# June 1st Bunker Index - The Breadline Edition



## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

What a month May shaped up to be. Droughts, flooding, tornados, unemployment, riots, and more war. If anyone spots the four horsemen riding by, let me know. I'm expecting them to make an appearance any day now.

With the changing of the month, some older items are falling off and being replaced with more current challenges. Today is a great day to check your food stocks and maybe add an extra week.

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1. The government has reached the debt ceiling and is raiding federal pension funds to keep operating. Expected to continue until August 2nd when they'll have to find another source of operating revenue in order to keep the doors open. If they haven't resolved this come August, keep your hand on your wallet.

2. The Agriculture Department has released its findings as Oklahoma starts bringing in the early wheat crop. Not good. It's way down from last year with over half of the fields rated at poor or less and unless they get some rain this week or early next week then almost all of the winter wheat will be lost in that region. Drought across the major wheat areas is to blame.

3. A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act is before the Armed Services Committee still and gives the executive branch to wage war unilaterally without Senate approval anywhere it wants, and for as long as it wants. Hail Ceasar!

4. Obama gave a speech calling for Israel to retreat to its 1967 borders and to establish a Palestinian state with which they'll "negotiate" any remaining land disputes. To my way of thinking, Israel already "negotiated" for that land in 1967. Based on the Arab response, and the Israeli one, there will be blood.

5. We are past the 60th day of American involvement in the NATO-led Libyan campaign. NATO is ramping up activities and currently the president and all military personnel participating in this are violating the law. Nobody seems to notice, however, and the other branches of government appear to be giving the executive branch a free pass on this one, further undermining the rule of law.

6. Thieves are running rampant across the United States. People are stealing railroad rails for the iron, money out of ATM machines, and flash mobs of angry young people are looting stores. The rule of law is breaking down and we're just about at "every man for himself".

7. Thousands of protestors are returning to the streets in Egypt to protest the tight grip and slow pace of reform since the "revolution" overthrew the previous leader and a military junta assumed control. Last time, the military refused to support Mubarak and disperse the protestors. Think they'll do the same this time when it's calls for THEIR ouster? UPDATE: Government officials have been pulling female protestors off the streets to conduct "virginity tests" on them. 

8. Youth gone wild in Miami, Myrtle Beach, youth riots in Long Island, Charlotte, and Nashville. More and more lately it seems as if anywhere people gather there is going to be violence and rage. Everyone is stressed out, and even those who aren't aware of things can sense that it's all coming to a head. Is the Bunker Index to blame? 

9. Cyber-attacks on Lockheed-Martin. Other defense contractors on emergency alert. This one is a lot bigger than the press is making it out to be. This has prompted the Pentagon to issue a statement saying that they will consider cyber-attack from a foreign power to be an act of war. This is a pretty big one. 

10. Record heat waves still sweeping across the central and eastern United States. A number of agencies are warning of crop failures. 2011 may be known as "The Hungry Year" in decades to come. 

11. NEW Job growth figures released for May. The government expected 177,000 new jobs to be added to the economy but only 38,000 were reported. The government is calling it a "soft patch in the recovery", but I'm wondering if there's anyone left who believes this after month after month of "soft patches". Remember that while 38,000 new jobs were reported, McDonalds went on its hiring spree and was trying to fill 50,000 of them. Would you like fries with your soft patch?

12. NEW Is your cellphone giving you cancer? Scientists have now rated the cancer risk from cellphones on par with lead and engine exhaust. I'm going back to the 1977 rotary phone!

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So that lowers the BI to 12 today. If you think that's worthy of a big relieved sigh, think again! There's a large number of events that are just starting to build up that haven't been added yet and still more that were removed because they've just become part of the "new normal".

In time, like Damocles, we'll all get used to living with impending doom.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Should be a good one today Ernie
ISM manufacturing index drops to 53.5% in May biggest drop since 1984

Marketwatch.com


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Holy cow. Yeah, May's numbers aren't looking good.

The debt ceiling vote is what is bothering me the most right now. It's not really big in the MSM and QE3 is now being projected. The combination of those events ought to pretty much destroy whatever value the dollar has remaining.


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## Txsteader (Aug 22, 2005)

Greece.


