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 Predicting Future Collector Interest. (See the Tangibles Investing sections.)

Precious Metals:

Precious metals prices forecast to rise during 2018, according to survey

 

Commodities:

The Wall Street Journal reports: U.S. Oil Production Tops 10 Million Barrels A Day for First Time Since 1970
Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Lower the price of burger and people will eat more of it. But food in total is not elastic. There is really no substitute for calories… There are countless fragilities within our agricultural production, purchasing, processing and distribution system. And remember, food is inelastic. The destruction of [civil] order does not require a 70% reduction in calories. It requires that five percent of the population receive 10% less than they need.” – The Eaton Rapids Joe blog

Preparedness Notes for Sunday – February 04, 2018

On this day in 1789, George Washington became the first and only president to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College. This was repeated again on this same day in 1792. Because of the way the early American voting procedure worked, the electors cast two votes with no distinction for president or vice president. Washington was chosen by all of the electors and is considered to have been unanimously elected. Of the others on the ballots, Adams had the most votes and thus became the vice president.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 75 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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. 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 Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 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 75 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.

Rethinking Federal Government Preparedness Resources, by J.P.

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The government can’t always keep you safe, but they can always get you killed. For a long time I’ve held that notion near and dear to my heart only to have it revalidated whenever and wherever calamity strikes our nation. I’m sure there are some bureaucrats that would agree with my opinion. Furthermore, it appears that some people within our government have fought the good fight for the preparedness community when they made available a number of free resources to add to any preparedness library. It just so happens I keep electronic copies of these publications on my smart phone and on a thumb drive, and I have most of them in hard copy as well.

Written for Layperson and Understandable

Each resource provided below is completely open source, unclassified, and generally speaking was written for the layperson. People without specialized technical expertise should find the resources written for professionals understandable and comprehensive in their respective subject. Also, I would encourage people to take these resources at face value and realize that the government wrote them for a specific purpose that may or may not have been entirely for preparedness. Additionally, these resources were picked because they have an acceptable amount of subject matter overlap, without bogging people down with the same information simply reprinted in different sources.

Continue reading“Rethinking Federal Government Preparedness Resources, by J.P.”

Letter: The Real Restrictions of Australia’s Gun Laws on its Citizens

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HJL,

Just wanted to give your readers a taste of what our Australian “Gun Control Act” has meant to law abiding Aussie shooters in light of the articles on “Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban”.

  1. A firearms license is required for all transactions involving firearms, firearm parts (not accessories) and all ammunition sales (license number and amount of ammunition purchased is recorded).
  2. All semi automatic firearms are restricted to an extremely regulated and difficult to obtain Primary Producers License (regardless of caliber).
  3. All handgun licenses are for competition shooting only (or Security Industry), handgun magazines are restricted to 10 rounds maximum, calibers above .357, .38 and 9mm are restricted to members of clubs that shoot silhouette competitions, and range attendance cards must be completed with mandated minimum number of shoots attended per year and per “style” of shoot as your handgun purpose is listed for (IPSC, Western Action, Silhouette etc) and forwarded to Firearms Branch of the State of residence.
  4. Semi automatic and pump action shotguns are again restricted to extremely regulated and difficult to obtain license classes.
  5. Magazine capacity limits on bolt, pump and lever action rifles. Aftermarket magazines restricted to select Brands/Names rather than function, appearance etc.
  6. Conversion kits (ie .45 to .22 caliber) are recorded as a separate firearms not as two parts of the same.
  7. Each state has differing requirements for storage, magazine capacities, license conditions, and one state has a ban on “military style or military appearance” firearms which has immediate seizure of firearms and no allowance to change the stock on a Ruger 77/22 back to a “standard” rifle stock from a “military appearance” one, or then to sell that stock interstate where it is legal.
  8. Firearms are not allowed for personal protection or defense in any form. Lawful, licensed firearm users that have held armed intruders for arrest with their unloaded, lawful firearm have had all their firearms seized and confiscated (including firearms being licensed to their spouse/partner) and have faced months of legal battles for the return of their firearms. If a single firearm is stolen – every firearm is seized by Police regardless if it is locked in a separate safe in a separate room, until their investigation is concluded.
  9. Firearms legislation contains deliberately vague terms such as aforementioned “military appearance” and the term “fit and proper person”. If the Police decide you should not have firearms they will use any history of speeding offenses, parking tickets etc. to demonstrate that you have little to no regard for the law, and therefore are not a “fit and proper person” to hold a firearms license.
  10.  As per usual we face a hostile media who allow Gun Control Advocates unrestricted open forum discussions to put forward their views, opinions and “facts”, and when their “facts” are exposed as lies no retractions are made or one sentence is buried in a report or in the back pages of a newspaper to correct those “facts”.

