Useful Christmas Gifts, by Hollyberry

It is that time of the year again and what do you get the homesteader/prepper who has everything? I love giving gifts and I try to give gifts that are mainly useful or serve a purpose. Of course, I add some extra nonfunctional items, like houseplants or decorative doodads, for close family and friends and I like to think outside the box. Even if someone is not necessarily a prepper or homesteader you can always give something that can be useful. I am just throwing out some ideas of gifts that I have received and given that were big hits! Times are tough financially for everyone, so I try to give something someone would like but may be reluctant to spend the money on for themselves.

BOOKS and MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS

My favorite gifts to give are books. There is something for everyone out there in literature. How to books, hobby books, novels, the sky is the limit. You can never own enough books. A beautiful, new Bible is one of the most thoughtful gifts to give someone. Is your friend/family member getting a new pup or a gardener? Training and gardening books. We purchase a yearly subscription to Backwoods Home Magazine for our friend for Christmas every year. There are several great homesteading magazines out there. A year or two subscription is a very useful gift. If someone has poor vision or otherwise can’t read, then audiobooks are available. A great classic or mystery novel for those rainy days. There is nothing more enjoyable than hitting the couch with a cup of coffee, a blanket, dogs, and a good book. There are so many topics to choose from. Bookplates are nice also. I received some several years ago from mom with animals on them. Year after year you can contribute to someone’s personal library. Books for kids are wonderful. Anything to keep them off their cell phones! I still have many of my childhood books. We were taught to revere books as children — to never tear out pages or make crayon marks in them.Continue reading“Useful Christmas Gifts, by Hollyberry”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, another look at the mass media’s mischaracterizations of prepping — now often AI-generated.

Britain’s Prepper Shops

In the UK Guardian: ‘People are worried’: the ‘prepper’ shops serving Britons who fear doomsday is coming.

ChatGPT Goes Wild on Mischaracterizing Preppers

Here is a nonsensical article that I found that was clearly written by an AI (such as ChatGPT), and illustrated by AI, as well: Understanding Survivalists and Preppers Amid Global Tensions. This article illustrates how absurdly over-used ChatGPT has become, and how its output is unreliable. Note how the article incorrectly applies the word “organizations” when it states:

“The term “prepper” is commonly used to refer to the other subculture in contrast to “survivalists.”

Both of these organizations believe that being prepared for everything is important.”

ANnote that the AI-generated illustrations were apparently created with the cue phrase: “Show a survivalist woman with supplies in a shelter, holding a tool.”

Also, see this entire site: SurviveTheDoomsday.com. Take a close look at the nonsensical AI-generated images.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — November 22, 2023

On November 22, 1943, Lebanon proclaimed its independence from France; however, it did not become wholly independent until 1946.

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Sixty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

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On November 22, 1718, the pirate Blackbeard was killed off the coast of North Carolina.

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Today is remembered as the birthday of the late Eugene M. Stoner. (Born 1922, died April 24, 1997.) He was the designer of the AR-7, AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, the Stoner 63, and several other firearms. (The AR-10 was the basis of the AR-15 which in turn spawned the very widely used M16 and all of its variants including the M4 Carbine.)  It has been estimated that 20% of all new guns sold in the US are AR-15 variants.

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November 22nd is also the birthday of Adelbert Rinaldo Buffington, a well-known designer of military gun parts and accessories.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 109 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. 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.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $850,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 109 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Aviation Prepping – Part 2, by Sky Captain

(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.)

Here are a few simplistic reasons why having an aviation capability would be a useful investment:

  1. Flying allows one to mitigate the surface threat. In the early stages of TEOTWAWKI, moving on the surface of the earth will be very dangerous. Roads will be choked with vehicles that are out of fuel. Dangerous people will be setting traps to waylay unsuspecting travelers and relieve them of their valuables. The last remnants of government control will have soldiers checking for travel documents. Even the simplest aircraft will allow one to fly outside the effective range of a high-power rifle. The O-1 Birddog forward observation airplane, used in Korea and in Vietnam, have similar capabilities to modern basic general aviation aircraft. They were successfully utilized with an enemy order of battle that included man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), and crew-served Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs).
  2. Flying allows one to reach areas inaccessible by surface travel. For example, one could fly to an island in the middle of Lake Michigan (the two aforementioned scenarios more than likely involve an aircraft that can land off airport, which will be discussed later). One could depart the middle of a metropolis and escape to a bug-out site in the country. This does highlight a limitation of aerial travel – airports. Getting to an airport in the middle of a metropolis, safely, WTSHTF, could be tricky at best and untenable at worst. There are aerial preps that could be launched from your house – hot air balloon being the first that comes to mind; however, those typically will suffer from speed and/or payload restrictions. The ultimate solution would be having your own CH-47 Chinnook helicopter parked in the backyard. (I’m kiddding – there are nation-states unable to bear the expense of operating a Chinook). There are ultralight aircraft that are small enough to be stored in the garage and launched on a public road and/or a small grass strip.
  3. Flying gives one the ability to rapidly and safely reconnoiter a large area. Just like some ranchers use aircraft to check the fence line of their ranch, one can look for breeches in physical defenses as well look for massing personnel and/or vehicles. This gives one the ability to rapidly react and mass their capabilities in the right area at the right time. JWR’s novel Survivors has a great illustration of this prep put to good use.

