Letter Re: Observations on the Recent Tornadoes

Dear James,
As most of your readers know, on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, one of the worst tornado outbreaks in history hit the Tennessee River Valley area of northern Alabama, northern Georgia and south central Tennessee as well as parts of north central Alabama such as Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. Over 140 people were killed in northern Alabama alone and the final death toll from these storms will probably exceed 350. Hundreds of people in these areas lost their homes and are suffering greatly as a result. Please pray for these families as they cope with the loss of property and, mostly sadly, the loss of loved ones. The storm also affected the lives of most inhabitants as all of the main transmission lines from the Tennessee Valley Authority in northern Alabama were damaged or destroyed by tornadoes and high winds, leaving almost half a million people without electric power. This included those from the Brown’s Ferry nuclear plant (whose three operating reactors all went into emergency shutdown). Our power was out for more than four days.

As a resident of these parts, I have some preparedness observations! On our community’s level, most gasoline stations lost their power, and therefore their ability to pump gas. The same was also true of grocery stores. About two days passed before generators were brought in to power some gas stations and food stores, and the first stores to open quickly had long lines of people. Fortunately, some grocery stores opened even before they had power – but they would not allow people inside the stores as they were too dark. Why are grocery stores not made with windows all around the building to allow some light in? One had to give an order of desired non-perishable items to a store employee, who then would proceed into the store with a flashlight to find and bring them! It underlined to me that most people do not seem to even have a few days of food or gas stocked up to meet even a short term crisis as this. We were very fortunate that this was basically a widespread local event and not a national event, as trucks still brought in supplies, food and gas. The main problem was the lack of electricity to pump the available gas or to preserve frozen and refrigerated food and power the stores’ lights and payment processing systems. Now on a personal level, we did fairly well but there were a few things we could have done better. I will list categories of items and what we did in each category. My hope is that this will be beneficial to most of you to hear about real life preparedness and how it played out in this admittedly not totally TSHTF event.

Food: We were fortunate to have a decent quantity of high quality grains (including whole wheat, millet and oats). We were also fortunate to have a generator which we used to keep our refrigerator running and preserve the frozen and refrigerated food we had. To prepare grains, we have a hand-cranked Country Living Grain Mill which is awesome at preparing quality flour. For cooking, we used our Alpaca kerosene cookstove. We had plenty of kerosene for this (which we normally keep on hand to power the kerosene heater we would use if it were cold outside and a power outage occurred). Fortunately the temperatures were very nice (even if the volatility of the weather wasn’t!) and we only needed the kerosene for cooking purposes. We also have a Grover rocket wood cooking stove that we could use if needed, but the kerosene stove is a bit easier to control. We were a bit low on fresh fruit when the weather struck, and it would have been nice to have more on hand than we did. Fortunately, one of the grocery stores that opened the day after the storms had plenty of fruit and we were able to purchase some while only waiting 15 or 20 minutes in line. That was a real blessing!

The preceding reminds me of another point: Having cash! While some stores (such as Lowe’s and Home Depot) quickly activated backup power and were able to process credit/debit card transactions, most grocery stores could not. The store where we purchased our fruit was calculating prices the old fashioned way: calculators and pencils and open cash drawers! My advice is to have plenty of food that can be stored at room temperature! While we were able to keep our refrigerated food from spoiling with our generator, we still would have been fine without it (although our diet would have been a bit different!).

Water: Fortunately, we never lost water service during this event. Water was always available on tap whenever we needed it. However, I wasn’t sure that we would always have water, so I filled up a bathtub with water to use for flushing toilets and the like if needed, and filled up potable water containers for drinking water. We also have a Berkey Light water filter that we use on a regular basis already. I recommend having your water resources squared away before a crisis occurs!

Fuel: Within a day after the disaster, long lines formed at the few gas stations that were able to quickly get emergency power. While we were fortunate to have half a tank or better in our three vehicles, we did not have much gas in storage containers. It was one of those things that I had wanted to do but did not yet get around to doing. Most of you know how that goes! I had roughly a gallon and a half or so of gas to run our generator, which would only have given us at most two days of run time. I tried to siphon gas out of our vehicles but it seems that most newer vehicles these days have anti-siphoning systems. My advice would be to ensure that you have enough gas on hand to run your generator for a week. Fortunately, the son of our neighbors (who were out of town) had come by to check on their home and had power in his town (about 30 miles away). He was very kind and gave us gas on two occasions so that I did not have to stand in the long lines at the few pumps that were open. This was enough to see us through until power was restored. But my advice is not to be dependent on others’ charity if at all possible! Make sure you have enough fuel on hand to weather (pun intended!) the most likely crises you might face. Also, be sure to have plenty of fuel on hand for any non-electric cooking devices you plan to use in a crisis. In our case, this was kerosene and wood. We added PRI-D preservative to our kerosene, and our kerosene heater worked great on three year old kerosene that was so treated.

