Honey Bees for Survival

Keeping Honey Bees for Survival, by Michael J.

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Why Keep Honey Bees?
Wandering into the woods and staying lost for months is something I love to do. I have been an Urban Guerrilla Survivalist for 24 years, and have been keeping bees for more than 10 of those years. With these experiences under my belt, I have begun to teach people how to be a survivalist, and one subject I focus on is the art of beekeeping.
Before I tell you the benefits of having bees and some cheap ways to keep them, I suggest that you find a book about beekeeping to help you understand the terms I use and show you more details on how to keep bees for the long haul. One of the best books I have read is The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture: An Encyclopedia Pertaining to the Scientific and Practical Culture of Honey Bees by A. I. Root. I also suggest that you try to find some beekeeping courses in your area—not only to learn more about it, but to connect with peers and mentors.
For my disclaimer: You should also research your local and state laws on beekeeping.
Apis mellifera, more commonly referred to as the honey bee, is one of the most beneficial insects in the world. Did you know that we have the honey bee to thank for one third of all the food we eat? Why, without the honey bee, we would mostly eat rice, wheat, and corn instead of the wonderful variety of fruits, vegetables, and nuts we enjoy every day. Not only do honey bees help make more food from pollination, they make a wide variety of products as well.
The most recognizable product, honey, is a sweet food made by bees from the nectar of flowers. Aside from its common use in sweetening teas, honey is used to treat burns, alleviate allergies and use in IVs for blood transfusions. It is also well known as a key ingredient in king’s mead, honey wine and man’s first alcoholic beverage. It is great for cooking in place of sugar, and has more nutritional value than cane or corn sugar. Honey has an endless shelf life when stored at room temperature in a sealed container. Most raw natural honey crystallizes, providing the survivalist with an endless supply of sugar that never goes bad.
Bee pollen, or pollen from flowers that is collected by bees during pollination, is harvested and used to fight allergies and treating mild cases of hay fever. Medications that use pollen include Claritin (loratadine), Benadryl (diphenhydramine), and chlorphenamine. Pollen is a great source of carbohydrates and is used to provide athletes energy boots.
Propolis, a resinous mixture that honey bees collect, relieves inflammation, viral diseases, ulcers, and superficial burns or scalds. It is also believed to promote heart health, strengthen the immune system, and reduce the chances of cataracts. Old beekeepers recommend that a piece of propolis be kept in the mouth as a remedy for a sore throat.
Beeswax, a natural wax produced in the hive, has long been called the ancient man’s plastic, and is used as such today. Common products you see beeswax used in include body creams, coating for cheeses, cosmetics, fine candles, furniture and shoe polishes, modeling materials to create jewelry and sculptures, pharmaceuticals, among hundreds of other items. It is often mixed with other ingredients such as olive oil (sweet oil) and sometimes paraffin. For hundreds of years, beeswax was used as a sealant or lubricant for bullets in cap and ball firearms that use black powder. Beeswax was also used to stabilize the military explosive Torpex, before it was replaced by a petroleum-based product.
Apitherapy is the medical use of bee products—most commonly associated with bee venom therapy, which uses bee venom in the use of health conditions. The active component of bee venom is melittin, which has a powerful anti-inflammatory action. Bee venom is a complex mix of a variety of peptides and proteins, some of which have strong neurotoxic and immunogenic effects. The most well-known bee venom therapy is for autoimmune diseases and multiple sclerosis. Bee venom therapy is also used to treat arthritis, bursitis, tendonitis, dissolving scar tissue (keloids), and herpes zoster, among other illnesses.
As you have just read, the benefits of keeping honey bees for products and pollination is infinite. Not only can you use these products yourself, you can sell them to make money at local farmers markets or boutiques, or barter with clans around the woods. I recommend keeping three to five hives at your home or survival camp. The benefits of the honey bee can not be matched for the survivalist.

