Who To Believe ???

On Aug 27, 6:15*pm, "Mr. Jaggers" wrote:

James the know-it-all, bleeding heart, flaming, pablum-puking, blaspheming,
godless secular humanist, evolutionist,
never-met-a-Communist-dictator-I-didn't-like, pro-abortion, tree-hugging,
kid-despising, unionist money-grubbing, Ted Kennedy worshipping, Hillary
fawning, Europe admiring, Obama saluting, America hating, peacenik, gay
marriage advocating, SUV bashing, French-looking, terrorist sympathizing,
Constitution flouting, big bang believing, flag burning, Al Gore loving,
global warming fearing, deficit-loving, pointy-haired, liberal pothead
environmentalist liberal wacko. *Let's see, did I forget anything? *Oh yeah,
single-payer freak, bailout advocate, Mosque supporter, and public pension
leech, and mighty proud of it all! *Eat your heart out, Archie Bunker.

Sounds like ya got it all wrapped up in one neat package there Jim!
8-)

To thine own self be true! And "A man has to know his limitations"
Clint Eastwood

On Aug 27, 5:12*pm, "Mr. Jaggers" wrote:
oly wrote:
On Aug 27, 4:42 pm, Peter wrote:
On Aug 26, 7:13 am, oly wrote:

On Aug 25, 7:38 pm, "Bremick" wrote:

wrote in message

...

The other day on the TV stock channel a so called expert was
saying Gold was at the end of its run on the up side and he
expected it to go down in price considerably in the near future.
Today Glenn Beck was on saying a depression was coming very soon
which I would figure would have Gold or other hard currencies go
up ....
Anyone of you coin collectors have any feelings on this subject
???

You seem to question the credentials of a "so-called" expert on a
TV stock channel, yet you don't sound like you have the same
doubts about Glen Beck on the Fox channel? Apparently, you
consider Beck the more legitimate expert on the subject. Go for
it. No matter what happens, you're still gonna die, so why worry
that much about what gold does?

Day in and day out, a person should have a certain percentage of
their assets in gold and silver.

That percentage should NOT be real high - the important thing is
that
it should NOT be zero. The percentage varies from person to person.
Collectible coins with a realatively high composition of silver (and
gold) to their market values are a great way to go - you get the
pleasure of owning a historic object with the protection of holding
some precious metals.

If you don't care anything about history, you can do well with the
modern bullion coins (the ones with explicit even weights in troy
ounces) which have sprung up since 1968 (when the Krugerrand was
first introduced).

However, IMHO, the pleasures of Numismatics are too wonderful to be
missed. The enjoyment of collecting coins is not inconsiderable.

The big question is something like "What rock did you grow up under?
Where have you been the past fifty years?" I grew up in quite modest
rural midwestern circumstances and my grandparents, parents and
teachers all let a kid know that yes, gold and silver was (and is)
valuable. Didn't you ever read "Treasure Island" or The Diaries of
Samuel Pepys? When the Dutch invaded the Medway in 1665, Mr. Pepys
could refer to 300 pounds of silver plate and 1300 gold guineas as
"That little in money which I presently have by me (in my possession
at home).

We are living in the first period in World History (now ran out to
about the fifty year mark) where 99% of the people in the world
accept whatever monetary dross their government has chosen to
replace gold
and silver, or bank paper redeemable in Gold and Silver. This amount
of faith in a class of venal politicos and bankers is incredible.

There is no indication that this experiement (and that is what it
is)
is going to end well.

If you have no precious metal holdings whatsoever, buy three
one-ounce
AGE and three rolls (sixty coins) of ASE.

We may see a moment where all fiat currencies go bad nearly
simultaneously. In the near future.

The financial system imploded about two years back, and the world is
still waffling in the "discovery" and "denial" stages.

At some point, lots of people are going to bail out of an obviously
broken system.

The early-bird "bailers" will do a lot better than the folks that
are
going to be too late.

The modern financial system is a big, deep watery pool, and there
aren't many ladders out of it.

oly
"Feeling really really optimistic this morning, ain't I?"- Hide
quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The prescriptions and worries that Oly mentions are in the nature of
potential remedies for risks.

There are some fairly basic ideas about investing that need to be
mentioned. Investing is what you do with money that is in excess of
needs. When we are discussing the case of someone who has far less
than he needs or perhaps is a ward of the state, the need to invest
is not relevant.

