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 discontinued sand AR-15 PMAGs. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: An interesting primer, over at Visual Capitalist: The Silver Series: The Start of A New Gold-Silver Cycle (Part 1 of 3) o  o  o H.L. spotted this at Zero Hedge: Russia, …







Preparedness Notes for Thursday — September 12, 2019

After nearly 40 years of riding across millions of American television and movie screens, the cowboy actor William Boyd, best known for his role as Hopalong Cassidy, died on this day in 1972 at the age of 77. — A reminder: To help cover some family medical bills, I’ve put a few guns from my personal collection up for sale on consignment through a trusted friend who has an FFL. They are being auctioned at GunBroker.com. They all have modest opening bids, and no reserve prices. If any of these interest you, then please consider bidding. These guns include: A …




The Prepper’s Smartphone, by Aden Tate

It seems as if pretty much everybody has a smartphone of some sort today. Considering such, and that a phone is something that people tend to have on their person virtually 24/7 in today’s society, it makes sense to make one’s phone as versatile of a tool as possible. If it’s going to be in your EDC to begin with, why not have it work for you as hard as it is capable of? Do cell phones die? Yes. But at least in the beginning stages of a disaster, there’s a very good chance that your phone will both have …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at how Hong Kong protestors are using a mesh messaging app. SHTF Intelligence Gathering Tim J. sent us this Forward Observer video link: SHTF Intelligence Gathering Arctic ‘Global Warming’ Mission Foiled …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“If the citizens of the United States are to turn away from the Communist Manifesto and preserve the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and our Bill of Rights, we must first thoroughly reexamine and learn about each of them, and uphold America’s founding documents by testing every political action in light of them.” – Chuck Norris  




Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — September 11, 2019

September 11th is of course the anniversary of the 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. , but it is also the anniversary of the Benghazi Embassy attacks, in 2012. (Those events were recounted in the Hollywood film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.) Please remember the sacrifice of J. Christopher Stevenson, Sean Smith, and CIA (former Navy SEAL) agents Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Between them, Woods and Doherty reportedly dropped at least 60 of the attackers, before their position was overwhelmed. Please also remember the spineless worms in Washington, D.C. who decided to not back up the …




Prayer Before You Prepare, by C.H.

My first memory of SurvivalBlog is reading the Rawlesian precepts, almost a decade years ago. I remember quickly hurrying over to the ‘Quick Start Guide’ to find out where I should begin. It was there that I read the most important piece of advice for any prepper: “Before you begin to prepare, pray.” Unfortunately, I thought that this meant little more than a salutary ‘tipping of the hat’ toward heaven before starting out on whatever I thought was best. ‘Do your best, pray it’s blessed, and let God do the rest.’ So I asked the Lord for his blessing and …




JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, tools, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. This week the focus is on the upcoming release of the Kevin Sorbo movie The Reliant. (See the Movies section.) Books: 40th Edition Blue Book of Gun Values. When visiting a gun show, knowledge is power. o  o  o The Dehydrator Cookbook …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The fact is that the modern implementation of the prison planet has far surpassed even Orwell’s 1984 and the only difference between our society and those fictionalized by Huxley, Orwell and others, is that the advertising techniques used to package the propaganda are a little more sophisticated on the surface. Yet just a quick glance behind the curtain reveals that the age old tactics of manipulation of fear and manufactured consensus are still being used to force humanity into accepting the terms of its own imprisonment and in turn policing others within the prison without bars.” – Paul Joseph Watson




Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — September 10, 2019

On September 10, 1776, George Washington asked for a spy volunteer. Nathan Hale stepped up to the challenge of an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City. Unfortunately, the British captured and executed him. He is probably best known for his last words before being hanged: “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” He has long been considered an American hero, and in 1985, was officially designated the state hero of Connecticut. It is good for us to remember that every American patriot and hero from the times leading up to and during the …




210 Days of Freedom: The Coming Private Firearms Sales Frenzy

The U.S. Senate returned from its summer recess on September 9, 2019. It has been widely reported that the Senate’s Republican leadership has caved in to media pressure. They have promised to create a Senate version of H.R. 8 — the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019”. (It already passed in the House, back in February.) The phrases “Universal Background Checks” and “Comprehensive Background Checks” sound all warm and fuzzy to the leftists. But here is what they really mean: “We’ll make you a felon if you sell a gun to your next door neighbor”. Please don’t allow this blatantly …




SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on the upcoming Inland Northwest Freedom Fest. (See the Idaho section.) Idaho The 2019 Inland Northwest Freedom Fest will be held Saturday, September 14th, 2019 at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, in the Main Exhibit Hall 8 AM to 6 PM. “Speakers include: Pastors Tim …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at some upcoming Big Tech antitrust hearings. DEA Agents Make Controversial Searches on Amtrak Reader DSV sent this: Southwest Bust: DEA Agents Ambush Amtrak Passengers With Controversial Searches and Seizures. Here is …