Preppers Need Fun Too

With all the doom and gloom going on, we might forget the need to balance things out by doing something other than preparing for the dire conditions of the next couple years. Try to think of something that might be fun to do without cutting into your limited funds that will be needed to get through. I can't tell anyone else what to do since each person has their own idea of what is actually fun but some things I like that don't cost anything are going for a bike ride with the kids or a trip to the library (here we don't even need to drive to get there).

There is a red box movie rental at the local grocery store here where you can rent a movie for only a dollar. How about having a family night with a good movie and some nachos or pizza (some frozen ones aren't bad nowadays and a lot cheaper than the 20 dollar delivered ones). If you're like us, we load up one side with weird items like broccoli and pine nuts, etc and leave the other half for those less adventurous.

For some, just getting out and working in your garden is relaxing. Ours is winding down although some crops have not reached their full potential. But it's getting cold now and soon we'll get that first frost that will do in the remaining plants if not covered. Watch your local weather forecasts and pick what you can beforehand.

I've noticed lately that sometimes dining out can be about as cheap as getting groceries for simple meals at home. A lot of places are trying to bring in business by running specials, knowing that people are eating out less lately. Find one of those or, as we do here, get one of those local coupon books that the kids sell and you can usually buy one meal and get one free. (Or try coupons from the paper or online.)

The Dove Family Films are run at a local theater here where kids get in free and sometimes they have specials going on for the concessions. Otherwise look out for the concession prices: they can add up fast. That's how they make most of their money. Kind of like gas stations that make their money on the overpriced items and not the gas.

We will probably get some decent weather before winter although it doesn't look like it today. That would be a good time to pack a lunch and go on a hike or have a picnic at the local park. The hiking part is not my favorite, being a confirmed couch potato, but once you get started it's not that hard. And it can make you feel better: those chemicals that get released in the body, ya know.

Mall walking can be good exercise and fun for some but watch out for the temptations all around to entice people to buy. Of course, if you need items and have the money they may have deals on them. (A lot of times you can find better prices at places other than the mall.) Anyway, if the controllers have their way, your money won't be worth much when the inflationary policies go out of control. Just be sure to keep enough to get through several months at least.

Population Reduction

You would think that, being out of a job, I would have a lot of time to spend on writing but, with seven kids and a disabled wife, there are always tons of things to do around here. Therefore, articles will appear frequently but not on a regular schedule.

Something I wanted to share prompted my making time to come on for a few minutes today. That is the contention that a decrease in population is going to take place in the next year or so. It has been reported that the number 1.25 billion is the amount that the worldwide population will be lowered by.

Most of this decrease, it is said, will be due to food shortages that are foreseen to be on the horizon. This could be due to the so-called death of the oceans, crop failures, economics, oil shortages or other reasons but but it is thought that it will be engineered for some reason. Or a pandemic could contribute as well. In other words, some think that this will be generated by those with the power to do such things.

So, I suggest that some research be done to avoid the disaster touching you or your family. This may be done by searching some of the past survival articles on this site or others. Its hard to imagine that there are some that would resort to such methods in order to further their agenda but, if that would be the case, it would seem that there is evil beyond comprehension with the means to carry out their plans.

Stay safe by preparing the best you can and we will all hope for the best, whatever it is that is on the horizon for us all. In the future I will be reporting on my whistleblower case against the government, which looks like it will be squashed, as I imagined would be the outcome. After all, that's the way things are done in this once land of the free. But that was a very long time ago.

Predictions Report And Economic Survival In Recession Or Deppression

Ben Bernake, center, official mouthpiece for the government, has claimed that the good times are just ahead. (Sound familiar? Its the same slogan used throughout the Great Depression.) He states that the worst is behind us and that we have turned the corner on the economic downturn and are heading back up from here. However, not even President Obama seems to be buying the BS. When asked if he agreed, he simply stated that he would let Bernake make the call as to when it was over.

In the late stages of capitalism that we are in now, there is really nowhere to "turn around" to. The gig is up and the many years of fleecing of the public can not go on indefinitely. The controller's ponzi scheme is about to be discovered by a majority of the people. Especially if they stray from the media hype and start digging a little deeper. For example, if they were to watch the number one documentary producer, Michael Moore's latest attempt on the subject, which is just opening.

