Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion." – William Ralph Inge (British Author, Priest, and Educator)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 41 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), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

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 41 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Preparing Your Retreat For a Forest Fire or Brush Fire, by F.A.

As hundreds of thousands of acres are burning all across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming, as I write this article, the smell of smoke wafting through my window has caused me to think about the many thousands of people that have retreated to the Redoubt. While I have no way of knowing how many folks have relocated from parts other than the Rocky Mountain west, I suppose that many are not familiar with the devastation a forest fire can cause; nor how quickly the devastation can occur. I also can only assume that most of the Redoubt folks that have relocated have taken many precautions to make their retreats as inconspicuous as possible. Many, for very good strategic reasons, have probably built on a ridge or high point. I’m certain that retreat cabins have been designed to blend in to their surroundings; many are probably built of logs – if not logs from the property, then logs that have been trucked in. I would bet that many are on deep wells, with a majority of those providing less than 10 GPM. While I’m assuming on the common profile, I would also make an educated guess that many of the retreats are a fair distance from a town, more commonly off of a U.S. Forest Service road or timber company road, both cut through the middle of heavily forested areas.

A little as to background: I have spent nearly two decades in Idaho – over half of that time working as a mule-packer/guide in the River of No Return Wilderness. Many other years were spent working on ranches that backed up against the Beaverhead Mountains in Montana. I have fought fires, not as a trained Forest Service firefighter, but in the course of life in the professions that I had chosen. I have raced my mules through the middle of fires that had sprung up ahead of us without my knowledge; I have ridden back through that same fire nearly three months later to find it smoldering and crouching like a dragon, just waiting for conditions to tempt it out of its sleep. I have not pulled camps in a fire zone after a foot of snow had fallen and extinguished it – only to have to pull it three weeks later with ember and ash falling on us, because the foot of snow was nothing more than a very temporary slow down. The weather warmed up again and the warm earth in late August melted the snow very quickly, as if it never fell. I have trailed horses through areas when a fire was fifteen miles away, only to find out that the very trails we rode on were torched three days later by a fire that was jumping a mile ahead of itself (see Runaway Ridge Fire – Cold Meadows Ranger Station). In a nutshell, I have been on the periphery of a lot of fires. I have packed out a lot of smoke jumpers and hotshots when the Forest Service used to fight fire in the wilderness areas, and listened to their tales of crowning fires that seemed to create their own wind. I have ridden along trails above fires listening to massive yellow pines and Doug firs literally exploding from the heat. I’m not an expert on fires, but I am pretty experienced with them.

To the point of the article, there is real and present danger to retreaters who have built their places in the locations described above. Typically fires will race up ridges; then will get pushed along down the backside with wind direction. The speed of this obviously varies on fuel load, humidity, wind speed, etc. A fire can engulf homes sitting along ridgelines faster than anyone would ever believe. I can’t stress this enough. If there is a fire in the area, and if it is moving towards your retreat, please be very wary. There will not be time to do much of anything. Staying or leaving is up to you, but what will you do? Have you cleared undergrowth and trees back several hundred feet from your home? Do you have a metal roof that might spare you from falling embers? Have you installed a cistern or reservoir of some sort with hoses, hardlines and pumps? I can assure you that a well delivering any flow, much less 10 GPM, through a yard hydrant and garden hose will be like, well, relieving oneself. What about your ability to get out of Dodge (as in going back to Dodge and away from the retreat)? Can you be certain that the fire hasn’t made your Forest Service or timber company road impassable? Do you drive across a timber bridge many miles from your retreat each day? What will you do when that bridge is gone? Do you want to be caught in the middle of an inferno in your “Bug Back Vehicle”?

