Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at unloading your collectibles. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

The COMEX Issues and Stops Reports Expose Conditions Behind Physical Gold Supply Problems

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COMEX Can’t Find Any 400 Oz Bars For Its New Gold Futures Contract

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Fake Morgan Dollar purchased from a flea market!

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Silver and Sanity (Gary Christenson)

Economy & Finance:

SurvivalBlog’s Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson describes the now developing cascade of events: Businesses That Are Going To Fail.

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At Wolf Street: How Will COVID-19 Impact US Manufacturing? First Indications Are Ugly. Exacerbated by Underlying Conditions

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And at Zero Hedge: US Public Pension Funds Have Lost $1 TRILLION In Recent Weeks

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The Return of the Barter Economy, Swapping Eggs for Toilet Paper

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Peter Schiff: Americans Are in For a Rude Awakening

Commodities:

It’s Happening: Oil Producers Are Now Paying Clients As Wyoming Sour Price Turns Negative

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OilPrice News reports: Oil Markets Are On The Brink Of Armageddon

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U.S. Solar Industry Wants Government Bailout As Bankruptcies Loom

Equities:

Dow, S&P 500 post worst March since the Great Depression

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The Wall Street rollercoaster ride is far from over.  When I checked on Wednesday, the DJIA was down another 4.43% to 20,943. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 also closed down 4.4%, to 2,471. Please continue to take advantage of any upcoming marketrally days, to unload most of your stocks and ETFs.  You should only hold on to a select few that you consider truly depression proof!

Forex & Cryptos:

Fortune: King dollar is back, creating a big headache for the global economy at the worst possible time

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Forex24.pro reports: “Currency pair Dollar Franc USD/CHF continues to move as part of the rebound after a strong fall. At the time of the publication of the Forex forecast, the rate of the US Dollar to the Swiss Franc is 0.9643. Moving averages indicate a short-term bearish trend for the pair. Prices are testing the area between the signal lines, which indicates pressure from sellers of the American currency and the potential continuation of the fall of the pair. At the moment, we should expect an attempt to depreciate the Dollar against the Franc and test the support area near the level of 0.9495. Then, a rebound and continued growth of the US Dollar against the Swiss Franc with a potential target above the level of 1.0045.”

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Bitcoin Closes Q1 With Historic Darth Maul Candle: Here’s What it Means

Tangibles Investing:

With deflation in full swing and a strong risk of recession or even a full scale depression brewing, this is a good time to retain your practical tangibles, but unload any of your remaining impractical collectibles.  Impractical means: Rare wines, whisky, trading cards, stamps, autographs, artworks, art glass, sports cars, and so forth. Practical means; Gold, silver, and guns–and not much else. Well… perhaps Swiss watches–but these days, I’m more inclined to put them in the impractical category. – JWR

Provisos:

SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for our detailed disclaimers.

News Tips:

Please send your economics and investing news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who closely watch specific markets. If you spot any news that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers, then please send it in. News from local news outlets that is missed by the news wire services is especially appreciated. And it need not be only about commodities and precious metals. Thanks!


65 Comments

  1. RE: Businesses that will fail- Can add to that interior decorating, furniture, real estate brokers and companies, anyone doing kitchen/bath remodels, carpenters who do interior work, craft stores/supplies, art supply stores, anything that relies upon impulse purchases in person(the stuff people pick up and buy while shopping at Walmart, Target, Staples, Home Depot etc), tattoo artists, beauty salons, nail salons, massage therapists, flea market vendors, craft vendors at craft shows and Farmers’ Markets. Plus we’re all driving a lot less so buying a lot less gas so the gas stations will suffer losses plus sell way less snack foods and other convenience stuff. Add to this list garden supply stores, plant nurseries, farms that sell seedlings and perennials; if people can’t buy them in person it’s gonna be a tough season. A lot of this stuff is impulse purchases anyway and people will be focused on edibles(tomato seedlings etc).

