Planning Your Escape – Part 2, by JMD

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(Continued from Part 1.)

Using Google or Bing maps provides you with an initial idea of what the route and terrain for a journey home might look like, but it’s far from the end of your planning. While these maps provide information on roads and walking paths, they don’t include details on possible alternatives like railroad tracks and waterways.

There has been a lot of discussion regarding the use of railroad tracks for travel in a post-SHTF world. On the plus side railways tend to be more isolated from built-up areas, so you may stand a better chance of avoiding people, and they tend avoid steep climbs and drops, which should make traveling somewhat easier. On the other hand, if you’ve ever tried walking a railroad track you know how difficult it can be to comfortably match your stride to the spacing of the ties, and if you need to run you’ll probably end up tripping. It’s also virtually impossible to ride a bike on railroad tracks without rattling your teeth out. Some railroad tracks have a right-of-way dirt road that parallels it that allows for maintenance access, so that may simplify using them for RTB travel.

Another potential advantage of knowing the railways along your route is that railroad bridges can provide an alternative for crossing rivers and other terrain obstacles that may help you avoid trouble on road bridges. Regardless of your view of railroad tracks as a possible route, I’d recommend being aware of where the tracks are along your intended route in case you need to use them. The Open Railway Map Project provides detailed maps of railroad tracks all over the world (both in-use and abandoned), and I include snapshots of the lines along my RTB route as part of my planning documents. Note that the web site is pretty slow to load, so be patient if you use it. If you find it useful for planning, please consider making a donation to help keep it running (I’m not affiliated with it in any way – I just find it to be a useful resource).Continue reading“Planning Your Escape – Part 2, by JMD”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on the Tintin books and movie.

Books:

Now considered politically incorrect, these cartoon format book were some of the favorites of my kids, from around ages 8 to 15: Tintin Paperback Boxed Set (23 titles)

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Always fascinating reading: Guinness World Records 2020

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Polar Vortex: A Novel

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DIY Lithium Batteries: How to Build Your Own Battery Packs

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RV Living: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide to RV Living Full-time

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“If the book is good, is about something that you know, and is truly written, and reading it over you see that this is so, you can let the boys yip and the noise will have that pleasant sound coyotes make on a very cold night when they are out in the snow and you are in your own cabin that you have built or paid for with your work.” – Ernest Hemingway

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — December 3, 2019

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Today is the birthday of actor Brendan Fraser (born, 1968.) He often plays “fish out of water” roles. Preppers of course remember him from Blast From The Past.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any 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. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. 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.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. 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).
  7. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 86 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.

Planning Your Escape – Part 1, by JMD

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In a previous article in SurvivalBlog I wrote about things you could do to help you survive when you’re on the road and traveling. The focus of that article was on what skills, supplies and activities you should consider to increase your chances of surviving while you’re away from home for any period of time, but I received feedback from several folks that the article didn’t really provide much information about how to actually get back home if an event did occur. The goal of this article is to address that gap and provide some ideas and suggestions for planning on how to get back home if you’re away when a significant event occurs, which I’ll refer to a ‘Return to Base (RTB)’ planning. This type of Get Home Bag planning I’ll be focusing on is for large-scale events that impact all or most of the country. Options for smaller regional events where help will eventually show up is what I focused on in my previous article.

One quick note – I use the words ‘acquire’ and ‘obtain’ a number of times throughout this article, and I’d like to avoid a flame war regarding the legality and morality of how you can get hold of required supplies and equipment after an event. I carry gold and silver coins and a stash of cash whenever I travel, so I’m pretty comfortable that I can legally get hold of what I need in an emergency. I know a lot of folks emphatically argue that any form of scavenging or scrounging is nothing more than theft and that they would never do it, but I believe everyone will need to evaluate their own unique situation relative to the circumstances the find themselves in and balance their need to get back home to their family against their moral compass.

[JWR Adds: As previously discussed at length in the SurvivalBlog, “scavenging” would only be justifiable following a massive die-off, where lots of property is truly abandoned, and no heirs could ever be located. In any lesser situation, it is outright theft. There is also the issue of crop gleaning, but morally that can only be done with expressed permission, or permissive signage.]

Why RTB Plan?

Most people tend to at least occasionally take trips away from their home. Unless you’re the kind of person that never gets further than a mile or two from your homestead, there’s always a chance that a major SHTF event can occur while you’re away, and the more time you’re away, the greater the chance that an event will occur while you’re gone. Unfortunately for most people travel is so commonplace that they tend to not think about its ramifications. I recently had a conversation regarding emergency preparations with an acquaintance that commuted back and forth to work – her office was about 20 driving miles away, and it usually takes her about an hour to drive each way. She has a typical office drone job and dresses in decent business clothes for her commute. I asked her how she would get home if major event occurred while she was at work (EMP/CME, earthquake, civil breakdown, etc.) and she couldn’t drive, and she responded that it was “only an hour away” and that she could easily walk that. She had no concept of the actual distance involved, potential weather conditions, roadblocks or any of the other hundreds of factors that could prevent her from ever making it home.Continue reading“Planning Your Escape – Part 1, by JMD”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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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 focus on a major Wyoming interstate freeway closure. (See the Wyoming section.)