If you own wealth in excess of immediate needs, then the subject of
income and hedging are relevant topics. Gold produces no income. If
you have an ounce of gold now and succeed (against all hazards) in
keeping it, then you will still have an ounce of gold.

Normally, if you want to purchase something it becomes a question of
what will an ounce of gold buy. History has shown that there are many
possibilities. Among them gold becomes so valuable that it buys more
than it formerly did; that it declines in value; or, that it comes
under a sufficient cloud that folks dare not admit that they have
any.

In any case, a series of transactions that lead to getting something
of value for gold involves barter. Do you like to barter?

In my view, the primary risk that gold ownership addresses (apart
from numismatics) is that confidence is lost in the US dollar (and
possibly other currencies, as well). In my opinion there is some
risk of this,
but it is by no means certain. As you can see there are other
opinions available. If you believe as I do, gold coins are
potentially useful, but some thought about how to keep them safe and
how big a chunk of gold you want to handle are issues.- Hide quoted
text -

- Show quoted text -

Peter, many thanks for what I interpret as a modest to moderate
endorsement of some of my views.

Don't forget the importance and utility of owning some silver at all
times too.

Quite recently I read some survivor of the Yugoslav Civil Wars (about
15 or 20 years back) complain to high heaven that people didn't get
what their gold coins were worth when they tried to trade with farmers
and bakers for meat and bread. * Moan moan moan about the
"uselessness" of gold coins.

Duh. *That's why you gotta have some silver coins too.

But what I want to know is, will it be 15:1 or 16:1. *None of this cross of
gold jazz.

James the Commoner- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I detect pot-stirring. There is nothing special about 16:1. That was
actually one of Jefferson's few mistakes in public life. Bimetalism
is impossible inpractice: you can have a gold standard, you can have a
silver standard, but you can't define the "official" currency in terms
of both.

In 1896 and 1900, W.J. Bryan didn't play his hand properly. He should
have shown that the gold standard is too rigid (i.e., there are times
when gold is too scarce) and that the paper standard is a potentially
endless snare and delusion foisted on the public by the bankers. By
default, a silver standard is best - there have been very few times
(in Ameircan history, at least) when silver was unobtainable, and even
more favorably silver can't be printed out of the thin blue ether.

But "The Silver-tounged Boy Orator of the Platte" failed to explain to
the Nation the entire range of currency possibilities, and shortly
after, he became a sell-out for the lure of a high-office. More
favorably, in old age, he did defend Christianity against fashionable
(and silly) non-belief.

oly

oly wrote:
On Aug 27, 5:12 pm, "Mr. Jaggers" wrote:
oly wrote:
On Aug 27, 4:42 pm, Peter wrote:
On Aug 26, 7:13 am, oly wrote:

On Aug 25, 7:38 pm, "Bremick" wrote:

wrote in message

...

The other day on the TV stock channel a so called expert was
saying Gold was at the end of its run on the up side and he
expected it to go down in price considerably in the near future.
Today Glenn Beck was on saying a depression was coming very soon
which I would figure would have Gold or other hard currencies go
up ....
Anyone of you coin collectors have any feelings on this subject
???

You seem to question the credentials of a "so-called" expert on a
TV stock channel, yet you don't sound like you have the same
doubts about Glen Beck on the Fox channel? Apparently, you
consider Beck the more legitimate expert on the subject. Go for
it. No matter what happens, you're still gonna die, so why worry
that much about what gold does?

Day in and day out, a person should have a certain percentage of
their assets in gold and silver.

That percentage should NOT be real high - the important thing is
that
it should NOT be zero. The percentage varies from person to
person. Collectible coins with a realatively high composition of
silver (and gold) to their market values are a great way to go -
you get the pleasure of owning a historic object with the
protection of holding some precious metals.

If you don't care anything about history, you can do well with the
modern bullion coins (the ones with explicit even weights in troy
ounces) which have sprung up since 1968 (when the Krugerrand was
first introduced).

However, IMHO, the pleasures of Numismatics are too wonderful to
be missed. The enjoyment of collecting coins is not
inconsiderable.

The big question is something like "What rock did you grow up
under? Where have you been the past fifty years?" I grew up in
quite modest rural midwestern circumstances and my grandparents,
parents and teachers all let a kid know that yes, gold and silver
was (and is) valuable. Didn't you ever read "Treasure Island" or
The Diaries of Samuel Pepys? When the Dutch invaded the Medway in
1665, Mr. Pepys could refer to 300 pounds of silver plate and
1300 gold guineas as "That little in money which I presently have
by me (in my possession at home).