Lighting: It is amazing how dark it can be inside a home without power! Fortunately, we had plenty of flashlights and the batteries needed to power them. Most of our flashlights were LED and therefore put out a lot of light with minimal energy use. We also had some oil lamps that we had purchased back during the Y2K scare at the turn of the millennium, and we used one of these along with some candles during this time. We stationed flashlights in each bathroom to make it easy to use the facilities. I recommend everyone have plenty of LED flashlights and batteries on hand.

Security: Due to the widespread lack of power, the local authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the whole area. Reports so far seem to indicate that crime either remained the same or actually went down during this event. Our local police were very vigilant and I saw them stopping a curfew violator right in front of our home! We also had our own security implements (firearms) available and well stocked with ammunition. Fortunately there was no need to use them, at least so far, during this time.

Finances: As I alluded to earlier, many of the businesses that were open but had no power operated on a cash-only basis. We were fortunate to have some cash on hand to pay for goods. I was amazed that Lowe’s quickly had activated backup power and was actually processing credit card transactions (and I used the debit card when I could) but this was the exception rather than the rule in the first day or two after the widespread power outage occurred. When it comes to purchasing, cash is king in disasters. Keep plenty of cash on hand at all times!

Charity: One way to emotionally deal with a disaster is to reach out to others. By God’s providence, I was able to help with some of the cleanup efforts in one of the towns that was devastated by the tornado outbreak. I realized how fortunate we were as most of the homes in the neighborhood I worked in were totally destroyed and unsalvageable. Carrying debris from devastated homes and yards to the curb is a sobering experience but was very helpful. Some of the residents of these homes were there helping to clean up as well and expressed great appreciation for the help. But in order to administer help to others, it is important to have one’s own house in order first! I am a follower of Jesus Christ, and reaching out to others is a desire all true believers have. So, I encourage all of you who know Him and accept Him as Lord of your life to cultivate your relationship with Him and your relationships with others who know Him. Part of the community of believers is reaching out to others in need.

My prayer is that our experience in the midst of the recent tragedy in northern Alabama would be helpful to the rest of you. Blessings, – R.A.

Economics and Investing:

I called this one right: Silver struggles again after futures market raises margin requirements. (Back on April 21st, I had written: “Also, be forewarned: The COMEX Governors are soon likely to slam on the brakes on the precious metals markets by changing their trading rules. (Most likely by raising margin requirements.) Prices will get very volatile. Be ready to take advantage of any steep sell-offs.”)

D.B. in Seattle suggested this piece by Niall Ferguson: Sticker Shock. It begins: “The Fed may deny it, but Americans know that prices are rising. In this week’s Newsweek, Niall Ferguson takes a look at the Great Inflation of the 2010s.”

Loyal contributor C.D.V. forwarded this: John Williams: Hyperinflation and Double-Dip Recession Ahead

David W. sent this: Detroit’s exodus will continue without a revival. A 25% loss of population in the past decade, and no end in sight!

Items from The Economatrix:

Weak Dollar Gives US Factories Strong Lift ’11

Bin Laden’s Death Lifts Dollar But Hits Gold, Silver, And Oil

Think or Swim Hikes Silver Margin to Double That of CME

Never-ending Money Printing

Stocks Wobble As Earnings Rally Slows

Oil Falls On Stronger Dollar And Supply Forecasts

Odds ‘n Sods:

Steve M. sent this interesting article link: Special report: As pirate attacks grow, shipowners take arms

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Humor Mode On: When planning your food storage program, don’t overlook your dog. (A special hat tip to B.B. for the link.)

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Greg N. suggested this: Thoughts after the devastation.

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K.A.F. mentioned that the American Prepper’s Network offers free downloads as well as “at cost” CD-ROMs of dozens of survival and self-sufficiency books.

Letter Re: Observations on the Recent Tornadoes

Mr. Rawles, I just finished reading the letter from R.A.  “Observations on the Recent Tornadoes”.  I live in the northern Alabama area also, less than five miles from the path of what has just been reclassified as an EF – 5 tornado. (For your readers in non-tornado prone areas, an EF – 5 is the most powerful category of tornadoes with winds in excess of 200 mph, completely tearing even substantial concrete and brick buildings from their foundations), and I can agree with the author’s points.  A few additional comments:

1)      Have a good radio handy that includes both a NOAA weather channel and normal AM/FM stations, and make sure it has multiple sources of power.  Alabama alone experienced over 20 tornadoes last Wednesday, and the stormy day began in the early morning, with multiple rounds of severe weather broken by short periods of calm until around 6:00 p.m. when the final tornadoes moved through.  Although I find that our local weather forecasters on television provide the most precise info as long as power is up, the NOAA weather radio is incredibly important once power goes out, but more rounds of bad weather are still expected.  And once the storms were over, the normal AM/FM stations were a lifeline to the world.  For five days we had no power, land-line phone, or internet, and only spotty cell service.  My radio, with those wonderful Eneloop batteries and a hand-crank back-up, provided all our sources of information. 