How to Get Started

Now that I have told you some of the many the benefits of having bees, I am going to tell you the basic style of beekeeping and some cheap ways to keep bees. Again, my focus is on survival beekeeping, or “off the grid” beekeeping. I will give you a list of what you need, and then tell you how to make some of the items, or find them cheap. Once again, I suggest that you find a book about beekeeping to help you understand the terms I use and the different kinds of hives available for beekeeping. You can find books everywhere—used book stores and yard sales are the cheapest, and you may even find used equipment there as well.
As a beekeeper you must have protection. Beekeepers suits can be expensive—cost of protective gear ranges from $100-$200, depending on what you get (hoods and gloves, full body suits, etc.). Suits can be found online, in beekeeping stores, swap meets, or yard sales. However, if you’d like to take a thrifty approach you need to have:

• High rubber boots, which can be found at farm supply stores or retail centers such as Wal-Mart. Make sure you own a pair that you can get in and out of quickly and can go over your pants.
• Pants that can be tucked into your boots. I like to use duck tape to take the boots onto the pants so your legs and feet are completely protected.
• Long-sleeve shirts than can bed tucked in to your pants.
• Hooded jackets, which can be cinched tightly around your face, so only your face shows.
• A ball cap worn under the hood—the starting point of a screened hood. To make this, stitch screen over the top of the hooded jacket and then use duck tape all around the screen to keep the bees out. The cap pushes the screen away from your face.
• Welding gloves that you duck tape the ends to the jacket sleeves so you’re all sealed up.

Another inexpensive way is to use a rain suit that you can duck tape your gloves, boots, waist, and stitch a screen over the face.
Now that you are protected from head to toe, let’s focus on where you will keep the bees, or the bee hive. The most commonly used hive is called a Langstroth hive. It is made as an open top hive and holds frames that can be removed to inspect brood (aka baby bees or larva) and to pull honey out of the hive. You can order a pre-built hive or find plans to build your own hive from the internet. There are also many books on how build and use the Langstroth hive. I will repeat myself again: find a book and use it as a resource. And take any classes you can find in your area. I have been keeping bees for more than 10 years, and have lost hives over my learning experience. But just like any thing, you never know until you try.
The hive I am going to show you is calling a Robo’s barrel top drum hive. It is made with a plastic 55 gallon drum. From one barrel you can make two hives. These drums can be found at car washes, dumps, and food centers. Always wash the drum out first to make sure it is clean. He started by marking the barrel lengthwise to cut it in half. Although the barrel had a seam that would make it easy to cut it in half; he wanted to use the bung holes for entrances, so he ended up marking his own lines. It is possible to cut the barrel with a handsaw, but for the sake of time, use an electric saber saw. Once the barrel was cut in two,
                                                           
build a box out of 2 inch by 3 inch lumber, to fit snugly around the barrel. This frame acts as a stiffener, preventing the barrel from warping out of shape. It also acts as the support for the top bars. This will also keep the top of you hive even so when you get your lid ready it will fit snug. Before the barrel half could be slid into the wooden frame, a portion on the barrel rim had to be cut off so that the barrel would fit squarely into the frame. Once this was done, the barrel and frame were put together and decking screws were used to secure the barrel to the frame. Counter sink the screws a little so the comb will not stick to the sides. The bees will make comb around the screws and it will be hard to get the top bars out with them stuck to the sides.

Next a set of legs were added. Try to keep the legs from extending out too far from the barrel and becoming a trip hazard while working on the hive. Also try to avoid covering the bung hole so that there is an entrance for the bees. When making the top bars out of 3/4 inch rough-cut pine (1 inch thickness) and made them long enough to extend to the outside edges of the support frame. The lid will cover the whole top so you want it even all the way around.
Robo uses corrugated metal for roofing. This will get hot but you do not have to paint it or stain it every other year. Make sure you drill two holes in the front and back of the hive to help with air flow. In the winter time you can place a cork in the holes to help keep the bees warm. In colder places you can place spray foam in the holes to keep the cold air out. You can either tie down the corrugated metal with rope or just set a couple of rocks on top. Since it is corrugated, there is plenty of ventilation as well. One sheet from The Home Depot is big enough to make covers for both hives. (In Robo’s demonstration, he built a stand to hold up the top bar so you can look at the comb—the bees comb mimicked the shape of the drum half.)
                          
