Prepper Communications

on November 28, 2012 at 4:44 am
Posted In: Prepping

Prepper Communications

Communication  is key in a disaster situation. However, cell phone and internet service are unreliable after serious catastrophes. My area is prone to hurricanes. The high winds topple trees which take down power lines. The winds also take down communication towers used for cell phones and radio transmission. Other areas that have frequent tornadoes experience similar service outages. Those who live on the west coast have to deal with earthquakes which also cripple communication infrastructure. Adequate preparation for these events require some type of back up communication.

Besides these disasters, there is the chance that we experience a serious economic meltdown in the near future. No one can say just how bad it will be as these things are difficult to predict. We can look at past experiences and make some projections, but a level of uncertainty remains. The economic collapse in Argentina in 2001 is a relatively good model to work with because it was a recent event and we also share similar issues with excessive money printing. After the Argentinian collapse, crime rates skyrocketed. Robberies and kidnapping became a common occurrence. Police were overwhelmed and unable to contend with the rise in criminal activity.

We are already beginning to see signs of this type of social breakdown in cities like Detroit and Chicago. If you saw the  video of people fighting over cheap phones at Wal-Mart on Black Friday, you know the veneer of a civilized society is very thin. It won’t take much to shatter that veneer and plunge our nation into chaos. I believe most preppers have considered this and have began to make preparations to defend their lives and property.  Getting your guns and ammo squared away is a great first step to prepare for this situation. The second step should be to get adequate communications.

Whether you are bugging out to the country or are forced to shelter in place, you will need to run security patrols to cover all the possible angles of attack. If you get caught in the city or the suburbs, you may have neighbors who are armed and willing to commit some time to securing your neighborhood. Besides the guns,  you will need communications in order for your security plan  to be effective. For example, you could have two patrols at each end of the street that are blocked off as a check point for anyone entering or leaving the street. As long as you have radio communications, if either team has trouble they can call for back up from the other patrol or from a main security post.

If you are in a more rural area, you will need communications for at least one person to be on patrol or at an observation post and one other to be at the main house. The person at the observation post can put in a call over a hand held radio to the main house to give early warning of impending danger. This allows everyone in the house to man their battle stations.

communications

For our communications, we purchased Midland GXT 1000s FRS/GMRS 50 channel two way radios. They have a maximum range of 36 miles which is the top end of the radios in this price range. They also came with head sets and rechargeable battery cells and a standard 2 radio charger as well as a car charger. They will also operate on 4 AA batteries in the case of a power outage where you are unable to recharge the cells that were included. They have several different  privacy settings for group communication or private person to person calls within  a group. They also pick up NOAA weather radio service. I have not tested the 36 mile range. I suspect that it would only be possible if you were talking on top of a mountain with someone else on top of a mountain, with no mountains in between. The head sets are nice. They pick up your voice very clearly. Using the push to talk feature on the headsets and pressing the mike to your lips allows the person on the other end  to hear the faintest whisper. The voice activation feature did not function in a manor that would be practical to use. It doesn’t begin to transmit until you have already started talking and it cuts out before you finish. The push to talk feature worked just fine and it is available on the headset or on the handset. All the other features met or exceeded our expectations.

These radios are very affordable at $50 including shipping and available from Amazon through the link on the right side bar.  To get a better communication solution than these, expect to spend a lot more money. If you go with something cheaper, you will likely sacrifice the range, privacy settings and headsets. Just like guns, ammo, and long term food storage, these types of items are easy to get now, but may become very scarce after an economic collapse. Here is a link to Chapter 5 of FM 24-19, The army radio operating procedures. I hope you find it useful.

Happy Prepping!

 

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Lessons From The Crash of 1929

on November 26, 2012 at 4:57 am
Posted In: Economy, Potential Threats

Lessons From The Crash of 1929

crash

It has been said that history may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. In 1929, the American stock market faced the worst crash it had ever seen and has seen since. In the years leading up to the 1929 crash, the stock market grew without restraint. It grew due to easy credit which traders were able to use to buy stocks on margin. Everyone who was anyone was borrowing money from the banks to make leveraged investments in the market. This easy credit allowed a bubble to form. Stock prices went up and up without the fundamental principles or strong earnings and fair multiples to support the high prices. Several traders began to sound the alarm that prices were unrealistically high and a major correction was long over due. They were dismissed as party poopers and generally ignored.