2)      It’s very helpful to have FRS or GMRS radios to communicate with trusted neighbors.  I had saved back an old-fashioned phone that requires no electricity for use, knowing that in a lack of electricity most land-line phones used these days won’t work.  I still think that’s a good idea to have one of those .  But when the phone lines are taken out too, it doesn’t matter what type of phone you have – it’s not going to work – and relying on a cellular network is taking quite a chance.

3)      I had no refrigeration capability, and decided to try an old method of keeping some juices, water, sodas, etc. cool.  I watered down several small towels, wrapped each bottle in one, and set them in areas where they would receive a slight breeze.  I re-wet a couple of times each day.  Even though our daytime temps were in the 70s, I managed to have cool drinks due to the evaporation/wind effect of the wet towels.  I don’t suggest trying this with milk or other products that are more easily spoiled, just items that taste better when cool.

4)      Support local law enforcement efforts, and work to elect common-sense officials.  When up to half a million people are without power ( the Huntsville metro area had NO power coming in to the utility grid for several days), some places would be making headlines for the crime and looting.  The night of the tornadoes, we had a looting attempt in which someone tried to break into a gas station.  To head off crime waves, our city police and county sheriffs worked together to implement a dusk-to-dawn curfew that was unilaterally enforced, and as R.A. commented, completely minimized crime for the duration .  It allowed the police to focus on dealing with true emergencies resulting from the lack of power rather than on looters and traffic accidents resulting from a lack of lights at night.   

It was a temporary public safety restriction, but a very practical one that was supported by even my most libertarian friends, and it was lifted as soon as the majority of the power was reestablished .  And lest you think that our sheriff is a liberal, eliminate your rights individual, in his same announcement about the curfew, he made it quite clear that “you have the right to protect your property”.   That looting attempt I mentioned?  The alleged offender was shot and killed by the gas station owner.  No charges were filed against the gas station owner, and it was made quite clear where law enforcement sympathies would be.  Given the number of gun owners around here, looting never got off the ground after that and we remained crime-free during a week of the worst natural disaster this part of Alabama has ever experienced.

I encourage your readers to pray for the 250+ families who have lost loved ones and the thousands of families in this state who now have either no home or a home too damaged to live in .

Thanks for all you do, – C.K.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 34 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 34 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Surviving Foreclosure, by Cindy D.

I know there are a lot of intense feelings out there about people who have had a foreclosure.  I wanted to write about my experience to help others that may be facing the same situation. Even though I may write this very simply and factually, it was a very emotional and devastating time in my life. I learned a great deal but don’t want to ever go through it again.

I want to preface my story with a little background. My husband and I have been married for 28 years and have always been fortunate enough to pay our bills on time. We also had very excellent credit. We were like so many others-ill prepared for the economic “downturn”.  Yes, we spent almost every dollar we had and even those we didn’t have. We owed lots of money on credit cards, PLUS school loans and a car; we even had a mortgage on a home we couldn’t really afford. We made a lot of bad choices! My husband and I both had good paying jobs but never could get ahead or stay out of debt.  My husband had transferred with his job twice since 2000. We moved to another state and then back into our home state. Each time we were fortunate to make money on the sale of our home. We’d take the money to pay off our credit cards, and roll the rest of the cash into a down payment on the next home.  The home that we purchased (that was foreclosed on Sept 2010) was the most expensive. We just assumed we would continue making money when we sold it too.  The plan was to sell this house in 3 years at the same time my husband would retire and we would then move near our families (both of us have mothers that aren’t in the best of health and live five hours away) and use the “gain” to buy a small inexpensive home we could afford on our reduced income.

The problem with our plan was unexpected income reduction. While we didn’t lose our jobs, many were laid off in both of our companies.  Job security began to be a major concern for both of us as each week and month more were being laid off. My husband’s company needed further measures to stay competitive and remain in business so they cut his salary.  I made the adjustment in our Money program and made changes to stay in the black with our budget.   

Our number two daughter came home one weekend to have her father help her to find a good used car. We did not feel we could co-sign for her loan like we did for our number one daughter as finances were much tighter. We did give her a down payment courtesy of our credit card. She went back to work on Monday and was laid off.  She had recently graduated from college and wasn’t in her job long enough to qualify for unemployment benefits. She now had rent, a car loan, car insurance, expenses and health insurance needs. We helped with what we could and advised her she needed to move back home as we couldn’t afford to continue to pay her rent and expenses.  She came home to look for work but couldn’t find anything. She needed to go back to the larger city to look for employment.  We sent money and I made adjustments to our Money program and adjusted expenses in our budget to stay in the black.

Our number one daughter was laid off her job a month later and began looking for another one without success (she lived with us but there were no jobs in our town. The job hunt spread to the large city 1 hour away then the even larger city five hours away).  She had an auto loan that we had co-signed for, auto insurance, a chronic health problem that required regular medical attention thereby requiring she keep COBRA health insurance, and school loans. She had been in her job for two years since graduating from college so she did receive unemployment benefits but not enough to cover all her expenses. I made adjustments to our Money program and budget and began to get concerned. 