    The domino effect is scary; just consider gas taxes. Way fewer miles driven, less gas taxes collected. Newspapers are hurting as their advertising revenues have dropped off a cliff.

    Add to this the additional expenses cities and towns are incurring. For instance, my state has a considerable(for our size) homeless population, most of whom came here to take advantage of our supposed largesse. Our state has been putting them into motel rooms, campers, etc and delivering meals to them in order to get them out of the crowded shelters. They’re planning on renting a college campus to house virus infected homeless and mentally ill people who need a place to stay and recuperate. (That’s not going over very well with the small Central VT town that the college is in, despite being a bastion of liberals! ) Obviously the bill is going to come due and the taxpayers will have to pay. It’s frustrating as one homeless dude was interviewed and he mentioned he’d just come to VT in December from Florida as he didn’t feel safe there. Now he was mad we were putting him in a motel room! With meal deliveries! So this guy never contributed a penny to our state economy but we are footing the bill. I don’t know how we’re going to pay for all of this with most of our businesses destroyed and so many out of work.

    I want to send the bill to China………

    1. I disagree with the author on only one point. He seemed to want to make this the fault of the government. Long before the government instituted their shutdown I had cancelled appointments, decided to get no more hair cuts and no fast food (which I did everyday for lunch before the outbreak). So the problem was there because of the virus and not solely because of the government shutdown.

      1. Agreed. I had stopped doing a lot of things that I thought were risky prior to any official government shut-down so I would say that yes, regardless of whether they shut the stores or venues or not, they still would have lost my business. Obviously that’s not the case though for many who only stopped going to bars, shows etc when they were ordered closed.

    2. Actually ani us interior carpenters do pretty well in this kinda set up. Real estate prices drop people buy real property with extra in budget they customize.

      And there is a big push on medical property that drops a lot of work. And very little of it involves person to person mostly it’s customer looks at pictures of property they walk property crunch numbers then everything else is is just photo updates at most.(commercial)

      (Residential) people or group get property. And have a bunch of meetings then contracts then work starts then people move in or back in.

      Either way it’s quite hands off (unless you have work done while you live in)

      1. OK. I was thinking that most people didn’t want others coming into their homes now plus commercial real estate was dicey due to the impact on businesses. But if things are still going well for you that’s good to hear!

          1. Concur. I work with a guy who’s a residential electrician, at some point he’s not going to feel comfortable working inside people’s homes.

  2. Safe Water (less than 3 days without) Food production (hungry yet?) Shelter and Security. The successful family during a Depression-Hyperinflation nightmare has these secured AND a way to pay their debts-taxes.

    Debts and Taxes were collected during the Great Depression. Often with the support of armed Sheriffs guarding the Bankers sales on Courthouse Steps of family farms and homes. The Banks and Government will be paid.

    The “We are all in this together” story of the Great Depression is mostly well written myth. Mothers tried to give their children away to folks with Automobiles as they had money. Displaced families due to losing jobs and homes to tax-debt sales wandered wherever their MIGHT BE employment. Dispirited folks sold known bad eggs and lime water as Milk for money for one more day of survival.

    And that was before we had major legal and illegal drug abuse in America. Yes their has always been a drug problem BUT when they Overdosed and died that culled that problem. Today we use EMS and Narcan and such to “Save” them and thus far more surviving drug abusers abounding, and NOW their supplies of their daily Fix is getting harder to find. Where does the 10-20% of legal drug users get their anti-depressants and opioids from? China and India mostly. Those 90 day scripts MIGHT get harder to fill pretty soon as the supply line drains out.

    Bad times coming. I hope you have trusted people to work with because losers and users are something good times allow to flourish. Good people you trust is far better than fake money in the electronic banking system.

