Letter Re: Solutions to the Car Carry Gun Problem

Let me preface this information by saying it only applies to those preppers that live in states where it is legal to possess and carry a handgun in the car.

I live in a state where it is not a problem or an issue to carry a handgun in a vehicle, it has been that way for many years. Our state considers it part of the “castle doctrine”, it is legal for a citizen to defend his castle and his vehicle is considered to be part of that castle.

For years I have carried a variety of weapons, semi’s and revolvers, in my different vehicles. Some in the glove box, some in the console, some under the seat, and some in the pouch behind the passenger seat. My main concern has always been the security of the vehicle when left un-occupied. I have to admit that I have lost two different weapons when I had a vehicle break in.

Because of the possibility of vehicle theft [or theft of contest from a vehicle], I have never wanted to buy a high dollar handgun and have a $500 or even a $1,000 handgun lost. Well, I have found the best of both worlds. A handgun that is a big .40 caliber semi-automatic that works super and costs less than $200.

A good friend that is a retired law enforcement officer introduced me to the Hi-Point SW-40B. Frankly I had never even heard of Hi-Point and the handgun was a very pleasant surprise. The semi-auto is black polymer and has an adjustable rear sight. It shoots like a dream and consumes all types of ammo with no problems. It is also backed by Hi-Points lifetime warranty on repairs if they should become necessary. The great thing is that this pistol is readily available from dealers around the country for $159-to-$189. Check this out.

The only down side I have found about this pistol is it is a real heavy weight. It weighs almost three pounds before it is loaded. It is not what I would want to have as an everyday carry weapon, but that is not the issue here. We are talking about a great car carry gun for not much money. By the way, an almost identical model is also available in .45 ACP if that is your caliber of choice. – Gringo Dude

Letter Re: Ham Radio Privacy

Capt. Rawles,
I enjoy your blog very much, however, I have read several times that you need a physical mailing address to get an amateur (ham) radio license.  I don’t believe that is correct.  If you look closely at FCC form 605, line 15, they ask for a “P.O. Box, and/or Street Address”.     The FCC needs a “address of record”.  One could rent a box at a UPS Store (which gives a street address) they just want to be able to reach you by mail.  You can also register as an “Entity”, i.e. a business, corporation, LLC, etc.  I recently went through the process.  I used an old business that has not been active in years, along with it’s EIN, instead of my social security number.  It should not be very difficult to keep ones actual physical address out of the FCC database, without lying or doing anything illegal. – The Shiny New Tech    

Economics and Investing:

Short sales and foreclosures made up 52 percent of all recent Southern California home sales

Kurt T. suggested this over at Zero Hedge: Guest Post: Caution – Falling Currencies

How many times do I have to mention that there is no proper substitute for taking physical delivery of your precious metals purchases? Here is the latest horror story: Secret Service Raids Upstate Business Atlantic Bullion And Coin Inc. Accused In Alleged Ponzi Scheme. (Thanks to A.L.H. for the link.)

Items from The Economatrix:

Gold “Vulnerable” As US Treasury Bond Market Sell-off Worsens

Europe’s Economic Crisis:  Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and Belgium Following Greece

Retail Sales Suggest Consumers Shrugging Off Gas Prices

You Can’t Beat Silver As An Investment

Odds ‘n Sods:

Todd M. wrote to mention that it should come as no surprise that several of the American Redoubt states are among the the states with the least expensive gasoline, including Idaho, Montana, and low cost champion, Wyoming.

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[Warning! Graphic video.] Stuff happens, unexpectedly. So I recommend that you get right with Christ, today.

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Resistance to antibiotics could bring “the end of modern medicine as we know it”, WHO claim. (Thanks to R.C. for the link.)

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K.A.F. flagged this: How to Live in Your Car. (Don’t miss reading the comments section.)

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Ken L. spotted this: Meals in a Jar — Guest Post by Chef Tess

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth;
And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.” – Philippians 2:5-13 (KJV)

Note from JWR:

Today we present two more entries for Round 39 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 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.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 39 ends on March 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.

Are We Just Preparing Instead of Preparing and Preventing?, by C.W.S.