Our only son was one semester away from graduating at the state university five hours away. We told him we could not afford to send him that semester and he needed to find full-time employment to pay for school or come home. He looked for a couple of months and moved in with daughter number two but could not find even part time work for more than 10 hours a week.  He was using the 10 year old family minivan for transportation when the transmission broke and he came home. 

A month after our son came home he received an offer for a non-paying internship position with our state government, a five hour drive away. This was one of the many applications he had filled out while looking for work.  My son, husband and I were very hopeful that this might lead to a job offer when the internship was over.  But again it was a five hour drive away. He couldn’t commute.  I looked at our Money program and instead of the brief dip into red and then back into the black, the red continued down, down with no end.  Our son would need a place to stay, transportation, money for food, gas, and a new wardrobe (the job required business attire and our son had a college wardrobe with 1 suit for interviewing).

This is when I realized that we needed to make some big changes.  This is probably where my decision to have our home voluntarily foreclosed has some people going ballistic. We had listed our house for sale and had three or four people look at it – one for every month it was on the market. We also had lowered the price to rock bottom. We had put $85,000 down on it three years ago but were asking less then we owed on it. We weren’t trying to make money or even break even- we just wanted out and an opportunity to help our children and give ourselves a chance to get out from our enormous debt.  No one even made an offer. The Money program was telling us a very bad thing was just down the road.  My husband didn’t want to believe we were just months away from being unable to meet our obligations. He didn’t believe until I showed him all the red. One event, an unplanned expense could ruin our excellent credit rating and make us delinquent on our mortgage. Eventually we were going to reach the point of not being able to pay all of our bills when due anyway and lose our house. 

The first thing I felt we needed to do was secure another place to live.  I had recently come across SurvivalBlog and was a ready believer in preparing for tough times ahead. I only wish I had known things were going to get bad financially sooner or that I had paid attention to all the signs that were out there.  After much debate, we decided to try and get pre-approval for a home loan and we were accepted by two lenders – go figure.  We drew up our want list and what we could afford to pay. (This time is was what we thought we could afford not a percentage of our income. We also figured how much cash we could come up with for a down payment). My husband had more vacation time (as he was with his company for 27 years) so he took off on Fridays to look for a new home.  We were looking in the Southeast (sorry Jim, this was a compromise as we felt we weren’t ever going to move again and we wanted to be near our mothers and our children- within two hours of family). We didn’t want to be any closer then that to the large city.  We felt if worse came to worse all the kids could live with us and still commute to work when they found a job.  Also on the wish list was room for a large garden.  My husband looked all around the state within two hours of the state capital.  He liked the mountains the best but needed to find a home with a suitable spot for a garden. 

Finally after nearly giving up he found our home.  We’re in a small town (outside town limits) in the mountains.  We have a small two bedroom cabin with a loft and full basement.  We cashed in my retirement account (it was small) and a Roth IRA that we managed to put some money into before things started crashing down. We went through the most intense final loan approval we have ever dealt with for our “retirement” home.  This is where 28 years of excellent credit worked in our favor. As this is the last time we will have excellent credit for a long time.  

We closed on our new home in April 2010. We were foreclosed on our old home in September, 2010 after missing four mortgage payments. It is scary to think how close we were to losing everything and being out on the street.  The home we bought was also a foreclosure and had been empty for about 18 months.  It needed some work and TLC.   In summary we have turned over a new leaf financially and are very grateful for our second chance.  Since we have reduced our housing expense we were able to:

  1. Pay off our credit cards (except what we just borrowed to pay the IRS – it’s expensive cashing out retirement accounts early)
  2. Pay off the PLUS loans for our children’s education
  3. Have our son take over the car payment for our newest and only unpaid for car (he got the job after the internship and needed transportation)
  4. Make repairs and upgrades to the house paid in cash – finished two rooms in the basement for laundry and home office. (I’m able to telecommute in my job.)
  5. Fenced in the property and garden with help from our son and our future son-in-law.
  6. Begin self sufficiency prepping: We cut down trees and graded for a garden.  My husband built 13 raised beds measuring 4×10 for this year’s garden and he plans on building seven more, next year.  Bought a dump truck of organic growing mix to fill the beds. The beds are planted with potatoes, peas, tomatoes, squash, eggplant, cucumber, cabbage, peppers, onions and broccoli. I still need to plant melons, winter squash and beans.
  7. Planted grapes, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, peach and apple trees to be as self-sustaining as possible.
  8. Bought five day old chicks that are now ready to go out into their chicken coop and moveable (think chicken tractor) run in the garden.
  9. Begin self defense prepping: Purchased a shotgun and handgun.  Have several months supply of food, first aid supplies and several cases of canning jars in anticipation of the harvest.

Update on our children [– Omitted by JWR for brevity and to protect the author’s privacy.]

