Update: Coping With Inflation–Strategies for Investing, Bartering, Dickering, and Survival

JWR’s Introductory Note: This is an update to an article that I wrote for SurvivalBlog back in December, 2007. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary update re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years.

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As of September, 2025, statistics released by the Federal government claim that the current inflation rate is 3.0 percent. That is utter hogwash. Their statistics cunningly omit “volatile” food and energy prices. It is apparent that something is seriously out of whack. Meanwhile, the buying power of the US Dollar has fallen versus most other currencies. Both under Biden’s administration and now under Trump’s second term, economic growth has slowed substantially.  Ironically, even though credit squeezes are considered deflationary for assets, the next recession (or perhaps depression) will probably turn out to be inflationary at the consumer level. With out-of-control Federal deficit spending and a massive, compounding National Debt,  I expect to see inflation continue and accelerate in the coming years.

Here at the Rawles Ranch, our four largest expenses each month are fuel, groceries, livestock feed, and insurance.  Our health insurance costs have nearly doubled in the past two years. The average new car now costs $50,000. I’m sure that you have seen what has happened to food and feed prices in the past two years. Driven by higher fuel and fertilizer costs, some food costs have gone up by 25%. Beef prices, for example, recently spiked to near record highs. With all of the preceding in mind, we can realistically conclude that the “real world” consumer price inflation rate is somewhere around 12%.Continue reading“Update: Coping With Inflation–Strategies for Investing, Bartering, Dickering, and Survival”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week: 

The latest meme created by JWR:

Meme Text:

Without Taxes, Who Would Build The Roads?

Without Slaves, Who Would Pick The Cotton?

Notes 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!

Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.

 

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.

And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.

And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,

And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.

And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.

And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?

And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?

And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.

But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.

And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?

As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.” – Mark 5: 21-37 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — November 29, 2025

Following several national debt defaults (in 1557, 1575, and 1596), on November 29, 1596, King Philip II of Spain ordered the devaluation of the country’s silver coinage.  This included the famed Spanish Ocho Reales de Plata (“Pieces of Eight”) silver coin. By the 1630s, most coin mintings had 20 to 30% less silver than previously required. This debasement, combined with their sovereign debt, eventually led to the decline of the Spanish empire.

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On November 29, 1890, the first US Army – US Navy football game was played, at West Point. The score: Navy 24, Army 0.

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Today is the birthday of writer Clive Staples (“C.S.”) Lewis, who was born in 1898 and died 22 November 1963.

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Today’s feature article is by JWR.

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We need entries for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 122 begins on December 1st, 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Update: Charity, Civility, Community, and Hope

JWR’s Introductory Note: This is an update to an article that I wrote for SurvivalBlog in December, 2005. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary update re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years.

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Whilst pondering the various possibilities for the future, it is easy to get caught up in the minutiae of radio frequencies, milligram dosages, microns of filtration, calibers, and calories per ounce. (You’ll read plenty of those details in SurvivalBlog. But in doing so. we can easily lose sight of bigger, far more important issues such as charity, civility, community, and hope.

Charity

Most of you reading this are the heads of households who are far better prepared than your neighbors. Your deep larder, expansive fuel storage, advanced skills, and wide range of useful tools will put you in a distinctly advantageous position in the event of a catastrophe. So, I implore you to be charitable, even to those who stubbornly ignored your warnings and shirked their responsibility to provide for their families. My philosophy, oft-repeated, is to give until it hurts.

Civility

Going hand-in-hand with charity is civility. Hard times call for increased caution, but unless you are facing a bad element, there is no need to be mean or offensive. When dealing with neighbors, do your best to keep up he standards or normal pre-Crunch civil interaction. Be courteous, be helpful, be generous, and in all ways pitch in to be a good neighbor. Just be very circumspect about your preparations. Always keep the “need to know” rule in mind, and drill it into the heads of your family members. Unless a neighbor truly needs to know, then you should not mention–or allow to be seen–the nature nor the extent of your preparations. Just make it clear that you have “a little extra” of this or that, to help out neighbors that are in genuine need.