This video is a 45 minute documentary of the 1929 Crash. It features lots of great facts and commentary. I hope you enjoy it.

Finally, confidence eroded and the inevitable run on stocks began. On Wednesday October 23, 1929, the crash was initiated. Big bankers like  Whitney, Morgan, and Rockefeller purchased large blocks of blue chip stocks to re-instill confidence in the markets. Despite their best efforts, the market lost nearly 25% of its total value over the following Monday and Tuesday. By the middle of 1932, the market dropped to 41.22. That represented a 89% loss from its 1929 high of 381.77. To put it into today’s numbers, it would be a drop of the Dow from 13,000 to 1,430.

The wealth that had been eroded by the crash left America paralyzed. Banks closed their doors as there was no money to give to depositors who demanded their cash from their accounts. More than 2,000 banks closed to never reopen. This hit Main St. Those who had avoided the losses in the market by depositing money in the banks lost everything as well. Companies began to close and cut labor costs through layoffs and the Great Depression began. Poverty reigned in America until the end of World War II.

Lesson #1

This time is not different. Carmen Rienhart and Ken Rogoff recently wrote “This Time is Different, 8 Centuries of Financial Folly”. It chronicles the bubbles and currency collapses from around the globe from the past 800 years. The common thread is that the people in power and the traders involved all seem to think this time will be different. But it is always the same. Leveraged speculation leads to overvalued asset prices which form bubbles that eventually pop. Governments continue to spend beyond their means in hope of creating a recovery, but debt weakens the confidence in the currency and it collapses. Only the names have changed from the 1929 crash, the 2008 crash, and the coming bond and derivative crash.

Lesson #2

Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. In the 1929 crash, many speculators had every dime to their name tied up in the market. When the market crashed, they lost it all. Others had total trust in the banks. When the run on the banks began, they were unable to retrieve their deposits. You may be thinking “we don’t have to worry about that because we now have the FDIC.”  FDR instituted the FDIC to insure depositors against bank runs. So if they say it will be there, we can believe them. Let’s check that out. It turns out the the total held by the FDIC in that insurance fund is around 11 Billion.  This is insuring deposits in US banks that total nearly 5 trillion dollars being held in just the top 10 banks. So .002% of the deposits would be covered in a run. Of course the government will back the fund, but by the time it could be printed and delivered, it would be nearly worthless. I recommend keeping some cash in a secure location besides an FDIC insured account. I recommend not putting all of your retirement nest egg into the market, if it fails like it did in 1929, you will never recover what you lose. Never invest more than you are willing to lose. Putting some portion into precious metals is a good idea, but not everything. Remember, FDR also outlawed gold in Executive Order 6102. Don’t think this clown in the White House now would hesitate to do it again.

We have solved none of the problems that started the 2008 crisis. We have only managed to avoid some of the inevitable pain. Banks that were considered too big to fail have been packaged into bigger banks that are now too big to bail. US debt has risen 60% in the past 4 years and we are devaluing the dollar by printing 500 billion a year into existence through QE3. No one can say how long we have, we only know our day of reckoning is coming.

If you are new to prepping or would like to learn more, read our 7 Step Preparedness Plan to mitigate the effects of the coming collapse.

Happy prepping!

 

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Sunday Prepper Bible Study- Contentment

on November 25, 2012 at 3:20 am
Posted In: Bible

Sunday Prepper Bible Study- Contentment

I Timothy 6:6-8

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 

contentment

Learning to follow this Bible verse can be a great asset. Being content with having our needs met is a skill that is often overlooked by preppers. We have just passed a holiday that was intended to be an opportunity to express our gratitude to God for what he has blessed us with. We saw our society take one more step closer to greed and one step farther from contentment this year as stores opened earlier than last year. It is a sad commentary on our general demise as a nation. Once again, the black Friday headlines were of pandemonium at Wal-Marts around the country. There were stories of  gunfire, gang fights and  people being ran over. The following  video is of people climbing on top of each other for a cheap phone. I am sure they all have a phone already, but greed has them in a frenzy. I am sure things will be much more civilized when the collapse comes and these are the last few loaves of bread rather than phones that aren’t a true need!