I am very content now knowing that we have a safe and secure place to live close to our family. I would not have chosen this way to get here. I wish I had made better decisions with money.  I have learned many important lessons this year. We did survive foreclosure. It was a very hard decision we made to stop paying our mortgage. We did it to survive financially, to assist our children and to have the opportunity for a better life if the SHTF. It cost us money, our financial reputation and anguish. I don’t suggest it if there are any other options. I don’t expect others to go down with a sinking ship why should I expect it of myself.  Everyone has to make decisions based on what is best for them. If you’re facing the inevitable foreclosure, do something offensive, don’t wait until you are dragged from your home to make plans for housing.  I hope that my experience helps someone else survive foreclosure.

Letter Re: Corn Burning Stoves

Sir,

Just wanted to thank you for your blog and all the good information available through it.  Several times in the section on selecting the midwest for a retreat, you mention the lack of available fuel sources.  Corn burning stoves are fairly common in this part of the country.  They tend to be in the hands of those who don’t pay retail for corn at this time, and certainly given modern means of agriculture the Midwest (Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska) can produce enough corn for its people and corn stoves.  Who knows if this would hold true in a disruption that moved agricultural production back a century;  on the plus side, the appetite of the ethanol refiners for the stuff would be quenched. – M.L. in Iowa

JWR Replies: Pellet and corn stoves require electricity. They are also more complicated to maintain than a traditional wood or coal stove. If either motor in the stove fails, then you have no heat. As I’ve mentioned before in SurvivalBlog, I do not recommend them.

Further, you have to consider the Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI) for burning dry harvested corn kernels, including the costs of the initial seed corn, fertilizer, pesticides, milling, transportation fuel, and finally the elctricity to run the pellet stove’s motors. Even if you have a plentiful supply of corn and a reliable off-grid power system (to provide power for your stove’s fan and auger), will all of your neighbors be comparably self-sufficient? If not, then you may be surrounded by folks that are both hungry and freezing.

I recommend that you move to a region where you can find a property with plenty of trees, or with a natural gas well, or with a surface coal seam in your back yard. Another consideration is the variety of crops where you live. If you live in a monoculture farming region, then chances are that it is a poor choice for self-sufficiency, post TEOTWAWKI. Truck farming regions make more sense.

Letter Re: Why Store Wheat?

Sir:
In response to the “Why Store Wheat?” letter, most people don’t realize that you can easily make your own sourdough culture, from scratch. The air is full of yeasts (most not as quick-acting as the brewer’s yeast used in most bread), and it’s easily captured. Make a ball of wet flour, and leave it on the counter. Better, leave it in a clean bowl with a mesh cloth or something on top to keep insects out, sitting in a warm place. The next day, add more flour and water and make a bigger ball. Do that for a few days, and eventually you’ll see it growing and bubbling thanks to wild yeasts. Voila, one sourdough starter.

Some people keep the flour much wetter, or don’t add new flour, and there are some people with specific recommendations for the time it should take (maybe a week or two), but in general, the idea is to get flour wet and leave it out a while. Some people will suggest you use rye flour instead of wheat, as rye has less of various substances that inhibit yeast growth; if you do that, introduce wheat flour to the culture slowly, so it has time to adapt. You’ll know your culture is healthy when you feed it new flour and water in the morning and find it’s nice and bubbly when that night; if you change flour quickly, like from rye to wheat, or even between different varieties of wheat or methods of grinding, you may find it doesn’t get as bubbly as quickly.

Sometimes (lots of the time, even), your new starter won’t taste terribly good, or the culture won’t be terribly healthy. If that happens, throw it away and try again. Perhaps leave your new flour ball in a different spot, or start it at a different time of year, in hopes of catching different kinds of yeast. Above all, find ways to use sourdough. If it’s not used regularly, the culture gets lazy and doesn’t behave nicely. I recommend regular use in sourdough pancakes, as well as the occasional (or frequent) batch of bread. – Josh T.

Economics and Investing:

Housing Crash 2.0 Is Accelerating

Jim Willie: Currency Dead End Paradoxes

Banksters Covered 26 Million Silver Oz Short Position. (Thanks to Chris D. for the link.)

Tyrone W. wrote to mention a Glenn Beck interview with G. Edward Griffin about the history of the Federal Reserve.

Items from The Economatrix:

Economy Slowed By High Gas Prices, Bad Weather

More People Applied For Unemployment Benefits

Currency Dead-end Paradoxes, The Besieged US Dollar

Odds ‘n Sods:

C.D.V. sent this: Scientific Basis for New Madrid Seismic Hazard is Sound

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Reader K.A.F. sent a link to a TMM Gulching Forum thread that might be of interest for anyone considering a move to the American Redoubt states: Technology Companies (Jobs) in Bozeman, Montana.

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Chester B. was the first of three blog readers to send this link: Can You Spot the Sniper?

