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. Most of these items are from JWR’s “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective. Today, some coverage of the turn in the real estate market. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Egon von Greyerz, over at Gold-Eagle.com: Gold’s Key Indicator.

o  o  o

Gold Stocks Still Undervalued.

Economy & Finance:

From CNBC: Mortgage demand drops again as rates cross back over 7%.

o  o  o

In the Market: Why US Regional Banks Are Doomed to a Doom Loop. JWR’s Comments: This article fails to point to the real culprits at the Federal Reserve and their co-conspirators at the U.S. Treasury Department. Together, their disastrous interest rate policy is destroying regional banks, one after another.

o  o  o

Sheila sent us this: Withdrawing Your Own Cash? NatWest Bank Wants To Know Why… And See Proof.

o  o  o

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Brat: Democrats Current Debt Projectory Would Make Interest Payments “3x Current Defense Budget”.

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: Delinquencies in Subprime Auto-Loan-Backed Securities Have Second-Worst April Ever, Behind only Lockdown April: The Cost of Free Money.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.” –  Theodore Dalrymple

Gold, The Great Depression and the Ongoing Monetary System Bank Run, by Hubert Moolman

We are in the midst of a system bank run, which is in the greater sense really a bank run on the United States of America, the issuer of the reserve currency of the world.

The nations that are providing her with credit are increasingly viewing her as a greater credit risk, and this is reflected in the increase in interest rates on her treasury bonds.Continue reading“Gold, The Great Depression and the Ongoing Monetary System Bank Run, by Hubert Moolman”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:  

The latest meme created by JWR:

Meme Text:

Venn Diagram: Somehow We Ended Up Here In The Middle

Still Expected To Pay Taxes And TEOTWAWKI

Note From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks!

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.

Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” – 1 John 3:1-11 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — May 27, 2023

On May 27, 1941, the British Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck.

American author and lecturer Julia Ward Howe, who was best known for Battle Hymn of the Republic, was born on May 27, 1819.

And on May 27, 1813, former President Thomas Jefferson wrote former President John Adams about the loss of their mutual friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush. Reflecting upon the loss, Jefferson wrote, “We too must go; and that ere long. I believe we are under half a dozen at present; I mean the signers of the Declaration.”

—

A video with some great news: Breaking: ATF’s Pistol Brace Ban Injunction Issued!  (Needless to say, if you are not yet an FPC member, then you should join, pronto!)

—

Today’s feature article was authored by SurvivalBlog’s Senior Editor, James Wesley, Rawles (JWR).

 

American Genocide: The Eugenics Solution Promoted by Socialists

In this essay, I’d like to expose the eugenics movement for its genocidal evil and racism. The leadership of the 20th-century eugenics organizations was mostly led by wealthy socialists. Rather than re-hashing all of the detailed history of the eugenics movement here in this article, I encourage my readers to watch this documentary film: The Eugenics Crusade. The film was produced by the leftist PBS, so it has a bias that soft-pedals the strong influence of American and European socialists in the movement. But regardless, the documentary shows the insidious evil of eugenics.

Herein, I will provide just a few details on some of the leaders of the movement.

Margaret Higgins Sanger was a member of the Women’s Committee of the New York chapter of the Socialist Party. She helped organize the socialist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) commonly known as “The Wobblies.” In December of 1913, Sanger began publishing The Woman Rebel — a radical socialist-feminist monthly journal. And in 1921, she founded the American Birth Control League. That later became the Birth Control Federation of America, and that in turn became Planned Parenthood. In her writings, Sanger often used the eugenicist term “racial betterment” and she harped on maintaining the population of “the fit” and simultaneously decreasing the population of “the unfit.”Continue reading“American Genocide: The Eugenics Solution Promoted by Socialists”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

This week, I took advantage of some rainy weather to do some organizing in JASBORR. (Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy.) Among other things, I caught up on labeling ammo crates and cans.

On another drizzly day, Lily and I re-packed some grains and legumes from bags into 5-gallon food-grade buckets.

