Economics and Investing:

Dennis flagged this: Regulators shut 5 banks; 45 failures this year.

From Dr. Housing Bubble: Alt-A and Option ARM Economic Disaster Update: California Solution?

Ben M. sent this: China argues to replace US dollar

Qantas cancels Dreamliner order

Items from The Economatrix:

Financial Crisis Considered Top “Security Threat” to US “…the most immediate fallout from the worldwide economic decline for the United States will be “allies and friends not being able to fully meet their defense and humanitarian obligations.” [Blair] also saw the prospect of possible refugee flows from the Caribbean to the United States and a questioning of American economic and financial leadership in the world. But Blair also raised the specter of the “high levels of violent extremism” in the turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s along with “regime-threatening instability” if the economic crisis persists over a one-to-two-year period.”

Stocks Bear Market And Financial Crisis Not Over, US Regional Banks Next To Go

Epidemic of Bankruptcies Symptomatic of the Deflating Bubble

Schoon: Financial Crisis: And The Winner Is…GOLDMAN, SACHS “News of Goldman’s Sachs’ triumph arrived when Reuter’s newswire reported on June 22, 2009: “Goldman Sachs on pace for record bonuses”. At a time when the US is struggling with the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s, Goldman Sachs has triumphantly weathered the crisis. That should be no surprise for Goldman Sachs created the crisis in the first place.”

Unemployment Crisis Grips US States “There is general agreement, moreover, that employment levels and conditions of labor will not return to those that prevailed prior to the financial crisis. This is no accident. The ruling elite, led by the Obama administration, has seized on the crisis as a long-awaited chance to restructure class relations to its advantage for decades to come.”

US Economy Trending Towards An Inflationary Depression “While simultaneously supporting the Fed’s actions, which amount to little more than using chewing gum and bailing wire to keep the money and credit markets from collapsing as it creates and distributes, in arrogant, secretive, crony-capitalist fashion, a gargantuan pile of counterfeit monopoly money in an amount on par with total US GDP for an entire year, you can just sense and feel that there is now a runaway, hyperinflationary freight train rumbling down the tracks at ever greater speed that is soon going to derail and create a train wreck out of our economy.”

No “Green Shoots” of Economic Recovery with US Debt at 700% of GDP

Deflation May Derail Japan’s Recovery

The Bond Saga: It Gets More Odd

Conspiracy Surrounds $134 Billion Bond Find

Odds ‘n Sods:

This has “arbitrary enforcement ” written all over it: Alberta police can now seize armoured gang vehicles.

    o o o

A Fraud Bigger Than Madoff “In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125 bn (£88 bn) in a US -directed effort to reconstruct Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.”

   o o o

I tend to downplay American politics in my blog , since I have a worldwide readership. But the recent Democratic Party pushes for both a huge socialized healthcare system and a massive new tax system to “stop global warming” have me at my wit’s end. Here were stand, at the begriming of a deep and prolonged economic depression, the National Debt has more than doubled in the past year (to finance the MOAB), and yet the Wizards of Washington want to now run us even deeper into debt and encumber us with a trans-national tax? No Thanks! State secession is looking better, every day. As for the the new Globotax, reader H.S. summed it up nicely: “Instead of ‘Cap and Trade’, they should call it the: ‘Cap and-trade-our-jobs-to-China bill”‘. This bill was ramrodded through the House of Representatives before congressmen even had the opportunity to read the final text of the bill. I am thoroughly disgusted.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail” – Isaiah, 58:11, NKJV

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 23 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

Second Prize: 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 $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 23 ends on July 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.

The Survivalist’s Guide to Martial Arts, by “Brick”

There is focus placed on proper firearm training and the most appropriate weapons to have for various scenarios – and rightfully so.  But equally important is the ability to defend yourself in a situation when you are unarmed.  For example, in my state, even though I am licensed to carry a concealed weapon, legal restrictions prevent me from carrying most of the time.  For example, any business can post a sign forbidding concealed weapons on their premises, as my place of employment has done.  Also, firearms are not allowed in any place licensed to serve alcohol.  Fine, you might think, just avoid the bars – until you realize that this also covers any restaurant that serves beer or wine with your meal.

