Letter Re: Breeding Guinea Pigs as a Protein Source?

Mr. Rawles,
My husband and I are having a preparedness debate that we were hoping you could shed some light on. While he’s more of a conventional preparer (food, supplies, guns) I prefer to think of “things” that would help us survive if we were to ever run out of, or lose the conventional supplies. This distinct difference in preparation brings me to my story.

Several months ago I was watching a special on, I believe National Geographic, where the camera crew followed an actor on his journey through the country of Peru. On his trip he went into the Andes Mountains and spent several days with a Peruvian family. He tried to learn some of their language, customs, and try the foods they survive off of. This is where I became interested – aside from the grains and vegetables that they grow, the main staple of meat for the villagers in this area are guinea pigs. In Peru guinea pigs are called Cuy [Cuyes, Cuyos in the plural] and they are considered a delicacy in many parts of the country, and eaten only on special occasions, though in this village it seemed to be a daily occurrence.

My husband thought I was insane for even suggesting that we eat guinea pigs, and maybe you will too, but my rationale for it is this: In a TEOTWAWKI situation you can’t be picky about what you eat, and what you eat should provide more energy than you expend acquiring it. Guinea pigs are easy to breed, easy to feed, and easy to “hunt” (and by hunt I mean pick up off the ground). They are high in protein, (supposedly) tender and delicious, and one guinea pig per person provides a hearty meal.
My question to you is: would you, as the preparedness guru, consider breeding guinea pigs as a food source – a good move?
Sincerely, – M Q B.

The Memsahib Replies: I bred Cavies (Guinea Pigs) for several years. At the peak, I had about 100 of them. In my case, I was breeding them to develop genetics for good maternal instincts, easy birth, and beautiful coat colors and coat texture variations. (BTW, breeding cavies is fantastic for homeschoolers to learn about genetics, since the gestation period is so short–around 65 days.) I sold all of my “extras” (that didn’t meet the strict genetic goals of my breeding program) to a wholesaler that provided young cavies to pet stores and the cavy show trade. In all, I sold about 300. Cavies are quite easy to breed, but raising them to butcher size might take a lot of time.

I never raised mine for butcher, but I did raise 150+ Rex rabbits for butcher. In a survival situation, I’d prefer cavies, since they don’t tunnel (which would be an escape risk), and they can be successfully bred in colony ground pens. (This is difficult, at best, with rabbits, because of their prodigious tunneling, vicious fighting, and the tendency of mothers to eat their young, when under stress!)

In summary, I have bred both rabbits and cavies. If your goal is to have very small livestock as a protein source, in a warm climate, then I’d recommend cavies, for self-sufficiency.

Warning: While rabbits are prone to biting and kicking and scratching (I have the scars on my forearms to prove it), cavies are so adorable that there is the risk that in pre-TEOTWAWKI times, family members may prove too tender-hearted to ever be able to slaughter, butcher, and eat their cavy friends. The grateful “wheet, wheet” call of of a cavy when presented a carrot treat can melt an owner’s heart! I call this Too Cute Tribble Syndrome (TCTS). But I must reiterate that we had no such compunctions when it came to rabbits! (They were cute, but they never “talked back” to us.) I’ve butchered almost 150 rabbits, with no remorse.

Letter Re: It Matters Not Whether We Face Inflation or Deflation–You Need to Protect Yourself

JWR,

That was an excellent post by Gentleman Jim! His view of insurance is right on and should be reinforced. I’ve come to realize that the best way to conceptualize prepping is in terms of insurance. As Jim stated, just like every family needs home insurance, auto insurance, medical insurance, etc., you must also have survival insurance. In fact, this should be the most important insurance you carry. If you have a family, you owe it to your spouse and your children to ensure that they will be safe no matter what life throws at you.

There are several good reasons to use an insurance perspective. The financial obligation is easier to digest once you consider all your insurance premiums together. For example, the cost of my health, auto, and home insurance combined (family of 4, 2 vehicles, 1 house) is now running about $12,500 per year (and this keeps going up, ugh!). So, a conservative estimate of the value of survival insurance could justify spending at least a quarter of this amount ($3,125/yr.). If you think survival insurance is more important than the others (and I do, at this point in time), then consider a survival insurance premium worth 50% of your current insurance ($6,250/yr). From an insurance perspective, I hardly bat an eye over spending several thousand dollars on supplies. While my numbers don’t apply to everyone, the point is the same: look at your current insurance costs; figure a percentage that your think is fair; consider it a premium like other insurance; and work it into your budget. You simply cannot afford to not have survival insurance!

