Category: Current Events & Politics

Inflation: How Bad Could it Get? – Part 1, by Banker Bob

Much of my career has been in banking or related financial services including day-to-day, hands-on management of large-scale transaction processing centers for one of the world’s largest banks. Question 1: What’s your personal measure of inflation? Weekly grocery bill? Filling up your tank at the gas pump? 9mm or 5.56 ammo when you find some? Medical bills? Your individual perceptions are influenced by personal purchasing preferences, geographic differences, urban vs. rural spending habits, size of family, and income level. For starters, take a very skeptical look at the 7.5% CPI reported as the 12-month increase for January 2022. The figures …


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 hear war drums and take a look at the precious metals market. Precious Metals: It is noteworthy that the spot price of silver was $22.50 per Troy ounce on February 4th. When I checked over the weekend, it was at $23.57. I expect a jump at the opening bell in the …


How and Why Leftists Use Mass Censorship, by Brandon Smith

Why is censorship the go-to tactic for leftists? Well, if you ask them they won’t deny their love affair with the memory hole. In fact, most leftists will vehemently defend censorship as absolutely moral and for the “greater good.” Their position is basically this: We live in a “society”, and some ideas, thoughts and words are “dangerous” and destructive to that society. Therefore, those ideas and words must be eliminated from open discussion so they can protect society from itself. But who gets to decide which ideas are dangerous and destructive? It’s rather convenient that the political left has anointed …


Readying Your Family: Count The Costs

As I’ve mentioned in previous essays, I believe that We Are Living In The Age of Deception and Betrayal (WALITAODAB). Looking back on the trauma and drama of 2020 and 2021, please consider some of the questions that you must ask yourself and the choices that you may have to make in the next few years: 1.) First and foremost, are you right with God? If not, then repent and commit your life to Christ Jesus. (Yeshua, the Messiah.) Salvation in Christ is there for the asking, but you must be saved. 2.) Are you living in a truly safe …


Hoping For TEOTWAWKI – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) TEOTWAWKI would get rid of both the 24-hour news cycle and the time-wasting crime that television is. By the time after The Day when the new normal has been established, kids (and most parents) will be thin and active and unafraid again, knowing how to ride bikes, developing ingenuity and problem-solving skills by building go-carts and tree forts, and seeing what neat critters there are under rocks and logs when you roll them over. After their many newly-acquired post-SHTF chores are finished, boys and girls will go down to the swimming hole …


Hoping For TEOTWAWKI – Part 1, by St. Funogas

Oh TEOTWAWKI, where art thou? I gave up the “news” on November 3, 2020 about 8 PM. During December I’d do a quick scan to see if there was any mention of mushroom clouds, then get back to more important things like trying to figure out how to get my hands on some Hoppes 1-8 to go along with my Hoppes 9. In 2021, I’ve given up all news (except the occasional link in another story) and both my sanity and quality of life have improved immensely. Friends and relatives will notify me of any mushroom clouds on the horizon. …


November 2021 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance and the factors that affected gold prices. What Did Gold Do in November? November ended up being a battle to keep gold prices above $1,850. Bulls managed to run a rally above $1,850 for seven straight sessions in mid-November, but gold bears started selling into every rally for the rest of the month. The bears, assisted by Fed boss Jerome Powell, succeeded in dragging prices lower to end the month at $1,776 an …


Internet Privacy Basics, by Petr

Editor’s Introductory Notes: This article was authored by the teenage son of a long-time SurvivalBlog reader. It is humbling to see that a second-generation of SurvivalBlog readers is now reaching adulthood.  (SurvivalBlog was launched in August of 2005.) Properly, the term internet (with a lower case “I”) generally refers to all interconnected computer networks, whereas Internet (with a upper case “I”) refers to the global network associated with the world wide web (WWW). The dark web refers to dead or abandoned web sites. (That is, sites that have “gone dark.”) The deep web refers to sites that are invisible to …


Inflation Risk: Milton Friedman Would Buy Gold Right Now, by Arkadiusz Sieroń

Editor’s Introductory Note:  This guest article, reposted with permission, was authored by economist Arkadiusz Sieron, PhD. It was first posted by Sunshine Profits. — Powell maintains that inflation is transitory, but the monetary theory of inflation suggests otherwise. So, elevated inflation could stay with us! Some economists downplay the risk stemming from elevated inflation, saying that comparisons to the 1970s style stagflation appear unfounded. They say that labor unions are weaker and economies are less dependent on energy than in the past, which makes inflationary risks less likely to materialize. Isabel Schnabel, Board Member of the European Central Bank, even …


The Curse of The Cult of Kanban

In 2007, I began warning SurvivalBlog readers about global over-reliance on Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory management. This system — also called lean inventory management or kanban — was first developed by Toyota in Japan, in the 1950s. There, with largely internal chains of supply that were all clustered around the major cities on Japan’s largest island, Honshu, the kanban system worked with wonderful efficiency. Kanban soon branched out to the other three primary islands: Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. Manufacturers were able to cut costs by keeping their parts inventory small, and placing frequent orders to their supplying wholesalers and component parts …


Food Shortages – The Hype and The Reality – Part 2, by SaraSue

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) In Part I, we discussed a bit about where the real food shortages are and some solutions. The primary advice was: buy in bulk if possible, buy single ingredient whole foods, identify alternative food sources, cook from scratch, grow your own, and avoid processed foods wherever possible. It’s pretty straightforward stuff, right? Then why is the “prepping community” “stacking it to the rafters” if there’s plenty of food? What’s going on underneath the surface? What’s not so obvious, generally? Why are people, seemingly, panicking about access to food? Conspiracy Theories Let’s get …


Food Shortages – The Hype and The Reality – Part 1, by SaraSue

If you watch YouTube videos, alternative media, and even mainstream media, there is a tremendous amount of hype about food shortages. A common phrase among Preppers is “stack it to the rafters”. I can imagine the amount of stress this puts on families who don’t have a lot of extra cash. I was there once, so I have deep compassion for those worried about food security, not to mention gasoline and heating cost concerns — the basics. I’ll give a few tips to address that in this article. But first, are there really food shortages in the United States of …


Here’s Why U.S. Supply Chain Problems Will Only Get Worse, by Brandon Smith

It is an economic rule which free-market philosophers like Adam Smith have tried to explain to governments and monopolists for centuries: Less liberty and more centralization equals less production and less overall wealth. Governments and central banks have sought to circumvent this rule by printing money from thin air, thinking that they can create wealth while at the same time suffocating public financial interactions and trade with authoritarianism. This, of course, only leads to inflation or stagflation, and thus wealth is never actually created, it is projected like a hologram in order to trick the masses into thinking that all is well – …


Decade Report: The American Redoubt Movement Gains Momentum

It has been a couple of years since I gave an update on the American Redoubt movement. I am pleased to report that conservatives from a wide variety of Christian and Jewish affiliations are moving to the Redoubt in large numbers. The Redoubt region includes Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming. Those areas are already quite conservative, but the influx of new folks — often with large families — is making the region even more solidly conservative. Demographically, we are winning. And politically, we are winning. Here are some examples: Montana just picked up another congressional seat, and …


Covid Authoritarians Are The Cause Of America’s Problems, Not The Unvaccinated, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note:  Because I’m back on the road, I’m posting this article in place of my usual Odds ‘n Sods column. This article was authored by Brandon Smith, the Editor of Alt-Matket.us. It is re-posted with permission. I recommend bookmarking his site, and checking it often. – JWR — It’s an odd dynamic – One would think that if the covid vaccines were a generally benevolent program that actually “followed the science” then there would be no need to pile drive the public with an endless barrage of vax propaganda. After all, if science and morality are on the …