Generations of Americans have been vigilant in the past about doing what they believed would provide for their families in times of need.  There has always been a large variation in the types of preparations and the extremes each would go to in these measures.  Why?  Because we are all different people with various backgrounds, influences, upbringings, ethnicities, education and finances.  Some people have lived through the Great Depression, or just hard financial times for that matter. Living through this has instilled a belief upon their families to “put a little away for a rainy day.”  This could mean putting some extra money in a savings account, keeping your pantry stocked in case household bills get tight, preparing an education fund for your children, or any number of things.  Many of us have been taught about the virtues of self-sufficiency and how this can help you in life.  Many of us have been taught about the virtues of hard work and learning skills that will help you do things for yourself when the time may arise. These have been values that have made the people of this country so successful in the past.  Oh my…how times have changed.  There was a time in this country when these ideals and beliefs were engrained into the very being of the majority of our citizens.  We have now become the minority and it is a sad state of affairs.  As the minority we have now become stigmatized as extremists, outcasts and possible terror threats to our government.  Who puts that label on us, and why?

I personally believe that we as preppers have done a great service to our families and communities to help prepare for disasters of almost any nature.  What exactly are we preparing for, and is it enough?  We have been preparing for any number of events that could be problems.  In recent week, we have had significant tornadoes in parts of our country causing damage to houses, neighborhoods and even whole towns.  We have encountered earthquakes and wildfires in other parts of our country causing significant damage to property.  Floods, droughts, blizzards, ice storms and other “natural disaster” events regularly put our citizenry at risk.  We also encounter factory closures, loss of industries, layoffs, medical issues and other financial factors that have unraveled the lives of individuals, communities and whole towns.  These are all relatively short-term issues that can be made less life-changing events if you have prepared for them the best you can.  If your preparations have fortunately brought you through the event unscathed then you can go on to charitably take care of your family, friends and community in times of need.  Having supplies of food, water, wood, fuel, cash or precious metals, firearms (for protection and hunting) and emergency medical supplies can make the difference between a disaster and an inconvenience.  There is a great distinction between the two that we as short-term or long-term preppers understand.  I consider the people who prepare only for the one week to one month events I’ve just described to be short-term preppers.  I also respect them for at least having the foresight and caring to prepare at even that level.  I do not consider the “72 hour FEMA -recommended supply”-following people to be doing anything beneficial to help themselves. This is because after three days to one week they will be looking around with their hands out complaining nobody is helping them when they should have been helping themselves.

The events that I’ve described can be understood by just about anyone.  Turn on the television, read the newspaper or browse the Internet and everyone can understand and see these events for what they are.  If you speak with the waiter or waitress at a restaurant about the horrible tornado that just the day before ripped a whole town apart, then everyone wants to talk about it and you are “normal”.  So why is it then, when you want to discuss an event that will cause long-term significant changes to how our civilization lives you are a “nut-job” because these events “can’t happen” in our lifetime.  They seem to imply: “Take off your tinfoil hat and stop talking nonsense and did you see what happened on The Bachelor last night?  Did you hear what movie start just got arrested for…blah blah blah.”  My reply: No but I did read about solar storms and their significant threats on the NASA web site.  It discussed the entire province of Quebec was in darkness on March 13, 1989 due to a solar storm.  Also discussed often by scientists is the Carrington Super Flare of 1859 and the devastating affects it would have in our technological era we are now living in. (Google is your friend for researching both of these events.)  Scientists, astronomers, and many other people would greatly enjoy discussing these events with you but your average citizen not nearly so much.  We could add to the list of events that would cause long-term disruptions to our current lives that most believe certainly could never happen. Let me go through a few potential disaster situations:

Nuclear War – They prepared for that back in the 1950s to 1970s and it never happened so we don’t have to worry.  Asteroid hitting the Earth – The government would shoot it down with a missile or Bruce Willis would blow it up.  Supervolcano? – Never heard of it.  You mean that there are ones under Yellowstone, in Indonesia, in California and many other spots on our planet?  I didn’t hear about that on my local news. Then perhaps you should watch Discovery Channel occasionally.  Long-term affects from these types of things could be devastating.  The majority of our citizens do not fully understand how vulnerable our power grid is or the 3 to 5 day cycle of food supplies and deliveries to our supermarkets.  Our long-term preppers take the time to educate themselves on the possible events that could disrupt our lives as we know it.  Most of these people store food for a year minimum for themselves and family or group they plan on helping.  The Mormons consider 1 year food storage a minimum for all of their followers and try to practice and preach self reliance.  It is a good practice that all people should think about doing if financially prudent.  Did you notice the word people is starting to replace the word preppers in this writing.  The stigmatism of preppers does not belong as it is just normal everyday people looking to become self-sufficient in time of need.  We as these people need to become the majority again.