We are living in the first period in World History (now ran out to
about the fifty year mark) where 99% of the people in the world
accept whatever monetary dross their government has chosen to
replace gold
and silver, or bank paper redeemable in Gold and Silver. This
amount of faith in a class of venal politicos and bankers is
incredible.

There is no indication that this experiement (and that is what it
is)
is going to end well.

If you have no precious metal holdings whatsoever, buy three
one-ounce
AGE and three rolls (sixty coins) of ASE.

We may see a moment where all fiat currencies go bad nearly
simultaneously. In the near future.

The financial system imploded about two years back, and the world
is still waffling in the "discovery" and "denial" stages.

At some point, lots of people are going to bail out of an
obviously broken system.

The early-bird "bailers" will do a lot better than the folks that
are
going to be too late.

The modern financial system is a big, deep watery pool, and there
aren't many ladders out of it.

oly
"Feeling really really optimistic this morning, ain't I?"- Hide
quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The prescriptions and worries that Oly mentions are in the nature
of potential remedies for risks.

There are some fairly basic ideas about investing that need to be
mentioned. Investing is what you do with money that is in excess of
needs. When we are discussing the case of someone who has far less
than he needs or perhaps is a ward of the state, the need to invest
is not relevant.

If you own wealth in excess of immediate needs, then the subject of
income and hedging are relevant topics. Gold produces no income. If
you have an ounce of gold now and succeed (against all hazards) in
keeping it, then you will still have an ounce of gold.

Normally, if you want to purchase something it becomes a question
of what will an ounce of gold buy. History has shown that there
are many possibilities. Among them gold becomes so valuable that
it buys more than it formerly did; that it declines in value; or,
that it comes under a sufficient cloud that folks dare not admit
that they have any.

In any case, a series of transactions that lead to getting
something of value for gold involves barter. Do you like to barter?

In my view, the primary risk that gold ownership addresses (apart
from numismatics) is that confidence is lost in the US dollar (and
possibly other currencies, as well). In my opinion there is some
risk of this,
but it is by no means certain. As you can see there are other
opinions available. If you believe as I do, gold coins are
potentially useful, but some thought about how to keep them safe
and how big a chunk of gold you want to handle are issues.- Hide
quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Peter, many thanks for what I interpret as a modest to moderate
endorsement of some of my views.

Don't forget the importance and utility of owning some silver at all
times too.

Quite recently I read some survivor of the Yugoslav Civil Wars
(about 15 or 20 years back) complain to high heaven that people
didn't get what their gold coins were worth when they tried to
trade with farmers and bakers for meat and bread. Moan moan moan
about the "uselessness" of gold coins.

Duh. That's why you gotta have some silver coins too.

But what I want to know is, will it be 15:1 or 16:1. None of this
cross of gold jazz.

James the Commoner- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I detect pot-stirring. There is nothing special about 16:1. That was
actually one of Jefferson's few mistakes in public life. Bimetalism
is impossible inpractice: you can have a gold standard, you can have a
silver standard, but you can't define the "official" currency in terms
of both.

Oh, knock off the Sherlock Holmes nonsense, I injected that as a historical
vignette, nothing more.

In 1896 and 1900, W.J. Bryan didn't play his hand properly. He should
have shown that the gold standard is too rigid (i.e., there are times
when gold is too scarce) and that the paper standard is a potentially
endless snare and delusion foisted on the public by the bankers. By
default, a silver standard is best - there have been very few times
(in Ameircan history, at least) when silver was unobtainable, and even
more favorably silver can't be printed out of the thin blue ether.

But "The Silver-tounged Boy Orator of the Platte" failed to explain to
the Nation the entire range of currency possibilities, and shortly
after, he became a sell-out for the lure of a high-office. More
favorably, in old age, he did defend Christianity against fashionable
(and silly) non-belief.

I'm going to bite my tongue and not rise to your bait on that last item.

James, no Poisson d'Avril

On 8/25/2010 7:58 PM, wrote:

The other day on the TV stock channel a so called expert was saying Gold
was at the end of its run on the up side and he expected it to go down
in price considerably in the near future. Today Glenn Beck was on
saying a depression was coming very soon which I would figure would have
Gold or other hard currencies go up ....
Anyone of you coin collectors have any feelings on this subject ???

