Preparedness Notes for Friday — July 26, 2019

On July 26th, 1931, a swarm of grasshoppers descended on crops throughout the American heartland, devastating millions of acres. Already in the midst of a bad drought, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota suffered tremendously. The swarms was said to be so thick that it blocked out the sun and one could shovel the grasshoppers with a scoop. While America has not seen infestations on such a scale since then, North Africa and parts of the Middle East continue to experience them. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The …




Including Old Books in Your Preps, Part 4, by Marica Bernstein

(Continued from Part 3. This part concludes the series.) Now What? Refer to the photo at the right side of this paragraph. First, step back and take in a whole section to spot collections such as the nine-volume The Scribner Radio Music Libraryxiii (1946) collection of sheet music. Look for extremely thick old books. These are single volume encyclopedias of facts, histories, “what everyone should know” books published until they became obsolete thanks to the Internet. The large, thick book at the far left is Familiar Quotations: A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient …




Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in the corn market and stocking up on phyisical corn, for preparedness. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

We’ll start out with this piece by Gary Christenson: Silver Prices – The Next 5 Years

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Avi Gilburt (at Seeking Alpha): Sentiment Speaks: My Biggest ‘Fear’ For Silver

Economy & Finance:

At Zero Hedge: Insanity: Now even JUNK bonds have NEGATIVE yields

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Wolf Street reports: Another UK Fund Just Slammed its Doors Shut on Investors

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Citing higher minimum wages in Seattle, Portland, and SF, West Coast restaurant chain files for bankruptcy

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Another at Wolf Street: Everything’s Fine Until Suddenly it Isn’t: How a “Leveraged Loan” Blows Up

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London Housing Bust: Prices Fall, Sales Plunge to 2009 Level

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Every citizen will see, and I hope be deeply impressed with a sense of it, how exceedingly important it is to himself, and how intimately the welfare of his children is connected with it, that those who are to have a share in making as well as in judging and executing the laws should be men of singular wisdom and integrity.”  – Samuel Adams, Boston Gazette, April 2, 1781