Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 38 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 38 ends on January 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.

“I Can See You” — A Digital View of Your Survival Preparations, by Dave X.

Foreword: 
I design and operate databases for a living.  The newest of these are assembled on analytic platforms structured to “draw conclusions” for clients in a wide (and formerly random) variety of scenarios.  One of my developers is an analytic tools assembly expert who also works for some “security, emergency, and enforcement” government agencies in Washington, DC – all formerly separate agencies, and because of advancements in the technologies — now “interoperating”.  I am also a prepper with a Bug Out locale that fulfills my “survival vision” and inherently has most of the natural survival essentials on site, but one which needs some structural work that would be visible to aerial mapping when implemented.  Another prepper colleague of mine who is part of our group has skills that I will generally classify as “ravine and bluff engineering”.  Together we have tried to develop plans to address the visibility problem, and in doing so have hit a “snag” and have come to a conclusion that might be useful to many readers.  So, it is with some expertise and some insight that I pose some thoughts for you today, with the hope that, if you are already knowledgeable on this subject, you might use these to simply update your information, or if you are not, that I might help to guide some of your decision making as I understand that your survival is at stake.

Two ideas:  Presume for the moment that databases have already classified you as a threat or even a likely insurgent. Presume that your resources and assets are already known and well-catalogued, and that access, use, seizure, and in a worst case scenario, potential counter-insurgency plans are in the “system” that can be implemented against you — precisely directed at what you have been “certain” all along are the excellent and generally secret attributes of your plans in rural and remote areas. 

Most readers might agree somewhat with the first proposition, as previous military experience, FOID cards, post office signatures for receipt of gun parts and ammo, on-line purchases of water treatment, first aid gear, food storage etc. might be among a thousand other data points on-file somewhere with some kind of classification about you suitable to draw this conclusion.   Fair enough.  However, most preppers I have talked to argue that the second of these presumptions defies logic because they are so invested in how they see their retreat and in their belief that their “survival vision” is correct – a vision which can be generalized to be dependent on remote, defensible, small, self-sufficient, off the grid, and stealthy living.   On the surface such strategic plans seem great.  These might be the product of years of thinking, investing, and hard labor.  The location is likely to be vast and rugged or heavily forested.  It’s far from town.  Nobody’s around.  The prepper just wants to be left alone, poses no outward threat, and although he or she can and will defend themselves, they mean no harm to anyone.  These plans are defensive and to be successful, they rely on distance, infrequent communications, and private activities.  “Hard to find and not worth the effort” to take your stuff when TSHTF is the basic assumption.  This is the snag we have run into.   This may be a very false conclusion as I will detail below.

The facts are that local, county, regional, state, and federal database engineers, their supervising bureaucrats, and the analytic tools that they use every day have things sorted out quite differently.  On the basis of regulations and new standards for inter-operability, the whole system may operate on the basis that your “resources” are “not yours” and, when associated with other large scale “emergency planning” scenarios, that your resources may be classified as public resources that can be and are likely to be acquired and controlled. 

At the local level, this assumption is embodied in a concept now well developed into legal reality that the bureaucrats call “custodial responsibility” of your land.  Because in times of crisis some natural resources may become scarce and thus more valuable (you did choose your retreat well), and because they have granted you a “permit” to occupy and use the land, and because you do, then you are more vulnerable to an “intervention” than you may have thought.  And, worse, because this land information data is “integrated” and now “shared” and, in some instances, already merged with other personal data (perhaps your “threat” status?), when TSHTF, emergency management measures may go into effect that allow, and may even direct, emergency access to and use of your land.  Like opening river floodgates with the knowledge that whole communities will be inundated and destroyed, geographic information system (GIS) data often drives decision making and therefore, regardless of property rights, the gates will open and the torrent will roll out across the countryside.  The analogy is apt.  Rural and remote geographies may deliberately be used in emergency management situations to absorb some of the impact of civil disaster, to provide material resources, to disperse the energy of the unrest, and to reduce as much stress as quickly as possible on more densely inhabited areas and infrastructure.

This is a tough scenario for preppers, as it runs counter to much of our planning, and therefore this idea of public access and use may be dismissed by those who are betting that they are safely out of the way and that the riots and mayhem will be contained in urban areas.  But it is one which can be more easily understood and perhaps accepted after a cordial and scheduled visit by you to your county zoning office (or web site).  More on this in a moment.  First, some additional and quite prepper-sympathetic context.

Many of us have our remote retreats ready or almost ready.  Most of the money has been spent.  We have completed our “lists of lists” with some degree of satisfaction (there’s always more to do).  And now we are increasingly confident that we were “right” and that our efforts make sense.  Economic, political, and violent events are reaching crisis status worldwide and many of these now occur much closer to home.  We find ourselves in a departure mode, just trying (before we leave) to encourage previously skeptical relatives and friends to understand the inevitable outcome of these events; to join us, and to answer the call to perpetuate and perhaps defend our God-given freedoms.  We have come to a “final” acceptance that the world is going to cataclysmically change and that TEOTWAWKI is upon us. 

However, we may be quite mistaken about this.  TEOTWAWKI has already occurred!  And not in a way that we might have expected with the lights going out and cities on fire.   It happened in a small office in a rural or remote American county when the final little corner of a gridded digital foundation layer within an ArcGIS® and ArcView® database was scanned in and added after 30 years of data development – one that finally incorporates (perhaps) your own remote parcel of land.