For these reason and a hundred others, I feel that no preparedness training is complete without learning to defend yourself while unarmed.  But even if you agree and would like to get started on martial arts to complete your preparedness training, where to begin?  What style should you study?  What type of training best suits the survival mindset and goals of protecting the lives of you and your loved ones?  In this article, I’d like to help you answer a few of those questions.  For more than a decade I’ve trained consistently in a combination of martial arts, approaching it from the mindset of not just wanting to be in better shape or win some competitions, but rather with the goal of transforming myself into a more durable survivor.  

Primer on Major Styles

To start your martial arts education, it is a good idea to get a basic idea regarding the most common types of martial arts.  There are dozens of different types of martial arts originating from every region of the globe.  In this section, I’ve focused on those arts that you will most commonly encounter in an available training format.

Karate – This is a traditional Okinawan/Japanese art dating back for centuries.  The focus tends to be on efficient, powerful strikes with the hands and feet.  There is usually very little “flash” to these techniques – the focus is on inflicting damage and getting out of there.  Karate students often engage in various types of body hardening to turn their knuckles, forearms, thighs and shins into formidable weapons and shields.  For example, a makiwara is a wooden striking post that a student will hit thousands upon thousands of times, enabling the karate practitioner to eventually punch through wood and concrete (as you’ve no doubt seen on television) with no harm to the fist.

Tae Kwon Do – A Korean martial art that gained widespread popularity after the 1988 Seoul Olympics, causing schools to pop up all over America. [Present-day] Tae Kwon Do is primarily a sport-centric martial art, with heavy emphasis placed on competition and tournaments.  Tae Kwon Do practitioners are known for their formidable kicks, as this is a major focus of the art (so much so that practical self defense is sacrificed – for example, under Olympic Tae Kwon Do rules, punches to the head are not allowed.  Not exactly a rule conducive to  practical self-defense application).

Kung Fu – Often considered the “granddaddy” of other Asian martial arts, Kung Fu has roots in ancient China and is considered to have influenced many other arts which followed.  There are dozens of different Kung Fu styles, often named and patterned after movements of different animals.  Movements tend to me more fluid and less “hard.”  Often, Kung Fu tends to venture more into mysticism with attention to direction of “chi” or “life force” to create powerful techniques (compared to karate, which is more based on the physics behind inflicting damage with your body).

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) — Jiu-Jitsu is a traditional Japanese art, but over the past several decades the art has been transformed and evolved in Brazil, due largely to the efforts of the Gracie family.  BJJ is a grappling martial art, focused on controlling your opponent, maintaining favorable position, and finishing your opponent with a “submission.”  Submissions involve any number of chokes or joint locks.  The term “submission” derives from the fact that in competition, the opponent must “submit” either verbally or with a tap, or face going unconscious or suffering a broken limb.  Of course, in a real life situation, the survivalist who has applied an arm bar is not interested in whether or not the opponent has decided to give up – take their arm home with you.

Boxing – By far the most popular and well-known western martial art, boxing is entirely focused on hand strikes (in fact, only punches) limited to the waist up.  Due to the number of restrictions placed on boxers for sporting purposes (extremely limited in types of strikes allowed and targets permitted), boxing leaves a lot to be desired as a comprehensive self-defense art.  However, the hand striking techniques exhibited by elite level boxers is second to none, meaning that incorporating boxing into your martial arts training certainly has value.

Wrestling – Often overlooked as a martial art because it usually conjures image of high school and Olympic competition, wrestling is certainly both a combat sport and martial art.  Like boxing, learning only wrestling would leave you severely disadvantaged in a life-and-death situation, but when it comes to controlling your opponent and keeping yourself out of a bad spot, wrestling is extremely valuable.

