Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on the Fed’s Great Unwinding. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Economy & Finance:

At Wolf Street: The Fed’s QE Unwind Reaches $285 Billion.  JWR’s Comment:  That $285 Billion represents a reduction of only about 17% of the QE bubble.  Remember: Debt money creation has a multiplying effect. The destruction of debt money has a reverse multiplying effect! (Credit implosion.) Unless the Fed Board of Governors unwind their balance sheet very slowly, they are likely to burst the credit bubble and crash the global financial system. Politically, this may be just they want: Turning President Trump into another President Herbert Hoover.

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A primer from Wells Capital Management:  The Fed’s balance sheet normalization plan

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Back in October, 2017, we read: Unwinding QE could trigger financial crisis, warns JP Morgan

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I began teaching my son how to shoot when he was two, starting with the basics of a BB rifle. My theory is that kids get into trouble because of curiosity—if you don’t satisfy it, you’re asking for big problems. If you inform them and carefully instruct them on safety when they’re young, you avoid a lot of the trouble. My son has learned to respect weapons. I’ve always told him, if you want to use a gun, come get me. There’s nothing I like better than shooting.” – Chris Kyle, American Sniper

Preparedness Notes for Sunday – October 07, 2018

October 7th is the day that we remember the 96 American POWs from Wake Island that were executed on the orders of the commander of the Japanese garrison on the island, Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara. The execution of those American POWs who were blindfolded and shot in cold blood, remains one of the more brutal episodes of the war in the Pacific.

Survival Notes from Canada for October 7th, 2018, by Clint Ekert

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First off Ol’ Clint would like to thank the readers and the editors for reading this and giving me a voice.

A Foundation of Christianity

This country, your country, and my country was built on the Christian faith. Is this to your liking?

Your best, number one prep number above all is to “get right with God”, a Christian God. Why? It’s about a connection to the Creator beyond the material.

“I have never heard of a man who would staunchly face a firing squad for the sake of defending the truth of the Law of Gravity or 2×2=4. But FAITH in the seemingly irrelevant (at the time) and immaterial teachings of Jesus Christ generated such tremendous MORAL FORCE in MILLIONS of human beings for the past TWO THOUSAND YEARS, that people willingly and happily accept violent death and tortures rather than deny their belief in Christ!” – Thomas Schuman/AKA Yuri Bremenov

I helped build houses before. I do know at the very least one thing about building a house, and that is that once the foundation is set, if you break that foundation in any way, or try to replace it with another material, the house will fall. It’s plain and simple.

Continue reading“Survival Notes from Canada for October 7th, 2018, by Clint Ekert”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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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 “HJL”  — this week with JWR filling in.

More About the Baofeng Dual Ban Transceiver Import Ban

To follow up on a couple of previous posts, here is some recent video commentary from a ham operator: FCC DA 18-980 Chinese BaoFeng Radio Ban Will Regulate Amateur Operators. JWR’s Comment: This is a serious ban, folks! Buy your five-pack box of UV5R handie-talkies now, while they are still both available and affordable!

More Levi Strauss Anti-Gun Politicking

Reader DSV sent us this: A Month Ago, Levi’s Wanted Your Guns. Now They Want You To Elect People To Take Them.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” – Revelation 22:17 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday – October 06, 2018

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October 6 is the birthday of Thor Heyerdahl. (Born 1914, died April 18, 2002.) Although his east-to-west theory of Pacific Ocean transmigration was later disproved by genetics studies, his many adventures were still remarkable.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 79 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. 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,
  3. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances, and
  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).

Round 79 ends on November 30th, 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.

Smoke Grenades – Any Utility?, by T. in Virginia

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I’ve participated in a few discussions recently about the utility, if any, of smoke grenades and similar devices to an average person, or even a reasonably trained and equipped prepper, in a SHTF situation. There are certainly some valid points to both sides of the arguments. So, this short article is intended to share a few thoughts to help SurvivalBlog readers make up their own minds.

Smoke grenade use generally falls into two areas— signaling or obscuration. Large scale smoke, such as from vehicle-mounted or stationary military-style generators, can also have other applications that are beyond the intended scope of this article.

Signaling

Signaling is fairly self-explanatory in that a specific smoke signal is used to visually transmit a pre-arranged message. This application most often uses the smaller volume, slightly lighter military M18 colored smoke grenades, or their commercial equivalent.