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## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

Hey Ernie -- what about this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13613487

I'm convinced that disease will be a tipping point -- it might as well be e.coli, right?


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## Pam6 (Apr 9, 2009)

Where does the 12 rate on the scale?? Is it a 1-20? 1-50?? I guess what I am asking is what is the head to the bunker and don't come up number?


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

Well not the 4 horseman, but there was a white buffalo born on May 14. (Which btw, is Independence day in Israel using a non-jewish calendar.)

[ame]http://video.foxnews.com/v/970367014001/rare-white-buffalo-key-to-ancient-prophecy/?playlist_id=87485[/ame]


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Txsteader said:


> Greece.


What's shaking in Greece? I know they were having bank runs yesterday, but has it gotten worse?


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Tracy Rimmer said:


> Hey Ernie -- what about this?
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13613487
> 
> I'm convinced that disease will be a tipping point -- it might as well be e.coli, right?


I think disease will play a big part ... it always does ... but I've been having trouble taking this one seriously.

Mostly because it's been dubbed the "Spanish Cucumber Crisis", which makes my inner third-grader start snickering.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Pam6 said:


> Where does the 12 rate on the scale?? Is it a 1-20? 1-50?? I guess what I am asking is what is the head to the bunker and don't come up number?


Think of it like the temperature in your bathtub. There's no upper limit, but at a certain point you're going to want to get out, right?


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## Tracy Rimmer (May 9, 2002)

Ernie said:


> I think disease will play a big part ... it always does ... but I've been having trouble taking this one seriously.
> 
> Mostly because it's been dubbed the "Spanish Cucumber Crisis", which makes my inner third-grader start snickering.


Yeah, but now they're saying it ISN'T from Spanish produce, and Spain is throwing a fit, because their producers have been grinding up their veg (which they can't sell because Germany has pointed at it as the source of the e.coli) for compost. They've lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and they are NOT pleased. It's beginning to look like they don't know the source, and were pointing at Spain as a convenient whipping boy.

Spain isn't amused. They're threatening legal action against Germany. This could get interesting. Popcorn, anyone?


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## Txsteader (Aug 22, 2005)

Ernie said:


> What's shaking in Greece? I know they were having bank runs yesterday, but has it gotten worse?


The debate in the EU is whether to do a bailout or let them default. Neither option is good. Consensus seems to be let them default.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

"Senor, you have insulted the honor of my cucumber. Defend yourself!"


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

QE3 was just announced. That's the final nail IMHO. We are struggling with the 'fixes' that didn't work, and they are going to print more money!

I'm in the process of liquidating some retirement funds - ouch - and getting my property paid off. This can't happen soon enough for me, IMHO, despite the tax penalties I'll endure to have the use of "my" money.

This is shaping up to be an interesting Summer, no doubt! I'm sure they'll drag H1N1 back out or maybe H1N5 (bird flu) as the big scare this year. Be ready to snatch eggs out of your own coops to store for incubation if they move on a farm suspected of having that, all flocks will be destroyed. So if you have bloodlines you want to keep going, you might consider this as a possible "prep".


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

When I was a kid I watched the state kill hundreds of cattle to "contain" a hoof-and-mouth outbreak. Basically one farm had reported infected animals so they killed all of the animals in the three counties surrounding that farm.

They paid for the animals, but it bankrupted many ranchers. When you're paid for an 80 pound calf that you expected to get 1500 pounds out of the following year then there's no financial recovery from that.


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## Ohiogal (Mar 15, 2007)

Exactly, Ernie. With chickens, you simply select the best of your eggs, and rotate the egg stock weekly. Keep them in the basement where its cool - and consider having an alternate site for storage that is not known for fowl.

In Britian, they've purged whole areas for hoof-n-mouth and the farmers have no compensation. The whole premise on NAIS was to identify "who" had animals, so they could seize them for disease outbreak sooner. If you farm, you better hope you aren't on the NAIS database, as that has not "gone away".

Hence the 'alternate site'.


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## Txsteader (Aug 22, 2005)

Ohiogal said:


> QE3 was just announced.


(Picking myself up off the floor) I'm not seeing that in the news. Where did you see/hear it???


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Ernie said:


> Think of it like the temperature in your bathtub. There's no upper limit, but at a certain point you're going to want to get out, right?


