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. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the gold-to-silver ratio. (See the Precious Metals section.)

Precious Metals:

Have you noticed the shift in the silver-to-gold price ratio?  I repeatedly urged my readers to ratio trade out of gold and into silver when the ratio was north of 95-to-1. With silver now up to $27.26 per Troy ounce, the silver-to-gold ratio is now down to 65.4-to-1. Congrats to those who made that trade.  Remember: The ratio of gold-to-silver ratio in the Earth’s crust is more like 15-to-1. In the long run, we can anticipate reversion to that norm. And for the record: Even though a bounce in the price of gold is expected in the near future, I still consider a silver a “buy.”  Inflation is coming, folks!

o  o  o

For anyone in the Chartist camp: The Inflation Super-Cycle Is Here.

Economy & Finance:

Biden Administration Prepares Way For Banks To Refuse Service To Democrats’ Enemies. JWR’s Comments: I’m now anticipating news that the ghost of Lois Lerner has been resurrected–with targeted tax audits and arbitrary suspension of tax-exempt status for conservative charities and churches.  Given Biden’s Obama-era credentials, that is very likely to happen.

o  o  o

Airline passenger traffic fell last year to lowest number since 1984.

o  o  o

The latest chart shows that the M1 Money Supply grew at a 74% rate increase, from last year. This sort of explosive growth is highly inflationary!  Plan (and invest) accordingly. Your safety will be found in tangibles.

o  o  o

Tom D. sent us this: If Pelosi and Biden Get Their $15 Minimum Wage, US Would Have Highest Minimum Wage in the World

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: In-Your-Face Inflation: AutoNation Brags About Huge Jump in Per-Vehicle Gross Profit on Soaring Prices Despite Declining New-Vehicle Unit Sales

Commodities:

Farm Progress reports: Cold snap disrupts ag supply chain.

o  o  o

Al sent this: Texas wholesale electric prices spike more than 10,000% amid outages. And at the retail level: Fury as Texas homeowners hit with eye-watering electricity bills up to $17,000 due to ‘high demand’ during freeze.

o  o  o

From OilPrice News: Texas Storm Shut In As Much As 4 Million Bpd Of U.S. Oil Production

o  o  o

Over at Yahoo News: The World Will Pay More for Meat as Food Inflation Deepens

Forex & Cryptos:

US Dollar Falls amid Risk Appetite, Positive Data Doesn’t Help

o  o  o

U.S. Economic Fundamentals and the Dollar

o  o  o

Binance Coin (BNB) Overtakes Tether For Third-Ranked Crypto Asset

o  o  o

Thanks a trillion Bitcoin, Binance Coin goes parabolic, NFT mania: Hodler’s Digest, Feb. 14–20

o  o  o

Bitcoin price hits $54K, reaching a $1T market cap faster than Amazon and Google

Tangibles Investing:

NICS and Gun Sales in January 2021 sets New Record. JWR’s Comment: The recent sales figures equate to us collectively buying one gun per person for the population of Ireland (4.9 million), since the beginning of November. Yep, we could arm every Irish man, woman, and child!  There are now more than 410 million guns in private hands in the United States. The hoplophobe politicians that believe that they can disarm Americans are fooling themselves. Oh, and a historical note: I chose the population of Ireland for comparison for a reason. “The Troubles” in Ireland and Northern Ireland dragged on for several decades because authorities could not track down the roughly 1,000 semi-auto rifles in the hands of the IRA.

o  o  o

Biden Still Mulling Executive Action On Gun Control. JWR’s Comments:  Stock up on magazines — particularly those for any of your guns that were imported.

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 items from local news outlets that are missed by the news wire services are especially appreciated. And it need not be only about commodities and precious metals. Thanks!




50 Comments

  1. Observe the magnetic properties of freedom. People from all over the world, legal or illegal, good or evil, vote with their feet and come to our country to experience our one essential freedom. Within our borders, people are leaving authoritative states, voting with their feet, and going to more free and less restrictive states.