This is all nothing new. My college professor, Larry Tift at CMU, wrote a book in the 1980's stating the same thing and teaching it mostly to students who didn't believe a word of it. I did though. Just a decade prior to that, in the early 70's, there were many of us questioning the way things were being done but, for some reason, that didn't last and the scheme was allowed to continue now for about 40 years longer. That's just a testament to the power of cunning manipulation aimed at a totally blind, mentally lazy or ambivalent populace.

Other countries are now talking seriously about not wanting to deal in US dollars any longer, the currency used for years in international business. They seem to know what is about to come down the pike and don't want to be stuck holding the bag. The upcoming G-20 meeting in Philly will serve as a soap box for the countries to air their grievances regarding the failing US dollar.

On top of that, the Federal Reserve has to deal with what is looking more and more like the dreaded audit that they will no longer be able to put off due to the number of people that they are no longer able to convince of their honesty who are now demanding some straight answers. Oh, and the latest news on the Fed is this. They have slipped up and admitted to the watchdog group, GATA, that they have manipulated the price of gold, which has served to allow them to continue their stealing from the masses to enrich their friends.

Add to all of this, the commercial real estate bubble starting to burst (no, you won't hear much of that...can you say cover up?), the rising unemployment figures (that are also fudged to appear lower), the derivative meltdown along with all of the other indicators, and you can pretty much see how badly we are screwed.

Or if you still can't, just wait. October 25th seems to be the consensus for the behind the scenes triggers that will bring everything to light for others who still don't see what is going on. And then by mid November the proverbial crap will start its flight into the blades of the fan. Gold, already on the rise to all time highs, is said to be poised to hit the $1050 per ounce price by year end.

Reports of strange happenings in the US, mostly foreign, are starting to build already. Such as the census taker who was found dead with the word FED carved into his chest reported on at Urban Survival and many other bizarre stories of extreme violence. Haven't heard those? You must be relying totally on the regular, sanitized news from this country then. Those type of stories won't be allowed to appear for regular folks to come upon. Much too risky, ya know. You have to come here or turn to
other alternative sources for that.

So, check back regularly unless you want to be totally blindsided in the coming weeks. I suppose that type of thinking serves it's purpose. It would allow us to sit still and continue our false hopes of a "turn around'. That way Ben Bernake and cohorts can continue to feather their beds with the rest of your retirement fund money until one day you are the one who will "turn around" to see all of it gone.

New Developments And Some Garden Chat

As for the economic overview, I did not get the article on surviving the current economic downturn quite finished yet but will promise to have it up by early Thursday, the day after tomorrow. I am still making time to study current developments and there are some discrepancies along certain lines such as the near term movement of precious metals among the most reliable experts.

I will continue to sort this and other issues out and get the best picture put together for the upcoming article. Meanwhile, I see that according to the poll on this site, there is still a high level of interest in gardening. In this area there seems to be a blight affecting the tomato plants this year. I have had some good tomato harvests but was probably one of the lucky ones.

The consensus in all of the local news reports suggest that these plants need to be removed entirely from the garden area to clear the way for next season's tomato crop. Otherwise, the blight will continue to ruin the plants and negate this food source. Here we have had some trouble with certain pests, as well. Particularly slugs, beetles and mites. As for the mites and beetles, an insecticide soap product seems to clear them up somewhat. These are available at most large stores and garden supply sources. They will not affect the organic nature of the garden as they are not toxic and can be used up to the day of harvest.

The slugs are a different matter though. You may need to purchase a box of powder to sprinkle near the affected plants which acts as bait to poisen the pest. This should not affect the organic nature of the food either as it is not put on the plants or close enough to wash into the root systems. The slugs and snails will migrate from the plant to the source and ingest it, which will then kill the offending pest.

Web Bot Predictions As Related To Survivalism

If you are wondering what the heck is going on with the world, you are not alone. I'm trying to use reliable sources to figure out where we are headed but some of the information I find difficult to make sense of. The Web Bot Alta report from HalfPastHuman.com due out on the 15th may clear some of this up, but for now, I will try to share what I think it is that I have somewhat of an understanding of.

