Today’s graphic is a map that shows U.S. Cost of Living, By County.
(An Economic Policy Institute graphic, by way of Reddit.)
The thumbnail image below is click-expandable.
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Please send your graphic ideas to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.
“Liberty means to exercise human rights in any manner a person chooses so long as it does not interfere with the exercise of the rights of others. This means, above all else, keeping government out of our lives. Only this path leads to the unleashing of human energies that build civilization, provide security, generate wealth, and protect the people from systematic rights violations. In this sense, only liberty can truly ward off tyranny, the great and eternal foe of mankind.” – Dr. Ron Paul
On May 5, 1893, The Panic of 1893 caused a large crash on the New York Stock Exchange.
May 5th is the birthday of Adrian Carton de Wiart, known as Britain’s “Unstoppable Soldier.” This eccentric Belgian-born soldier served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War; was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; survived two plane crashes; tunneled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and bit off his own fingers when a doctor refused to amputate them.
This is also the birthday of Pat Frank (1908-1964). This was the pen name of newspaper journalist Harry Hart Frank. His 1959 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 65 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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Today’s feature article was too short to qualify as an entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 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.
We should be working with our neighbors to secure our local areas using the resources of a small and like-minded community. Here in remote Montana, where most of my neighbors have large banners hanging on their fences declaring support for Trump, the odds are higher that this community recognizes that they have a mutual liberty interest and will work together at various levels. This is the kind of community we should live in.
Security will be job number one. Establishing a simple-to-use radio communication system to replace a telephone system as a first step can be the core of a community security operation. If our plan is to hole up in our property and defend ourselves as if it is were The Alamo, then we are less likely to be successful against large roving gangs that will eventually be picking off neighbors, one by one. They will employ a well-proven tactic called Concentration of Force. But we can make this tactic less effective if we can be well organized and draw on the manpower and resources of a community. We can use a layered defense that is projected as far outside the community as is practical. We should use patrols to extend our defensive space and to deny the enemy key terrain and the ability to organize an attack upon us. Our radio communications plan for a security operation can be developed separately and designed and used to be as secure as feasible.Continue reading“Food for Thought, and Food for a Defense, by Tunnel Rabbit”
The latest meme created by JWR:
Meme Text:
When I Was Young, I Had Recurring Nightmares That I’d Find Myself at School Wearing Pajamas
But… Now It is an Established Fashion
News Links:
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.
“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array…” – 1 Timothy 2:9 (KJV)
May 4th is now informally known as “Star Wars Day”, because of a silly play on words: “May The Fourth Be With You.”
May 4th 1943 – A patent for helicopter controls was obtained by Igor Sikorsky. Sikorsky invented fixed-winged and multi-engined aircraft, transoceanic flying boats, and most famously, helicopters.
On May 4, 1415, Christian 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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Today we present a guest article on the silver markets by Hubert Moolman, selected by JWR.
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We are in need of entries for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 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.
The analysis of two similar economic cycles over the last century reveals some interesting facts about silver and how it relates to the coming monetary system collapse and reset
Below, is a long-term silver chart showing how silver performed in these similar and specific cycles:
Both cycles start at major gold/silver ratio bottoms in 1919 and 1979 respectively. Very early in the cycles, there was a major interest rate peak (1920 and 1981). The major interest rate peak signals or confirms that conditions are likely to be favourable to debt-based assets for a long time, and unfavourable to gold and silver.
Towards the middle of the cycle the Dow/gold ratio peaked, and this signalled that the downtrend for real assets (like gold and silver) is soon coming to an end, and a long-term uptrend can be expected in real and nominal terms.
In both cases silver made an extreme bottom at point 1 (1932 and 2001), after the Dow/gold ratio peaked.
From this silver bottom in 1932, silver had a long major bull market that ended in early 1980. In the same way we are now in a long major silver bull market that started in 2001, and that could end around a major interest rate peak.
Currently in this cycle, we are just a few years past the important point, which is the major interest rate bottom that came in March of 2020. The similar point in the previous cycle came approximately in 1941, when yearly interest rates on US Treasuries bottomed.
This is the critical point in the cycle. From this point debt and debt-based assets get destroyed while silver prices see some real stellar increases. This point cannot be stressed enough, since debt or credit is what this current world is built on.
The importance of this turning point will be highlighted and confirmed when the collapse and reset of the world monetary system occur. I have recently written about this at my Monetary Reset blog.
Due to the massive debts, the world monetary system is in a very vulnerable state. In order to prepare for what could soon come over the world it is important to understand the critical themes at play.
Below, is a chart that I discuss in detail at the Monetary Reset blog:
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Editor’s Closing Note: Hubert Moolman is an economist and precious metals investing specialist who lives in South Africa. He has written several guest articles that have been posted in SurvivalBlog since 2019. He publishes a Premium Service newsletter as well as a Silver Long-term Fractal Analysis Report that provides more insight regarding the gold and silver markets.
