Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the recent GameStop stock fiasco. (See the Equities section.)

Precious Metals:

Peter Krauth: Gold Bull Will Run For Years – Here’s Why

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Gold to push above $2,000 as Saxo Bank sees 2021 as the start of broad commodity bull market

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Inflation or deflation? Markets most likely to see ‘extremes,’ but gold price benefits, says WGC

Economy & Finance:

Will Biden’s Policies Lead to Job Losses? Here Are Possible Economic Impacts of Four of Them.

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At Zero Hedge: US Economy Set To Overheat As Households Are Flooded With $2 Trillion In Excess Savings

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H.L. sent us this link: In 2020 US Treasury Federal Revenue dropped by -34.7% which was the 2nd largest drop in history just behind 1929…


At Forbes: Supply And Demand Will Break Covid, Make Commodities In 2021

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OilPrice News: Copper Mines Devastated During Covid

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A Rare Earth Metal Stocks Forecast For 2021


30-year Wall Street veteran says buyer beware, we may be in a stock market bubble

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The GameStop Fiasco Proves We’re in a ‘Meme Stock’ Bubble

…and here is a January 27th piece about this craze, in The Daily Mail. JWR’s Comment:  I refer to this as Short Stomping. I find it oddly humorous that Wall Street tycoons who have made a fortune in short-selling cry “foul” when non-Wall Streeters counter them, with the inverse. They seem to be pleading: “They’re playing games in our market, make it stop.”

Forex & Cryptos:

The Dollar’s Crash Is Only Just Beginning

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British Pound (GBP) Latest: GBP/USD Falling After UK Unemployment Data

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Bitcoin price drops under $30K as ‘moment of truth’ arrives, says trader

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Monetizing Privacy with Central Bank Digital Currencies

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Ethereum Surges To New Record High As DeFi Boom Re-Accelerates

Tangibles Investing:

40 Million Americans Bought Guns in 2020, 12 Million More Than Any Year Before

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The Great Ammo Shortage of 2021 Is Here



News Tips:



  1. Stock Market – It’s just like politics and it’s inner workings in that the more I think I’ve learned the less I know.

    Tangibles – I’ll beat that drum one more time for ya. Magazines and spare parts. Keep what you have running for a long time. I don’t care if it’s the brand you like or use-get it. No one has to know that you put a DMPS spring in your Daniel Defense 15 years from now when IG, FB and TIKTOK isn’t even a thing anymore.

    What I’m encountering now from people is a rush on building ARs and the scramble to find the stuff to complete them at a reasonable price. I get contacted multiple times a week with “I can’t find a cheap BCG, I can’t find this in FDE, I can’t find this at all”.
    My answers are pretty much the same as in: I’ve told you for years…, cheap is so 2019 and cerakote is possible at a later time IF you have it in hand so buy the black and suck it up.

    I saw a $800 plain-jane no bayonet no cleaning rod SKS the other day. SMH

    Foods Next

    1. Spare parts and magazines are still available at decent prices when one diligently searches the internet vendors. I just doubled up on my spares over the last few weeks scanning for inventory from about 20 different vendors 2x per day. If folks spent as much time looking for parts as they do stupidtronics, they’d be all set.

  2. Oh where to start today? It is satisfying to see some hedge funds get drubbing but be careful what you wish for. Check your Mutual funds, IRA’s, and 401’s to make sure you are not going to join them. Biden’s overreach killing jobs is very troubling. Especially number 4 which could eliminate part time work. My wife has 3 part time jobs and without her income we would be devastated. If this comes to pass there are going to be a lot more people effected when we cannot pay our bills, do to the snow ball effect. The Bank is going to come after our house, car payments will stop, credit cards will be defaulted etc. You can see where this is going. Federal revenue dropping by over 1/3 with huge deficit spending on Democrat pet useless projects looming in the future such as the Green New Deal, bailing out failed cities, Stopping the Keystone Pipe Line just to protect the railroads that are carrying this oil and spilling it all over the place. I do not believe for a minute the article about peoples savings increasing, at least not for the common man, I do not know about the rest of you but I find just the opposite of that to be the case as we fight the hidden inflation, and the not so hidden inflation, it will get worse with a $15 per hour minimum wage. What do these simpletons think will happen to prices with this type of meddling in the private market. Case in point; I used to be able to fill up at McDonalds for about a dollar or 2 , Now $8-10. I ate a lot of pinto beans in my college days at $ .05/lb. minimum wage was about $2.25/ hour. Pintos are going for about $1.00/lb. 20 times as much. Seems like minimum wage should be about $45 dollars per hour just to break even.
    Now for some good news; I purchased 50 lb. bags of Pintos for $.74 per lb. at our local grocery supply store. Keep safe all and try and find a few rays of happiness in these troubled times.

