Category: Economics & Investing

Bartering in a Post SHTF World – Part 2, by D.K.

(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.) Equivalent Value When most people think of the word ‘barter,’ they think ‘trade,’ or ‘like-for-like.’ The following is a list of possible items that you might want to consider having for bartering purposes, or charitable giving, should the need ever arise. These are merely suggestions. Barter Item Categories & Suggestions Air Gun/Archery: BBs/pellets, CO2 cartridges Spare bow strings, arrows/bolts Food: Freeze dried, #10 cans, MRE Flour, yeast, sugar, wheat Coffee/tea, drink mixes Hand crank grinder (meat/grain), spare parts Alcohol: Homemade wine/liquor Airline mini-bottles Fuel: 93-octane, diesel, kerosene, white camp fuel, 1 lb. …


Bartering in a Post SHTF World – Part 1, by D.K.

What is Bartering? Bartering is the exchange of goods and services between two interested parties that does not utilize the current U.S. fiat monetary system, or any national currency system for that matter. Movies and television have presented numerous visuals that help people conceptualize what this might look like on a large scale like “The Hob” in the movie The Hunger Games. In lay terms, incorporating barter items in your preparedness plans is an attempt to anticipate the future needs of those near you or at your destination if bugging out. Words of caution when it comes to bartering: Anyone …


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 decline of the Canadian Standard of Living. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: Those dastardly COMEX Silver Shorts have been up to their mischief again, pushing down the price of silver contracts. When I checked on Thursday morning, spot silver was at $28.75, while spot gold was at $2,460.10 …


July, 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 JULY? Silver had another fairly volatile month, much as it has for the better part of 2024. The swings back and forth for prices have become increasingly frequent since the second quarter of the year began. During July silver futures traded as low as $27.75/oz and as high as $31.43/oz, a significant spread of …


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 new Ethereum ETFs. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Gold Price Predictions for the Next 5 Years (By Experts). o  o  o Daniel Lacalle, at Gold-Eagle.com: Central Banks Purchase Gold to Offset Their Own Money Destruction. Economy & Finance: Repos Spike in 2024 As Fewer Americans Can Pay Their …


A Pre-1899 Gun Investing Rationale

Introductory Note: I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that I have a considerable bias on this topic.  I own and operate Elk Creek Company — a side business selling pre-1899 guns and percussion black powder replicas. I’ve been dabbling in antique guns for more than 35 years. (Back in the 1990s, I operated Clearwater Trading Company, from my home near Orofino, Idaho.)  Despite my bias, I believe that what I’m recommending in this essay represents some ground truth. – JWR — Mark Twain was famous for once writing: “Buy land. Because they aren’t making it any more of …


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, more coverage of the bullish prices for precious metals. Precious Metals: Gold Soars To Record High As Stocks Do Something Not Seen Since Oct 1987. o  o  o The wild ride in precious metals prices continued this past week. Gold touched $2,488.10 on Wednesday morning. (July 17, 2024.) Prices were then slammed back down by …


Silver is Very Close to a Sustained Multi-Year Rally, by Hubert Moolman

Gold is one of the most reliable and accurate financial measures one can use. Historically, the Dow/gold ratio has provided a very good signal for silver bear and bull market cycles. Here is a long-term silver chart compared to a long-term Dow/gold ratio chart:       On the silver chart (the top trace in the chart), I’ve highlighted the significant Dow/gold ratio peaks with a blue line. In every case, silver made a significant bottom some years after the Dow/gold ratio peak. These were signals for the (then-coming) silver bull market.


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 examination of silver pricing. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: You may have noticed that after a recent excursion into the $29.50 per Troy ounce range, the price of spot silver has bounced back.  Early this week, it was very close to $31 per Troy ounce. And on Thursday morning (July 10, 2024) …


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 prospects for a gold-backed BRICS currency. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: BRICS Gold-Backed Currency to Launch at 2024 Summit? But also read this piece from Reuters: US dollar’s dominance secure, BRICS see no progress on de-dollarization – report. o  o  o The latest piece by Hub Moolman: Silver and Gold: …


June 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 JUNE? The precious metals began the month near the bottom of the price range they have been trading in since late April. The first week of June saw some significant gains, particularly for silver, which surged 4.1% on June 6th to $31.15 per troy ounce. Silver’s 11-year high around $32/oz appeared within reach. This …


The Five Stages Of Economic Collapse Denial, by Brandon Smith

This article was originally published at Birch Gold Group. It is reposted with permission. — In light of the recent resurgence of inflation on top of increasingly rigged employments stats, declining manufacturing and stagnant wages I think it’s important to revisit a fundamental question: What does an economic collapse look like? As I have said for years an economic collapse is not an event, it’s a process. When people think of a historic crisis they usually imagine something like the stock market crash of 1929 at the beginning of the Great Depression. However, there were numerous indicators and warning signs …


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 some economic effects of the A.I. revolution. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: From Kitco: Gold and silver’s next act – Matt Watson on precious metals and growing industrial demand. o  o  o Jordan Roy-Byrne, over at Gold-Eagle.com: Historical Comparisons for Gold Right Now. Economy & Finance: From Fortune: IMF …


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 the U.S. Nickel 5-cent piece. (See the Precious and Base Metals section.) Precious and Base Metals: RBI moves 1 lakh kg of gold from UK back to India, the first such move of this quantum since 1991.  JWR’s Comments:  That is 100 tons of gold!  Perhaps this is more evidence that the …


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 look at pre-1965 “junk” silver coins. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: The recent dip in the spot silver price to below $30 USD per Troy ounce signals a good opportunity to do some buying and stacking. I believe that this dip will be brief, so take advantage of it. Buy physical silver and …