By this point in this article you must be saying I have no idea what the title means.  You can also see that this is also not a descriptive “how-to” article that would fall in line with giving the writer and advantage in some contest.  I think it is pretty clear that we would have no chance in preventing any of the aforementioned events from disrupting our way of life and we would just do our best to endure and thrive in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event.  There is one very large issue that we can prevent but only if our citizens decide to make a significant change in how we allow things to be done in our country.  If you mention that our government has become too large, unmanageable and destined to fail unless it is fixed you will again be looked at like a “nut-job”.  Our government is too big to fail and we are the most powerful country in the world.  It could never happen, right?  In history we have seen that the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the USSR were all deemed too big and powerful to fail.  Eventually even the largest forest fire burns out.

Let us go back to the beginning of this article and answer the question:  Who puts this label on us, and why?  These labels are put on us by our government and by opinion leaders in he media and in the general population who the government has cultivated into a herd of followers.   The government figured out a long time ago that if we just keep the masses lulled into a happy existence then they will not want to meddle into their political doings…especially if it were to have any affect on the comfortable lives we live.  Politicians also figured out that if they can give money to those who choose not to work (as we know there are a significant number of these people) that they could count on getting voted in at the next election.  Great for the people who can now make more by not working than if they had to get a job, great for the politicians who want to stay in power and great for the everyday hard working American because it never affected their comfortable lifestyle.  This has worked out great for the last few decades because everyone seems to be perfectly happy.  The government found they could take money from hard working people and give it to lazy people to win votes and nobody said they couldn’t or shouldn’t.  Well, if we can do that then why can’t we take away even more resources and the cherished liberties from our citizens?  The politicians are thinking: After all, we the few know what is better for our country as a whole than the populous does right?  So once the politicians gained control of the majority of our citizens, then those who believe they “know what is better for us” , then our rights have slowly been eroded.  But you are asking, “Isn’t that Against the Constitution?”  Who cares because it is for “the safety of everyone.”  But you are asking, “Isn’t that against your right to protect yourself and your family?”  Again, Who cares because it is “for the safety of everyone.”

I live in the state of Massachusetts where the criminal who breaks into your home has more rights than you do, to protect your family.  I can not have a pocket knife shipped to me in the mail by mailorder companies because the Attorney General in Massachusetts threatened lawsuits against companies who do so.  There is no law stating that shipping pocket knives or ammunition is illegal in our state but companies will not ship because they do not want to pay the large legal fees in court against our Attorney General’s office.  Does this sound right or legal?  This is yet another example of what I just outlined: Who cares because it is for “the safety of everyone.”  These types of rights violations against our citizens are happening all over this country by various government agencies, at all levels.  Now we have government agencies that have been able to violate our rights with impunity, tax as much as they choose so they can keep the whole system (failing system at that) afloat and everything is just going to keep on going without change because it is working so well.

Oh wait…our current National Debt is $15.5 trillion which is roughly stating that every US citizen is responsible for roughly $49,500 of this debt.  Please try to explain this to most people and they don’t quite understand because it does not immediately affect them.  We have a very good chance of making our US Dollar almost worthless at some point if fiscal responsibility is not adhered to.  I once read a very good article by John Silveira in Backwoods Home magazine regarding hyperinflation and how destructive it can be, titled: A quick tour of hyperinflation and the possible consequences for America. Most people do not understand the hyperinflation concept. (And in fact I did not fully understand it until after I had read his article.  Please read it if you have time. .  Financial woes of our government will only be solved by reform or more taxes for the working public.  You can choose which you would like to see.

