Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"With the exception only of the period during which the gold standard was in effect, virtually all governments throughout history have used their exclusive power to issue money, as a method to defraud and plunder the people." – Friedrich von Hayek

Note from JWR:

The sale goes on! More than 700 SurvivalBlog readers have bought Foodsaver vacuum packing/sealing systems at the special $59.99 sale price. I had thought that the sale would end on December 31st but the manufacturer is still honoring the sale price while supplies last. (The promotion program manager mentioned that it would be less than two weeks.) We get a little “piece of the action” for each order. So this a is a great way to save money and to support SurvivalBlog in the new year. Don’t miss out on this sale! You can buy a FoodSaver v2830 for $59.99 (originally $169.99) with free Standard Shipping for orders over $100, directly FoodSaver.com.Use code L8FAV28 at checkout. Note that the special price will not show up until the last step of the checkout process.

By buying foods in bulk and re-packaging them in more handy (single meal size) vacuum bags, you can save a lot of money on your grocery bill. You can also vacuum pack Mason jars! (These come with a wide mouth Mason jar adapter as an included accessory.) But be sure to get an additional regular mouth Mason jar adapter, for an extra $8.99.) Buy a FoodSaver. You’ll be glad that you did!

Letter Re: Advice on Grungy Military Surplus Magazines

I took your advice and ordered some FN-FAL magazines from What-A-Country, and they were promptly delivered. However, I was surprised to find that the military surplus magazines were quite dirty with what appeared to be black sand, and slightly oily. Is that common for used magazines? As a first time battle rifle owner making my first military surplus purchase. I don’t know if this is common practice or not. If it is, what is the best way to properly clean the magazines so they can be used? Any advice or a link to a web site with additional information would be appreciated. – SteelerFan

JWR Replies: That isn’t very unusual. When buying military surplus, I’d much rather get oily or greasy mags, because that indicates that an effort was made to protect from rust in all those years of storage.What-A-Country imports most of their magazines from Israel. And the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has almost always done a good job with storing weapons and accessories. (For example, I’ve seen Lee-Enfield rifles that had been in storage in an Israeli warehouse for 50 years that still looked arsenal-new, once the grease was removed.)

I once bought a large batch of Thompson SMG magazines that were practically pumped full of grease. Yeech! It took a lot of time to degrease those.

OBTW, if the magazines that you bought are grungy inside, it doesn’t take long to disassemble them. If there is a lot of grease, you’ll need to use a solvent (such as Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber), otherwise just wiping them down with paper towels will usually suffice. But again, be sure to examine their interiors. (Needless to say, the usual safety provisos on avoiding skin contact and inhaling vapors of Tri-Chlor-based solvents apply!) One you’ve cleaned the magazines inside and out, wipe them down with a light coat of oil, or perhaps a heavy coat if you live in a region with high humidity. and for long-term storage in a damp climate, RIG is ideal. (But then, of course someday you’ll be back to square one–removing grease, before use.)

Letter Re: Bulk Diesel Fuel Antibacterial and Stabilizer

Hi
As to diesel fuel treatment, it is a investment that will involve the operation and reliability of your backup power engines and vehicles. The fuel is expensive so don’t cheap out on the fuel treatment. You need to have a diesel fuel maintenance program in place,
1. Treat the fuel with the proper required [stabilizing and antibacterial] chemicals.
2. Clean and polish the fuel once a year, pump the water & sludge out of the bottom of the tank. A clogged fuel filter is a serious problem.
A cheap cleaning rig can be home made, [consisting of] two filters a 20 micron and a 4 micron bought off eBay and a pump and some gauges. This can be offered to another family for a rental fee.
3. Send out a fuel sample to a lab for testing every year or two. Order a test kit online.

I worked for a telephone company doing backup power systems nationwide for years. Caterpillar provide me with a company that provides good products. I would not go dumping anything into my generators I was not sure of or was not approved by the manufacturer- TEN-32 is the product I used. Check out their web site and e-mail them questions.

You have a great blog, I try to support the advertisers, too. Thanks, Ed S.

Letter Re: Learning Old-Fashioned Trades and Skills

Jim
Concerning the article that Lisa sent: “Blacksmith-collector of forgotten trades”: Many survival minded folks consider learning a basic trade to help them through TEOTWAWKI. Most commonly they think farmer, gardener, blacksmith, bullet reloading. But there are many other basic skills and trades that will be highly prized and needed if the electricity goes off.