    1. Hi there,
      I saw a report on the local news that Illinois raked in a whopping almost $40 Million (yup, NOT a typo) on legal Marijuana sales for March alone. (It’s been legal since January 1st, 2020)

      Apparently people have money for drugs but I suspect that will change soon and then the real fun will begin.

      Also, just an observation but in my tiny little 800 people town there is a note up on the door of the Casey’s General Store saying “no more $50 & $100 bills! There is a large majority of people that are on State Assistance here but apparently they all have tons of money to buy junk food at $10-15 bucks a transaction and whip out their stacks of $50’s & 100’s to pay for it. Ridiculous!!!

      I’m just gonna keep getting my PM’s and keep a low profile

      Have a Rockin great day

        1. AL… absolutely !!! … the elimination of large currency bills has already taken place in India … Larry Summers has advocated for this as well… the elimination of the 100.00 and 50.00 would remove over 80% of circulated currency… . SB readers may want to investigate his background…

        2. Lily,

          I know right!!
          I just worry about when the party is over for these folks and they start getting salty.

          On top of that, yesterday and today it’s the first time it’s been in the 60’s and I can see the uptick in people out and about. Going to mom and dads today I observed ALOT of traffic compared to last week. I go straight there and straight home, but no one seems to be listening. It’s gonna get ugly by Monday, I feel it. (I really hope I’m wrong)

          Have a Rockin great rest of your day!

          1. I saw this!! Evil. Revelation 13

            Rev 13:1

            And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

            And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

            And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

            And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

            And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

            And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

            And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

            And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

            If any man have an ear, let him hear.

            He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

            And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
            And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

            And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

            And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

            And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

            And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

            And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

            Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

      1. Pablo Montana,I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes! The audible, “What the h*ll!” escaped my lips. (Apologies if my realness offends.) Tried to copy the photo without success. Just realized a huge hole in my preps: attorney fund.
        Gonna need one.
        Will surely get arrested for buying illegal pumpkin and vegetable seeds. lol… I was on the phone the other night with my mom, telling her how Walmart.com had a limit of 1 bag of marshmallows. I couldn’t believe it. Seriously? There’s a run on marshmallows? I told my mom, I could hear it now:
        “Krissy, what did you get arrested for?” “I bought 2 bags of marshmallows…” We each had a hearty laugh because it seemed so absurd. However, what’s going on in Vermont scares me more than dying of the covid virus. It feels like we have all fallen down the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland, and everything is messed up. Thank you, Pablo Montana, for keeping us informed.

          1. Invisible Ink Could Reveal whether Kids Have Been Vaccinated
            The technology embeds immunization records into a child’s skin
            [Scientific American December 18, 2019]

            Keeping track of vaccinations remains a major challenge in the developing world, and even in many developed countries, paperwork gets lost, and parents forget whether their child is up to date. Now a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers has developed a novel way to address this problem: embedding the record directly into the skin.

            Along with the vaccine, a child would be injected with a bit of dye that is invisible to the naked eye but easily seen with a special cell-phone filter, combined with an app that shines near-infrared light onto the skin. The dye would be expected to last up to five years, according to tests on pig and rat skin and human skin in a dish. …. ….

            The work was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and came about because of a direct request from Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates himself, who has been supporting efforts to wipe out diseases such as polio and measles across the world, Jaklenec says. “If we don’t have good data, it’s really difficult to eradicate disease,” she says.

            The researchers hope to add more detailed information to the dots, such as the date of vaccination. Along with them, the team eventually wants to inject sensors that could also potentially be used to track aspects of health such as insulin levels in diabetics, Jaklenec says.

