Food prices rise sharply - and there's more to come

Source: SFGate

For the first time since 2008, inflation is hitting consumers in the stomach.
Grocery prices grew by more than 1 1/2 times the overall rate of inflation this year, outpaced only by costs of transportation and medical care, according to numbers released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Economists predict that this is only the beginning. Fueled by the higher costs of wheat, sugar, corn, soybeans and energy, shoppers could see as much as a 4 percent increase at the supermarket checkout next year.
"I noticed just this month that my grocery bill for the same old stuff - cereal, eggs, milk, orange juice, peanut butter, bread - spiked $25," said Sue Perry, deputy editor of ShopSmart magazine, a nonprofit publication from Consumer Reports. "It was a bit of sticker shock."
But it makes sense. Since November 2009, meat, poultry, fish and eggs have surged 5.8 percent in price. Dairy and related products have gone up 3.8 percent; fats and oils, 3 percent; and sugar and sweets, 1.2 percent.
While overall inflation nationwide was 1.1 percent, grocery prices went up 1.7 percent nationally and 1.3 percent in the Bay Area, said Todd Johnson, an economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics office in San Francisco. "The largest effects on grocery prices here over the last month were tomatoes, followed by eggs, fish and seafood."

Produce steady

Across the country, the price of produce has remained fairly steady. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that next year the price of fruits and vegetables, like many other food commodities, could go up. The government agency is forecasting a 2 to 3 percent food inflation rate in 2011 - a pace that is not unusual in a rebounding economy.
"We usually err on the conservative side," said Ephraim Leibtag, a senior economist with the USDA, adding that "2011 holds a bit of uncertainty, so I wouldn't be surprised if it goes higher. If it goes to 6 percent, then we should be worried."
Michael Swanson, an agricultural economist at Wells Fargo, said that as long as corn, soybean and energy prices continue to climb, food inflation could reach 4 percent in 2011.
"The USDA always plays it safe," he said, adding that the nation is likely to see the biggest increases since 2008, when the food inflation rate was a record 5.5 percent.
The global demand for corn - used for food and ethanol - has swelled so much that feed costs for farmers and ranchers are being passed on to the consumer, Swanson said.

Gas, diesel play a role

Gas and diesel prices also are playing a role. Wheat costs went through the roof this year when 20 percent of Russia's crop was destroyed by drought and wildfires, causing the country, the third-largest producer in the world, to ban exports of the grain. The price of sugar, also used for ethanol in parts of the world, is priced at a two-decade high.
Kraft Foods Inc., one of the world's largest food producers, has already announced plans to increase its prices because of mounting ingredient costs and flagging sales. General Mills, maker of everything from flour and baking mixes to cereal and Yoplait yogurt, has said it, too, will raise some of its product prices in January. Experts said consumers can expect the same from Kellogg's and Nestle.
The silver lining, Swanson said, is that retailers such as major supermarket chains and big-box stores are likely to push back at wholesalers to keep prices from jumping too much.
"Food is a high-frequency driver," he said. "So if stores like Walmart and Kmart want to get shoppers in the door, it's to their benefit to keep prices low."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/15/MN571GQRDL.DTL#ixzz18NuTjSL3

'Wall Street' sequel is an omen of U.S. collapse

He says he can't predict the future. Don't believe him: Even if he's unaware of his "source," it's stirring again, rising from deep in what Carl Jung would call the "collective unconscious" of the "American Soul," warning us again of a collapse, using Stone as a stock trader's "alert."

Wake up Wall Street: You're getting the biggest market timing signal of 2010!

Seriously, why now? Why after 23 years, did Stone decide to update the message of his famous 1987 movie. Great question: The interviewer was Michael Lewis, former Salomon trader, author of "Liar's Poker," a guy who understands Wall Street's soul.

Stone's answer is in "Greed Never Left," Lewis' Vanity Fair review of Stone's new movie, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Stone had to think about it: "Why did I go back?" Why? "Because it's important. It's the collapse of capitalism and the collapse of our society. It is. Our way of life is going to change."

The collapse of capitalism? Not just a stock market crash. He's predicting the "collapse of our society." Worse, Stone's predicting: "Our way of life is going to change." Is this really a market-timing signal? Hey, it was in 1987. Will history repeat? The odds say yes.