Muay Thai – If you’ve seen clips of small Thai men absolutely brutalizing each other in the ring with lightning fast punches, kicks, knees, and elbows, then you’ve seen Muay Thai.  Often confused with regular kickboxing, the inclusion of knees and elbows separate the men from the boys, as these joints can be used to inflict massive amounts of damage.  Muay Thai fighters also master the art of the clinch, which is a series of techniques to get in close to your opponent and hold him in such a way that he is susceptible to any number of devastating strikes.

My Opinion on Survival Applicability

So, that’s some information on a few of the more common styles.  A common question is “which one is ‘best.’”?  This is a very difficult question to answer, as each has advantages and disadvantages.  Also, we are just speaking in general terms here, as the type of training you undergo within, say, Tae Kwon Do will vary quite a bit in different schools under the direction of different teachers.  So, based on my experiences, here is my admittedly subjective opinion regarding applicability to real life, actual defense of yourself and those you care about.

Stand-up styles (fighting on your feet):  If you are looking for one art to focus on and one art only, I’d go with Muay Thai.  The range of weapons and techniques is sufficiently broad that if you rise to the level of Muay Thai expert you will be a formidable fighter indeed.  Fist, feet, knees, elbows, shins, even your head – all available, all trained.  You may not have seen many Muay Thai schools in your area, but it is becoming more popular all the time due to success of Muay Thai techniques in popular televised Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competitions.  In second place I would put karate.  The focus on real, direct, simple fighting techniques is perfect for real world application, as is the attention given to hardening and strengthening the body.  Next I would rank boxing.  Most fights start out simply enough – exchanging blows with fists.  An elite boxer can end the fight at this stage very quickly.  Lastly, I would rank Tae Kwon Do and Kung-fu.  These arts tend to have too much focus on sporting competition (and the associated technique restriction) or “forms” demonstrations.  That’s not to say you can’t find a school that focuses on effective self defense applications of these arts, but Tae Kwon Do and Kung-fu schools of that nature are the exception rather than the rule.

Ground fighting styles (grappling):  These days, it has become quite apparent that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is the king of the ground.  A combination of success in no-hold-barred competition and techniques that are readily adaptable to real life situations has propelled BJJ to become an international sensation.  Wrestling teaches some great ground fighting techniques as well, but for adults it may be hard to find a school or gym that teaches wrestling fundamentals, so finding a good BJJ school is the way to go (and these will usually teach some wrestling as part of the curriculum, as natural supplement to BJJ training).  However, if I had a child in school, I’d encourage him or her to pursue wrestling.  Learning those techniques during your early years can serve as a martial arts base upon which to build for the rest of your life.

Stand-up or ground fighting?  A natural division has developed among martial arts studies:  those who prefer to keep the fight standing and finish it on their feet, versus those who want to get their opponent on the ground as quickly as possible as choke them out or break a limb.  So which is better for the survival-minded student?  In my training group, we train extensively in BJJ and wrestling as part of our curriculum; however, we have the following set of rules:
What’s the first rule of ground fighting?  Don’t go to the ground. What’s the second rule of ground fighting?  Get up.

But Bill, you may ask, you’ve described how these techniques can be very effective.  Also, in the major televised full-contact MMA competitions, fighters who focus on ground fighting techniques have done very well.  This is true, but the street is not an organized competition.  It may be a great idea to spend the fight on your back working for a submission on a nice padded floor, but try it on broken glass in a parking lot.  Also, these competitions are exclusively one-on-one battles.  If I’m fighting an attacker, take him down and apply a great submission hold, that all counts for nothing when his friend comes up behind me and kicks me in the temple with a steel-toed boot.  No, in the real world, rather than be tied up and immobile on the ground, I’d rather be on my feet and aware of my surroundings, and able to run like h*** if necessary.