Unaware (perhaps “untroubled” says it better) of the long-term “land planning” effort to complete of ubiquitous federal, regional, state, or county “mapping initiatives”, preppers have worked to gather their resources.  We may have even used GIS tools in order to acquire our land, set up our survival plan, and implement our survival vision.  And now, because all the indicators of genuine conflict are imminent, preppers feel that it is finally time to finally occupy and use their land – to retreat from people and events – to fortify and guard those second homes, retreats, and redoubts.  Thus, operational or tactical (rather than strategic) conversations about high ground, fields of fire, virtual and physical moats, sensors, buried propane tanks, sentry duty, and keeping marauders at bay more frequently occur. 

Our final preparation discussions may go further (now that most resources are in place) about how to care for other family members and trusted friends who may be ill or disabled, and how to provide assistance to elderly parents.  Yet, because some tiny bit of data was added to a database (even as far back as 1980 in some counties), the implementation of some of our own acquisition, defensive, and operational plans may be too late, and even unnecessary for reasons outlined below.  Building and burying concrete bunkers may not actually be a good idea… and setting up “tank traps” and defensive barriers may be a waste of time and resources and best put aside while we turn to more collaborative strategies and address more immediate needs such as tending woodlots, raising chickens, planting square foot gardens, networking with like-minded neighbors, and perhaps learning to do dentistry in case there are no dentists (Yikes!  Unlikely, but you gotta have some sense of humor in all this.)

The facts are that there are present in county offices in many small towns “experts with plans” that may surprise and even shock many preppers.   When you meet them on a friendly and professional basis, you will conclude that they are generally well-meaning and think their work for various government agencies is vitally important for the common good (think of rapid responses to 911 calls or management of hazardous waste disasters).  But, after all the good will, legal argument, and fuzzy feelings are expressed, they will tell you and may even show you what they have been doing and what they can actually do under the common rules for zoning: referred to in some states as Land Information Planning (LIP). 

LIP can be summarized as integrating and sharing data in “layers” of GIS data about the precisely-located Bug Out Place you think is your own – all of which is designed to fulfill and support the afore-mentioned custodial responsibilities by authorities.  The GIS digital system works by assembling “foundational” and common data elements, by establishing inter-agency government agency training, communications, and education programs, and by facilitating “technical assistance” for all kinds of authorities at the local, state, and federal level.

The simple truth is that they know where you are.  They know who you are.  They know what you have.  They may already know what you are doing or may be capable of doing (think of all the county departments that have your records digitized — Deeds, Tax Rolls, Land Records, Surveyor, Planning, Zoning, Sheriff, Emergency Management, Agriculture, Forestry, and IT just to name a few).

Among the GIS layers (some scanned-in and digitized decades ago) are “new” and very sophisticated GPS-controlled geographic reference frameworks developed for parcel mapping, parcel administration, public access (including back roads and even footpaths if well used via Regional Road Directory (RRD), soils mapping, wetlands mapping, land use mapping. (Got a garden?  Hobby farm?  Spring?  Pond?  Shoreline? Serious acreage?, then “natural resources”, infrastructure and facilities mapping may already have you mapped. (Think in terms of electric grid, phone and computer services, gas and oil pipelines, water, septic, sewage, pumping stations, dams, bridges, etc.) There is also something called Forestry Reconnaissance, and “institutional arrangements and integration” (think police and emergency access).  Much of this foundational data across the USA has been completely compiled — and nearly all of it is now updated by aerial observation on a semi-annual or more frequent basis.  You can’t hide what you are doing.  And, if you can’t easily do it now, you may not be able to do what you want to do later when TSHTF without a lot of help, time, and energy.

Want a visit from an “inspector”?  Then dig a hole.  Clear a field.  Add a roof.  Cut a fence line. Plant. Irrigate.  Mound dirt from an underground excavation.  Drive across dusty open land.  These visual and sometimes thermal “changes” on base layer information clearly appear on the GIS updates.  They are computer-compared and professionally observed.  They are automatically evaluated then flagged.  The flagging may prompt “interventions” at any time (think EPA) and may prompt other more unexpected activities once TSHTF (and possibly much more importantly and nasty) once these GIS databases are hacked and the core information is distributed to “unfriendlies” who are smart enough to want it and get it.    

This observation on our technological vulnerability suggests that building our “castles and moats” and spending our energy and money in hopes to hide out, get off the grid, and live peacefully in small tribes is not nearly as rational as we might wish, and that a secondary strategy should be adopted which recognizes that they can easily “see us”, that well-established, redundant, and hardened technology is our enemy, that TEOTWAWKI has already occurred, and that for some very good reasons we better rethink about what our “survival vision” really should be. 

Since our assets are easily observed and already ranked and prioritized by “value”, our survival preparation may more effectively depend on revealing and then linking these resources among ourselves, and by establishing new networks and creating closer relationships with others in our geographies with whom we can communicate, get to quickly, and achieve the advantage of mass in either defensive or offensive actions.  An understanding (maybe acquisition and use?) of GIS technologies and mapping can enable preppers to make more flexible plans and be much more “mobile” and responsive to threats.  With LIP as a controlling factor, using the information and technology may be more valuable than barbed wire and bullets to stem the tide.  More like-minded people must easily be gathered when authorities may be overwhelmed or when those authorities bring their own action against us as we are flagged as perceived or real threats. 

