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 how to avoid Auction Fever. (See the Tangibles section, near the end of this column.)  Today’s column is terse, since JWR is traveling to view the eclipse.

 

Precious Metals:

The 46-Year Record of Platinum-Gold Ratios

Stocks:

Ron Paul: 50% stock market plunge ‘conceivable,’ but it’s not President Trump’s fault

 

Commodities:

Next, over at OilPrice.com: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve Is Slowly Dying

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I missed this when it was posted back in April: 2020s To Be A Decade of Disorder For Oil

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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’s focus is on thermal night vision monoculars. (See the Gear section, near the end of this column.)

Books:

How Not To Be Hacked: The Definitive Guide for Regular People

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Nuts! A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne

Music:

Silly Wizard: Wild & Beautiful

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Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – August 22, 2017

August 22nd, 1992 was the second day of the Incident at Ruby Ridge. FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi wounded Randy Weaver, Kevin Harrison and murdered Weaver’s wife, Vicki. It should be noted that in 1994, after being acquitted by a federal court, Weaver filed a federal civil rights case against the FBI and U.S. marshals stemming from the siege. In 1995 the government settled Weaver’s case for $3.1 million. It is commonly thought that had the Weaver family stayed with the trial, the award would have been the full $200 million. In true FBI style, Lon Horiuchi was not prosecuted by the Federal government. When Idaho brought manslaughter charges against him, the trial was moved to Federal court and dismissed. Horiuchi has also been accused of firing unauthorized shots at the Waco siege as well.

How I Stopped Worrying and Used P.M.C.T.- Part 1, by D.D.

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With the apparent imminent collapse that I have focused upon in my years of preparedness, I was worrying. My focus became a frantic effort. I made plans. Yet, wisdom came with P.M.C.T.

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”-Proverbs 16:9

“Man plans and God laughs…” -old Yiddish adage

The Tenth Man Theory

In the 2013 zombie apocalypse movie World War Z the hero has a conversation with an Israeli Mossad agent about the Tenth Man Theory. It states (and I paraphrase) that in the midst of military planning, if nine people agree on a particular strategy or belief, the tenth man is duty-bound to disagree. The rationale behind this is to bring to light problems or other factors that sometimes the majority does not want to acknowledge or is blinded to due to a group-think/herd mentality. I have become my own 10th man, questioning and rethinking my entire strategy of preparedness.

I found it necessary to become my own “devil’s advocate” to prevent my emotional commitment to preparing from completely blinding me to what may become inconvenient realities. There were three realities I needed to see. First, what I was preparing for may happen completely different from what I had envisioned; second, I had to be more mentally prepared, no matter the circumstances; third, what I was preparing for may not happen at all.

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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 Gemini Technologies–the makers of Gemtech supressors.

Idaho (Gemtech)

First off, the announcement of S&Ws buy-out of Gemini Technologies was made in July. They are best known for their great Gemtech suppressors. Since then, the transition has reportedly gone smoothly.  The employees will also continue to work in Idaho. They will be in a new building in the small town of Meridian.  S&W was thrilled to gain Doc Dater’s very clever patents. And of course they’re also inheriting the company’s very loyal customer base. They have no  plans to move Gemini’s operations.  This acquisition leave S&W well-positioned. Why?  What if the Hearing Protection Acts gets through Congress. Yee-haw!

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Reader Bruce F. spotted this article: CCI Opens New .22 Rimfire Production Facility in Idaho. That should help relieve part of the chronic shortage!

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After months of hype, Northwest braces for solar eclipse

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The Redoubt News web site reports: Refugee Resettlement in Sandpoint? … meeting goes Awry but exposes intent. (Thanks to Greg B. for the link.)

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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”. Of special interest is “EARTH EX” as series of emergency exercises scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, 2017 (tomorrow). You might want to know if anyone in your local area is participating.

First Amendment

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order last week. This order effectively halted demonstrations at the Lee Monument for the next 90 days in Richmond. While his intentions may be good (he trying to avoid a repeat of Charlottesville violence) there is just one problem with it. It violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. McAuliffe denies that his order conflicts with the amendment. However, there is more than one constitutional law expert that says it does. Thanks to reader C.S. for the link.

