May in Precious Metals by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review. Here, we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover the price action of gold, and examine the “what” and “why” behind those numbers. This column is authored by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins. Today, we highlight the effects of terrorism on the price of gold.

What Did Gold Do in May?

Gold stated the month of May right at $1,268. However, unexpectedly strong economic data blasted prices down by $40 an ounce to a seven-week low in the first week. The first estimate for the US economy in the second quarter was far higher than anyone expected, and the Federal Reserve declaring first quarter weakness was temporary.

Gold prices bottomed out on May 11, and began an uptrend that saw the gold market erase all of May’s losses by the end of the month. May 17th saw the largest one-day gains for gold since last year’s Brexit vote. Action was choppy in a tight range for the rest of the month. Gold jumped more than $10 an ounce on the last day of trading, to close out May right where it started, at $1,268.

Factors Affecting Gold This Month

If you had to name the largest influences on gold in May, you could sum it up in the phrase “Terror, Tories, and Trump”.

TERRORISM:  ATTACK ON BRITISH CHILDREN

The most shocking incident in May was the suicide bomb blast  in Manchester, England. There, children and young teens were deliberately targeted for murder. The bomber killed 22 people and wounded more. (Some of those, critically.)

As British authorities uncovered a pro-ISIS terrorist network in and around Manchester, they warned that another attack could be imminent. They believe that the attacker did not have the skills to make a suicide bomb, which meant the actual bombmaker was still at large. This news drove safe haven flight into gold.

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Recipe of the Week: Pizza Pasta, by Georgia Girl

Georgia’s Girl’s Pizza Pasta

Ingredients:

  • 3 c. hot water
  • 14 oz. jar of pizza sauce, using a little water with lid on to rinse out the last remaining sauce and add to pot
  • 2 (4 oz) cans mushrooms, drained
  • 2 1/4 c. pasta, such as elbows, spiral, etc. (Mueller’s brand only)
  • Add-ins, such as pepperoni, ground beef, onions, basil, Mrs. Dash, or other herbs and spices you prefer and Mozzarella cheese for topping, shredded is best

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Economics & Investing for Preppers

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. Today we focus on counterparty risk in derivatives contracts. And most of the following items reflect the quirky “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor):


Commodities Economics:

Looking ahead, Nick Cunningham recently posted this forecast: Four Wildly Different Oil Price Scenarios For 2020

Forex:

On to foreign exchange (Forex) news: USD/CAD Continues Decline

Global Stocks and Bonds:

Moving on to the stock and bond markets, U.S. stocks hit an all-time high on Friday.  JWR’s Comment:  I’m definitely not in the Perma-Bull camp. What goes up must come down.  So… What will be the key warning to watch for? Any upcoming interest rate increases by the FOMC. (The Fed sets the Prime Rate, and  generally the Prime Rate sets the tone for the markets.)

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The Editors’ Quote Of The Day

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“The crowded transports of Task Force 53 arrived off Tarawa Atoll shortly after midnight on D-Day. Debarkation began at 0320. The captain of the Zeilin (APA 3) played the Marines Hymn over the public address system, and the sailors cheered as the 2d Battalion, 2d Marines, crawled over the side and down the cargo nets.

At this point, things started to go wrong. Admiral Hill discovered that the transports were in the wrong anchorage, masking some of the fire support ships, and directed them to shift immediately to the correct site. The landing craft bobbed along in the wake of the ships; some Marines had been halfway down the cargo nets when the ships abruptly weighed anchor. Matching the exact LVTs with their assigned assault teams in the darkness became haphazard. Choppy seas made cross-deck transfers between the small craft dangerous.

Few tactical plans survive the opening rounds of execution, particularly in amphibious operations. “The Plan” for D-Day at Betio established H-Hour for the assault waves at 0830. Strike aircraft from the fast carriers would initiate the action with a half-hour bombing raid at 0545. Then the fire support ships would bombard the island from close range for the ensuing 130 minutes. The planes would return for a final strafing run at H-minus-five, then shift to inland targets as the Marines stormed ashore. None of this went according to plan.

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Preparedness Notes for Sunday – June 04, 2017

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On this day in 1944 United States Navy Task Group 22.3 captured U-505. It was a German submarine with an intact Enigma cypher machine. This was the first time since the USS Peacock seized HMS Nautilus in 1815 that the USN had captured an enemy vessel at sea. The sub, reunited with its periscope a decade ago, is displayed at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Note that we’ve improved the blog’s Search Box. We have also expanded our discussion guidelines. Please take a look before you post a comment. Thanks, – JWR

Homestead and Financial Ledger Books- Part 2, by S.T.

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We have been looking at the use and benefit of Homestead Ledger Books. In Part 1, we looked at documenting activities, items harvested, canned or dried, and items sold or orders received. We have looked at a possible scenario from January through September and left off at September after participating in the farmer’s market. Furthermore, let’s look at what activities we might record in our ledger for October.

October

In October, the family could take time to plan out the next year’s garden and locate free buckets. The buckets that could be used to expand the garden output by growing additional plants in these containers. The family could try to locate other containers to use for the plant starts for which we took orders. The children could log information into their own Homestead Financial Ledgers. They then plan out any future income producing projects they wanted to work on. This economics exercise could of course be part of homeschool. The children’s planning should include the items, material costs, sale price, profit, et cetera. They should locate and purchase the materials needed. Success as well as failure are lessons that need to be learned.