Summary and Conclusions:  We may reluctantly concede that as individuals we may already be digitally classified as threats and therefore potential insurgents.  The bigger issue is that we may also have to agree that our hide-out survival vision may be incorrect and need substantial modification.  It is a fundamental mistake to think we are not “visible” in our retreats in the mountains or the woods.  Knowing that even small local governments have generally completed LIP initiatives, that the data is transferable and shared with  other databases, that authorities have assumed or have been legally granted “custodial responsibilities” for our property and our resources, we must contemplate modifying our vision from one where success is no longer entirely based on distance, infrequent communications, and on trying to create and carry out “invisible” private activities to one where closer proximity, more frequent communications, common use of data tools and technology, and more open and direct action can hold back the tide when TSHTF.

A personal note and an excellent example:  Throughout history there are countless examples of successful survival strategies and tactics, but one family story comes to mind that is worth telling as it relates to the use of geography and local resources, and to the development of a perception and a reality for an enemy that a fight they wanted was not worth making – where the battlefield was well understood by the defenders, where communications and mobility were key factors, and where the outcome was a great conflict successfully avoided and everyone survived. 

The setting was Cincinnati in 1862.  Confederate General Kirby Smith had arrived on the scene with a formidable, well trained and well equipped army, capturing Lexington Kentucky.  Smith ordered his junior officer, General Henry Heth to cross the Ohio River and capture Cincinnati.  With a real battle looming, Ohio was in an uproar.  Defensive resources were slim.  The Governor and Union Officers called for volunteers.  Riders went out to the surrounding counties and armed men responded to their call.  Nearly 16,000 civilians would come into town carrying “antiquated” weapons, and this body was properly and proudly referred to as the Squirrel Hunters.  These men had no military training, but “they could shoot the eye out of a squirrel at 100 yards”.  My own great-grandfather was among them.  The name and size of the group said it all, and within a few days, the Confederate forces withdrew and left the area.  Crossing the river under the fire of back country sharpshooters was not an option.  Well-understood geography, quick communications, and responsive people saved the day.

Citations, Locales, and Sourcing: [Deleted by the Editor, for OPSEC.]

Pat’s Product Review: Kahr Arms CM9 9mm Pistol

The first 9mm handgun that I ever owned was the S&W Model 39. I carried that gun on-duty as a private investigator for a long time. I had a lot of confidence in that gun. And, back then, it was considered a real light-weight pistol at around 28 ounces, and it held 8+1 rounds of 9mm ammo – more than enough to stop most hostile actions, with a spare 8-rd mag on-hand, it was a hot seller. The Model 39 wasn’t exactly a compact pistol by any stretch of the imagination. If you wanted something smaller, many folks went to itty-bitty .25ACP pistols of some sort – and they were (and still are) notorious for not stopping fights.
 
The biggest problem back in the 1970s was that, the only 9mm ammo you could get, that would reliably feed in a 9mm handgun was FMJ (Full Metal Jacket). And, it was not known as a fight-stopper. (And it still isn’t). There were a few jacketed hollowpoint (JHP) and soft point (SP) 9mm rounds, but none of them really fed 100% all the time in my S&W Model 39. Still, I carried that gun for a long time, with 9mm FMJ ammo. Call me young and dumb – back then! Today, my choice would be one of the better JHP 9mm loads – which are proven man stoppers.
 
We’ve come a long, long way from the S&W Model 39. Today, we have all manner of sub-compact 9mm handguns, that reliably feed all manner of JHP ammo. I still remember the first Kahr 9mm handgun I saw – I bought it! I simply couldn’t believe how super-smooth the double-action only trigger pull was on the gun. Many gun writers have said that Kahr is the Rolls Royce of DAO trigger pulls, and I’m not gonna dispute that.
 
The 9mm round still isn’t my first choice (today) as a man stopper. However, with the better 9mm JHP rounds on the market, I’d have no problem carrying a 9mm handgun as my main gun. Black Hills Ammunition, Buffalo Bore Ammunition and Winchester Ammunition all have some hot-stepping JHP rounds that are good fight stoppers. And, they also have +P rounds as well as +P+ rounds, too. Those really brings the stopping power of the 9mm round way up on the scale as a fight-stopper if you ask me. However, not all 9mm handguns are rated to handle the hotter +P and +P+ rounds – and I don’t think any maker will actually warrant their handguns to stand-up to +P+ use.
 
The gun under review here is the newly released Kahr Arms CM9. This is their new economy version of their 9mm sub-compact line-up. The slide is stainless steel, with a polymer frame. Magazine capacity on the CM9 is 6+1 rounds, and the gun only comes with one magazine, but spare mags are readily available. With a 3″ barrel, and a double action only (DAO) trigger pull of about 6 pounds, the little Kahr weighs in at only 14 ounces. Not the lightest sub-compact 9mm on the market, but it’s near the top of the list. The sights are also polymer, with the rear being drift adjustable for windage, and have the bar-dot combat type of sight – fast and easy to pick-up, even with my aged eyes. The length of the gun is 5.42″, height is only 4″ and the slide width being .90″ – so this is one tiny 9mm pistol. There is no external/manual safety on the CM9. However, [like a Glock] there are internal safeties that prevent the gun from accidentally firing if dropped.
 