In case some of you are thinking, “This won’t happen here”, let’s take a quick look at some brief history. Nearly everyone has heard of the fires of 1910. Most of western Montana was burning. Many homes and ranches were engulfed. That was before the Forest Service had trained firefighters. In fact, that fire was the impetus to develop the Forest Service. Never again they said will we be short of manpower and supplies to fight this natural, regularly occurring event. Everyone remembers the Yellowstone fires of 1988. Hundreds of thousands of acres tore through Yellowstone. The Forest Service with support from the military threw everything they had at this fire with no gains in containment – at least not enough to change much. Not until the cooler fall temperatures and precipitation came along, did this fire get extinguished. How about the year 2000? Do you remember the famous photo [by John McColgan] of the two cow elk standing in the middle of the Bitterroot River while the landscape around them was fully engulfed and glowing an eerie, smoky orange? In that year 7.4 million acres burned in just two states, Idaho and Montana! It was absolutely apocalyptic in nature. All summer and fall, tens of thousands of Forest Service personnel, along with help from various tribal ranger districts across the west lived in massive tent camps in numerous locations across Idaho and Montana. Even the USMC sent troops in to help. In that year, even if your retreat was unaffected by fire, if it was along the route to a section of the fire, a sharp young Marine at a roadblock would have determined if you were allowed to pass or not. Notice the big gap in history between 1910 and 1988? Some of the gap is due to this history coming off the top of my head! In reality though, the gap exists because the Forest Service policy was to fight every fire. I’m not meaning to offend anyone, but I believe they got caught up in the same “spend it or lose it” budget planning that has helped bury this country in debt. Their policy was to extinguish any reported fire by 10:00 AM the following morning. Imagine the resources necessary to accomplish this goal. Even in the primitive areas, then designated wilderness areas after the passage of the Wilderness Act in the 1970s, every fire was fought. Fire lookouts were built on every prominent point throughout the wilderness and surrounding forest areas. These lookouts ranged from glorified tree houses to extensive steel structures anchored in concrete footings. I’ve been in several of these fire lookouts, and became friends with several of the lookouts themselves. These loner type individuals would stay in their lookout from June until October, everyday, 24/7. If a fire was spotted, triangulations were called in and within hours, tankers, smoke jumpers or Hotshots were called in to extinguish. The amount of fuel that continued to build up due to this “10:00 AM” policy was astronomical. During the Clinton years, for budgetary reasons, this policy was changed for the wilderness. No longer would fires be fought in wilderness areas. The “let-burn” policy was put into effect and since then we have seen nature burning through the fuel load.

Is your retreat on the border of a Wilderness Area? At this same time, the Clinton “Roadless Initiative” was passed. Well-meaning folks across the political spectrum in some cases, or hardcore environmentalists in other cases, considered this law a great savior for the nation’s forest. In reality however, the logging industry was destroyed. Again, fuel began to build up from lack of logging. Coniferous stands became diseased with scab and mistletoe and finally the dreaded “Pine Bark Beetle” that has destroyed 90% of the trees in many counties in the forests of Colorado. So again, there is an unusually high amount of fuel. Another by-product of the Roadless ban was that many of the forest service roads built to allow for the transport of logs to the mills, were reclaimed. Contractors were paid by the USDA to “un-build” roads. Dirt was pulled down from cuts above the roadway and graded to look they way it did before the road was built. Culverts and bridges were removed, topsoil and duff spread on top and seeding occurred. The unforeseen result in this reclamation effort was that many firebreaks were lost. Combine all these policies and we will be seeing big fires across the west for decades to come. Some years, conditions will be right for fires to burn in the southwest mountains; some years they’ll burn in the central or northern Rockies. But they will burn and burn hot, for many months in the summer.

I guess the real point of this article is to make some folks think about a very real danger to them in their new and unfamiliar settings. By no means am I trying to discourage folks from having an out of the way retreat. To me, there is nothing better than being self sufficient, away from the crowds and cities all the time – heck, I used to live six to seven months out of a year in a wall tent in the middle of the biggest wilderness in the lower 48! I just want to stress that forest fires are deceiving and untrustworthy. They cover more ground than we expect them to. They come back to life when we think they are surely dead as a doornail. They change directions, slow down, speed up, jump rivers, jump roads, jump scree patches, lay dormant in roots only to spring up again like a rattlesnake.

To those of you wonderful people that have taken the enormous leap to move yourself and your families out of the cities for whatever reason, just walk around your place and look at your retreat through the prism of a fire being in the area. Take a look at the topography in a ten or twenty mile radius around your retreat. Pay attention to your drive, not just for ambush points or defensible positions, but wonder how you will get in or out during a fire. As always, in everything, pay attention. Do the things that make your retreat more defensible from forest fire. The rest is up to you and the will of our Lord.
Be safe while being prepared in your forested retreat.

Letter Re: Lessons From The Colorado Wildfires

Dear Editor:
Wanted to share my evacuation experiences and lessons learned while they’re still fresh in my mind.  Although it wasn’t a 5 minute evacuation, it was pretty stress-free.  Fortunately, I started serious preparations early this year, or it would have been a whole lot more work.
 