Continue reading“Aviation Prepping – Part 2, by Sky Captain”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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Gun Ownership by State (2023 Statistics). JWR’s Comments:  It is not surprising to see so many of the American Redoubt states at the top of this list.  If the counties in eastern Oregon and eastern Washington were considered separate states, then they would surely rank nearly as high.

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SurvivalBlog’s Tom Christianson spotted this: China is using the world’s largest known online disinformation operation to harass Americans, a CNN review finds.

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Tom also sent this news from Michigan: Muskegon County township declares Second Amendment Sanctuary, forms militia. JWR’s Comment: Unlike the liberal Detroit area that always makes the news, most of Michigan is actually quite conservative. Some folks have given the state the nickname Militiagan.

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Homes in Iceland Split in Two Following Massive Earthquakes, Eruptions.

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Our Editor-At-Large Mike Williamson sent us this: Senator Expresses ‘Serious Concerns’ About Secretive White House Program That Tracks Americans’ Phone Records.

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Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day: 

“The most terrifying force of death comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know, that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. The moment the Men who wanted to be left alone are forced to fight back, it is a form of suicide. They are literally killing off who they used to be. Which is why, when forced to take up violence, these Men who wanted to be left alone, fight with unholy vengeance against those who murdered their former lives. They fight with raw hate, and a drive that cannot be fathomed by those who are merely play-acting at politics and terror. True terror will arrive at these people’s door, and they will cry, scream, and beg for mercy… but it will fall upon the deaf ears of the Men who just wanted to be left alone.” – Unattributed

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — November 21, 2023

On this day in 1620, 41 male passengers on the Mayflower, prior to landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, signed the Mayflower Compact, by which they agreed to abide by the laws of the new government they would establish.

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On November 21, 1916, Britannic, the sister ship to the Titanic, sank in the Aegean Sea, killing 30 people. In the wake of the Titanic disaster, the White Star line had made significant modifications to the design of the ship, but on its way to pick up wounded soldiers near the Gulf of Athens, it was rocked by an explosion causing even more damage than that which had sunk the Titanic. Many of the dead were from some of the crew who attempted to launch lifeboats while the Captain tried to run the ship aground. The lifeboats were sucked up into the propellers, killing all of those on board. The cause of the explosion is still unknown, but many suspect it hit a mine.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 109 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. 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.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $850,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 109 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

 

Aviation Prepping – Part 1, by Sky Captain

Max Rockatansky, the hero of the Mad Max movie series, accomplished the seemingly impossible, including single-handedly thwarting a diabolical biker gang, safeguarded a developing community from marauders, bested Master-Blaster, rescued a group of feral children, and liberated Immortan Joe’s harem. However, as fate would have it, the tables were turned on him by a near-sighted weakling and his young child. Recall the moment when Max was knocked off his rig and left to wander the wasteland until he stumbled upon Bartertown? The reason why Jedidiah and his son were able to best Max? They were able to fly.

Having a post-apocalyptic aviation capability is not going to be easy and frankly not tenable by the majority of preppers; however, I would also encourage those interested to not give up too quickly. It may be more straightforward that one would initially think. If one is capable of creating an aviation prep, it will give them an asymmetric advantage over the vast majority of wasteland warriors.Continue reading“Aviation Prepping – Part 1, by Sky Captain”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on Idaho’s Anti-Litter Campaign. (See the Idaho section.)

Region-Wide

A British journalist interviewed me, for this fairly-well balanced and fairly lengthy article over at UnHerd: Inside The American Redoubt.

o  o  o

We generally pay very little attention to sports in SurvivalBlog, but this news story has some larger implications: Whitman Co. judge rules WSU, OSU have control of Pac-12 conference.

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Mule deer tests positive for chronic wasting disease in Yellowstone National Park.

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2023 visits to Yellowstone near 4.5 million, 2nd most visited year all-time.

Idaho

More than three million pounds of litter removed, nearly $25M in labor saved. JWR’s Comments:  That has indeed been a very successful program. Idaho has very little roadside litter, compared to many other states that I’ve seen. But it bears mention that the anti-litter signs that were erected in the early 1990s were all painted with “Cecil D. Andrus, Governor” at the bottom. What a colossal grandstanding move!  (That line was cleverly covered by trash bags, for the original publicity photos.) I suppose that he thought that he’d be Governor-For-Life.  After Andrus left office, all of those signs had to be painted over, or retrofitted with blank plates bolted on, to cover that line. (See the photo at the top of this column.) And today, 30+ years later, most of those same retrofitted signs are still standing. Thankfully, most of the state’s Governors since then have had more constrained egos. Oh, and they’ve all been Republicans. And there is still not very much litter.

o  o  o

Can Lori Vallow-Daybell and Chad Daybell communicate with each other? Prosecutors believe they can.