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Ding-Dong, Osama is Dead. But be prepared for the effects of some retaliatory terrorist attacks on American soil, by sleeper cells.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle! Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." – Frederick Douglass

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 34 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 34 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Plan B: Offshore Retreats, by Phil J.

Little has been written in SurvivalBlog about moving one’s wealth and family off shore in planning for a US currency collapse. I can share a few insights since my wife and I have done this as a backup plan. (Plan B).

The whole story is a little more complicated and too long for a blog post, but through a five year search and good fortune we ended up buying a ocean front Condo in Panama about 80 kilometers west of the canal.  We took the plunge in December 2005. We bought at “pre-construction”, and took possession of our place in October 2009.  We have spent the last two winter seasons there and love Panama. As a lifelong Prepper I had many questions about how this would work as a retreat location and safe haven for our family. If you have considered getting out while you can here is what we have learned so far. 

Positives:

Panama was run by the USA for the better part of the last 100 years. For a Latin American country the roads, water and infrastructure all work and remain in good repair. If you are looking for a little USA away, it’s great place.

The drinking water in 90% of the country in good to excellent, no additional treatment required. Our area has abundant water as does most of the country. The canal is fed 100% by rain water (240 inches per year in the rain forest). The canal is also the second largest employer and revenue producer in the country after banking.

The country is about the same land mass as South Carolina and has a population for only 3.3 million, including all us ex-pats. The economy is growing at 6% and very stable.

Food: is abundant and amazingly inexpensive compared to US prices. We keep our budget under control by buying where the locals shop and eating what the locals eat. I bought Beef filet (mignon) for $3.25 per/pound last week. From the same hole in the wall butcher I get my Pollo (chicken) for .99 cent per pound. They grow everything and fresh fruit and veggies are available year round, cheap. As we tell our visitors, if you want to eat like you’re at home, it will cost about the same as home, if you eat local it will cost about a third. Our place is located in a small fishing village, and fresh fish and shrimp are available every morning. Most of the fish cost $1 a pound. For those that care, beer is cheaper that soft drinks (.40 cents) and good wines from Chile and Argentina run $4 to $7 per bottle. Food is a fraction of the cost and abundant. In the time we have been there we have seen food inflation start to show up but it’s more in the cost of imports than local foods.

Power/utilities: This season we had very few power outages, in 2010 we had several that lasted a day or so, this year it was not much of an issue. As far as I know all power is produced from fossil fuels imported from our friends in Venezuela. One would think that with all the rain Panama has that hydroelectric power would be huge, but all the water goes to powering the canal.

Electricity is more costly (at .42 cents per kilowatt-hour) if we use air conditioning a lot we can spend $250 a month. We pay $38 per month for cable television and Internet. The service for those has been excellent. We use Magic Jack to stay in touch, we love our Magic Jack and it is our primary phone number where ever we are. For $20 per year it is the best communication value going. We can call any phone in North America at no cost. Water cost runs $6 per month average.

Taxes: One of the big pluses for Panama is the tax situation, to attract Baby Boomers to retire here they forgive all property taxes for up to twenty years on the house or condo, the only tax paid is the land tax, $54 per year in our case. There is not an income tax in place at this time.

Health Care: This last year my wife and I joined a group health care plan through our church in Panama (non-denominational English speaking) for $1,200 per year. It is better coverage than the plan we have from my employer in the US. Also visitors to Panama all get free healthcare for any emergency service for thirty days while in country. Every Doctor we have met is US or Canadian trained, care is very good.

Banking: When we first learned of Panama we were glad that they use the US dollar, it was a big advantage to us when we bought and at the closing of our property in 2009. However now with the failure of the dollar just around the corner, I have many concerns and have questioned several insiders in Panama. They claim to have in place a plan to move to the Balboa, Panama’s trade currency. The banking system is very strict, and was one of the harder things for us to get established.

Goods & Services:  You can buy anything in Panama City, but there are stiff import tariffs on most home products, so expect to pay more for most consumer goods. We shipped all our goods in a 20 ft container in 2009. From Tennessee it cost us $4,700 USD. We moved in one day. Best money we spent.  You are allowed one container when you apply for the pensioner’s visa program in Panama. They allowed us to import these items with little or no duty. (Everything we sent down could have been bought in country).

Language: We were surprised to find that most of the people do not speak English. Even in Panama City. So that has been one of the biggest adjustments for us. We have learned enough to get by but it’s not pretty.

The things going for Panama go on and on, besides the best winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere, great people and a large conservative ex-pat community…..the people of Panama have been welcoming, helpful and friendly.

Negatives:
Transportation: Rental cars are a rip-off. They require third party liability insurance from everyone @$13 per day. Gas is very expensive. @$4.56  There is no rail system but one has been suggested for Panama City. Buses go everywhere country wide and 90% of the people rely on them for their daily commute. Cars are expensive, new or used. And insurance is high for full coverage. An 8 year old SUV will run $15,000 to $20,000. The roads are getting better every day but right now there are only two bridges over the canal to serve the entire southern end (Pacific Coast) of the country. Traffic, especially in the mornings is extremely heavy.

