Beware of March...economy.

A really fantastic article is up on one of my favorite blogger sites. Jesse's Cafe Americain always has great economic articles. Sometime a bit technical, but well worth the read.

Pictures of a Market Crash: Beware the Ides of March, And What Follows After
There are a fair number of private and public forecasters with whom I speak that anticipate a significant market decline in March. As you know I tend to agree, but with the important caveat that we are in a very different monetary landscape than the last time the Fed engaged in quantitative easing, the early 1930's. The biggest difference is the lack of 'external standards.'

He paints a not so pretty picture for the very near future.

The overseas (European situation) is about to get really ugly.

LEAP/E2020 is of the view that the effect of States’ spending trillions to « counteract the crisis » will have fizzled out. These vast sums had the effect of slowing down the development of the systemic global crisis for several months but, as anticipated in previous GEAB reports, this strategy will only have ultimately served to clearly drag States into the crisis caused by the financial institutions.

Therefore our team anticipates, in this 42nd issue of the GEAB, a sudden intensification of the crisis in the second half of 2010, caused by a double effect of a catching up of events which were temporarily « frozen » in the second half of 2009 and the impossibility of maintaining the palliative remedies of past years.

Weekly news sum up.

I was thinking perhaps a sum up of events for the week that caught my eye. Unfortunately there are many and none of them positive.

-So far tonight 2 banks and 2 Credit Unions were shut down.

-US GDP was revised up, but the move was all due to inventory reshuffling..sales actually declined.

A closer look at the economy’s 5.9% growth rate in Q4 reveals that two temporary factors, inventories and stimulus, accounted for at least 80% — perhaps over 100% — of that growth.

-Unemployment continued to rise, though the not seasonally adjusted weekly declined...long term is still nasty.
-New and prior owned home sales declined again.

Urban meltdown as Detroit Mayor wants to move residents to consolidate the population and shut down sections of the city.

From Business Insider: The Radar: 10 Brewing Stories You Must Start Paying Attention To

1.Failed Turkey Coup Re-Ignites Doubts Over European Union Membership
2.Falklands Flare Up Has UK And Argentina Back In Conflict
3.Austrian Banks (in trouble)
4.A New War In Kurdistan?
5.John McCain's primary campaign for the soul of the Republican party.
6.China Continues To Tighten As World's Dominant Economic Power Dictates Play
7.Shipping Set To Return To High Amounts Due To Belief In Sustained Global Rebound
8.Health Care Takes Center Stage Again As Obama Continues To Draw Down On Waning Political Capital
9.British Pound Under Threat As New Doubts Emerge Over Country's Ability To Counter Debt
10.Greece Continues To Teeter On The Brink As Bailout Fails To Materialize
Bonus: The Bloom Box (This....if true...will end US dependence on foreign energy...and probably topple a few energy companies).

Winter walk....signs of food #1

I was out on a little walk today, and thought OK let's do a little prepper thinking. What if....I needed to find food, start a fire etc. It's winter time and things are looking a bit bleak where I am hiking, what food is available quickly? I immediately went to my favorite place, the fallen tree.
With my trusty, always on me leatherman, I popped open the bark to find.


Food! Termites...though a bit intensive to collect, they are nutritious with high levels of protein and fat (badly needed in cold weather).

I decided to think a bit bigger. Looking on the ground I was surrounded with pine cones...ooo pine nuts!



Unfortunately these pine nuts had been on the ground a bit too long and had turned to mush. So I moved on and spotted a good sign.



The game trail was well used with some fresh sign from the night before by a raccoon.




The great thing about racoons, especially in Florida, is they are excellent scavangers. Find where a racoon has gone to eat and you can find some good eats (crabs, mussels, etc.). Raccoons themselves are also very good eating though they run a risk of carrying diseases (true of most wild animals).

Then I found the big sign..




Wild boar tracks which lead to a large wallow area. This gave me the indication of a good size group of wild pigs in the area. Setting up a dead fall or careful hunting position could produce a large amount of food in short order. So next time you are out on a walk...look around and see what food is available. Don't worry salad fans, I'll get to plants next.....