We have one preventable disaster that we can and should be doing everything we can to stop.  Please do the prudent thing and prepare for any natural or unforeseen disaster that you can because it is the right thing to do for your family   Please do the prudent thing and prepare for the preventable disaster by getting involved in your government, knowing your politicians and what they stand for and voting the ones out who will not change things that are not working.  Take the time to tell them they will not receive your vote if they keep infringing on your rights, taking away your ability to protect your family, taking your money to give to others who do not deserve it and spending more than we have as a country.  This is something you can do that is the right thing for your country.  Become an educated and involved citizen. Do not be afraid to tell your government what is not right in your eyes.  Remember one thing as well:  Our founding fathers gave us the Second Amendment right to bear arms not only to protect ourselves from our own citizens but to protect ourselves from the government!  Bring the majority back.

Is It Time for Financial Tough Love in Your Family? by Mrs. Lynne

I want to address a common issue these days for “empty nester” parents.  How much and in what forms do you financially help your adult children?  Over the last two years, this has been our experience. 

First, let me tell you about us.  My husband is in his late sixties, and retired from law enforcement and is living on a pension.  He was diagnosed with throat cancer last year and with God’s grace and first class medical treatment, he is doing all right.   I have a good job in a medium size city.  I am in my mid-fifties.  We live in a modest home on a suburban acre.  We have been married 24 years in a second marriage and our children are from our first marriages.

Here are the kids (most are in their mid-thirties):

#1 Son, Spouse and Teen-Age Son
Seems to be doing all right financially with two incomes in a rental.  We paid $800 in electric bills in the past to catch them up during a period of unemployment.

#2 Son, unmarried
He has been disabled for over a year with back trouble.  He had recent back surgery and applied for Social Security disability.  We paid $1,100 this year to catch up on his expenses.

#3 Son, Spouse and two small children
Two incomes, but one is extremely sporadic. They are underwater on home mortgage to the tune of about $75,000.  We recently paid $675 to catch up on two of their truck payments.  Recent requests for money have been $1,500 for truck repairs and $2,562 to catch up on two late house payments.  They are unwilling to change lifestyle in any way and we have had to push hard to get him to look for more reliable employment. 

#1 Daughter, Spouse, and no children
Financially secure in every way.

#4 Son, Separated with one small child
Major substance abuse problems here.  We are still paying on a loan for his last re-hab stint. (That cost $13,000.)  We paid his rent for an entire year (at $740 per month), bought a van for his wife ($4,000) and gave him a car ($5,000) so he could get back and forth to a new job.

What I want to address is “financial survival” in the face of needy adult children.

 First of all, here are the issues:

  • Kids “keep track” of what the other adult children have been given.  Parents try to make it even.  It is impossible.  Paying rent so your one-year-old granddaughter has a place to live doesn’t necessarily guarantee understanding on the part of some of the other kids even though they did have a place to live.  Our situation is exacerbated somewhat because our kids are from two different marriages.
  • Yes, your grandkids will be used against you.  I can’t tell you how it makes you feel when an adult child tells his father “I used my last forty dollars to buy my kids some food.” 
  • Resentment on our part, as parents.  We try to help financially, but we resent lifestyle choices made by our kids.  Why should we pay a truck payment when two smokers ($10 per day habits ) could quit smoking and probably could make their own truck payment?  We don’t want to be involved in lifestyle choices of our children and we should not have to. 

The constant phone calling for financial help has taken a toll on my husband.  Even during his cancer treatment, I could not get one adult child to stop calling him despite my repeated requests.  I don’t harbor very good feelings for this child even today, a full year later.

So what is the answer?  What is needed is financial tough love.  Literally, the demand for money one week from two different family units was more than my entire take-home-pay for two weeks.  My husband and I sat down and said “enough!”  We have our own mortgage to pay, a car payment, utilities, et cetera.  We can’t as a financial entity support another family easily.  We did that for an entire year and are still trying to recover.

We came to several conclusions.

Our financial security is paramount.  We have nine more years to pay on our mortgage and our house is an important component of our retirement plan, if things last that long.  Our best course of action long-term is to own our home free and clear.  We do not want to be a burden to our children and frankly most of our children are not in a position to help us anyway.  The best thing we can do for everyone is take care of ourselves.  Our home may end up being the only place for several family members to live in the future.

Using our resources to help adult children who refuse to change their lifestyle is ill-advised.  As long as Mom and Dad continue to help financially, there is no reason to make any changes.  I would have done almost anything to avoid asking my parents for financial help and I never did.  I am grateful that they paid for my college education thirty years ago and I have worked hard my entire adult life.  I know times have changed and maybe working hard just isn’t always enough these days, but it has always worked for me.

