Don't Miss This Item In Your Survival Kit

Well, I had a really good article for today but I have been told by a few that I need to do a guest post of some of my best work as unpublished articles on someone’s blog. So I'm saving it for that. If you know of anyone looking for a good guest post let me know. Once it's published somewhere, I'll let you know where to read it. I think you will enjoy it very much.

So, here I was left with no article and a bad headache, which I've had for two days. No amount of medication seemed to help. Then I remembered hearing about caffeine withdrawal. I used to drink coffee but switched to making my own iced green tea lately. However, after running out of green tea, I hadn't made it to the store to get more.

What does this have to do with survival preparations you might ask? I'm glad you asked. Nowhere in the preper literature have I seen anything relating to caffeine so, let me be the first to present the idea to the lucky Survival Stew readers.

It's common to include medicines as part of a survival kit along with first aid supplies but also throw in a bottle of caffeine pills, if only to help wean off the coffee, coke or whatever when supplies dry up. Believe me, it can be very debilitating to have a caffeine withdrawal headache and no one needs that in a survival situation. With everything coming up, there may not be gas for the shipping of coffee, etc. or it could be very expensive with hyperinflation set to kick in. Sorry, that may be a luxury some can't afford.

Of course you could always stock up on the caffeine drinks if you have the resources now but it still couldn't hurt to have some of the pills stored away in a cool, dark place. They would be great for staying alert and that could be very important in the times ahead. Also, they might come in handy for bartering when all those ex-coffee drinkers are walking around with splitting headaches.

The New Job Market

It's been the longstanding parental hope that our children will be able to fare better in their pursuit of the American dream than what we ourselves have been able to accomplish toward that end. However, we now will definitely have to reconsider that time-honored belief with what I'll refer to as a Laurel and Hardy economy; "another fine mess they've gotten us into".

Many of the country's foremost experts who choose to take a realistic view of our current economic conditions are reaching the same conclusions. Some of the evidence pointing to where
we're going can be can be uncovered by looking to academia or, if not blinded by so much of the misinformation out there, by just plain old common sense:

• At Northeastern University of Boston, recent research finds that college graduates working in jobs that require a degree are significantly down from last year.
• To make matters worse, those that are lucky enough to even find any type of work will be required to occupy the jobs that normally would have gone to those with only a high school diploma, leaving those poor souls out in the cold, perhaps literally.
• This problem has been increasing dramatically since the current decline in the economy has been underway and the trend shows no signs of weakening, not to mention anything resembling a reversal, any time in the not too distant future.
• In fact, employers are reporting that they are expecting to hire 22 percent fewer graduating seniors in their chosen fields this year than last according to another study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
• On top of this, 17 percent of surveyed firms say they will slash hiring even more starting as soon as the end of the summer.
• Yale school of Management's labor economist, Lisa Kahn, has done a thorough job of summing it up this way. "The labor market consequences of graduating from college in a bad economy are large, negative and persistent.

As pointed out in other places on my blog, the unemployment figures, which are bad enough, don't tell the whole story of our job market. The percentages that you see, which are supposed to indicate the level of unemployment not do not take into consideration many factors. There are many ways that these numbers, as well as many others, are spun in order to present us with misleading information. The percentages that you see, which are supposed to indicate the level of unemployment not do not take into consideration many factors, of which these are just a few:

• The underemployed. Those that take part-time work or minimum wage work when the higher paying job they had is dissolved.
• Those that have run out of unemployment insurance benefits. They are no longer counted after they have reached the limited time period. They're just brushed under the rug at that point.
• Young people who have not yet had a job and are unable to find work. They don't have the required time in that would enable them to receive benefits and, therefore to be counted.
• Anyone who hasn't met the requirements to enable them to receive benefits. This would include people without the requisite number of weeks at their last job, for one. It would also include those that were turned down for benefits for whatever reason such as a person found to be at fault for a termination.
• A spouse who needs to find work due to financial necessity after not working for a certain period of time for whatever reason. This would be a common occurrence in times of economic distress.

How our children will be able to survive, let alone to prosper, is dependent on our being able to have all of the information needed, not skewed figures that hide the real problem. And maybe we will need to re-think the ways we will define their prosperity.

Oil Play Not As Profitable As Reported

I am going to share a post of mine from the Bakken Shale Oil Play Discussion on a topic that touches on how mainstream media twists and spins news to the extent that it usually comes out as just the opposite of what is actually going on. To view the entire thread, go to the Bakken Shale oil formation site for a very informative and lively discussion group.

Actually that already appears to be a cheery note, as I see it, David. Lets say that Larry's study is valid:

"Of the 253 wells in Mountrail County 92 (36%) of them have already generated enough net revenue to payoff the $5 million drilling costs. Another 120 (47%) should generate enough net revenue to payoff the drilling cost within the next two years."

Therefore, even with the present conditions:

1. poor transportation to get the oil to market (likely to improve)

2. prices running below what they may be in the future

3. current technology (also likely to improve)

we have 83% of the wells in the county (36% plus 47%), which could be said to be fairly good ones. And once those three conditions are improved upon, the percentage of good wells should go up even higher from there as well as the length of time to pay off the well getting shorter. So, in actuallity, that doesn't really sound like that bad of news.

On the Brink

Well, summers here and things are about to heat up in more ways than one. Watch for things to begin unraveling more and more as we approach the September to Early November period. A kind of a perfect storm is brewing, where everything comes together to form the rare and dangerous climate for the big one. We have a lot of different areas are coming to a head right now, which will all contribute to this calamity:













1. The derivatives are getting to the point of crashing in.

2. Commercial real estate is bubbling up fast.

3. The excessive printing of new money may lead directly to a hyper inflationary effect.

Once these and other man-made conditions are created, there is no where to go but vertical and I'm not talking about up. Throw in a natural disaster here and there and maybe a pandemic or two and, hey, you get the picture. The dollar devaluation alone could very easily lead to bad times for most. Hyperinflation would mean that the simple necessities such as food would be cost prohibitive for many. (See the section on gardening further down on the list.) And gas prices could prevent commuters from just getting to work and back every day, if you even have a job to go to. By mid 2010 things could be worse than anyone can even imagine. This time its not just the doomers that are calling for gloom and doom but anyone who takes everything into consideration; rationalists or realists of all bents, if you will. Now is not the time for false optimism for that is not an attribute that will help to avoid being blindsided with the current state of affairs upon us. See the article on what steps to take at this time and be sure not to wait too long.

Mid July until September is the window with things getting even worse through the first week of November. October is particularly troubling and then things go down even more from there through 2010 and beyond. This will not be a short-lived event and, whatever you do, do not believe those on the tele and elsewhere claiming that this minor upturn is the start of a recovery. Just turn that off and keep coming back here if you want the real scoop.