Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Was cruising through the ‘second hand/junk/antique’ shops the other day with a buddy and while most of the stuff in those places is useless crap I did come across a couple goodies. In addition to the cheesey decorative oil lamps I found a pair pf Aladdin lamps..a Model C and a Model 12. $45 each, but I’ve no doubt I could shave a few bucks off them if I took the pair.

I have a couple of the Aladdin kerosene lamps and I’ve been pleased with them. They don’t put out as much light as a conventional 60-watt bulb but they put out far more light than those ribbon-wick decorative lamps you see out there. A nice side bonus, at least during the winter months, is that they produce a healthy amount of heat as well.

For my needs, the Aladdin lamps work best with a lampshade to diffuse the light. It’s the difference between a bare bulb hanging from a ceiling and a normal light fixture. One is much more stark and harsh, the other more pleasant and even.

There are brighter lamps out there, mostly the pressurized ones. But I find them noisy and they require more attention than the simple non-pressurized lamps. Kerosene, a terrific fuel for storage, is the obvious choice for us since we have the lamps, heaters and stoves.

Although I really appreciate the kerosene lamps that I have, they really may not be the most efficient alternative to normal lighting. The advances in LED technology really make LED’s the first choice for simple indoor emergency lighting. Aladdin sells a conversion unti that screws into the oil lamps to let them use electricity and a bulb. I wonder how hard it would be to convert one of those to a few high output LED’s and rechargeable D-batts. If I could get a comparable amount of light and runtime (one D-batt equaling one filled tank of kerosene or some similar ratio) then it would make sense to head in that direction.
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The current suicide charge by the Obama administration towards universal health care reminds me of a WW2 movie where fanatic Japanese run up the hill into machine gun fire. Troops fall away until theres only a handful of guys at the top of the hill, the original formidable force reduced to a handful of survivors who have no chance now that their numbers have been thinned. Same thing here…theyre stripping away parts of their plan and patching in others in a desperate attempt to get it passed. The final version wont look anything like what it started out as. And the notion that congress is holding it up to get gimme’s for their votes is, to me, reprehensible. Someone who voted against it initially suddenly changes his tune when $200 million in highway finds gets funneled to his state. That is just blatantly corrupt. If you thought it was a bad idea on first face, why would you suddenly think it’s a good idea after getting a load of cash parachuted into your state?

Fact is, though, the administration has hung their hat on this issue and if they don’t pass it they’ve squandered a huge amount of political capital. Thus, it has to pass at all costs. Will it? I hope it won’t, but I think it will. I’m sure that there are briefs being prepared as we speak to challenge all sorts of things in this plan if it passes.

What does this have to do with the price of Glocks in Montana, you may ask? Don’t look at the health care plan itself. Look at how it’s being ramrodded through, instead. They have the ability and the determination to make this legislation into law and they are willing to do anything to make it happen. Theyre cutting back room deals, handing out taxpayer money, granting favors, making threats, and adopting an ‘at any cost’ attitude. Now, imagine if the bill wasn’t about health care but about, say, reclassifying your AR as a destructive device…or a nationwide handgun registration scheme…or national ID card…or mandatory DNA recordkeeping…or a national sales tax…or any other issue that you and I feel strongly about. Theyre showing that if they feel strongly enough on an issue they will do whatever it takes, throw whoever they need to under the bus, spend as much money as they want, demonize whoever they need to, to make it happen. Imagine that same energy and ruthlessness directed towards an issue you feel strongly about. Scary stuff.
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I read an article today about a trucking company that vanished. Drivers were hauling loads and suddenly found their gas cards cut off and messages telling them to turn their rigs in at the nearest terminal or dealership where they would be given a bus ticket home. It had a very “Atlas Shrugged” feel to it. Im sort of unsurprised, I’ve seen local businesses that folded in the same abrupt manner – employees show up at work on Monday morning and find a note on the door saying that the business is closed for good. I cant even begin to imagine what goes through someones head at a moment like that. We’re all familiar with the oft-touted statement that the average American is only two paychecks away from living in a cardboard box. So here you are, thinking you have a job, you don’t have any real savings, you have a car payment due and you need to get groceries…and when you arrive at your place of work you find the lights off, the furnishings gone and the phone disconnected. Now what? A sign of the times.

The current economic situation is a sad thing, to be sure. Folks are losing their jobs and businesses are going under. But, like new growth after a forest fire, when the economy turns around I think you’ll see tremendous opportunity and potential. Retail space will be a buyers market, the number of businesses vying for sales in many markets will have thinned, new businesses will generate new business, quality employees will be available and eager to work, etc. The trick, of course, is to still be standing once the battle is over so you can take advantage of the ‘new era’ that will follow. That’s going to be the big challenge.

It won’t all roses and light, though. I think everyone is going to be amazingly cautious. Like death camp survivors who spend the rest of their lives never wasting food, I think that once the current economic crisis is over everyone, people and businesses, will be extremely cautious in their spending. It’s to be expected, I think. A business survives by the skin of its teeth so theyre not going to be in any hurry to suddenly take on new loads of debt…in fact, I’d think they’d try to keep their debt load as low as possible while stockpiling as much cash as possible to keep them afloat in case things go south again. Contrarily, some businesses (and individuals) may see the end of the crisis as a perfect opportunity to snatch up things at bargains…businesses, real estate, overhead, inventories, etc, etc.