Please, please, please be vigilant and call for restrictive gun laws and control measures to be repealed, value your freedoms enshrined in The Constitution, and don’t ever let things get to the stage that they are here in Oz.

Cheers, – Aussie Shooter.

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”. The water shortage in South Africa continues to get worse.

Lost Domesticated Plants

Archaeologists have discovered several seed caches throughout the Americas that indicate certain plants had been domesticated that are now just growing wild and considered wild edibles. This is an interesting development and brings up several concepts for food production that you have to wonder about. In today’s world of GMO crops, can they be domesticated again? How hardy are they compared to modern seed? This might be something to think about. Thanks to F.M. for the link.

Parasites

Reader J.C. sent in this article on an increase in parasites that children have picked up on the playground. No, we’re not talking about politics here. This is roundworms and the eggs are shed in feces by stray dogs (and cats) and get ingested by children playing in the dirt. The parasite can interfere with breathing, liver function, eyesight and even intelligence. Since the parasite infection has not been much of an issue in the past, little research has been done on it and most doctors are unaware of it. Yet another reason to get out of the city. While the parasite lives everywhere in North America, it is especially prevalent in conditions where there is congestion of both humans and animals. Obviously, poorer communities are hit harder with it.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” – Matthew 5:11-12 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday – February 03, 2018

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This is the birthday of writer James Michener (1907–1997), known for his very well-researched epic novels, such as Centennial. This is also the birthday of painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894–1978.)

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 75 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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. 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 Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 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 75 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.

Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban- Part 3, by Rector

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I believe a full gun ban in the United States is inevitable. In the first two parts of this article series, I’ve explained why I expect this, through cultural, legal, and demographic trends. Part two discloses the first step for protecting your guns. Let’s move on to the second step in the plan.

Protecting Your Guns (continued)

Step 2: Prepare the Registered Gun Collection

Your Amazon browsing history (now up to 15 years old), your credit card records, your membership in the NRA, your concealed handgun permit, your GPS tracked trips to the gun range, et cetera will provide investigators with clear evidence that you (at one time) were a gun enthusiast. There is no way that you are going to successfully claim that you have “zero” guns to register. Claiming they were all stolen, shipwrecked, or other such nonsense is fun to laugh about, but it isn’t a real strategy. Remember, lying to a Federal Agent is a crime, so you don’t want to do it now or in the future. If they have traced gun purchases to you, it makes sense to still be in possession of the guns when asked. Unless you want to go down shooting right then, have a plan.

Continue reading“Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban- Part 3, by Rector”

The Editors’ Preps for the Week

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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!  This week’s emphasis is on small arms mechanical training.

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,

It was another quiet winter week at the Rawles Ranch.  In addition to homeschooling and our regular chores, we did some review of practical  skills.  Part of this  was re-familiarizing the kids on how to field strip and clean our M4gery carbines. Unlike the U.S. Army’s standard soldier-level field procedure, we also include removing the extractor.  In the second practice session, we raced against each other.  That was great fun for everyone.  Lily even tried it with her eyes closed.  She only had to peek twice.