    Freedom is never plural, it’s always singular. You either are free of your government or you are not. Freedom is not being taught in schools today as “Freedom from” but as license – freedom to do. We need to change that.

    1. You are correct there! Today, people are taught to seek liberty via the licensing system. For example, the “right-to-carry” laws that require a license. The “right-to-work” laws that require licensing for all manner of work. “Right-to-travel” that requires licenses and permits. Licenses for everything, in short. And if you don’t have a license, it’s illegal!

      The Bible holds out no such system. Either an action is right, or it is wrong. Getting a license has very little, if any, effect beyond certifying compliance with guidelines that pre-existed human contracts.

    2. “Freedom is never plural, it’s always singular.”

      Hey Iggy, “Freedom is never plural” is about the most concise way I’ve heard anyone put it.

      Now, how do you get people to put aside confirmation bias long enough to so some research into why “Freedom-loving Republicans,” “Freedom living Democrats,” and Freedom-loving Conservatives” are all contradictions in terms? “You are either free of your government or you are not.”

      My ten-year old granddaughter can grasp it, but adults? They call themselves freedom loving while telling you all the reasons why it can’t work, never grasping what it means that “Freedom is never plural.”

      1. When Reagan said that, he basically recapped what the founders did when they created the country in 76 and the government in the 70’s. They were the greatest generation.

  2. if you don’t stop immigration the end of the 2nd amendment is an eventual certainty. Ten percent of Central America and the Caribbean now live in the USA. There is nothing stopping ten percent of Africa, India, and China from coming too and voting for the people who have given us present-day California.

    1. I bet my 2nd Amendment never ends. Does not matter who is in office. I will not comply. If you will comply maybe you should sell your thunder sticks to someone who will never comply.

      1. “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.
        Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn , The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

    2. Actually once democrats have created a permanent majority (the California model) they will probably quietly stop immigration, as it will no longer be a necessary tool.
      They are also trying to national voting systems to make sure they always win (ballot harvesting, mail voting, no ID, mandatory registration, etc.) so, illegal immigration may come to an end sooner. It depends on how their Hispanic voters feel about bringing in more foreign nationals.

      1. Wagstaff, you make a good point regarding changes in policy according to the use of policy as a political tool. Constitutional principals should guide us, and not the personal (and often twisted) whims of those who are in positions of power.

        Related to California… Perhaps we will yet see a change for the better there. Are Californian’s fed up enough that they are willing to embrace real change? We will see very soon.

        Check out this group and consider their work: https://rescuecalifornia.org/

        There are signs that a political sea change may be coming. The next link was an article posted to The Gateway Pundit:

        “REPORT: Blue Collar Voters Are Flocking To The Republican Party”

        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/report-blue-collar-voters-flocking-republican-party/

        Related to this movement, we must be sure that the Republican Party comes under the sound management and leadership of people who support the principals of the MAGA Movement (and not the establishment RINOs who work for themselves and for big corporate interests, and certainly not for the rest of us).

        Here’s a great link from an interview at The Precinct Project. It’s power exists at the level of the neighborhood precinct.

        “The Neighborhood Precinct Committeeman Strategy to Take Back the Republican Party and then America at the Ballot Box”

        https://theprecinctproject.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/the-neighborhood-precinct-committeeman-strategy-to-take-back-the-republican-party-and-then-america-at-the-ballot-box/

        In yesterday’s program at America’s Voice, Steve Bannon used the expression “black pilled” to describe those who find themselves convinced — falsely, but convinced nevertheless — that there is no hope. Everyone familiar with the story of The Matrix series will understand the reference. Don’t go there, folks! Don’t swallow any “pill” that leads you to believe there is no hope. There is always hope.

        Bannon also talked about the value of experience, the kind that comes with age. Those of us who are older must lead — and take our rolls as leaders seriously. He talked about how younger people may give in or give up because they lack perspectives about survival and victory that come with age.