Another benefit of an insurance perspective is that helps you conceptualize the extent of your coverage. In other words, how much coverage do you have now and how much do you need/want? Take the worst case situation that all the stores are closed a/o out of supplies, and ask yourself how long you could be self-reliant? Do you want insurance coverage for 3 months? 6 months? >1 year? Each time period carries a different premium. Also keep in mind that unless you are self-sufficient, after your insurance runs out, you are a refugee. I agree with everyone who advocates having at least a 1 year policy. This timeframe is based on the minimum it would take for a disruption of the food supply to return to normal. At whatever point a disruption occurs, there will need to be at most a year of seasons to regain farming and agriculture (that’s assuming there is a quick resolution to whatever caused the disruption). Of course, as everyone is are aware, there are worse scenarios that could disrupt supplies for a longer period (possibly indefinitely). If you’re worried about that, then you need to take out a larger insurance policy that includes ways to secure your own resources and food.

I would also like to point-out a purely semantic benefit to calling your preparedness activities “insurance.” How many of you have had a spouse/sibling/friend question your sanity as you’re pouring 50 lb sacks of red winter wheat into storage buckets? At some point, after one too many boxes of freeze-dried fruit, toilet paper and ammunition enter the house, someone’s going to raise an eyebrow. I hope your acquaintances are more intelligent and mature than mine, but if they’re not, explain it in terms of insurance. There is a quarterly insurance premium for our safety and peace of mind, and we are not losing grip on reality. I understand the fragileness of society and recognize my duty to provide insurance for the family. I can usually turn the insanity perception around and point out to folks that they must be insane not to have survival insurance.

I also like the way Jim describes gold & silver as insurance. Owning gold and silver is an important part of your survival insurance policy. While I think that being self-sufficient is more valuable than money, for those of us who are not totally self-sufficient, we will need an alternate and liquid form of money. In my opinion, gold and silver American Eagles are the best insurance against the collapse of fiats because: a) they are currently the most liquid form of bullion; b) their content is guaranteed by the mint (no assay required); c) divisibility; and d) they are currently a form of legal tender. In case some readers are not aware, bullion US Mint American Eagles are legal tender, while bars and foreign coins are not. While there is commodity value in owning bars and foreign coins, as long as there is a Treasury Department, they cannot officially be used as money. Here is a link to the US code section that defines money.

On the subject of legal tender [status], it should be pointed-out that bullion American Eagles have a value equal to the amount that is stamped on the coin. For a one-ounce Gold Eagle, this equates to a $50 value in terms of money. The gold commodity is currently valued around $950/oz. If you’re considering purchasing bullion, try not to let this price dissuade you. View it like a currency exchange similar to exchanging dollars for pesos. When you exchange for a foreign currency, you don’t balk at the exchange rate. It is what it is. In terms of bullion, if you understand that the reason you’re exchanging dollars for bullion is because you believe that the fiat will ultimately lose its value, then you are simply exchanging paper for a commodity at the going exchange rate. You can help offset the rising rates by making one cash-for-bullion exchange per year. Also, if you took at look at that Weimar Hyperinflation Timeline someone recently posted, you would know just how fast cash can lose its value. $950 today might be much, much more in a hyperinflated future. Make sure your savings don’t get completely wiped-out by hyperinflation. Exchange some of your cash for bullion and insure yourself against this! [JWR Adds: By the way, the established Legal Tender status of American Eagle gold and a silver coins opens up some interesting tax implications.]

I totally agree with the opinions for owning pre-1965 coins. They are legal tender and are the lowest denominated bullion. But I would also like to point out that in terms of divisibility, gold eagles can be purchased in denominations of 1oz, 1/2oz, 1/4oz, and 1/10oz. The 1/10th oz coins have a $5 face value and a commodity value of about $95. They are smaller than a dime (so are light and easy to carry), and would be the most suitable gold coin to use for small purchases in a post-SHTF economy. Keep the larger coins squirreled away (outside the banking system) as a store of value.