It looks like what is being called the death of the dollar is going to impact pretty much everyone and is going to become obvious by the first of November. This is why we hear such things as China wanting to hold tangible assets rather than the empty promises of our dollars and why it is being reported that insiders are exiting the stock market.

Necessary items such as food will become inflated while other items may be worth less. It's confusing but that looks like the most likely scenario. This downturn will last for many years as far as I can tell and there are supposed to be like a billion people who will not make it through the changes. It's hard to know how to prepare for all of this but some basics are to have available food, water, shelter, some cash in smaller denominations and some silver on hand as well as a means to defend this.

That is my way of trying to boil things down to the simplest way I know how. For the first time gold has closed over a thousand dollars an ounce for the week and this is a sign that the efforts to hold everything together is not working for the controllers. Not that it will not go up and down from here but I think the metals are getting closer to the point of drastically higher prices. Oil may not be far behind and some predictions call for 800 dollar silver, 5000 dollar gold and 200 dollar oil or more.

There have been many manipulations to try to continue the fleecing of the common people and most people don't accept this but it will become more apparent as the next few months unfold. Things have gotten to the point where the bubble can not hold much more air. There is the scenario as I understand it. There is definitely a lot more to the story than that but, I will try to strain the limited intelligence I have been endowed with later to bring more of the available information to light.

Other topics that could deserve special consideration are coming clouds of toxic fallout from possible terrorism or war, pandemics, and pillaging that would require other preparations such as gas masks, natural remedies, medicines, first aid supplies and escape plans but this all is giving me such a headache. Please just do whatever you can and hope for the best. I do not want to see any unnecessary suffering and am sick at the thought of innocents going through these tribulations.

Considering the more far out and less concrete ideas, there may be a spiritual aspect to all of this. Whatever your beliefs, anything is possible and it would be nice some great power would step in and correct the evil being thrust upon the innocent. Some believe that a karmic balancing will bring justice. Those that brought this about would be corrected as well as the victims receiving their share of balance.

Others see a galactic group interceding to ensure fairness. And still others are of the beliefs set forth by Christianity. Or technology or a political solution and on and on. While anything is possible, we can't be sure how any of this will unfold, so I suggest taking the steps you feel are necessary to protect you and your loved ones. As the saying goes, God helps those that help themselves.

Survivalist Preparations For Economic Depression

*

*

*

Today readers have shown an increased interest in survival tips according to the poll on this page. This has given it a slight lead over gardening tips, although they overlap each other somewhat.

The biggest news affecting the survival of this economic depression has to do with the coming hyper inflation that will most likely appear in the not-too-distant future. This means that any savings you might have, including retirement accounts, will be worth much less, if not almost totally wiped out, soon.

So, now would be a good time to make some adjustments to your bank balances, 401k's, stocks, or other accounts. The big question is what to move the paper assets into from those accounts. The answer would hinge upon the most likely scenario to arise.

But first, as a side note, as any true friend should outline, the opinions given are not to be considered financial advice. These are only my opinions and what I would do but not to be considered professional advice. Of course, as many can tell you, most professional advice has led to the loss fortunes in this past year.

If you do seek professional financial advice, be cautious. Most advisers are still recommending strategies such as the old "buy and hold" methods that will lead to disastrous results, if followed. The ones that offer this advice should be avoided like the swine flu, in my opinion.

And now for the meat of the article. The inflationary strategies being undertaken in order to counter the deflationary effects of this depression should take affect shortly. But they will lead to the value of money to go down with regard to certain necessities of life such as food and energy.

So stocking up on food and driving a vehicle that conserves on gas would be two obvious answers. Other places to move your money to could include hard assets such as gardening supplies and seeds or warm clothing and hand tools.

Candles, toilet paper, batteries, wind-up flashlights and radios, converting to solar or wind power, wood or pellet stoves and fuel, and putting in a water well can all be good choices. Other items that might cost you more soon could be firearms, ammunition and other hunting supplies. If you have any extra supplies, some of these type of things could be valuable for bartering or trading for other items.