To me, the most valuable "commodities" in times of crisis are bottled
water, food, ammunition and fuel. With those, I can survive and protect
my stash. Gold is nice but you have to find someone willing to part
with their water, food, ammunition or fuel in exchange for it. If they
have a use for it fine. But if I have a limited amount of the items
mentioned above, I do not care how many gold bars you are offering me to
part with my stuff. You will starve to death or die of thirst holding
onto those bars. I'll eat and drink what I have and I may just come
around after you pass away and collect those gold bars

My feeling is if the currency system collapses, it is going to be
everyone for themselves.

On 8/25/2010 7:58 PM, wrote:

The other day on the TV stock channel a so called expert was saying
Gold was at the end of its run on the up side and he expected it to go
down in price considerably in the near future. *Today Glenn Beck was
on saying a depression was coming very soon which I would figure would
have Gold or other hard currencies go up ....
Anyone of you coin collectors have any feelings on this subject ???


On Aug 27, 10:01 pm, "Roßert G. Schaffrath" replied:

To me, the most valuable "commodities" in times of crisis are bottled
water, food, ammunition and fuel. *With those, I can survive and
protect my stash. *Gold is nice but you have to find someone willing
to part
with their water, food, ammunition or fuel in exchange for it. *If
they
have a use for it fine. *But if I have a limited amount of the items
mentioned above, I do not care how many gold bars you are offering me
to part with my stuff. *You will starve to death or die of thirst
holding
onto those bars. *I'll eat and drink what I have and I may just come
around after you pass away and collect those gold bars

My feeling is if the currency system collapses, it is going to be
everyone for themselves.

Point #1: TV Pitchmen NEVER tell you anything. Listen to Kevin
Trudeau pitching his latest "Free Money From The Government" Book on a
30-minute late-night infomercial. He spends 30 minutes talking to
some big-busted hot babes about getting free money, but NEVER gives
you even ONE link about how. You have to buy his book. Then you'll
learn about what websites to visit.

Point #2: If anyone knew what was going to happen to the economy,
they'd make preparations themselves before telling anyone else.

Point #3: You can't eat gold and silver. Bob has it right. Food and
water will keep you alive. Guns and ammunition will keep your
supplies and family protected (provided you know how to use them).
Fuel will keep your generator, car, and household heat running. There
was an old movie (can't remember the name) about a post-apocalypic
world where everyone, save one old man, had gold and silver up the
ying-yang. Eventually, the old man, who only had food and water,
survived while the majority of the world died "rich."

On Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:04:10 -0500, "Mr. Jaggers"
wrote:

Zapp Brannigan wrote:
"Mr. Jaggers" wrote in message
...
Zapp Brannigan wrote:
"Mr. Jaggers" wrote in message
news Jud wrote:
May I also point out that Goldline is also one of Glenn Beck's
advertisers? I am not saying that holding precious metals is a bad
idea, but I think the fact that Beck is being remunerated by a
gold seller might be an ulterior motive as well.

I'd submit that Goldline and the other advertisers on Beck's or any
other pundit's show keep the stations on the air and that's about
it. Many of those stations are operating on a shoestring. It's
the invisible "sponsors" that really pay Beck's salary.

What are you jabbering on about?
The sponsors have ALWAYS paid the salary for people on radio and TV
- even PBS!

Tell that to the owners of the World's Loudest Station.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/...-expected.html

You proved my point - if sponsors won't pay, the show doesn't go on.

No, you missed my point, so I'll be out with it. Rush Limbaugh and Sean
Hannity together occupy one-fourth of WLS's entire broadcast day. WLS does
not, nor has it ever, been able to afford to pay contracts the size of
theirs. The ads for used copy machines, get-rich-quick-schemes,
pay-off-your-debt-pennies-on-the-dollar, gold's-gonna-do-this-or-that, etc.
keep the 50 kW flowing to the transmitter, pay for the engineer, and a few
control room operators, an ad manager that has multiple responsibilities,
and that's about it. Don't believe me - read any good history of that
station. Once rich and proud, once home of the Saturday night Barn Dance,
once home of a stable of world-class DJs, now hobbling along, trying to keep
its head above water.

James & Jud,

Even back in my "radio days", everybody knew that their call sign
stood for "World's Lowest Salaries".