          3. The Devil does deceive people; telling everyone, “I’m just here to ‘help’ you.” [NOT give everyone a Mark of the Beast.]
            ************
            ************
            [From The BillyGraham Website ANSWERS:] =

            Yes, Satan is absolutely evil—and the reason is because he is absolutely opposed to God and everything God wants to do. This is why the Bible says that “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

            Perhaps you’re thinking of the Apostle Paul’s comment that Satan sometimes seems to be like an angel, apparently promoting good and standing for what is right. But even when Satan appears to be on the side of good, he is only using it as a mask to deceive us and hide his real intentions—which are always evil. Paul wrote, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

            Never underestimate Satan’s power, and never underestimate his ability to deceive us and make us think he isn’t to be feared. In fact, he even deceives some people into thinking he doesn’t exist! He is not as powerful as God—but he still is a powerful spiritual force who works against God in every way he possibly can. No wonder the Bible commands us to “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11).

        2. If you have a smart phone or Apple based operating system this may not work, but on a Windows system you simply right click and then choose the “save image as” or similar phrase on the menu. I have not tried this on my smart phone for OPSEC reasons. I don’t use a phone to surf the web, at least rarely.

          With my smartphone I went to another website with a photo on it and pressed and held down my finger continuously over the image for a few seconds until the secondary menu came up. There was a save option in that submenu. My smartphone has an Android system so I don’t know if it will work on Apple products or not.

          I have a hard time believing what is going on in Vermont. I also had a “what the ___ !” on my mind when I read the link that Pablo Montana provided. I guess the aliens from outer space like marshmallows too and they obviously don’t want you to buy all of them so they must have bribed someone in the White House to ban “hoarding marshmallows”. Hmm. I wonder what Executive Order that might be filed under… Probably Top Secret, no doubt. 😉

          That’s why I have the saying: “Uncle Sam is NOT my uncle!”

          1. Needed 2 bags of marshmallows for a double batch of rice Krispy treats for son’s family. Evidence would be gone quickly, so not afraid of hoarding charges, hahaha. I suggest when authorities go searching for stocked pantries, they start in the Hamptons!
            Thanks for tech tips. Blessings.

  3. Whiskey (hard liquor) should swap with Swiss watches imho.

    There is 2 kinds of useful hard liquor the high proof 100 plus proof

    And the tasty kind (generally lower proof)

    There are many positives to the responsible consumption of spirits. Sleep ,preserving, warm feeling, fatigue removal etc.

    And it has great trade value. Especially if you “invest” in shot sized resealable containers and flasks.

    Remember the origin of “a shot of whiskey”

    And yes every one and their brother “thinks” they can run a still but that will only realistically end up making a lot of sick blind and deaf people.

    The old timers here might remember the premium value of “factory liquor” vs shine.

  4. Bill Gates’ Foundation, Event 201,mandatory vaccination,no travel or purchase without proof vaccination, digital helicopter $$ in stimulus bill…a “real virus”. It’s in the fear and panic that is spreading in the hearts,minds,and souls of the people..not in a petri dish.
    Stay grounded in God, and pray for His wisdom and insight to fill you with wholeness,Love,and knowledge to see the Truth of this matter..and share with others.

  5. Why have the Grocery stores had mostly empty shelves, most families do not usually cook at home. Suddenly, families are not able to run to get a pizza or fast food, except on a limited scale, so meals must be cooked. This is a huge change for the good old USA. If the food suppliers for restaurants can quickly change to supplying grocery stores, they likely will be able to survive. Be entrepreneurial! Change to fit the market!

    2. Commercial resturant suppliers are having supply chain issues too,had to cut huge orders on some goods while trying to maintain institutional flows to stay in business.

  7. On the Fake Morgan Dollar story… I was hitchhiking through Laos a number of years ago and saw a bunch of silver dollar sized coins in one of the markets. I had a hand lens with me so I took a quick look at some of them, smiled at the owner and gave him a thumbs down. They were all beautiful counterfeits from many countries, made out of copper-nickle which looks like silver. He laughed and then brought the real coins out of a safe for me to look at. There was another counterfeit in that bunch which I just had to have, but no matter how hard I tried, with the language barrier I could not convince the owner that it was counterfeit. It was real silver, and probably counterfeited way back when, but silver was only about $6/ounce at the time and he was asking $40 for it. I really wanted the coin because the counterfeiter had misspelled Mexico as Hexico. 🙂

  8. Regarding Schiff’s article, he is right at least in that creating trillions of dollars from thin air to pump into the economy will destroy the buying value of the dollars already in our pockets (you don’t get something for nothing). But I doubt the US dollar will be replaced as a global currency anytime soon. There are simply no viable alternatives.

