PM's Self Reliance Tools

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Weather has crushed many Midwest farms-prepare for higher prices

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

www.poormansurvivor.net

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

Weather has crushed many Midwest farms-prepare for higher prices

If what some experts are telling us is true, a global food crisis appears to be inevitable. Even during good years we have a really difficult time feeding everyone on the planet, and now a major climate shift appears to be happening. Our sun has become exceedingly quiet, and many experts believe that this is a sign that a solar minimum is now upon us. Of course we have seen solar minimums happen quite regularly in the past, and if this is just a normal solar minimum then conditions should begin to return to normal after a couple of years. Unfortunately, evidence continues to mount that we have entered what is known as a “grand solar minimum”. In fact, Professor Valentina Zharkova says that what we are facing is a “super grand solar minimum”, and if that is true we are going to be facing climate chaos like we have never seen before. During previous “grand solar minimums” the globe was gripped by devastating famines and vast numbers of people died. Could a similar scenario potentially be in our future?

Ice Age Farmer has compiled a “Grand Solar Minimum Crop Loss Map” which you can view right here, and I appreciate our friends at ANP for pointing it out to us. Ice Age Farmer’s map shows that there are literally dozens of locations all over the globe right now that are reporting significant crop losses, and this is really unlike anything we have ever seen before. Some parts of our planet are dealing with horrific drought, but in the middle of the United States it just won’t stop raining. In some areas of the world it is too cold, while others are experiencing record heat. Everywhere we look we see extremes, and the behavior of our sun is the primary reason this is happening.

Top scientists were warning us that a solar minimum had arrived, and since that time the behavior of the sun has continued to confirm that hypothesis…

The surface of the sun is normally a roiling, super-heated hellscape.

But Nasa images have revealed that the face of our star is looking ominously calm right now, prompting claims it’s reached a stage of its cycle called the solar minimum.

During the minimum, there are significantly fewer sunspots and its magnetic field weakens, allowing cosmic rays from outside our solar system to rain down on Earth.

This solar minimum came early, and that is exactly what we would expect if we were entering a “grand solar minimum”. Perhaps the best known “grand solar minimum” in our history was the Maunder Minimum which stretched from 1645 to 1715…

The last time a deep solar minimum was in effect was the Maunder minimum, which saw seven decades of freezing weather, began in 1645 and lasted through to 1715, and happened when sunspots were exceedingly rare.

During this period, temperatures dropped globally by 1.3 degrees celsius leading to shorter seasons and ultimately food shortages.

The food shortages during the Maunder Minimum were quite severe, and the global death toll was enormous.

Could we be facing a similar scenario this time around?

Actually, economist Martin Armstrong seems to believe that it could be even worse…

The Maunder Minimum created such a deep cold in Europe and extreme weather events elsewhere that what unfolds is a series of droughts, floods, and harvest failures. Historically, this leads to massive migrations, wars and revolutions. The fatal synergy between human and natural disasters eradicated perhaps one-third of the human population during the last event and this time we are crashing more rapidly than before. Therefore, we may exceed more than a reduction in population of one-third and reach the levels of the 14th century of 50%, which was also combined with the Black Plague.

That layer of stress on the agricultural industry is only intensified when you zoom out to the international level, where farmers around the world are facing various dire situations. As one North Dakota farmer and Twitter user Jordan Gackle pointed out in a recent thread: Drought is continuing to disrupt wheat crops in Australia forcing the country to import some of its wheat from Canada. Some farmers in Canada are now reporting long stretches without rain under the hashtag #drought19. Head over to China and you’ll find that a legion of fall armyworms are spreading rapidly and devouring key grain crops.

With this 2017 story over at Feeding America reporting that more than 41 million Americans were suffering from hunger daily, including more than 13 million children, with this National Geographic story reporting that 1 out of every 6 Americans aren’t getting enough to eat [although as you look around you and see the growing obesity problem in America, it makes me wonder].

