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’s focus is on Silver Price Manipulation. Precious Metals (Silver Price Manipulation): Ted Butler: A New Silver Issue For The Justice Department. Here is a pointed quote from Ted: “As of the close of business on Jan 15, the 8 largest traders on the short side of COMEX …







Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — February 19, 2019

Today is the birthday of Lee Marvin (1924–1987), starring actor in The Professionals and The Big Red One. — The first batch of 1,000 of the SurvivalBlog 2005-2018 Archive Waterproof 16 GB USB sticks sold out in just  five weeks. After a brief delay, the second batch of just 550 is now in hand, tested, and available for shipment. This may be our final batch of this year’s edition, so order yours, soon. Many folks place order for two or three of them at a time. — Ready Made Resources — one of our original advertisers — is running a …




Misadventures in Moving, by Tober

Editor’s Introductory Note:  I generally avoid posting rants, but this one about a Budget rental truck was genuinely epic and tragi-comic.  If you don’t enjoy rants, then only read the first section. – JWR I think sharing this story will help me a bit, as this was quite an adventure that was mentally and physically exhausting. This article is long, so I decided to put the tips at the beginning. If you want to read the story of why I thought these tips were important, continue below. Here are my mental health tips for you if you’re planning on making …




SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on tent makers and tent sellers in the American Redoubt. Some folks take the Apostle Paul literally–about being tent makers, that is… Because wall tents and especially their poles are bulky and expensive to ship, it is often best to order one in advance and then pick it up in person. The photo above is historical — it is …




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”.  Today, we focus on the Yellow Vest Protests. My First Ever “At The Ranch” F2F Interview A few months back, I agreed to a podcast interview by Eugene Robinson of Ozy Confidential. Since I’ve known Eugene for 30 years and genuinely trust him, he was the first journalist that I’ve ever invited to conduct a face-to-face interview with me here at the Rawles Ranch. For OPSEC reasons, the interview is of course …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The Five Levels of Trust: 1. The government man says: Its raining outside. I can look out the window and verify. Trust level is good. 2. The government man says: its 35 degrees outside. I can use simple technology to verify, trust level is good. 3. The government man says: the temperature at 70,000 feet altitude is -42 degrees, I cannot verify without extremely expensive equipment, but others can, so I kind of trust this because someone else can verify it. Trust level is Okay, at this point it does not affect me. 4. The government man says the temperature …







Springfield Armory SAINT AR Pistol, by Pat Cascio

Editor ‘s Note: This review is of the standard Springfield Armory SAINT AR pistol. It is not to be confused with the Saint Edge, which Pat reviewed on January 21, 2019. Pat also reviewed the Saint rifle, in February, 2017. — Most of the time, I have at least 25 products awaiting testing and a follow-up article. So, my plate is always full. When the Springfield Armory Saint AR Pistol first came out, I had to take a pass on testing it – just too much of a backlog. When things settled down a bit, I requested a sample of this AR …




Recipe of the Week: Avalanche Lily’s Basic Ground Beef Stir Fry

Avalanche Lily’s Basic Ground Beef Stir Fry   Ingredients 2 lbs ground beef 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil 1 Medium onion 1 Tablespoon garlic 1 large sweet pepper (red, yellow, orange, or green) or 1 cup of mixed diced peppers 4 large carrots, peeled and diced 2 Grocery store-sized zuchinni, halved and sliced 1 Quart bag diced tomatoes or can of diced tomatoes Oregano, to taste Basil, to taste Himalayan Salt, to taste




Letter: A Recent Test of Stored 2008-Vintage MREs

Dear Editor: I am always interested in the viability of stored supplies, and am amazed at how quickly expiration dates are reached when one becomes a prepper. I’m the fellow that sent in the report of long-frozen yeast some months ago, and recently conducted a taste-test of an MRE purchased in August, 2008. I thought our brother and sister readers may be interested in my findings. The MRE was packaged by the MRE Star company, out of Hollywood, Florida. It was purchased in a case lot from a Brigade Quartermaster “brick & mortar” store in August, 2008. Though I have …




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. This is the news that you won’t hear on CNBC! Today’s focus is on Auto Loan Delinquencies. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: This was reported on Friday: Gold Prices Up, At Weekly Highs, On Bullish Technical Momentum o o o Invest In Gold Price As A Hedge In …










S.42: How a Freedom Becomes a Felony

The U.S. Congress is now on the cusp of passing a horribly unconstitutional law. It is designated H.R. 8 in the House and S.42 in the Senate. These bills would criminalize the American tradition of private party sales, trades, and gifts of firearms. It would become a felony crime to transfer any post-1898 firearm without first visiting a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder to fill out an ATF Form 4473, paying a transfer fee, and having that FFL phone the FBI to conduct a background check on the transferee. Without a “Yes you may” response from the ‘Mother May I?” …