Year: 2023

A Word Of Warning On Preserving Your Wealth

At the risk of sounding repetitious, I’m issuing this brief warning to SurvivalBlog readers: The average American income is not keeping pace with inflation. This chart says it all. Take a look at that chart. The brief positive blip in 2020 is attributable to the combined effect of people reducing their expenses by staying at home and receiving the veritable helicopter drop of economic stimulus checks. But since then, we’ve been collectively blindsided by inflation. Do not expect inflation to get back under 5% for a decade or more. The Federal Reserve”s recent credit tightening has been insufficient to stem …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written: In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — February 17, 2023

On February 17, 2021, talk radio personality and author Rush Limbaugh died at age 70.  His network radio time slot has been ably filled by The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their …


The Accounting Equation and Salvation Equation, by J.E.H.

There are some things I need to state before we get started. I am a CPA. Don’t quit reading thinking this will be another boring paper. Second, I am a Christian. How can a CPA be a Christian? CPAs are held to a higher ethical standard than any other profession. If you plan on sitting in front of an IRS auditor, who is going over your client’s tax return, you better be a truthful, ethical, and a praying person. A good CPA should have a healthy fear of the Lord and a healthy knowledge of IRS laws. On a sidenote, …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. Most of these items are from JWR’s “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective. Today, we look at global inflation. (See the Inflation Watch section.) Precious Metals: Gold price up following U.S. CPI close to expectations. o  o  o At Gold-Eagle.com: The Bond Market Is Already Broken, What’s Next For Silver and Gold? Economy & Finance: A new Piepenburg interview: No “North Star” for a Global Economy Drifting in Unsustainable …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“So many of us don’t fully know what we believe and why because we rarely stop to organize our thoughts so that we might articulate and evaluate them better. Discussing contrasting ideas is actively discouraged in the modern world, which means that argument (not to be confused with quarreling) is a lost art. Our society suffers as a consequence. It’s normal now to scream in catchphrases that one has heard on television and which resonated with us for their pithiness; but that’s not thinking. It’s not even arguing. It’s regurgitation. We have all seen people break down, especially college students, …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — February 16, 2023

February 16th is the birthday of Edgar John Bergen, (1903-1978) an American actor, comedian, and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. He is also the father of actress Candice Bergen. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course …


Compact Power To Go – Part 2, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.) Battery The next item to consider is a portable USB battery, frequently referred to as a USB power bank. These range in size from a little credit card-sized 2500mAh up to massive power bricks with over 60,000mAh. Note that USB power banks that provide QC or PD charging levels have recently started hitting the market, and they tend to be somewhat more expensive than the older ones that only provide 5V/2A outputs. I ended up using one that I picked up a while back, which is the Miisso 5000mAh model. It provides …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, we look at the new The Last Of Us television series. — Gaming Fans Like The Last Of Us Television Series The Last Of Us TV Series First …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“After 2020, everyone has noticed things we used to take for granted are gone. The world you grew up in, where grocery store shelves were always fully stocked, service workers actually provided service, potholes were repaired, roads were plowed in the winter, etc., now no longer exists. For nearly three years, every sign of decline was waved off as ‘supply chain problems’ or ‘worker shortages,’ all related to the Fauci bioweapon, but as time has gone on, it appears Humpty Dumpty is not being put back together again. Things are just going to be more run down, dirty, littered, and …


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — February 15, 2023

Gun developer Richard “Dick” Casull was born on February 15, 1931. Casull passed away on May 6, 2018 after a long battle with cancer. Dick Casull is most famous for his design of the .454 Casull revolver, along with many other handgun and rifle designs. He held 17 firearm patents. And February 15, 1809 was the birthday of Cyrus Hall McCormick, inventor of a mechanical reaper. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  …


Compact Power To Go – Part 1, by J.M.

There have been numerous articles on SurvivalBlog.com about the use of various pieces of electronic technology such as flashlights, cell phones, night vision devices, radios, drones, etc., in disaster and survival situations – ‘Tactical Technology for TEOTWAWKI’, ‘Technology After TEOTWAWKI’, ‘Survival Electronics’, ‘Surviving With Electronics’, ‘Survival Electronics’, ‘How To Use a Baofeng UV-5R’ and many others. (Some of those were written by me.) As part of my general effort to lighten up my load and develop a lightweight modular approach to my mobile kit, I recently started focusing on how to power the various electronics I’m carrying. To that end, …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — The FBI Doubles Down on Christians and White Supremacy in 2023.  Now, they’re targeting “traditional Catholics.” Update: There was so much public outcry, the FBI withdrew the report. o  o  o SurvivalBlog’s Editor-at-Large, Michael Z. Williamson suggested this video, demonstrating several items for protection from thermal imaging: Which Materials can hide you …