In contrast, when dealing with strangers, it is best to be far more firm but non-threatening. Just leave them with the subtle impression that you are not one to be trifled with. The sight of a holstered pistol on your hip or a rifle close at hand speaks volumes. If you want to help refugees who are transiting your area, then please show the foresight do so anonymously through an intermediary, such as your local church. By donating some of your storage food to your local church, you’ll be able to look firm and resilient to refugees, yet still have good news for them. You can honestly say: “Some people in the community have been leaving food and warm clothing at the church 1/2 mile down the road. It is at 123 Main Street. They will be able to help you. God bless you.” Note that this was carefully phrased in a neutral way, not indicating that you were the donor. Parenthetically, this level of OPSEC means that you will need to carefully brief your church pastors and elders and get their solemn promise to not reveal who provided the food.

Note that this approach fulfils two Biblical mandates: Being charitable (The Old Testament Law of Tzedakah), and avoiding being prideful. It also enhances your family’s safety, by greatly lessening the chance of becoming a target for looters.

Community

I’ve written at length about the need for a genuine sense of community to achieve the best chance of survival in hard times, so I won’t repeat all that here. In essence, lone wolves will not be the most likely survivors. Build a true community, and you will have friends that you can count on (and vice versa), when the Schumer hits the fan.

Hope

As a Christian, I use word “hope” in a far different way than non-Christians do.  When those in the secular world use the word hope, it is usually phrased “I hope so”, meaning that something might happen, or might not happen, depending on different circumstances, attitudes, predispositions, environmental variables, or even randon chance. But in the Christian context, hope means absolute assurance of eternal life for God’s Elect, bought and paid for by Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. With the sure knowledge of my salvation, I am willing to risk more in this life, to do what is right–that is, what I believe will please God, and glorify God. The perils in this mortal life are brief, but the promise of heaven is everlasting. That is my certain hope.

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:

With so many kids, grand-kids, and grand-dogs visiting this week, I didn’t accomplish a lot of prepping or self-sufficiency tasks, other than some candle-making and some informal target shooting. But the week was a lot of fun!  With three dogs in the house (two visting), it was a bit of a muddy-pawed rodeo. Our cats took refuge on top of the hay pile in the barn for most of the duration of the dog visits. Our youngest son celebrated his birthday. Since he is nearing his college graduation and his clothes are almost identical to my size, I gave him two of my spare wool two-piece suits. He’ll certainly need them more than I will.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” – Psalm 100 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Friday — November 28, 2025

On November 28th, 1942,  492 people died in a fire that destroyed the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts. The fire was fueled by flammable tropical decor. This was the deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. History. On that night, the club was filled beyond capacity. The building’s capacity was supposed to be 460 people, but it is estimated that more than 1,000 people were in attendance.

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On November 28th, 1520, Magellan finally reached the Pacific Ocean after navigating the dangerous straits on the southern tip of South America that now bear his name. He became the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.

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Today’s feature article is by JWR.

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We need entries for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 ends on November 30th and Round 122 ends on January 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Update: Critical Capabilities for Retreat Defense: “Move, Shoot, and Communicate”

JWR’s Introductory Note: This is an update to an article that I wrote for SurvivalBlog in December, 2005. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary update re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years.

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As an Army officer, I learned that in order to be effective, any army must have three key abilities: To move, shoot, and communicate. Take away any one of them, and you are ineffective. But if you get all three right, and you can absolutely devastate an opponent–even one that has superior numbers. The same principles apply to defending a survival retreat in a TEOTWAWKI situation.  I will briefly address all three:

Move

In the context of a static retreat position, movement is not as crucial, but don’t overlook the need to conduct commerce, and even the need to move between retreat buildings safely. And, in an absolute worst case, consider the potential need to vacate your retreat in a hurry.  Always have a “Plan B”!