If you’re looking for a storage solution besides your backyard or home safe, there is a unique security company in Idaho called Idaho Armored Vaults that stores and segregates your bullion outside of the financial system. I have no interests with this company, but am acquainted with the owner. He is extremely knowledgeable about all things bullion.

One last point along the lines of insurance: this type of policy should be perpetual. If I am lucky enough to get through life without ever using my survival insurance (apart from eating the food and using the household products), I intend to will it to my kids. It is very gratifying to know that after I’m gone they will have bullion, firearms and other tangibles to help insure their futures. (If you like the idea of inheritance, be sure to consider creating a family trust. Keep all the possessions in the trust for protection from sour relationships). If you approach this as a perpetual insurance policy, you could be setting the foundation to ensure the safety of many generations in your family. Just think of how much this policy would be worth today if your grandparents had started it!

God Bless and Good Luck. – Chris G.

Economics and Investing:

U.S. dollar ‘seriously overvalued’

From SurvivalBlog reader GG: The next great crisis: America’s debt. At this rate, your share of the load will be $155,000 in a decade. How chronic deficits are putting the country on a path to fiscal collapse.

Another from GG (also sent by KAF): Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest Rates. The unprecedented expansion of the money supply could make the ’70s look benign

Fam sent us this: Treasury Secretary’s Secret Talking Points Reveal That Banks Were Forced to Surrender Ownership Stakes to Government

From DD: Foreclosures hit the upscale market

Items from The Economatrix:

Treasuries Tumble After Auction; Russian Threat to Cut Holdings “‘There are an awful lot of Treasuries being auctioned and there’s going to be more and more and more and more,’ said Jay Mueller, who manages about $3 billion of bonds at Wells Fargo Capital Management in Milwaukee.”

Stocks Falls After Weak Auction of 10-Year Notes

Fed Unveils Some Details on $1 Trillion in Lending, But Doesn’t Identify Borrowers (Which leads us to ask: How much money is being sent offshore?)

Survey: Dollar, Government Bonds Set to Decline As Economies “Recover”

High Court Clears Way For Chrysler Sale to Fiat “The United States government has, I continue to believe, acted egregiously by taking away the traditional rights held by secured creditors.”

Congress Subpoenas The Fed Over BoA-Merrill Lynch

Airfares to Fall Further in Recession

Former AT&T CEO (Whitacre) to Become New GM Chairman

More Politics in Auto Plant Closures?

Now Boarding At Gate C14: Capital Flight Airlines

Russia, Brazil to Buy $20 Billion IMF Bonds, Diversify Reserves “Russia’s central bank said it may cut investments in U.S. Treasuries, currently valued at as much as $140 billion, a week after China said it may reduce reliance on the dollar and American bonds. Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega said his country will purchase $10 billion of debt sold by the IMF, China will buy $50 billion and India may announce similar funding.”

You Just Have To Laugh (The Mogambo Guru)

Bullion and Bandits: The Improbable Rise and Fall of e-Gold

Parental Lifelines Frayed to Breaking
20-somethings having to move back in with parents

Odds ‘n Sods:

More about the proposed ban on one-hand opening pocket knives. The U.S. Government is Trying to Take Away Your Pocket Knives! Also see this summary comes from WorldNetDaily. The only thing worse than Nanny State meddling in your city, county, or state is the same nonsense promulgated at the Federal level. At least with state-level laws, you have the opportunity to “vote with your feet”. After a thousand small abuses, who will go so far as to emigrate? A special note: If this new law “interpretation” is enacted, crossing state lines with one of these knives will be considered a felony. The Federal bureaucracy is accepting comments – written only – that must be received by June 21 before its planned changes could become final.]