Remember Stone's predictions when you see the sequel, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Lewis says Stone's goal is not just to entertain you for a couple hours then send you back home to continue denying everything Wall Street's fat-cat bankers, the real Gordon Gekkos, are doing every day to destroy capitalism, destroy democracy, destroy your retirement portfolio.

No, Oliver Stone, the All-American filmmaker of "Born on the Fourth of July," "Platoon," "JFK," "Nixon," "W" and "World Trade Center" has a message ... wake up America, you're sleepwalking.
America is unprepared for the coming disaster

Stone's message is clear and powerful: You're ignoring the coming collapse of capitalism ... of our society ... collapse of America. We are ignoring the end of our experiment in democracy. We are unprepared ... "our way of life is going to change." Wake up.

Unfortunately, Stone's voice will likely be as ineffective in 2010 as in 1987. Few listen. Since the first film we've had bigger bubbles, bigger busts. Remember the Asian-Russian crises of 1997-98? Dot-coms in 2000? Subprime meltdown of 2007-08?

"Oliver Stone's 1987 Wall Street succeeded brilliantly in capturing a culture," says Lewis, "and failed miserably as a call for change. To the director's dismay, thousands of financial hotshots dreamed of becoming Gordon Gekko." It was like a recruiting poster for financial terrorists.

Why? Wall Street insiders and Main Street day traders are by nature optimists and opportunists. It's in their DNA. The love crises and volatility. Like the bomb-squad experts in "Hurt Locker," they race into the kill zone. This is a game to traders. They love the hunt, the thrill, the adrenaline rush ... they have to minimize the risks, deny the danger and ignore the consequences as they rush in to capture the moment.

Seriously: Lewis says "Michael Douglas often expresses his astonishment at the many Wall Street males who have sought him out in public places just to say, 'Man, I want to tell you, you are the single biggest reason I got into the business. I watched Wall Street, and I wanted to be Gordon Gekko.' The film's equally perplexed screenwriter, Stanley Weiser, has made the same point, in a different way. 'We wanted to capture the hyper-materialism of the culture,' he said. 'That was always the intent of the movie. Not to make Gordon Gekko a hero.'" Remember, greed never left ... greed never will leave.

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U.S., U.K. Move Closer to Losing AAA Credit Rating

Source: Bloomberg

The U.S. and the U.K. have moved “substantially” closer to losing their AAA credit ratings as the cost of servicing their debt rose, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

The governments of the two economies must balance bringing down their debt burdens without damaging growth by removing fiscal stimulus too quickly, Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of sovereign risk at Moody’s in London, said in a telephone interview.

Under the ratings company’s so-called baseline scenario, the U.S. will spend more on debt service as a percentage of revenue this year than any other top-rated country except the U.K., and will be the biggest spender from 2011 to 2013, Moody’s said today in a report.

“We expect the situation to further deteriorate in terms of the key ratings metrics before they start stabilizing,” Cailleteau said. “This story is not going to stop at the end of the year. There is inertia in the deterioration of credit metrics.”

The pound fell against the dollar and the euro for the first time in three days, depreciating 0.8 percent to $1.5090, while the dollar index snapped a four-day drop, adding 0.3 percent to 90.075.

The U.S. government will spend about 7 percent of its revenue servicing debt in 2010 and almost 11 percent in 2013, according to the baseline scenario of moderate economic recovery, fiscal adjustments in line with government plans and a gradual increase in interest rates, Moody’s said.

Under its adverse scenario, which assumes 0.5 percent lower growth each year, less fiscal adjustment and a stronger interest-rate shock, the U.S. will be paying about 15 percent of revenue in interest payments, more than the 14 percent limit that would lead to a downgrade to AA, Moody’s said.

U.K. Debt Service

The U.K. is likely to spend 7 percent of revenue servicing debt this year and 9 percent in 2013, rising to almost 12 percent under the adverse scenario, Moody’s said.

Faber and Mish: We're Doomed and Washington Can't Do Anything About It

The Bankruptcy of the United States is Now Certain

Porter Stansberry
Silverbearcafe
Thursday, February 4th, 2010

It’s one of those numbers that’s so unbelievable you have to actually think about it for a while… Within the next 12 months, the U.S. Treasury will have to refinance $2 trillion in short-term debt. And that’s not counting any additional deficit spending, which is estimated to be around $1.5 trillion. Put the two numbers together. Then ask yourself, how in the world can the Treasury borrow $3.5 trillion in only one year? That’s an amount equal to nearly 30% of our entire GDP. And we’re the world’s biggest economy. Where will the money come from?