Son #3 is about 57% underwater on his house.  No equity loans here, he just bought at the height of the market.  I see the writing on the wall on this one.   Nobody wants to go bankrupt, but it happens and only working five hours a week can make it happen pretty fast.  If you can help someone out financially during a short-term blip that is one thing, but when it becomes a chronic, insurmountable issue then you have to cut your losses.  What is worse than one family going bankrupt? Two families going bankrupt

We love our grandkids, but we have to demand that their parents provide for their basic needs.  If that means you take a second job, then find a better job, ditch the cell phones and cable, or get rid of one of your cars; then we expect you to do it.   We took care of you while you were growing up and we expect you to do the same for your children.

Finally, let’s talk about adult children with substance abuse issues.  It is a bottomless hole financially and emotionally.  Throw a pregnancy in the mix and it becomes the worst sort of blackmail.  Parents do their best to fix the problem.  You can provide all kinds of resources; re-hab in various forms, money, doctors, therapists, attorneys…and the list goes on and on.  Ten years later, we are spent financially and emotionally with our #4 son.  I always remember a scene in the movie A River Runs Through It.  The character played by Brad Pitt was beaten to death over unpaid gambling debts.  The pastor father is talking about his son during a sermon.   He remarks that that often times you don’t know what help to give someone and even if you do; they do not want the help anyway.  We finally had to give this issue over to God. 

So, when you can’t provide financial resources to your adult children anymore, then what can you do?

Well, first of all you can provide emotional support.  Not advice, unless they ask for it….just emotional support.  We helped with a resume and sent job leads that we found.  When the inevitable requests for more money came in, we simply told them that if we used our emergency funds to help them, our financial security would be in jeopardy.  We are not rich people and it is all right to convey that to your adult children.

Second, if things get dire, we told them that we would provide them a home with us for a limited period of time while they get back on their feet. They will have a place to live, food to eat and basic utilities.    Traditionally, multi-generational households were common, so we should certainly be able to do it successfully for a limited period of time.  Not having a house payment or paying rent should help adult children settle other debts and save up for a new living arrangement.

Third, we have not shared our views on the coming economic collapse with some of our children.  This has been a shortcoming on our part.  We are continuing to prepare as best we can and we are going to share our views with everyone from now on. We live fairly frugally, and need to use aspects of our lifestyle and experience as teaching moments.

Lastly, let go of the guilt.  When my decade old car finally gave out, I hesitated to get a replacement.  Why?  I was worried one child would say, “Well, I see that you can afford to get another car but you won’t help me out.”  That child probably did think that, but I still needed a vehicle to get back and forth to work. That was simple reality. 

We love our children and some of them have mighty big warts.  We have our warts too.  Doing right by your children sometimes means you have to say “No” to them.  Protect your financial security by deciding how much and in what forms you can help your adult children. [JWR Adds: After some deliberation and concerted prayer, it is important to set limits, and then stand by them.]

Letter Re: The Perpetual Light

James,
The Perpetual Light [marketed by Wiggy’s] is in fact a resale of another company’s product, also made in the Grand Junction, Colorado area.  The other company is UVPaqlite.com.  I’ve had their products for close to six months now and I have been using them the entire time.  Some notes on the lights:

1.  The Glow in the Dark Spots (GIDS) are great to mark emergency gear.  I have one on the ends of several flashlights so I can find them if the power goes out.  I also have one on the end of my bed so I don’t walk into it in the middle of the night.  They do last all night and I can’t say enough good things about the GIDS for marking purposes.  The only other marking spots I’ve used that are as good are ones which contain tritium.

2. The Paqlite (the flat “bag” of crystals) do last all night long … by morning they are close to nothing more than a dim glow that you can’t navigate or read by but for several hours after dark they do provide a “night light” level of light.  I’ve got one in each of my map cases for reading them at night without turning on a flashlight.  And they are easy to recharge with even a small key chain flashlight.

3.  The Tooblite is about the size of a chemical light stick (“chemlite”) and while it does not last as long as the Paqlite (about half the time) it is basically a clear test-tube shaped and sized container of the crystals embedded in a clear plastic.  Not as usable as a chemlite for navigation or reading.  Durable as all though and my large one is attached to my computer bag all the time — its been through multiple airline handling experiences and isn’t even scratched.