        If you can go back to that program, it was a good one.

        https://americasvoice.news/

        Go forth and make this a GREAT DAY.

        1. Tel’
          Re: blue collar voters…
          For years the Leftists have pegged the Republican Party as only representing “the rich”… the democrat party was for “the little guy”. As much as I resisted that simplistic explanation, of late I am forced to admit there is some truth in that. More accurately, the Republican Party has come to represent the insider elite class. They lived in suburbs surrounding Washington DC in million dollar condos and lined their pockets while allowing the Left to whittle away at our rights.

          I think it has come clear that if it’s going to survive, the Republican Party has to represent their naturally conservative base ( which also includes a lot of what used to be called “Reagan Democrats.”) I suppose you could call them “blue collar”… perhaps it’s an easier than saying they aren’t part of the elite moneyed class.

          They work for a living, they “cling to God and their Guns” (-Obama). They don’t want the public schools telling their kids they should experiment with being “gay” or being ashamed of their race. They don’t want their next truck to be an electric model which has a range of 200 miles and needs to be recharged overnight. They’re tired of losing their jobs because an Environmentalist in a think tank somewhere didn’t like “fossil fuels.”. They don’t want to be turned into a felon overnight simply for owning a gun that makes a San Francisco snowflake nervous. I could go on, but you get the picture.

          For whatever his faults, I think Trump showed the way the Republican Party needs to go in the future. He had a good feel for what mattered to the base. The number of votes he got obvious showed he energized a lot of people who either never bothered to vote or had stopped voting. And the Deep State hated him for it.

          1. Wagstaff!
            I couldn’t agree more with everything you said above…

            You are exactly right. From your post: “They lived in suburbs surrounding Washington DC in million dollar condos and lined their pockets while allowing the Left to whittle away at our rights.”

            …and they did this all while appealing to voters with promises they probably never intended to keep.

            I also share your views about President Trump. Another excellent point… The Deep State hated him for all he did to restore the American Dream to the American People, ALL the people, not just “some” of the people.

            My hope now is that the RINO and “otherwise establishment” Republicans are revealed for exactly who they are, and that they are abandoned by the electorate in favor of and in such overwhelming numbers for MAGA Republicans (many of whom would have been Reagan Democrats as well). Let there be no question about the victories to come — that these victories would be so overwhelming that no fraud can disguise these as defeats.

  3. So far the Bidden/ Pelosi administration has proven they are corrupt, inept, vindictive, petty, treasonous, fiscally incompetent, and just generally out to maintain their power base and damn the people of the country, at least 50% of us.
    They seem to think that they can make pronouncements from on high and that fixes everything. They are not doers and outside of government enrichment they have little practical experience in how the rest of us have to make a living. Since taking office just look how King Biden has single handedly conquered the corona virus. I say good work, after 40 years of doing nothing legitimate these first 2 months are amazing, he must have hired Hunter to work on it.

    1. Joe!
      Another excellent point from today’s early posts!

      From your message: “They seem to think that they can make pronouncements from on high and that fixes everything.”

      As I read your message, the word “shallow” came to mind. These people seem to lack any depth of understanding or real working knowledge of the issues at hand.

    1. Spotlight… You are right. These sites are terribly disturbing and disgusting. The socio-economic forces at work that give rise to them are also terribly disturbing and disgusting. Unfortunately they generally involve what appear to be well-meaning public policy intentions that result in horrible consequences for the people who find themselves having to endure those. It’s also too often true that — once caught up in the systems that give rise to these environments — escape is difficult, and sometimes impossible because of the rules put in place by those in authority and charge of public policy.