Tinsmithing, broom and basket making, wheel and barrel making, pewter casting, weaving and spinning, candle and soap making, harness, horse collar, boot and shoe making, hide tanning, etc., will all be needed. Many of those trades need specialized tools, equipment and knowledge. Most 19th Century and non-electric shops have long since been broken up and auctioned. But, the tools still exist. You can find them in antique shops, sometimes put away in the corner of a barn or someone’s basement, or even on the wall of a restaurant. You can also find many tools on CraigsList.org and eBay. It is much the same for books. They are out there on any subject you can think of, but it’s the locating them that’s the trick.

Right now we have the luxury of going online. By doing a used book search on Barnes & Noble web site, you can purchase a used book from any listed book store in the country. Other book retailers often offer the same service,–check and see. Right now we also have the luxury of going to flea markets, online, and to antique shops to find the needed specialized equipment. Right now we also have the time to acquire examples of the “art” of various trades. In the future it will be much easier to make a tin funnel, buggy wheel, or wood barrel if we have on hand an old one that we can copy.

But we may not have much more time to find the tools and knowledge we need to be really self-sufficient and/or provide us with a needed trade good if times get really interesting. It takes quite a bit of searching to find all the specialized items we may need. My suggestion is to get to it. Even if you don’t have the desire or interest to become a horse collar maker, someone in your future community will. It will be good to have what is needed, to make it possible. – Jim Fry, Museum of Western Reserve Farms & Equipment

Letter Re: Home Invasion Robbery Countermeasures–Your Mindset and Architecture

Jim,
After reading the recent letters about home invasion robberies, I’ve gotten a little paranoid about the idea of someone kicking in my front door in the middle of the night. It would be incredibly easy to do and it’s unlikely I could retrieve a firearm quickly enough to defend (I have a toddler so all guns are locked up except a pistol, which my wife doesn’t know is in Condition 3 in a drawer too tall for my daughter to reach).

The Strikemaster II is out of budget (I need three of them) so I looked into having similar strikeplates fabricated. As it turns out, I can have them made for about $30 each by a local guy who has a plasma cutter. This is an option for those in a similar situation.

On a related note, on a whim I purchased a lock pick kit at a recent gun show. With just several minutes of practice I am now able to pick the deadbolts on my house in less than 10 seconds each. So my locks have got to go. Any standard lock that you purchase at Home Depot or Lowe’s can be picked or bumped in seconds. Neither of those stores carry locks that provide high security, all on-package claims aside. The only locks that even approach being secure (enough for residential use) are those that meet or exceed ANSI 156.x standards, and even this level only provides that the lock can’t be picked in less than 15 minutes. A good article on the subject can be found here and here.

I have glass adjacent to two of my doors. Rather than putting a double-cylinder deadbolt in, which would be unsafe during a house fire, I’m replacing my deadbolts with a high-security cylinder on the outside and a keypad-equipped cylinder on the inside. The keypads cost about $100 and are backlit. As an extra safety measure, I’m hanging keys inside each door – but not close enough to see or reach through a broken window.

With all the glass on modern houses, it would be impossible to stop a determined burglar unless someone is home. My objective is to buy the extra time I’d need to respond to someone breaking in. For burglary protection for valuables, I’m relying on a security system and a large gun safe bolted to the floor with four 4-1/2″ anchors. Best, – Matt R.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader J.L. sent this piece describing the impact of a new Federal regulation: “New safety rules for children’s clothes have stores in a fit”. J.L’s comment: The thing that galls me, is that the thrift/resale arena is one of the few bright spots in the economy, and they are some of the few places people can go and get low priced clothes to help them get through this recession.”

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Frequent content contributor Bill N. found a web site with a useful comparison of civilian MRE equivalents.

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Reader Paul B in Texas found this 60 Minutes television segment linked over at iTulip: The Next Wave of Mortgage Defaults. Paul’s comment: “This indicates the real estate market still has four to five years to continue its downward fall. Things are getting worse, not bottoming out!” JWR’s comment: The scary thing is that the Alt-A and Option ARM defaults that they mentioned are just a small fraction of the threat posed by the huge overhang of Credit Default Swap (CDS) derivatives. Beware!

