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Odds 'n Sods:
I hope that readers took my advice and bought precious metals during the recent
dip. The bank credit crisis seems to have woken
the gold bull from his short nap. (Gold had one of its best one day gains
ever, on Wednesday.) I believe that the bull's charge will resume, shortly.
Because the consumer
economy
now
looks
weak, I
predict that gold will probably outperform silver in the next run-up.
(Since silver is more of an industrial
metal, whereas
gold as seen as a safe haven when currencies are in turmoil.)
o o o
Tim T. mentioned that any SurvivalBlog readers with an interest in farming
with draft horses should check out The
Small Farmer's Journal. BTW, they also have a great book
catalog,
o o o
Bill N. recommended a blog piece by Bayou Renaissance Man about his local Neighborhood
Watch on Steroids.
o o o
A puzzling article from Der
Spiegel was flagged by reader Jack B.: 'Certain
Mistakes Just Can't Be Allowed to Happen'--"Hundreds of millions of
euros from a German government-owned bank went down the drain with Lehman
Brothers
on
Monday
after a strange deal
that
has
left
many people scratching their heads. Why would a German bank transfer €300
million to an American Wall Street firm after it filed for bankruptcy?" JWR's
comment: I suspect that they were hoping to limit some massive
outstanding counterparty risk from derivatives
contracts with Lehman Brothers. If they can help keep them afloat by
chipping in €300
million, then they might avoid the far
bigger risk of a disappearing derivatives contract counterparty. The stakes
in
the global derivatives casino
are
almost
too huge to imagine.
o o o
The Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB)
grows a bit more: Fed
announces $180 billion cash flood to fight crisis. Eric (a frequent SurvivalBlog
content contributor) alerted me that as
of Thursday, $105 billion had already rolled out the door of the Fed (electronically).
Meanwhile, we read: Morgan
Stanley Said to Be in Talks With China's CIC. The
global credit collapse is completely out of control, folks. Be ready
to
hunker down, if and when things get ugly.