How did we end up with so much short-term debt? Like most entities that have far too much debt – whether subprime borrowers, GM, Fannie, or GE –
the U.S. Treasury has tried to minimize its interest burden by borrowing for short durations and then “rolling over” the loans when they come due. As they say on Wall Street, “a rolling debt collects no moss.” What they mean is, as long as you can extend the debt, you have no problem. Unfortunately, that leads folks to take on ever greater amounts of debt… at ever shorter durations… at ever lower interest rates. Sooner or later, the creditors wake up and ask themselves: What are the chances I will ever actually be repaid? And that’s when the trouble starts. Interest rates go up dramatically.

Funding costs soar. The party is over. Bankruptcy is next.

When governments go bankrupt it’s called “a default.” Currency speculators figured out how to accurately predict when a country would default. Two well-known economists – Alan Greenspan and Pablo Guidotti – published the secret formula in a 1999 academic paper. That’s why the formula is called the Greenspan-Guidotti rule. The rule states: To avoid a default, countries should maintain hard currency reserves equal to at least 100% of their short-term foreign debt maturities. The world’s largest money management firm, PIMCO, explains the rule this way: “The minimum benchmark of reserves equal to at least 100% of short-term external debt is known as the Greenspan-Guidotti rule. Greenspan-Guidotti is perhaps the single concept of reserve adequacy that has the most adherents and empirical support.”

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It Is Now Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off The U.S. National Debt

A lot of people are very upset about the rapidly increasing U.S. national debt these days and they are demanding a solution. What they don't realize is that there simply is not a solution under the current U.S. financial system. It is now mathematically impossible for the U.S. government to pay off the U.S. national debt. You see, the truth is that the U.S. government now owes more dollars than actually exist. If the U.S. government went out today and took every single penny from every single American bank, business and taxpayer, they still would not be able to pay off the national debt. And if they did that, obviously American society would stop functioning because nobody would have any money to buy or sell anything.

And the U.S. government would still be massively in debt.

So why doesn't the U.S. government just fire up the printing presses and print a bunch of money to pay off the debt?

Well, for one very simple reason.

That is not the way our system works.

You see, for more dollars to enter the system, the U.S. government has to go into more debt.

The U.S. government does not issue U.S. currency - the Federal Reserve does.

The Federal Reserve is a private bank owned and operated for profit by a very powerful group of elite international bankers.

If you will pull a dollar bill out and take a look at it, you will notice that it says "Federal Reserve Note" at the top.

It belongs to the Federal Reserve.

The U.S. government cannot simply go out and create new money whenever it wants under our current system.

Instead, it must get it from the Federal Reserve.

So, when the U.S. government needs to borrow more money (which happens a lot these days) it goes over to the Federal Reserve and asks them for some more green pieces of paper called Federal Reserve Notes.

The Federal Reserve swaps these green pieces of paper for pink pieces of paper called U.S. Treasury bonds. The Federal Reserve either sells these U.S. Treasury bonds or they keep the bonds for themselves (which happens a lot these days).

So that is how the U.S. government gets more green pieces of paper called "U.S. dollars" to put into circulation. But by doing so, they get themselves into even more debt which they will owe even more interest on.

So every time the U.S. government does this, the national debt gets even bigger and the interest on that debt gets even bigger.

Are you starting to get the picture?

As you read this, the U.S. national debt is approximately 12 trillion dollars, although it is going up so rapidly that it is really hard to pin down an exact figure.

So how much money actually exists in the United States today?

Well, there are several ways to measure this.

The "M0" money supply is the total of all physical bills and currency, plus the money on hand in bank vaults and all of the deposits those banks have at reserve banks. As of mid-2009, the Federal Reserve said that this amount was about 908 billion dollars.

The "M1" money supply includes all of the currency in the "M0" money supply, along with all of the money held in checking accounts and other checkable accounts at banks, as well as all money contained in travelers' checks. According to the Federal Reserve, this totaled approximately 1.7 trillion dollars in December 2009, but not all of this money actually "exists" as we will see in a moment.

The "M2" money supply includes everything in the "M1" money supply plus most other savings accounts, money market accounts, retail money market mutual funds, and small denomination time deposits (certificates of deposit of under $100,000). According to the Federal Reserve, this totaled approximately 8.5 trillion dollars in December 2009, but once again, not all of this money actually "exists" as we will see in a moment.