My house is (was?) within about five miles of the starting point of the fire.  Not far at all, but fires don’t burn that well downhill, so it was ok.  But the wind picked up big last night and sent the fire into the houses within about three miles of me. 
 
I got my pile of “definitely going with me” stuff by the garage door on Saturday night.  The bullets and bullion, mostly.  Since this isn’t TEOTWAWKI, I wasn’t much worried about food, other than losing hundreds of dollars worth of stored food to the fire.
 
I continued getting things ready, packing some clothes, organizing things to be ready to go, but not really organized.
 
Lesson #1 – partly organized isn’t ready for full-scale, fast evac.  To do that, I’d have needed duplicate things already packed and ready to go.  For example, duplicate toiletries so you have the set you use and the set that’s ready to go.  Going back and forth is a hassle, and the extra is worth it.
 
I was away from home last evening as the fire raged on.  On my way home, they had evacuated the Air Force Academy and more neighborhoods from the northeast part of town.  It was a traffic fiasco.  They shut down I-25, leaving me to find the back roads way home.  Ordinarily not a problem since I’ve lived here forever.  But the crazy driving, the police blockades and gawkers stopped by the side of the road made it much more difficult than anticipated.  Fortunately, I just kept flowing with what worked and turning where I had to.
 
Lesson #2:  During a large scale evacuation, expect traffic to be a mess no matter which direction you’re.  There were people stuck in traffic for hours, not moving – and they were darn close to the fire!  Good news is that the incident management team gave lots of notice to leave, and they evacuated in sections, so it wasn’t really time critical.  In a true TEOTWAWKI situation, though, you’re not going to drive anywhere.  Maybe ever.
 
Once I got home, I tossed all of my “ready to go” stuff in the back of my truck, and then started going back for “Tier 2” stuff.  That was the stuff I had already planned in the back of my head that I would take with me.  That included critical business stuff, like the computer and networking equipment, and some additional tools and belongings I wanted.
 
Lesson #3:  Since some things can’t easily (or affordably) be duplicated, make sure they can be evacuated quickly.  For me, that means have all of the equipment in a small pile, easily extracted and put into a carrying container.  It took me about 30 minutes to get all of the equipment out from under the table, cable rat’s nest separated, and into a bag (that I had to get from downstairs!).  If/when I go back home, I’ll have a much more transportable system set up, with carrying case in place.
 
At that point, I had most of the things I wanted into my truck, and then started going for “Tier 3” things.  This included books, more medical gear, and some other random personal things.  Then I took a breath to find out if I needed to get out.  Since I had disconnected all of my television gear, I couldn’t use that info outlet!  I probably wouldn’t change that, though.  I used my nose instead.  I went outside to look, listen and smell.  Most of my neighbors had already packed up and left.  I could see a big orange glow that didn’t look far away at all, maybe a couple miles.  The smoke was worse than before, but not choking.  And there really wasn’t much sound at all.  Nothing untoward anyway.
 
Now I had to figure out one of my biggest challenges – surprisingly so:  How to move both packed cars with cats and dog and the most valuable things in my life in them!  This was made more complicated because I didn’t have room for the dog in the truck, and I the back window in my truck wouldn’t roll up – so I couldn’t secure the really valuable stuff!
 
I talked with my “retreat” to find out what they knew.  Unfortunately, nothing they knew really helped me make that decision.  Since no one had knocked on my door to tell me I was officially, “mandatorily” evacuated, I elected to drive the sedan to the retreat, then come back for the truck.  Went and packed up the cats and drove off.
 
Imagine my surprise then, when I got a ways down the road and realized I was driving the truck instead of the sedan!  Oops!  Yeah, and I didn’t know if I would be able to fit it in the garage of the retreat!  Instead of turning around, I just went forward, because I didn’t know if I’d be able to get back home once I left the neighborhood.  And I had the most valuable stuff with me.
 
Lesson #4:  Having one person and two cars and no backup doesn’t work all that well in evac mode. Especially when you can’t secure one of the cars!  Have backup meet you there to help out, if possible.  I considered doing that, but with the luxury of time, I didn’t.  In a more time-critical operation, you’re either packing everything into a space that doesn’t work, or leaving stuff behind and hoping for the best – like I did.  And don’t expect that an unrehearsed plan will go perfectly.  I sure was surprised when I “woke up” in the truck!
 