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My old college friend Mike (now back in Iraq for the third time) sent me this article: U.S. Facing Debt Time Bomb. One oddity: This January 3rd piece appears to have been partially spiked. It can no longer be found with a search at The Washington Post web site, nor at the MSNBC site. Where (Mike found it, on January 4th.) I suppose that some editors would prefer to see such sans culottes articles go away quickly. So it took me some searching to find the full text. Luckily, it had been re-posted by several discussion forums.

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And here is the latest batch of news and commentary from The Economatrix: Obama Plunges Into Pre-Inaugural Talks — US Millionaires Lose 30% of their Wealth — McMansion Trend in Real Estate Slows as Economy Slumps — Billionaire Kills Himself Over Financial Crisis — Obama Says US Economy is “Very Sick” — Crunch Puts Car Buyers in Negative Equity Loans — Beware, Commodity Index Rebalancing Ahead — Looming Collapse of Russia and China (Marty Weiss) — Empty Offices are on the Rise — Barron’s: Get Out Now

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The typical individual is addicted to low quality leisure. He watches prime time television. He reads very little. He does not subscribe to economic newsletters or spend much time on financial web sites. He does not think about the distant future, which he defines as anything beyond this month’s paycheck.” – Dr. Gary North

Notes from JWR:

The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $1,000. The auction is for a large mixed lot that includes:

1.) A large “be ready to barter” box of full-capacity gun magazines, from the JASBORR. This box includes: 12 – Used original Bundeswehr contract HK91 (G3) steel 20 round magazines, 6 – Used original FN of Belgium-made FN-FAL alloy 20 round magazines, 6 – Used AR-15/M16 USGI (a mix of Simmonds & Colt made) alloy 20 round magazines, and 2 – New and very scarce original FN (Belgian-made) US M1/M2 Carbine blued steel 30 round magazines (marked “AYP”) . All of these magazines are of pre-1994 manufacture (and hence legal to possess in New York.) These magazines have a combined value of approximately $450. Note: If you live in a state where full capacity magazines are banned, then you must choose to: refrain from bidding, or designate a recipient in an unrestricted state, or re-donate the magazines for a subsequent auction.

2. ) A brand new in box Big Berky Water Filter, with your choice of either four white ceramic filter elements or four black filter elements. This is a $329 retail value, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

3.) A huge lot of DVDs, CD-ROMs and hard copy nuclear survival/self-sufficiency references (a $300+ value) donated by Richard Fleetwood of www.SurvivalCD.com

4.) A NukAlert compact radiation detector donated by at KI4U.com (a $160 retail value). 

5.) A desert tan SOG Trident folding knife, courtesy of Safecastle. (a $92.99 retail value.)

6.) A case of 12 recent production full mil-spec MRE rations (identical to the current military contract MREs, but without the civilian sale restriction markings). This is a $90 retail value, courtesy of CampingSurvival.com.

Thus, the combined retail value of this combined lot is at least $1,275. This auction ends on January 15th. Please e-mail us your bid for the entire mixed lot.

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Today we present a guest editorial from Roger Wiegand. He is the Editor and Publisher of Trader Tracks Newsletter. Roger is co-editor of WeBeatTheStreet.com and he writes a weekly column, “Rog’s Corner,” For J Taylor’s Gold and Technology Stocks Newsletter. He has had an interest in precious metals and futures since the commodity rallies of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Roger is a voracious reader, reviewing several domestic and foreign newspapers and wire services daily for economic, political, and monetary news. His commentary is frequently featured at KITCO.com.

Our 2009 Predictions, by Roger Wiegand

We think we now have enough data from both the fundamentals and technicals to make some serious forecasts and predictions for 2009. While 2008 was a nasty year when lots of things imploded, they are far from being repaired. Treasury Secretary Paulson told us this week there are no more surprises, which tells me we haven’t even discovered but a small portion of this monster derivative mess. His ripping-off of the taxpayers to the tune of $700 billion is only a warm-up. However, the larger question for traders and investors is what could happen next and when.
In the following report we take the key global economic points and suggest the outcome for 2009.

The most important news for 2008 was the destruction of the big global banks’ net worth and their badly wounded ability to conduct normal business and make market-moving loans. Ben & Hank’s bailout only helped the bad-boy banks reliquify themselves to remain somewhat solvent and stay in business. They are doing nothing to extend credit to any business enhancing western or global economies. The 2009 result will be no significant banker lending, taking more bailout money and sweeping additional bad loans of all stripes under the banker’s rug and hiding the rest in back rooms.

