stress is high and you are trying to make good, sound decisions for you and your loved ones and on-top of that dealing with the harsh withdrawal of these medications.

I am no doctor and I know everyone’s situation is different, but a word of caution. If a doctor wants to put you on any of these medications, push him for both the good and the bad. With my doctor’s guidance I successfully stepped down off Effexor and have been free of it for almost six months, however, it was months before I regained full motor skills and clarity of thought. These drugs can be helpful to many, but they would be a nightmare for all if they became unavailable overnight. – West Texas Prepper

Economics and Investing:

Jim W. recommended this over at International Man: After The Storm: The 11stages of an Economic Crash

Also from Jim W.: Breakout Move in Silver Forecasting Global Hyper-Inflation.

H.L. sent: The Biggest Reason Why California is Bankrupt

Libertarian billionaire warns of ‘financial Armageddon’ after U.S. election

Items from The Economatrix:

Jim Rogers:  The Agriculture Industry Is Doomed

Home Values Rise In U.S. For First Time Since 2010

Jack Mintz:  U.S. Worse Than Europe