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 robotic gold mining, in the near future.

Precious Metals (Robotic Gold Mining):

First up, some real food for thought: Assessing the long-term Gold and Silver market (2030-2060). JWR’s Comments: I take his prediction of robotic gold mining as further validation of my view that silver will substantially out-perform gold in the next couple of decades. (A robot could isolate gold nuggets, flakes, and dust. But silver, in contrast, is hardly ever found in those forms.) By the way, I believe that robotic beach or shallow offshore sands mining will be far less risky and less expensive than deep sea floor mining. It is worth mentioning that beach mining in Alaska has recently had quite a renaissance.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“One of the arguments that had been made against gun control was that an armed citizenry was the final bulwark against tyranny. My response had been that untrained, lightly-armed non-soldiers couldn’t prevail against a modern army. I had concluded that the qualitative difference in firepower was such that all of the previous rules of guerilla war no longer applied. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan demonstrated that wasn’t true. Repelling an armed invasion is not something that American citizens are likely to face, but the possibility of a despotic government coming to power is not wholly unthinkable. One of the sequellae of Vietnam was the rise of the Khmer Rouge and slaughter of perhaps a million Cambodian citizens. Those citizens, like the Jews in Germany or the Armenians in Turkey, were unarmed and thus utterly and completely defenseless against police and paramilitary. An armed minority was able to kill and terrorize unarmed victims with total impunity.” – Paul Hagar, “Why I Carry”

Planning, Training, and Exercising for “Bug Out”- Part 1, by Mr. E

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Many of us, myself included, have been guilty of fantasizing about what we would do during a scenario where we would want to “bug out”. It is easy to say things like, “My plan is to grab my go bag, my family, and run for the the hills.” For others, it is easy to imagine ourselves traversing chaotic streets with a group of our most trusted friends, loaded to the teeth with weaponry, battling our way to our off the grid location. While no doubt these daydreams can be interesting to entertain, it is important we take a holistic and realistic approach to “bugging out”.

There are plenty of fantastic articles on why you should or shouldn’t bug out and even more on how to set up and prepare your area of refuge that you and your group will bug out to. For the purposes of this article, we will be simply focusing on the skills involved with planning, training, and exercising your bug out plan after the decision to leave has been made.

The Planning, Training, and Exercising Process

These three skills– planning, training, and exercising– are based on tried and true emergency management principles and are currently being used by both public and private institutions all across the nation. The benefit of this plan, train, exercise process is that it allows you and your group to take an all-hazards approach to preparing for a plethora of disasters and emergencies. It is important to understand that your bug out plan standardizes the way you and your group handle this process. This plan helps ensure that everyone has a common understanding of what they are expected to do during your bug out.

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Letter: Relocating to the Redoubt — With Firearms

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HJL / JWR

As my family plans for relocation to the Redoubt the biggest question I have is how to move our arms and ammo. I am sure that some Survival Blog readers have made this journey from other states with their collections and any suggestions, guidance, information or experiences from them or yourselves would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for the great resource that you provide at Survival Blog! – T in NC

JWR’s Comment:

Relocating from North Carolina to the Redoubt with guns should be a breeze. Just don’t drive through Illinois!

If you have a moving company handle the move, then carry all of your guns, ammunition, precious metals, and optics in your OWN private vehicle(s), while the movers handle the rest. Movers are notorious for stealing guns. And if one or more disappears, they typically only pay you “by the pound” for what is massing, and that is a pittance.

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”. Flu season is upon us and the saline shortage gets worse!

Saline Shortage

Reader DMC sent in this article on the current saline shortage. This is actually nothing new, but shows the continuation of an existing problem. For the last several years, Saline has been in short supply and rationing has been the norm in the EMS services. With the loss of the Philippine factory that supplied a significant amount of saline, things have only gotten worse. Companies are trying to source from other places around the world, but supply just can’t keep up. With flu season upon us, this may get serious.

Hepatitis A Update

The Hepatitis A outbreak that started in San Diego has now spread to Utah. The outbreak started with the homeless in San Diego, but has reached a state where it is being spread to other people as well. The outbreak followed some infected homeless to Salt Lake City and now Two workers who have tested positive have potentially exposed thousands of people to the disease. So far 152 cases have been reported with no deaths. Thanks to P.S. for the link.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“In my studies as an attorney and as a United States Senator, I have constantly been amazed by the indifference or even hostility shown the Second Amendment by courts, legislatures, and commentators. James Madison would be startled to hear that his recognition of a right to keep and bear arms, which passed the House by a voice vote without objection and hardly a debate, has since been construed in but a single, and most ambiguous Supreme Court decision, whereas his proposals for freedom of religion, which he made reluctantly out of fear that they would be rejected or narrowed beyond use, and those for freedom of assembly, which passed only after a lengthy and bitter debate, are the subject of scores of detailed and favorable decisions. Thomas Jefferson, who kept a veritable armory of pistols, rifles and shotguns at Monticello, and advised his nephew to forsake other sports in favor of hunting, would be astounded to hear supposed civil libertarians claim firearm ownership should be restricted. Samuel Adams, a handgun owner who pressed for an amendment stating that the “Constitution shall never be construed . . . to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms,” would be shocked to hear that his native state today imposes a year’s sentence, without probation or parole, for carrying a firearm without a police permit.” – Senator Orrin G. Hatch

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – January 10, 2018

January 10th, 1776 is the day that North Carolina Governor, Josiah Martin issued a proclamation calling on the king’s loyal subjects to raise an armed force to combat the “rebels”. This ultimately led to Colonel Donald McLeod leading the men on an assault on the Patriot forces that ended with fifty of his men dead and 880 captured. The defenders lost only two of their number.