The largest surprise in our view was the massive disaster at insurance giant AIG. Despite numerous injections of bailout billions, AIG remains in very serious trouble hanging on by their proverbial fingernails. The 2009 result will be a surprise crash and failure of AIG frightening the world at large causing ripples of failures throughout western and Asian nations unable to conduct business without mandatory insurance policies. Most folks have no comprehension as to the monster fallout this will create. It is in our view literally immeasurable, and this is why Paulson handed them so much money.
Our new president is determined to hand out $860 Billion to One Trillion dollars in a Herculean effort to literally buy a new economic recovery. While some of his ideas are noble indeed the overall plan
will have little effect and Great Depression II shall take hold in 2009 with crashing stock markets in May and September-October 2009. We think the worst of the worst hits in later September 2009.

During the spring of next year we see:
(1) A second larger wave of residential housing mortgage failures; (2) The first big wave of auto loan failures and repossessions; (3) Over $40 billion in credit card defaults, smashing the bank lenders; (4) The first wave of commercial mortgage failures and foreclosures on shopping malls, office buildings and other commercials; (5) And finally, the grand smashing finale of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) originated with no margin money or down payments! We heard today the total is $500 trillion! I cannot even fathom that number. These five converging train wrecks could take the Dow from a dead cat bounce of 10400-10800 back to 7250, or even 6600, or 5600.

Shares traders and investors have one more solid quarter, in our view to regain some stock market losses on the forthcoming Obama Trillion Dollar handouts. We think the rising share markets will help most all sectors gain some recovery and provide the illusion the bottoms are in and new bases found. The stark reality hits home after shares peak in April or early May taking an unprecedented selling high dive scaring the wits out of Americans and the watching world.

Even with these events and rising unemployment and social problems, economic observers and analysts could continue to plead the worst is over, the bottoms are in and a fine, new, shiny world of trading and investing in our bright economy lies just ahead for the fall of 2009. Then, in later September and early October, the New York, London, Tokyo and Asian markets take a monster crash. How low is low and how bad can it get? We think the Dow could end-up on November 1st, 2009 anywhere from 5,600 to a low of 3,000 or even 1,500. One guideline will be a falling overshoot of PE’s on our largest, so-called international corporations posting lows of 4 to7. Today, many of them are near 18. What does this tell us about the severity of our projections?
Unemployment nationally in the USA is now touching 16%. The officially posted number is somewhere near half of that. By the fall of 2009, American REAL UNEMPLOYMENT WILL BE NEAR THE ALLTIME 1930’S DEPRESSION HIGH OF 25% UNEMPLOYED. SADLY, THAT IS NOT THE WORST AS IT GETS MORE DIRE. WE PREDICT REAL, USA UNEMPLOYMENT REACHES 30-40%. IN THE RUST BELT STATES OF MICHIGAN AND OHIO, WHILE 40% IS NOT UNREALISTIC.

Several European nations have larger, more established social safety nets for the unemployed. In the USA, local, regional and national authorities are not nearly as prepared. The American federal government departments for food stamps and the job of providing welfare provisions will be overwhelmed. This will be a Katrina event for the hungry citizens of the United States. Urban areas will see skyrocketing crime and in parts of some cities, life could become totally uninhabitable.

The last report we’ve seen on those receiving food handouts and related welfare amounted to 11 million USA citizens with 700,000 children going hungry each day. We suspect the true amount of those needing food help will rise to 35,000,000 with an untold tragic number of them being little, defenseless children. Governments remain in denial and are not prepared for this national emergency whatsoever. As things worsen, food riots and others with violence aimed at the “haves’ are common.

The number of bank failures over the next three years will be in the thousands. In addition, the US Dollar’s valuation could break recent lows near 70.00 on the index, dropping to 46.00 by 2011 or 2012.
Inflation or potentially hyperinflation is quite real as the Federal Reserve and US Treasury strain to print and circulate cash to prod our stalled economy. It is simply not working even with the dramatically lower interest rates of late. Benny Bernanke is out of rate cut running room.

Consumers are broke and going broker. Households of interrelated families are doubling and tripling up even with several employed members being under one roof. Basic costs of rent, mortgage payments, health care, food, utilities and taxes are too much to bear on stagnant and in some cases falling wages. In some areas of America, there are entire subdivisions of homes totally abandoned or existing with only a hand full of occupants. The millions thrown at lenders for new mortgages are not getting through to buyers, as there are fewer of them. We are witnessing system breakdown.