You need to put a little bit of wax on the top bar so the bee know where to start building comb, but other than that you have just made a hive from stuff that is commonly throw way. This is a great way to save drums, even metal ones, and use for something other than a trash can. It’s a great home for your bees, and keeps the dump free of landfill.
Note: Information and all pictures are taken from an article, Barrel Top Bar Hive, on Robo’s World web site.

 

to be continued.....

Making Traditional Mukluks

 

Indigenous people in all parts of the far North developed similar winter footwear to cope with extreme cold and snow. All are made high enough to keep snow out and roomy enough for plenty of insulation. Exact design, materials and embellishments vary by local conditions and what was available. Originally, all were made from animal hide using fur or plant material as insulation. Apparently the name mukluk comes from “maklak”, the Yupik people of Alaska’s name for the bearded seal. This article describes my first attempt at making traditional mukluks.
My thoughts on the evolution of indigenous technology are largely based on the discussions and theories one inevitably has when making and using it. When you start living with things you can really start to appreciate how they were done for real. I should point out before we go any further that my historical knowledge of this stuff is pretty limited so don’t take it as gospel.
These days mukluk is used to describe a wide range of footwear loosely based on the style – much of it less functional fashion-led footwear. However, there are still people making and selling mukluks intended for snowshoeing and use outdoors. If you intend buying mukluks to actually use then double check with the supplier that they’re suitable. Buying a pair of mukluks is fine but even if you don’t have much experience with needle and thread it’s pretty easy to make yourself a pair as I’ll demonstrate.
The design adopted by many people for snowshoeing mukluks seems to be a modern upgrade of the winter moccasin of the north woods of North America. The modern bit is canvas which may not sound that modern but context is everything! As woven fabrics were traded across the Americas I guess they were used in place of hide where it didn’t affect function. This “classic” design has settled on a hide foot (styled and constructed like a moccasin) with a gaiter made from canvas. The hide of choice here is smoke tanned moose hide because of its strength and longevity.
The explorer Mike Horn recounts how the Norwegian polar explorer Børge Ousland tells him that in the arctic your hand should fit in your glove like a car fits in a garage. This also applies to footwear. In cold weather the last thing you want is tight or restrictive footwear which compromises the air trapping ability of the insulation. The foot is made large enough to accommodate probably two pairs of wool socks plus a liner of wool or felt with a felt insole. I say probably as this can all be varied according to personal preference – the joys of making your own kit.
None of this sounds too radical but if you try making traditional mukluks (or even buy some) in the cold I guarantee you’ll be astonished at how good they are. The absolutely key difference between these and modern boots is breathability. Once your feet are damp – which happens surprisingly often in “normal” footwear – the insulative properties of whatever’s between you and the cold are compromised. As the wool insulation and untreated hide breathe extremely well there is no build up of moisture and so no cold feet. Of course if the hide gets wet its breathability is reduced. For this reason they’re at their best in cold-dry environments.
Many modern boots such as rubber pac boots just aren’t that practical on multi-day trips in cold weather. Anyone who’s worn boots like these for a whole day knows how much moisture is trapped in the liners and probably their socks by the end of the day. Drying these takes a very reliable even heat source (hence the invention of crazy things like electric boot driers). Traditional mukluks just don’t need the same sort of drying. More like airing – much more achievable in a wilderness setting.
Hopefully you’re sold on these by now so here’s a quick step by step to show you how easy it is to make some. For a more depth I suggest getting hold of The Snow Walker’s Companion by Garrett and Alexandra Conover* which has detailed instructions and patterns.
I don’t think there could be a much simpler way to make footwear. The foot is simply two pieces – the foot (the larger piece) and the vamp (the smaller piece). I tacked these together to keep everything in kilter while stitching. Sizing can be done by eye and a bit of drawing round your foot or from the pattern.