    This is a SH!L sandwich, and everyone is going to have to take a bite. Most especially those who are not wealthy but above the threshold for receiving any of the assistance money, like me. I’ve been Robin Hoodwinked, like a lot of other middle class Americans. But that’s nothing new.

    1. SDR is the alternative, and it is already waiting in the wings ready to go. The policy narratives about using it to “bail out” developing countries have already started.
      The IMF is the last central bank with a (relatively) clean balance sheet. Once the IMF is done bailing out the economic damage from the demolition of the everything bubble combined with no economic activity for most of 2020, the globalists will end up owning half of the planet.
      https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2020/03/26/imf-special-drawing-rights-a-key-tool-for-attacking-a-covid-19-financial-fallout-in-developing-countries/
      https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/un-urges-usd-25-tn-in-pandemic-aid-to-developing-nations/1785446
      https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economic-issues-watch/imf-will-need-more-resources-fight-covid-19-pandemic

  9. Weekly Report from Federal Reserve re amount of currency in circulation put out yesterday evening — indicates people are pulling a lot of cash out of banks. Amount of currency increased by 4% just in March –big spike. Went from $1800 Billion to $1880 Billion.

    https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WCURCIR (Go to EDIT GRAPH in upper right corner and select 1Y on the left )

    Could cause bank runs if they run out — have to actually print the stuff instead of just flipping numbers in the SWIFT computers.

    Gold and guns are fine but you still need cash to actually buy stuff.

  10. This morning it seems there is some hullabaloo about a gardening seed shortage. There is no shortage. I really hate it when people hype up a situation that is not true. What is true, is that many stores are saying they are only open to sell “essential” items: food, water, medicines, etc. Seeds are not considered “essential” by some “COVidiots”. We consider them essential, but most of us bought the extra seeds we needed in January/February. I browsed over to rareseeds.com and migardener.com where I buy open-pollinated heirloom seeds to see what they’re saying about it. The truth is: plenty of seeds, but reduced staff and store closures is requiring a few faithful working in their warehouse to mail out seed orders just as fast as they can. And we know the transportation system is groaning under the load of increased shipping requirements. That is what is happening. There are no shortages. There is a quantum shift in how things are procured. Even though I’d like to bop some of the fear mongers on the head, that’s not my primary job. Yes, many industries are impacted, including meat processors, for instance. There is always a work around to the current situations, people just need to get creative and help one another. I just did a big order of pork and chicken from a local rancher and it will be delivered tomorrow to my area. Yes, the prices are higher, but not because of price gouging, it’s because it’s pasture-fed, no antibiotics, no hormones, no chemicals on the pasture etc. I’ll hush now. Thanks for allowing me my daily rant. lol. We will get through this. Love y’all!

    1. @ SaraSue

      I wanted to pick up some extra seeds at Johnny’s of a type I didn’t have a lot of and found they have closed off ordering to any but commercial growers until April 6. No longer being a commercial grower I gotta wait. I get it though- they need to prioritize the orders for growers and they are short-staffed given that they can’t have workers right on top of each other now. It will wait…… I bought my seed months ago. I’ll check in with them next week.

      But evidently lots of people are getting into gardening this year. I’ve been having my brain picked by a number of those who I know; happy to help. I hope they stick with it.