4. The material used has a definite preference for the type of light used to charge them up — light sources with UV (such as natural sunlight) create a much brighter, longer lasting, and more natural light (a whitish green glow) vs. incandescent lighting (a soft green glow).  So while any light source can be used, the use of lighting with the UV spectrum is better.

5. At this point I have yet to lose my night vision when using one of these lights.  While its not the usual reddish glow we associate with night-vision saving lights, it seems to work the same.

Finally, as with all sorts of lighting, since it is greenish hued you do not get true colors from objects so lines on maps tend to look the same (blue, green, gray) and even blood vessels are hard to distinguish (red for arteries and blue for veins). Regards, – H.D.

Guest Editorial: Europe is Toast: Why There are No Good Solutions to the European Debt Crisis

I believe that the Euro Currency and indeed the whole European Union are headed for a Titanic-sized crash. I think this crash will happen in the 2012-13 time frame. I believe that there are no solutions to this crisis without a large amount of pain involved for the people of Europe, and the entire global economy.
 
First of all, a couple quick explanations are in order. the Euro Currency is the regional currency used by most (but not all) countries in the European Union. the European Union is a political grouping of European nations. There are some E.U. countries that still use their original national currencies instead of the Euro (Britain and Sweden are examples of this).
 
Europe has multiple economic problems because a lot of their national economies are grossly inefficient and unproductive. Greece is a perfect example of this. A lot of professions in Greece are known as ‘Closed Shop’ professions. This means the hours and days they can be open for business, the rates they charge, and a variety of other business practices are fixed and set by the Greek government. Think about what this means. A truck driver will receive the same pay regardless of whether he delivers on time or not. A lawyer will receive the same pay regardless of whether his legal advice is top-notch or shoddy.
 
European economies structured like this are why Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain ( the so-called ‘PIIGS’ nations) are ALL in dire economic straits and in need of sometimes multiple bailouts. Europe is now faced with either the prospect of the richer, more economically productive nations (mostly just Germany   these days) constantly having to bail out the ‘PIIGS’ , or cutting the PIIGS out of the Euro currency and letting them return to their original national currencies, like the Greek Drachma.
 
Both options are grim. The Germans are already getting tired of having to bail out other countries (the Finns are also getting tired of this, which helps explain the rise of the ‘True Finns’ party since Greece started showing up in the economic news a couple years ago). The Germans and Finns have valid points. Why should they sacrifice to help out other nations who are not as productive as they are. Eventually, they will wise up and stop bailing others out. The PIIGS have so far been incapable of making the  changes needed to be more productive. The Greeks are now rioting and burning down parts of Athens the minute they hear ‘Austerity’. 
 
In hindsight, the Greeks should have never been allowed into the Euro Currency. They were allowed in to promote vague ideals like “European Harmony”. Ideals are nice to have (and to strive for) , but when those ideals threaten the economic stability of entire regions, they need to be discarded upon the ash heap of history. 
 
The Greeks have a interest payment of about $15 Billion on their government debt due on March 20th, 2012. It is a open question if they will be able to make the payment. If they do, great, they have prevented default for a month or so. If they don’t, then they default. One of the ways they have eliminated some of their debt obligations is by telling the holders of their bonds that they can only expect around 30 cents of return for every $1 the investors bought of Greek debt. Yes, this will lessen Greek debt levels, but it comes at a very heavy price. If Greek bond investors know they will be forced to swallow a loss on their investments, then they will simply invest in some other countries bonds in the future. It is that simple. The world is a big place. There are plenty of countries that investors can buy debt from where they will get their full investment back with interest. If there are a lot fewer investors willing to buy Greek debt in the future, then who does the Greek government (and the other PIIGS nations) turn to? The European Central Bank (the equivalent of the USA’s Federal Reserve bank)  is really the only entity who has the balance sheet capable of absorbing all the Greek debt the government has to auction for them to keep the government operating. This choice has bad implications as well. First of all, the European Central Bank (ECB) may have a large balance sheet, but it is not unlimited, They will eventually hit the wall on how much Greek (and other PIIGS) debt they can have on their books. When that happens….then what? This is truly the Billion Euro question.
 