Housing: In a real collapse situation I would not feel safe living in a high rise anywhere. The view and amenities are great but without power it could be a trap with little or no defense. A single family home in a gated community would have major advantages here. There are several communities in our area better suited to a survival situation than our beachfront location.

Language: After two years in this community I don’t feel that a foreign country, even one as “user friendly” as Panama would be a safe bet for White Bread Ex-pats who don’t know the system or how to deal, barter or trade in the culture. If we possessed the proper language skills I would say we could make it….maybe.

Banking: If a currency collapse happens our income from the good old US of A is going to dry up and we won’t be as welcome as when we had greenbacks to spread around. I would feel stronger about Panama as a first choice if they were on their own currency.  

Weapons: It is legal to own long guns, and hand guns require a permit. Ammo is expensive compared to the US. There is not the system for tort liability in Panama. We have learned that Panamanians are responsible for their own safety and conduct, and injury related suits just don’t happen. The US had a large military presence for 70+ years and many nationals served in some arm of the US military so most of the national population is armed.

Security: It is difficult to tell where the Police and Army start and end. There are numerous road blocks and check points that seem to have neither rhyme nor reason. Only one time have I been asked for an ID or Passport (Last Week). At most “stops” the Anglos are waved through without question. Would this be the case in a TEOTWAWKI situation? I don’t want to find out. As a general rule we feel very safe, very low crime, and no violent crime to speak of against ex-pats.

With, health care, low cost of living and stabile Government I give Panama 8.5 out of 10, as a place to live and retire. Will it work in a SHTF situation? Yes, perhaps…

Pat’s Product Review: Blackhawk Products Clothing and Gear

For those of you, who are not familiar, with how Blackhawk Products came to be, here’s a little history: Former US Navy SEAL, Mike Noell, was operating in Iraq. He had to hump a ton of gear by foot in an enemy minefield. The pack failed, dumping his gear into the mine field.  Noell promised himself, that if he got out of that minefield alive, he was gonna make stuff the way it needed to be built, so none of his buddies would have to go through a similar equipment failure. Upon returning to the private sector, Noell started Blackhawk Products in 1993 – and as they say, the rest is history. As I’ve said before, I won’t write about junk – period! And in my book, Blackhawk Products is making some of the best gear, clothing, footwear, etc., on the planet. I’ve been testing a lot of their gear for several years now, and none of it has even come close to failing me – as a matter of fact, every piece of gear, clothing and footwear I’ve received for T&E, has far exceeded my expectations.  

I particularly like the Lightweight Tactical Shirts from Blackhawk, their short-sleeve version. I used to wear a covering photo journalist vest in the summer months, to cover my sidearm. However, it looked out of place for a number of reasons. I now wear the Lightweight Tactical shirts over my t-shirt (my “uniform” of the day is usually a t-shirt and cargo pants). I leave the shirt untucked and unbuttoned, and it doesn’t look out of place, and it covers my handgun nicely, I might add. These shirts come in several colors; black, khaki, olive drab and navy.   Features of these shirts are: durable 5.1 oz poly-cotton ripstop construction, Dupont Teflon DWR finish that resists stains and dries quickly. Concealed collar stay buttons and anti-roll collar inserts, and many more features that are too numerous to list in this article. Check it out on their web site for complete information. Now, remember, quality doesn’t come cheap – the short-sleeve version of this shirt retails for $46.99.   Most days, I can be found wearing cargo pants from Cabela’s – been wearing a certain type for more years than I care to remember. However, when I’m afield hunting, hiking or teaching a firearms class, I’ll more than likely be wearing the Blackhawk Lightweight Tactical Pants. They are not only sharp looking, but they are tough as nails. These pants are a cargo-type, and they have a large hidden zipper pocket behind the right hand front pocket. There is also a top opening mag pouch pocket on each leg. Front thigh pockets have size zipper pouch and hook and loop top to secure valuables. There is also a hidden expandable waistband, that slides to increase waist size by up to 4″ for increased mobility – especially after that heavy lunch that you know you shouldn’t have had. There are rubber gripper strips in the waistband to keep a shirt tucked in.  

We’re talking about a lot of features in a pair of pants: reinforced hems on leg cuffs and hand pockets increase durability in high wear areas, too.The front pockets are “angle cut” and have flat edges for proper placement and orientation of knives. There are also extra-wide reinforced belt loops that will accommodate the Blackhawk CQB Rigger Belt (that I also recommend), and other belts up to 1.75″ wide. I’m sure many of you have seen news footage of private security Operators in Iraq or Afghanistan wearing these types of pants – there are a lot of look-a-likes, but only one Blackhawk Lightweight Tactical Pants on the market. The look-a-like pants are cheap in price and workmanship. The Blackhawk pants are $59.99 per pair – and well worth every cent. Colors available are: black, khaki, olive drab and navy. For my money, there’s nothing better, and these pants will get you through some tough times when needed. Make sure to check out Blackhawk’s web site or ask for their catalog for full details on these, and other pants they sell.