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!
I had a very busy week, traveling and packing Elk Creek Company pre-1899 antique gun orders, and adding guns to our online listings. There have been a lot more orders than usual, following the announcement of the May 20th effective date of the ATF’s new “Engaged in the Business” rule. That will effectively mean the end of firearms purchasing privacy in the United States, except for pre-1899 antique guns, 80% receiver builds, and a few antique replicas.
Early in the week, I traveled out of state to meet on-site with a consulting client at his retreat. That was fun and interesting. But it was also exhausting since it was an 8-hour drive, in both directions.
I re-attached a man door on our barn, that our senior bull had knocked down. A bull can be quite powerful and, well, “bull-headed.” I am amazed at how much damage a bull can do to ranch infrastructure when it simply wants to get somewhere, or even just out of boredom.
And on Thursday and Friday, I took a 10-hour round trip to a gun show. There, I found just a couple of antique guns for my inventory. They are selling more quickly than I can replace them!
Now, Lily’s part of the report…
“A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.
He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.
The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.
Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner.
There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.
The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke.
The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.” – Proverbs 13:1-9 (KJV)
On May 3, 2016, a wildfire forced the evacuation of Fort McMurray, Alberta—the capital of Canada’s tar sand industry—and the surrounding area; ultimately, more than 80,000 people fled the blaze, which caused billions of dollars in losses.
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May 3rd, 1952 was the birthday of Pastor Chuck Baldwin. He has done yeoman service in promoting the American Redoubt movement.
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With gardening and home canning season approaching, I’d like to remind readers about Harvest Guard. They make reusable regular and wide-mouth canning lids. Every serious preparedness-minded family that does home canning should buy several sets of their lids! Take note that Harvest Guard has been a generous SurvivalBlog writing contest prize donor for many years. They deserve your business.
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Today’s feature article was written by SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor: James Wesley, Rawles (JWR).
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We are in great need of entries for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 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.
I’ll try to keep this essay quite short, so that it won’t turn into a lengthy rant.
American society has been decadent for many years. This trend began gradually but it accelerated in the late 1960s. The pace of change increased again in the year 2000, with the 9/11 terror attacks and then the immediate launch of the so-called War On Terror (WOT). Just how a nation can declare war on a noun still baffles me.
Societal decadence accelerated again with the supposed election of Joe Biden. The Bidenistas have pushed America’s rate of societal change to a Wide Open Throttle (WOT) position. Biden’s administration — better termed a regime — is essentially a third term for B.H. Obama and his entire agenda. It is obvious that Obama and his cronies are pulling some strings of the Joe Biden marionette. Susan Rice is Obama’s key intermediary in the Biden White House.
In the past three years under Biden Bin Obama, we’ve seen a gross expansion of government power, open borders, politically-motivated federal prosecutions, absurd levels of Federal spending and growth of the National Debt, and an insane increase in “woke” nonsense, including: ultra-liberal mass media, ultra-liberal schools, the normalization of homosexuality, cross-dressing “story hours”, transgender surgery pushed on minors, men dominating women’s sports, men entering women’s restrooms and locker rooms, men demanding to be housed in women’s prisons, forced use of contrived pronouns, and much more.
A fairly full litany of the ongoing decadence and destruction is described in this succinct video post on X/Twitter by “Western Lensman”: A Warning to America: 25 Ways the US is Being Destroyed.
Continue reading“Societal Change: The Wide-Open Throttle”
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. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the crash in lab-grown diamond prices. (See the Commodities section.)
The NYSE stock market is slumping, and the crypto markets seem uncertain. But gold and silver are still looking quite bullish. These were the opening numbers for the spot markets on Wednesday:
I must reiterate that platinum is looking undervalued. I consider it a strong “buy.” – JWR
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At Gold-Eagle.com: Could the Shift of Gold West to East Set the Stage for a New Gold-Backed Currency?
Republic First Bank Seized By Regulators—First Bank Collapse Of 2024.
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File this one under “Suicidal Tendencies”: California assembly advances universal healthcare in bill that could double taxes.
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Reader D.S.V. sent this: Hertz loses another $200 million from its EVs.
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“Do not bring the Second Amendment into this courtroom. It doesn’t exist here. So you can’t argue Second Amendment. This is New York.” – Judge Abena Darkeh
On May 2, 1780, William Herschel discovered the first binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris.
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On May 2nd, 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a cost of four cents per acre for 828,000 square miles (2,144,520 square km), which soon proved to be a tremendous bargain.
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On May 2, 1945, the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.
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On May 2nd, 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced that high-accuarcy GPS would be made available to the public; the satellite signals had previously been degraded for nonmilitary use.
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Today we present another entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
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More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 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.
