Great books on plants and herbal medicine





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Life After the Oil Crash

Deal With Reality or Reality Will Deal With You




















Great survival and disaster preparedness books:





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I recommend these books on self-sufficiency:





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Editor's Note: Pending Price Increases on Storable Food Supplies

Prices on Mountain House #10 cans from LATOC Affiliate Nitro-Pak are going up as much as 15% starting August 1st. From Nitro-Pak:
LATOC affiliates The Ready Store and Wilderness-Dining are also currently taking orders on both #10 cans of Mountain House and a variety of other brands and product sizes. Wait times are currently in the 3-to-6 week range which is not bad at all considering where demand for long-term storable food is at right now. Each company offers free shipping on orders over $100:

Mountain House Food Units Available from LATOC Affiliate The Ready Store

Mountain House #10 Cans Now Available from LATOC Affiliate Nitro-Pak

Organic Storable Food Available from LATOC Affiliate-Wilderness Dining

All three also offer a range of high-quality disaster preparedness and self-sufficiency related products at great prices.

-Matt

Related:

Wall Street Journal says "It's time to stock up on food"

LATOC Forum: Gardening and Food Production

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Finance and Economy:

James Howard Kunstler: U.S. Banking System a Giant Looting Operation

The credibility of all the authorities in American finance, including the
Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Paulson, the head of the Federal Reserve,
Mr. Bernanke, the director of the SEC, Mr. Cox, takes on the aroma of
week-old dead carp, while the affairs of American banking and business as
a general proposition look to the rest of the world like a simple looting
operation, reflecting poorly on the paper certificates we use as "money" in
the land of the free. The odor of blood and desperation around these
activities must be sending a strong signal to those offshore who hold U.S.
dollars in some form or other. It must make them itchy to dump them
before some clever B-School Boyz figure out a way to short their country.

Bloomberg: Investors Have Bet 1.5 Trillion Dollars on Stock Price Collapse

Investors worldwide are betting more than $1 trillion on a collapse in stock
prices. Managers from William Ackman to Jim Rogers made a total of at
least $1.4 billion in July with wagers against U.S. mortgage financiers
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, data compiled by Bloomberg as of last week
show.  More than $1.4 trillion of equities worldwide are now on loan, about
a third higher than at the start of 2007, data compiled by Spitalfields
Advisors, the London-based firm specializing in securities lending, show.

Washington Post: Banks Health Questioned After Massive Wachovia Loss

Concerns about the health of the nation's banks continued to mount as
Wachovia and SunTrust - two of the most active in the Washington region
- as well as other financial institutions disclosed they were still being
pounded by the mortgage crisis. Wachovia headlined the series of dismal
earnings reports yesterday, saying it would lay off 6,350 employees and
leave 4,400 more positions unfilled while posting a record $8.86 billion loss.

Local Six: Wachovia Accused of Distributing Counterfeit $100 Bills

A couple has contacted the Secret Service claiming a Central Florida bank
gave them 10 counterfeit bills during a transaction. Ulises Garcia said he
was withdrawing cash from a Wachovia Bank and depositing it into a Bank
of America so he could pay his bills online. A Wachovia representative said
it will not refund any money because it can’t verify the counterfeit notes
were the same bills Garcia was handed by their teller . . .

Asia Times: The Crisis Has Reached Bedrock Levels

In JPMorgan Chase's and Citigroup's earnings conference calls, both major
lenders last week noted deterioration in prime mortgages. This provides
additional confirmation that the mortgage crisis is now reaching the
bedrock of our nation's mortgage credit system. And particularly with the
mortgage insurers, the government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie
and Freddie, and the leveraged-speculation community having come under
varying degrees of stress, a tightening in "conventional" mortgages will
now significantly exacerbate the mortgage/housing/financial crisis.

Asia Times: Debt Based Capitalism is Self-Destructing

In a period of less than a year, what had been described by US authorities
as a temporary financial problem related to the bursting the housing bubble
has turned into a fully fledged crisis at the very core of free-market
capitalism.  A handful of analysts have been warning for years that the
wholesale deregulation of financial markets and the privatization of the
public sector during the past two decades would threaten capitalism.

NY Times: Woes Afflicting Mortgage Giants Raise Loan Rates

Mortgage rates are rising because of the troubles at the loan finance giants
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, threatening to deal another blow to the
faltering housing market. Even as policy makers rushed to support the two
companies, home loan rates approached their highest levels in five years.

NY Times: Mortgage Rescue Plan Strains Budget Calculations

The proposed government rescue of the nation’s two mortgage finance
giants should appear on the federal budget as a $25 billion expense, the
independent Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday, but officials
conceded there was no way to really know what it might cost taxpayers.