I’m extremely picky when it comes to footwear – as is anyone who spends a lot of time on their feet or in the field. It might interest you to know, that approximately 95% of the footwear sold in the good ol’ USA is made in China. Heaven help us, if we get into a war with China – the entire country will be barefoot inside of a couple of months. Now, with that said, you can get as good as you want when it comes to footwear from China… if you want cheap hiking boots for $19.99 from Wal-Mart, then I’m not gonna stop you from buying ’em – but your feet will suffer, as well as your chances of long-term survival. When it comes to footwear, please do yourself and your loved ones a favor, and buy the best you can get – even if that means saving up to buy better footwear. Footwear from Blackhawk is made in China, but, it is made to their specs – no junk – simple as that!

I have several different pairs of boots from Blackhawk, and the one pair I wear more often than the other is the Waterproof ZW7 side zip boot. I can live without the side zip, but they are only offered with this feature. I live in Oregon, on the wet side of the state, so it only makes good sense to me, to purchase waterproof footwear. I have the 7″ tall, desert tan version of this boot, and they are extremely well-made, to be sure. When you put these boots on, walk around, and then put on a cheap pair of boots, the qualify is obvious – Blackhawk wins, hands down. I really like the Vibram multisport oil resistant TC4+ compound outsole on these boots – they grip in all sorts of weather – snow, rain, rock and muck. The waterproofing comes from the Sympatex lining, and it also helps wick moisture away from your feet, to help keep ’em cool and dry in the summer, and warm and dry in the winter. Retail price is $179.99 – once again, quality doesn’t come cheap – you get what you pay for. There are a lot of rip-offs of this boot – but only one quality boot – the one from Blackhawk.

I also have the Blackhawk Black Ops Boot – this is a similar boot to the ZW7 side zip boot, except no zipper (yes!) and a taller boot – and come in your choice of colors – so long as you like black. This boot is a little less money, than the ZW7 – these retail for $169.99 – don’t ask me why they are cheaper – they just are. So, if you are a police officer, security officer, in the military (where black boots are allowed) or just looking for some to hell and back boots for the end of the world, these are the ones to pick in my humble opinion.

My youngest daughter is a combat medic in the US Army – she was issued two pairs of desert tan boots in Basic Training – one pair was too small and the other pair was too big – but you can’t tell that to the supply sergeant they know exactly how to fit boot and uniforms. It was this way when I first joined the military in 1969 – and it is still that way today. My youngest daughter wasn’t able to wear anything except mil-issue boots in Basic Training. Once she got to AIT, she was given some latitude in boots. I immediately ordered her a pair of the Blackhawk Desert Ops Boot – they don’t come in women’s sizes, so we had to adjust accordingly. And, before I forget, it appears that Blackhawk doesn’t normally stock the smaller size boots – my daughter had to take a man’s size 6-1/2 and it was a 6-week wait to get ’em – so be advised if you are a female and you want this particular boot. The Desert Ops Boot is similar to the Waterproof ZW7 boot – except they aren’t waterproof, and there is no side zipper – which I don’t like to start with.The desert tan color complies with the US Army regs on proper color. They also have this same boot in greenish color – which I understand is acceptable for the US Marine Corps – but don’t quote me on that – I could be wrong. My daughter loves her Desert Ops Boot – said they felt like her running shoes from the moment she put ’em on. She has also “sold” a lot of these boots to her fellow soldiers – they saw my daughter wearing these boots, asked her about ’em, and immediately ordered their own from Blackhawk – so my daughter is a walking, talking advertisement for Blackhawk Products. Retail price on these boots is $169.99.

I also wanted to mention the Blackhawk Special Operations Medical Back Pack – my youngest daughter, being a combat medic – carries. It was mine – at one time – but she had more use for it than I did. When she arrived to her permanent duty station, she was the only medic who had a medical back pack – the other combat medics were going to the field with their medical supplies packed in cardboard boxes – I kid you not! Of course, they all wanted to know where she got her back pack from – and she told them. Well, several months later, all the combat medics in her unit now have Blackhawk medical back packs – the other medics have a slightly different version than my daughter has – however, they are all Blackhawk Products medical back packs.

I’d like to once again remind SurvivalBlog readers, that you can always buy cheaper products, but you buy cheap again and again. When you buy quality, you buy once – of course, we all know that boots and clothing wear out. However, Blackhawk Products will outlast cheaper knock-offs by a big margin. When we talk about survival, we’re talking any number of different scenarios – from a breakdown out in the boonies, to the end of the world as we know it. As for me and my family, we want the best – we don’t want to be like Mike Noell was – standing in a mine field, and have our gear fail us – perhaps costing us our lives. If you have to wait a little longer, to buy the best – then wait and save your pennies, and get better gear. In future articles, I’ll cover some other Blackhawk Products that I’m sure will interest SurvivalBlog readers.   – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio