Category: Economics & Investing

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. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, another look at Equities markets. (See the Equities section.) Precious Metals: On Wednesday (December 18, 2024) “the bell rang” when spot silver dipped down to below $30 per Troy ounce. To restate my position from my recent investing columns: Silver is a bargain, anywhere below $30.50.  So stack it deep! – JWR o  o  o …


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. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, a year-end look at the gold markets. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: Market speculators did their best to push down the prices of gold and silver this week, but they failed. Spot gold seems quite resiliently holding above $2,690, and silver above $30.75, per Troy ounce.  I’m repeating my assertion that $30.50 is the …


The Amazing Vetterli

The title of this article might sound like the marquee sign for a magic act.  But this piece is more like a segment of Ian McCollum’s Forgotten Weapons video series. In the late 1860s, the Swiss inventor and gunmaker Johann-Friedrich Vetterli designed a bolt-action repeating rifle (“Repetiergewehr“) that was a true innovation. With its very large magazine capacity, I consider the Vetterli an 1870s Sturmgewehr predecessor.


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. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, another sobering look at the National Debt. (See the National Debt and Deficit section.)  Oh, before you jump to the conclusion that I picked an “old” photo of the National Debt Clock…  It is only about four years old.  That is how rapidly the National Debt has blossomed. Precious Metals: Largest gold deposit in the …


November, 2024 in Precious Metals, by Everett Millman

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 silver’s performance and examine the factors that affected the metal prices. WHAT DID GOLD AND SILVER DO IN NOVEMBER? The inevitable finally happened: gold and silver had a down month. Both metals traded slightly lower on November 1st, with silver dipping to $32.40 per troy ounce and gold holding above $2,730/oz. The following week began with modest gains until the wheels fell off on Wednesday, Nov. 6th: gold lost 3% to fall …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

Today’s E&I column is a special “Black Friday” edition that highlights some items available on sale for Christmas or Hanukkah gifts, some items for prepping, and many that double as items for tangible investments. The classic investing rule of “buy low and sell high” is immutable. It also applies to tangible investments. Today is the best day of the year to buy many items. But of course, shop responsibly. Avoid debt! Please shop with our banner advertisers first. If they don’t have what you are looking for, then see our Affiliates page.  Thanks, – JWR. — Seed for Security, LLC …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 5, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is the last part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. (Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) Solutions: The Journey for Possible Future Retreat Owners It would be nice if there were other easy solutions out there. But for a family man the road of hard work done intelligently will often yield good results over many years. There are some who claim that you cannot save to afford land without a …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 4, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. — Economics of Land in the 21st Century Arable land is no longer free nor available at reduced cost. As you learned in Part 2, over a hundred million acres of land in our country were sold for some sweat, initiative, and a small filing fee during the main Homestead years from the 1860s to the 1930s. Even earlier, land was available for a …


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. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at declining natural gas prices. (See the Commodities section.) Precious Metals: Spot gold was at $2,684.50 USD per Troy ounce at mid-day on Thursday. JWR’s Comment: We might see $2,750 gold in the next few days if international tensions over the Ukraine escalation continue. o  o  o Banks Covered Gold & Silver Shorts …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 3, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. — Economics for Farmers The first lesson that I’d like to address in this installment is that our family is very conservative, economically. We chose to avoid all debt. Yes, it is a choice for most people. Debt is no longer passed down intergenerationally as it was previously in American history. As Christians, we are taught to avoid debt. In Proverbs, we are warned: …


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. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at Bitcoin’s record high value in U.S. Doilar terms. (See the Forex & Cryptos: section.) Precious Metals: Spot silver dipped down to $30.49 on Thursday morning (November 14, 2024.)  I consider a price anywhere below $30.50 a reasonable “buy” price. Stack it while you can. o  o  o Always a bit late to …


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. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, another look at China’s Financial woes. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: Following Donald Trump’s election, the U.S. Dollar and stocks were up. Meanwhile, Bitcoin was up, and precious metals were down, in Dollar terms. Because the Federal budget deficit is continuing to grow, the long-term prospects for the U.S. Dollar are dour. …



October, 2024 in Precious Metals, by Everett Millman

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 silver’s performance and examine the factors that affected the metal prices. WHAT DID GOLD AND SILVER DO IN OCTOBER? Following a September in which gold rose 5.2% and silver rallied 7.9%, the precious metals moved steadily higher yet again in October. Metals prices have risen in 11 of the last 13 months. While gold fluctuated up and down for the first two weeks of the month, spot silver started off strong with …


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. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the 2024 BRICS Summit. (See the Precious Metals and Forex & Cryptos sections.) Precious Metals: The precious metals market roller-coaster ride is continuing, with a lot more “woo-hoo!”, than screaming. On Monday (October 28, 2024) spot gold started out strong, at $2,760 per Troy ounce. Silver was back up to $34.06.  Palladium …