Lesson #5:  The process of evacuation is a process of “letting go”.  Specifically saying, “I can live without that.”  Knowing in a very black and white way, that you may literally NEVER SEE IT AGAIN.  For me, it was surprisingly easy to do, for the most part.  Maybe that comes from having moved a lot of times in my life, and having a fairly loose grasp on the things in my life.  I have it or I don’t, ok.  Maybe because I’ve never defined my life as the things I own?  Or not being very sentimental?  Or maybe because the memories are more valuable to me than the T-shirt I got for being there and doing that?  Dunno.
 
In any case, as I drove to the retreat, I heard the mandatory evacuation notice for my area on the radio.  I still had to hope the police would let me back in to get the other car.
 
Lesson #6:  The media is both good and bad in this situation.  The bad:  mostly, they repeat the same information over and over – obtained from the press briefings at 8 am and 4 pm.  Not very helpful.  And then they spew oatmeal in between that.  Amazing the nonsense that comes out of their mouths – lots of filler words that sound intelligent but mean nothing.  The good:  They tell you when/where the evacuation zones are.  Mostly accurate, but at times inaccurate.  But IMHO, if you were waiting to be told you should be ready to evacuate, you’re an idiot.  This is a wildfire!  No one knows what it might do, so be prepared.
 
Fortunately, my truck did fit in the retreat garage.  Then saddled up for the return trip.  It was fine, the cops were just starting to get setup to block the neighborhood.  Since I had some more time, and the ominous glow had retreated some, I went in for some luxuries.  Like the photo albums, some food for the retreat, and a few other things – like cat and dog food, bowls and litter boxes.  About another 20 minutes, and it was time to say goodbye to the house.  I’d being doing that all night, so I just shut the door and left.  I even forgot to do the “dojo bow” as I’ve done before.
 
Once back at the retreat – now some four hours after arriving at home to evac, I unloaded some stuff and sat back to reflect, ponder and relax.
 
Lesson #6:  The last lesson came when I started getting ready for bed and this morning.  I hadn’t brought everything I really wanted!  For example, I forgot to get my razor from the shower into my toiletries bag.  And a pair of shorts for sleeping in.  Oh, and I snagged a fingernail in moving stuff and didn’t bring my fingernail clippers.  I know, all small stuff, but it’s a bummer to not have it when putting aside extras would have been so easy.
 
And now I get  wait and wonder if I’ll ever move back into my house.  And even the television news can’t tell me that…
 
Be Safe, Be Prepared, – E.P.

JWR Replies: There is nothing like the prospect of a wildfire to get people re-thinking their priorities. And of course many fire preparations cross over into other areas.Here is a great quote, courtesy of SurvivalBlog reader Stephen M.: “The sudden closure of service stations along with other businesses, leaving fleeing motorists unable to fill up their cars, added to a sense of urgency as roads filled with traffic Tuesday…”. And there are also fires raging in Utah. Stay safe and plan ahead, folks!

Lessons From Tropical Storm Debby

As Tropical Storm Debby stalled in the Gulf of Mexico off the Coast of Florida it was business as usual in our area. No one was much concerned about the storm as we have become complacent in Storms and Hurricanes in our area of North Florida. I live in a rural farming area 20 miles from Live Oak and 15 miles from the town of Mayo. The following are my observations.
 
Saturday June 23rd – constant rain all day – all roads passable
 
Sunday June 24th   – constant rain all day – all roads passable
 
Monday June 25th – constant very heavy rain – roads passable, drainage ditches filling with water, water puddles forming on road. Rain coming down so hard in the evening very hard to see with wipers full on and defroster on. Observation that it was hard to tell at night just how much water was on the road. I can now see how someone could drive into flood waters unaware due to limited depth perception due to the heavy rain and limited visibility. Late night we had hard rain and thunder and lightening of which I have not observed here before. One lightening strike that was 3miles away the blast of the strike shook my house. I have survived high hurricane winds in this area before but not a lightening strike as that one; I can imagine how it was at the point of impact.
 
Tuesday June 26th – A hard rain continues to around noon, went to local grocery store. Upon trip to return home a distance of 4 miles local roads becoming flooded and rain became extremely hard downpour.  I arrived at home to find out my wife a LPN at a Health Care Facility had been requested to report for work due to the extreme weather conditions as personnel were already reporting they could not get to work due to flooded out roads. City of Live Oak was Flooded at this time.
 