The vamp is whip stitched to the foot for an inch or so at the “back” then the foot part is puckered and stitched to the vamp to give the curve in the toe. This is where I deviated from the instructions. By the third go at the Conover puckering method my leather resembled a pin cushion! A more simple but probably less strong stitch was improvised.

The liners were made from 10mm felt. This was kindly provided by my good friend Tim at Yurtworks in Cornwall. Apparently this felt is used to line yurts and is also used for boot liners in Mongolia. These look slightly rough and ready as getting the stitches tight was difficult with the thick felt but they do the job! They’re sized by drawing round your foot and measuring your calf for the tops (taking into account extra room for long johns, wool trousers etc).

The next step is to make the gaiter. Unfortunately there are no photos of this. It was snowing hard outside and I was desperate to get them finished by the morning so photography went out the window! Basically the gaiter is a conical shape sized to fit the calf at the top and the top of the moccasin at the bottom. they’re hemmed at the top where holes are made for a drawcord to keep the snow out. When complete they’re whip stitched to the moccasin.
The gaiters are fastened loosely to the legs with long ties which are criss-crossed up the leg. A method of joining these to the foot part is desirable so as to give a “pull” on the foot. I have yet to add this feature so just improvised using a long strip of the gaiter material.
After some field testing I can honestly say this is probably the most comfortable footwear I’ve ever worn. It’s a bizarre thing to be walking outside and feeling like you’re wearing just socks – compared to modern boots there is virtually no weight to them. Warmth-wise I was thoroughly impressed. They’re certainly the warmest thing I’ve ever worn. Things like this really do make you step back and think about all the modern kit we use. Is it really better or just easier to manufacture in quantity? Hmmmm.
If you’re feeling adventurous I’d urge you to have a go at making a pair. If not mukluks, the same construction methods can be used to make yourself a pair of slippers, camp shoes or some practical stalking shoes. A stylish addition to any shoe rack! If you have a go I’d love to hear how you get on.

The Top 12 Threats You Should Watch for in 2012

 

12. The Ron Paul Effect

 

No, I’m not calling Ron Paul anti-American, but his views on national security and naïve belief in the reasonableness of the Iranian regime do threaten our national security. Ron Paul’s eagerness for minimal government has led him and his supporters to reflexively embrace the argument that will excuse them from foreign action and bigger spending. In the last debate, Paul even claimed that there’s no evidence that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon (false) and said terrorists only attack us because we’re the initial aggressors, claiming that terrorists don’t target neutral countries like Sweden and Switzerland (also false).

 

Ron Paul has a real chance of being the big story of the 2012 campaign for the Republican nomination and, if he runs as an Independent, the general election. His movement has the potential to influence politicians to embrace national security positions so irresponsible that they make President Obama look like Genghis Khan.

 

11. Sudan’s Sharia Transformation

 

Dictator Omar Bashir of Sudan vowed to turn his country into a 100% Sharia-based state after the secession of South Sudan. His government is already allied to Iran and allows the Revolutionary Guards to ship arms to Hamas through its territory. Bashir says he’ll make Arabic the official language and all legislation will be based on Sharia and only Sharia. Don’t be surprised if Sudan becomes the new Iran and its sponsorship of terrorism skyrockets.

 

10. Chaos in Europe

 

Civil strife will increase next year, and there are all sorts of extremists ready to riot, protest and incite. From anarchists to neo-Nazis to Islamists to anti-Muslim extremists to people who are just plain angry, there is no shortage of groups ready to bring about chaos to get their point across.