    1. Prices for goods and services have remained constant or dropped, when you pay with Gods money – gold & silver. Gas is still .25 cents per gallon and McGarbage is still a gut full for .50 cents when you pay with pre-1965 American silver coinage.

    2. Joe: If we look more recently, when the minimum wage went from $5.35 to $7.25, the free market had already decided that for many the minimum wage was over $8.00. That natural minimum wage did not really effect the cost of living, so many lives were bettered by the functions of the free market. Those who were willing to work for lower wages could still get a job, those who could not afford to pay much more than $5.35 could still get employees.

      Before the raise, I made 6x minimum wage. After the raise, I only made a little over 4x minimum wage. Those who got the raise still didn’t do any better, the cost of living went up before the new minimum wage set in. It always happens that way. So my cost of living went up without a pay raise to offset the new cost of living. If I were still working, the new proposed minimum wage hike would have me making barely 2-1/2x minimum wage. I had a good union job, the union contracts never keep up with the inflation caused buy the minimum wage hikes. The unions never really work for their membership, they work for the Demo-rat party and their corporatist/globalist masters.

  3. I have a question for the SB readers. How has your weather been this winter? We live in the north central US, and we haven’t had a decent rain/snow shower since the middle of last summer. So far this winter we had one snowfall of around 4 inches, and other than that just flurries. The ground is barely covered. I’ve been watching the weather maps, and it seems that the entire center section of the US is faring about the same (although I could be wrong. I’m not a weatherologist, I’m just a regular dudette. That’s why I’m asking). This will not be good for spring planting. So… how’s the weather where you are?

    1. Hi Ma G
      Our winter has been somewhat different. We’ve had 55’ of snow so far but it has warmed up and mostly melted between each snow fall. The precipitation is on the nose we’re just not having to walk and drive around in snow tunnels from the plowing. So we have some snow on the ground but there is definitely bare ground. The chickens are loving it. I live in north Idaho on a mountain.

    2. Hello dudette Ma G,

      Western Washington rain forest near sea level….significantly more rainfall this month than normal. Overall this winter slightly more than normal. Snow in Olympic mountains looks typical for this time of year, but we are not in a location to actually measure.

    3. I’ve spent the better part of fifty years in the same county in Ea. Wa. and have seen some winters with more and some with less snow. First year I moved to Wa. out of USMC there was, from a guy that plowed snow for the state on Snoqualimie Pass, a total of 52 ft. of total snowfall. Hasn’t been that much since.
      This year where I am presently (In the Mts) is more like a “Normal” year in that we have a bit over 4ft. total. But has been abnormally warm with temps in Jan. getting rarely into the low 20’s instead of the normal minus 3 to15deg. category. All the snow though has been heavy and wet with a day or two of rain cause it was so warm. Watching the Ag weather report it has been predicted to be much the same as it actually is. Ag report indicates it to be dry & drought conditions throughout the midwest come summer.
      I now have on the back side of the roof where it slid off, packed snow clear up the the roof, and that on an 7 ft wall……
      Best of luck Ma G with your water situation this coming summer. Looks like you may need it.

      1. The weather patterns here, in the Inland Northwest appear to be very similar to the weather patterns of the 2014-2015 winter. That next summer was an awful fire year for the Inland Northwest. I hope and pray that we’ll not have a repeat of that year this coming summer.

    4. I live in the Detroit area. Our annual snowfall is about 36′. So far this year, we have had less than 12″. I haven’t checked the UP, but I think their snowfall is way down as well. Regardless of what my wife says, it has not been anywhere near as cold as usual. To be fair, February is usually the worst month for cold and snow, so we have time to catch up on the shortfall. We’ll see.