I do not know what the answer is. But it is this very uncertainty that makes me think that Europe’s economic future is dark and getting darker by the day. Even if a miracle happens and the Greeks figure out a total solution to their debt mess, Europe will still need to figure out solutions for Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Maybe one miracle is possible, but five in a row is impossible.
 
What will this mean? Once again, I do not know what the final endgame is, but it will probably be real bad for a long time in Europe. The time for easy, painless solutions ended a long time ago (the United States faces the same grave debt issues, but this will have to wait for a future article).
 
I can be contacted at chicagodudewhotrades@gmail.com.  I welcome any questions, comments, or disagreements. You don’t like what I wrote? Feel free to contact me and argue your side. I write because sometimes I learn as much as I teach. I welcome any opinions.  Thank you for your time.

Economics and Investing:

Matt L. and Pierre M. both sent this: Watch Bernanke’s ‘Little’ Inflation Capsize U.S.: Shlaes

Caller ID spoofing scams aim for bank accounts

Items from The Economatrix:

SurvivalBlog’s G.G. flagged this: David Stockman on Crony Capitalism

More JPMorgan Chase whistleblowing.

UK Could Lose Coveted AAA Rating, Warnings Fitch. [JWR’s Comment: Since our long term obligations are greater, per capita than that of Greece, our bond rating should actually be much lower.]

The Global Economy Is Now More Vulnerable To Oil Prices Than Ever

Odds ‘n Sods:

Dan T. sent a link to a list of the 10 worst tornado states in the country. Dan notes: “I live in Kansas, the #2 tornado state and I’ve never seen a tornado in my life. I’ve seen the results of tornadoes, but have never actually seen one and they excite me more than worry me. I have a basement.”

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Don’t miss this informative piece: How big a Garden? How much seed? (Their other articles are indexed here.)

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J.B. mentioned that an invasive species law is misapplied to heritage breeds: Michigan DNR Going Hog Wild

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Eric sent us a link that underscore lack of EMP and CME readiness: A Drill to Replace Crucial Transformers (Not the Hollywood Kind) Now imagine what will happen if there are simultaneously thousands of blown or fused-to-slag transformers…

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It is sad that States have to take this sort of step to stop implementation of the NDAA bill’s arrest and detention provisions: Military detention legislation divides Virginia Republicans

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” – Deuteronomy 15:11 (KJV)

Note from JWR:

Today we present two more entries for Round 39 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 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.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 39 ends on March 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.

A Lesson From a Loaf of Bread, by C.R.

I’ll start with a little about myself. I am a 21 year old disabled Iraqi campaign vet. I spent four years in the U.S. Army. I joined when I was 17 and started my terminal leave a couple of months before I was 21. I was stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. I was there during the November 5, 2009 shootings. I couldn’t believe the absolute chaos that caused and how unprepared we were for a situation like that, and that was just on a small scale that really only affected Fort Hood. As a whole if that had been a nationwide incident I can only imagine the absolute chaos and anarchy that would have caused. That incident is really what got me interested in being prepared as possible for any situation because as a young Soldier I believed that just a gun would be able to protect you and provide for you in any situation and oh was I so wrong.

After I got out of the Army I started prepping and storing up a food, silver, and a much more extensive ammo supply. I had originally bought my food supply based off the getting started list that Mr. Rawles has on the survivalblog web site. Buying oats, wheat’s and other food staples, I started out first just buying stuff online which was costing me quite a bit of money because I wasn’t shopping around or doing my research causing me to probably spend a couple hundred extra dollars that I could have saved if I would have simply looked around more. After a little bit of research online I was able to find a local store that geared more towards prepping, and I was blown away at how much money I save by signing up for their sales list and only buying certain products when they went on sale, and buying renewable products such as the non hybrid seeds.  My prepping supplies quadrupled in quantity in less than a month because I was shopping smarter and not just buying spur of the moment. One afternoon when I was inventorying everything I had bought, my mom had come over to my house to visit and what she said really got me thinking. She brought up the point of why am I storing a bunch of food supplies that I know nothing about and I don’t know how to use, and to be honest she was right, besides knowing how long they would store for I knew nothing about what I was actually storing. There are a lot of things I store that I know plenty about. My firearms for instance I know how to shoot everyone of them, tear them apart, clean and maintain them, but that’s not enough a gun will not do everything in a survival situation. As an individual you have to have well rounded skills in order to survive. Your knowledge could be the difference between life and death. Knowing how to shoot a gun and clear a building will only get you so far if you can’t eat the food you stocked up.