If you have a lot of paper assets left over, precious metals have been the usual method of preserving wealth in the past. Much of this material has been covered in past articles so to avoid repetition, I will only try to publish new material as it becomes available regarding this topic in the future. Therefore, you may want to review the archives of past articles for basic information that will be helpful and to brush up on good strategies.

As seen today, the precious metals have jumped in price quite a bit this morning. That could mean that time is running out to get into some of these assets listed above. Oil has also went back up over 71 dollars a barrel. The economic movements discussed here may take a very short time to unfold and there may not be much warning ahead of time, so it may be best to make your provisions sooner rather than later.

Here's An Excellent Blog to Check Out

There are a lot of blogs out there and who has time to look at even a very small fraction of them? But this one is well worth the time to go to and browse the great articles. http://bartendercabbie.blogspot.com/ You will learn a lot from Bartender Cabbie and not just meaningless information like on a lot of blogs. If you want news with a purpose of putting out usefull content, be sure to go there and take the time to look back through the articles. It really is excellent.

How To Barter With Metals For Preppers To Ensure Survival In This Depression

Everyone talks about stockpiling precious metals as the way to survive in the current Great Depression. However, in delving deeply into this, I have been able to foresee some big problems that are sure to thwart us in our attempts to keep ourselves, as well as our loved ones, alive.

So exactly what type of metals do we want to accumulate? Junk silver, or coinage consisting of silver, is a number one choice of many. But, as you will see shortly, attempting to utilize this method in order to stay alive can cause just the opposite effect and actually get you killed. Another dilemma is that the premiums charged on the most recognizable coins, which can be over $70 per one ounce gold coin, will cause you to go broke before you get an adequate stash put up.

My comments following the post I have reproduced in full below from the Utah Prepper's site will lay out a very simple plan to get around these problems and, at the end of this article, I will list the one way to very easily solve these problems. Pay special attention to the fellow in comment 4 and my responses, as it may very well determine the difference between life and death. Here is the article in it's entirety:

JUNK COINS, SILVER COINS, BULLION AND BARTERING

I’m trying to get this all figured out, it’s kind of confusing! Junk Silver, Silver Coins, Bullion Coins, Pre-1965 Coins – it turns out they all pretty much mean the same thing! Hard-Core TEOTWAWKI Preppers know that pre-1965 silver coins are made up of actual silver and have good potential barter power. That bartering capability comes from the fact that the U.S. Mint has guaranteed the amount of silver in these coins so they have a known value. Bullion Coins are generally considered the easiest way to have known values of precious metals – hence their potential barter usage. So far this is fairly common knowledge, but there is a lot more to know in order to do this properly – and I’m trying to get it all figured out.

This post is a learning post – I’m no expert in this area at all – I’m merely sharing knowledge as I gain it. The purpose here is for us to help each other out – if I’m wrong in something I say, please correct me in the comments! If you know about this area and can provide useful further info including knowledge, tips, websites, etc – please do! And if you’re just now reading this, please check the comments and consider them an extension of this post.

Now that that is out of the way, on to the discussion. I’ve been wanting to know more about this and recently have started researching it – I made my first purchase of Junk Silver at the Crossroads of the West Gunshow in Salt Lake on Saturday (Jan 11, 2009). It was a little thrilling because I really wasn’t sure if I was getting ripped off or not, but I wanted to get started on caching coins. I only bought $11.00 worth so it was a cheap, potential throw-away, experience. Turns out it wasn’t a bad deal. Let’s get into what I’ve learned about how this works.

According to Lynn Coins Junk Silver is organized into $1.00 values based on the face value of the coins. This means you can mix and match quarters, dimes, nickels, half dollars and dollars into batches. Each $1.00 face value batch of coins should have approximately 71% of a Troy Ounce of Silver in it.