 Not if your a frog. and thats what a lot of people are!


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## Shrarvrs88 (May 8, 2010)

Eck...they aren't sheeple....they are sheep/frog hybrids. Even sheep run from wolves.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Interest for the 10 yr just went under 3%. Were buying 70% of our own debt
and there are lots of talk around how the govt is going to get into private 401's


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## tab (Aug 20, 2002)

I have not seen where QE 3 is anything definite yet. Lots of speculation that a crisis of sorts will "happen" so that people ask for qe3. Greece is such a mess I only skim the headlines about it.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

tab said:


> I have not seen where QE 3 is anything definite yet. Lots of speculation that a crisis of sorts will "happen" so that people ask for qe3. Greece is such a mess I only skim the headlines about it.


Dow is down 243. Jobs bar is lowered and everybody on the finance pages are talking about QEIII a done deal. No matter what they call it . Either way were going down Its all coming together


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

TNHermit said:


> Dow is down 243. Jobs bar is lowered and everybody on the finance pages are talking about QEIII a done deal. No matter what they call it . Either way were going down Its all coming together


Hey, out of curiousity, TNHermit ... if the stock market goes to heck and the dollar crashes, do you think that local craftsman such as yourself may find a market again? If people can't buy cheap furniture made in China or wherever, will they turn to the locals?


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## whiskeylivewire (May 27, 2009)

Ernie said:


> "Senor, you have insulted the honor of my cucumber. Defend yourself!"


" 'Ello! My name is Larry the Cucumber...you keeled my father, prepare to die!"


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## whiskeylivewire (May 27, 2009)

I've been putting off looking at this and headlines until later in the day because everytime I do, I throw up in my mouth a little. Now having 81 chickens and 3 turkeys doesn't seem so crazy....


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Ernie said:


> Hey, out of curiousity, TNHermit ... if the stock market goes to heck and the dollar crashes, do you think that local craftsman such as yourself may find a market again? If people can't buy cheap furniture made in China or wherever, will they turn to the locals?


For my two cents Ernie , Me and a freind of mine. The whole way out of this whole thing is back to local business. Churches need to get off their high horse and minister to people instead of beg for money and see how large church can get.. People need to support each other. Start with family and local, then county. 
No matter what we do there is only so much that can be done to reign in govt at a time. They are to entrenched and self serving.

The whole thing about craftsman if they are good is that they are cheaper in the long run. But most people only think of us as hobbyist willing to take a few bucks for their business. They don't know any better. Witness Willow Girls thread on decorating.
We live in a Cyber world. Nothing is real and anything bad you pretend it isnt there. Keep pushing for your personal nirvanna


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

One more thing. The local schools HAVE to be overhauled and go back to teaching the 3R's, How o save,how to buy a home, how to be responsible


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

TNHermit said:


> One more thing. The local schools HAVE to be overhauled and go back to teaching the 3R's, How o save,how to buy a home, how to be responsible


yes - how to sew, how to cook, and maybe shop classes, etc.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> "Senor, you have insulted the honor of my cucumber. Defend yourself!"


Always sheath your sword or you might lose a cucumber


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## Txsteader (Aug 22, 2005)

TNHermit said:


> Churches need to get off their high horse and minister to people instead of beg for money and see how large church can get.. People need to support each other. Start with family and local, then county.
> No matter what we do there is only so much that can be done to reign in govt at a time. They are to entrenched and self serving.


I absolutely agree. I firmly believe that, if/when it collapses, the key to survival and rebuilding will start with using local skill and resources within our immediate communities.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

AngieM2 said:


> yes - how to sew, how to cook, and maybe shop classes, etc.


Absolutely!!!


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

http://www.cnbc.com/id/43236764

New York Stock Exchange
Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images

Wall Street is having a hard time figuring out what to do now that the U.S. economy appears to be sputtering and yields are so low, Peter Yastrow, market strategist for Yastrow Origer, told CNBC.

"What we&#8217;ve got right now is almost near panic going on with money managers and people who are responsible for money," he said. "They can not find a yield and you just don&#8217;t want to be putting your money into commodities or things that are punts that might work out or they might not depending on what happens with the economy.