    5. @Ma G
      It sounds like we are in a somewhat similar geographic location. I’m about 145 miles south of the Canadian line in the north central part of the US and the snow here is quite a bit less than in most years. It has also been a much warmer winter than most – only -20 below and it’s usually -30 to -35. I think it could end up being an overly dry spring / summer / fall which will not be good for farmers. I work with farming so I have to deal with all the bad weather.

  4. I hope all reading this already have tons of ammo. You will be needing it to turn in at the “Ammo for Food” swap Uncle Sugar will be setting up in the Albertsons parking lot. 20 rounds for a $20.00 food certificate. BTW that $20.00
    will only buy a loaf of bread.

    1. I’m sure that those who don’t have ammo will be able to trade information on which of their neighbors have ammo or guns for food certificates as well. And some probably will, at least until they realize that it is a rather dangerous way to obtain food.

  5. Ma G: In our area of northwest Montana the snow pack in all of the river drainages is below
    normal.I’ve plowed only once this winter. It seems that most of the moisture flow from the
    Pacific Ocean has been warm and little cold air from Canada/Arctic.
    The ski resorts are not doing well and in a few months the farmers will be hurting.
    I think weather is cyclical without any help from humans. Tree rings tell the story and we must be prepared to survive what ever Mother Nature throws at us.

  6. So the economy is heating up as people sit on cash they can’t/won’t spend, yet everyone’s being told that those same dollars will soon be worthless. Isn’t it ironic? I guess local script will take care of bartering at community level. Assuming people will be able/allowed to travel abroad, minted PM coins will probably be the only viable way to do business out of town. Most people don’t have any, and won’t be able to exchange worthless dollars kept in the mason jar for PM before the dollar takes its big final tumble. So script will have to be used somehow.

    Gonna be interesting.

    1. I immediately get rid of fiat currency.

      I swap that nonsense for durable tangible goods IN MY POSSESSION.

      During these exchanges, I observe from several angles to verify their potential… is this a relationship I could develop for a ‘rainy day’ (as in ‘helps me back-hoe occasional “corpses” before they accumulate into an unsightly mess’).

  7. Much of the silver that is mined is a by-product of copper mining, lots of indicators pointing towards a bump in the silver price. But as we all know it’s a rigged game, just keep stacking when you can.
    The only rule on Wall Street is the rule of the jungle but the lion is about to feel the sting of 10,000 fire ants, listen to them roar, how unfair!!!

  8. GameStop was Fox News’s top story today with 6 sub-stories. The whole thing reminds me of a brilliant day-trading scam back in the mid-90’s when the internet and on-line trading were both still new. It sounds like a microcosm of what’s happening with GameStop except the spikes only lasted 60 seconds at most.

    There was a day-trading chat room I subscribed to for a month. You paid the subscription fee and needed to have day-trading capabilities with your broker as well as the software to do lightning-fast trades. Fortunately I spent the first few days observing to figure out a strategy. The chat room guru moderator would supposedly hunt around for great trades while everyone in the room chatted about various stock investing stuff while waiting for the guru to find the next trade of the century. You could tell the old timers from the newbies. The first red flag was when the moderator immediately deleted any posts from newbies asking the wrong questions. After a while the guru would post, “Wait a minute, I’m closing in on something…” Then a little later “Hold on, this baby looks really good…” Everyone waited with bated breath, fingers on the day-trading keyboard so they could pull the trigger as soon as the stock was announced. “I think this is THE ONE!” And a few minutes later the guru would type in, “AGBT, go for it!” There’d be a huge flurry of people buying AGBT. The price would double or triple in 30 seconds, then the oldies would start posting, “Out with 6 stones!” ($6,000) “Out $2,750” etc. The newbies would start posting two minutes later, “What the heck? The price dropped like a rock and now I’m upside down $1,300!” The moderator and the old timers would exit the chat room to go have a few beers while the newbies would be left behind chatting, “Man, what happened?”

    Of course, all the big fish were feeding off the little fish in the room. The financial news services were baffled, posting stories about obscure stocks which had a flat trading chart for the month, then random a two-minute huge spike, then back to flat. Fortunately I figured out the obvious before I had traded anything and quit after five days. I never found out the back story but the old timers who were in on it no doubt bought the stock ahead of time, had a sell order in place, ready to punch the send button right as the stock was somewhere near the apex. Brilliant scam.