So, for self-defense, your focus should be on staying on your feet, fighting when necessary, and getting out of there when possible.  That said, I still HIGHLY encourage you to also learn the ground techniques.  While it may not be your focus or intent to get the fight to the ground, the fact is that the battle may well go there.  And, if it does, you do not want to be lost because the difference between someone who knows what he is doing in ground fighting and someone who doesn’t becomes apparent in about three seconds.

What I’ve described in the paragraphs above is basically the philosophy of Mixed Martial Arts.  If you can find a school near you that teaches MMA, that is the ideal situation for those looking for a comprehensive system of self-defense techniques.  Generally, these schools will have courses in a variety of the arts I’ve described above, so you can get your stand-up and ground fighting training all in one location, usually with a heavy dose of physical condition (addressed below).  If no MMA gym is available to you, then consider what I’ve said about each individual martial art and evaluate what is best for you.  But if you can expose yourself to several different disciplines at a place that is focused on combining together everything that works to defend yourself – well, I can think of nothing more applicable to someone interested in survival.

Letter Re: Keeping Cash On Hand–A Lesson Learned

Dear Jim,
I didn’t need a major nationwide SHTF moment to learn a lesson this week. (Why didn’t I listen to your advice before this happened!)
On the 15th, someone intercepted my new debit card before it reached my mailbox and cleaned out my checking account at a gas station in another state at 3:00 AM. I didn’t have much in there, as it went into overdraft, but it was all I had and I needed it to get to the end of the month. When the bank called at 10:00 AM, I assured them it wasn’t me who overdrew the account. I was told it would take 10 business days (two weeks) before they could straighten it out. In the meantime, I am locked out of my checking account and the savings account as there wasn’t enough to cover the overdrafts plus fees and my credit card through the bank is frozen. Even if someone gave me a check (loan) to cover my family over the next two weeks, the bank won’t let me cash it.
The lesson? Keep cash on hand at home!

Well, at least I learned it this month, and not later in the year when it’s possible bank holidays may occur! As panicked as I was on the 15th, I don’t know how our friends will get through it if it happens to them! (notice-they offered checks, since they didn’t have cash on hand, either)

I am happy to say that other then being penniless at the moment, I was prepared with a deep larder and enough gasoline stored to keep the car going. No one starved and we made all our appointments although there was an awkward moment with a pay-now co-payment. (if only I had started the nickel collection!) One more week to go before this gets straightened out, but we will be okay. I’m actually grateful we’re going through this now so lessons learned have the chance to be applied later when it will really count. (Cash-cash-cash-cash!) – A.C.

Letter Re: Dealing With Local Building Inspectors

Mr. Rawles,
[To follow up on TANSTAAFL’s letter,] I have worked for several engineering firms as a GIS technician, then manager. Counties will advertise when they will be re-flying parts or all of the county. Most county engineers, auditor, or Property Valuation Administrator (PVA) offices will tell you what the schedule for mapping is out a couple of years (usually the department in charge of tax assessments). A give away that it is happening is when you see large X’s painted in intersections with a metal spike sunk in the middle of the X (these are control points), with survey trucks with GPS receivers sitting in intersections or other open ground. Most orthophotography is done in late winter or late fall, when the leaves are off the trees and there is no snow on the ground. Evergreen trees are good for masking what lies on the surface. Not much you can do to hide any earth work that changes contours. There is another means of gathering contour information, LIDAR. Basically a laser that oscillates and paints the ground. Even trees won’t fully obscure it.

On a side note, the old USGS quadrangle maps are now almost supplanted by FEMA‘s flood insurance rate maps, which are all digital. There is all kinds of info available through those maps for interested parties.

On the non-government side, Google Earth is getting better resolution all the time, farther and farther away from population centers.

Your best bet to avoid attention is anonymity. That is true for all sorts of things. – School Dude

Economics and Investing:

GG sent us this: Is inflation our next big worry?

