Free Republic

Freepers: Due to last night's storms in Central Arkansas, our family found out the HARD WAY just how important communications (commo) is when the power goes out, telephone lines get blown down, the cell towers are destroyed, and we are left in the dark with multiple tornados inbound.Anyways, I wanted to solicit Freepers help on unconventional communications with family such as Citizen Band (CB), FRS, GMRS, etc. I am going to attend our Central Arkansas Ham Radio meeting next month and see about going "one step further" to get my ham radio license. Please read below for my situational needs.

NEW YORK (AP) - Damage from the housing bust is spreading to areas once thought to be immune. In at least 14 major U.S. metro areas, prices are now at 2003 levels—when the housing bubble was just starting to inflate. Prices will likely fall further this year, making many people reluctant to buy or sell. That would push down sales and prices more. The depressed housing industry is slowing an economy that has shown strength elsewhere. And it's starting to hurt those who bought years before the housing boom began. In some cities, people who have paid their mortgages for...

During the housing boom, anyone who could fog a mirror could get a mortgage. Today, only highly qualified borrowers can get financing — let alone the best rates. The latest data from the Federal Reserve shows that nearly a quarter of people who apply for loans are turned down. “Good borrowers with one or two blemishes on their credit are being denied credit,“ said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. The denial rates tell only half the story. Many potential buyers aren’t even applying for loans because they assume they can’t get one — even with...

The latest house price data (the S&P Case-Shiller index) shows a clear downward trend for the most recent six months, as shown in the graph below: The next graph shows how this year's data fits in with the long-term trend.  It is clear that the house price bubble, which began in 1997 and peaked in 2006, has not yet finished popping: How We Got Here The black stars in the above graph highlight 1951 and 1997, the two years when Congress changed how the capital gains tax applies to home sales.  The first change produced 46 years of wealth...

Online retail sales keep climbing, big box retailers keep wondering what to do with all their space, and small stores struggle to survive at all. As a result of that nasty brew, Malls Face Surge in Vacancies. Mall vacancies hit their highest level in at least 11 years in the first quarter, new figures from real-estate research company Reis Inc. showed. In the top 80 U.S. markets, the average vacancy rate was 9.1%, up from 8.7%. The outlook is especially bad for strip malls and other neighborhood shopping centers. Their vacancy rate is expected to top 11.1% later this year,...

Housing prices will not get a Spring bounce and will actually fall during the industry’s historically best season as buyers continue to wait for that elusive “housing bottom,” according to surveys and analysis by two top Wall Street firms. “Our monthly survey of real estate agents indicated a decline in buyer traffic in March, as buyers chose to wait for more signs of balance in the market,” said Credit Suisse’s Daniel Oppenheim, who surveyed 1,200 real estate agents from across the country. “We would expect additional weakness in pricing, as sellers will likely attempt to use price to sell their...

It was during that conversation with Ray a few days ago that he nailed me with that question. We had been talking for about an hour about how things went down here in Argentina, the similarities, inflation, how “shopping carts” keep getting more and more expensive, how crime affects your lifestyle. But what to do? The person now gets it, the person not only understands the wisdom in preparing for disasters large and small but comprehends that due to the current economic situation, life in general is going to change from now on, unemployment, inflation, loss of life quality in...

In the survival/emergency preparedness community, there is an inordinate amount of discussion devoted to exactly what kind of gear and how much each would-be survivor needs to live through whichever approaching cataclysm they foresee. While the nuts and bolts of survival gear are certainly important, it is the intangible aspects of attitude, knowledge and skill that truly separate the survivor from the person who just bought a bunch of stuff. Before you start throwing money into a survival kit, you need to start thinking like a survivor.

As a truck driver hauling produce and food up and down the West Coast, Tom Martin knows first-hand how vulnerable the U.S. food supply is to disruption. "I know what our supply chains are like," he says. "I know grocery stores rely on just in time services; they only have three days worth of food in any grocery store." In a disaster, that food will be gone in less than a day, and if you don't have food stored up, you'll be stuck, says Martin, who is one of a growing number of "preppers," or people who are prepping for...