As you prep, always think of what you can learn to do yourself right now, as opposed to having to learn due to a necessity. Can you grow your own garden? Hunt for you own meat? Learn to make your own clothes? Learn to can foods? Speaking of canning, it is absolutely invaluable for survival, since you can do it over and over each year without incurring any additional expenses.

Are you thinking pickles and jam? Crawl out of whatever rock you've been under, because canning is so much more than that! You can can fruits, vegetables, soups, salads, salsa, spaghetti sauce, meats and more. There are numerous websites available offering hundreds of canning recipes. Canning is a simple, effective, and low cost method of storing pretty large quantities of delicious, nutritious food.

But there are a few things you should know:

Canning is time-consuming.
It will take a little money to get started (you'll need jars, lids and maybe a pressure canner).
Home canned food may kill you if it's not done right.
Most foods canned at home involve the use of vinegar

There are two ways to can fruits and vegetables for long-term storage: the boiling water bath method and the pressure canning method. They’re basically the same, but the boiling water bath method requires a simple stock pot, whereas the pressure canning method requires a specialized piece of equipment called a pressure canner.

The general agreement between hard-core canners is that pressure canner kills bacteria more effectively and it is usually used to preserve foods with low acidic level. However, you can use the boiling water method to process fruits and use the pressure canner to process the vegetables.

The basic process is that you cook the produce for a prescribed period of time, sterilize the jars and lids, add a natural preserving solution to the processed, jarred foods (like salt, sugar and vinegar) and then vacuum seal the lids. Sealing the lids properly is critical. If the jar is not sealed is properly, the air will enter the jar and make contact with the food, allowing for bacterial growth and effectively spoiling the food you worked hard to preserve. On top of that, exposed canned produce can cause botulism, a dangerous bacterial infection.

To avoid spoiling, add acid to acidic foods. Lemon juice or vinegar work well.

Be sure not to overfill the jars with produce. When you add the liquid, fill the jars enough to submerge the produce. Make sure there are no bubbles or foam on top.

Boil the filled, sealed jars and then you're ready to go. Let the jars cool.

Be sure to label your canned foods with a name and expiration date prior to putting them away for long-term storage. Canned foods will stay fresh for a long time.

I recommend buying a couple of books that will help guide you through the canning process (pick the illustrated ones) and offer recipes to help you add variety to your canned meals.

P.S. It's best to purchase a well-built pressure canner and cooker, which is the safest and easiest way to can large batches of food quickly.

Bruce, the “Poor Man”

Additional News of Note…

We’re already in recession, here’s what to do, says economist who called last bubble

“I think we’re probably already in a recession, but I think [it will] probably be a run of the mill affair, which means real GDP would decline 1.5% to 2%, not to 3.5% to 4%, you had in the very serious [past] recessions,” said the president of money manager A. Gary Shilling & Co. He also lays claim to having forecast a global inventory glut that led to the 1973 to 1975 U.S. downturn.

UBS: World economy ‘one step away from global recession’ (Saxplayer00o1)

“U.S. tariff escalation is NOT our base case,” the bank said. “But if escalation is not averted in the next week or so … we anticipate making major changes to our forecasts.

It added: “We estimate global growth would be 75 [basis points] lower over the subsequent six quarters and that the contours would resemble a mild ‘global recession’” that would rival Europe’s debt crisis and the oil collapse of the mid-1980s, according to UBS analysts.

Raccoons may look cute and even pitiful at times, but they do pose a threat. By being potential rabies virus-carriers, they are a danger to you, your family, and your pets. We can never stress enough the dangers and troubles these critters pose, so check out these tried-and-tested natural raccoon deterrents we’ve collected for you.

Monday, July 1, 2019

Will Corporated Debt Prove our Undoing? Resources to Survive a Crash

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…

www.poormansurvivor.net

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

Corporate Debt Will Prove Damaging to our Economy

So many financial crisis’ to worry about-what do we do? Answers below!