I will say, though, that the poly Kahr pistols don’t have the same super-smooth DAO trigger pull as the metal-framed Kahr’s had. However, that’s not to say there is anything “wrong” with the trigger pull on the poly guns. It’s still smooth as butter – just not quite as smooth as the older metal frame guns were. I still think the Kahr line of handguns has one of the best DAO trigger pulls on the market.
 
As always, read the owner’s manual before taking your Kahr out for a test run. Kahr still advises that you shoot at least 200 rounds of ammo through their guns to break them in. Over the past couple of years, I haven’t had to do that – with the older Kahr’s I did. However, it’s still a good idea to run about 100 rounds of whatever self-defense ammo you want to carry in your Kahr to make sure it will function reliably with that particular load.
 
I had no problems with standard FMJ 9mm ammo, and I also ran some +P JHP through the little Kahr from Winchester, Black Hills and Buffalo Bore. I had no problems with any of the +P JHP ammo – but it did let me know that I had some hot ammo in the gun, and I wouldn’t want to shoot +P through this Kahr all day long. The only ammo I had problems with was the Buffalo Bore +P+ ammo – it was just too hot for the Kahr to reliably handle all the time. Buffalo Bore makes some really hot 9mm +P+ ammo and some handguns won’t handle it – period! While the CM9 did work with this Buffalo Bore load about half the time, I wouldn’t trust the gun to handle it in a self-defense situation. This is why you have to test the self-defense ammo you plan on using, to make sure you gun will function with it 100% of the time. The light-weight of the CM9, plus the slide velocity was the killer with the Buffalo Bore +P+ ammo. I concluded that the slide was moving too fast and the stout magazine spring still wasn’t pushing the rounds up fast enough so the slide could catch them and feed them into the chamber.
 
My preferred 9mm JHP round for the little CM9 is the new Black Hills 9mm 115 grain +P TAC-XP all copper bullet round. This is really new from Black Hills, and I’m impressed with it. The gun also performed flawlessly with the Winchester Supreme 124 grain JHP +P round, and this would be a great choice in the CM9 as well. With either the Black Hills or the Winchester +P rounds, you know you’ve got a handful of power there, and you need to really hold onto the little Kahr. I tried to limp-wrist the CM9 to see if I could get it to malfunction – it didn’t – but that’s not to say it won’t. As with all polymer guns, you really need to lock your wrist – if you don’t, you’re inviting a malfunction – when you least need one.
 
In all, I fired over 300 rounds of ammo through the little Kahr, over several days, and there were zero problems – excluding the +P+ ammo. Maximum distance was 15 yards, and I think that’s a fair test for accuracy with a little 3″ barrel pistol. I was getting groups around 3″ at 15-yards, and that’s good enough for such a little gun, with such a short barrel. All firing was done standing – I didn’t sandbag the gun.
 
The little Kahr CM9 did buck with the +P loads, as expected. However, with standard velocity 9mm FMJ loads, the CM9 was pretty tame – and for such a lightweight gun, that surprised me. I honestly thought I’d get more “kick” from a 14-ounce pistol.
 
All things considered, the Kahr CM9 earns a place as a back-up to whatever my main gun might be. The only reason the CM9 didn’t earn a spot for me as my main gun is that, given the short barrel and limited magazine capacity, I’d like something more for a main carry gun. Now, that’s not to say that you can’t carry the little CM9 as your main carry piece – I know several people who do carry sub-compact 9mm Kahr’s as their one and only gun, and that works for them. A friend of mine, a retired FBI Agent, who also served as a firearms instructor at the FBI Academy, routinely carries his Kahr sub-compact 9mm as his one and only gun. He owns several Kahrs in 9mm and .45ACP.
 
As always, if you decide to carry the little CM9 as your one and only gun, make sure you purchase and carry at least one spare magazine with you. My choice of carry would be in an ankle holster for the CM9. I personally know several guys who carry their Kahr’s in a pocket holster or an in the waistband holster.
 
Full retail on the CM9 is $565 – a bit steep, but you can usually find them for quite a bit less if you shop around. If you want one of the smallest, and most concealable 9mm pistols on the market, and that has one of the best DAO trigger pulls – then check out the new CM9 at your local dealer. You could do a lot worse for your money. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio

Letter Re: How to Drain an Abscess

I have to agree with the recommendations for using Ichthammol for treating splinters and abscesses.  Put it on the toughest, tiniest sliver and overnight it is out.  Another extremely helpful use is to treat ingrown toenails, a condition that might necessitate minor surgery otherwise.  It is truly wonderful stuff!  Anything that smells that bad has got to be powerful medicine. – Maine Cruiser

Economics and Investing:

Gerald B. recommended: The Engineered Euro Crash – William Engdahl on GRTV. Engdahl explains how the Greek government concealed the extent of their debt by using exotic derivatives provided by Goldman Sachs, and how Greece was later slammed by George Soros and “the Big Boys”. JWR Adds A Bit of Humor: But don’t blame Goldman Sachs, since any Greek will tell you that derivatives were invented in Greece. (After all, everything was a Greek invention.)

Zero Hedge reports another Latvian bank run.

Gold Model Forecasts $4,380 Gold Price. [JWR’s Comment: I’m generally anti-chartist, but this provides some food for thought.]

Looking for Inflation? It’s Hiding in Smaller Package Sizes

Andre D. sent this: Nigel Farage Was Right!