Idaho

Idaho school district buys rifles, will warn visitors building is ‘armed’. The article begins:

“The Garden Valley School District is arming itself and a handful of staff members with guns in case of potential security threats moving forward.

According to the district’s school board minutes, the district has purchased four rifles and 2,000 rounds of ammunition.

The district is also considering spending up to $2,000 to purchase extra magazine[s,] rounds and body armor vests, according to school board documents. Each rifle was purchased for $680.”

JWR’s Comment: Hmmmm. Rifles with a $680 pricetag. I’ll bet that those are Rifles of Color.

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T.Z. suggested this from Reason.com: Boise’s New Stadium Referendum Requirement Should Be a Model for Other Cities

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Status conference set for county v. city gun suit

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Pure democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” – James Madison, Federalist # 10, November 22, 1787

Preparedness Notes for Monday — December 2, 2019

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On December 2nd, 1823, what became known as the Monroe Doctrine was declared by President James Monroe to Congress outlining a foreign policy initiative that forbade European interference in the American hemisphere but also asserted U.S. neutrality in regard to future European conflicts.

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Michael Z. Williamson (our Editor At Large) is a prolific science fiction writer and anthologist. His latest anthology, Freehold: Resistance, will be released tomorrow, December 3, 2019. It will be available both in paperback and Kindle formats. I’m confident that it will be greatly enjoyed by sci-fi fans as well as by anyone interested in resistance warfare. There is some coarse language, so this anthology is not for kids.

I plan to post a full review of this book once I’ve completed reading it, in a few days.

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Today, another product review from our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.  But first, here are the results of the writing contest judging for Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog Nonfiction Writing Contest.

Writing Contest Winners Announced — Round 85

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We’ve announced the winners of Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

The top three prize winners will share more than $12,000 worth of prizes. The winners are…

First Prize Winner:

First prize goes to M.B. for his four-part article Black Powder for Self-Reliance, which was posted on October, 8th, 9th,10th, and 11th, 2019. He will receive:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any 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. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
Second Prize Winner:

Second prize goes to Elli O. for her two-part article Our Prepping Journey, which was posted on November 26th & 27th, 2019. She will receive:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. 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.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. 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).
  7. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).
Third Prize Winner:

Third prize goes to Mrs. Alaska for Food Production at a Remote Home, which was posted on November 15, 2019. She will receive:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

 

Honorable Mention Prizes Winners

The writers of the Honorable Mention prize winning articles will each receive $30 Amazon gift certificates.

The nine prize-winning articles are:

Get Busy Writing!

Round 86 began on December 1st and runs for 60 days, so please get busy writing and e-mail us your entry soon. 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.

Rock River Arms LAR-15 Carbine, by Pat Cascio

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This may come as news to some readers, but not all AR-15-style firearms are equal. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that, the brand-new Gee-Whiz AR you just bought, brand-new in the box, for $500 is the equal to the Wow AR that was next to it for $1,200. It just ain’t true – and I don’t care what the guy standing behind the gun counter might tell you. Don’t be taken in by their sales pitch. I actually own a couple of lower-end (in price) ARs and they are good performers, and would probably last for the the rest of my life. But they aren’t ones I’d want to take into combat with me. Oh sure, they’ll make do, for most survival situations, and perhaps even for real-life combat. But I’d make sure I had plenty of spare parts on-hand.

Many AR makers claim that their ARs are made with mil-spec parts, and they are either lying or don’t know the difference between mil-spec and civilian AR gun parts – simple as that.  If they were using all or mostly all mil-spec parts in manufacturing their ARs, then they couldn’t sell them as inexpensively as they do. And, lets be clear on this, I don’t know of any – not any – maker of ARs, that manufactures every single part that goes into producing their ARs. It makes no sense to set-up machining to make the little springs and pins that go in to an AR – when they can have them made to their specs, by an outside vendor – that is, assuming, you can actually get the parts made to your specifications. The US military is very particular, into what goes into making our M16 Rifles and M4 Carbines. Every single part must be to mil-spec – period! We don’t want parts failing in the hands of our troops, because some company produced sub-standard parts, and looking to save a few cents. No sir. We want the best for our troops.