The "M3" money supply includes everything in the "M2" money supply plus all other CDs (large time deposits and institutional money market mutual fund balances), deposits of eurodollars and repurchase agreements. The Federal Reserve does not keep track of M3 anymore, but according to ShadowStats.com it is currently somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 trillion dollars. But again, not all of this "money" actually "exists" either.

So why doesn't it exist?

It is because our financial system is based on something called fractional reserve banking.

When you go over to your local bank and deposit $100, they do not keep your $100 in the bank. Instead, they keep only a small fraction of your money there at the bank and they lend out the rest to someone else. Then, if that person deposits the money that was just borrowed at the same bank, that bank can loan out most of that money once again. In this way, the amount of "money" quickly gets multiplied. But in reality, only $100 actually exists. The system works because we do not all run down to the bank and demand all of our money at the same time.

According to the New York Federal Reserve Bank, fractional reserve banking can be explained this way....

"If the reserve requirement is 10%, for example, a bank that receives a $100 deposit may lend out $90 of that deposit. If the borrower then writes a check to someone who deposits the $90, the bank receiving that deposit can lend out $81. As the process continues, the banking system can expand the initial deposit of $100 into a maximum of $1,000 of money ($100+$90+81+$72.90+...=$1,000)."

So much of the "money" out there today is basically made up out of thin air.

In fact, most banks have no reserve requirements at all on savings deposits, CDs and certain kinds of money market accounts. Primarily, reserve requirements apply only to "transactions deposits" – essentially checking accounts.

The truth is that banks are freer today to dramatically "multiply" the amounts deposited with them than ever before. But all of this "multiplied" money is only on paper - it doesn't actually exist.

The point is that the broadest measures of the money supply (M2 and M3) vastly overstate how much "real money" actually exists in the system.

So if the U.S. government went out today and demanded every single dollar from all banks, businesses and individuals in the United States it would not be able to collect 14 trillion dollars (M3) or even 8.5 trillion dollars (M2) because those amounts are based on fractional reserve banking.

So the bottom line is this....

#1) If all money owned by all American banks, businesses and individuals was gathered up today and sent to the U.S. government, there would not be enough to pay off the U.S. national debt.

#2) The only way to create more money is to go into even more debt which makes the problem even worse.

You see, this is what the whole Federal Reserve System was designed to do. It was designed to slowly drain the massive wealth of the American people and transfer it to the elite international bankers.

It is a game that is designed so that the U.S. government cannot win. As soon as they create more money by borrowing it, the U.S. government owes more than what was created because of interest.

If you owe more money than ever was created you can never pay it back.

That means perpetual debt for as long as the system exists.

It is a system designed to force the U.S. government into ever-increasing amounts of debt because there is no escape.

Of course if we had listened to our very wise founding father Thomas Jefferson, we could have avoided this colossal mess in the first place....

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

But we didn't listen, did we?

We could solve this problem by shutting down the Federal Reserve and restoring the power to issue U.S. currency to the U.S. Congress (which is what the U.S. Constitution calls for). But the politicians in Washington D.C. are not about to do that.

So unless you are willing to fundamentally change the current system, you might as well quit complaining about the U.S. national debt because it is now mathematically impossible to pay it off.

www.theeconomiccollapseblog.com

Towns Considering Disincorporation as Finances Worsen

Source: WSJ
As the recession batters city budgets around the U.S., some municipalities are considering the once-unthinkable option of dissolving themselves through "disincorporation."

Benefits of this move vary from state to state. In some cases, dissolution allows residents to escape local taxes. In others, it saves the cost of local salaries and pensions. And residents may get services more cheaply after consolidating with a county.

In Mesa, Wash., a town of 500 residents about 250 miles east of Portland, Ore., city leaders have initiated talks with county officials about the potential regional impact of disincorporating. Mesa has been hit by a combination of the recession and lawsuits that threaten its depleted coffers, leaving few choices other than disincorporation, said Robert Koch, commissioner of Franklin County, where Mesa is located.

Two California towns, Rio Vista and Vallejo, have said they may need to disincorporate to address financial difficulties; Vallejo filed for bankruptcy protection last year. Civic leaders in Mountain View, Colo., have alerted residents that they are left with few options but to disincorporate because the town can't afford to pay salaries and services.

Incorporation brings residents a local government with the ability to raise money through taxes and bond issuances. It also gives them more control of zoning decisions and development, and usually provides for local services such as trash pickup and police as well.

