“We do not segment our lives, giving some time to God, some to our business or schooling, while keeping parts to ourselves. The idea is to live all of our lives in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and for the honor and glory of God. That is what the Christian life is all about.: – R.C. Sproul
October 5, 1703 was the birthday of Jonathan Edwards. He died March 22, 1758. He was a prolific Calvinist theological writer. Many of his writings were later collected in the multi-volume book The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, edited by John Gerstner.
—
I just heard of the passing of singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn, at age 90. She was quite a lady, and she had a lasting impact on country music.
—
A reminder: Round 103 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest is now underway and we are in great need of entries. More than $750,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 103 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.
—
Today’s feature article by Matthew Piepenberg is a guest post selected by JWR. It first appeared at the highly-recommended Gold Switzerland web site.
From Main Street USA to the village corners and central banks of Europe, Japan, and elsewhere, the Fed’s strong USD policy is backfiring—big time. Just ask the Brits…
Having spent years creating the inflation (QE1 to unlimited QE, Repo bailouts, massive money supply expansion, and an historical wealth transfer from an inflated, Fed-driven stock market), the Fed will be cleaning up its own inflation mess on the backs of the U.S. working class and its other global “allies” while blaming the CPI inflation on Putin, Covid and climate change.
How’s that for rigged to fail?
But that’s just the beginning, and it’s not just about the USA.
By raising rates into what we all know is a recession, Powell, who delusionaly pretends to be Volcker re-born, wants to solve the inflation he helped create by engineering a demand-crippling recession which he thinks he can control, but can’t and won’t.
And this will be the mother of all recessions, as there is an historical and concomitant debt (and hence currency) crisis in every corner of the globe ($300T+) as well as every corner of the nation ($90T+), from the toxic corporate bond market and over-strapped households to a grotesquely bloated ($30T+) government debt market.
It’s all horribly simple, in fact.
If debt is the everywhere-driver of the economy and markets, then any significant increase in the cost of that debt will destroy every corner of that economy and those markets, from zombie enterprises to negative yielding US Treasuries.
Powell’s hawkish stance will lead to anything but a “contained recession,” which the Fed will be no less effective “containing” as they were in “containing” their so-called “transitory inflation.”
Rising rates will cripple nearly every asset but the artificially inflated USD until all savings are gone, most citizens are hand-out dependent, and most markets and currencies are on their knees.
At that point, Uncle Sam will either default on the IOUs (Treasury bonds) which no one will want, or the Fed will pivot to more mouse-click money to buy/support his debt addiction, following the recent example in the UK.Continue reading“The Fed’s Strong USD Policy: A Recipe For Systemic Implosion, by Matthew Piepenberg”
This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: 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.
—
Hurricane Ian Could Cost Insurers $57 Billion.
o o o
Russian nuclear submarine armed with ‘doomsday’ weapon disappears from Arctic harbor: report.
o o o
A legislative update from the Gun Owners Of America (GOA) with news a good bill that deserves your support:
“Senator Marshall of Kansas introduced the SHORT Act in the Senate. It sends a simple but strong message to the ATF. It stands for STOP HARASSING OWNERS OF RIFLES TODAY.
This crucial bill will remove the unconstitutional taxation, registration, and regulation in the National Firearms Act of Short Barreled Rifles, Short Barreled Shotguns, and those classified under ‘Any Other Weapons.’”
o o o
Manitoba becomes third Canadian province to refuse participation in Trudeau’s gun buyback scheme.
o o o
Man 3D-Prints Guns For New York Buyback Event, Makes A Whopping $21,000.
o o o
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” – George S. Patton
October 4, 1923 was the birthday of the late Charlton Heston, who was born John Charles Carter. He died April 5, 2008. He is often remembered for movies like Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, Soylent Green, The Planet of the Apes, and the survivalist classic The Omega Man.
—
Today, we are featuring the monthly column written by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins. It is being posted a couple of days later than usual, because Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida.
—
We are now seeking entries for Round 103 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $750,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 103 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.
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 the factors that affected gold prices.
This is an abbreviated Month in Precious Metals column, due to Hurricane Ian striking southwest Florida.
INFLATION
Inflation indicators resumed their climb in September after some slightly encouraging signs that it might be topping out in August.
Average inflation in the EU hit a record 10.0% this month, putting the ECB in a tough spot in its efforts to break the grip of stagflation. Any EU nation that isn’t already in a recession is on the cusp, while the continent-wide energy crisis is choking industrial production. It’s also practically eliminating discretionary consumer spending, as an increasing number of households will face the nightmare of deciding between heat and food this winter.
RATE HIKES
The Fed hiked interest rates another 75 basis points in September to 3.25%. The upsetting part was the anonymous Fed “dot plot” of future rates. This revealed that Fed leaders expected interest rates to be around 4.5% by the end of the year.
Since there are only two more FOMC meetings this year, this predicts at least one more 75bp hike before Christmas.
U.S. DOLLAR
The dollar continued to rampage through the currency markets like Godzilla through Tokyo in September. The collapse in the Japanese yen forced the Bank of Japan to intervene, the euro fell far below parity, and the surprise unfunded spending plans of the new UK government pushed the pound to $1.03 (while causing a financial crisis.)Continue reading“September 2022 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran”
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 take note that wolf packs are now expanding their territory into western Oregon. (See the Central & Eastern Oregon section.)