Note: To avoid losing any of the small “fiddly bits” parts, we had them practice while seated on an old bed sheet spread on the living room floor. Out in the field, we do so over a spread poncho. (And yes, we do carry a few spare small part in our cleaning kits! (At the minimum: A spare firing pit retaining pin, cam pin, and a full extractor assembly–with pin.)

Lily cleaned out the chicken coop yet again this week.  With the outside temperatures hanging around freezing and low forties during the past two weeks the coop becomes very damp and yucky much more quickly, so it is requiring more frequent cleanings.

Continue reading“The Editors’ Preps for the Week”

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”. Homeschooling is under attack in Kalifornia as authorities ignore clear signs of mental sickness and blame the excuse.

Grenade Launcher

Goodwill is apparently the place to obtain your hardware. Reader T.J. sent in this article showing that someone donated a grenade launcher to Goodwill along with several other items. The only problem is that it was loaded – with a live grenade. The launcher was received from another store. Employees said they forwarded it because they didn’t know what it was.

Kalifornia Homeschool

Kalifornia is seeking to treat homeschool families as presumptive child abusers. Despite the clear unconstitutionality of the proposed measure, lawmakers have plans to require invasive procedures. These include home visits, interviews and other government oversight, to force parents to prove that they are not child abusers. The measure comes after a horrifying case where parents chained 13 children who were malnourished and clearly abused claimed they were homeschooling the children. Despite the clear indications that homeschooling had nothing to do with the abuses inflicted on these children, authorities never want a good emergency to go to waste. Indoctrinating your children in their progressive/liberal concepts is priority number one. Thanks to H.L. for the link.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

And one cried unto another, and said,

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
the whole earth is full of his glory.

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Isaiah 6:1-8 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – February 02, 2018

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February 2nd is the birthday of Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum in 1905), died – March 6, 1982) She is of course remembered for her novel Atlas Shrugged, which is considered a Libertarian classic. While I sharply disagree with her views on religion (since she was an atheist), I admire both her skill as a writer and her ability to articulate some core precepts of human liberty.

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 75 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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. 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 Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 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 75 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.

Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban- Part 2, by Rector

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A full gun ban in the United States is inevitable. In part one of this three-part series, I begin to outline the cultural, legal, and demographic reasons I believe this is the case. Let’s continue looking into the changing demographics of the United States and its subsequent affect on the political landscape.

The Enemy Has A Vote

In my former life as an Infantry officer in the U.S. Army, we were fond of saying that “the enemy has a vote”, meaning that our best laid plans were likely to be undone by enemy action. Rest assured, the statists and gun control activists are planning and influencing government, just like we are. The American left is openly discussing how gun registration and confiscation “solved” the gun violence “problem” identified after the mass shooting in Port Arthur Australia in 1996.

I personally cannot stand reading leftist ramblings, but you should maintain awareness of the seriousness with which confiscation is being proposed. Read for yourself here, here, and here. Remember that just 3% of Americans own 50% of all firearms. It’s a big deal to you and me but not so much for the 70% of Americans who don’t own guns of any type. Are 1-2% of us (called “super enthusiasts”) really going to keep the rest of the country at bay indefinitely? We are outnumbered, and it is getting worse.

Continue reading“Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban- Part 2, by Rector”

Letter: Learning New Skills Well

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Hugh,

It’s already February and I suppose a good 90% of all new years resolutions have come and gone. Personally I’m not a big believer in defining the thing I will start or quit each new year. Instead, every November to December, for the past 4 or 5 years, I start thinking the following: what skills will I focus on learning?

To help with the learning process, I group these skills into a few major groups: self-defense, food, medical, and technical/communications. I decide which of those major groups I want to increase my knowledge in, and I focus on it by breaking it down into three specific skills. Of those three skills I chose a beginner, intermediate, and advanced sub category to work on. I find that by applying this kind of focus, I can really build my skill sets without me becoming too overwhelmed.

As an example, here’s this years goals:

Continue reading“Letter: Learning New Skills Well”