  9. The GameStop story is an important one on many levels…

    “The GameStop Saga Isn’t About Finance, It’s Part Of The Ongoing War Between Elites And Populists”

    From the article: “What’s happening right now has nothing to do with hedge funds or free markets or pricing theory or any of that. What’s happening right now is another front in the major war taking place in institutions and countries across the world: It’s the elite versus the populists.”

    1. A lot of the “autists” who bought Game Stop didn’t do so because they wanted to make money. They’re all gamers who have warm memories about buying their first video games at Game Stop, back before the MMORPG’s (online multiplayer games) became a thing. Though most of them only rarely walk into a bricks-and-mortar store anymore, the fact some greedy hedge fund managers decided to prey upon a struggling small chain of video game stores was the last straw for a lot of them. They “bought into it” for the LOL’s (laughs).

      I’m on Gab, where all the autists hang out. Weaponized autism, they call it. Right now, they’re looking for OTHER hedge funds they can punish for destroying perfectly good companies and putting ordinary citizens out of jobs.

  10. I also checked out a number of trading groups and you are absolutely right on how they work. The larger they are the more money the principles make and what was even better for them is they charged a lot of money for you to enrich them. You can spot these crooks because they give long winded sales pitches filled with testimonials from people you never heard of. For the life of me I cannot understand how anyone with 1/2 a brain would listen to someone you do not know telling you they made all kinds of money from buying a subscription to guaranteed wealth Inc., or even that you should buy a certain laundry detergent.

  11. Biden’s policies will lead to massive job losses which will lead to more massive “stimulus” spending. This will lead to massive inflation. Most of the “stimulus” will likely be for green jobs and end up in China where they manufacture the solar and wind turbine parts.

    1. The plan is to make our country a welfare nation. With the chip in your hand you will get automatic bank deposits from the Gov. and then you can spend it on Gov. approved food, rent, toys entertainment, etc.

      1. AmeriKa has been a “welfare nation” since FDR gave us Social Insecurity, a progressive income tax and banned private property by eliminating the method (gold) to pay for things. When FDR traded Gods Ten Commandments for Marx’s Ten Planks, America was conquered.

      2. I wonder when the government will require those on Social Security to provide proof of Covid vaccination in order to receive their monthly check. I feel it’s coming and I’m looking for other ways to earn a little income which would replace my measly check should they decide to cut me off FROM MY OWN MONEY! I won’t be taking the shot.

  12. Can anyone recommend a private mint whose labeled products could be a trusted after the SHTF?

    Those US mint coins al have a dollar denominated monetary value. So that 1oz gold Buffalo you just paid $2k for will be confiscated at the dollar denominated price of $50. Should they also attempt to confiscate silver, those pre-1965 silver coins will only be worth face value, regardless of what you actually paid for them. Having spent over $20k for my silver, I have some concerns.

    So again, can anyone recommend a private mint whose products will be recognized as being universally valued after the ball drops?

    1. Charles – Both private and government minted coins have been counterfeited, so one is no more safer than the other. I would not pay a premium for a government minted coin when all I desire is the actual metal content that can be acquired privately at a much lower price. Metal authenticity is easily verified / tested by several means and the only fakes I’ve seen were American Silver Eagles from China. Just buy easily recognized pre-1965 90% U.S silver dimes and quarters if your concerned about acceptance after the “ball drops”.

      1. The concern isn’t whether it will be accepted or not. The concern relates to possible government confiscation. There is no point in putting a dollar denominated face value to a coin that also has a weight and purity stamped into the same coin, unless there is a contingency for confiscation. Even today, that $2k gold Buffalo is only worth $50 at the bank. It would be crazy to take it to the bank, but in a confiscatory regime, face value is what would be paid to the holder.

        As for pre-1965 US silver coins, that is the bulk of my PM holdings.

    2. Charles, it sounds like you already expect to have to turn your silver in for face value rather than burrying it or hiding it. Please don’t capitulate already! Fight to preserve our constitutional rights, including the taking clause of the Fifth Amendment that prohibts the taking of private property for public use without just compensation. Also, “just compensiation” has been held to mean fair market value.

