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Are we heading for another depression?
Crisis may make 1929 look like a "walk in the park"
I'm not an economist, but is this article just being "alarmist"? Otherwise if you think that you will be encountering at the very least a recession. What should you do with your money?
Or should we all be buying up all the gold... and calling for the return of the gold standard ^_^ (j/k) (crazy Ron Paul supporters!)
I'm not an economist, but is this article just being "alarmist"? Otherwise if you think that you will be encountering at the very least a recession. What should you do with your money?
Or should we all be buying up all the gold... and calling for the return of the gold standard ^_^ (j/k) (crazy Ron Paul supporters!)
Comments
The crash of 1929 involved speculators buying and selling stocks in a market that is similar to what we call Mutual Funds today but, instead of funds buying stocks funds were buying shares of other funds that were buying shares of other funds ad infinitum. What we have today is a bunch of banks entering the Real Estate business because they lent money to people who could not pay it back. They are seeing huge losses because the real estate was over valued when it was purchased.
Seriously though, things could get bad. I fully expect to see a recession and some major turmoil as people are turned out of their homes in larger numbers. The very idea that wholly-owned corporate entities like GWB and Hillary are willing to consider interest rate freezes and "bail-out" type provisions is an indication that something may be deeply wrong.
However, I cling to the hope that it won't get out of control. I've heard warnings about the coming depression since 1975, but it hasn't come yet. That might be, but the article did not say that the conditions and reasons for a crash are due to be repeated. If there's a depression, it will be for different reasons. However, the pain will be just as bad if not greater.
Where is your money saved? A bank? That caused a problem for many people during the 1930s and 1870s when they went to get their money from the bank only to find that the bank had failed. Also, depressions cause insecurity over the value of paper money. Don't think that paper is going to save you in a depression.
That being said, if someone as paranoid as HungryJoe isn't worried, neither am I.
I did flip this article link to Dave (the Economist) from Friday Night Party Line. He doesn't do forums, but if he responds to my email, I'll post it here. I've been trying to get him to do his own show because I think there would be a lot of demand for it. However, Dave lives a life of leisure so I'm not sure it's ever going to happen.
Scott: This is great!
Rym: Yeah, we were totally well-prepared for this.
Scott: Yeah, It's a good thing I was able to use my mind-bullets against the fire. It's also good that the house is continuing to burn.
Rym: Would you say that the mind-bullets failed?
Scott: No! They were great! This is great! We'll make lots of money from this!
Rym: Yeah, I'll just have to say for any new listeners that our house is burning and that's great, because it means that soon we'll have all the money in the world, as befits our superhuman intelligence and skills.
Scott: Yeah, pretty much.
Rym: If you want to die in a fire, come to our house!
Scott: I pulled our chairs out of the inferno with my computer skills.
Rym: I love you, man.
Scott: I love you more.
Before house burns down:
I have measures in place to avoid the house burning down. I also have plans of what to do if the house burns down. I have done everything that is reasonable to avoid this problem, and deal with it if it were to actually happen, and also taken into consideration the risk of it becoming a reality.
After house burns down:
Well, the house burnt down despite my best-laid plans. I did everything I could to stop it, and saved what I could save. It happened anyway. Was there something I can learn from this? Perhaps something I overlooked? Either way, the house is burned, and I can't magically bring it back. I'm alive, which means I can keep doing things. What do I have left, and where do I go from here? Maybe this is an opportunity to take a new path in life. Maybe I will fly to Europe. I won't have to worry about interim housing that way. When I come back all this bureaucracy will have finished running its course, and I can get back to living.
Remember that diamond ring that Steve was complaining about a while back? That would be highly portable wealth in case of depression or apocalypse.
I'm not saying buy gold like a crazy person, but it might be prudent to have some assets that didn't exist solely on paper.
Gold, on the other hand, is actually very rare. If you took all the gold on earth and melted it into a pure golden cube, that cube would be about one mile on each side. That's not a lot of gold. If you take all the gold produced in the world last year, from mining and such, it will fit in your living room with space to spare. Platinum is even rarer than gold, and it is equally useful.
Remember, though, the most important thing. If we are in a situation where the economy still functions, it's just really shitty, then gold and platinum will help you. So if it were 1929 again, yes gold is very good. However, if we are in a situation where there is a complete breakdown of society, then gold and platinum aren't worth shit. At that point, the only things of value are food, water, weapons, living human bodies, medical supplies, shelter, working vehicles, fuel, etc. Decide now if you are preparing for economic hardship or complete anarchy.
...I miss the higher CDN dollar....
I think diamonds are a scam, but no doubt they will be of some value.
Yes Scrym, Joe is right, you would be the first ones out of work. The people who provide essential services are the ones who stay employed. I suggest using some of your money to buy some forest land and a few axes. You can make money selling fire wood.
I do not suggest yanking all of your money out of the bank. Transactions over $10,000 get a complimentary FBI agent at your door looking for the resident drug dealer. when the FBI confiscates your money it is up to you to prove you acquired legally not up to them to provide otherwise.
I suppose the big question is whether you are better having a lot of unsecured debt going into a depression or cash on hand? With cash on hand you can buy things at rock-bottom prices. With debt being one of millions defaulting is not the same as being one-in-a-million defaulting.
My father used to say, "There will always be rich people and rich people love horses." So he made me learn how to shoe horses. Also, I was a groom at a barn in Lexington, KY when I was in school.
So my plan is to teach the defendants I've convicted how to shoe the police horses.
Ees goink to be looooong winter, comrade.
On a separate vein, does anyone possible consider that gold is a great investment for disaster? If something drastic were to happen that made you have to leave your home suddenly, never to return (e.g. missile attack, flash flood, barbarian invasion, etc.); do you think hauling around a heavy block of metal will improve your short-term survival?
I'm just saying it might be a good idea to have some gold (or silver) coins (or maybe jewelry) just in case. Obviously you're not gonna have big Bond villain/Kelly's Heroes sized blocks. You'd have to sell your house to afford a couple of those.