Preparations, in Lange’s case, include a storeroom in his basement in New Jersey stacked high with enough food, water, diapers, and other necessities to last his family six months; a biometric safe to hold his guns; and a 1985 ex-military Chevy K5 Blazer that runs on diesel and is currently being retrofitted for off-road travel. He has also entertained the idea of putting an inflatable speedboat in a storage unit on the West Side, so he could get off the island quickly, and is currently considering purchasing a remote farm where he could hunker down. “If there’s a financial-system breakdown, it could take a year to reset the system, and in that time, what’s going to happen?” asks Lange. If New York turns into a scene out of I Am Legend, he wants to be ready.



He’s not the only one. In his book Wealth, War, published last year, former Morgan Stanley chief global strategist Barton Biggs advised people to prepare for the possibility of a total breakdown of civil society. A senior analyst whose reports are read at hedge funds all over the city wrote just before Christmas that some of his clients are “so bearish they’ve purchased firearms and safes and are stocking their pantries with soups and canned foods.” This fear is very much reflected in the market—prices of corporate bonds have been so beaten down at various points that they suggest a higher default rate than during the Great Depression. Meanwhile, while the overall gold market has fluctuated, the premium for quarter-ounce gold coins—meaning the difference between the price for gold you can hold in your hand and that for “paper gold,” such as exchange-traded funds—rose to an all-time high of 20 percent. “Gold is transportable, it’s 100 percent liquid, and it’s perfectly divisible in the context of ounces, bars, or coins,” says the head of a California research firm who keeps a supply of it, along with food, water, and guns, on hand. “And most important, there’s no counterparty”—i.e., it’s an investment beholden to no one, and perhaps one of the few assets that will retain value if the financial system collapses.



While it may look like these Wall Streeters are betting on such a collapse, their embrace of survivalism is an outgrowth of their professional habits of mind: Having observed the economy’s shaky high-wire act from their ringside seats, they are trying to manage their risk and “hedge” against a potential fall. “It’s like insurance,” says an investor who has stockpiled MREs and a hand-cranked radio. “And by the time you need it, it’s way too late.” Leave it for others to weep for the collapse of the social order. These guys would prefer to be in a high-speed boat or ex-military vehicle, heading off toward their fully provisioned compounds in pursuit of the ultimate goal: to win the chaos.

"Made in Canada" simply means that 51 per cent of the production cost was incurred in Canada; the ingredients could come from anywhere, and increasingly they come from China. For example, manufacturers can import apple juice concentrate from China - for about one-fifth the cost of Canadian concentrate - add water to it in Canada, and mark it "Made in Canada."

"We eat food from China every day, we just don't know about it," says Dr. Keith Warriner, an assistant professor of food science at the University of Guelph. Canadians ate $430-million worth of food from China last year, and as China's economic power grows so does its reach into our supermarkets, our kitchens - even our churches. Canada imported $9.5-million worth of communion wafers from China last year, along with $113-million worth of frozen fish fillets and $28-million worth of apple juice.

But even I (a consummate label-reader) was SHOCKED to learn just recently (through the poison-pet-food revelations) that wheat-gluten (from Canadian wheat?) was MADE in China. How could that be? How is it that we in Canada - the supposedly largest wheat growing nation in the world - have anything to do with wheat from CHINA (or any other food for that matter)?

Last year, under high-level pressure from China, the USDA passed a rule allowing China to export to the United States chickens that were grown and slaughtered in North America and then processed in China -- a rule that quickly passed through multiple levels of review and was approved the day before Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Washington last April.

"So many U.S. companies are directly or indirectly involved in China now, the commercial interest of the United States these days has become to allow imports to come in as quickly and smoothly as possible," said Robert B. Cassidy, a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China and now director of international trade and services for Kelley Drye Collier Shannon, a Washington law firm.

It is not just that food from China is cheap, said William Hubbard, a former associate director of the FDA. For a growing number of important food products, China has become virtually the only source in the world.

China controls 80 percent of the world's production of ascorbic acid, for example, a valuable preservative that is ubiquitous in processed and other foods. Only one producer remains in the United States, Hubbard said.

Among U.S. food imports, the fastest growing as a
percentage of U.S. food consumption include red
meats, fish, and shellfish. Also, imports of vegetables
such as bell and chili peppers, tomatoes, potatoes,
asparagus, onions, and olives have risen significantly
since 1980. Further, the import shares of fruits and
grain cereals jumped dramatically as U.S. tastes shifted.

Although U.S. per capita consumption of red meat
dropped from an average 175 pounds per year in the
early 1980s to 163 pounds in 2000, the import share of
pork rose from 3 to 5 percent, while the share for lamb
meat more than tripled between those years. Fish and
shellfish import share reached 68 percent in 2000, up
from 45 percent in 1980. Even beef's import share rose
from 8 to 11 percent in that time span.

The import share of fruits also more than tripled from
6 percent in 1980 to 22 percent in 2000. Among the
fastest growing are avocados, mangos, melons, grapes,
and pears. For fruit juices–mainly orange, apple, and
grape–overall import share rose from 12 to 32 percent
in the past two decades. Among tree nuts, of which 39
percent were imported in 2000 versus only 26 percent
in 1980, the import share of pecans shot up from 1.5
percent to 37 percent.

Equally dramatic growth in import share of vegetables
occurred since 1980. For fresh and frozen vegetables
as a group, the share went up from 6 percent to 14 percent
in 2000. Potatoes' import share reached 14 percent
in 2000, up from only 1 percent in 1980.
Asparagus' share grew more than fivefold from 11 percent
to 59 percent. For olives (processed), the respective
shares are 21 to 75 percent. And for artichokes
and spices, the corresponding estimates more than
doubled.

From less than 1 percent import share in 1980, wheat
and rice expanded significantly to 9 and 10 percent,
respectively, in 2000. Also, the import share of confectionery
products quadrupled, as did malt beverages.

Outbound traffic from Long Beach and Los Angeles, America's two top ports, has fallen by 18pc year-on-year, a far more serious decline than anything seen in recent recessions.


"This is no regular cycle slowdown, but a complete collapse in foreign demand," said Lindsay Coburn, ING's trade consultant.

He said it was "illogical" for shippers to offer zero rates, but they do whatever they can to survive in a highly cyclical market.

Offering slots for free is akin to an airline giving away spare seats for nothing in the hope of making something from meals and fees.

Originally posted by questioningall
reply to post by LowLevelMason

---

That thread you provided is correct and it was based on the Baltic Dry Index, and there were many links to provide that information and confirm it. That index is provided on raw materials, now the information in this thread is provided on the finished goods.

Hey - it is up to everyone individually to read what they will and come to their own conclusions.

I find it amazing that you are doubting the info. - it has not come from me, but from valid and real sources.

So - don't go out and stock up - that is your decision, but I think others will find the thread informative that finished goods shipments have now gone over the cliff.