The moral of this story is this; you need to always know alternate ways home from work and to work and also for evacuation routes. I knew the roads my wife did not (was never interested until this wake up call) her normal way to work was blocked in many directions. I advised and provide instructions of which roads to take and due to the nature of the falling rain that she would have to leave immediately. A normal commute of 15 minutes took almost an hour and she described the trip as very challenging. If she had delayed in leaving when I told her to go she would not have been able leave due to our road became flooded and impassable. 1st time I have seen this since I located here in 1999. This was a wake up call for me. “Do not count on roads that have never flooded not to flood”.
 
Wednesday 27th – Rain ceased and Sun came out some water receding but still a lot of road closures due to flood waters, washed out roads. If I needed to get to the Town of Live Oak I would not be able to do so. Today I counted on a list of over 100 road locations impassable or barricaded. My road by afternoon had receded enough for local alternate traffic to use.
 
What did I learn from all of this – do not count on local routes and or your planned alternate routes to be available or being told they never flooded before. As stated on this blog in other’s letters have a local map handy showing all roads including the dirt roads some of which were passable only by having a 4×4 during this extreme weather. Learn all alternate routes and drive them from home to work and back to home and also your evacuation routes. That way you will know them before hand and can adjust due to road conditions.
 
I have kept a list of all road closures published to mark on my map in order to find other alternate routes to get to my destination for the future and which roads to avoid. Also with this amount of rain you will find any leaks you may have in your dwelling and what areas of the roof to protect for the future.  Water will find a way in from the unlikely places, example rain hard enough to bounce off the roof and come back down the furnace vent and the stove exhaust fan. This happened even though the vent pipes have rain caps.
 
I had planned to have a rain barrel system in place, and now whish that I had completed that project due to the amount of rainfall we received.  I could have had emergency water supply to last for weeks.
 
Due to the amount of rain there is boil water advisory now in affect for all of Suwannee County including private wells. Learn on this blog how to purify water for drinking and cooking, I was already prepared in having clean drinking water on hand.
 
My observation of interest was today when a Medevac Helicopter landed in the neighbor’s field across the road. In order transport someone.  There is no way for EMT services to have driven to our area and take you to the local hospital via ambulance. It must have been a real serious condition as the helicopter flew off in the direction of Gainesville where our major medical facilities are located.
 
I also observed a SUV on my road carrying a kayak on the roof. It would be nice to have a boat of some type even an inflatable one just in case of an emergency. Air boats in Live Oak were put to use to evacuate people from flooded areas to emergency shelters.
 
As I complete writing this letter water on some of the roadways are receding but I can still not get to the Town of Live Oak but other services are located in my area; i.e., gas, food, water. I do not need it but it is available.
 
Other observations – people ignored highway barricades and drove around them and ended up needing rescued from flood waters. Note if the sign says flooded it means “Flooded”.
 
Just because you have a 4×4 does not mean you can drive faster than anyone else in extreme weather and or fording through flood waters. One 4×4 owner posted that to avoid a certain road because he tried to cross it but had to back out. If you are intent in fording high water you need to be experienced in doing so and your vehicle needs to be prepped for fording abilities. Most SUVs, Trucks are not equipped or have the experience to do this.
 
I also learned that I needed to have sand bags on hand and I know it has been stated before on here but until you realize this is something you really need to have on hand you do not think about it. I did not need them but I can see where I may need them in the future.
 
Also without communications or access to the Internet I would have had a hard time in finding out which roads were closed in my area.
 
If you are not in immediate danger of flooding stay in your home and don’t go out driving to sight see the flood damage. Many found out the hard way when they had to be rescued.
 
Sinkholes can happen in Florida but rare for our area yet there was three sinkholes in Live Oak and surrounding area. When they occur it is with frightening speed.
 
I will close in thanking JWR for his site and to the ones that have had letters posted that contained valuable information to me. I was better prepared than most but learned a lesson from this storm. – Wayne of North Florida

Letter Re: Advice on Canadian Nickels

Mr. Rawles,

To follow up on the recent posts about sorting Canadian nickels, I recently stumbled across a web site that has pictures of all Canadian nickels from 1870 until 2005.