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From Cheryl: Consumer Alert: Recycled Radioactive Metal Contaminates Consumer Products

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Naiveté and Gullibility: To some, they’re not just words–they’re a way of life: Now…Go Break The Windows; Crank caller wreaks havoc on Arkansas hotel, duping employees, guests. (Be sure to click on the tab down in the photo section of the article, to view the police report. At times the truth is stranger than fiction.)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I have long had a tendency to tie marksmanship to morality. The essence of good marksmanship is self-control, and self-control is the essence of good citizenship.
It is too easy to say that a good shot is automatically a good man, but it would be equally incorrect to ignore the connection.” – Jeff Cooper, Cooper’s Commentaries Volume 9, No. 4 22/73

Note from JWR:

Several SurvivalBlog readers have written to mention that they’d like to help with The Memsahib‘s medical expenses. That was very kind, but by God’s wonderful providence, we are in no need of contributed funds to pay for her health care costs. (I recently signed a contract with Simon & Schuster to write two novels as sequels to “Patriots“). We covet only your prayers.

Letter Re: Advice For Older Preppers With Limited Mobility

Hi James,

Thanks for your many years of great work. While I was enjoying and learning so much from your books and the web site, I was also growing older and have physically “lost the edge”. More accurately, I reaped the unintended consequences of 55 years of smoking and now have a tough situation Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This is [best described in layman’s terms as] a combination of bronchitis and emphysema. I have not smoked for three years and my breathing is now stable at 51% of normal. This ailment is not unusual in the senior community, and COPD is the third largest killer in the USA. It severely restricts activity and higher altitudes are deadly. Like most of us with COPD, I am on oxygen 20-to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, plus lots of varied and expensive medications, to include my liquid oxygen, mostly supplied to me at low or zero cost by the Veterans Administration.

Additionally, and this may apply to many of your readers, my wife and I are the primary care givers, in our home, for her mentally disabled older brother. He too is a vet, Korean War Era and age 79, and receiving 100% of his medical care from the local Veterans Clinic, as I do. The Veterans Administration (VA) is a terrific source of excellent health care. All eligible vets should enroll ASAP a the VA web site. Go there and get in before the Obama National Health Carelessness Agency gets to their house! I expect the VA will be forced to shut out all non combat vets soon!

My wife and I, and a few friends, all sorta elderly fellow military vets, have been like minded about preparedness since well before the Y2K era. About 20 years of learning and prepping! We have the basic stocks of food, water, meds, clothing, and appropriate security items. We have learned to help one another and to be able to give to others in need. I have stocks of dvds to enjoy and to use to teach others. We have a 2,100 Watt solar system for power. We have devised a simple system to safely filter irrigation water for our local water needs, to include drinking, cooking, and laundry. We’ve worked together and planned together successfully. We are a team and care for each other as an extended family.

We live in small town in rural Utah. My wife and I are pleased to live in a close knit town of about 500 good caring folks. This area is highly LDS, about 50 – 60 %, and they are mostly “not very well-prepared” …. surprise! surprise! The [majority of] Mormon people–and I can say this as an active LDS–are not ready for any disaster. Less that 10% have a emergency response mindset. The LDS Provident Living web site is great, and while the LDS Church strongly promotes and enables provident living, far too few members are prepared for any emergency. Many have a little bit and very few have enough. As a people we are not well prepared. [JWR Adds: But on average far better prepared than most other Americans, and that is commendable.]

As a family, we’ve done all that preparation, and still I have a serious problem with no answer. You see, I will be dependent on solar power to enable my oxygen concentrator to produce O2, power the kitchen, and the computers, and to recharge the batteries. I can’t leave our home area for more than about 6-9 hours (maximum battery life for the portable concentrator). In an emergency my darling wife of 43 years will not leave me. My Veterans Elderly “A” Team / Extended Family wants to “zip cuff, gag, and bag” me and take me out of danger, but they too recognize the travel difficulty and are without a solution. Moving the solar array and the necessary ancillary equipment is a two day exercise.

We seniors are a large portion of the community and an even larger part of the preparedness group. I have yet to see or hear any preparedness help for folks like us. Many seniors are just like me; older, somewhat “”less abled physically, somewhat less able to travel, and more dependent on local medical services. 20% of us are raising our grand children… At the same time we are surely more knowledgeable, more able to lead, more experienced, more secure financially, more able to teach and to mentor, more equipped, and more likely to have lived through hard times and to have serious military training. And very importantly, many of us have real time combat experience. We have been to see the “Elephant Country”. The younger folks need what we have to offer because they will die without it.