Dissolving a town government, on the other hand, often shifts responsibility for providing services to the county or state. A city's unexpired contracts usually remain binding, and residents are still obligated to pay off any debt.

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A Weak Dollar Is Bad For America

Here is a Forbes.com article from 2007 that highlights what comes along with a weaking USD.

Here is my case for why a weaker dollar hurts America.

First, a weaker dollar translates into a cut in the real spending power of American consumers--in effect, a reduction in real income.

Second, a weaker dollar weakens the role of the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. Why should investors and central banks around the world invest in US assets when their value is steadily declining?

Third, the chances of a weaker dollar leading to a sharp reduction in America's trade deficit is highly unlikely since 40% of the current balance is due to oil imports that are denominated in U.S. dollars. An additional 20% is due to trade with China, which is, of course, controlling the value of its own currency.

Fourth, a weaker dollar is inflationary since it increases the cost of imports.

Fifth, business leaders know that discounting prices may bump near-term revenue and profits but at a real cost to long-term profitability, not to mention inflicting damage to the brand name. This is what we are doing to the brand of America by trying to increase exports by lowering their price in the global marketplace. Better to stand firm on price and sell into global markets on the basis of what is great about American products: superior quality, innovation and service.

Sixth, investors seem to like a weaker dollar since the profits of American multinationals get a boost from foreign earnings being translated into U.S. dollars. Again this is short-term thinking and vastly overstated since most multinationals have sophisticated treasury departments that hedge currency exposures.

What a weaker dollar really does is to encourage American and international investors to invest in non-American markets. The more the dollar drops, the more global equities rise. Many Asian currencies are hitting record highs against the U.S. dollar.

The Australian dollar has climbed to a 25-year highs, while the Singapore dollar has touched 10-year highs. The Brazilian real, which has jumped 18% in value against the U.S. dollar this year, and the Indian rupee's sharp appreciation against the U.S. dollar during the past year, have supercharged U.S. dollar investors' returns in those markets.

According to EPFR Global, investors are pouring money into global funds--with net inflows of $96.94 billion into world equity funds so far in 2007, while taking out $9.6 billion out of U.S. equity funds. Brazil's local stock exchange, the Bovespa, reported that investors have injected $1.2 billion into the market in September alone.

Foreign investors slashed their holdings of U.S. securities by a record amount as the credit squeeze intensified, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The Treasury said net sales of U.S. market assets--including bonds, notes and equities--were $69.3 billion in August after a revised inflow of $19.5 billion during July. The August outflow exceeded the previous record decline of $21.2 billion in March 1990.

Last and perhaps most importantly, I view a policy of weakening the U.S. dollar to improve America's competitive position as the path of least resistance.

Let's not roll up our sleeves and cut federal spending, greatly simplify our tax code to encourage productivity and achievement or reduce corporate tax rates and excessive regulation. Let's just wink and weaken and let our nation's currency drift lower on automatic pilot.

My view is that the value of a nation's currency reflects the perceived value of country in the global marketplace. Maintaining and strengthening the value of our nation's currency is in the best interest of American consumers, businesses and investors.

Kazakhstan Bank Stops Repaying Foreign Debt

By ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: April 24, 2009

MOSCOW — The largest bank in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, whose economy soared when oil prices were high, announced on Friday that it could no longer repay $11 billion in foreign debt.

The bank, BTA, said it would pay only interest to foreign creditors, who lavished the country with loans during the commodity boom. The move underscored the growing financial instability in countries all across the former Soviet Union.

The financial industry in Kazakhstan grew explosively until credit markets seized up two years ago. Rather than raise money through deposits, banks borrowed excessively from international lenders. Those lines of credit dried up in Kazakhstan quicker than elsewhere, given the risky nature of doing business in the country.

The government has responded with efforts to shore up its finances with new oil deals.

This week, Kazakhstan’s national oil company agreed to form a joint venture with a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation to develop petroleum licenses in Kazakhstan. The country holds about 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves. In the deal, China agreed to provide Kazakhstan with $10 billion in loans.

In a statement about the default, BTA said its freeze on the repayment of principal became necessary when some creditors demanded accelerated, or early, repayments. If the bank had met their requests, the statement said, it would have run counter to a stated intention of treating all creditors equally.

Full Story

Fluke? Credit crisis was a heist

By Jim Jubak

It was no accident.