After sorting close to $100 worth of nickels, I can say the vast majority of non-debased nickels span between around 1960 to 1999.  Of those, most of the pre-1982 nickels are 99% nickel and have a melt value approximately 1.5x it’s face value.

All nickels from 1982 to 1999 have a copper-nickel composition similar to that of the US nickel, and a melt value currently very close to the face value.

One subtle kicker is that Canadian nickels minted between 2000 and 2003 are a mix of fully debased steel nickels and copper-nickel nickels of the same composition and appearance as the 1982-1999 series.  They can be differentiated by the “P” beneath the portrait of the Queen indicating the fully debased ones.

The 2006 and later nickels are very similar in appearance to the 2003 series of nickels, only they have the Royal Canadian Mint symbol on them beneath the Queen’s portrait.

It is quite rare to find a nickel older than 1950, and of all the nickels I’ve sorted, approximately half are fully debased.  This should really underscore the critical importance, especially for your American audience, to load the boat on non-debased currency before the government/banks flood the market with counterfeit currency [and sorting becomes necessary.] – L.N. in Canada

Economics and Investing:

Peter Schiff’s Latest Advice to Investors

Reader Tom K. sent this:

Stockton [California] set to become the largest US city to declare bankruptcy

Discount Distortion: How Dollar Stores Actually Charge You More

Allan C. sent: Is this 1931 all over again? Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini, Niall Ferguson and more think so

Forty Million Houses in the US That No One Needs?

The burden of unsupportable debt. US debt-to-GDP growing at a pace rivaling certain European nations – The dramatic problems of peak debt in 2012.

From Sue C.: Euro zone Big Four confer after fifth state seeks aid

Items from The Economatrix:

Princeton’s Blinder Says Fed Has Weak Weapons for Growth

Moody’s Cuts Spanish Banks Over Sovereign Downgrade

US Homes Sales Slipped 1.5% in May

The Disastrous Consequences of a Euro Crash

Odds ‘n Sods:

Ann Coulter: The Biggest Scandal in U.S. History

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In addition to their existing line of Mountain House freeze dried foods in pouches, Camping Survival has just received their first shipment of Mountain House foods in #10 cans. It is noteworthy that they have the lowest shipping rates in the industry.

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K.D. sent this: Buckets to Backpacks

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SurvivalBlogger dentist Tom Loomis is teaching another Field Dentistry class in August, 2012, in Sweetwater, Tennessee.  Contact tandsloomis@bellsouth.net

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"When the sturdy Roman plebeian, who lived by his own labor, who voted without reward according to his own convictions, and who with his fellows formed in war the terrible Roman legion, had been changed into an idle creature who craved nothing in life save the gratification of a thirst for vapid excitement, who was fed by the state, and directly or indirectly sold his vote to the highest bidder, then the end of the republic was at hand, and nothing could save it. The laws were the same as they had been, but the people behind the laws had changed, and so the laws counted for nothing." – President Theodore Roosevelt

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 41 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), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

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 41 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Silver and Gold Bartering, Now and Post-Societal Collapse, by T.R.

Over the last few years, since awaking from my slumber that rainbows and butterflies come from baby gnomes, I have been preparing my bean, bullets and bullion for what ever may be on the other side of the eye of the hurricane, so to speak. Whether that event is the eventual collapse of not only the US dollar but currencies globally or some apocalyptic end of society as it currently exists. In that time I have found great interest in the financial aspect of this scenario. As a project manager I find that some variables in a project are non-linear and can not be evaluated on risk because of not knowing what you don’t know, this is not the case with the global nature of macro-economics and fiat currencies.
I plan a project by evaluating variables and risks to the scope and timeline of completion, that being said I have approached my preparation in similar manner. Since the more information you can obtain on particular variable it allows you put in place contingencies to mitigate the effects of a variable, such as a global financial/currency collapse, you can therefore weather the disruption that variable creates. Risk areas such as EMPs, natural disasters, terrorist activities etc are variables that you can only have so much information in regards to planning-unless of course your brother-in-law happens to work for the NSA or other alphabet soup agency that track such things and evaluate the probability.