HSBC Sues MF Global Over $850,000 of Gold

Items from The Economatrix:

Europe Facing Either German Domination or Financial Collapse

The Detainee: A Tale Of Collapse (Fictional, but well-written.)

Odds ‘n Sods:

The often-cited “Selco” forum posts with first-hand accounts of surviving the war in Bosnia have been gathered and edited by the Editor of TacticalIntelligence.net: SHTF Survival Q&A: A First-Hand Account of Long-Term SHTF Survival.

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“The Old 16R” sent stumbled across a fascinating account while doing some research on food storage.  He summarizes: “From what I can tell from the somewhat garbled [automated] translation, it seems that a chunk of old masonry fell from the second floor of a building on the grounds of a hospital in Germany.  When the blocks fell they revealed an attic storage room that had been sealed up for decades.  The room had apparently been used to store field mess supplies during the US occupation of Germany, shortly after WWII.  Some of the cans look to be in bad shape, but others are surprisingly clean.”

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The makers of the Flashlantern are offering readers of SurvivalBlog FlashLanterns with a compatible Dorcy LED flashlight for $69.95, just until Christmas. It is noteworthy that although the Dorcy flashlights are made in China, the FlashLantern is precision made in the USA. We have tested these here at the ranch and they work quite well, throwing a very useful ring of light. The FlashLantern is incredibly sturdy.

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J.B.G. sent this: Norway butter shortage threatens Christmas treats

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Ready Made Resources has announced several bonus offers that run through December 31st, 2011: On any Mountain House order over $2,500, they are giving away your choice of a Goal Zero 30 Watt solar panel or a Big Berkey water filter. On Mountain House orders over $1,000, they are are giving away a Katadyn Combi water filter. And on Mountain House orders over $500, they are giving away a free Ultimate Survival Tool Kit.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The Fed thinks they are playing with a thermostat – the house is too cool so we dial it up a little bit, now it’s too warm, so we dial it down. In reality, they are playing with a nuclear reactor. If you get it wrong, you’re going to have a meltdown.” – James Rickards

The Gray Market Role of Defunct Coinage in a Cashless Society

I’ve received several e-mails and letters from SurvivalBlog readers, asking me if and when I believe that a “cashless society” is coming. My response is: Yes, I do believe that it is coming, but I can’t say when. There are some that have argued that a currency collapse will be used as the pretense to implement a multi-continental or even global digital currency. Most likely it would be in the form of a debit card, similar to what has been popularized in Germany with EuroCheck (EC) Cards. I mentioned these cards in my most recent book, “Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse”. These cash equivalent debit cards would resemble outwardly a bank debit card, but would be issued by the Federal Reserve, and would be tied to your Social Security Number. Like a debit card, they would have a PIN used for password protection.

Say that a cashless society comes about. What will happen to all of the old paper currency? There will obviously have to be a deadline for it to be turned in for exchange. (For a credit on your card.) But what about coinage? Will that also be phased out? Officially, yes, but I predict that unofficially, there will still be a lot of it in circulation, in an entirely unofficial Gray Market.

In my estimation, coinage cannot be completely banned, for several reasons:

1.) Large numismatic collections exist, with many owned by wealthy and influential people. There is a long-standing legitimate reason to preserve them. It is noteworthy that even the notorious gold coin and bullion seizure by the FDR Administration under Executive Order 6102 exempted numismatic coins. To ban coin collections would cause a huge uproar and surely be deemed an illegal “taking” by any reputable court.

2.) There are millions of forgotten piggy banks and coin jars in private homes. For these small coin hoards to be declared contraband would be absurd.

3.) The melting of coins for their scrap value would soon become universally legal. (It is presently considered a crime.) It would clearly be in the government’s best interest to have the defunct coins “out of sight and out of mind.” But obviously some coins not yet melted down into ingots would have to be legal. I predict that governments will simply put a deadline on convertibility. Past the deadline, you would be “stuck” with the old coins, just as you would with the old paper currency.

4.) Coins have long been used mounted in jewelry and even in sculptures, and exceptions would have to be made to keep those coins legal.

5.) There is an important distinction between paper currency in the U.S. and our minted coinage: The paper currency–Federal Reserve Notes and their electronic ledger entry equivalents–are debt-based and created by the Federal Reserve (a private banking cartel) in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving. But all of our coinage is created directly by the U.S. Mint, at taxpayer expense. So any effort to ban coinage would face a much stronger challenge in the courts on Constitutional grounds than a ban on paper currency.

With the safe assumption that it will still be legal to hold (but not necessarily conduct trade in) U.S. coinage, we can therefore conclude that:

A.) A large portion of the currently-circulating coinage will be turned in for redemption through banks and credit unions to the U.S. Treasury, for credit back to citizens, digitally.

B.) Use of foreign currencies for private domestic transactions will be banned shortly before or concurrently with announcement of the digital currency. (Like the Mafia, governments hate competition.)

B.) Gresham’s Law dictates that a large portion of the citizenry will turn in their relatively worthless post-1965 dimes, quarters, Sacagaweas, Suzies, and Presidential Dollars. But many people will wisely hang onto their pennies and nickels, since their base metal value is higher than their face value. And it goes without saying that nearly everyone will continue to hoard their 90% silver pre-1965 coins as well as their 1965-1970 (40% silver) half dollars.

C.) A gray market will immediately spring up in pennies and nickels, for small transactions, and pre-1965 silver coins for larger transactions.

