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 global economic fallout created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Palladium extends rally as Russia supply risks mount, gold eases.

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Gold Silver, still bullish despite volatility.

Economy & Finance:

US, allies weaponizing sanctions to curb Russian aggression.

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At Zero Hedge:  “Don’t Get Too Excited” – Bill Gross Warns Investors That Surging Inflation Will Topple Stocks.

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Russian Stocks Devastated In London As Moscow Exchange Remains Closed.

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Reader H.L. sent this: Billionaire Ray Dalio has two looming concerns about Ukraine that should worry every investor.

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Russian Stocks Are Nearly Worthless as Ukraine Sanctions Bite.

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Apple & Google Payment Systems Block Russians, Causing Chaos in Moscow Metro System.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don’t like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don’t expect freedom to survive very long.” – Thomas Sowell

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 3, 2022

Today is the birthday of bluegrass musician Doc Watson. He was born in 1923 and passed away in 2012. His guitar work was phenomenal.

This is also the birthday of Alexander Graham Bell, and actor James Doohan, in 1920. He played Montgomery Scott in the Star Trek television series and films. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He passed away on July 20, 2005.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 99 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 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 99 ends on March 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.

 

Silent, Secure Communication – Part 1, by P.J.

Today, we see a growing vulnerability of our communications and how they impact our short term, and long-term lives. With hacking on the rise, electronic protection systems growing more and more complex, Social media nannies, and increased reliance on foreign components (that may have embedded spyware) …Americans are starting to wake up to the thought “maybe what I am saying isn’t private anymore”. You would be correct, and this would hint that a total loss of freedoms of speech and of security of your person has occurred or isn’t far away.

Our liberties are eroding around us in America, and whether we can change the trajectory that our governance is taking us…we can still have some fun playing games. Hey – the military has war games, we can have some too. Today I would like to challenge you all to a game of hide-and-seek. Let me explain.

If you want to hide information that only you and another pre-approved party are privy to, then you need to have ways to conceal that information or encrypt it. Since encryption is not my strongest talent, I will elaborate on the means and methods that allow someone to physically hide and transfer information in a secret manner to minimize the risk of interception. This article will give you means and methods that let you keep your communications obscure and separated from the typical channels. Let’s dive in.

Disclaimer: This article IN NO WAY advocates or encourages criminal activity!

THE DELIVERY

Here are a couple ways that you can be your own James Bond for communications transfers:

Option 1: The Dead Drop

Channel your inner spy with the old classic dead drop. A dead drop is a note, jump drive, CD, signal, etc. that is left in a location that another pre-informed person is supposed to find covertly. The point of a dead drop is that you can transfer a bunch of information where the actual transfer between parties is not witnessed and where both parties are not at the drop point at the same time. This is classic spy tradecraft that you probably read in novels or seen in movies.Continue reading“Silent, Secure Communication – Part 1, by P.J.”

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 many current threat spirals.

FEMA’s Absurd New Nuclear Attack Advice

Reader C.H. forwarded this from FEMA’s “Ready.gov” web site. Here is a quotes from about a third of the way down the web page:

“Stay inside for 24 hours unless local authorities provide other instructions. Continue to practice social distancing by wearing a mask and by keeping a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who not part of your household.”

C.H.’s Comments: “Because, you know, during a nuclear attack COVID exposure is the primary concern. I long for the days when adults were in charge of government.”

Microsoft’s Cyberwar in Ukraine

As the tanks rolled into Ukraine, so did Malware; Then Microsoft entered the war.

America’s Power Grid Is Increasingly Unreliable

In The Wall Street Journal: America’s Power Grid Is Increasingly Unreliable.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Conservatives and liberals are kindred spirits as far as government spending is concerned. First, let’s make sure we understand what government spending is. Since government has no resources of its own, and since there’s no Tooth Fairy handing Congress the funds for the programs it enacts, we are forced to recognize that government spending is no less than the confiscation of one person’s property to give it to another to whom it does not belong – in effect, legalized theft.” – Dr. Walter E. Williams

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — March 2, 2022

Today is the birthday of Moe Berg, American baseball player and clandestine agent. (He died in 1972). His biography The Catcher Was a Spy is fascinating reading.

And this is the birthday of libertarian economist Murray Rothbard (born 1926, died 1995) His book For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto is highly recommended.

On March 2nd, 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. Today is coincidentally also the birthday of Sam Houston.

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Because I’ve been on a road trip, I didn’t have the time to write or edit a feature article for today. However, I did create a bonus meme.

I should be back to regular posting, tomorrow.  Thanks for your patience!  – JWR

 

JWR’s Bonus Meme:

The latest meme created by JWR:

The Biden press office tells us the change was “based on the advice of scientific experts.”