But the information on our financial condition is well documented and there are many well respected economists and analysts that provide commentary on our situation no only as a country but also from a global connection. My journey has begun and continues to be how our US Dollar has fallen to the state of every other fiat currency throughout the ages. Whether it was the Romans debasing their gold and silver coinage or the Weimar Republic printing Marks like Rumplestilskin spun gold-in fact I am not too sure that Ben Bernanke is not our very own Rumplestilskin, just that he is not spinning gold. Prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve our dollar was backed by Constitutionally mandated Silver and Gold, at the onset of this vile organization the average wage was around $1,800 per year. (That equated to approximately 90 ounces of gold.  I would like to suggest everyone read G. Edward Griffin’s book, The Creature from Jekyll Island, to get a true sense of how evil and sinister this corporation is, ) That $1,800 average salary in 1913 equates roughly to today’s average wage of $42,000 per year. If you were to be paid in gold and silver as your great grandfather was, today you would only receive around 27 ounces of gold for your labor. (At the current Spot Gold price). Interesting over all this time that the Federal Reserve has had control of the US Dollar each generation really has not been better off, in fact I would argue that I would rather have my great grandfather’s wage of 90 ounces of gold per year, equal to $136,000 USD. The Federal Reserve has expertly stolen our wealth with out it being a crime.

At this point you are probably wondering where I am going with this. I know I am preaching to the choir on this subject of owning and holding physical silver and gold, but that is only after you have made provision for the beans and bullets. Once those are in place I highly recommend that you purchase and hold silver and/or gold (preferably in fractions of ounces, 1,2,5,10 grams and 1/20, 1/10, ¼ ounces) I say all of this because I believe we are currently in the eye of the hurricane. For those that don’t live in a hurricane zone, the front part of the storm is the initial wall of wind and water, it is scary and can be devastating, but as the eye passes over your location, you can go out look up and see nothing but blue sky, no wind, no rain and you may actually see a butterfly. To those that have not experience a hurricane you may believe it was nothing but a bad rain storm, but I can tell you the storm is not over and in fact the worst is yet to come. I believe we are currently in the eye of the storm, the initial wall of water and wind was the housing bubble of 2007 and we have endured the storms leading edge to now all seems quiet, calm. Stocks are steady, companies are showing profits but simmering under the surface is 10 to 20% plus food inflation, 20% real unemployment, a continual lag in the housing market if not a continually collapse, unsustainable national, state and local debts that can only be salvaged by the Federal Reserve. This is to name only a few, do not forget rising oil and gas prices. Their whether they are spinning US Dollars or real gold it still creates something from nothing and debases the currency and fuels the fires of inflation and destruction of the US Dollar and other currencies worldwide. The other side of the storm is a currency collapse that will be global in nature, which will lead to variables that will spin out of control very quickly and if you are not prepared to weather the storm to get to the other side you will be running to the first government savior to literally sign yours and your family’s life away.

My preparations began by converting about two years ago every dollar denominated asset such as Roth IRAs and 401(k)s to first food, then guns and ammunition and finally silver and gold. With only one small bump in the road I have been able to grow my physical holdings and continue to do so even with current silver and gold prices. Many ask me why when the rainbows and butterflies are out, I my reply is that someday the financial storm we weathered in 2007 will require not only the preservation of my savings but may be required for mine and my family’s survival. To those who are still slumbering they roll their eyes but to those that are awake or are just waking up this will ring true to your spirit. I urge you to continue to speak the truth of what we will be facing in very short order, hope upon all hope to reach as many as possible.

My dilemma has been that to purchase goods and services with silver or gold you must first sell it to convert it back to US Dollars, the process is cumbersome to say the least. Because of the cumbersome process I starting searching for a better way. Currently I am purchasing fewer one ounce rounds and more pre-1964 silver halves, quarters and dimes, and the following will explain why.

I follow Franklin Sanders of MoneyChanger.com, who has been dealing with silver and gold for years and his commentaries are usually spot on. He has developed a Silver and Gold calculator and is encouraging people to start asking when making a purchase “I can pay you with silver, gold or US Dollars, which would you like?” There may be a sense of fear in light of the recent Liberty Coin Federal case, but his issue dealt with the appearance of the coin and it representation of US Coinage, not that a private exchange between two individuals can be regulated (yet). Franklin Sanders reports that in some cases they will take the silver and gold and give you a discount on the purchase. Now I don’t suggest you try this with the local corporately owned Gas Mart or Wal-Mart, but maybe a local privately own Gas station convenience store, farmer, Co-op, etc. would be more receptive to the idea. So many of us that have awakened to realize that part of returning to some normalcy or even a return to the Founder’s principles we must start by eliminating the Federal Reserve. This task will probably never be achieved but at least it allows you the modicum of stealing back some degree of freedom from the fiat system by using real money. If our legislatures do not have the fortitude to fix it, the people will have to take the mantle upon themselves.