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Man sentenced to 24 months for selling $4.4 million in unapproved steroid-like drugs.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The prosecutors have all the power. Not even the judge has discretion, because lawmakers have mostly taken that liberality away in the name of cracking down on crime. This happened all through the 1980s and 1990s, and the prosecutorial dictatorship has entrenched itself to become the norm since 2001. For the last ten years, the police state has had free rein.” – Lew Rockwell, as quoted in “The Police State Abolishes the Trial”, (30 September 2011), by L.H. Rockwell, Mises Daily

Preparedness Notes for Monday — November 20, 2023

On November 20, 1917, for the first time, tanks were used effectively in warfare, by the British at the Battle of Cambrai.

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We’ve now reached the milepost of 38,000 archived feature articles, columns, and quotes in our archives. SurvivalBlog has been posted with daily fresh content since 2005.  The archives are searchable and freely available. I invite any new SurvivalBlog readers to delve into the archives, to find subjects of interest. If you have just found SurivalBlog, then begin with our Quick-Start Guide for Preparedness Newbies.

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Because one of our writing contest sponsors is shifting their business to another product line and target market, we will be in need of one or two more writing contest prizes, starting on December 1st. If you operate a business that offers any goods or services that would appeal to SurvivalBlog readers then please become a prize donor. That provides great publicity and click-throughs — often more than an advertisement does. Thanks, – JWR

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Today’s feature article is a product review written by  SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

Ruger M77 Hawkeye African in 6.5x55mm Swedish, by Thomas Christianson

A half-century ago, in the days of my youth, most rifles had wood furniture, blued steel, and iron sights. In those days of long ago, the 6.5x55mm Swedish cartridge had already had a long and storied career, having been first adopted in 1894 by the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. In the years that followed, it was used to hunt elephants in Africa, to hunt moose in Scandinavia, and to resist the German invasion of Norway. The strengths of the cartridge were so significant, that it is prominently featured in the plot of Stephen Hunter’s novel, The Bullet Garden. The cartridge, used in a carefully selected Mauser Model 1896 rifle paired with a German 4X AJACK scope, constituted the Swedish m/41 sniper rifle system, which was the finest sniper rifle system of the World War II era.Continue reading“Ruger M77 Hawkeye African in 6.5x55mm Swedish, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: Salted Caramel Pear Butter 

The following recipe for a home-canned Salted Caramel Pear Butter is from SurvivalBlog reader Connie S.  It can be home-canned.

Ingredients
  • 4 lbs. Pears, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
  • 1/3 cup apple cider
  • 2 Tbsp. bottled lemon juice
  • 2-1/2 cups dark brown sugar: Be sure to use the dark variety.
  • 2 tsp. Sea salt or kosher salt
Directions
  1. Mix one tablespoon citric acid with warm water.
  2. Peel and core pears, keep them in the citric acid mixture. This will keep the pears from turning brown while you work. When all pears are peeled they can be stored in the citric acid overnight in your refrigerator.
  3. When ready to process, remove the pears from the citric acid mixture. You do not need to rinse them.
  4. Put pears in a crock-pot.
  5. Add the apple cider and lemon juice.
  6. Cook on high for approximately 40 minutes until tender. Stir occasionally.
  7. Run cooked pear mixture through a blender until smooth, or use an immersion blender.
  8. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
  9. Cook down the mixture in the crock pot until thickened to the consistency you desire — usually 3-4 hours. This depends on the juiciness of the pears.
  10. Can any that won’t be used immediately. To home-can it, use 1/2 pint or pint jars. Process for 15 minutes in a water bath
Tips to avoid waste:
  • I give the citric acid water to my goats for a treat. I don’t know if it’s the acid or the sweetness from the pears, but they seem to enjoy it.
  • Use the pear scraps to make jelly, or pear scrap vinegar. Both recipes can be found online. After making either jelly or vinegar feed the scraps to the chickens.
  • The pear peelings can also be put in home made dog food.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

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 rising credit card balances and default rates. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

At Gold-Eagle.com: Gold: The Chickens Come Home to Roost.

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Mike Gleason, at Gold-Eagle.com: Fed Continues Tough Talk; Silver & Platinum Look Most Undervalued.

Economy & Finance:

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Commentator Game Of Trades notes: Credit card defaults are rising FASTER than the 2008 Financial Crisis.

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Credit card debt has reached a record high. Here’s what it means for the economy.

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Why some US bank deposits are held up days after ‘processing error’ delayed 850,000 payments.

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NYSE proposed policy would allow government, ‘elite investors’ to profit off of America’s ecosystem: Experts.

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Flom the leftist NBC News: 36-hour shifts, 80-hour weeks: Workers are being burned out by overtime.

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And Wall St. Silver posted this, at X-Twitter: Just the interest on the national debt consumed 40% of all individual income tax revenue in October! US Treasury is spending almost twice as much on interest as it did a year ago. It’s unsustainable but Washington won’t stop spending – do you think it ends with default or inflation?

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”