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(Image: source)
Looks like
Americans are really getting fired up about the coming boom...
"Booming
Business of Fear: Sales of Safes Soar" (CNNMoney)
Amid the market
turmoil, sales of security safes and vaults have spiked. While some shoppers
sought to protect whatever valuables they had left, others needed a place to
stash their newly-acquired safe haven assets such as gold and cash.
Port Charlotte,
Fla.-based Value Safes said it sold an average of $13,000 in safes a day in
the past week, more than tripling its daily average of $3,500 from the
previous week. On Amazon.com, SentrySafe's $170
1.2-cubic foot combination safe was among the site's biggest "movers and
shakers" Friday, with sales rising 44% over the past 24 hours.
Maximum
Security, which sells safes for jewelry, coins, guns and other valuables,
said it has seen demand climb by more than 30% over the past two weeks.
"People
are just plain scared," said Nancy Bryan, owner of Santa Ana,
Calif.-based Maximum Security, who noted that sales started increasing about
three years ago at the onset of the recession.
"What is
happening to our financial markets is the most recent addition," she
added. "Folks are worried about the decreasing value of the dollar,
burglaries on the rise in their neighborhoods ... and even the possibility
that the unrest we are seeing in other parts of the world slipping over to
our country."
"Obama
Firearms Boom Continues" (American
Thinker)
After
slackening a bit in 2010, the demand for guns is once again on the
rise. Shooting Industry
Magazine recently reported:
The firearms
industry is enjoying brisk-to-robust firearm sales during a time when much of
the U.S. economy continues to suffer.
In April,
dealers reported firearms sales that matched and even exceeded those of the
six months following the 2008 national elections.
In May, the
number of NSSF-adjusted NICS background checks reflects an 11.4-percent
increase over May 2010. The positive May report is in stark contrast to news
of the nation's economy, which hit another slowdown during the month.
NSSF reports
that its adjusted NICS data shows increases for 2011, compared to 2010, of
January: 9.7 percent; February: 13.6 percent; March: 15 percent; and April:
15.2 percent. NSSF also indicates that for 12 straight months, beginning in
May 2010, there have been increases in the number of background checks.
"As
Economy Falters, Security Services Are Hiring More Guards" (Spokesman-Review)
The
fastest-growing occupation in Spokane County is not in health care or green
technology. It can’t be found in casinos or computer labs.
It’s
security guard – one of the few bright spots in job growth, thanks in
part to a bad economy.
More firms are
beefing up security in response to public safety budget cuts and higher crime
rates.
Tom Currie,
regional manager with Northwest Protective Service, sees a correlation
between high unemployment and the need for more security guards.
“I think
as the economy gets worse and worse, and more people are out of work, people
get desperate to find some sort of income, so crime goes up, drug abuse goes
up,” Currie said.
"Summer
in a Jar: Canning's Comeback" (Detroit
Free Press)
Lillian Smith
has the answer for any gardener-cook looking for ways to tackle that familiar
dilemma: too many tomatoes.
Almost a lost
art, canning has come back in style as more people get into vegetable
gardening. The interest in farmers markets and pick-your-own farms also fuels
the trend.
"Starting
two years ago, we saw many more people coming to our classes," said
Smith, a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Food Preserver
who teaches canning and other techniques.
"The food
safety issue and economics -- that's driving the interest in canning. People
want to know how to do it themselves."
Jarden
Home Brands, makers of Ball home canning products, says sales have risen
nearly 35% in the last three years.
On the plus
side, I guess you could say that some parts of the economy are
doing well -- right?
Michael J. Panzner
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