Don’t let the rally fool you: Insiders Exit Shares at the Fastest Pace in Two Years (Thanks to Karen H. for the link.) Here is a quote: “If insiders are selling into the rally, that shows they don’t expect their business to be able to support current stock- price levels,” said Joseph Keating, the chief investment officer of Raleigh, North Carolina-based RBC Bank, the unit of Royal Bank of Canada that oversees $33 billion in client assets. “They’re taking advantage of this bounce and selling into it.”

Also from Karen: California, Vegas Home Prices Drop on Foreclosures “In California and the West and, really, a lot of the country, we have to be ready for more waves of foreclosures coming through for at least the next year,” Andrew LePage, an analyst with MDA DataQuick, said in an interview. “And no one really knows how big those waves are going to be.”

GG recommended this NPR report: Money Goes Haywire. “We continue our series on the nature of money, with economics professor Steve Hanke. The Johns Hopkins fellow studies what happens when money goes bizarre, as it has with hyperinflation in Zimbabwe.”The discussion on inflation starts at [minute mark] 4:45. (GG notes: “This was recorded before the Fed announced it would directly purchase Treasury bonds and toxic assets. Hanke specifically warns against monetizing the debt.”)

Items from The Economatrix:

FedEx is Fuming

California to Shed 1 Million Jobs During “Recession”

California to Issue IOU’s Starting July 2nd

Bernanke Says He Didn’t Bully BofA Into Buying Merrill Lynch

Jobless Claims Rise, GDP Dips at Lower Pace in 1Q

China Should Buy Gold to Hedge Dollar Fall

John Galt in Florida: Bernanke Remains In The Box, America Continues To Crash “The problem is the agency debt is just being recycled so Fannie and Freddie can buy the Chinese holdings back at a profit to them and to insure they will not nuke our dollar. The reason monetary velocity is in the toilet is that the funds allocated to purchase so-called toxic assets are being used to repurchase the bad MBS from certain foreign owners to prevent a run on the dollar at this time. Thus the reason the Federal Reserve could care less about the population as long as the fiscal appropriations provide a minimal safety net to prevent civil unrest. The fallacy of this statement is that by failing to inflate and commit to it now with any voracity, the danger of any unforeseen event will force another panic response in the near future which destabilizes the economy or the nation further and creates the fuse for hyperinflation immediately removing all controls from the Fed’s hands.”

$100,000 A Year Will Make You Go Broke on the California Tax System

Even Cops Losing Their Jobs in the Recession

Dr. Art Robinson: Bricks Without Straw

Odds ‘n Sods:

Smith & Wesson Profit Doubles, Beats Street View

   o o o

North Korea Threatens “Fire Shower of Nuclear Retaliation” Against South Korea

   o o o

Kim Jong-un (the youngest son) Made Head of North Korea’s Spy Agency

   o o o

Reader G.E. recommended a site with some “real world” ballistics data: Ballistics By The Inch. (OBTW, don’t miss Box o’ Truth and the other web sites that I’ve bookmarked under the “Ballistics” header at the SurvivalBlog Links page.)

The Meme of Crushroom: A Key Retreat Architecture Element

One bit of retreat architecture that I’ve often recommended to my consulting clients who are designing (or retrofitting) retreats is the inclusion of a protruding entryway foyer, that I call a crushroom. Passing this advice along to you gives me the chance to employ one of my horrible puns: The Meme of Crushroom. A crushroom is a controllable confined space, typically an entry foyer, that can be covered with small arms fire or subjected to irritant or obscurant smoke or sprays. The outer door (or barred gate) to the crushroom is normally left open, but has a spring loaded self -closure device, and an automatically-engaged remote-controlled lock release mechanism. Think of it as a box trap for Bad Guys. Have you ever visited a Big City apartment with a communal door where you need to get “buzzed in”? In this case, the Bad Guys will have to be buzzed out of your crushroom

The home invasion threat can only be expected to increase in coming years. I anticipate greater use of dynamic-entry tools by home invaders. For instance, they will soon use commercial or improvised door-entry battering rams and Hallagan tools—like those used by firemen and police entry teams. This means that standard solid-core doors by themselves will be insufficient. In a worst, case, thugs might even use vehicle-mounted battering rams. In such circumstances, it will be wise to have the extra layer of protection afforded by a crushroom.