  11. With respect to non-essential tangibles, such as whisky, fine wine, trading cards, artwork, sports cards, etc., keep the following in mind: if you can truly afford to keep them due to having made adequate preparations for the essentials, you do not want to sell into a market tanking at unprecedented speed. Having much experience with a wide spectrum of collectibles and having witnessed the crashes in the comic book, baseball card, and collectible card game industries, I can say with absolute confidence that you will be crushed trying to rush into a market that everyone is selling into to bolster personal liquidity.

    Fine wine is something that can be sold on an as-needed basis as it reaches the end of its cellar life. Whisky holds practically indefinitely once bottled; besides, other than bartering it, it is practically impossible to unload in the states due to draconian liquor laws, other than through an auction house if it is high end (keep in mind the 20%+ haircut due to listing & appraisal fees, etc. and that’s IF there are any auction houses open right now) and remember for barter that there will be a market for cheap whisky for those suffering hard times, and a market for expensive whisky by those with more money still suffering hard times. I would personally consider whisky a keeper.

    Trading cards, comic books, sports collectibles, artwork, etc. only hold value in these cases if they are historic in nature. Even before the Covid-19 government decision to shut down businesses, it was difficult to unload these items. Any idea what 100,000 baseball cards from the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s go for? Pretty much NOTHING. Same for comics if they are Graded key-issues. Sports collectibles are even worse. Artwork is tough unless provenance has been documented and it is from a well recognized artist. This is going to be a tough lesson for a lot of people. As JWR pointed out, other than gold & silver, guns & ammunition (and my personal recommendation of whisky for barter purposes), you should not be “investing” in these “alternatives.” These are luxury items, and should be bought for personal pleasure, if you have the spare income, and never, ever as a store of value no matter how hot the market for said items may seem.

  12. Thanks to a minor weather event in the 1990’s and NOT being supplied for myself and my animals, and then discovering “Patriots” and such books, and this website, I started stocking up in 2009. Everything from food, alternative heating & cooking devices, hand grinder (we had one on the farm decades ago), and everything else I could think of, plus we keep at least 6 to 9 months of medications. We do not have to leave the house for months, and we are eating well. We have 3 refrigerator/freezers, 1 small freezer, and then if need be start on the long dated food. We are elderly, no one comes in no one leaves. One trusted person brings out mail from the P.O., puts in the garage, and after a day, we use gloves, sort out the junk, and pay any bills. We live on almost 4 acres in a crowded New England state, surrounded by trees and scrub, and we are prepared as any two elderly sisters can be. Meanwhile our grown relatives go to the grocery store, and I have been trying to convince them to stock up. Maybe after this they will listen. I tell them, when we pass, they will have one heck of legacy.

    2. hl,

      Your post brought a smile to my face! I’ve often wondered what the state of our ‘preparedness’ will look like when my wife and I are farther along in years.

      I, too, began preparing in earnest in 2009 (along with my brother). Then met my wife who had been doing so even longer.

      She and I have spoken about the same thing: how will our children receive the ‘fruits of those labors’, when we’re gone?!

      Hopefully it will still be somewhat organized, and straightforward for them to go through.

      Of course my fear is that it will, instead, resemble an episode of the television show “Hoarders” -lol- .

      We’ll see, I suppose 😉

      Blessings to you ladies, and by all means “Keep On, Keep’in On!”

  13. Remember our old friend in common, Todd Gray, liked lumber of all dimensions and steel bar stock of various dimensions as a tangible investing…
    If you think lumber prices are reasonable, and you have a dry place to store it…
    and you want to invest in something “real” well… you could consider a delivery of lumber and or steel.
    If you have a very dry place – even 80 pound bags of concrete.
    Now, if the economy crashes and construction plummets, and fuel is cheap… then building supplies like these may decline in price as well. But… if you are looking to get out of dollars and into something real, it may be worth considering.
    Also to consider – the dollar may be the last best fiat currency… so perhaps it’s not time to ditch dollars yet. But with bank bail-in’s a possibility… well, worth considering.
    A a few 2×4’s may have always been worth an hour worth of labor… worth checking 🙂

    Godbless!