The desire to keep up with the Jones is a trap. Frantic obsessions with getting the latest gadget at a bargain has led the people in the video above to put their lives at risk. In the past years, people have been trampled to death on Black Friday. The drive to have more and more puts many people in credit card debt as they make purchases that they can not afford. Learning to live within your means is the base of a good prepper plan. I believe the biggest threat our nation faces is a catastrophic financial crisis. Those who have the least debt and have managed to save every penny will be the best positioned to weather the storm. Those who have already learned to follow the words of the Bible  and have learned to be content with having food and clothes will be the least affected. Those already not content with their standard of living will face the additional shock of a collapsing economy. The effect will be exacerbated by their lack of savings and credit card debt.

One of the best ways to learn to be content with what you have is give to those less fortunate. Samaritans Purse has a Christmas catalog which allows you to purchase and  donate clothing, animals, Bibles, water filters, food and other  essentials to people in other parts of the globe that have absolutely nothing. In allowing God to use you to help them out of their poverty, you will be blessed as He opens your eyes to how much you have. I pray that you will meditate on this Bible verse this week and reflect on how much God has blessed you.

If you are new to prepping or would like to learn more about how to prepare for tomorrow, please read our 7 Step Preparedness Plan. Come back every Sunday for a new Prepper Bible Study!

The most important prep of all is knowing GOD. In the Bible, Jesus said “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his own soul?” Prepper translation: “What good will it do you to survive the coming economic collapse, nuclear war or even a zombie apocalypse if you don’t know you will go to heaven when you die?” A recent study found that 10 out of 10 people die! On that day we will meet our Maker. It only makes sense to be prepared for that day. Click here to learn more about knowing GOD.

Happy Prepping!

 

 

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“The Christian Preppers Handbook” Book Review

on November 23, 2012 at 4:19 am
Posted In: Book Review

“The Christian Prepper’s Hand Book”  Book Review

book

 

“The Christian Prepper’s Handbook” by Zion Prepper is a great guide book for those who are just starting out in prepping. The author has covered all of the basics in an easy to remember manner. Beginners often find prepping to be overwhelming. This book simplifies prepping to three basic categories of Food/Water, Heat/Shelter, and Protection. Zion Prepper has broken down preparedness into easy to swallow bites.

Each chapter of the book  begins with a quote from the original survival manual, The Bible. The book also covers some great uses of herbs as home remedies. To list a few:

Basil: Can be used as an antibacterial and anti- inflammatory.

Chamomile: Can be used to relax muscles, relieve stress, and aid in healing from burns and wounds.

Cilantro: An immune system booster and will relieve gas. ( I guess that is why they use so much of it in Mexican Food)

Dill: Helps prevent cancer.

Oregano: Alleviates diarrhea and constipation as well as relieves headaches.

Zion Prepper talks a lot about his own journey in becoming a prepper. He states that he began to see the need to prepping on 9/11. He relates a story from Upstate NY after 9/11. During the panic, one gas station attendant abandoned his station. He locked up the station but left the pumps on. The only people who were able to get gas were those with credit cards who could pay at the pump. We often advise people to always have cash in case of power outages, but this is a good example of needing a variety of solutions to cover different scenarios.

Like Prepper Recon, The Prepper’s Handbook advocates the use of coupons to build your stockpile and reserve monetary resources to be saved or used on other preps. This is the one thing everyone can do. No matter how limited your budget is, you can take advantage of coupons to buy a little extra each time you go to the grocery. Check out our Coupon Corner for sites that will do all of the work for you. They will tell you what is on sale and where to get the coupons to match up with the sales.

“The Christian Prepper’s Handbook ” would make a great Christmas gift for your family or friends that you are trying to get on board with prepping. It is also a great resource for beginning preppers. The book is available from Amazon through the link on the right. You can also check out Zion Preppers YouTube channel for some great prepping tips.

Happy Prepping!

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Happy Thanksgiving/ Charlie Brown Mayflower Voyagers

on November 21, 2012 at 4:21 am
Posted In: Constitution

Happy Thanksgiving !

thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is exactly what it sounds like. It is a time for giving thanks for what we have. It is a tradition handed down to Americans by their forefathers who left England in 1620 in search of religious freedom. 102 Pilgrims left their homes to risk life and limb. They risked all to come to a foreign land of which little was known. They had to learn to work together and to be truly self sufficient.