  4. “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. … Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but down right force. Whenever you give up that force. you are ruined.”
    -Patrick Henry-

    “The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be on any pretense, raised in the United States.”
    -Noah Webster-

    “If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.”
    -Joseph Stalin-

    “The communist party must command all the guns, that way no guns can ever be used to command the party.”
    -Mao Tse Tung-

    “Your damn right were coming after your AR-15’s and your AK-47’s.”
    -Beto O Rourke-

    “Beto I’m going to make you my gun czar”
    -Joe Biden-

  5. re: the article mentioned above ” If Pelosi and Biden Get Their $15 Minimum Wage, US Would Have Highest Minimum Wage in the World” that is not true, a quick ducksearch indicated :”www.fairwork.gov.au/Pay/minimum-wageswww.fairwork.gov.au/Pay/minimum-wages
    As of 1 July 2020 the national minimum wage is $19.84 per hour or $753.80 per week.

    and the way things have been going lately its a bit spooky that the minimum wage, which is a product of decades of socialist policy in aus, is $19.84. 🙂

  6. The ratio of gold-to-silver ratio in the Earth’s crust is more like 15-to-1″

    for simple surface extraction, used to be. nowadays all the easy stuff was extracted long ago.

    “In the long run, we can anticipate reversion to that norm”

    no. most of the gold ever found is still held, while most silver is consumed in electronics manufacture. present g/s ratio of existing stocks is 4.5 to 1 – that’s g to s mind you.

  7. Okay… So a SCOTUS decision is in. Before the election was finalized, they said there was no standing. Now they say the case is moot.

    Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissented. Where were the others? How could they have abandoned so easily the 74,000,000 voters (or more) who were disenfranchised?

    Justice Thomas had quite a bit to say on the matter, and what he has to say should be heard and understood by all.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2021/02/22/three-supreme-court-justices-believe-pennsylvania-election-case-should-be-review-n2585115

    From the article: “”One wonders what this Court waits for. We failed to settle this dispute before the election, and thus provide clear rules. Now we again fail to provide clear rules for future elections. The decision to leave election law hidden beneath a shroud of doubt is baffling. By doing nothing, we invite further confusion and erosion of voter confidence. Our fellow citizens deserve better and expect more of us,” he continued.”

    You can email the Supreme Court. Be sure that you remain civil and respectful, but do consider a thoughtful challenge to this decision. The SCOTUS has a solemn obligation to protect and preserve our Constitution through interpretation of laws within its context. What has happened here is not just beyond reason and logic, it is simply beyond the imagination.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/contact/contactus.aspx

        1. Perhaps he is tugging at the others to explain themselves — and because they may know they can’t honestly do so, to get on the right side of history. I do not think they will come around, but I wonder if he is tugging on them. Just a thought. I have great respect for Justice Thomas. He has a brilliant mind, a courageous spirit, and he has great reverence for the Constitution.

          1. I’m wondering the same thing myself. I think he has a streak in him that is not afraid to be a bit different, but probably at the same time is aware of a potential backlash if he says too much too soon.

        2. “Justice Thomas can’t be that naive. Can he?”

          most people are, having been indoctrinated to not see the obvious. most people just assume everyone else believes the same things and is playing by the same rules as themselves – and so they bleat like sheep wondering why the left is so inconsistent, so illogical – so baffling. but they don’t understand what is happening. see, the left is tribal. they hate you. because you are not them. that’s it. that’s all there is to it. there’s nothing else there. they see themselves as the humans, and you as a talking animal put here by god to serve them, to be eliminated if you don’t. the left rationalizes, misleads, lies, because they’re trying to herd you like cattle. because that’s how the left sees you. if you catch them in one lie they just shrug their shoulders and move on to the next lie – because they’re trying to manipulate you like the cattle they think you are.

          and as long as the cattle think the left is “illogical” or “irrational” or “wrong” or “mistaken” or “uneducated” – as long as people like thomas are “baffled” – then the left is safe and can continue to subvert and undermine their tribal enemies to their heart’s content, until the cattle are corralled and penned up bleating “but I don’t understand!”

      1. An especially interesting observation is that Sidney Powell references important dates related to these judicial petitions. With these in mind, it simply cannot be argued that “there was no standing before” and “the case is moot now”.