You might consider investing in some mountain bikes or mountain e-bikes, to be able to rapidly move a squad-sized element, to set up an ambush. Both are amazingly quiet.Continue reading“Update: Critical Capabilities for Retreat Defense: “Move, Shoot, and Communicate””

Economics & Investing Media of the Week

In Economics & Investing Media of the Week, we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, and news items of interest to preppers. This week: A map of U.S. job cuts from January to October, 2025.

JWR’s Comments: As you can see, the Trump Administration is sending part of the entrenched D.C. Deep State packing. It is no wonder that the statist Mainstream Media is apoplectic.

The thumbnail below is click-expandable.

 

 

 

 

(Graphic courtesy of Visual Capitalist.)

Economics & Investing Links of Interest

Economics & Investing Media Tips:

Please send your economics and investing links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Thanks!

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“The Lord has not redeemed you so you might enjoy pleasures and luxuries or so that you might abandon yourself to ease and indolence, but rather so you should be prepared to endure all sorts of evils.” – John Calvin

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — November 27, 2025

Happy Thanksgiving!  From the SurvivalBlog family to yours, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Despite the crises in this world and the many mounting pressures, we give thanks to our LORD that you are still here, you are still prepping, and that He will never forsake us.

Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation:

“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor– and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be– That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation–for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war–for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed–for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted–for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually–to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed–to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord–To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us–and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.” – George Washington

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November 27th is the birthday of Ludwig Loewe (November 27, 1837 – September 11, 1886.) He was a merchant, manufacturer, philanthropist, and a member of the German Reichstag. Loewe’s companies became involved in the production of armaments, employing famous designers and creating many notable guns. Ludwig Loewe Company of Berlin produced large numbers of Mauser bolt-action rifles, most famously used in the Second Boer War. Since Loewe was Jewish, many Loewe-made guns are stamped with a Star of David. The Loewe Company became part of the DWM conglomerate in 1897, and that was the last year that guns carried a Loewe maker mark. Hence, all “Loewe”-marked guns are Federally-exempt pre-1899 antiques.

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Today is also the birthday of SurvivalBlog’s Field Gear Editor Emeritus Pat Cascio.  Please pray for him, since he has been in poor health.

Update: Honey–Storage Life, Crystallization, Storage Quantities, and Medicinal Uses

JWR’s Introductory Note: This is an update to an article that I wrote for SurvivalBlog in March, 2007. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary update re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years.

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A series of letters and posts on honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in 2007 prompted several readers to send comments and questions about storing and using honey, which are summarized below. For some of my responses, I relied heavily on these references:

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, news of a bear attack at a school in British Columbia.

Grizzly Attacks a B.C. School Field Trip Group

Reader Chris F. sent this news: Teachers were ‘heroes’ in protecting elementary students from grizzly attack in B.C., officials say. JWR’s Comment:  You may recall Bella Coola as one of the locales of my novel Liberators.

Amazon’s Ring Plans to Scan Everyone’s Face at the Door

H.L. sent us this, from The Washington Post: Amazon’s Ring plans to scan everyone’s face at the door. An excerpt:

“Facial recognition technology is increasingly used in airports, police investigations and sports venues.

Now Amazon’s Ring says it’s putting facial recognition for the first time into its home security doorbells and video cameras. It’s intended to identify your sister, a neighbor or other people you know.

While the feature will be optional for Ring device owners, privacy advocates say it’s unfair that wherever the technology is in use, anyone within sight will have their faces scanned to determine who’s a friend or stranger.

The Ring feature is ‘invasive for anyone who walks within range of your Ring doorbell,’ said Calli Schroeder, senior counsel at the consumer advocacy and policy group Electronic Privacy Information Center. ‘They are not consenting to this.'”

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

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“A thankful heart is one of the primary identifying characteristics of a believer. It stands in stark contrast to pride, selfishness, and worry. And it helps fortify the believer’s trust in the Lord and reliance of His provision, even in the toughest times. No matter how choppy the seas become, a believer’s heart is buoyed by constant praise and gratefulness to the Lord.” – The Late John MacArthur