The pilgrims were great examples to preppers. Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast defines Prepping as preparing to survive with out systems of support. The word “Prepper” had no meaning among the pilgrims, because all were required to be self sufficient with absolutely no systems of support outside of the blessings of God.  They learned to produce everything themselves. They learned to build and to grow food. They learned to raise livestock and to hunt in an environment they had never seen before. They also learned the value of community and to cooperate with  the native people. Less than half of the original pilgrims survived the first winter, but those that did held to their faith. With the help of the natives, they began to thrive and the next fall, they gave thanks to God for a bountiful harvest. It was the first Thanksgiving.

The video below is a Thanksgiving special  by Charles Schultz. it chronicles the adventure taken by those pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. It is a great program for kids of any age. It is a great reminder of what Thanksgiving and America are all about. Unfortunately, we have forgotten much of the message of Thanksgiving. Instead of a day to reflect and be grateful for what we have, Black Friday has turned into a day where we focus on greed and what we don’t have. For the past few years, people have lost their lives trying to save $20 on a toaster or $50 on a TV. This year, many stores like Wal Mart are opening on Thanksgiving Day. They are denying their employees the opportunity to enjoy an American holiday with their friends and family. They also entice weak minded individuals with no sense of gratitude to give up their day of thanks for a day of greed.

thanksgiving

The religious freedom that the pilgrims sacrificed so much for has been stifled as well. The Bible has been banned from our schools and the 10 commandments from our courts. With out the moral absolutes found in God’s laws, our society has made it’s own law and done as it pleases. The result has been violence, drug addiction, broken homes and rebellious children. Psalms 127 says “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” I fear much of the sacrifice that has been made for this once great nation will be in vain unless we return to our God.

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving/ The Mayflower Voyagers Special

Remember to be thankful for all we have this Thanksgiving and everyday. Remember the God who made us great and would love to restore us to our former glory if we would return to Him.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy prepping!

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Canning Turkey for Long Term Storage

on November 19, 2012 at 3:48 am
Posted In: Prepping

Canning Turkey for Long Term Storage

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful to God for all he has provided for us.  It is also an opportunity to be good stewards with what He has blessed us with. Typically, stores offer turkeys at very low costs during the week before Thanksgiving. They are often loss leaders which actually lose money for the store but they expect to make it up and then some by selling you cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. The two major stores in our area have turkeys for $.59 a pound. Every year, there is a debate in our home about who gets to cook the turkey this year. Mrs. Recon is from France and has some nice culinary flare that she adds to the holiday bird. I, on the other hand am from Kentucky and like to prepare a very traditional turkey. This year, the solution was to get two birds. I am cooking mine now, as I like to have a nice stock prepared well in advance of Thanksgiving Day. Mrs. Recon can prepare her bird on Thanksgiving for a beautiful presentation.

turkey

For my turkey, I season it well with salt and pepper, then add fresh rosemary and sage from our garden. I also add an onion  and some celery stumps and tops. I make some small slits in the turkeys skin where I can place  these seasonings under the skin. I take the remainder and place it inside the bird. I Turn the turkey on its breast so the juices will flow down into the breast meat. This won’t make a beautiful brown turkey, but it will be juicy.  I cover the pan with aluminum foil and cook it at 350 degrees . The foil produces a dutch oven effect and cooks the bird very fast. I cooked a 14lb turkey in 2:15 minutes. Less than 10 minutes a pound. Keep a close eye on the turkey with a meat thermometer and remove the turkey from the oven when it reaches 165 degrees. Allow it to sit for 1 hour. Remove all of the bones, skin, onion, slices and celery parts and place them in a large stock pot. Pour the broth that has cooked out into the pot with the bones. Fill it with water and simmer for 2 hours. Strain the solids from the pot and you have a delicious stock for stuffing and gravy. Here is the cooking time and temps for a nice brown turkey that makes a better table presentation.

To can the turkey, you must have a pressure canner. All meat as well as any low acid foods must be canned with a pressure canner to prevent botulism. The Presto 23 Quart Pressure Canner is available from Amazon for about $70 through the link on the right hand side bar. Sterilize your jars with hot water and add 1 tsp of salt to the bottom of the jars. Break up your turkey meat and distribute throughout several sterilized jars. Fill the jars with the hot stock to about 1″ from the rim. Clean the rim of the jar with vinegar to remove any grease which will prevent the lids from sealing. Place a clean rim from a pan of simmering water on each jar and place a ring over the lid snugly. Place the jars in your pressure canner and cook at 10lb for 75 minutes or by the specifications of your canner.

turkey

Now you have several jars of  great tasting turkey for long term storage. you can use it for turkey salad, turkey pot pie or just heat and eat with mashed potatoes. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and happy prepping!