        From this standpoint, the word “baffling” is a good choice — and demands a sound examination and explanation from the Justices of the High Court.

        “Sidney Powell Updates— SCOTUS Sold Out American Voters”

        https://populist.press/sidney-powell-updates-on-all-scotus-election-cases/

    1. I believe individuals on the Supreme Court have been compromised. Just like many Senators and Congressmen whether Republican or Democrat, at some point in time in their lives they have done something very immoral or illegal and the globalist who actually are calling the shots in America know all the details of their transgressions. Bottom line is this, most politicians from county sheriffs all the way up to the President know that they better toe the line set forth by the globalist or their careers are over. Just about all of them have been bought and paid for but I also believe that there was one great exception, Donald Trump. He hasn’t ever smoked or drank or partied and I believe what really sets him apart is that he’s never slept with children like many of the pedophile scum politicians, both sides. When a seemingly conservative politician votes with the left you can bet they are doing as they are told to do.

      1. I am reminded of the news reports about taxpayer dollars used to pay harassment claims brought against members of Congress, and I do believe that taxpayers have a right to know about these — in full investigative detail. I’m quite certain there will be no great reveal — even though there should be!

        Also agreed regarding President Donald J. Trump. I consider DJT my “President in Exile”. I am also very happy to hear news that he is (or should be) considered the presumptive nominee for 2024. If he runs, he will have my vote. If the Republican party fails him again, it is very possible I won’t support a single one of them — and I am certain I am not alone in this view.

      2. Mray,
        You just scored a bulls-eye! They pick their puppets with flaws so they will bow down to the hand that feeds them. Perhaps I should have said “that threatens them”, “blackmails them”, etc. In my county it is known that the sheriff is a member of “the good old boys club”. I know him personally and he does fit in quite well in this red county in a blue state, but then it’s so he gets reelected. He knows which side his bread is buttered on.

        As far as Trump is concerned I’m pretty sure he has his flaws, but I do believe him when he stated that he never smoke, drank or did drugs. He hasn’t fried his brain like that “small problem in Little Rock”.

  8. A phone number for the SCOTUS is published to Populist Press:

    202–479-3000

    “Sidney Powell Updates— SCOTUS Sold Out American Voters”

    https://populist.press/sidney-powell-updates-on-all-scotus-election-cases/

    …and the judicial fight for election integrity continues. We will not give up. We will not give in. We will continue to pursue every legal and civil avenue until integrity is restored to our elections.

    While this SCOTUS decision came down, there was yet another concerning report at The Gateway Pundit. This one involves the state of Colorado.

    “WE CAUGHT THEM: Matt Crane, Critic of TGP’s Article on Obvious Questions of the 2020 Election Results in Colorado, Was Not Forthright – Turns Out His Wife Worked for Dominion and Sequoia for Over a Decade”

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/02/caught-matt-crane-critic-tgps-article-obvious-questions-2020-election-results-colorado-not-forthright-turns-wife-worked-dominion-sequoia-d/

    Patriots of Colorado. Use your political voices and speak up!

    1. preppers don’t often see silver (or anything else for that matter) as in investment, but as insurance – the idea is that no matter what currency or economic disasters occur that silver will “retain value” and be money tradeable for goods and services in all times and places and circumstances. personally this seems like wishful thinking, but that’s the thought and there will be times and places where this turns out to be so, so generally they buy it and sit on it.

  9. “Biden Administration Prepares Way For Banks To Refuse Service To Democrats’ Enemies”

    funny how no-one commented on this. prepped or not it would be quite devastating to almost anyone caught up in it.

  10. Ant7;
    Several years back I had a problem with my visa (Business) debit. Went to the bank.. Woman called visa on speakerphone; asked the visa rep ‘why can’t my customer use his debit card’….reply was ‘whispered’; he’s buying GUNS!!! ( I had a gun store at that time)…
    Changed bank next day….

Comments are closed.