Judge bans cameras in Lori Vallow-Daybell and Chad Daybell cases.
o o o
Transgender inmate who sued Idaho to get $2.5M in legal fees.
Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” – George Orwell
The Maltese Falcon, John Huston’s adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s famed 1930 novel, had its world premiere on October 3, 1941. It starred Humphrey Bogart. It is considered the greatest detective movie ever made.
—
Two alerts from Spaceweather.com:
X-FLARE! Earth-orbiting satellites have just detected an X1-class solar flare (Oct. 2nd @ 2025 UT). Ironically, it did not come from big dangerous sunspot AR3112, described below, but rather from AR3110, a smaller and apparently less threatening active region.
A BIG DANGEROUS SUNSPOT: One of the biggest sunspots in years has just rotated over the sun’s northeastern limb. AR3112 has a mixed-polarity magnetic field that harbors energy for strong X-class solar flares. The appearance of this dangerous sunspot could herald two weeks of high solar activity as it transits the Earth-facing side of the sun.
—
Today’s feature article is a review written by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.
—
But first, the results of the judging for the writing contest…
We’ve completed the judging for Round 102 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prize winners are:
First prize is awarded to Always Learning, for Fire Preparedness and Firefighting – Part 1 and Part 2, which was posted on August 5-6, 2022. They will receive the following prizes:
Second prize is awarded to T.S., Ph.D., for Apple Tree Care 102: Thinning Fruit which was posted on August 20, 2022. He will receive the following prizes:
Third prize is awarded to K.R, for Rainwater Harvesting – Part 1 & Part 2, which was posted on August 9-10, 2022. He will receive the following prizes:
The Honorable Mention Prizes (transferable $100 FRN purchase credits toward the purchase of any antique or percussion replica gun from Elk Creek Company) go to the authors of these 17 articles:
Round 103 is now in progress and will end 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.
The Rock River Arms All Terrain Hunter (ATH) is an AR-platform rifle optimized for hunting. It is attractively styled and beautifully machined. I found it to be accurate and reliable in my testing, and was especially impressed with the outstanding trigger. With a manufacturer suggested retail price of $1,425 it is an attractive choice as a mid-range AR-platform rifle.
I really like AK-platform rifles chambered in 5.56mm. I appreciate the rugged reliability of the AK platform matched with the flat trajectory of the 5.56 cartridge. So to some extent, this review is an AK guy’s reflections on an AR. It is not that I have anything against ARs per se, but handling an AR always feels a little like speaking in a second language in which I am not fully fluent.
In spite of this, when I received a press release from Rock River Arms about the All Terrain Hunter, I was really interested. Among other attractive features, the 18-inch free-floating heavy stainless steel barrel is guaranteed to provide 3/4 MOA accuracy at 100 yards, the trigger guard is optimized to accommodate gloved fingers, and the rifle is chambered in .223 Wylde so that it can safely and effectively chamber both .223 and 5.56mm ammunition. I asked Rock River Arms if I could borrow a sample for testing and evaluation, and they were kind enough to agree.Continue reading“Rock River Arms All Terrain Hunter, by Thomas Christianson”
The following simple recipe for Perfect Pizza Burgers comes to us from SurvivalBlog reader John M..
John says: “This is a chef’s surprise dinner that most folks have never tried. Be advised that you should make a bunch of these burgers, because they will not stop at eating just one. Seriously, people become piranhas eating these and will beg you for the recipe.”
This is a hamburger recipe that sandwiches pizza ingredients between two thin beef patties.
Start with 85 to 90% hamburger mix in the usual spices and add a 1/8 cup of Worcestershire to each pound of meat. Make flat patties that are only about 1/4-inch thick using about an apple-sized ball of meat (the patty will be about small pancake size.)
On each patty spread a tablespoon of commercially-made pizza sauce (from a jar or can) in the middle. But don’t spread it all the way to the edge of the patty.
Next, top the sauce with 2 tablespoons of grated mozzarella cheese.
Now gently place another flattened 1/4-inch thick patty on top and press the edges together with your fingers. (Do not flatten the filled center area).
Gently cook on the grill like a regular hamburger, you can tell they are about ready when small amounts of sauce and cheese peeks out.
—
Do you have a favorite 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 and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!
Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at auction prices for collectible guns and numismatic coins. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)
The relationship between the silver price, inventories, and comex positions.
o o o
Silver Options Strategy: How low is too low?
o o o
Gold Price Forecast – Crisis Indicators Flashing Red, Gold Near Critical Bottom.
Some troubling news reported by American Partisan: Federal Reserve announces major ‘pilot exercise’ for ESG social credit score system.
o o o
o o o
McKinsey: Economic conditions outlook, September 2022.
o o o
Over at Zero Hedge: “Horrendous” CarMax Results Confirm Fed Has Successfully Pushed US Economy Off A Cliff.
o o o
“No man escapes
When freedom fails,
The best men rot in filthy jails;
And they who cried: ‘Appease, Appease!’
Are hanged by men they tried to please.”
– Attorney Hiram Mann, 28 March, 1947, Wall Street Journal, Letters to the Editor.