Right now the entire nation is buzzing about the very first debates for Democratic presidential contenders in 2019, and much of the focus of those debates will be on the economy. A total of 20 candidates will participate in those debates, and the vast majority of them don’t have a prayer of actually winning the nomination. Of course all of them will have “plans” for “fixing” the economy, but the truth is that most of those plans really aren’t that radically different from what has been tried in the past. No matter who has been in the White House, our insatiable appetite for debt [both government and private] has allowed us to enjoy a tremendously bloated standard of living that was far beyond what we actually deserved.

It seems to me those Dems running for president all want to erode more of our rights, increase taxes to crazy levels to pay for their pie-in-the-sky programs and grow government to huge levels-We already have too much government at every level interfering with our lives and stealing from our pocketbook.

The reality of the matter is that we are at the very end of the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and the way we live is about to dramatically change no matter who we send to Washington.

By nature of our sick economic system, it’s (rightly) assumed by many “in the know” that not only are we headed for another financial crisis…

But that such crushing, debilitating, and panic-inducing events are all but inevitable.

(Even people who don’t understand how the economy works get a sense it’s doomed.)

“Most people imagine that if they borrow from a bank, they are borrowing other people's money. In fact, when banks and building societies make any loan, they create new money.

“Money loaned by a bank is not a loan of pre-existent money; money loaned by a bank is additional money created. The stream of money generated by people, businesses and governments constantly borrowing from banks and other lending institutions is relied upon to supply the economy as a whole. Thus the supply of money depends upon people going into debt, and the level of debt within an economy is no more than a measure of the amount of money that has been created…”

“It is actually not in the least surprising that nations are chronically in debt, governments have inadequate resources, public services are under-funded and people are beset by mortgages and overdrafts. The reason for all this monetary scarcity and insolvency is that the financial system used by all national economies worldwide is actually founded upon debt.”

Furthermore, this game of musical chairs is 100% reliant upon banks continuing to pump debt into the system…

Corporate Debt: Origin of Next Crisis

By Jim Rickards

The case for a pending financial collapse is well grounded. Financial crises occur on a regular basis including 1987, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2007-08.

That averages out to about once every five years for the past thirty years. There has not been a financial crisis for ten years so the world is overdue. It’s also the case that each crisis is bigger than the one before and requires more intervention by the central banks.

The reason has to do with the system scale. In complex dynamic systems such as capital markets, risk is an exponential function of system scale. Increasing market scale correlates with exponentially larger market collapses.

In basic terms, this means a market panic far larger than the Panic of 2008.

Today, systemic risk is more dangerous than ever because the entire system is larger than before.

Due to central bank intervention, total global debt has increased over $150 trillion over the past 15 years.

Too-big-to-fail banks are bigger than ever, have a larger percentage of the total assets of the banking system and have much larger derivatives books.

Each credit and liquidity crisis starts out differently and ends up the same.

Each crisis begins with distress in a particular overborrowed sector and then spreads from sector to sector until the whole world is screaming, “I want my money back!”

First, one asset class has a surprise drop. The leveraged investors sell the sinking asset, but soon the asset is unwanted by anyone. Margin calls roll in. Investors then sell good assets to raise cash to meet the margin calls. This spreads the panic to banks and dealers who were not originally involved with the weak asset.

Soon the contagion spreads to all banks and assets, as everyone wants their money back all at once. Banks begin to fail, panic spreads and finally central banks step in to separate winners and losers and re-liquefy the system for the benefit of the winners.

Typically, small investors (and some bankrupt banks) get hurt the worst while the big banks get bailed out and live to fight another day.

That much panics have in common. What varies in financial panics is not how they end but how they begin. The 1987 crash started with computerized trading. The 1994 panic began in Mexico. The 1997–98 panic started in Asian emerging markets but soon spread to Russia and the big banks. The 2000 crash began with dot-coms. The 2008 panic was triggered by defaults in subprime mortgages.

The problem is that regulators are like generals fighting the last war. In 2008, the global financial crisis started in the U.S. mortgage market and spread quickly to the overleveraged banking sector.