My problem is very simple. I have done all of the right preparedness chores and now I find that my family can not get in the truck and bug out. And I’ll be 69, next birthday. What do I do now?

thanks again. – Old Bobbert in Utah

JWR Replies: My general recommendation for retirees is to set yourself up as the retreat destination for the younger members of your extended family. You can provide them with their bug-out location, and storage for their supplies, and the benefits of your years of preparation. They can provide you with the young and healthy hands, strong backs, sharp eyes, and sensitive ears you will need after TEOTWAWKI. I often stress the need to pre-position retreat logistics. By having your extended family’s supplies at your locale, it provides insurance that they will be there to help out, when the balloon goes up.

OBTW, you mentioned oxygen. For anyone that heavily dependent on medical oxygen, I strongly recommend buying a portable oxygen concentrator. Many of the portable models are compatible with 12 VDC power. This means that you can run them from your alternative power system battery bank, without the need to run a DC-to-AC inverter. For much greater “range” away from your retreat, you can keep a charged pair of deep cycle 6 VDC golf cart batteries in your vehicle.

Letter Re: Growing Food on a City Lot

JWR:
While we all dream that perfect place in the country it is important to emphasize how much that can be accomplished on a small city lot. My home sits on about 6,000 square feet of land, a small suburban house in a cookie-cutter neighborhood . The house and garage and drive way take up about half of the lot . Of what’s left, I’m slowly converting the ornamental landscape to organic food production. My current garden consists of 48 tomato plants (4 varieties) 2 beds of sweet corn, 2 rows of cucumbers staggered 2 month s apart for continuous harvest, 2 similar rows of pole beans, one row of lima beans, 30 sweet pepper plants, 6 pumpkins, 12 winter squash, 12 summer squash , 6 cantaloupes , 4 peach trees, 2 nectarine trees , 2 pear trees , 2 apple trees, and one fig. In addition, numerous herbs –(basil , dill, rosemary, sage, and thyme) and 4 artichoke plants . Could easily plant enough onions and garlic to last us all year and I plan to do so as I add beds.

Last year I grew enough popcorn to last two years. Next year I plan on a large bed of dent corn for corn meal. Am still experimenting with winter crops but peas, beets, carrots, and kale all do well and I’m anxious to see how many potatoes I can get from 100 square feet.

I figure that I’ ll pull about $2,000 worth of food from the garden this year and that ’it is going to increase because I still have about 1,000 square feet of ornamental beds and lawn to tear out and plant and the fruit trees are still young . Over the past 8 years I’ve spent less than $1,000 for tools and equipment: two spades (one all metal for my heavy clay soil) , a Mantis tiller, metal fencing stakes for pole beans, tomato e s, and cucumbers ( they last forever, much better than wood) , various clippers, twine, a bit of organic fertilizer , and the bare-root fruit trees . This year I’ve spent less than $25 ( seeds, twine, and a bit of seaweed spray) since I have all the tools already. Could rent out my tiller at $ 30 / day if I took the trouble to post at the local store. Meanwhile, we’re eating healthy and free and will start putting up food as I expand my beds and grow enough to save as well as eat.

I love the work so it is not drudgery for me it is great exercise and a relief to be outside after working in my office all week . Weekends in late winter and early spring are a bit busy –– perhaps 5 or 6 hours per weekend for a month or so . But once the winter garden is out and the spring garden is planted, it requires about two hours per week for the rest of the season.

Yes, we all want to life in the country. But until then there’s free food for eating and survival storage right in your backyard if you’re willing to do the work. – Patrick C. in Southern California

Two Letters Re: It Matters Not Whether We Face Inflation or Deflation–You Need to Protect Yourself

Mr. Rawles,
Just a quick comment on Gentleman Jim’s excellent letter. He wrote:” [U.S. Silver Eagles] are obviously more valuable than the pre-1965 junk silver coins, and thus you can get a great store of value into fewer coins. … Plus, they get very heavy very fast.”

Silver is silver is silver. You shouldn’t be too concerned with what particular impression or markings are on the coin, or where it was minted, or what year, etc etc. All those things have their place, but when it comes to investing in silver and gold for the type of wealth storage and protection we’re discussing here, they are irrelevant at best and can in fact be a detriment. You’re buying silver, period. The silver content should be your primary concern, and the coin/bar/ingot/whatever that allows you to acquire the greatest amount of silver at the lowest price per ounce should be your choice. Melt value is what matters.