From Wikipedia:
The most commonly collected U.S. junk silver pieces are Mercury and Roosevelt dimes, Washington quarters, and Franklin and Kennedy half dollars, minted in or before 1964. These coins have a 90% silver composition (”coin silver“), and when minted contained 0.7234 troy ounces of silver per dollar of face value. In practice, the content is usually assumed to be 0.715 ounces because of wear. Less common as junk silver are Kennedy half dollars from 1965 to 1970, which contained 40% silver. Peace Dollars may also be collected for their silver value, but are also less common.

Canadian dimes and quarters contained 80% silver (0.600 troy ounces per dollar of face value) until 1966. In 1967, they were minted in both 80% and 50% varieties. In 1968 they either contained 50% silver, or none at all (Cupro-Nickel). Dollars and half dollars were minted in 80% silver until 1967.

From this we learn the next critical part to gathering Junk Silver – PRE-1965 coins must be
used in most cases. Starting in 1965, the US quit using Silver and switched to a fiat currency.
So, as we’re gathering pre-1965 silver coins (how stinking hard is that going to be if you’re going through your pocket change?), how do we know what they’re currently worth? Coinflation.com provides us with a chart that shows the current silver value of different US coins based on their silver composition. That makes it easy. We can also look at live market rates for Silver on kitco.com – as of this writing, the Spot Price of Silver was at $11.25.
As I mentioned above, Junk Silver is not something you’re going to just find in the change you get at the gas station – at least not very often. For the most part you have to go to a coin dealer/trader in order to get accumulated quantities of Junk Silver. Here’s a quick list of Coin Dealers in Utah.

Supply and Demand of course plays a part in all this – every prepper that’s thinking about this topic is looking for Junk Silver to grab – and there’s a finite amount of them available. So, when you go to purchase your Junk Silver, keep in mind that the dealer is providing a valuable service – sorting, buying and collecting the pre-1965 Silver Coins and then providing you with a resource that has a limited quantity and a real value behind it. In other words, you’re going to pay more than the silver is worth on the market.

Here’s what I’ve learned about values in the Junk Silver Market – as of this writing, you should expect to pay about $11.00 per $1.00 face value of coins – this amounts to .7 Troy Ounces of silver – the current Spot Price of Silver is $11.25 per ounce. So, you should expect to pay about 30% or so markup on the actual spot price of silver – this is commonly referred to as the Price Over Spot.

Availability is definitely an issue right now, Junk Silver is HARD to find locally, especially in large quantities. Apparently it’s common for dealers to buy $1,000.00 face value bags of coins, but that costs a LOT of money. If you can’t find any at your local coin shop, Lynn Coin and probably several others will sell it to you in smaller bulk quantities. I’ve never dealt with them and cannot and am not recommending them. For bulk purchases, the fantastic SurvivalBlog.com recommends and endorses The Tulving Company.
SurvivalBlog.com also provides the following insight:

BTW, the quick way to gauge the value of a $1,000 bag versus the spot price of silver on any given day is simply to multiply the spot price by 715. Thus, at yesterday’s spot silver price of $13.85 per ounce, your $1,000 bag of dimes is worth $9,902.75. (Or just think of it as 9.9 times face value.)

There are also other ways to buy silver but we aren’t going to go into that much. I will however mention that I love these LDS based 1 Troy Ounce silver coins that have a picture of Captain Moroni on the front and The Title of Liberty of the back. I won’t mention how many of them I own :)

Do you have any further insights, corrections, or good sites you can recommend about Junk Silver? If so, please let us know in the comments!

COMMENT 1

Your information is good, and junk silver is definitely an important part of saving your hard-earned cash for a long-term scenario. One of the main downsides to junk silver, though, is the lack of common knowledge about its value. If you take a quarter and try to use it in a TEOTWAWKI barter scenario, your ability to use it depends entirely upon the other person’s knowledge of and confidence in its value.

COMMENT 2

[...] On Junk Silver or Silver Coins or Bullion Coins and Bartering Utah Preppers I’m trying to get this all figured out, it’s kind of confusing! Junk Silver, Silver Coins, Bullion Coins, Pre-1965 Coins – it turns out they all pretty much mean the same thing! Hard-Core TEOTWAWKI Preppers know that pre-1965 silver coins are made up of actual silver and have good potential barter power. That bartering capability comes from the fact that the U.S. Mint has guaranteed the amount of silver in these coins so they have a known value. Bullion Coins are generally considered the easiest way to have known values of precious metals – hence their potential barter usage. So far this is fairly common knowledge, but there is a lot more to know in order to do this properly – and I’m trying to get it all figured out. [...]