"We need to find real yield and real returns on these assets. You see bad data, you see Treasurys rally, you see all bonds and all fixed-income rally and then the people who are betting against the U.S. economy start getting bearish on stocks. That&#8217;s a huge mistake."..........
.......

"Interest rates are amazingly low and that, thanks to Ben Bernanke, is driving everything," Yastrow said. "We&#8217;re on the verge of a great, great depression. The [Federal Reserve] knows it.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Ernie

Tomorrow you can just put up the front page of Market Watch LOL LOL


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

TNHermit said:


> Ernie
> 
> Tomorrow you can just put up the front page of Market Watch LOL LOL


Heh. Yeah, it was a bloodbath from what the radio is saying. 

I had a slow, easy day today. Still too wet to work in the garden and I decided I wouldn't go fret over the weeds for a change. I finished up a new knife I've been working on and started cutting a new piece of metal for my next project. Life is good. The world may be falling apart but from the view outside the front window you wouldn't know it.


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## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

Oil down, gas down, silver down almost 5%, gold up .18%, even my single share of OIB is down. That goes up every time the market is scared. 
What does this mean? To me it says no one knows where to put money. Nothing has any value right now, though I'd suppose there has been very little of value on Wall St. for decades.
Something that worries me is June is generally an up month. It's October you have to watch for, so if it's this bad now...

As a little caution I'd say not to determine how you think the economy is doing based on 1 day of trading. Lets see how the week ends before we all cash into hard assets. Which I've already done BTW...lool


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kt_dpUL7MU&feature=player_embedded[/ame]



(VIDEO) On CNBC Peter Yastrow of Yastrow Origer Predicts Great, Great Depression


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## ne prairiemama (Jan 30, 2010)

Whats a qe3? or did I miss that? or am I just the only one who does't know :lookout:


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## Shrarvrs88 (May 8, 2010)

*whisper* I don't know, either....off to Google, and I will tell you.


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## Shrarvrs88 (May 8, 2010)

Looks lik when they print up more money...devaluing the dollar...am I correct? What idiot would do that?


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## ne prairiemama (Jan 30, 2010)

Shrarvrs88 said:


> *whisper* I don't know, either....off to Google, and I will tell you.


Oh good lol! Glad I'm not the only one eep:


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Quantitative Easing part 3. Fed Reserve makes lots and lots of e-dollars to buy debt from the gov cause nobody else wants it. Every e-dollar they manufacture makes every other dollar decrease in value. Causes massive inflation at some point.


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## Shrarvrs88 (May 8, 2010)

So basically they are devauling our own money.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Shrarvrs88 said:


> Looks lik when they print up more money...devaluing the dollar...am I correct? What idiot would do that?





ne prairiemama said:


> Oh good lol! Glad I'm not the only one eep:


Hi guys
Cy is right Can't give you websites off hand. but if you do a little search of dollar buying power now as compared to 1980 (I think that is what they use now) You will see how much your dollar could buy then and what it can buy now. Its worth around 50cents as compared to then. And with QE it will become almost totally worthless. Look up Zimbabwe. they had to take bushel baskets of money to store for loaf of bread.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Quantitative Easing is what they call it. Basically "Zimbabwe Ben" Bernanke fires up the presses and they print a crapton of money and give it straight to the banks who then loan it out to you and force you to pay interest on it. THAT is what generates the wealth. 

It's absolutely the worst thing to do, in my opinion. I'm from the Adam Smith school of economics.


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## Wintersong Farm (Aug 22, 2007)

TNHermit said:


> One more thing. The local schools HAVE to be overhauled and go back to teaching the 3R's, How o save,how to buy a home, how to be responsible


Ridin'
Ropin'
Ranchin'?


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

Come on now Ernie, you keep dodging me on my question, what are railroad tracks made out of?


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## megafatcat (Jun 30, 2009)

More like Zachary Smith of 'Lost in Space'


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Ernie, you might want to add this.

"MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) &#8211; Mario Ramos thought it was a bad joke when he received an anonymous email at the start of this year demanding $15,000 a month to keep his industrial tubing business operating in Monterrey, Mexico's richest city and a symbol of progress in Latin America.

Sitting in his air-conditioned office looking across at sparkling office blocks dotting the mountains on that morning in January, he casually deleted the email as spam.