 

Greece, Sweden and France have suffered from huge riots in Muslim-majority areas, some of which have been dubbed "No Go Zones." These riots showed us that it only takes a single match to be lit for a wildfire to spread and with Europe’s economic problems and social tensions, there are plenty to go around.

 

9. Russia Goes Soviet

 

Vladimir Putin, the guy who called the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” is now facing the Russian version of the Arab Spring. The country is facing its largest protests since the Soviet Union fell. Putin isn’t the type of guy to try to find the middle ground. His strong-arm tactics and KGB impulses are going to come out as they never have before and with them, his Cold War mindset.

 

One possible Russian action would be to wage war to overthrow the Georgian government, a U.S. ally. Ever since Russia ripped Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia in 2008, it has been eager to overthrow the Saakashvili government. Russia tried engineering a coup to accomplish this in 2009 but it failed. Since then, Russia has made the case for the government’s removal by accusing it of sponsoring terrorism.

 

8. The Mexican Drug War

 

Far more Mexicans have died since 2007 than all American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan combined since 2001. It is hard to overstate the level of barbarism, anarchy and bloodshed that is happening to the south, and there is no indication that it will stop any time soon. Islamist terrorists are linking up with the Mexican drug cartels, and the Colombian FARC is cashing in on the action.

 

In September 2010, the government had to put up signs along 60 miles of Interstate 8 in Arizona, more than 100 miles from the Mexican border, warning that the area is unsafe. Sooner or later, the violence will spill over the border in a way that will force Americans to finally pay attention.

 

7. Sectarian War in Iraq and Syria

 

Right after U.S. forces left Iraq, Shiite Prime Minister al-Maliki and the Sunni politicians were at eachother's throats. A sharp increase in terrorism followed. Once again, Iraq is looking at the possibility of sectarian violence. Moqtada al-Sadr, the Iranian-backed militia leader, has vowed to attack any remaining U.S. forces in Iraq starting January 1, 2012. That includes the soldiers guarding the embassy and the thousands of contractors that remain. If the U.S. agrees to send 800 to 1,000 trainers back to Iraq as is being discussed, each will have a target on their back.

 

In Syria, the possibility of civil war is quickly increasing and with it, sectarian bloodletting. The minority Allawites, about 10-13% of the population, are sticking by the Assad regime. This is the minority that his regime and its vicious security forces draw its most important personnel from.

 

Going into 2012, sectarian warfare in Iraq and Syria is a distinct possibility and foreign powers will be actively backing opposite sides.

 

6. AfPak Goes Back to 2001

 

President Obama is bringing home the remaining 23,000 troops sent as part of the “surge” in Afghanistan by September. The remaining 68,000 will then start coming home until Afghanistan is put in charge of security in 2014. General John Allen opposes bringing down the number of troops below 68,000, though I’m concerned about the loss of that 23,000 as well. We’ll know in the coming months if this is a safe plan or not, as the Taliban and its terrorist allies will return or they won’t. The key question is whether President Obama will be willing to adjust his timeline if it is necessary. Given Vice President Biden’s comment that the Taliban is not an enemy, I’m not too hopeful.

 

At the same time, the U.S. relationship with Pakistan is in tatters. There is a distinct possibility that Pakistan will sever all counter-terrorism cooperation with the U.S. or reduce it to the bare minimal. This would bring us almost back to the pre-9/11 situation, where Al-Qaeda and other terrorists have free reign in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. We all know how that turned out.

 

5. Homegrown Jihad

 

The Obama Administration doesn’t deny the fact that homegrown terrorism is increasing. It’s simply a statistical fact. Attorney General Eric Holder says “You didn’t worry about this [homegrown terrorism] even two years ago—about individuals, about Americans, to the extent that we now do.”

 

The most recent poll found that 5% of Muslim-Americans view Al-Qaeda favorably and 14 percent wouldn’t answer the question. Out of 1.8 million Muslim adults, that’s a lot of people sympathizing with the group that carried out 9/11. One can only imagine how high the support for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood must be. Levels of radicalism are higher among younger Muslims born in the U.S. than they are from older ones born overseas, so this threat is likely to increase, especially as the population quickly grows.