COMMENT 3

Having somewhat recently gotten into precious metals I have had to stumble through most of the stuff you laid out in this article. I have ended up with a combination of 90% silver and 99% rounds/bars. I buy whatever can be found at the most reasonable prices. I had a good thing going with a coin shop where I used to live, buying small quantities (single rolls) for 10X spot.
Where I live now the local place sells it for 12X. I have been buying stuff online here. Finding smaller quantities online has been difficult so I’ve been buying silver rounds. May pick up some more dimes though.

COMMENT 4 !!!!!!!!!!


JUNK SILVER IS USELESS FOR A SHTF SCENARIO!
If you disagree with my statement above, do me a favor. Borrow $5 in fiat currency from some sheeple you know. Then pay them back with a few dimes, quarters etc., in pre-1965 coins and watch their face as they get pissed! Then try to do the same thing while buying $5 worth of stuff at the neighborhood 7-11 store and see how far that gets your with Sanjay the owner. In the mind of sheeple, there is NO DIFFERENCE between post and pre-1965 money. If you’re not dealing with an informed survivalist or a numismatist you will NEVER CONVINCE them that your shiny pocket change is better than their shiny pocket change no way no how. Not to mention, the average American idiot couldn’t solve a math equation to determine silver content in 40% or 90% coins to save their idiotic lives. Besides, is a SHTF scenario really the time to conduct math classes with your uninformed trading partners. Heck, you might even get shot for your troubles when they think you’re trying to cheat them with your extra- special shiny dimes and quarters…and the last thing you’ll see will be all your lovely 90% and 40% coins getting kicked into the gutter while they check your pockets for something really valuable.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I have a soft spot in my heart (and in my head) for silver. I have 500 American Silver Eagles which I bought as a hedge investment and in case of a hyperinflationary situation without major political or socioeconomic collapse (non-SHTF in other words). Should hyper inflation kick-in my plan is to go to the local coin shop and exchange a few coins for some paper money to buy groceries immediately before they become even more devalued. Of course, the Silver Eagle has the words “One Ounce Fine Silver .999″ on it so it has more street cred immediately, but the coin shop owner won’t need me to explain to him why they’re worth more than the $1 face amount anyway. Junk silver has value in this hyperinflationary non-SHTF case as well. However, in a SHTF scenario Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs will kick in ASAP. People will be looking for shelter, food, medicine, ammo, clothing, liquor, sex etc. Shiny metal will probably only get you killed in your sleep by someone who doesn’t see the benefits of trading perfectly good food for your precious shiny metals like silver or gold. Most especially if the shiny Junk metals look exactly like (to their uneducated eye) as the jingling crap in their own threadbare pants. To paraphrase an old anti-drug slogan, “There’s a reason they call it JUNK!”

MY REPLIES:

john Says:September 1st, 2009 at 7:11 pm

"To avoid paying premiums, I will be getting rounds and one to ten ounce bars marked by reputable refiners such as Engelhard. That way people will know that it is real silver and what it is worth (whatever an ounce is valued at the time). "

"I too avoided purchasing the junk silver coins due to concern that potential barterers will not be savey enough regarding the value of them. The one ounce pieces are easier to determine their value at any given time and most folks won’t be prepared to do a field test to determine their content. Therefore, I opted to either pay the premium and eat the cost or go with the known refiner’s name on the piece. This seems to be the safest method of insuring survival. If I’m wrong, please contest my rationale, but I don’t think that I am."

Now, for my readers, here is the precious information that we are finally getting to after all of that: the makers and refiners that will be known by any coin dealer that you want to cash your bullion in to. They will also be known to most half-way decent business people with supplies to barter in exchange for precious metals in the near future. And they are:

Credit-Suisse, PAMP, Johnson-Matthey, Engelhard and SilverTowne.