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 further examine the effects of rising inflation. (See the Inflation Watch section.) Precious Metals: Silver Price Prediction 2022: David Morgan (GoldCore). o  o  o Interview: Failure of U.S. to protect Ukraine from Russia will embolden China and crash markets – Anthony Scaramucci. Economy & Finance: Kim Khan at Seeking Alpha had …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“There can be no socialism without a state, and as long as there is a state there is socialism. The state, then, is the very institution that puts socialism into action; and as socialism rests on aggressive violence directed against innocent victims, aggressive violence is the nature of any state.” – Hans-Hermann Hoppe, A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism: Economics, Politics, and Ethics, (2007)


Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 30, 2022

January 30th, 1925 was the birthday of Douglas Engelbart, who invented the computer mouse. Actor Eugene “Gene” Allen Hackman was born January 30, 1930. January 30th is the birthday of historian Barbara Tuchman. (Born 1912, died February 6, 1989). — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 98 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 …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: To share this, you can find it here: https://kapwi.ng/c/tGBa4blDmM Meme Text: Hey, Joe: What Defines a “Minor Incursion” Into Ukraine? It All Depends on Whether or Not You Live There Some Historical Context: French people staring and waving at the French Army remaining troops leaving metropolitan France at Marseilles harbor, 1940. Current Events:  Biden warns Ukranian leader: “Kyiv could be sacked”, and essentially tells him that he’s on his own.


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — January 29, 2022

Today is the birthday of actor Tom Selleck (born 1945), best known for playing the title role of Magnum, P.I. He is an avid shooter and quite pro-gun. On this day in 1845 Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” was published. Today is also the birthday of journalist and inventor Thomas Paine (1737–1809.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 98 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 …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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 this column, in …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — January 28, 2022

January 28, 1855 was the birthday of William Seward Burroughs, who invented the adding machine. January 28th is also the anniversary of the rescue of General James L. Dozier from his Italian Red Brigades kidnappers. Tangentially, Colonel Jeff Cooper created a shooting drill in honor of those who freed him – The Dozier Drill. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 98 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, …


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 lithium, a key metallic element required for battery production. (See the Commodities section.) Precious Metals: You may have noticed that gold, sliver, and most of the cryptos were pushed down this week. I suspect that a lot of small investors who had long options had to raise cash, to …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — January 27, 2022

Today is the birthday of the late Helen Chenoweth (born, 1938, died October 2, 2006). She was a controversial Republican congresswoman from Orofino, Idaho. January 27, 1880 — Patent No. 223,898 was granted to Thomas A. Edison for “an electric lamp for giving light by incandescence.” Today is also the birthday of singer-songwriter Kate Wolf. (Born 1942, died December 10, 1986.) Her untimely death at age 44 cut short an amazing career and robbed America of a great songwriting talent. — UPDATE:  The first batch of 1,000 SurvivalBlog Waterproof 2005-2021 Archive USB sticks have now all been mailed!  Mailings of …


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 vaccine mandate pushback. A Russian “Countdown” for Ukraine Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: U.S. sends tactical security teams to Ukraine embassy after Moscow warns ‘countdown’ is underway. All …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 26, 2022

January 26th, 1945 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army. Established in 1941 Auschwitz was a complex of three large camps and 40 smaller camps used for slave labor, unethical medical experiments, and monstrous killing grounds where prisoners were gassed and cremated. As the Soviets headed for Auschwitz, the German Gestapo began a murder spree and began destroying the facility in an attempt to hide the evidence of their crimes. When the Soviets arrived, they encountered 648 corpses and more than 7,000 starving camp survivors along with storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of dresses, …