Pre-arranged Wording in Use/Message

That “pre-arranged” wording in the use explanation is critical; yellow smoke is meaningless, unless both the sender and observer know what that yellow smoke is intended to mean. Does that yellow smoke mean “Yes, I’m the one telling you to come over here and that it is safe”. Or does it mean “Emergency! Flee now!”? Only an agreed-upon SOP can answer that, which diminishes the real world, real time value to many people.

Continue reading“Smoke Grenades – Any Utility?, by T. in Virginia”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, 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 the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:

I was finally able to burn my slash piles this week. I waited to burn the three largest ones on a rainy day, for the sake of safety.  Those briefly had flames going 30 feet in the air. Only two of the piles had any stumps. As usual, those were the ones that took several days to tend. The other piles were completely consumed in less than eight hours each.

With a tractor, we hauled more manure in to the main garden.  After rototilling that in, the garden will be ready for winter. The greenhouse is still producing well.  We presently have tomatoes ripening in too great an abundance to can them all before they would start to spoil.  So we are giving a lot of them away to neighbors.

To get ready for winter, I’ve been busy stowing two of our three ATVs in an outbuilding. Sta-Bil was added to their fuel tanks, per my seasonal SOP. I’ve also been draining and bundling garden hoses. There is now possible snow  forecast within two weeks, so I will need to pick up the pace of my pre-winter preps!

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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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 “HJL”  — this week with JWR filling in.

The 42 School Bus Doomsday Shelter

This is a fascinating video: Man Who Buried 42 School Buses To Make Huge Doomsday Shelter Is Finally Showing People The Inside.

 

The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies

In a widely circulated Bloomberg article: “The attack by Chinese spies reached almost 30 U.S. companies, including Amazon and Apple, by compromising America’s technology supply chain, according to extensive interviews with government and corporate sources.”

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” – Genesis 6:5-6 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – October 05, 2018

October 5, 1703 is the birthday of Jonathan Edwards. He died March 22, 1758 and was a prolific Calvinist theological writer. Many of his writings were later collected in the multi-volume book The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, edited by John Gerstner.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 79 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. 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,
  3. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances, and
  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).

Round 79 ends on November 30th, 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.

Knowledge For Outside The Norm, by Phoenix WEA

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If you’re like me and you spend a great deal of time reading articles and books or viewing videos about survival and prepping, this article will resonate with you. Getting out there with boots on the ground, learning the basics, is very important. However, what I would like to offer you today are some out-of-the-box suggestions to keep in mind while you train. It’s knowledge for outside the norm.

Water

To start, if your scenario requires you to walk several miles to get home, you will need water. Well, most people don’t think about the water that’s in the pipes under homes. Most new constructed homes have easy access to their CPVC pipes in the crawl space. The pipes can be easily cut and drained into a large container. I can tell you from experience even a half inch pipe can hold a large quantity of water, so be prepared for that. I would just boil or filter this water before drinking it. Also if you come across a house or business you can find at least one water heater that will often have easy access to 50 gallons of water.

Another way to access water that is not most commonly laid out in prepper sites is the four-point Sillcock key. It is easily found in hardware stores or ordered online. This key will unlock a variety of locked water compartments and faucets on the outside of some businesses and most gas stations. The water is inaccessible without this key, unless you take a great deal of time and energy trying to access it. The ability to drain any leftover water in these lines could save your life.

Continue reading“Knowledge For Outside The Norm, by Phoenix WEA”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on custom knives (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

 

Precious Metals:

Gold Edges Up As U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Near 49-Year Low

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Global Gold-Backed ETF Holdings Decline By 23.7 Tonnes In September – WGC

 

Economy & Finance:

Global stocks are dropping as US treasury yields are at the highest level since 2011

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Verizon’s severance offer goes to about 44,000 employees

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Men speak of dreaming as if it were a phenomenon of night and sleep. They should know better. All results achieved by us are self-promised, and all self-promises are made in dreams awake. Dreaming is the relief of labor,the wine that sustains us in act. We learn to love labor, not for itself, but for the opportunity it furnishes for dreaming, which is the great under-monotone of real life, unheard, unnoticed, because of its constancy. Living is dreaming. Only in the graves are there no dreams.” – Governor Lew Wallace, Ben Hur