Prepper (noun): An individual or group that prepares or makes preparations in advance of, or prior to, any change in normal circumstances or lifestyle without significant reliance on other persons (i.e., being self-reliant), or without substantial assistance from outside resources (govt., etc.) in order to minimize the effects of that change on their current lifestyle. Over the last few years millions of Americans have lost their jobs, millions more have lost or face losing their home. There is a palpable feeling that politics, culture, and the basic fabric of society is continuing to unravel and with that comes increasing fear...

It's been a crazy past few years. We've seen gas prices hit all-time highs, been hit by major and catastrophic weather disasters, and watched as banks and major financial institutions disappear overnight in the midst of what appears to be an actual, real-life economic depression. Our stable, comfortable lives suddenly don't seem so stable any more. Here are 10 things you can do to improve your chances of riding out a major disaster without looking like a total lunatic. If you get all 10 of these items checked off, let me know so I can come crash at your place...

Some people organized an attempted run on the Banks to occur on 12/7/2010 starting in Europe. Appears to have failed for now. Emergency Preparedness What to do in the first 24 hours of Catastrophe (economic if we don’t take drastic action) Many of these actions are unnecessary if you have prepared ahead of time. 1. Hour 1: Run, don’t walk, to the store and buy everything of value, consumables first, then lastly durable goods. If by the time you arrive the crowds are huge or starting to become violent consider the risk/benefit try to find a smaller store or smaller...

There’s nothing worse than getting caught in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse empty handed. Tools are key to survival, and especially when your survival depends on a war waged with the living dead. Here is a list of 10 essential items to survive a Zombie Apocalypse.

After a Google search gone awry, I found myself at The Survival Mom, a website by Lisa Bedford, a "prepper" in Arizona. I'll admit to hoping my web activity wasn't going to suddenly be monitored by the ATF after scrolling around a site that tells you how to prepare (or "prep") for the end of days. Fascinated, I still expected to find my polar opposite in motherhood, as well as personhood, when I got a look at her logo of a suburban mom with a rifle over her shoulder. So imagine my surprise when I found myself taking notes as...

mre for hurricane season

How Long Can You Tread Water? Or, Why an EMP burst or super solar flare may only give us 6 months to live? NOAH may have questioned God about why he should build such a big boat. God might have asked “How long can you tread water?” (Bill Cosby) In the event of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) burst 250 miles above Kansas or a super solar flare, the permanent loss of the electrical grid would stop almost all food production and importation in the USA. Some estimate there is, at any given time, more than 1,000 pounds per capita of...

In the event that the catastrophe takes place which we all are thinking about and talking about in these days under this regime, whether it be a global financial shut-down (see this scenario: http://www.grandpappy.info/honehour.htm), a military strike somewhere, or some such dire event unleashes sudden freeze-up of our society: How do citizens communicate? CB? Short wave? Our lifeblood is communication. What are our options to maintain this link to patriots across the country?

Prepare NOW: They "Get It"Saturday, June 5. 2010 Posted by Karl Denninger in International at 12:14 Anyone who doesn't believe that "they" (the powers that be) "get it" at this point needs to remove their head from their ass: G-20 central bankers and finance ministers agreed in a joint statement today that “within their capacity, countries will expand domestic sources of growth.” At the same time, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet told reporters that Europe’s best contribution to the global rebound is to achieve fiscal sustainability. Those two are polar opposites. You just heard Trichet admit that what everyone...

The biggest freakin box of cornflakes you ever saw in your life!!! Winco foods has opened a store nearby, so I went in to check it out. Very good prices. They have posted for various items the comparable prices at other local supermarket chains and distributors, and Winco beats them hands down, I would say by 20% or so. The selection is HUGE, and they have many items that come in bulk (I bought a can of pork and beans SEVEN POUNDS, a #10 can, for 5.98). I was thinkin when I entered that they might not have much veggie-wise...

As I told you a few weeks ago, this November the voters of California will decide whether or not marijuana should be legalized or not. In the article, Legalizing Marijuana, So Politicians Can Spend More Money, I gave my reasons for being against the initiative. After all, the last thing we need to do in California is feed the drug habit of politicians by giving them another product to tax millions of dollars on for their already failed programs. That's right, tax dollars is just as addictive to politicians as crack cocaine is to those caught in it's web...