Municipalities and states are sinking into a spending, debt-ridden morass. It was reported today that 22 of 50 USA states are in serious budgetary trouble. California is one of those in terrible condition and Michigan is already technically broke as are many of her cities. Detroit will file bankruptcy in 2009 and there will many other surprises as well. There will be a cascade of bond defaults and the outcome will cap the ability of these cities, states and counties to borrow ever more.

The shining light through all of this is the faster we find the bottom the faster we can recover. Sadly, the recovery process will take years. Futures and commodities traders should continue to earn steady profits as the stock markets slide into oblivion for years. We see no recovery until 2015.

Roger Wiegand
Editor, Trader Tracks Newsletter & The Rog Blog at WeBeatTheStreet.com

Letter Re: The U.S. Expatriation Exit Tax

Hi JWR,
Here’s another one for your readers. I’d heard of this “exit tax” a few months ago and it was completely ignored by the mainstream media (MSM). At first blush, it doesn’t appear to impact most people, i.e. only those over $4 million USD net worth for couples who renounce U.S. citizenship and leave. However, we all know how well the alternative minimum tax (AMT)–the so-called millionaire’s tax–worked out. It was supposed to affect only several hundred tax “scofflaws”, and now because of inflation, millions of citizens are affected. A few years of 50% inflation will put most professional couples into the realm of exit tax eligible.

I’m sure many of your readers will agree that it is making more and more sense to go off the financial grid, as well as the electric grid. Rendering unto Caesar is getting pretty darned expensive, even if you want to leave!

Take a look at this post over at The Ron Paul Forums. Here is a snippet:
“Europe’s Economist magazine refers to this new tax as, “America’s Berlin Wall.” They also point out that, along with North Korea, the United States is already one of the few countries in the world that taxes its citizens on their income regardless of the country they earn it in. As most already suspected, the IRS is a hard master. A government that is bankrupt by any honest accounting accounting standards will eventually be forced by its creditors to turn over any real assets it still has at its disposal. Unfortunately, in most courts of law, those assets can include the full net worth of all U.S. citizens and residents. The ability to tax this net worth, to extinction if necessary, is the ultimate backing behind the guarantee U.S. debt holders know as”the full faith and credit of the United States.”

Yikes! – CK

Two Letters Re: Home Invasion Robbery Countermeasures–Your Mindset and Architecture

Jim,
I have not yet seen mention of “air locks” as a security layer for entry doors. Many years ago I managed a software project that included doing installs at armored car companies. The visitor entrance had you go in one set of doors to a small holding room. Here a security receptionist behind thick glass and gun ports could identify you and hold you until they were ready. Only then could you enter a second set of doors into the main facility, which would be analogous to an inner courtyard in a residential estate (i.e., an open area surrounded by secured offices and security stations with more gun ports). There was no way possible for someone to just barge in through the public doors into the private work areas.

I have always been intrigued with this “air lock” concept for security in a home design. The security screen door might be a micro version of this concept. The walled yard with a security gate is closer to the full concept. Even with those ideas in place, I would still like to have a secure foyer in which visitors could enter and be fully observed and communicated with but still protected by a second beefy security door.

Then if the secure foyer opened into a sort of atrium, you can interior rooms overlooking the foyer have bullet resistance windows and discreet firing ports. It doesn’t seems like it would take too much to design an attractive home with many substantial security layers:

– Walled yard with remote controlled security gate, intercom and security camera
– “Air lock” foyer with observation windows and discrete firing ports and remote controlled secure exterior and interior entry doors
– Interior atrium or courtyard with interior rooms having overlooking bullet-proof windows and firing ports(maybe with decorative sliding covers?)
– Gate or steel door to block off bedrooms from living areas at night
– Safe room inside the bedroom area for final retreat location
– Escape tunnel or hatch from safe room to outside into a camouflaged exit point (bushes, shed, etc.)