Thus his comment that “you can get a great store of value into fewer coins” is somewhat misleading, and “they get very heavy very fast”—while being technically true from a mere scale standpoint—is missing the point. An ounce of silver is an ounce of silver is an ounce of silver. 100 ounces of silver in the form of Silver Eagles is no more or less valuable than 100 ounces of silver in the form of pre-1965 coins. Either way, you have 100 ounces of silver. True enough, 10% of the weight and space taken up by 90% junk silver coins is “wasted” on irrelevant [hardening, for circulation] metal content, and thus for a given dollar amount the pre-1965 coin stash will weigh a bit more, but for most folks the practical differences are moot. I’d rather pay a much smaller premium than be concerned with the marginally different storage and handling requirements. The same [“buy with the lowest premium”] principle applies to gold. – CH

Jim,
Regarding the “Jim from Colorado’s” article I agree with his premise, however there are a few errors I’d like to correct.

He states:

“Look back to the 1930s in the United States.when the devalued dollar led to such extreme measures that in 1933, FDR confiscated nearly all of the gold in the country-and reimbursed owners at a fraction of the value of their gold (absolutely true statement; I have a copy of the Executive Order, if you’d like to read it).
o Yes, households were allowed to keep a small fraction of their holdings, no more than $100 worth of gold, and also numismatic collector’s coins were exempted.
o Yes, industrial concerns and business were allowed to continue storing “appropriate” amounts of gold for things like making jewelry, etc.
o The point here is-the government literally came and took people’s gold from them.at bargain basement prices.”

The correct timeline for “confiscation” and subsequent devaluation of the dollar was as follows:

“March 6, 1933
Using a wartime statute passed in 1917, Mr Roosevelt issued a proclamation closing every bank in the U.S. for four days. The banks were closed from March 6 to March 9.

April 5, 1933
President Roosevelt, acting under the sweeping authority passed to him by Congress on March 9, signed Presidential Executive Order 6102 which invoked his authority to make it unlawful to own or hold gold coins, gold bullion, or gold certificates. The export of Gold for purposes of payment was also outlawed, except under license from the Treasury.

January 30, 1934
The “Gold Reserve Act” became law. It had passed through Congress in five days, with minimal debate. Under this act, the Federal Government took away title to all “Gold Certificates” and gold held by the Federal Reserve Bank (the independent Fed?) and vested sole title with the U.S. Treasury. The Fed banks were to be provided with “Gold Certificates” in return for their Gold, but these certificates had no specific value in Gold assigned to them.

January 31, 1934
The day after the passage of the Act, President Roosevelt fixed the weight of the Dollar at 15.715 grains of Gold “nine-tenths fine”. The Dollar was thereby devalued from $20.67 to one troy ounce of Gold to $35.00 to one troy ounce of Gold – or by 69.3 percent. The Treasury, which had become the possessors of all the nation’s Gold on the previous day, saw the value of their Gold holdings increase by $US 2.81 Billion. The Treasury now “owned” the Gold, and no one else inside the U.S. was allowed to own any Gold except by the express permission of the Treasury.

The new ratio of $US 35 [per ounce] was adopted at Bretton Woods in July 1944. The U.S. Dollar was made the world’s Reserve Currency and the IMF and World Bank established in 1947. The now international ratio of 35 U.S. Dollars to one troy ounce of Gold lasted until August 15, 1971.”

In short they called in the gold and paid $20.67/oz on April 5, 1933, but it wasn’t until January 31, 1934 that they devalued the USD to $35/oz. And the so called “confiscation”, never really was. They were simply ordered, under threat of imprisonment to turn it in and it was declared illegal. They never went door to door and took anything. There was IIRC only one attempt at prosecution and it involved millions of dollars in gold bullion. Many (most?) people never turned in anything. Also, from what I can gleam from passed down second hand stories the safety deposit box line from the Executive Order was not strictly enforced either. All the best, – O.E.