D.) I further predict that both the coinage gray market and vast barter networks will quickly catch on in part because of interest by some Christians who fear that digital currency is The Mark of The Beast, as prophesied in the Revelation of John.

E.) Even though officially discouraged, the coinage-based gray market will not be vigorously prosecuted. Doing so would be politically unpopular. And because the collective value of all of the coinage in circulation is miniscule compared to the ocean of paper dollars, it will be considered a non-issue–something “not worth bothering with.”

Here are some numbers to consider (with a snapshot of values as of 11 December, 2011), courtesy of the fine folks at Coinflation.com:

Description Denomination Metal Value % of Face Value
1909-1982 Cent (95% copper) $0.01 $0.0235320 235.32%
1982-2011 Cent (97.5% zinc) $0.01 $0.0053489 53.48%
1946-2011 Nickel $0.05 $0.0526885 105.37%
1965-2011 Dime $0.10 $0.0198488 19.84%

So, in essence, a nickel is still worth a nickel, but a dime is now just a copper token only worth about 2 cents. This makes it obvious that pennies and nickels are worth retaining, but the larger denomination coins are not.

(By the way, Coinflation also publishes some very useful information about silver coins. Be sure to bookmark those pages and print out reference hard copies of the key tables.)

Take a few minute to re-read my article about stocking up on nickels. With the advent of a cashless economy in mind, it makes even more sense to save your nickels!

Two Letters Re: How to Drain an Abscess

Hi Mr. Rawles, 
I am happy to see the additional information to address abscess drainage in a SHTF situation. Thanks to Dr. Prepper for the  drawing salve idea. I did a pub-med search and found the icthammol does have antibiotic properties although I could not find the mechanism for white cell migration to the surface. I know ranchers use this stuff and modern medicine doesn’t always have all the answers. Thanks.

Ladydoc is exactly right about using a big enough incision to get wide drainage without going into healthy tissue-very good addition. I also liked the fact she clarified that even if you did not have lidocaine you still need to drain the abscess. Thanks.

As far as packing an abscess, there is plenty of evidence in the new literature that there is no need to pack, it is painful and may actually delay healing. Read: O’Malley et al. Routine packing of simple cutaneous abscesses is painful and probably unnecessary. (Acad Emerg Med 2009;16:470-73.)

There is also new literature to suggest that lidocaine with epinephrine is also safe for those abscesses on fingers or noses, but since I think the prudent thing to do is to find a prepper doctor in the instance you have a finger or facial abscess, I was addressing the the other instances. Read: Plast Reconstr Surg. 2001 Feb;107(2):393-7. Do not use epinephrine in digital blocks: myth or truth?

I know tradition dies hard in medicine, but being a doc in an teaching hospital, I have to keep up with the newest literature or the residents would soon discount my teaching.  I guess this serves to show there is no “one right way” to do things in medicine. – Lonestar Doc

 

Dear Mr. Rawles,
As an avid young follower of your blog, I would like to comment on the article titled, ‘How to drain an abscess’. I am presently a neurosurgery resident in, and my exposure to operating room procedures involving drainage of abscesses makes my advice applicable in this case. I have drained abscesses with various general surgeons and trauma surgeons during my earlier training. In concordance with the well-written and practical article, an abscess may be drained without
the use of local anesthetics.

In fact, the pH of the tissues surrounding an abscess is too low to permit the natural use of local anesthetics in the ‘-caine’ family. For example, for lidocaine to permeate into the axon of the nerve fiber, to block the membrane channel on the axon surface and to halt transmission of the pain fiber (which is the goal of lidocaine), the pH must be high enough (physiologic levels in healthy tissue is adequate) so that lidocaine is in the unprotonated form.

Essentially, infected tissue is acidic, and the form of lidocaine cannot enter the cell membrane and will not help the individual. Draining abscesses in all that I have witnessed where local anesthetic is very painful. The best outcomes I have witnessed for the patient is to limit pain by performing the procedures as quickly as possible. A cruciate incision is all that is necessary, large enough to allow irrigation with saline and self-drainage. Unroofing the abscess is done by most of the surgeons I have assisted to prevent reclosure of the dome of the abscess and recurrence.

Thank You again for your great web site, as well as your books. I have moved from a rural area of upstate New York to Philadelphia for residency, and I can only more agree with you that we live in a vulnerable society. My friends and I have a love for Austrian Economics and with that, we have only been more and more concerned with the state of our currency, the more we learn about our economic practices. Thanks again, Sincerely, – G.M.

Economics and Investing:

Jim Rogers: “The U.S. Federal Reserve Is Lying To Us”

By way of Tamara’s View From The Porch blog: Like it or not, the euro is doomed. Tam’s comment: “Formerly the province of goldbugs, nationalists, and other assorted doomsayers, predictions of the Euro’s imminent demise are going mainstream. This is the inevitable result of letting Arthur Bach and Ebenezer Scrooge share a joint checking account.”

An interesting 20 minute interview with Jim Sinclair. He discusses: increasing precious metals market turbulence is looming, MF Global, a key change in bankruptcy laws (that benefits derivatives holders), hypothecation, and a fundamental shift in the safety of securities clearinghouses. Some choice Sinclair snippets: “The market mechanism is broken”, he predicts “Quantitative Easing to infinity”, and opines: “You don’t need [a] major nation invasion to have a Third World War when one takes place every day in the bond market.” He also stresses personally holding physical gold and silver. Most importantly, he says: “Take care of yourselves, because nobody else is going to do it for you. Be your own central bank, and be your own clearinghouse.”