Are you aware of any traditional architecture styles that incorporate many of these security layers? For instance, I learned in a cultural training class that in Italy new acquaintances are never invited to a private home for visiting. You always arrange to meet in public until you are well known and then only come over at an invited time, never to just “drop by”. You would never invite a bunch of people over and e-mail them a map to your house to just show up for a party. Only family and close friends are invited into one’s house. Also, the houses tend to have outside gates and entry doors away from the living areas so unless someone expects you, you will never get close enough for them to even know you are there wanting to come in. Sort of a cultural OPSEC. – The NW Pilgrim

JWR Replies: Thanks for mentioning those design approaches. For several years, I worked for defense contractors that had secure (SCIF) facilities. This gave me some first-hand experience. For any readers interested in detailed specifications, do a web search on the phrase “Man Trap AND Entrance”. You’ll find articles like this one. One proviso: If you utilize a man trap door system to hold a miscreant, then you must immediately declare “you are under citizen’s arrest” and summon the police or sheriff’s deputies. To do anything else–or otherwise delay–could be the grounds for a civil suit or criminal prosecution.

 

Hi Jim,
The after market security films [mentioned by another reader] may not be useful as advertised. The issue is that the laminate film is not secured sufficiently to the window frame. An intruder can knock out the glass plane at the edges to gain entry. The security laminate films are more of a safety measure against severe weather by preventing glass shard injury.

Most of the security laminates are secured to a window frame with a small bead of silicone, but this offers little resistance to a blow by a crow bar that can deliver thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch. A intruder could knock out a corner of a window and reach inside to open the lock.

Some vendors use a thick PVC frame that is bonded to the window using an adhesive. However this is still likely not strong enough to hold back a determined intruder for very long. The film lamination may provide between 30 to 50 sec of delay.

If you watch this video of a test with a product using the PVC frame it takes just a few blows to cause the PVC frame to partially blow out. I believe a determined intruder can knock the window enough to get his hand to reach the lock in a matter of seconds.

I believe the real solution is to have the security laminates installed at the factory when the windows are manufactured so that laminate security film is installed into the window frame. I would also like to note that these security laminate films do not offer protection against bullets.

Letter Re: Bureaucratic Restrictions on Defensive Wire and Obstacles

Sir
[Regarding your recent mention of the ban on barbed wire in the city of Newark, New Jersey,] they aren’t the only ones. I am currently in Kabul [, Afghanistan] doing contract security work and we wanted to improve the security of the compound we live in. We are doing so by adding HESCO bastions made into fighting positions on the outside of our perimeter wall. As our workers were finishing the last of them, the police came by to tell us that we could not put up HESCOs on the street. When I got out there I asked the police why we could not put out HESCOs. The reply was that someone in parliament thought it made the city look like a war zone and that they would no longer be allowed.

This ignores the fact that Kabul actually is in a war zone. We also had the bombed-out hull of a BTR-152 [Russian Armored Personnel Carrier] alongside the building but that was fine, apparently.

I solved the problem by saying that they were not HESCOs, that we planned to face them with plywood and plant flowers in them. It wasn’t for force protection, it was part of our neighborhood beautification program. The workers laughed, the police scowled and within a week we had them enclosed in lumber and had flowers planted on our fighting positions. – Jake (Vacationing in Kabul)

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Jason in North Idaho mentioned the documentary “Alone in the Wilderness“ about Richard Proenneke. Jason notes: “I saw it on on PBS. It was very good documentary.”

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The day’s economic news, starting with this from The New York Times, courtesy of Karl K.: The End of the Financial World as We Know It. Next, Jonathan B. sent this: The Economist magazine says its a depression. Allen sent us this sobering piece by the ever-cheery Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of The London Telegraph: Asia needs to fully wake up to the scale of the West’s economic crisis. And top all that, come these from Cheryl: China, Crystal Maker Waterford Wedgwood Collapses [JWR Adds: Be advised that this corporate umbrella includes Doulton, the makers of the Big Berky ceramic filter elements. So stock up!] — Ford’s US Sales Drop 32% in December — Bailout Costs Exceed All American Wars — US Asks Arab Nations for $300 Billion to Fund Auto Bailout — Idle Ports Signals Two Bleak Years Ahead in World Trade — Wall Street Braces for 2009’s First Full Week — Buffet’s Berkshire “has nowhere to hide” — Downturn Stress Impacting Health — As Recession Deepens, So Does Milk Surplus — America Shifts to Cheaper Wines, and More of Them

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Justin M. flagged a piece in The Los Angeles Times that indicates that Asian Avian flus is still a threat: New bird flu cases revive fears of human pandemic

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Because of the unprecedented fragility of our intertwined power grid and complex transportation system, the technological West is highly vulnerable to sabotage and chaos." – Camille Paglia