UK Independent: How Goldman Sachs Took Over the World

If there's something weird in the financial world, who you gonna call?
Goldman Sachs. The US government, involved in a firefight against the
conflagration in the credit markets, is calling in another crisis-buster from
the illustrious investment bank, this time Goldman's most senior banker to
finance industry clients, Ken Wilson.  And so with this appointment, the
Goldman Sachs diaspora grows a little bit more influential. It is an old-boy
network that has created a revolving door between the firm and public
office, greased by the mountains of money the company is generating
even today, as its peers buckle and fall. Almost whatever the country,
you can find Goldman Sachs veterans in positions of pivotal power.

Wall Street Journal: The Fannie Mae Gangsters

I recount all this now because it illustrates the perverse nature of Fannie
and Freddie that has made them such a relentless and untouchable political
force. Their unique clout derives from a combination of liberal ideology and
private profit. Fannie has been able to purchase political immunity for
decades by disguising its vast profit-making machine behind the cloak of
"affordable housing." To be more precise, Fannie and Freddie have been
protected by an alliance of Capitol Hill and Wall Street . . . I know this
because for more than six years I've been one of their antagonists. Any
editor worth his expense account makes enemies, and complaints from
CEOs, politicians and World Bank presidents are common. But Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac are unique in their thuggery, and their response to critics
may help readers appreciate why taxpayers are now explicitly on the hook
to rescue companies that some of us have spent years warning about.

Blown Mortgage: The Pyramid of Greed

I’ve been reading a lot of articles on the Web these days with different
groups blaming each other for the collapse of the housing market.  It’s
annoying. The housing collapse and credit crunch are too big and too wide-
reaching for it just to be the fault of one group. There was greed at all
levels of what I’m terming the Pyramid of Greed. From home owners
maxing out their cash-out refis to real estate agents encouraging buyers to
"stretch" to brokers manipulating W2’s the greed went straight to the top.

Los Angeles Times: Record Home Losses in California

The price tag for the nation's housing crisis escalated again with reports
Tuesday that a record number of Californians lost their homes to
foreclosure in the last three months and that a potential bailout of
mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could reach $25 billion. The
figures were released as the House prepared to vote as early as today on
legislation aimed at staving off foreclosures, stimulating the housing market
and providing a government backstop to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Los Angeles Times: Foreclosures up 260% in California

DataQuick reports today that foreclosures in California soared 33% from
the first quarter to the second quarter of 2008, and are running 261%
ahead of year-ago levels. More, from DataQuick: "Lenders started
foreclosure proceedings on a record number of California homeowners last
quarter, the result of declining home values and the rampant spoilage of a
batch of especially risky home loans made in late 2005 and 2006."

Washington Post: Mortgage Crisis Reverses Tide of Urban Renewal

Eighteen months ago, Reservoir Hill was a prime example of the progress
that cities have made reclaiming blighted neighborhoods as a nationwide
housing boom helped lure homeowners and chase away crime. Now the
mortgage crisis threatens to reverse those gains as foreclosures multiply,
house prices plunge and vacancies rise. The plight of the cities has become
the focus of intense negotiations over a far-reaching housing bill pending in
Congress. In exchange for their support for a Bush administration plan to
rescue ailing mortgage finance giants Fannie and Freddie, Democratic
leaders are demanding $4 billion in aid to stabilize hard-hit communities . . .

Boston Globe: Collapse of Loan Market Sends Families Scrambling

Nationwide, at least 50 nonprofits, major banks, and government agencies
have stopped making either federal or private loans for education. Some
have halted student lending altogether. As a result, financial aid officers at
universities this year waited longer than normal for commitments from
lenders willing to make student loans. Another blow came from Citibank,
which in April said it would no longer lend to students at colleges where it
did only minimal business, including Holy Cross. "I was shocked," said Lynne
Myers, director of financial aid at Holy Cross. "That's where we said this
unacceptable. It's time we found a more secure market for our loans."

London Times: Credit Crunch Hits Hollywood as Bank Loans Dry Up

Hollywood has been forced to face up to the tough reality of the credit
crunch as a slew of film projects are expected to be forced on to the back
burner because of tough new funding terms set by Wall Street banks. One
senior executive at a big Hollywood studio, who declined to be named,
predicted that the increased cost of financing the film industry would lead
to fewer movies being made, particularly by independent companies.

Boston Globe: Food Stamp Use Soaring in Massachusettes

Massachusetts, which earlier this decade had the lowest percentage of
eligible residents using food stamps, now has the fastest growing food
stamp program in the country, a dramatic turnaround that state officials
attribute to soaring food prices and a simplified application process. As food
and fuel costs continue to rise, the officials say, people who would not
normally use food stamps are turning to the program to make ends meet.

