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. 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 the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate move. (See the Economy & Finance  section.)

Precious Metals:

The platinum to gold ratio is now outrageously out-of-whack.  When I checked on Thursday afternoon, spot gold was at $1,876.10 per Troy ounce, and meanwhile platinum was at just $977. Yikes! That is nearly a 2-to-1 ratio. Hmmm… If you’ve been considering buying gold during the current dip, then please re-consider. My advice is to buy platinum, instead!   Traditionally, platinum has sold for more per ounce than gold. The pricing might not fully revert, but anywhere below 1.5-to-1 makes platinum a bargain. – JWR

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An audio interview: Bill Holter: Gold-backed Ruble set to leave PetroDollar behind.

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Analysts At Goldman Sachs Are At It Again.

Economy & Finance:

On Thursday — just a day after a 900+ point rally — we read: Dow tumbles 1,000 points, Nasdaq loses nearly 5% in worst day of the year for stocks. Update, Friday AM: Dow drops 200 points as stocks extend losses from Thursday’s sell-off.

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It is official: FOMC statement from the May 2022 meeting: Fed hikes by 50bps. JWR’s Comment:  The jawboning has ended. Tightening has begun. Probably too little, too late, so what we’ll see is stagflation.  Now the banksters can reap the whirlwind.

Ford loses $3.1 billion, hit by investment and chip shortage.

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Charles Hugh Smith: Not the 1970s or the 1920s: We’re in Uncharted Territory.

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It Just Doesn’t Let Up: Lyft Plunges 26% Afterhours, Down 74% from the Hype-and-Hoopla Trade out the IPO Gate.

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US Trade Deficit Explodes To Record High In March.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“What are the marks of a sick culture? It is a bad sign when the people of a country stop identifying themselves with the country and start identifying with a group. A racial group. Or a religion. Or a language. Anything, as long as it isn’t the whole population. A very bad sign. Particularism. It was once considered a Spanish vice but any country can fall sick with it. Dominance of males over females seems to be one of the symptoms. Before a revolution can take place, the population must lose faith in both the police and the courts. High taxation is important and so is inflation of the currency and the ratio of the productive to those on the public payroll. But that’s old hat; everybody knows that a country is on the skids when its income and outgo get out of balance and stay that way – even though there are always endless attempts to wish it way by legislation. But I started looking for little signs and what some call silly-season symptoms. I want to mention one of the obvious symptoms: Violence. Muggings. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort.” – Robert A. Heinlein, in his novel Friday

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 5, 2022

This is the birthday of Pat Frank (1908-1964). This was the pen name of newspaper journalist Harry Hart Frank. His novel Alas, Babylon is a survivalist classic. His personal life was marred by alcoholism, but his writing is admired and still surprisingly popular, today. (Alas, Babylon is still in print, after 63 years!) As an homage to Pat Frank, one of the settings in my novel Expatriates is Mt. Dora, Florida, which was fictionalized by Pat Frank as “Fort Repose” in Alas, Babylon.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 100 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. 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,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. 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).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  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. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 100 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

Signs Of The Times – Part 1, by St. Funogas

Since we’re as close as we’ve been in the past 50 years to the possibility of not only WW III, but the nuclear war we’ve all feared since Hiroshima and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the time seems urgent for all Americans to get out of our normalcy bias and start prepping, and for current preppers to kick it up a notch or two. Or three.

This article has been edited many times and has been in and out of my “Do Not Submit” folder at least seven times. While many SurvivalBlog articles are preaching to the choir of us like-minded ones who already understand the prudence of prepping, some of my thoughts and comments over the past few years have been preaching to the duet in the little-used Sunday School room tucked away in the church basement between the furnace and the storage room. I can only hope it finds a wider audience in these most perilous of times in May, 2022 as we stand on the probable brink of WW III.

Tribalism

As I’ve studied and thought about tribalism over the years, I finally concluded that tribalism is biggest cause of Mankind’s woes in the world today and throughout history.