      In any case, I would not buy rounds.They sell at a discount to coins on the secondary market for a reason. Consider instead the silver Canadian maple leaf. Or buy the Britannia or the silver Krugerrand. Just don’t buy Chinese coins; we send them enough of our money already.

      1. “Charles, it sounds like you already expect to have to turn your silver in for face value rather than burying it or hiding it.” Not at all. In fact, burying it or hiding it is probably the best course of action.

        That being said, I was looking for better options for further purchases, basically a relatively universally trusted mint that only puts weight and purity on the coins or bars. As for foreign coins, I would expect TPTB to also attempt to pay face value at the current exchange rate. There is a reason for putting a face value on the coins, world wide, in the first place. That reason circumvents the fair market value of the coins in the event of a confiscation, otherwise there is no point in putting a currency value on the coins.

  13. We are in day five of post Pfizer Covid virus vaccination. Feeling fine and no reactions. We are just two folks trying our best to stay alive. I’m sure there are some horror stories out there so let’s hear them.

        1. We firmly feel that the vaccine is not safe! We seriously recommend that none of our readers take it no matter what.

          We suspect that leadership does not have our best interest at hand.

          We suspect that the vaccine could be in effect be a binary weapon. The first inoculation sets up your body to be sensitized to a subsequent virus. Just wait and observe.

          The Georgia Guidestones indicate that the “elites” want to reduce the World’s population to 500 million. The vaccine is their STEALTH weapon of choice! People will die from this vaccine over the next two years. They will blame the deaths on other virus strains, not covered by the vaccine. It will be a genocide spread out over time.

          Heed the warnings!

          1. As i said before

            I work in that Industry for over 30 years, so i belive i know something of how much effort is needed for the development and and testing of medical drugs.

            Most of those got cancelled during those processes because they´ren´t good or safe enough, ive seen drugs canceled after the production line was built.

            Yes, there is a risk in this vaccine as in everything we put in our bodies.

            theoretical example with theoretical numbers

            No vaccination
            1 Million people
            500 die
            2000 don´t recover and ´ve severly ill effects for life

            3 Person´ve lifelong ill effect´s
            200 or so ve 3 days side effects

          2. Look into binary biological warfare.

            By the way, every leader in the world is taking orders from somebody, in order to have such a world wide homogenous response.

          3. Could you please explain what you mean, the article in the DUJS seems to´ve no relation to vaccination

            Such a homogenous response?

            The response in India is different from the response in South Korea is different from Japan´s is different Germany´s is different from the UK´s is different from Denmark´s

        2. That isn’t my source; it is just a video clip from professionals in the field who have an opinion differing from that of mainstream news. The point is, do the research! The information is out there… don’t just glibly digest the news bytes as truth. For the record I had Covid-19 in November and it was no big deal. A run of the mill flu with the weird sensation of loosing sense of taste & smell for several weeks. For me… absolutely I would take my chances with Covid-19 over the toxic vaccine big pharma is offering any day of the week!

          1. Anecdotes are not Data!

            I know 3 peoples with the same effect.
            I also know of people who aren´t so lucky !

            Some´ve at least long lasting side effects, including professional athletes, maybe permanent side effects

            My Mainstream News are scientific medical professionals like Drosten, the Robert Koch Institure and the Berlin Charite, not “mere” medical doctor´s especially from the US

    1. US law considers all vaccines to be “unavoidably unsafe”. At least they got that half right!

      Anyone interested in the actual history of vaccines should read the book “Dissolving Illusions” by Dr. Suzanne Humphries. The well-documented information she presents is guaranteed to make you re-think everything you thought you knew about these cocktails from both an efficacy and safety perspective.

  14. Unfortunately my generation, the baby boomers, blew it. But if you read the REAL history of our country there has never been a time of peace and our leaders have always (it seems to me) to be wanting in character and most in my time gave anything but lip service to the Lord.
    We as a country HAVE lost our moral compass.
    With that I recommend that we all be prepared, pray long and hard for our families and their souls.
    I was in the military (never served in Viet Nam) but I’m called a veteran- that’s a reach! Everyone gets a participation award!
    All empires fail, we will too!

    1. Francis, you wrote the check. The fact that nobody cashed it doesn’t change that. Don’t sell yourself short. You still did what the majority of your generation did not do, and your service is still honorable. Take pride in that, brother.

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