Charles Hugh Smith: Taxpayers On Collision Course with Public Workers

If you work for a government agency or school board, you may not feel
like an elite, but you are. I have friends who have retired from city libraries
and school boards with not even 20 years of service. Please locate a
private-sector job which enables you to retire with a handsome pension
and benefit package at 55 with less than 15 years service.  "The rest of
us" are simply clinging on, hoping to make it to 63 and 65, and hoping there
will be some Medicare and Social Security benefits left as this nation enters
insolvency on every level. Back at the self-employment ranch, we self-
employed are seeing our healthcare premiums jump by 10-20% each and
every year even as what's covered shrinks like a puddle on hot asphalt.

NY Times: Losses Mount, and Airlines Plan Steeper Spending Cuts

United Airlines and US Airways said on Tuesday that they would cut even
more deeply into their flying during the fourth quarter, while JetBlue
Airways said it would defer more aircraft deliveries, steps the carriers
attributed to record prices for jet fuel. All three airlines reported losses in
the second quarter compared with profits in the period a year ago.

Wall Street Journal: Auto Industry Faces Mounting Woes

Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said the auto industry is
entering a global slowdown, now that European auto sales are starting to
decline and sales growth in China is moderating. The U.S., the world's
largest auto market, has been the industry's main trouble spot for the past
two years. But in the past few months, sales have been trending down in
many major Western European countries. In addition, China's booming
market may not provide the same boost it has in the past few years.

UK Telegraph: Banks Have Plans to Seek Secret Emergency Funding

The City watchdog has laid out plans to allow banks to tap the Bank of
England for emergency funding without informing the market, in a move
which might avoid a repeat of the run on the bank which led to the collapse
of Northern Rock. The FSA yesterday said there were potentially situations
where banks would be allowed to keep it secret if they had applied to the
Bank. The main case for an exception would be if disclosure could panic
investors and lead to fears for a bank's solvency, the regulator said.

Dallas News: Economy Has Texas Recalling 1980s Banking Collapse

The economy collapsed after years of growth. Can't-miss investments
turned to dust. And banks, gorged on years of aggressive lending, careened
toward the breach. A portrait of today's U.S. economy? Time will tell. But
with analysts predicting as many as 300 U.S. bank failures in the next few
years, many Texans will recall another banking crash. In the state's 1980s
collapse, an energy bust and a subsequent real-estate wreck leveled
hundreds of Texas banks, including longtime pillars of the economy.

MSN Money: Banks' Problems Are So Big They're Beyond Comprehension

Today's financial meltdown defies comprehension because so much of it is
packaged into exotic derivatives, such as collateralized debt obligations and
structured investment vehicles. Now, they embrace possibly $2 trillion or
$3 trillion dollars of indebtedness spread far beyond banks and savings and
loans to insurance companies, pension funds and the like around the world.
The marketplace for these exotic bundles has seized up. Meanwhile, other
asset-backed securities are plunging because defaults are rising. More and
more homeowners and consumers simply can't repay their loans.

Slate: How Does a Bank Get on the FDIC's Secret List?

How does a bank end up on the FDIC's secret list? By getting a bad rating,
based on its financial situation and visits from inspectors. Every few
months, federal regulators issue banks a "CAMELS rating" that goes from
one (for the safest banks) to five (for the most suspect). If a bank scores
either a four or a five, then it's included on the list the FDIC compiles each
quarter. The FDIC won't release its problem list, and a bank isn't allowed to
disclose its CAMELS rating, either. One major reason is if the public knew
which banks were in trouble, the likelihood of a "bank run" might go up.

Wall Street Journal: FDIC Faces Mortgage Mess After Running Failed Bank

Federal officials heap much of the blame for the subprime mortgage mess
on lenders, claiming they recklessly made too many high-cost home loans
to borrowers who couldn't afford them. It turns out the U.S. government
itself was one of the lenders giving out high-interest, subprime mortgages,
some of them predatory, according to government documents filed in
federal court. The unusual situation, which is still bedeviling regulators,
stems from the 2001 seizure by federal officials of Superior Bank FSB, then
a national subprime lender based in Hinsdale, Ill. Rather than immediately
shuttering or selling Superior, as it normally does with failed banks, the
FDIC continued to run the bank's subprime-mortgage business for months.

North Bay Bohemian: "Dear Baby Boomer, The Market has Collapsed"

This is an article I didn't want to write. When considering a personal finance
piece not connected to Wall Street's nefarious ways in the subprime
market, swaps and derivatives or prime brokers, I expected to write the
usual, plain vanilla article about personal finance. After a 29 year career on
Wall Street, I can pretty much write this sort of thing in my sleep — you
know, the plain-talking article filled with the usual commonsense dictums
about managing your money, a feel-good piece filled with the usual
platitudes about empowerment and taking control, blah, blah, blah.  Well, a
funny thing happened on the way to press time. The market collapsed.

Money Week: Why Gold and Silver are Stil Great Buys

It is important to remember the reality of our situation In recent times,
there have been so many financial events taking place at such speed it is