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, we look at the American mortgage debt burden. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: The bull markets in precious metals is being driven by two factors: 1.) Central bank accumulation of physical metals and 2.) The insatiable demand at all levels in China (and elsewhere in Asia), because of gut-level distrust in The …


The Trump Administration’s Biggest Wins And Biggest Fails So Far, by Brandon Smith

Back in 2016 I predicted a resounding win for Donald Trump in his election campaign against Hillary Clinton despite a chorus of voices telling me I was crazy. The argument from skeptics was that the establishment would never allow Trump into office. My position on the event was relatively straightforward – The conservative populist movement was far too strong to deny and the globalists might not see a Trump White House as a total loss if they could control it from behind the scenes, or sabotage it with a national crisis. By 2020, Trump was in the midst of 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, we look at Tariff Arbitrage in Tangibles. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Despite the best efforts of the short-sellers, the precious metals bull market now seems to have been confirmed. The rise in gold now appears unstoppable. Meanwhile, the Silver Shorts are still pulling the weekly shenanigans, almost every Friday. But given the …


The Survival Mindset: A Two-Decade Retrospective

Introduction SurvivalBlog is now in its 20th calendar year. I began posting the blog in August, 2005.  That was just a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina. Over the past two decades, I’ve had many opportunities to write about what I generally term The Survival Mindset. The following is a mashup and updates to four brief blog essays that I wrote and posted in SurvivalBlog in November, 2005 and in April, 2006: Prepper Angst Many of my recent consulting clients have mentioned the same feeling of unease about the coming years. Perhaps it is just the general predisposition of my consulting …


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 threat of Bitcoin Wrench Attacks. (See the Forex and Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Reuters: JP Morgan sees gold prices crossing $4,000/oz by Q2 2026. o o o Will gold hit $4,000 per ounce in 2025? Experts weigh in. o  o  o Jan Nieuwenhuijs, at Gold-Eagle.com: Can Gold Reach $16,000? o o …


April, 2025 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 APRIL? The prices of gold and silver diverged from one another during April. Their price ratio (GSR) is still at a five-year high above 100:1. Both metals started the month off slowly. After two uneventful days, on Thursday, April 3rd gold slid 0.8% and silver tumbled $2.07 lower (-6.1%). Friday, April 4th was an …


How The Stock Market Signals a Major Silver Rally, by Hubert Moolman

The most significant Dow peaks in the last 100 years were in 1929, 1966, 1973, and 1999. The 1929 peak was a nominal major peak as well as a major peak as measured in terms of gold (Dow/Gold ratio peak). The 1966 and 1999 peaks were major Dow/Gold (D/G) peaks, whereas the 1973 peak was a major nominal peak. There has always been an interesting relationship between these peaks and silver rallies. After all of these peaks of the Dow there were significant silver rallies that followed. Below, is a long-term chart for sold and the Dow:    


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 shifts in the silver-to-gold price ratio. Precious Metals: Gold and silver are still looking quite bullish, despite some recent profit-taking that pushed gold down to the $3,330 range.  Presently, I strongly recommend buying silver rather than gold. I expect the silver to see greater percentage gains than gold, in the next few …


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, some explanation of the Basel III Agreement.  (See the Precious Metals section.) Pictured above is the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Precious Metals: Basel III Endgame: what you need to know. JWR’s Comments: One little-known provision of Basel III is that beginning in July of this year it will require banks …


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’s focus: Inflation or Deflation? (See the Inflation/Deflation Watch section.) Precious Metals: Sprott: Silver Price Dip: Temporary or a Major Trend? Is Gold Next as Tariffs Shake Markets? o  o  o Households urged to check jewelry insurance coverage after gold prices surge. Economy & Finance: From the WSJ: Americans Are Sitting on a Cash Pile as …


Fractional Reserve Banking: The Global Fraud Syndicate

I’ll begin with some history: Beginning in the 1500s, goldsmiths began issuing paper receipts or notes for gold that was held in safekeeping for their customers. Each note represented a specified amount of gold that they held in their vaults. Any note could be used to have the goldsmith repay the depositor, or later anyone holding that piece of paper, handing over a like amount upon demand. These receipts were locally traded for goods and services because they could be freely redeemed for gold. So people believed that these receipts were almost as good as gold.  The goldsmiths soon realized …


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 report on the final death knell for FinCen’s domestic reporting requirements. (See the Financial Privacy section.) Precious Metals: The Precious Metals Bull is picking up speed. On Thursday, March 27th, spot gold was under $3,052 per Troy ounce.  But by Monday (March 31st) spot gold touched an all-time high of $3,148.88. Meanwhile, silver was …


March, 2025 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 MARCH? Silver enjoyed a great performance in March. Yet it was easy to miss when gold kept setting new record highs every time I looked up. The metals got off to a solid start to the month, posting gains on each of the first three days of trading. Silver rallied 70 cents higher on …


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 closer look at the volatile precious metals markets. Pictured above is the Chicago Board of Trade, pre-2015. About 90% of the open outcry “pit” trading has since migrated to office computer screens. Precious Metals: On March 21st, I had a consulting client ask me about the spot silver market. He asked if I thought …


Prepping: The Department of Redundancy Department

This essay was inspired by SurvivalBlog reader R.T., who recently sent me a photo of his accumulation of 17 hand-crank kitchen grinders. In bygone years, almost every family owned one of these. But they have gradually been replaced by more fragile electric blenders, electric meat grinders, and food processors. So, most of these sturdy old machines have been unwisely discarded.  I assume that R.T. found most of his at yard sales and at thrift stores. He included the caption:  “One is none and two is one, but seventeen?” An oft-quoted saying in the prepping community is: ‘One is none and …