Since then, mortgage lending standards have been tightened considerably and bank capital requirements have been raised steeply. Banks and mortgage lenders may be safer today, but the system is not. Risk has simply shifted.

What will trigger the next panic?

My answer is always the same: We can be certain the crisis is coming and can estimate its magnitude, but no one knows exactly when it will happen or what the specific catalyst will be.

When it happens, it could unfold very quickly. There may not be time or opportunity in the middle of the crisis to take defensive measures. That’s why I keep reminding my readers that the time to prepare by increasing allocations to cash and gold is now.

With that said, it is useful to consider the most likely flash points for the next crisis and to monitor events as a way to improve one’s chances of seeing a crisis at the early stages.

So many credit crises are brewing, it’s hard to keep track without a scorecard. The mother of all credit crises is coming to China with over a quarter-trillion dollars owed by insolvent banks and state-owned enterprises, not to mention off-the-books liabilities of provincial governments, wealth management products and developers of white elephant infrastructure projects.

Then there’s a possible emerging-markets credit crisis, with a parade of potentially bankrupt borrowers vulnerable to hot money capital outflows and a slowdown of growth in developing economies.

Close on their heels is the U.S. student loan debacle, with over $1.5 trillion in outstanding debts and default rates approaching 20%.

Now we’re facing a devastating wave of junk bond defaults. The next financial collapse, already on our radar screen, will quite possibly come from junk bonds.

That’s not my view alone.

Prominent economist Carmen Reinhart, for example, says the place to watch is U.S. high-yield debt, aka “junk bonds.”

Since the great financial crisis, extremely low interest rates allowed the total number of highly speculative corporate bonds, or “junk bonds,” to rise about 60% — a record high.

Many businesses became extremely leveraged as a result. Estimates put the total amount of junk bonds outstanding at about $3.7 trillion.

The danger is that when the next downturn comes, many corporations will be unable to service their debt.

Defaults will spread throughout the system like a deadly contagion, and the damage will be enormous.

This is from a report by Mariarosa Verde, Moody’s senior credit officer:

This extended period of benign credit conditions has helped many weak, highly leveraged companies to avoid default… These companies are poised to default when credit conditions eventually become more difficult… The record number of highly leveraged companies has set the stage for a particularly large wave of defaults when the next period of broad economic stress eventually arrives.

If default rates are only 10% — a conservative assumption — this corporate debt fiasco will be at least six times larger than the subprime losses in 2007-08.

For now, it’s not clear which way things will break next. Volatility is back and markets are still in a precarious position.

But the stock market is ultimately going to collapse in the face of rising credit losses and tightening credit conditions. Once the tsunami hits, no one will be spared. When it does hit, many investors will be caught completely unprepared.

You don’t want to be heavily exposed to these markets. It’s far better to get out too early than too late. Once the market falls apart, it’ll be too late to act.

That’s why now is the time to buy gold, while it’s still cheap (even with its recent run-up).

When you need it most, once the crisis hits, it’ll cost a fortune. Preparation means 10% percent of your investable assets in gold (and possibly silver) and another 30% in cash.

That allocation will preserve wealth and provide dry powder for bottom-fishing in the crisis to come.

SIDEBAR:

A new survey from financial information website Bankrate.com found that everyday Americans have a less favorable view of the economy than experts do. All the experts rated the economy as being “excellent” or “good,” compared to just 59 percent of others. And 39 percent of everyday Americans said the economy was “not so good” or “poor.”

Bankrate surveyed around 1,000 people and nine economic experts for the study.

The survey also included a question about when the next recession would begin. Approximately 40 percent of average hard working Americans felt that a recession had either already begun or would begin very soon, but none of the “experts” felt that way…

Everyday Americans also said they expect a recession to hit sooner than the experts predict. A fifth of Americans polled said they believe the recession has already begun, and 21 percent said they expected it to begin within six months or a year. However, all the experts said they don’t expect a recession to begin for either one to two years or more than two years.