You should position the outer door to your crushroom one of its side walls, rather than lined up with the entrance door to the house. Having this 90-degree turn and allowing just a four foot space in front of the house entrance door has several advantages: First. it makes it impossible to use a long battering ram–since it limits the length and “throw” of a battering ram. (Even a very stout door, hinges, and doorframe will not withstand the impact of a 10-foot-long battering ram that is manned by a team of thugs). Second, it removes direct line of sight into your house. This is useful for light discipline, in a grid-down situation. (When you are likely to have electric lights in your house interior, but your neighbors won’t.) Lastly, the crushroom wall opposite your front door provides another layer of ballistic protection–it would have to be knocked down before your front door could be attacked.

Picture this: With your intrusion detection security system, you see one or more thugs approach your house. They are acting “hinkey”, or outright aggressive–perhaps rushing in to conduct a home invasion robbery. Then they proceed to try to kick down your front door. But lo and behold, they don’t succeed, because you’ve built your door and barred it to Rawles specifications. (Strong enough to resist even a small battering ram, and armored against small arms fire.) Using your intercom-loudspeaker, you sternly warn them away. But since they have bravado to spare and have never before encountered a door that they couldn’t kick in, they persist with their futile leg exercises. At that point, you already have your telephone in hand, and have dialed 911. (That is assuming your are in pre-Schumeresque circumstances, when there still is a police or sheriff’s department willing and able to respond.) You then flip the switch, releasing the crushroom’s outer door. It slams shut, and locks. Now, the thugs feel trapped, crowded, or crushed in the close confines of the foyer. They will then almost surely turn their attention to kicking at the outer door (or barred gate). At this juncture, you have several “continuum of force” options:

A.) You shout a stern warning and then hit the switch releasing the outer door and “buzz them out.” This is effectively just letting them go, with a warning. Such a course of action is recommended only in current day “peaceful” circumstances.

B.) Using your exterior loudspeaker, you spend five minutes sharing the Gospel with the thugs, then you hit the switch to release the outer door.

C.) You pull a wire that is attached to the pin on a smoke grenade in the decorative “overhead light fixture” in the foyer, and simultaneously start playing your retreat’s PSYOPS tape over your exterior loudspeaker, at around 60 decibels. This combination (especially a violet smoke grenade and a tape of Jimi Hendrix playing Purple Haze) is sure to make the thugs think twice about coming back.

D.) You pull a wire on that is attached to the pin on a CS tear gas grenade, and simultaneously start playing your retreat’s PSYOPS tape at around 90 decibels. This, (especially a tape of Credence Clearwater Revival singing Bad Moon Rising) will probably make the goblins soil their trousers and reconsider their life of crime.

E.) You slide open an armored gun port, and protrude the muzzle of your favorite large-caliber lead dispenser.

F.) Any combination of options B, C, D, or E, in whichever sequence seems apropos, given the day’s relative Schumer Index and the prevailing exigency of the circumstances.

Alternatively, your crushroom could normally be kept locked from the outside. This will provide a valuable delay for even the most ambitious dynamic entry by home invaders. It will also provide you a safe place for you take delivery of mail and packages with some “stand-off” distance.

Four Important Provisos:

1.) Only build a crushroom if you are also going to first upgrade your front door and doorframe to very stout specifications, and the surrounding wall is of similarly stout (i.e. masonry) construction. The last thing that you want to experience is a bunch of enraged bad guys actually entering your home.