 

4. Kim Jong-Un Shows What He’s Made Of

 

The new leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, ordered the attack on the South Korean Cheonan warship in March 2010 and, almost certainly, the artillery barrage on a South Korean island in November 2010. Every step in the succession process has been accompanied with a provocation, and now that he’s the leader, Kim Jong-Un is eager to prove himself and solidify his grip. If he doesn’t provoke some kind of confrontation, it’d be really out of character for the North Korean regime. Plus, British intelligence believes he suffers from severe hypertension and an “explosive temper.”

 

3. The Islamist Tidal Wave in the Middle East Spreads

 

The Arab Spring isn’t an Islamist revolution, but that doesn’t mean that the Islamists won’t come to power. They are leading the new Tunisian government, are winning a power struggle with the secularists in Libya and are winning landslide victories in Egypt’s elections. And the Islamists have every reason to believe they’ll add a few notches to their belt in 2012.

 

In Yemen, the largest opposition party is Islah, which is a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate with Salafist backing. One of its leaders was blacklisted by the U.S. State Department for his involvement with Osama Bin Laden. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels benefit from the instability.

 

Jordan is another prime candidate for the Arab Spring, but there have also been major riots and protests in Oman, Algeria, Morocco, Kuwait and other states. In Saudi Arabia, Prince Nayef, an ally of the Wahhabists, is bound to become King soon. The youth population is eager for reform and it will be difficult for the Royal Family to play a balancing act that will prevent upheaval.

 

2. Military Action Against Iran

 

The Iranian regime will retaliate with its full might if it survives a limited strike on its nuclear facilities. It may even want such a strike. It’s not hard to imagine the horrors that will probably follow an Israeli attack on Iran: Terrorist proxies receiving the green light for whatever they want, the Straits of Hormuz being attacked, full retaliation from Revolutionary Guards missile bases, etc., etc.

 

Don’t think the U.S. can escape Iran’s response. No matter how hard we try to distance ourselves from Israel, Islamists view the U.S. and Israel as essentially the same. Secretary of Defense Panetta says Iran could get a nuclear bomb within a year. Let’s hope that Iran’s economic stresses, political in-fighting, and ongoing series of unexplained “accidents” buys us some time.

 

1.    Iran Gets the Bomb

 

It’s often said that the only thing more dangerous than an attack on Iran is letting Iran get the nuke. And it’s true. If you think Iran is a big sponsor of terrorism now, wait until you see what happens when Iran has the protection of a nuclear deterrent. Iran will return to all of its unfinished proxy wars, including those waged against the pro-American Arab governments.

 

If Iran appears to be on the edge of a having a nuclear warhead, almost every country in the region will follow. The Gulf Cooperation Council countries and those seeking to join the body (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco) will go nuclear, as will probably Turkey and Egypt.

 

Iran will share its nuclear technology (if not actual weapons) with its allies, so you can add Syria (if Assad survives), Sudan and Venezuela to the list. Once all the mentioned countries go nuclear, their adversaries will also have to reexamine their positions.

 

Of course, Iran could also use the nuke it obtains. Iran has rehearsed carrying out an EMP strike, which could theoretically disable the U.S. and bring about death and destruction that only a Roland Emmerich film can depict. At the very least, the creation of an Iranian nuke and the subsequent nuclear arms race adds a flammable element into the region best known for catching on fire.

 

There are many threats facing the Western world in 2012. The economy is the number one issue, but voters must remember that national security can claim the top spot in one instant.