A different survey has found that 71 percent of all Americans say that they “are unprepared for another financial crisis”…

Meanwhile, 43% of Americans say they feel financially insecure and 71% are unprepared for another financial crisis, such as going bankrupt or losing their home, a survey of 24,070 adults released this week by market researcher YouGov found. Some 55% of those who feel unprepared say they’re not confident that they will be able to afford retirement; they’re more likely than those who feel financially secure to say the government should make sure everyone has health insurance.

RELATED RESOURCES

In modern days, economic collapse is one of the most likely disasters that people all over the world must contend with. Even in an economic stronghold such as the United States, the possibility of economic collapse looms large. In fact, many experts predict that the U.S. is due for an economic downturn, the severity of which is yet to be seen. But considering that the fundamental problems behind the last crash were never really fixed, it will probably be pretty bad.

Aside from the financial consequences, though, there are plenty of other scary things that follow in the wake of an economic collapse. Below, we’ll cover some of these frightening possibilities in order to highlight why it is so important to be prepared.

1. Kidnappings Increase - Countries that experience an economic collapse typically see a spike in kidnappings as well. Kidnapping a person of wealth and demanding a ransom is one way for desperate people to acquire money when no other means of acquiring money are available...

13 Scary Things that Happen When an Economy Collapses

Major cities may still only take up a small portion of the land mass in the United States, but they are nevertheless home to over 80% of the population. With this being the case, the odds of being caught in the concrete jungle when disaster strikes are quite high.

Of course, the survival skills necessary to navigate a city during a disaster – whether it’s a major disaster such as a foreign attack or a personal disaster such as a robbery – are quite different from the skills many preppers may be accustomed to.

If you would like to ensure that you can take whatever the concrete jungle has to throw at you, here are nine skills you need to have...

9 Street Survival Skills for the Concrete Jungle

For those who are preparing for tougher times, canned foods are invaluable. Of all the food storage methods, few are more convenient or long-lasting than canned food.

If all you’ve ever done is browse the canned goods aisle of your supermarket, you may be surprised to learn just how much variety there is when it comes to canned foods. There is a lot more than just canned meat, veggies, and soups. All sorts of foods can be canned.

These canned foods probably sound weird, but they're actually very good. If you're looking to add some variety to your food stockpile, check these out...

10 Weird Canned Foods That Are Surprisingly Good

Bruce, the “Poor Man”

Additional News of Note…

How to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck in 8 Steps

Does it feel like your paycheck is gone the moment you get it? Here's how to break that vicious cycle.

Plus: 3 Reasons You Need a Health Savings Account - and How to Open One Today and 5 Ways Marriage Can Make You Wealthier

Dark Patterns: How Sneaky and Misleading Tricks Manipulate You Into Buying

According to a new study (see full study), more than one in 10 websites checked used some type of misleading technique to prompt you to buy or sign up for something. Some of these methods are simply outrageous. They often create a false sense of urgency by suggesting a particular item is selling fast and if you don't act quickly, you will lose out. [Alternate link]

75 Free Things You Can Get This Summer

"Free" is a good four letter word, and this summer, there are plenty of things you can do or get for free [click the small "view all" link to see all tips on one page]. Take a factory tour, get a free ice cream cone or magazine subscription, get free food on your birthday, get free admission to museums, and much more. These tips come from Jeff Yeager, the "ultimate cheapskate."

This is what REAL SHTF looks like in a Farm or Homestead (thc0655)

Describing what happened on March 23, 2018, Nicky said a stream of bullets came blasting through the patio door, narrowly missing her 15-year-old son’s head.

Nicky said: ‘With the bullets smashing through the windows I can only describe our feeling as being hunted like wild animals.

Beware Much Higher Prices for Costco's Kirkland Brand on Amazon

A Final Note…

You Can’t Buy Life Insurance After You’re Dead-Prepare NOW for Emergencies. Resources-Solar Chargers back in stock-Grab one now as they go fast. Our supply on eBay sold out in ten minutes!

*Available at our storefront – PLUS grab one of our popular emergency solar/wind-up/battery back-up power plants…