I can't speak to a particular deal, but in a lot of cases, stations
don't pay that much (or sometimes, anything at all) to the syndicator.
What they do is agree to carry a certain number of minutes of the
syndicator's spots. They give up four or five minutes an hour of ad
time, with the hope that the higher ratings will allow them to charge
more for the local spots and make up the difference.

So, if I've got a syndicated talk show, Jud might want to carry it on
KJUD, where he normally charges $500/min for commercial time in that
time slot. In exchange for carrying my show, he agrees to air four
minutes of our "national" spots per hour.

My sales team sells ad time to Zapp Brannigan, to advertise his new
book deal, Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" and "Zapp Brannigan's Big Book
of War", all for one low price. Zapp pays the syndicator, who pays
me. Jud carries the ad, along with a local spot for Oly's "Gold's
Gonna Do This or That". Since the ratings are up on KJUD, his ad
rates go up to $600/min. He also doesn't have to pay "local talent" to
fill those three hours.

The knock-on effect is that James, who follows me with a local show,
also has higher ratings (hey, a good lead-in will do that), which
means KJUD also gets to charge more to advertise on James' show.

Hopefully, everybody makes money. If the show that follows mine is no
good, people tune out, and Jud doesn't make enough to cover the ad
revenue he lost.

take care,
Scott
Bonus call sign Trivia: WGN was founded by the company that owns the
Chicago Tribune, the World's Greatest Newspaper. WSM in Nashville was
started by the National Life & Accident Insurance Company, whose motto
was "We Shield Millions"

On Aug 28, 12:40*am, Jerry Dennis wrote:
On 8/25/2010 7:58 PM, wrote:

The other day on the TV stock channel a so called expert was saying
Gold was at the end of its run on the up side and he expected it to go
down in price considerably in the near future. *Today Glenn Beck was
on saying a depression was coming very soon which I would figure would
have Gold or other hard currencies go up ....
Anyone of you coin collectors have any feelings on this subject ???

On Aug 27, 10:01 pm, "Roßert G. Schaffrath" *replied:

To me, the most valuable "commodities" in times of crisis are bottled
water, food, ammunition and fuel. *With those, I can survive and
protect my stash. *Gold is nice but you have to find someone willing
to part
with their water, food, ammunition or fuel in exchange for it. *If
they
have a use for it fine. *But if I have a limited amount of the items
mentioned above, I do not care how many gold bars you are offering me
to part with my stuff. *You will starve to death or die of thirst
holding
onto those bars. *I'll eat and drink what I have and I may just come
around after you pass away and collect those gold bars

My feeling is if the currency system collapses, it is going to be
everyone for themselves.

Point #1: *TV Pitchmen NEVER tell you anything. *Listen to Kevin
Trudeau pitching his latest "Free Money From The Government" Book on a
30-minute late-night infomercial. *He spends 30 minutes talking to
some big-busted hot babes about getting free money, but NEVER gives
you even ONE link about how. *You have to buy his book. *Then you'll
learn about what websites to visit.

Point #2: *If anyone knew what was going to happen to the economy,
they'd make preparations themselves before telling anyone else.

Point #3: *You can't eat gold and silver. *Bob has it right. *Food and
water will keep you alive. *Guns and ammunition will keep your
supplies and family protected (provided you know how to use them).
Fuel will keep your generator, car, and household heat running. *There
was an old movie (can't remember the name) about a post-apocalypic
world where everyone, save one old man, had gold and silver up the
ying-yang. *Eventually, the old man, who only had food and water,
survived while the majority of the world died "rich."

I really don't buy TEOTWAKI scenarios. But I do subscribe to the high
probability of political, military and monetary mischief. My personal
study of history says that the people who hold tangibles like Gold
have more control of their own destinies, and as for the jolly water
hoarders, while they may have excellent liquidity, the water bugs are
mostly all wet.

oly

On Aug 28, 5:54*am, oly wrote:
On Aug 28, 12:40*am, Jerry Dennis wrote:





On 8/25/2010 7:58 PM, wrote:

The other day on the TV stock channel a so called expert was saying
Gold was at the end of its run on the up side and he expected it to go
down in price considerably in the near future. *Today Glenn Beck was
on saying a depression was coming very soon which I would figure would
have Gold or other hard currencies go up ....
Anyone of you coin collectors have any feelings on this subject ???