2.) Do not mention the purpose of your crushroom to friends, neighbors, or even relatives. It should outwardly just look like either a “mud room”, a “weather airlock”, or perhaps a “Spanish style” foyer, with “decorative” heavy wrought iron bars. If you are indiscreet, word of it may get around, and then at best you’ll get labeled as the local survivalist whacko. Or at worst, word will get as far as the local band of goblins, and whilst sharpening their knives they will deviously plan to bypass your crushroom entirely. They may decide to either bushwhack you while you are out splitting wood, or invade your house via your roof, with a chainsaw or a fireman’s metal-cutting rescue saw.

3.) I most strongly encourage readers to use your crushroom’s outer door as a mantrap (and any of the other active measures that I’ve mentioned) only in truly post–TEOTWAWKI circumstances. As I’ve noted many times before in SurvivalBlog, we live in an extremely litigious society. Displaying the audacity to actually hold bad guys in place until the gendarmes arrive could be grounds for civil lawsuits (for false arrest, excessive use of force, mental distress, etc.,) and possibly even criminal charges. In essence, if you hold someone in a citizen’s arrest in excess of what a jury of your peers deems justifiable and reasonable, then you could conceivably be charged with felony kidnapping. Here, the “Reasonable Man” standard will probably be applied. (Black’s Law Dictionary defines citizen’s arrest as: “The apprehending or detaining of a person in order to be forthcoming to answer an alleged or suspected crime.” See: ex parte Sherwood, (29 Tex. App. 334, 15 S.W. 812).

4.) Be sure to provide yourself a way out of your crushroom, in the event that the outer door closes unexpectedly when you don’t have a door key in your pocket. Perhaps a spare key that is very well-hidden behind some molding.

For further background, see this letter in the SurvivalBlog archives on “man trap” architectural features.

Some Suggested Suppliers:

Door closing springs. Check your local Yellow Pages for “Fire Door” hardware suppliers. Your local locksmith probably knows of a supplier, or may have a pile of used one in his back room. For a man trap, the faster the action of the door closure, the better. Hence, a traditional coil spring action is preferable to the more modern, slower pneumatically-dampened springs. Think in terms of cattle chute hardware, rather than what you’d likely see on shopping mall doors.

Door release solenoids. (You’ve probably seen these on fire doors at hospitals and other public buildings.) Note that in circumstances where grid power is iffy, you can substitute a mechanical release, activated by a simple pull-cable and cotter pin.

Door lock & release solenoid (“buzzer lock”) mechanisms. Search for local suppliers with a the web search phrases “mantrap” or “common door buzzer lock”. To provide sufficient “hold the goblins in place” strength, you may have to use multiple locking solenoids–at the top, middle, and bottom of the door–that are engaged and disengaged simultaneously.

CS tear gas grenades. These are available from police supply houses. In most states it is not illegal for citizens to possess them. But by their company sales policy, most police supply houses will only sell these to orders placed on police department letterhead. But I’ve occasionally seen gas grenades sold at at gun shows, and they also come up from time to time on firearms auction sites like GunBroker.com and AuctionArms.com. For example, see this current GunBroker auction. Be sure to consult your state and local laws before buying these or similar pyrotechnic devices.

Gun Ports. You might luck into some of these at a scrap yard (from a retired bank armored car), but more likely you will have to fabricate these yourself, or have a welding shop make them for you. Remember: Gun ports work both ways, so you will want a thick, well-braced, sliding backing plate that latches securely. Specify everything for the ports very thick and very stout. Any exposed hardware should be large-diameter and welded in place, once assembled.

Exterior (weather resistant) loudspeakers. Rather than buying new (and expensive) speakers, try placing a “wanted” ad in Craigslist. It is amazing to see what people have salted away in their garages and attics.

Letter Re: Dealing With Local Building Inspectors

I’ve been in construction and construction management on projects all across the country since the 1970s. Generally, I try to maintain good relations with the local zoning and building authorities. You really don’t want the inspector to come out and stop a scheduled concrete pour because he caught you trying to cut some stupid corner, or sneak something by him when you thought he was not looking. Having been an inspector, I am always looking…

But…when the time comes to build my little citadel out in the middle of nowhere, I have mixed thoughts about how completely truthful I want to be when I go to the county building for the plan review session. The house, partially buried and bermed for insulation and energy efficiency, and the basement workshops and storage areas and garages and greenhouses and solar panels and windmills and top-of-the-hill cistern and irrigation piping for the vegetable garden will all show up on the stamped plans that I will submit for review.