Also on this day in 1976 the song “Convoy” by C.W. McCall was the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts.

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A Realistic Assessment of Epidemic Disease After TEOTWAWKI- Part 2, by Dr. DMC

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As we learned yesterday, malaria, like so many other important epidemic illnesses, is a disease of poverty. The poverty we refer to here implies poor housing, poor nutrition, unsanitary and crowded living conditions, and most important, bad water. Remember that the mosquitoes that spread malaria are still around. If America’s high standard of living is destroyed, people will be exposed to the mosquito again, and with time, the parasite will find its way back into the U.S. Malaria is not the only disease to consider either. We have already looked at upper respiratory infections, including influenza (flu), and measles. Today, we will continue examining other threats and how we can minimize them after TEOTWAWKI.

Diarrhea

Bad water, reduced immunity and inadequate sanitation are conditions that inevitably lead to diarrhea epidemics. In a disaster situation, those epidemics are dangerously deadly. Think about the diarrhea outbreaks on the spotless cruise ships that one sees so often in the news. And those occur where sanitation is excellent, where toilets flush and people wash their hands! After disasters, the situation is much worse.

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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 investing in rare postage stamps.

Precious Metals:

First off, there is this, over at the great Alt-Market site: What The Falling Dollar Means For Gold Prices In 2018

Stock Markets:

Equity Euphoria Grips the Entire World. JWR’s Comments: Don’t expect to make any money by jumping in to the markets while they are in the current state of frenzy. This is the stage where you should take your profits and exit gracefully.  It is better to be a year too early than a day too late.

Commodities:

Trump Proposes Most Aggressive Offshore Drilling Plan Ever

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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. This week the focus is a how-to video on how to make hatchet sheaths.

Books:

I’ve noticed this book on the bookshelves when visiting several friends and relatives, so it is probably not a coincidence: 100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative’s Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation

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Winter in the Wilderness: A Field Guide to Primitive Survival Skills

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Primitive Bread: Remembering the Old Ways

 

Movies:

Dunkirk. Speaking of which, this little segment was fascinating: The sound illusion that makes Dunkirk so intense

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Man, Myth,Legend: Milius.  A fine documentary on one of America’s greatest screenwriters. I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Milius a few years ago, at the Safari Club International (SCI) convention in Las Vegas. This was just a few years after his stroke, so his speech was halting. Available for free streaming to those with Amazon Prime.

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Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – January 09, 2018

On this day in 1776, writer Thomas Paine published his pamphlet “Common Sense,” setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for the spread of ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries.

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We are coming up on the end of Round 74 of the SurvivalBlog writing contest and we still have quite a few openings for submissions. If you have ever looked at the prize list and thought “I sure would like that!” now is is your opportunity. Send it in to us via email .

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A Realistic Assessment of Epidemic Disease After TEOTWAWKI- Part 1, by Dr. DMC

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Malaria

In 1850, malaria occurred throughout the entire region of what is now the lower 48 states, with the exception of some of the higher altitudes of the Rocky and Appalachian mountains. It sickened and killed thousands of the pioneers moving westward, even though the type of malaria most common in the country tended not to be the most fatal form of the disease. Today, malaria is so uncommon that American physicians often fail to recognize the rare cases seen in travelers or immigrants.

Cases are rare, and deaths are even rarer. Perhaps surprisingly, the mosquitoes that can spread the disease are still here in very large numbers. So, why did this disease disappear from the U.S.? The answer to this question is very important to anyone interested in preparing for a time when modern medicine and public health would not be available. It demonstrates that unexpected diseases will provide more danger to survivors than will all the roving gangs and escaped prisoners combined.

Why Malaria Not in U.S. Anymore

One might guess that the reason malaria is not here anymore is because we cured all of the cases with drugs and killed a whole lot of mosquitoes with insecticides, eventually eliminating the parasite that causes the disease. These actions obviously played some role in the elimination of the disease, but they really were relatively minor factors. After WWII, two very powerful tools for fighting malaria became available to fight malaria: DDT and the anti-malaria drug chloroquine. They were both inexpensive and very effective, so health workers throughout the country started using them extensively to fight the disease.

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SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on Montana Tactical.

Region-Wide

The Redoubt series at The Sandpoint Reader tabloid newspaper concluded on this upbeat note: The American Redoubt Series: Why the Redoubt? Some insights into the motivation for strategic relocation. This was a “reader written” piece that is quite pro-American Redoubt movement.

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Fractured West: In Oregon and elsewhere, rural residents increasingly balk at Democrats’ progressive governance.

Idaho

Anyone who has not yet visited north Idaho may wonder why it is considered so appealing.  This video will show you why: North Idaho Wilderness Beauty

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Here is a Vice News video segment about Central Idaho’s new Dark Sky Reserve: The Darkest Place In America. (Scroll forward to 18:15, for that report.)

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