JWR Replies: You mentioned: “They never went door to door and took anything.” Yes, that is correct, but only because government officials didn’t have to. By declaring possession of gold coins illegal, they “smoked out” nearly all the gold coins that were in circulation. People dutifully exchanged their gold coins 1-for-1 (at face value) for FRN paper currency, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to spend their gold coins after the new law went into effect. A $20 gold piece got them a $20 FRN. Wow, what a bargain! Only later were they stabbed in the back by the official revaluation of gold. This was larceny on a grand scale, committed by the FDR administration. There is no more powerful coercive force than that wielded by an ostensibly constitutional government, acting under color of law. In short, FDR did what was expedient, and his administration robbed the American people of their gold. What would be a felony for an individual to do was deemed “lawful” for a government to do.

Economics and Investing:

From “Kevin Lendel”: China airs fears on US debt, dollar: lawmaker

10 big banks get OK to repay $68B in bailout money (Thanks to H.D.K. for the link) “Experts say allowing 10 banks to return $68 billion in bailout money illustrates some stability has returned to the system but caution that the crisis isn’t over. Some worry the repayments could widen the gap between healthy and weak banks.” Cheryl N. notes. “Just remember, these banks suddenly were able to pay their bills after the FASB changed some accounting rules. It’s just more “green shoots” based on falsified accounting records.

HPD spotted this piece by Mish Shedlock: Eight Step Program to Improve Fed’s Image

Items from The Economatrix:

Charles Hugh Smith’s commentary: Why The Current Depression Will Be Deeper Than 1929

Justice Ginsburg Delays Chrysler Sale

Geithner to Sen. DeMint: Bailouts May Never End, No Exit Plan. JWR Adds: Gee, that sounds like the very definition of the MOAB…

Obamanomics: How Stupid Do They Think We Are?

The Economy is Still at The Brink “We have both spent large chunks of our lives working on Wall Street, absorbing its ethic and mores. We’re concerned that nothing has really been fixed. We’re doubly concerned that people appear to feel the worst of the storm is over —and in this, they are aided and abetted by a hugely popular and charismatic president and by the fact that the Dow has increased by 35 percent or so since Mr. Obama started to lay out his economic plans in March. But wishing for improvement and managing by the Dow’s swings are a fool’s game.”

Bank Profits From Accounting Rules [Relaxation] Masking Looming Loan Losses “The revival may be short-lived. Analysts who have examined the quarterly profits and government tests say that accounting rule changes and rosy assumptions are making the institutions look healthier than they are.”

Economist: Housing Bubble Caused Great Depression, Too

Skousen: Something Rotten In Auto Bankruptcy Deals

Medvedev: Russia, China Should Dump Dollar In Trade “Medvedev said bilateral currency deals between trade partners ease impact of the economic crisis in an environment when many countries have difficulties tapping international capital markets.”

Russian Rouble to Go Palladium

US Expert: India, China Ready to Rule World Economy “… the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a London-based economic consulting firm, had predicted emerging market economies may overtake the US and the rest of the Western world this year instead of 2015 as predicted earlier.”

Peter Schiff: The Charm Offensive “…no matter how slick the sales pitch, no amount of lipstick can dress up this pig.”

Odds ‘n Sods:

From my old friend “John Jones”: Solar Storm Threat Assessment

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SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson spotted this video clip. Bobcat wood splitter. Wow! As my dad always said: There’s nothing like power tools!

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Christopher T. flagged this: Texas company offers ethanol mini-refineries

The folks at Ready Made Resources, mentioned that they just received a limited supply of genuine made in the U.S.A. stainless steel surgical hemostats. These are not made in Pakistani, (some of which will rust in an autoclave) .Still sealed in original packages $17.95 for a pair, in 5-1/2″ and 6-1/2″ length.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"…compared warfare to a grand ballet, where every minute, every second, is carefully choreographed and orchestrated, but when the conductor raises the baton for the first note, two homicidal maniacs jump out of the orchestra pit onto the stage with bayonets and begin chasing the ballerinas – that is warfare. Much the same is true for disaster planning. Nevertheless, because you went through the planning process, you understand the key challenges, the key questions, and the critical issues regarding your specific business – and that is what will give you the flexibility to adapt in a crisis." – General Norman Schwarzkopf