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Sunday Prepper Bible Study- Blessings and Curses

on November 18, 2012 at 5:02 am
Posted In: Bible

Sunday Prepper Bible Study- Blessings and Curses Deuteronomy 28

The Bible tells us precisely what we can expect from God when we chose to obey or disobey his Word.  God promises blessings for obedience to The Bible as well as curse when we chose to do things our own way. Here are a few of the blessings and curses. Deuteronomy 28 is a very long chapter of The Bible, so I am only posting a few excerpts. If you take the time to read the whole chapter, you will get a better feel for God’s heart.

The Bible’s Blessings for Obedience

bible

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.

6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

8 The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. 11 The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

12 The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none…..”

God made all of these promises to Israel if they would obey Him. If they would put Him first, he promised that they would be prosperous and that they would lend to other nations and barrow from none. He also promised that none of their enemies would be able to defeat them. America was once blessed like this. We put God first, The Bible was considered part of the curriculum in our schools. Children were taught the 10 Commandments and to love thy neighbor. Using God’s name as a curse word on Television was unheard of and babies were safe in their mother’s womb.

America was a shining example of morality and prosperity to the rest of the world. We were truly blessed in the city and blessed in the country. We decisively won all of our military conflicts and we were proud to be one nation, under God.

The Bible’s Curses for Disobedience

bible

“15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you:

16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed.

18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.

20 The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. 21 The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. 23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. 24 The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed….

43 The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail.”

In contrast with the America of yesterday, we are now the number one exporter of pornography in the world. We have lost the blessing of  verse 12,”You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none…..”. We are now the largest debtor nation in the entire history of the world. The decline of our prosperity has been in lock step with our moral decay. It is just as God promised in the Bible. Now, the number of abortions since Roe vs. Wade has risen to nearly 55,000,000 (yes! 55 millions). The Bible is no longer welcome in schools, and children are taught that we just happened. With no sense of moral absolute, since there is no God, they are free to create their own morality.

“49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. 51 They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.”

We have been in a military conflict with a rag tag bunch of rabble rousers for over a decade with no end in site. We spend over $1,000,000,000,000.00 ( one trillion) annually on our combined military budgets. Surely this will eventually devour the young of our livestock and the crops of our land. Our enemies fund their armies trough our dependance on heroin and oil. We have tried to teach them a better way, but they look on in disgust at our immoral, pornographic society. Why should they follow the ways of a nation that treats the name of it’s own God with such contempt as to use it as a curse word?

“45 All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. 46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,48 therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.”

I see no change in the downward spiral of America’s morality. I see no repentance in the sins of our country. Our latest elections told a story of an America that is finished with God. We have decided when a child is to be born and not Him. We have decided what constitutes a family and not Him. We have taken The Bible  from our classrooms and God’s ways from our lives.

I also see no change in God’s faithfulness. His promises in the Bible are timeless, both for the blessings and the curses. Since we have passed the tipping point in rejecting God and the Bible, it would be foolish to not expect God’s promised curse to fall on our adulterous land. Now more than ever, I believe Christians should be preppers. The Bible promises that things will get worse and worse as we move further away from God.

Despite all of these curses that are assured for our nation, we can individually choose to obey God. I believe he can bless us as individuals even as our nation reaps it’s rewards for disobedience. Obeying God’s Word starts with knowing it. I pray you will take time to read the Bible every day, then do what it says; you’ll be glad you did!

If you are new to prepping or would like to learn more about how to prepare for tomorrow, please read our 7 Step Preparedness Plan. Come back every Sunday for a new Prepper Bible Study!

The most important prep of all is knowing GOD. Jesus said “what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his own soul?” Prepper translation: “What good will it do you to survive the coming economic collapse, nuclear war or even a zombie apocalypse if you don’t know you will go to heaven when you die?” A recent study found that 10 out of 10 people die! On that day we will meet our Maker. It only makes sense to be prepared for that day. Click here to learn more about knowing GOD.

Happy Prepping!