 

 

Ryan Mauro is the National Security Analyst for Family Security Matters. He is the Founder of WorldThreats.com, a national security analyst at Christian Action Network, a Strategic Analyst for Wikistrat and a national security commentator for FOX News

"There Will Be Violence, Mark My Words"

By Michael Thomas, Newsweek

28 December 11

magine a vast field on which a terrible battle has recently been fought, the bare ground cratered by fusillade after fusillade of heavy artillery, trees reduced to blackened stumps, wisps of toxic gas hanging in the gray, and corpses everywhere.

A terrible scene, made worse by the sound of distant laughter, because somehow, on the heights commanding the dead zone, the officers' club has made it through intact. From its balconies flutter bunting, and across the blasted landscape there comes a chorus of hearty male voices in counterpoint to the wheedling of cadres of wheel-greasers, the click of betting chips, the orotund declamations of a visiting congressional delegation: in sum, the celebratory hullabaloo of a class of people that has sent entire nations off to perish but whose only concern right now is whether the '11 is ready to drink and who'll see to tipping the servants. The notion that there might be someone or some force out there getting ready to slouch toward the buttonwood tree to exact retribution scarcely ruffles the celebrants' joy.

Ah, Wall Street. As it was in the beginning, is now, and hopes to God it ever will be, world without end. Amen.

Or so it seems to me. It was in May 1961 that a series of circumstances took me from the hushed precincts of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I was working as a curatorial assistant in the European Paintings Department, to Lehman Brothers, to begin what for the next 30 years would be an involvement - I hesitate to call it "a career" - in investment banking. I would promote and execute deals, sit on boards, kiss ass, and lie through my teeth: the whole megillah. In consequence of which, I would wear Savile Row and carry a Hermès briefcase. I had Mme. Claude's home number in Paris and I frequented the best clubs in a half-dozen cities. But I had a problem: I was unable to develop the anticommunitarian moral opacity that is the key to real success on Wall Street.

I had my doubts from the beginning. A few months after I started to work downtown, I ran into an old friend from college and before, a man later to become one of New York's most esteemed writers and editors.

"So," he asked, "how do you like what you're doing now?"

"I like it quite a lot," I said. And this was true: these were new frontiers for me, the pace was lively, the money was good enough ($6,500 a year), and there was so much to learn. But there was one aspect of Wall Street that I found morally confusing if not distasteful: "There's one thing that bothers me, though. It's this: on the one hand the New York Stock Exchange has sent its president, the estimable G. Keith Funston, out into the countryside, supported by an expensive, extensive advertising campaign, to exhort the proletariat to Own your share of America! As if buying 50 shares of IBM or GM in 1961 is as much of a civic duty as buying a $100 war bond in 1943."

I then added, "But here's the thing. At the same time as Funston's out there doing his thing, if you ask any veteran Wall Street pro how the Street works, the first thing he'll tell you is: The public is always wrong. Always." I paused to let that sink in, then confessed, "I have to tell you, I have trouble squaring that circle."

And that was back when Wall Street was basically honest, brought into line thanks in part to Ferdinand Pecora's 1933 humiliation of the great bankers of the Jazz Age and even more so because of the communitarian exigencies forced on the nation by war. From Pearl Harbor to V-J Day, greed was definitely not good, and that proscriptive spirit lingered on right up to 1970, when everything started to change, and the traders began their long march through our great houses of finance, with the inevitable consequence that the Street's moral bookkeeping grew more and more contorted, its corruptions more elaborate, its self-interest less and less governable. What someone has called the "Greed Wars" began.

But now, I think, the game is at long last over.

As 2011 slithers to its end, none of the major problems that led to the crisis point three years ago have really been solved. Bank balance sheets still reek. Europe day by day becomes a financial black hole, with matter from the periphery being sucked toward the center until the vortex itself collapses. The Street and its ministries of propaganda have fallen back on a Big Lie as old as capitalism itself: that all that has gone wrong has been government's fault. This time, however, I don't think the argument that "Washington ate my homework" is going to work. This time, a firestorm is going to explode about the Street's head - and about time, too.