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Letter: Gaining Familiarity With Your Prepping Equipment

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Having basic camping supplies is a great insurance to have, just in case. It can be both camping and prepping equipment. Your tent, sleeping bag, outdoor cooking supplies, and forms of electricity-free entertainment, are all ripe for testing, as well. The last thing you want to do, in an emergency, is realize that there’s something you need and/or have overlooked. And testing your equipment doesn’t have to be a complicated ordeal. In my case, I had a friend invite me over for backyard camping, for their birthday. Great! So I brought my camping equipment in order to test it out.

My Tent Experiences

The tent was small, quick, and easy to assemble. You may decide to buy for comfort, or get a larger size, in order to accommodate a family. In my case, I decided that ease of set-up was what I was going for. It may be helpful to set up the tent without the anchoring spikes, so as to test how well it does without them. Next, I unrolled my sleeping bag and threw it in. I got everything done in about ten minutes or so.

But then, that night, I slept in the tent, and realized that I’d be much more comfortable with the addition of a few things – an inflatable pillow, and a camping lantern. So I subsequently bought them online. As for the lantern, I managed to find one that was powered by hand-cranking, and included both a lantern and radio.

Seeds

At home, you can gain familiarity with seed storage, by planting your seeds instead of just saving them. When you plant them in your garden, you get to see how quickly or slowly the plants develop, how much space they require, how hearty they are and what conditions they like best. A garden gives you the opportunity to figure out how to save seeds of your own, that you’ve harvested. There are many videos online, for the novice in this, and growing your own seeds often means that you’ll get a whole lot more than you’d get in a store, by simply buying seed packets. But the knowledge of how to save seeds will be much more valuable to you, in a crisis situation.

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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 “JWR”. Today’s focus is on Terrorism.

Terrorism

First, the eyes of the world are on England, which just suffered more Islamic terrorist attacks.  Please pray that the nation will display the same resolve on terrorism that they did in fighting Nazi aggression in World War II. See this article by John Moody, posted over at Fox News: London terror: Saturday attacks a tipping point in campaign to destroy the West

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More terrorism news, from Manila: “In a most bizarre explanation, local police and government officials insist a gunman carrying an assault rifle broke into Resorts World Manila from a parking lot entrance, fired at a TV screen, doused a gaming table with gasoline and set it on fire. He then proceeded to steal the equivalent of $2.3 million dollars in casino chips, break into the adjoining Maxims Hotel, and then burned himself alive...”

o o oContinue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:17-20 (KJV)

Homestead and Financial Ledger Books- Part 1, by S.T.

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Looking back in time, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and the other founding fathers of the United States all maintained Homestead and Financial Ledger Books of one kind or another. Some, like George Washington, had one for each of his businesses (grist mill, whiskey, et cetera). With the advent of computers and the move to city life, these ledgers have gone out of fashion. But they remain an important tool, and it is to sad that families do not use them anymore. We would spend less on unneeded items if more of these were used.

What Are Homestead Ledgers?

Benjamin Franklin was a printer of many of these Blank Ledger Books .

What are Homestead ledgers? Homestead ledgers are nothing more than simple ledger books that chronicle the every day life on a homestead. They show what is grown, what is made, what is preserved, and what is sold. They also show the income and expenses and net profit.

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Editors’ Prepping Progress

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As preppers work to make progress to achieve prepping goals, we took some actions this week too. The SurvivalBlog editors made plans earlier in the week and now reflect upon these. At this time of year, gardening is at the top of our lists. Below, the editors share what we each accomplished. Please write to us in the comments and tell us what you did this week to get your preps in place and to be ready.

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,
My, what a busy, wonderful week!  We had beautiful weather during the beginning of the week and rain at the end of the week.

Outdoor Skills Acquisition

First of all, we worked on boating safety and paddling skills in the river that flows through the Rawles’ Ranch, several times.  One of those times was with friends.   That day was a beautiful day and a wonderful time spent with them and their children.  The young ones are becoming proficient in maneuvering the canoes and Kayaks.  They are doing well with front strokes, front and back sweeps, J-strokes, draws and push-aways, and other strokes. Fun!

No, we didn’t hike this week. We were too busy. Maybe next week…

In The Garden

Every year gardening is a great experiment to see what will grow.  There is always all kinds of variables that interfere or enhance the ability of plants to grow.  Some years, some crops go gangbusters and the next year they do very poorly.  Lily enjoys the sowing process and waiting with expectation to see what grows, and how it yields.  It is always exciting to see the seedlings break through the soil looking so healthy and promising.  Currently the zucchini, other squashes, and asparagus planted last week have pushed their cotyledon leaves out/shooting up stalks.  They’re looking good.  So do the onions.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. This is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Today’s focus is on EMP.

Prevent Drowning Deaths!

Clark H. sent this important article link: Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

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G.G. suggested this at Popular Science: Special forces are getting a stealth motorcycle that’s silent and deadly

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The Editors’ Quote Of The Day

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.”  – Psalm 32 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – June 02, 2017

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On June 2, 1774, Parliament renewed the quartering Act allowing British military to stay in private homes if necessary, completing the Coercive Acts. The Quartering Act, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Boston Port Act, were known as the Coercive Acts. These Acts were Parliament’s way of asserting their control over the colonists after the Boston Tea Party and were one of the main motivations for the 3rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.