  14. I hope others fire up their radar, there is lots happening out there. Keep your head on a swivel. The virus, and the economic crisis it created, is an opportunity could be used. Whether it is a bio-weapon or not, it is an opportunity for China to exploit. It is a sophisticated asymmetrical kind of ‘soft kill’ warfare that bio-weapons are intended for. Unfolding is also is a move by our commie subversives, to use this crisis to grab power. They hate our country, and us. This is a very dangerous mix. It might be best of Trump took his foot off the brake, sooner, rather than latter, to preserve what is left of the economy, and foil these plans. If I could see it coming weeks ago, it was obvious to at least the Chinese military some time ago early during the outbreak, or prior to the outbreak. Why have a bio-weapon, or level 4 lab in Wuhan? Matt Bracken explains part of the scenario during the last 30 min.
    http://rss.infowars.com/20200401_Wed_Alex.mp3

    –
    Seeds:
    Today, because I have zero cash, I may attempt to trade ammunition that I cannot use, or something else they would prefer, to buy more fresh seed. Seed will be as precious as ammo, as most have some ammo, but will not have enough food. Canning jars and seals are also something most do not have near enough of. The supply is thin, and getting thinner as people figure out that they do not have enough. Those reusable caning lids that are on sale from Harvest Guard should be something to consider as well. 450 quart jars is not excessive for one person per year if one plans are preserving what they grow. We’ll want to always have one year’s of food in reserve at all times as insurance. That is what some of our forefathers did if they could. And those precious veggies will provide key nutrition that is usually lacking in long term storage food. Because Swiss Chard is so prolific and can be continually grazed upon, it will be a means to produce an excess of greens without taking up much space in the garden. Gotta have the micro nutrients and enzymes from green stuff. Of course if we get a nice fat ‘spring bear’ again, much of the remaining jars will be used for that instead. My aim is to stuff the remaining jars with valuable food items. I thank the Lord for this and other provisions. Canning supplies will become very valuable supplies as well as ammo.

    1. Thanks for the link. I watched it and think you might also enjoy the following:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLTu1xv2-Us

      and

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB7V4usZhVQ

      Both are religious songs by the same author and he has many more on his YouTube channel. The second one is in Russian (as most of his are) but is on an English theme. I don’t have any musical talents of my own but very much enjoy listening to others that have this amazing gift.

      Have a blessed day.

    1. Illinois did that several days ago,need to start keeping lists of crimes to get my pound of flesh from that corrupt state. Abuse of power should be VERY EXPENSIVE.

    1. Yup… Lol… My roommate showed me an instructions sheet that was gotten from his sister’s son in the guard. Talking about locking Wuhan style total indoors only. So when it went off I looked at the wife and went there it is.

      But instead just a notice about needing workers.

  19. Heirloom seeds available on ebay (I noted that some Walmarts consider seeds NOT essential and putting barriers up against that part of their store). ebay also has canning jars and lids, but they are getting costly. As an ebayer seller first to pay vet bills in the 1990’s and now a buyer, I like ebay more than Amazon for many items. I comparison shop on both sites for personal items (I do NOT shop in malls, or drug stores, I love having things delivered, as walking around at my age, is not doable). So, if you are considering canning supplies you might want to consider stocking up. As growing season starts, things will become scarce. When I shop on ebay, I select North American or America, NOT overseas. Often I can get something FREE shipping.

    1. That’s true you can order seeds online like ebay, but the quality of such seeds is not always the best. I would encourage everyone to buy from American seed companies. It is true that they may have foreign suppliers, but the quality is usually better some of the no name brand online companies that just exploit the word “heirloom” on their packets and advertising. It is a buzz word that is used as a selling point by both legitimate companies and “fly-by-nights”.