Six days later, the phone rang and a thickset voice demanded the money. Ramos panicked, hung up and drove to his in-laws' house. It was already late and he had little idea what to do. Then, just after midnight, masked gunmen burst onto his premises, set fire to one of his trucks, shot up his office windows and sprayed a nearby wall with the letter "Z" in black paint, the calling card of Mexico's feared Zetas drug cartel."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110601/lf_nm_life/us_mexico_drugs_monterrey


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Yeah, the Zetas are bad news. They're not just staying put on their side of the border either.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Ernie said:


> Yeah, the Zetas are bad news. They're not just staying put on their side of the border either.


Might we see the first North American war since 1865?


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

tinknal said:


> Might we see the first North American war since 1865?


I don't think so. They're a bandit gang. Ultimately, if our government refuses to do anything about them and they continue to be a problem, the local Texans down there will deal with it. The Zetas are perfectly happy to push around folks in ones and twos and in territory they control but taking over American turf will be a different story.


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## megafatcat (Jun 30, 2009)

According to the El Paso, TX paper last week more than 15% of Juarez, Mexico residents across the river were the victims of extortion just last year.


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

News tonight said 60% chance Greece will default. I didn't catch the whole thing but think it was a Moody prediction.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

In the last 20 years virtually everything, especially food, has doubled in price. A couple of days ago on MSN web news they reported that food will double again in the next 20 years plus there will be more starving people due to the economy and harsh expected weather. 

I got to figure out how to grow vegetables with what change in the weather pattern that has already taken place. Ever since hurrican Katrina hit, I haven't had a decent garden. The weather has been really weird since.


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## willbuck1 (Apr 4, 2010)

At average inflation everything doubles about every 20 years.


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## timfromohio (Jun 19, 2007)

QE = "quantitative easing"; a term created by the powers that be to describe the process of printing funny money from thin air.

We have two major injections of "capital" into the markets in the form of QE1 and QE2. QE2 runs out this month, so there is much talk as to what will happen next, hence the speculation on QE3.


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## EarthSheltered (May 9, 2008)

I'm glad this stuff is posted daily, thanks Ernie, and everyone who contributes. I'm too busy shoring up my own personal dike to spend any time wondering what the Robber Barons that run our gov't are doing.

Personally, I'm planting my garden like mad, and making as much Hay as possible. With the shortage of grain coming up, projected to last for at least a couple of years, Hay will be in a bigger demand than usual. I feed a lot myself, as I don't think horses need that much grain, but it will be a switch for those barns that do. Any hay the horses won't eat, the cows will. 

The Horse world is finally waking up to the facts in front of them. A lot of people who were barely making it in the horse world have gone under, and those heavily in debt will surely follow. There will be a lot of free horses on the market in the next 6-8 months, IMO>

Those who have animals best prepare by stocking whatever they eat, if you haven't already. 

Yesterday, I was at a Amish harness shop, and they had Gamma Lids, and storage containers. I don't know if this is something they have always used, or they are gearing up their prepping too. Didn't want to ask, as some of the local creepers were nearby, it would have been foolish to expose any potential prepping on the part of the Amish, or myself. 

Just picked up another big chest freezer. Can use it to either freeze, or store foodstuff. Took 3 men to move it!


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## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

willbuck1 said:


> At average inflation everything doubles about every 20 years.


Maybe if you use the lying gov't "core inflation" which does not include food & fuel. Real life inflation is much higher.

To figure how long it takes to double:

72 divided by rate = time to double in years.


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Here is some understandable and good talk on QE. IMHO anyway

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=187287&findnew#new


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Doubling inflation every 20 years was the old model, and it was bad enough.

Once this thing breaks loose, and that could happen any day now, then you can expect it to double every couple of days. At its worst, every couple of hours. 

Grocery stores, if they even have food on their shelves, will have an employee standing by the bread section telling you what the cost for the minute is and handing you a loaf. They won't trust you to pick it up and carry it to the register. They may just seal off the front of the store and assign someone to follow you down the aisle.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Might go back to the old way before "self serve". Customer gives the grocer a list and the grocer brings it all up to the counter. Not much choice that way, but prevents shoplifting.


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## willbuck1 (Apr 4, 2010)

Yep Ernie. I have told people to expect inflation rates of 1000's of percent per year and they look at me like I'm crazy.


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