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Silver and Gold

on November 16, 2012 at 4:32 am
Posted In: Economy, Prepping

Silver and Gold

gold

We haven’t spoken about silver and gold for a while. I thought it would make a good discussion for today. At Prepper Recon, we believe silver and gold have a place in prepping and also in asset diversification. Silver and gold have many advantages as well as some disadvantages. We will go over some fundamental advantages first, then we will look at some of the limitations of gold and silver.

I think the best reason to own gold is that it has never had a currency crisis. Right now, we can look around the world and see fiat currencies in crisis. The latest story is out of Iran. The Iranian Rial has lost 80 percent of its value over the past year. It has lost 17 percent in recent weeks. Protesters and police in Iran have had major clashes with tear gas and several arrests. We have also seen the effects of panic over the thought of a currency crisis in Spain in recent months. Spanish depositors have withdrawn euros  en mass as they fear leaving or being pushed out of the euro. In the event that their currency were to be converted back to the peseta, banks would close and deposits would be frozen until the conversion was complete. Once banks open, the peseta would likely lose value immediately as the government would seek to debase it in order to reduce its own debt. This fear is what the Greeks have been dealing with for  years now. This same scenario is also possible in the US if there were to be a collapse of the dollar.

Gold has been considered a store of wealth since the beginning of time. In Genesis 13:2, we read that Abraham was rich in cattle, silver and gold. The concept of “outsmarting” a commodity based currency system is relatively new. Paper money has only been around in western cultures since the 17th century. The Chinese experimented with it in the 9th century but eventually abandoned it. Ancient Rome devalued their coin from precious and semi-precious metals to alloys. We all know how well that turned out. It was the beginning of the end for Rome.

Gold and silver have maintained their value throughout time. In contrast, the dollar hasn’t fared quite so well. In 1960, a new home cost $12,700. Now, median price for a new home is  $256,900. That is a 1922% increase, or inversely, a 1922% loss in the value of the dollar. Cheerios were $.25 a box in 1960, now they run $6. A loss of 10,391% for the dollar. Here is a great link to look at prices from 50 years ago and see how well the dollar has done. Let’s see how well gold has done in the same period for the same items. In 1960 it took 343 ounces of gold for the new house. Now it takes only 143 ounces for the new house, that is a 140% increase for gold in new home terms. An ounce of gold would have bought 148 boxes of Cheerios in 1960. Now, an ounce will buy 298 boxes. That is roughly a 100% increase in Cheerios.  In terms of dollars, gold has gone from $37 in 1960 to over $1,700 today. That is a gain for gold of 4,500% in dollar terms. We could go on and on with examples like these and the results will be similar. The dollar has done very poorly over time and gold has done quite well.

Gold and silver do have some limitations. Gold should be thought of as a store of wealth rather than an investment. While it can do well in some periods, it does not produce a cash flow. We must always remember that there is a precedent for the government to outlaw gold. In 1933 FDR issued Executive order 6102 which outlawed monetary gold ownership. If this were to happen again, it would become very hard to liquidate. It would retain its value on the black market, but you would lose your ability to convert it to cash.

I recommend buying gold and silver American Eagles and Canadian Maple Leaves. With gold, you may want to include some 1/10 ounce,  1/4 ounce or 1/2 ounce coins as the 1 ounce coins are going to be hard to get change for in a collapse scenario.   I have had nothing but good experiences when dealing with APMEX for precious metals. You will wait about 10 days for your check to clear unless you pay by credit card which has a higher rate. I recently bought from JM Bullion. Their prices were cheaper than APMEX across the board. The shipping was about $5 cheaper. All the gold coins were a few dollars cheaper and silver coins were $.83 cheaper per coin. If you buy 30 or 40 silver coins, that will add up fast. They will take about 10 days to ship from the time they receive your check as well. The website doesn’t say so, but they also take personal checks. Like APMEX, they take credit cards but charge a higher price. JM Bullion has a smaller selection of coins, but they have the items I purchase. I stick with Eagles and Maple Leaves because they are easily recognized. My first experience with JM Bullion was great and I will most likely use them from now on. Their prices are hard to beat.

Don’t go crazy, but owning a  little gold and silver is a prudent step in preparedness. Start small and spread out your purchases. This is called dollar cost averaging. It protects you from buying at the top price. To learn more about how gold and silver can fit into your preparedness plan, read our 7 Step Preparedness Plan. Make sure you have your beans, bullets and band aids squared away before you start thinking about silver and gold. First things first!

Happy Prepping!

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