Items from The Economatrix:

Guns & Gold:  The Trading Strategy For Our Times

Consumer Sentiment Up, Trade Gap Narrows

Europe Has Never Faced Bigger Risk of Exploding–Sarkozy

French Banks Downgraded By Moody’s

Odds ‘n Sods:

I deliberately held off on mentioning anything about the “FBI pressures the LDS cannery for lists of customers” brouhaha that was created by Alex Jones, even though I had more than 150 e-mails from readers in the past four days urging me to cover the story. Something about the incident just sounded fishy to me. So now the truth comes out, in SouthernBellePrepper’s video blog: Answers on Mormon cannery controversy. (Credit to M.D.C. for the link.)

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Life imitates art: Police to test laser that ‘blinds rioters’. (Thanks to Morris for the link.)

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I read that Pantry Paratus is currently running special for free shipping on any order over $100.

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Alaska Governor Sean Parnell Proposes $4.9 Million For Emergency Food Caches. (A hat tip to Jason W. for the link.)

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Speaking of Alaska, several readers sent this: Frozen beer helped man trapped in snow drift survive. (Driving anywhere outside of city limits in Alaska without carrying a sleeping bag and other key survival gear is foolhardy! Ditto for the Lower 48, in winter driving conditions.)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Because all of the large nations in the Eurozone are still suffering from deficits above the supposedly required debt-to-GDP limit of 3%, none of them is in a position to bail out the PIIGS without borrowing even more. The PIIGS’ solution — which is nothing but a stopgap measure — is for the semi-profligate governments in the North to co-sign on the bank’s loans for the totally profligate PIIGS. The banks will lend to the North, and the North will then buy Eurobonds, which do not yet exist and are unconstitutional. The semi-solvent North can delay immediate default by PIIGS by lending them money to pay the banks interest on their
existing debt. No one will pay down principal. Every nation will steadily borrow more. This is Ponzi-scheme finance, and everyone knows it.

The debate is over which profligate nation’s signature on the debt will persuade lenders to buy the new debt at low interest rates. The lenders know that these loans will not be repaid. All investors in sovereign debt, from the Great Depression until today, have assumed this. Liquidity is provided by other buyers. If anyone wants to sell his bonds, there supposedly will be buyers. The sellers assume that they will be able pass on the Old Maid: the IOU-fiat-money certificates issued by fiscally profligate, deficit-running governments.” – Dr. Gary North

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 38 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 38 ends on January 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.

Save Them!, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

Spokane was sparkling with light and still bustling when I looked out at it from a downtown building last night. So beautiful in the darkness. My thoughts went out to the hundreds of thousands of little children, women, grandmothers, grandfathers, boys, girls, and men those lights represented. Not just people – persons, each one unique, each with God’s calling on their lives for His purposes. Yet most of them are lost: hopelessly adrift in an empty, frantic, stupid, shallow culture of blindness and conformity and entertainment. Like the people of Jonah’s time they metaphorically don’t know their right hand from their left hand. They’re not so much like sheep anymore these days (I have sheep and know their nature), they’re more like stereotypical lemmings rushing to their mass suicide, in a million different ways.

My heart goes out to them – there, but for the grace of God, go I. There are so many of them. Thankfully, interspersed among them are those who are good, who are strong, who are aware and informed, who can be counted on to rise to the occasion in a crisis. Many of these are already prepared for the spectrum of nation-destroying crises which loom ahead in the mist of time: EMP, pandemic, a New Madrid earthquake, mini-ice age, drought, nuclear terror, persecution and tyranny. And still more – you know the list…

They – like my wife and I – have worked, studied, sacrificed, and planned so that their families will be shielded from the brunt of whatever comes that our sovereign God permits in these last days. Together we preppers are “brothers in arms” as it were, in this exceptional pre-crisis mobilization.
I’ve long pondered what my purpose in these days might be. And I’ve concluded that it’s not enough – for me, at least – to survive merely in order to survive another day. There must be a greater purpose. And so there is.

A few weeks ago our pastor shared this passage that held a vital insight for me: A person once asked Jesus, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘… you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” – Mark 12:29-31 (NLT)

Much to my surprise, no matter how preoccupied I become with the many concerns and issues and problems of our day, my heart always comes back to my Creator. I may wander, but He guides me back. I’m drawn irresistibly to him, as the Sun’s gravity holds the earth to its course in space. I may not always show it – how I WISH I did – but Jesus has become the center of my existence. And in Him is great strength, and the peace I so desperately need. Most of you know of what I speak. It’s certainly not about what great followers “we” are. It’s about how great HE is and how he captivates our hearts. And in this way we begin to fulfill the “most important” purpose of our lives.

But there is a fundamental second goal – a deep purpose worth living – and dying – for: to “love our neighbors.” Unfortunately, the task of preparing for an End-of-The-World-As-We-Know-It catastrophe is well nigh overwhelming, particularly at the beginning. Prepping can easily become so intensely focused on studying/training/purchasing for self- and family-preservation, and it’s so intrinsically defensive, that we lose all perspective. And as “survival” becomes everything, so we slowly begin to forget that the path of satisfaction and joy, healing of our own hearts’ wounds and an enriching sense of purpose – those things we long for and work so hard for – is found in serving others.