However, I’m not so certain that I want the locals to have any inkling about some of the more important underground facilities. Only a few adult family members and the most trusted co-conspirators know about the soon-to-be-buried weapons development and manufacturing facility, the chemistry lab, the hidden escape tunnels, and certain other items that only a paranoid survivalist would want to have.

I know the county flies photomapping sweeps every so often to compare what was there last year with what is there now, so the proper property taxes may be assessed on any obviously new construction. The nice man drives up in the county pickup truck and looks around the property, but usually doesn’t ask to see what’s inside the new building; it’s all just how many square feet and how many bathrooms do they need to assess.

If I remove a hundred cubic yards of clay from the future location of my new commo bunker (actually a steel shipping container with a Faraday cage to block out the EMP –you gotta read Forstchen’s new novel One Second After–I can spread it around in a fairly thin layer that won’t trigger any alarms in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) system or cause any head scratching at the USGS when the time comes to update their contour maps, or it could just be backfill material trucked in from off site to berm up around the buildings that are on the official plans.

So, it is theoretically possible to present what looks like a small homestead (to be assessed at a fairly low rate for property tax) to the county authorities for their review and approval, but also stick in a few added features that absolutely nobody outside of the group must know about. If nobody knows about the hidden stash of weapons, food, medical supplies, fuel, toilet paper, etc., then nobody with even bigger guns is going to come looking for all our most valuable loot. But, if the building inspector tells his boss at the county building that the new survivalist nuts at the end of the road have what looks like Blofeld’s secret command center from a James Bond movie… well, all bets are off, aren’t they?

So, here’s my question to all you good folks who’ve been at this for a few more years than I have:

How have you approached this issue? Completely open and up front? Mostly up front but with some secret hidden facilities? Have you completely ignored the local authorities and just hope that they don’t bust you? And what do you do about visitors to your home accidentally stumbling across the hidden access tunnel entrance under the basement stairs? A nd don’t tell me the thought hasn’t crossed your minds. – TANSTAAFL

JWR Replies: In several western states there are no building permits required, at least outside of city limits. In these states, all that the tax officials seem to care about is the aggregate square footage, and the number of bathrooms. Beyond that, what you build is your own business.

Economics and Investing:

Greg C. sent us this: Fading of the Dollar’s Dominance; Other Nations See Opening to Boost Their Currencies

Also from Greg: ECB Injects $662 Billion into Banking System

Reader A.C. contributed this: Buffett: U.S. Economy in Shambles

Spotted by JHB: Unemployment: The Hardest-Hit States

Items from The Economatrix:

Fed Says “Recession” Easing, Inflation Tame. [JWR Adds: My Barbra Streisand Meter is pegging.]

AAA: Weak Economy Will Zap Holiday Trips

UK: Pensioners Kidnap Financial Adviser and Torture Him

Ron Paul: Obama’s “Goal” Is Economic Collapse

As China Hoards, Concern Grows About Recovery

Longshoremen Running Idle at Newport News (Virginia) Port “There’s nothing,” said P.K. Bransford, 55, one of the terminal’s few full-time workers. “We used to have an average of a vessel a day. Now we’re lucky to get one every two weeks.”

Nightmarish Financial Numbers (The Mogambo Guru)

How The Wall Street Bankers Bought Congress “You would think that causing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression might have repercussions. You would think being a major factor in the destruction of around 40 percent of the world’s wealth might get you in trouble. You would think being the cause of the worst housing crisis in history — with millions of people losing their homes because of you — might force a restructuring of how Wall Street does things. You would think that. But you’d be wrong.”