Second Amendment

The Oregon Governor, Kate Brown, signed a bill establishing “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” forcing subjects to surrender their firearms. Any police or a member of the subjects family or household can file a petition with the court. This could lead to an order prohibiting firearms possession if the court believes the subject poses an imminent risk to themselves or others. Of course, we all know that police and family members never lie about such things, especially in domestic cases. As Reader W.W. put it: “This is why you hide a gun or two from everyone!”

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Preparedness Notes for Monday – August 21, 2017

In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon erupted with an estimated billion cubic yards of carbon dioxide gas. The gas had apparently been accumulating in the crater lake, held down by the weight of the water. When it finally erupted, the gas cloud smothered and killed every living animal, including insects, in its path until it dissipated. Outsiders learned of the disaster when they approached the villages and found animal and human bodies on the ground. The best estimate is that 1,700 people and thousands of cattle died.

Cold Steel Heavy Duty Sword Cane, by Pat Cascio

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The Cold Steel Heavy Duty Sword Cane may well be the strongest and without a doubt the sharpest real world sword cane ever built. In 25 years of testing and writing about knives, firearms, and all manner of survival gear, it was done on a professional basis, and I always tried to maintain an unbiased opinion. However, in the case of the Cold Steel Heavy Duty Sword Cane, it was tested for real world use—my own personal, medical use.

My Slow Hip Replacement Recovery

As this is being written, I’m in my eleventh week of recovery from hip replacement surgery. Quite honestly, the recovery is taking much longer than I expected or was led to believe it would. I’ve never been a very patient person, and I thought I’d be back to 100% a few weeks after the surgery. Such is not the case. I’m far from a total recovery, I’m sad to say. However, my therapist told me some weeks back that at that point in my recovery the average person scored a 30 and I scored 60 on a national average. Still, I wasn’t satisfied.

Unfortunately, there is no way to speed up the recovery from this type of surgery, and a full healing takes about a year. My orthopedic surgeon said I was doing so well that instead of returning for a checkup in six months, he told me to return in a year. Still, I’m not satisfied with the recovery time.

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Recipe of the Week: Susie’s Creamy Pie Recipe

The heat of the summer and the busy times call for something fast, easy, and tasty. Try this creamy pie. I highly recommend it. We tried and really liked a mixture of 1 cup blueberries and 1 cup diced strawberries. We also used some fresh cherries from the store for another version, but be sure and remove the pits.

Ingredients

  • One pie crust, baked and cooled (empty)
  • 1 small tub of Cool Whip
  • 1 small package of “Fat free” cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup of powdered sugar
  • Packets of Stevia
  • 2 cups of fresh fruit (whole blueberries or pitted cherries, sliced strawberries or peaches, or some combination like blueberries and strawberries)

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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  derivatives counterparty risk. (See the Derivatives section, below.)

Precious Metals:

This Year’s Best Commodity Is One of the Smallest Metals Markets

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Commentary from Hub Moolman in South Africa:  Gold Set To Rise While Debt-Based Assets Collapse

Stocks:

Stock market’s record-setting rally at risk as doubts grow over Trump agenda. JWR’s Comment: Of course what the Mass Media is not reporting is the fact that most of the controversy was self-generated by the leftist mass media talking heads.  They are shouting and then reporting the loud noise as “news” from within their own echo chamber.

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European shares fall, Barcelona attack weakens travel stocks.

 

Commodities:

Alaska’s Conflicted Oil Future

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Indonesia barters coffee, palm oil for Russian fighter jets

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Situational Awareness Starts in the Home, by J.G.

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Most everyone tends to start life with very low levels of what is called situational or tactical awareness. These words are often mentioned in the same conversations along with the term OPSEC (Operational Security). These same men are wearing MOLLE covered gear talking about fields of fire. They might also include fatal funnels, eyeballs on targets, heads on swivels, and other tactical lingo. However, in case you didn’t know, situational awareness is for everyone.

So where do we begin with this discussion? I’m glad you asked. I believe that tactical awareness, just like kindness, should start in the home.

Mom and Dad’s Roles

My childhood in the 1970s and 80s may be seen as an unusual childhood by today’s standards. But growing up I felt like I had a very normal, stable childhood. I had parents who made a wonderful home life for me and my siblings. My mother was our nurse, teacher, homemaker, financial advisor, and life coach. My father was our PT instructor, outdoor guide, professor, and provider. We were not home-schooled in the current sense of the word, but we were educated at home constantly. There was always a discussion of what we had been taught in public school. Often there was many a correction made to what we had been taught. I guess my parents did this because they believed we were important to the family.

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