And, yes, it’s just hard to think charitably about the very ones who might become in desperation the dreaded Golden Horde and prey on those we love. “It’s their own fault, they could have gotten informed, they do not deserve our help, they played while we prepared, they are fools…” – it’s all, tragically, true. But this is what the virtues of mercy and pity and compassion are all about! Tragedy and calamity and danger do not negate the simple truth of this second “most important commandment.”

This is easier to consider if our preps are well along. But even if we are in the “panic phase,” realizing we’ve begun “too late” to prep, we can still do something now. We need not wait until all of our own plans are totally complete before we consider others. It’s true, that we cannot save them all. We just can’t. But can we really just do nothing and hunker down while the world goes mad around us? We turn our backs on them today only at our own peril and loss. Yes, certainly, our families come first, then the local survival community – our team, our friends. Yes, we must avoid giving potential adversaries information about our capabilities and resources that they might take advantage of (i.e., OPSEC), and plan for a strong defense if and when that time comes, and all those other wise things.

OPSEC is an important principle, but it cannot be the most important factor. There is always risk (sometimes unforeseen risk), in everything we do and not do. I dare say there are ways to help others that would not risk OPSEC at all. It’s really a continuum, from zero risk right up to sacrificing oneself for a reasonable, worthy cause. Some risks are worth taking.
Even while we work to protect our own we can be reaching out to make a difference. If we don’t, who will? You know that answer.

This calls for bold and daring action. We can prepare and teach and warn and equip in a hundred creative, savvy ways. Photocopy articles to share, “jump start” the widow’s preps with rice and beans and wheat (don’t forget the diatomaceous earth!), and make plans with other preppers how we might work together to feed and rescue our unprepared neighbors.
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” – Matthew 9:36 (NLT)

Like the four intrepid Bielski brothers in WWII Poland who saved 1,236 Jews from death at Hitler’s hand, our call, our purpose in this regard, is to “save as many as we can.” And the strategy and scope of that will be different for each of us! Never forget that God has given us each unique skills and resources and station in life for a purpose.
Pray about it, and watch for the opportunities. Find a way. Save as many as you can.

“Once there was a great storm that washed thousands of starfish up onshore. As an old man walked the beach he saw a young boy picking up stranded starfish and quickly returning them to the sea.
The man approached the boy and said, “What are you doing? The sun is rising. What difference does it make? They’re all going to die anyway.” As the boy rose from gently tossing back yet another starfish he said, “I made a difference to THAT one…”

Letter Re: Base Metal Coins as an Inflation and Currency Revaluation Hedge

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I have read your five page article Mass Inflation Ahead – – Save Your Nickels.  You stated that: “…should Uncle Sam decide to devaluate our present fiat currency, holders of piles of nickels will typically make them unexpected beneficiaries of a 10X, 100X or even 1,000X gain of the purchasing power of their coins.”  You went further to say that “Governments just assume that most citizens just have a couple of pocketfuls of coins at any given time.  So if a currency swap were to happen while you are sitting on a big pile of nickels, then you would make a handsome profit.   To ‘cash in’, one could merely spend his saved nickels in the new currency regime.”
 
I happen to be sitting on a bunch of brilliant circulated post-1964 quarters and new dollars (Sacagawea and Presidential) purchased directly from the U.S. Mint for numismatic investing purposes.  Will I equally benefit from a currency swap as well or that just applies to nickels or other coins whose base metal contents make it worth more than its face value?   Would my survival techniques and instincts be better served  if I convert these coin holdings and buy nickels or 90% silver coins?  Thank you! – Nestor

JWR Replies: You only have two ways to gain with your quarters and “Golden Dollars”: numismatically (which is marginal, unless they are Mint State 69+ uncirculated) and in the event of a formal currency swap. (Dropping one or two zeroes from the dollar.)

The problem is that the base metal value of most post-1964 coinage other than pennies and nickels is pitiful.  According to Coinflation.com, a quarter’s base metal is worth 19.84% of its face value while a “Golden Dollar” is only worth 6.12% of its face value. But nickels are already worth more than their face value (presently 105.34%), so you stand to gain even if there isn’t a currency revaluation. Inflation–whether gradual or sharp–in the long term will make the currently-circulating nickels worth multiples of their face value. So nickels have three different avenues for appreciating value.

I do indeed recommend trading in your post-1964 quarters and dollar coins for boxes of nickels or for a smaller quantity of pre-1965 silver quarters. Ideally, you should have some of both.

Note that because of the laborious sorting required, I do not recommend stockpiling pre-1982 pennies. That, to my mind, is an exercise suitable only for retirees that have a lot of time on their hands, strong backs, and lots of secure storage space. (Pennies are much more bulky than nickels, per dollar invested.)

FWIW, I predict that a newspaper headline in 2013 or 2014 will read: “Where Have All The Nickels Gone?” Once a substantial portion of our populace realizes their relative value, nickels will be swept out of circulation in just a few months. It takes the Generally Dumb Public (GDP) to catch on to these changes. But Gresham’s Law is inescapable. Get your nickels now, before the inevitable Greshamization occurs. I don’t casually throw around terms like “inescapable”, “inevitable”, and “inexorable”. With Federal indebtedness spiking, and expected to continue to spike, mass inflation cannot be avoided. (They certainly can’t tax their way out of the debt. The National Debt is now $15.1 trillion, and your family’s share is about $659,000.)