GEO-POLITICS: “ Sarkozy warns Iran it risks attack by Israel “ trumpets a Financial Times article at FT.com on 9/4 08. Nicholas Sarkozy, President of France, says in this article that if Iran seeks to acquire nuclear weapons it could awaken to an Israeli decision to attack. “ The question is not whether it would be legitimate, whether it would be intelligent. What would we do at that moment ? It would be a catastrophe….” Sarkozy went on to say.
ECONOMICS: business.times online.co.uk on 9/5/08 notes “ Dow plunges after warning of ‘ financial tsunami ‘ “ . This article points out that the most recent unemployment figures (6.1%) exceeded a consensus forecast and elevated claims to a near five-year high.
In addition, PIMCO’s co-chief investment officer Bill Gross said that the U.S. was confronted by “ systematic debt liquidation “, adding “ Unchecked, it can turn a campfire into a forest fire, a mild asset bear market into a destructive financial tsunami.” He went on to propose a solution , “ If we are to prevent a continuing asset and debt liquidation of near-historic proportions, we will require policies that open up the balance sheet of the U.S. Treasury.” It should be noted here that PIMCO is the worlds largest bond fund.
WATER: REUTERS: (via reuters.com of 9/5/08) presented a particularly pertinent article on one of the critically diminishing natural resources we’ve been covering here at PrudentHome recently, entitled “California ‘water bank’ in works amid drought .”
Nine counties in the agricultural Central Valley area have recently been declared to be in a state of emergency after a ten-year shortfall in rain left water levels critically low. The solution devised is the 2009 Drought Water Bank created from the purchase of water from water agencies and farmers upstream from the delta area east of San Francisco. The water will be allocated “… for the greatest and highest public service.”
FOOD-MICRO: PrudentHome is again briefly covering an article concerning the growing movement in Britain towards British gardeners growing their own food thus making them and their country less dependent on outside sources for their food.
The article we’re referring to today is “ Dig for victory” from guardian.co.uk on 8/30/08. The article is by Leo Hickman and involves an interview with Monty Don, a contender for “ Britain’s best-loved gardener” and, the new president of the Soil association.
Mr. Don’s interview covers a number of interesting subjects but none seems more compelling than the “dig for victory” ethos of WWII applied to the currently tenuous world food supply situation. British gardeners are being encouraged to develop a ” sustainable “ food production at the “ eleven million gardeners “ level through ideas like the development of networks of community gardeners who would “exchange seeds, labor, tools and time to grow food…”
A DISTANT WAVE: The apparent movement in Britain to develop greater food independence has been mentioned before at PrudentHome because we thought that it might apply well in the U.S.. We view food production at the individual garden level to be a vital part of family preparedness. Evidently we’re far from being alone in this. Next week we’ll discuss some of the efforts by American gardeners to develop greater family preparedness through sustainable gardens at the level of the individual home.
Until next week then, keep your eyes on the horizon.
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