The effect of tribalism is that the more groups (“tribes”) we align ourselves with, the more we subconsciously conform our opinions to those groups in order to maintain our good standing within the tribe. In mankind’s early days, we’d gladly help toss virgins into volcanoes to appease the lava gods even if we thought it was pure bravo sierra. Going along with the tribe was far more important to our survival than verbalizing the truth that virgins can’t stop volcanoes from erupting. Throughout Mankind’s history, tribe has trumped truth.

Our brains have advanced very little since cavemen/Adam. We’re not any smarter, we just have more technology that has accumulated piece by piece building upon what previous generations had discovered. Today’s technological improvements all began with the ancients learning how to make and harness the power of fire, the same fire without which our society could never have progressed to this point and which all our current technologies are dependent upon whether directly or indirectly.Continue reading“Signs Of The Times – Part 1, by St. Funogas”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— 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. Today, we look at the exodus from big cities.

Americans are Moving Out of Urban Counties

We’ll start out with this article suggested by reader H.L.: Americans are moving out of urban counties like never before.

Buyers Snap Up Rural Texas Properties

As reported on the Texas Digital News web site: Buyers rush to snap up rural Texas properties.  Here is a  quote:

“Rural land sales in Texas continue to soar as buyers rush to purchase property for subdivisions, investments, farming or bucolic retreats, according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University.

Sales statewide surged to 9,331 in the third quarter, up 40 percent from a year ago, and the average price per acre jumped nearly 25 percent to $3,717.”

Major Cities in the United States Lost Residents

From the Mexican Infobae news service: Major cities in the United States lost residents during the pandemic. JWR’s Comment: The demographic trends are unmistakable.  Just look at the Census Bureau statistics.

California’s Population Loss

In the Ventura County Star: Population loss: new era or pandemic glitch? The article begins:

“The numbers suggest a major change is underway in California. It would take a Nostradamus to know if that change is real and long lasting or if those proclaiming it are merely overreacting to a pandemic-induced glitch.

“We are in this new demographic era for California of very slow growth or maybe even negative growth,” pronounces Hans Johnson, a demographer for the Public Policy Institute of California.

Here are the numbers, and some of the implications if those numbers represent a trend rather than merely a glitch spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused many millions around the world to hunker down wherever they were:

U.S. Census figures show California lost 262,000 residents between July 1, 2020 and the same date last year. That represented a net loss of .06% in population.”

Drone Carrying Handguns from U.S. to Canada

Peter sent this: Drone carrying bag of handguns from United States to Canada intercepted by tree.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“It was farmers that took all that land and made it America…It was farmers that went over the mountains, and cleared the land, and settled it, and farmed it, and hung onto their land.” –  Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farmer Boy, 1933.

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 4, 2022

May 4th 1943 – A patent for helicopter controls was obtained by Igor Sikorsky. Sikorsky designed and patented improvements to fixed-wing and multi-engined aircraft, transoceanic flying boats, and most famously, helicopters.

On May 4, 1415, reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus were condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance. The death of Hus inspired the later Hussite revolution in Bohemia.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 100 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. 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,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. 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).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  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. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 100 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

Lathe-Cutting Screw Threads – Part 2, by Steve A.

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

Screw design must be considered. If the screw shank will go into a hole drilled to accept the nominal size of the threaded fastener then this diameter must be cut all the way to the screw head. If this is a fully custom application you can, of course, leave the shank any size you desire. In this case, the hole in the fixture was made to accept the existing blank screw shank diameter.

The trick in all of this work is holding a relatively long, small diameter, and fragile part for threading in the lathe. The holding tool being made boils down to a metal collet that fits and centers the screw shaft in the lathe chuck. The collet holds a section of the work as long as the collet’s length firmly at one end, while the tailstock center supports the other end. This arrangement better supports and grips the work than simply putting the screw head in the lathe chuck and minimizes flex during the threading operation.Continue reading“Lathe-Cutting Screw Threads – Part 2, by Steve A.”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

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. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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The Department of Homeland Security’s newly-announced Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) has me puzzled. There is nothing in the DHS charter that mentions such an agency or function.  So, I must ask: How can they exist without a congressional mandate nor congressionally-authorized funding? Is KGB DGB Director Nina Jankowicz planning to handle this in her spare time? By the way, I should mention that the leftist Democrat Nina Jankowicz has a degree in Russian Studies. How apropos, since it was the Russians during the Soviet communist era who coined the term dezintformatsaya.  (Disinformation.) Take a few minutes to watch Montana-based commentator Matt Christiansen’s revelations about Nina Jankowicz, and his commentary on her disdain for the First Amendment. – JWR

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In the Battle Over the Right to Repair, Open-Source Tractors Offer an Alternative.