Today we’re checking out an AR-style carbine from Rock River Arms (RRA).They make a huge variety of AR-styles of rifles and carbine – probably one of the best selections or styles you’ll find. And, right off the bat, I’ll tell you this, they have some of the absolute best triggers on all their firearms, right out of the box. They also produce some models in a left handed version – you won’t find many other makers doing this.Continue reading“Rock River Arms LAR-15 Carbine, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: R.J.’s Turkey Tetrazzini

What will you do with that leftover turkey from that big Thanksgiving bird?  Reader R.J. says: Make Turkey Tetrazzini.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. egg noodles, cooked
Olive oil (for oiling your baking dish)
7 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 shallots, minced
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
3 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground white pepper
3 cups of shredded cooked turkey leftovers
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup bread crumbs, preferably fresh
2 green onions, chopped

Directions
  1. Cook the noodles first, drain them, and set them aside.
  2. Pre-heat an oven to 450°F.
  3. Oil a 13″x9″ pyrex baking dish.
  4. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, melt 2 Tbs. of the butter. Add the shallots and mushrooms and sauté them until the mushrooms about 5 minutes, until they begin to brown. Transfer to a large bowl.
  5. In the same frying pan, again over medium-high heat, melt 4 Tbs. of butter. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
  6. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Cook this into a sauce for about 4 minutes stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens, Stir in the salt and white pepper.
  7. Pour the sauce into the bowl with the mushrooms and add the turkey, cooked noodles, 1/2 cup of the cheese and the green onions and stir to combine.
  8. In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs and the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese.
  9. Transfer the turkey mixture to the prepared pyrex baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with the bread crumb mixture. Break the remaining 1 Tbs. butter into small pieces and sprinkle over the top.
  10. Bake about 15 minutes until this tetrazzini is bubbling around the edges and the bread crumbs are golden brown.

SERVING

  • Serve immediately.
  • This recipe serves 6 to 8 people.

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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!

Reader Letter: Second Amendment Sanctuary Resolutions in Virginia

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Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:
I live in New South Maryland, formerly known as Virginia, where our black-face-sporting Governor Northam is brewing gun control legislation plans with the other liberals. In anticipation, 22 Virginia counties have adopted second amendment sanctuary resolutions. My county was among them. I went to the recent public hearing regarding this matter and was joined there by several hundred patriotic Americans in support of their right to keep and bear arms. Many speakers boldly noted to the Board of Supervisors that the Second Amendment is not about hunting, but maintaining an armed citizenry to inhibit government tyranny. The turnout and knowledge level of these fellow citizens is encouraging and makes me hopeful that freedom will be defended, that many will not simply capitulate to socialism or worse.

However, I must temper the enthusiasm of my fellow patriots. The Supervisors in my county have at times taken breathtakingly spineless actions in order to raise taxes, to have someone else to blame. And our county is poorly run by a good old boy network of people growing government for their own benefit. These people protect their own hind ends at all costs, and they commit to no position that will cost them a dime or any credibility with the sleepy voters. Let’s not think that all of a sudden these wimps have awakened to the reality of militant liberalism and are ready to fight. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The resolutions being adopted have no force of law or regulation. The Supervisors in Virginia counties have no authority over local sheriffs, and they have no sway over the State Police, National Guard, Federal law enforcement, or anyone else who might be tasked with gun confiscation. Right before passing the 2A resolution, our Board recognized some EMS personnel for good work, and the 2A document has just as much legal weight as the certificates of appreciation handed to the firemen.

The sheriff stood up in our meeting and proclaimed loudly that he was not going to ignore enforcement of any law, but he is hearing our concerns. He qualified his support multiple times, while sounding like he is on our side. Only time will tell.

Look, when the order for gun confiscation comes down, any sheriff who does not comply will eventually be removed by force by the feds or State Police. If any county politician stands up against them, they will be removed as well. I’ve long believed that gun confiscation will not be practical to implement until food rationing is in place, where the government will have leverage over the population and law enforcement through selective food distribution. Just like in Connecticut and New Jersey today where outlawing firearms/magazines has resulted in embarrassingly few surrenders of hardware, gun owners are not going to give up their firearms without either a fight, or being starved out.

What these 2A sanctuary counties are doing is great, as far as it goes, but don’t expect your local sheriff’s deputies to block the Fed’s access to your home when the order happens. This is the order you may not even hear about until that knock comes at your door. All politicians do everything to serve themselves, all the time, without exception.

Signed, Vigilant in Virginia

P.S.: Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself!

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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 rare postage stamps. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold prices holding steady, waiting for potential trade fallout after Thanksgiving holiday

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H.L. sent us this: Poland Repatriates Gold From Bank of England Storage to ‘Show Strength of its Economy’

Economy & Finance:

Martin W. Armstrong:  QE Versus Managing Benchmark rates.

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At Zero Hedge: Chinese Media Stunner: China Will Be The Next Country To Cut Rates To Zero

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Voting with their feet: After Years of Threats, Schwab Joins Exodus, to Move Headquarters from San Francisco to Texas. Here is a quote:

“In 2015, Schwab still had 2,040 employees in San Francisco. By now, that has shrunk to 1,200.

So the writing was on the wall, when in May 2019, Charles Schwab himself indicated that moving the company’s headquarters out of San Francisco is being kicked around.

‘We’re pretty much a national company now,’ he told the San Francisco Business Times. He was “not sure” the company would remain in San Francisco. ‘We’ll continue looking at that as a possibility,” he said. “The costs of doing business here are so much higher than in some other place.’”

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”