It's funny; the Big Lie has a long pedigree. A year or so ago, I was leafing through Ron Chernow's indispensable history of the Morgan financial interests, and found this interesting exchange between FDR and Russell Leffingwell, a Morgan partner and Washington fixer, a sort of Robert Strauss of his day. It dates from the summer of 1932, with FDR not yet in office:

"You and I know," wrote Leffingwell, "that we cannot cure the present deflation and depression by punishing the villains, real or imaginary, of the first post war decade, and that when it comes down to the day of reckoning nobody gets very far with all this prohibition and regulation stuff." To which FDR replied: "I wish we could get from the bankers themselves an admission that in the 1927 to 1929 period there were grave abuses and that the bankers themselves now support wholeheartedly methods to prevent recurrence thereof. Can't bankers see their own advantage in such a course?" And then Leffingwell again: "The bankers were not in fact responsible for 1927–29 and the politicians were. Why then should the bankers make a false confession?"

This time, I fear, the public anger will not be deflected. Confessions, not false, will be exacted. Occupy Wall Street has set the snowball rolling; you may not think much of OWS - I have my own reservations, although none are philosophical or moral - but it has made America aware of a sinister, usurious process by which wealth has systematically been funneled into fewer and fewer hands. A process in which Washington played a useful supporting role, but no more than that.

Over the next year, I expect the "what" will give way to the "how" in the broad electorate's comprehension of the financial situation. The 99 percent must learn to differentiate the bloodsuckers and rent-extractors from those in the 1 percent who make the world a better, more just place to live. Once people realize how Wall Street made its pile, understand how financiers get rich, what it is that they actually do, the time will become ripe for someone to gather the spreading ripples of anger and perplexity into a focused tsunami of retribution. To make the bastards pay, properly, for the grief and woe they have caused. Perhaps not to the extent proposed by H. L. Mencken, who wrote that when a bank fails, the first order of business should be to hang its board of directors, but in a manner in which the pain is proportionate to the collateral damage. Possibly an excess-profits tax retroactive to 2007, or some form of "Tobin tax" on transactions, or a wealth tax. The era of money for nothing will be over.

But it won't just end with taxes. When the great day comes, Wall Street will pray for another Pecora, because compared with the rough beast now beginning to strain at the leash, Pecora will look like Phil Gramm. Humiliation and ridicule, even financial penalties, will be the least of the Street's tribulations. There will be prosecutions and show trials. There will be violence, mark my words. Houses burnt, property defaced. I just hope that this time the mob targets the right people in Wall Street and in Washington. (How does a right-thinking Christian go about asking Santa for Mitch McConnell's head under the Christmas tree?) There will be kleptocrats who threaten to take themselves elsewhere if their demands on jurisdictions and tax breaks aren't met, and I say let 'em go!

At the end of the day, the convulsion to come won't really be about Wall Street's derivatives malefactions, or its subprime fun and games, or rogue trading, or the folly of banks. It will be about this society's final opportunity to rip away the paralyzing shackles of corruption or else dwell forever in a neofeudal social order. You might say that 1384 has replaced 1984 as our worst-case scenario. I have lived what now, at 75, is starting to feel like a long life. If anyone asks me what has been the great American story of my lifetime, I have a ready answer. It is the corruption, money-based, that has settled like some all-enveloping excremental mist on the landscape of our hopes, that has permeated every nook of any institution or being that has real influence on the way we live now. Sixty years ago, if you had asked me, on the basis of all that I had been taught, whether I thought this condition of general rot was possible in this country, I would have told you that you were nuts. And I would have been very wrong. What has happened in this country has made a lie of my boyhood.

There should be more to America, Gore Vidal has written, than who pays tax to whom. It has been in Wall Street's interest to shrivel our sensibilities as a nation, to shove aside the verities of which General MacArthur spoke at West Point - duty, honor, country - in favor of grubby schemes and scams and "carried interest" calculations. Time, I think, to take the country back