On Aug 27, 10:01 pm, "Roßert G. Schaffrath" *replied:

To me, the most valuable "commodities" in times of crisis are bottled
water, food, ammunition and fuel. *With those, I can survive and
protect my stash. *Gold is nice but you have to find someone willing
to part
with their water, food, ammunition or fuel in exchange for it. *If
they
have a use for it fine. *But if I have a limited amount of the items
mentioned above, I do not care how many gold bars you are offering me
to part with my stuff. *You will starve to death or die of thirst
holding
onto those bars. *I'll eat and drink what I have and I may just come
around after you pass away and collect those gold bars

My feeling is if the currency system collapses, it is going to be
everyone for themselves.

Point #1: *TV Pitchmen NEVER tell you anything. *Listen to Kevin
Trudeau pitching his latest "Free Money From The Government" Book on a
30-minute late-night infomercial. *He spends 30 minutes talking to
some big-busted hot babes about getting free money, but NEVER gives
you even ONE link about how. *You have to buy his book. *Then you'll
learn about what websites to visit.

Point #2: *If anyone knew what was going to happen to the economy,
they'd make preparations themselves before telling anyone else.

Point #3: *You can't eat gold and silver. *Bob has it right. *Food and
water will keep you alive. *Guns and ammunition will keep your
supplies and family protected (provided you know how to use them).
Fuel will keep your generator, car, and household heat running. *There
was an old movie (can't remember the name) about a post-apocalypic
world where everyone, save one old man, had gold and silver up the
ying-yang. *Eventually, the old man, who only had food and water,
survived while the majority of the world died "rich."

I really don't buy TEOTWAKI scenarios. *But I do subscribe to the high
probability of political, military and monetary mischief. *My personal
study of history says that the people who hold tangibles like Gold
have more control of their own destinies, and as for the jolly water
hoarders, while they may have excellent liquidity, the water bugs are
mostly all wet.

oly- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

TEOTWAWKI. I forgot a "W".

oly

On Aug 28, 7:54*am, oly wrote:

I really don't buy TEOTWAKI scenarios. *But I do subscribe to the high
probability of political, military and monetary mischief. *My personal
study of history says that the people who hold tangibles like Gold
have more control of their own destinies, and as for the jolly water
hoarders, while they may have excellent liquidity, the water bugs are
mostly all wet.

oly-

Surely TEOTWAWKI scenarios are not impossible. They seem unlikely
anytime soon and preparing optimally seems quite speculative.

I suppose that if you really believe that is what is coming and want
to prepare some extreme precautions are worth considering. Even so,
there are scenarios that are outside of most predictions (e.g., the
Carrington event in 1859 is likely to recur, eventually, and would
render most naive electrical preparations irrelevant).

If you store food and water, you need to consider how attractive
eating stored food will be. If the event you are preparing for is
delayed, you risk storing spoiled food. Consequently, you need to
have a plan to refresh inventory.

Among the zealots for similar views are the Mormons. Among them
Howard Ruff has been studying and offering solutions for many years.
Personally, I don't choose to take his advice, but in case you believe
in TEOTWAWKI scenarios you should at least look at what he suggests.

On Aug 28, 8:15*am, Peter wrote:
On Aug 28, 7:54*am, oly wrote:

I really don't buy TEOTWAKI scenarios. *But I do subscribe to the high
probability of political, military and monetary mischief. *My personal
study of history says that the people who hold tangibles like Gold
have more control of their own destinies, and as for the jolly water
hoarders, while they may have excellent liquidity, the water bugs are
mostly all wet.

oly-

Surely TEOTWAWKI scenarios are not impossible. *They seem unlikely
anytime soon and preparing optimally seems quite speculative.

I suppose that if you really believe that is what is coming and want
to prepare some extreme precautions are worth considering. *Even so,
there are scenarios that are outside of most predictions (e.g., the
Carrington event in 1859 is likely to recur, eventually, and would
render most naive electrical preparations irrelevant).

If you store food and water, you need to consider how attractive
eating stored food will be. *If the event you are preparing for is
delayed, you risk storing spoiled food. *Consequently, you need to
have a plan to refresh inventory.

Among the zealots for similar views are the Mormons. *Among them
Howard Ruff has been studying and offering solutions for many years.
Personally, I don't choose to take his advice, but in case you believe
in TEOTWAWKI scenarios you should at least look at what he suggests.

A Carrington-like event is supposed to occur again tomorrow, or maybe
before I get this posted, according to some solar observers...

oly