I felled some more dead-standing, diseased, and “leaner” trees and cut them up for firewood.

We had hoped to take a hike up a mountain, in the adjoining National Forest this week, but both the weather and the pace of activities at the ranch got in the way…

Now, Lily’s report…Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.

The Lord is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.

Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.

The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.

Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.

He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them.

Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.

Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy.” – Psalm 99 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — May 26, 2023

May 26th is the birthday of Randall Hank Williams (Hank Williams, Jr.) He was born in 1949. When not touring, he lives Somewhere in Montana.

—

I just heard of the death of singer Tina Turner, at age 83, at her home in Switzerland. You may remember her portrayal of Aunty Entity, in the third Mad Max movie.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 106 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 course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. 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.
  4. 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).
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. 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. EBL is providing an EBL Voyager 500-Watt Power Station with deep cycle lithium batteries, providing reliable 120 Volt AC and DC (12 Volt and USB) power for emergencies or outdoor use. (A $399 value.)
  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. 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.

—

More than $800,000 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 106 ends on May 31st, 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.

Invisibility: Increasing OPSEC – Part 4, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.)

Computer OPSEC

I’ll let the reader research computer, email privacy, and encryption on their own but I do have two things I’ll pass on.

When I hover the mouse pointer over a file in one of my computer folders, a box opens above it showing the author, title (which is actually my LibreOffice template name), computer owner, and date among other things. There are two ways to prevent this from exposing personal information about me than I’d prefer when I share documents or photographs.

First, when setting up a new computer I don’t supply any real information. Those who’ve already done so can edit the info. For the name of the computer owner, I use a fictional character like George Jetson or name of a like Patrick Henry or Thomas Jefferson.

For the “Author” attribution when I’m setting up a program like LibreOffice, I use a different fictional character.Continue reading“Invisibility: Increasing OPSEC – Part 4, by St. Funogas”

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. Most of these items are from JWR’s “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the risk of additional bank failures.

Precious Metals:

Price declines for gold, silver as USDX continues climb.

o  o  o

I missed seeing this, when it was posted back in March: Power cuts, war, and hybrid cars are predicted to cause a platinum price surge in 2023.

Economy & Finance:

Jamie Dimon Warns QT Will Lead To More Bank Failures. a quote from Dimon:

“We haven’t been through Quantitative Tightening. So we really don’t know what’s going to happen to deposits at all [ZH; actually we do: deposits will shrink dollar for dollar alongside reserves]. And that’s why I’ve been quite concerned about that. I’m probably more concerned about quantitative tightening with anybody in this room.

We’ve never had QT before. It just started, okay? And you see huge distortions in the marketplace already. We’ve never had the Fed in the market like this with that RRP program that Jeremy mentioned ever. They have $2.3 trillion basically lent out to money funds. And I don’t know the full effect of that. And obviously, that’s a direct deduction from deposits are rolling out it made sense to do.

So I think people should build into their mindset that they may have to move deposit beta more than they think and manage that. So I mean, if I was any bank or any company, I’d be saying, can you handle higher interest rates and surprise in deposits, etc?”

o  o  o

May 2023 Debt Limit Analysis.

o  o  o

Janet Yellen told bank CEOs more mergers may be necessary, sources say.

o  o  o

Japan’s Banks Resist Buybacks After Predicting Bumper Profit.

o  o  o

At Zero Hedge: Self-Checkout Machines Are Now Begging For Tips.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” – Edward Snowden

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 25, 2023

On May 25th, 1787, The Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia with George Washington presiding. The task of the peaceful overthrow of the new American government as it had been defined by the Articles of Confederation eventually led to the United States Constitution that is so abused today.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 106 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 course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. 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.
  4. 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).
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. 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. EBL is providing an EBL Voyager 500-Watt Power Station with deep cycle lithium batteries, providing reliable 120 Volt AC and DC (12 Volt and USB) power for emergencies or outdoor use. (A $399 value.)
  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. 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.

—

More than $800,000 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 106 ends on May 31st, 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.