Franklin Sanders has a calculator to convert US Dollars to silver and gold. All that is necessary is to plug in the amount in US dollars the purchase requires and it calculates the amount of face value of US pre-1964 coins you need. I recently purchase three chickens at our local poultry auction using this formula for $27.61 in US Dollars or .98 cents in silver coinage. I exchanged three US pre-1964 silver quarters, two silver dimes and three copper pre-1982 pennies. A small victory!

Chickens purchased with silver, Price $27.61 USD with silver:

$0.98 face value of US Silver Coins worth USD $27.61 **
But it also works with large purchases such as a $1800 purchase which would convert as follows:

Pay $1,800.00 with gold & silver…

American Eagle gold coins:
1 $50 (1 oz) coin worth USD $1,539.68
1 $5 (1/10 oz) coin worth USD $153.97
and $3.58 face value of US silver coins worth USD $106.35 **
This site calculates and provides the amounts you need it also allows you to calculate a premium if you are a retailer interested in offering your product or service in silver and gold, I am hoping he turns into an App for I-phones or Blackberry in the near future.

If you notice all the conversions use US denominate coinage. Since American Eagles, both Silver and Gold, are legal US tender and pre-1964 coinage is still US approved tender. You will not be trying to “destroy the US Currency” with privately minted coins as the US District Attorney in her infinite wisdom announced about the Liberty Dollar. There can be no legal ramifications in restricting bartering especially if you are using US sanctioned coinage. And that goes to my last point in purchasing silver and that is to start procuring pre-1964 silver halves, quarters, dimes, pre-1982 pennies, and current and early nickels for use in a bartering system either now or in a post-collapse society. They will become your initial life in a post-fiat collapse society.

Letter Re: Advice on Spotlights

JWR:
I am looking to purchase a really good spot light. Do you have any suggestions? I have had far too many pieces of junk that were supposed to be great. I figure that you are the man to ask. Thanks, W.P.

JWR Replies: While they have some utility in controlling predator wildlife (depending on your state’s fish and game laws, of course), I DO NOT recommend visible spotlights for any retreat defense situations.  Spotlights pinpoint your dwelling and can make you a target.  There could be some utility in infrared spotlights set up a distance for your position (NOT hand-held!) , but if your opponent has any sort of night vision gear, then again you are making yourself a target.

With those provisos out of the way, this is one of the better ones.

Economics and Investing:

Reader R.B.S. sent this interesting data: Parsing U.S. Poverty at the Metropolitan Level. Once again, the American Redoubt shines.

North Las Vegas declared a disaster area–economic disaster, that is.

Rim R. sent this: ‘Made in the USA’ Label Will Disappear If the World Trade Organization Plan Succeeds

Six charts highlighting future trends in the housing system. Silent crashing markets, command style housing controls, and Fed top sponsor of maximum leverage.

Items from The Economatrix:

Why Home Prices Are Better And Worse
Home Sales Reach Two-Year High as U.S. Rates Fall

Oil Falls As Investors Unconvinced On EU Growth Talk
What’s Stalling The US Recovery? [JWR’s Comment: Gee, could it be that it isn’t a real recovery, just a transient chimera that was conjured up by trillions of dollars that were created out of thin air?]

Odds ‘n Sods:

Jake K. suggested this: Switzerland’s Military Defense Involves Blowing Up All Roads Into The Country

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Swine flu likely claimed quarter of a million lives: study

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$5 Billion Camouflage SNAFU: Army ditches failed combat uniform that put a target on grunts’ backs for 8 years. (A tip of the tried and true Woodland Pattern boonie hat to The Patriot Refusenik for the link.)

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Chad S. recommended this, over at Volokh: OSHA targets shooting range

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And the winner of the world’s most spectacularly failed state is…

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"A dictator enjoys unrestrained power over the people. The legislative and judicial branches voluntarily cede this power or it’s taken by force. Most of the time, it’s given up easily, out of fear in time of war and civil disturbances, and with the support from the people, although the dictator will also accumulate more power with the use of force."  – Congressman Ron Paul