To share this, you can find it here: https://kapwi.ng/c/LlzA1i-oYM

Meme Text:

In An Amazing Coincidence, Team Biden Quietly Dropped All Of Their COVID Restrictions on 80% of Americans…

Just Four Days After The Ukrainian Invasion Began, And Two Days After The Truckers’ Convoy to the Capitol Began Rolling.

News Link: Jen Psaki’s Announcement.

 

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“If we as Christians do not speak out as authoritarian governments grow from within or come from outside, eventually we or our children will be the enemy of society and the state.

No truly authoritarian government can tolerate those who have a real absolute by which to judge its arbitrary absolutes and who speak out and act upon that absolute.” – Francis A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture

Recruiting Law Enforcement & Veterans for Your Group, by C.J.B.

Prior to an “end of the world” scenario… one can add or enhance your group’s abilities, skill-sets, technical knowledge, and tactical prowess by adding veterans, reserve military members, and law enforcement personnel (LEOs) to your team roster.

So what do veterans/military members and law enforcement professionals bring to the table?

Intangibles/Tangibles: There are several unique and service-focused skills, mindsets, technical and tactical knowledge and experiences that military and LEOs can field to the benefit of your organization/group. Moreover, most have their own individual gear, and will or can be sympathetic to the prepper’s causes. Additionally, they may have access to body armor, helmets, assorted gear, and firearms more readily than a common person.

Teamwork Focused: For starters the above-mentioned class of individuals tend to know how to work as an effective team member, follow instructions, and be a positive force multiplier for most groups. Especially, those members who served or are currently serving in combat-arms MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) fields, and police officers or sheriff’s deputies. At times, being a “team player” is a life-and-death matter for this group of people, and this is an important core value that is imparted to them from day one of their training.

Communication-Centered: Additionally, these service members tend to know how to affectively use advanced radio communications skills or less- than- common communication techniques (arm and hand signals, Morse Code, smoke and flare signals, 10-codes, phonetic alphabets, and encrypted messaging).

Tactical Training: Tactical training is embedded in most of this group’s individual DNA. Army soldiers, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and law enforcement officers tend to have advanced firearms/ tactical training, bought and paid for by the government in a “ready to serve your group” package. I served almost 18-years in the U.S. Army and am currently a peace officer, and I can’t count how many thousands of rounds I’ve fired downrange, or how many buildings and rooms I’ve had to clear throughout my career- not only in training, but in real world situations and scenarios. You can safely bet that most if not all service members and LEO personnel have a solid, basic, tactical/firearms foundation, if not advanced.Continue reading“Recruiting Law Enforcement & Veterans for Your Group, by C.J.B.”

February 2022 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

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.

What Did Gold Do in February?

Well, so much for all the notes I made this month!
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was naturally the big news in all markets this month. Gold rose $1,800 at the start of the month, up $100 to over $1,900 by the 17th after the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine between separatists and the government broke down.

Gold prices spiked to a 5-year high of more than $1,970 the day of the Russian invasion, but then fell all the way back below $1,900. Gold spent the rest of the month jumping much higher in Europe, then easing as US traders booked profits or sold short later in the day. This resulted in the $1,900 mark becoming the first price support level.

Factors Affecting Gold This Month

UKRAINE

Worries over a war in Ukraine rapidly overtook inflation as the #1 driver in gold prices in February. Gold prices jumped $35 to more than $1,900 on the 17th, after conflict broke out in the separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.  Gold hit a 5-year high of more than $1,970 and silver rose above $25.65 as Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine on the 24th.

The craziest part of the day as far as gold was concerned was that it ended the US trading day back at $1,900. It remained near this level for the rest of the month.

If you’re in Russia, or have your money in a Russian bank in Europe, it’s probably too late to get your fiat money out. Now that Russian banks have been barred from the international SWIFT payments system, they can’t bring in money from out of the country, and they can’t support their bank branches in Europe. This means that the thousands of people waiting in line at ATMs in Russia are probably going to be disappointed. Not that their rubles will buy much anymore.

The European division of Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, has been hit by a massive bank run as people try to get their money out. This has led to banking authorities restricting cash withdrawals to prevent them from failing. Everyone should have bought bullion!Continue reading“February 2022 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran”

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, a special edition of this column, featuring drone and other aerial films from the American Redoubt region.

Idaho

Idaho 2015.

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Coeur d’Alene Idaho Drone Video – An Aerial Love Story.

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I’ve been linking to this one for a decade: Patriots – Surviving the Coming Collapse – Trike Flying.
Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”