It really got me thinking, so I started doing research finding recipes, writing them down and then I actually tried them out. After absolutely ruining a couple batches of each recipe, I was starting to get frustrated, and to be honest a little discouraged that I wouldn’t be able to figure it out and that I had wasted a lot of money. I wouldn’t let myself give up though. I started with one thing at a time, for me where I started was the dehydrator trying to make beef jerky. My first batch got left on too long, it was completely dried out and so salty it would have been hard to stomach if you could even get yourself to swallow it. I think it took me about three or four batches to finally figure out how to get the right flavoring and the right amount of time to make a good jerky. Now once I actually got a good batch of jerky I got excited and wanted to learn how to use all of my supplies that I store. So I tried making bread, doing everything from grinding the whole wheat down into flour, making the dough, and then trying to turn it into bread. I was very surprised at how long it actually took to grind the wheat into flour. Now I know why in Mr. Rawles book “Patriots” they hooked up a bicycle to their wheat grinder, I can only imagine how much of difference that would make.

After I ground enough wheat to attempt to make one loaf of bread, my arms were exhausted from turning the grinder. It was now time to try to make my own dough for bread and wow, looking back I can I say my first attempt at it was a complete disaster as well. My “dough” turned into a watery mess that had no hope in ever becoming bread. So then it was back to the proverbial “grinding stone” making more flour. It took me a couple attempts to get useable dough for bread. At first I was using the regular oven in my house to bake the bread, after getting the hang of making the dough, then baking and getting good bread from it I wanted to try going solar. I made my own solar oven that was originally way to deep it never heated up past 150 degrees. I modified my design rebuilt my solar oven and made it much shallower and the next day I was looking at temperatures of 350 degrees or more. More than enough for baking bread, I was thoroughly impressed with how quick it heated up and once it heated up how fast the bread baked inside of it. After making multiple loafs of a certain type of bread I branched off from their and started making different kinds of breads, white bread wheat bread, and before I knew it was up to my eyes in bread. I ended up taking whole loafs to co workers so it wouldn’t go to waste.

Now if I had been in an actual survival situation and I was trying to learn how to use these products then I would have been in deep trouble. We as a society especially the younger generation like myself are so dependent on technology that I would have been lost without it. At the time I had no recipes written down and I had zero knowledge on products I stored. I was relying solely on the Internet to help me learn. Now luckily for me I wasn’t in a survival situation and now I am slowly but oh so surely learning how to use everything I stock up on, and once I do learn how to use it I write everything down in a note book that I also keep in a dry storage container. The main thing I had learned from everything was that I need to diversify my supply more. There are something’s I don’t think I could run out of for years and years, and other stuff I wouldn’t have enough to last two days in a TEOTWAWKI situation.

The best advice I can give anyone especially young preppers like myself is to use what you are storing and if you don’t know how to use it then find out how to, even if it is through trial and error like mine was. It is way better to waste a small amount of your supplies now while it can be replaced then to be in a situation where it can’t be replaced and you end up throwing half of your supply away. I can’t believe the wealth of knowledge I have got in recent weeks. It really blew me away at how truly un-prepared I was for a TEOTWAWKI situation. The knowledge I have gained and will continue to gain by simply experimenting and continuing to learn as much as I can, may very well save my life and one of my family member’s lives. I am trying to become less and less dependent on the everyday technology and more and more dependent on my own resources. 

The best knowledge source we have right now is probably the Internet since you can look up almost anything and find information on it, but one day if we are in TEOTWAWKI and all that technology is gone your best knowledge source is going to be yourself, and if you’re don’t have the knowledge you need well you can kiss goodbye your supplies and everything you’ve “prepped”. I can’t wait till the day that I am completely or at least as much as possible only dependent on what I can grow or make with my own two hands. The more I let go of the technology that has such a firm grip on so many of us the better prepared I will be both mentally and physically if something happens because I will be ready to put my knowledge and experience from pre TEOTWAWKI experiences to good use.