The folks in power in Washington and on Wall Street want to pretend that the current global financial crisis -- you know, the one that reduced household net worth in the United States by $11.2 trillion in 2008, according to the Federal Reserve -- was an accident caused by some unfortunate confluence of greed and asleep-at-the-switch regulators.

What we're now living through, though, is the result of a conscious, planned looting of the world economy. Its roots stretch back decades. And it wouldn't have been possible without the contrivances of the bought-and-paid-for folks who sit in Congress.

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Surviving The Economic Collapse of 2009

If you’re reading this article then you either aware or curious about the economic fiasco the US is in. I’ll save you the time of going through the catalog of news articles about the economy and get straight to business. I searched the internet hi and low looking for answers to one basic question: “What do I need to be prepared in case this iceberg of fiscal irresponsibility capsizes the economy?” I found some great websites and videos that gave lists, instructions, financial advice (some reasonable, others who knows?), but I made a compilation based on urban survival and common sense. I’ll give you my personal list along with some helpful websites and great stores to get you prepared.

Food: (Assuming I don’t need to tell you to stock up on everyday canned foods)

- Easy to fix storable foods that you don’t need much to make. Such as MRE’s, Freeze dried pouches, camping foods.

- Long term storable foods like wheat, rice, and beans. Be advised storing flour isn’t the same as storing wheat; flour becomes rancid. Also with wheat you’ll need to purchase a grain mill to make flour.

- Along with your wheat you’ll need raising agents to make bread such as dry yeast, baking soda and baking powder.

- As far as amounts to store that's something you'll have to decide based on the size of your family, but here are some general guidelines:

Store 30 lbs. of SUGAR or HONEY for each adult. Sugar is heavy and shipping costs are more than it's worth. Buy sugar at any local grocery store. Sugar is self-storing and generally does not spoil.

Store about 100-200 lbs. of whole WHEAT in buckets per adult. Hard white or red winter wheat makes the best flour for bread. Avoid storing flour due to rancidity and infestation.

Store 2 gallons of COOKING OIL- the same brand and the same size bottles that you are accustomed to using. Unopened cooking oil has about a 2 year shelf life.

Store 10 lbs. of SALT and SEASONINGS in accord with your personal preferences. These are also self-storing.

Store 6 lbs. of RAISING INGREDIENTS-baking powder 2 lbs., baking soda 2 lbs., and dry yeast 2 lbs. Replace these according to expiration dates.

Water:

- First you should store at least one gallon per person per day. Outside of this minimum there are collapsible water jugs for people like myself who live in apartments and don’t have a lot of space. (*Keynote* if there is any type of emergency man made or natural make sure you fill up your jugs and bath tub right away).

- If your water supply is compromised or contaminated you’ll need a way to purify it; boiling, water purification tablets / bleach or water purifier.

- Berkey makes some great water filters! If you can’t afford one these I would advise you to check Amazon or Ebay and buy a portable water purifier. You should be able to find a good one for under $70.

- Next is water purification tablets, I prefer the Katadyn tablets over the iodine drops.

Power:

- You have to start thinking of alternative methods of energy. Seems like no matter what type of catastrophe the power goes out.

- Propane is a great storable fuel that can be used to light lantern, camping stoves, heaters, etc. and propane is cheap right now.

Here is a list of some of the things you want to stock up on:

1. Soap
2. Lotion
3. Toothpaste
4. Deodorant
5. Lip Balm
6. Mess Kits
7. Camping Stove
8. Sleeping Bag
9. Fuel for your stove
10. Hand crank flashlights
11. Hand crank radios
12. Candles
13. Lanterns
14. Blankets
15. Hunting / Camping Knife
16. Hatchet / Camping Axe
17. Water proof matches
18. Batteries
19. Duct tape
20. Plastic sheeting
21. TOILET PAPER (I don't know about you, but newspaper does not sound good to me)
22. Feminine Products
    
23. Baby Foods
24. Any Meds you might use on a regular basis
    

In addition here is a list of useful websites: (In no particular order)

• www.backpacker.com
• www.efoodsdirect.com
• www.cmi-gold-silver.com (Great article on survival coins)
• www.mountainhouse.com
• www.yourfoodstorage.com
• www.billofrights.com
• www.endoftimesreport.com
• www.southsummit.com
• www.captaindaves.com
• www.kitco.com (You wanna know what your gold and silver is worth)
  

Check out Ryanjcus's channel on youtube for 72hr Emergency Kits (Bug out Bags) and more.