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Some wisdom from firearms trainer Frank Sharpe of Fortress Defense Consultants: Warning Shots.

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Tennessee Makes Ivermectin Available Without Prescription.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or controul the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know.

This sacred Privilege is so essential to free Governments, that the Security of Property, and the Freedom of Speech always go together; and in those wretched Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any Thing else his own. Whoever would overthrow the Liberty of a Nation, must begin by subduing the Freeness of Speech; a Thing terrible to Publick Traytors.” – Benjamin Frankiln, writing as: “The Widow Silence Dogood”.

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 3, 2022

His 70th birthday! May 3rd, 1952 was the birthday of Pastor Chuck Baldwin. His ministry has strongly promoted the American Redoubt movement.

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I was saddened to hear that pro-gun novelist John Ross passed away. He is of course remembered as the author of the very influential novel Unintended Consequences. Please say a prayer for his family members.

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Two interesting new SurvivalRealty.com property listings:

1.) West of Socorro, New Mexico: Unique New Mexico Mountain Home – Prepper/Safe Haven, Hunting Camp. It even has a fallout shelter!

2.)  Beautiful and practical, ideal for lifestyle and as a refuge: A 10-acre mini-ranch overlooking Helena, Montana, set up for cattle.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 100 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. 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,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. 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).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  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. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 100 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

Lathe-Cutting Screw Threads – Part 1, by Steve A.

Making, modifying, and using threaded fasteners seems to me to be a pretty basic part of repairs needed in keeping things running. I realize that the following information is not likely to be directly used by many of the readers due to the use of a metal lathe and the terminology. An amateur machinist should be able to make threaded fasteners as described. In any event there are absolutely a number of good ways to accomplish making a threaded fastener. Understanding that this just scratches the surface of the topic, I hope that it will reach a few folks and maybe generate some discussion on how we will make and repair items in the future if needed

A metal lathe is the queen of machine tools, sometimes described as the mother of all machine tools. One of the most commonly encountered types of metal lathes is the engine lathe. These tools can turn, drill, bore, and thread steel and other metals into useful shapes. The effective use of the metal lathe normally requires years of experience to gain knowledge and skill.Continue reading“Lathe-Cutting Screw Threads – Part 1, by Steve A.”

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 recognize the 50th anniversary Sunshine Mine disaster. (See the Idaho section.)

Region-Wide

A useful list, over at the Radio Free Redoubt web site: American Redoubt Churches.

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What Is The Liberty State Movement?

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I missed this article, published early in the year: Oregon County explores the next steps in the movement to be part of Idaho.

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Avista requests natural gas price adjustment in Washington and Idaho.

Idaho

50 years since Sunshine Mine disaster. A quote:

“Monday marks 50 years since one of the darkest days in the Silver Valley.

On May 2, 1972 a fire erupted in Shoshone County’s Sunshine Mine. More than 170 miners were deep inside and trapped when the fire erupted.

Crews worked to evacuated the workers but after 80 were lifted to safety, the hoist operator died from smoke inhalation. Ninety one workers were killed from carbon monoxide poisoning.

A week later, two miners who had found a safe zone were rescued from nearly a mile beneath the ground.”

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Idaho water officials issue emergency drought declaration for majority of state.

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‘Power in the wrong hands’: Former Idaho lawmaker found guilty of raping 19-year-old intern.

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Idaho men banned from hunting for unlawful killing of bear.

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Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell appear in court for murder; Vallow pleads not guilty.

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