  20. The comic book industry was dying before the Chinese Flu. Now it has been sped up and will probably collapse this year. Comic books went full Social Justice Warrior after Disney bought Marvel, and AT&T bought DC. This will lead to a lot of comic shops going out of business and a lot of inventory getting dropped on the market and an overall collapse in comic values, so sell out while you can get the best price if you aren’t buying because you love them. Also, keep your money ready because we will have some of the best deals ever for collectibles like comics as others dump their holdings.

  21. I just placed a large order for canning jars & extra lids with Farm & Fleet. I’m having them delivered to avoid going anywhere but mom and dads as I have only been to the Walgreens drive through in the last two weeks to get prescriptions filled. I chose them over Walmart, (I don’t particularly care for Walmart). The prices were reasonable at Farm & Fleet & I’ll get them Monday for no extra charge. You can also order online & pick up at their store.

    If you need jars you might want to secure them soon, Farm & Fleet had what I needed but they will probably be having a run on them soon.
    I now feel more comfortable with my stock of jars.

    Several weeks ago I purchased 3 Dozen of each size of the Tattler lids & rings. I have never used them before but I have them if I run out of the regular lids.

    A few years ago I was in the Goodwill store and came across 7-8 dozen wide mouth and regular lids. They were only 25 cents a box!! I love getting deals like that!

    Tunnel Rabbit, if you need seeds, I can share some of ours with you. I don’t have tons but I can help if needed. Let me know & we can arrange something through JWR possibly?

    Rock on

  22. Maybe it’s time to decide what is a “non essential” government agency and abolish it. The list would be long but my vote would be for Congress of the UNITED STATES.

    1. Reminds me of the question:
      “If Pro is the opposite of Con, what is the opposite of progress?”

      That’s another way of saying I will be voting the same as you are.

  23. First should be a NO CONFIDENCE vote held against Pelosi!

    I bought seed 2 weeks ago! Have to go to Menards and have them deliver a pallet of pressure treated wood to rebuild the garden. Have to rebuild the compost bins that are now falling apart after 35 years, repair the critter fences, and build raised beds. The raspberries have hybridized with grandpa’s old berries and now have much longer red canes, but still give two batches a year. Will have to overhaul the chainsaw, as it no longer idles and dies if the chain isn’t moving. Least the hardware store power center is still open, but I don’t know if they’ll have parts for a Stihl 009. Might have to get 2 new saws as the other one is a 011.

  24. As economic turbulence looms I have been thinking more about what really holds value from a “tangibles” standpoint. How does one improve their financial standing and expand assets and holdings during difficult times? Is that possible? Are there opportunities here? As I get older, I also become acutely aware of the phrase “time is money”. I appreciate even more the value of anything on a homestead that can reproduce or replenish without much human input. Cattle, sheep, chickens, rabbits, etc. all fall into this category. There is obviously some cost and time associated with these critters but, at a certain point, it is not much more time and effort to care for one cow or one chicken than is required to care for five. Even now people are rushing to buy chicks and we see increasing anxiety about our overall meat production in this country. It’s not too difficult to see that an extra cow or chicken is potentially “money in the bank” at a time when *actual* money in the bank isn’t earning much return. In the garden, Egyptian walking onions, rhubarb, berry bushes, certain lettuces, perennial herbs (lovage, French tarragon, chives, sorrel, mint) and other perennials pop up each spring with no assistance from me. Each one of those perennial plants represents a cost and time savings. As those plants grow and expand, I enjoy an increase in production with little additional cost or effort on my part. (And there’s no added anxiety about obtaining, saving, and planting seeds.)

    I am convinced that with proper knowledge and good management, certain critters and perennial plants represent a form of living currency and they provide opportunities for us to thrive during difficult times.

  25. Thanks for posting–I think given what’s going on with the coronavirus, preppers really need to understand how to make important investing decisions to prepare themselves for the future. The economic impact has still yet to be determined, so we need to start preparing now. I discuss similar topics on https://bunkerbasics.com

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