Weather Report: The Economy, Food, Sources and Resources

THE ECONOMY : Money News @ NewsMax.com, 7/23/08 , presented an article expressing the observations of Nouriel Roubini , an economist working with the Clinton administration , a university professor and a frequent guest on cable business programs .

Here’s some of what he had to say : “ The condition of financial firms and banks are much worse than the news suggests. When the additional bad news comes out , the U.S. will experience a systemic financial crisis …”.

He goes on to note that the consumer is over 70% of the U.S. economy and is heavily burdened with debt while having to cope with rising food and fuel prices.

FOOD : It started out about four or five days ago on a blog site we frequent . It was a “ What’s going on here?“ type of question referring to rumors about the lack of availability of certain long-term types of storage foods. It then quickly gravitated to an article @ standayo.com , “ Worlds Biggest Food Storage Supplier Empty Thru All 2009 “ .

It seems that all #10 cans of freeze-dried foods were reportedly out of stock currently with the possible purchaser of this production being the U.S. military. Speculation had it that the possible impetus for this purchase was some sort of coming military conflict.

The Internet Grocer was reporting at about the same time that an entire stock of imported canned ( for long-term storage ) butter was purchased as it landed at the dock on U.S. shores in June of this year by none other than the U.S. government. What was up?

Finally , on July 24, yesterday , an internet news service site WorldNet Daily reported that the U.S. government “ may be competing with consumers for stocks of storable food. “

Their article went on to say that “ Best Prices Storable Foods “ spokesman Bruce Hopkins opined that the government was purchasing huge quantities of food for stockpiles and that Americans to surmise why.

The article ends with some observations from a university- level biologist , Professor Lawrence F. Roberge, who has been following world food supply concerns. Professor Roberge indicated that it was the case that the government was purchasing vast quantities of long-term storable foods and was keeping it quiet to avoid public panic.

That’s all the information PrudentHome.com has on the subject at this time but we’re keeping our eyes open. And we’re not panicking.

Yet.

SOURCES AND RESOURCES : On our July 22 posting , we spoke about “ specific things “ the individual family could do to meet the problem of reduced oil availability and that we would be addressing some of those specifics today. And then we read an article available on the Energy Bulletin yesterday ,July 24. The article was entitled “ Everything you need to know , in order “ by Sharon Astyk , published July 24 by Casaubon’s Book.

The article by Ms. Astyk discusses a prioritized list of skills needed to prepare one to meet the challenges posed by peak oil. The list is admitted by the author to be a beginning one, and while that’s probably true ,what the list is also is a valuable tool in getting ready to confront almost any major emergency. It starts out describing “ How not to panic. “ and ends with “ How to secure your food…”. This article is brief, well reasoned, and clearly written. We believe that is worth your time to read, to copy and to hold on to .

Please read Ms. Astyk’s article before our next post on July 29, Tuesday when we will discuss some more of the skills needed to face our uncertain future, where to acquire them, and where to acquire some of the tools to implement those skills.

Meanwhile, keep your eyes on the horizon.