Where are we on that chart right now if contemporary currency was backed by gold, as was the case in during the Great Depression?
Here are the 3 Scenarios that we can anticipate 1) The bank runs continue and there are Intermittent Freezes and withdrawl caps. To slow the rate of exodus. This is rare overall but common within sever Financial Crisis. IMF recommends this as a last resort in managing Bank Runs. This is a very likely scenario at this point within the coming weeks. The economy will not stop. It forces the wealthly to keep their capital in the banks. Remember fractional banking. Your friends 100K covers 1 million in deposits. This was done in Argentina, its also similar to exchange controls to keep capital at a national level. It is smart to take large amounts if you have it because you will have freedom to make decesions. If you have little capital then no use worrying. Those who think this is unlikely are fools. The government will reach a point where this is preferable to printing more currency. 2) The Government does not institute controls and people just liquidate every bank. Then there is no banking system, currency would also completely collapse and Fiat Money charade would be unmasked. Government will not allow this, see scenario 1. This would esult in an overthrow of the current government. Currencies collapses like this usually result in that. Again Self preservation number one rule. 3) You can buy gold. However.. Government as in 1929. will not allow something to compete with the Fiat standard, its also why we went of it gold in 1971. Gold ownership will be outlawed. For our well being of course. So if you are going to hold Gold you need to do it in an offshore account. Switzerland, singapore. Keeping gold bars in you house is useless. there are tons of gold reserves, governments will dump it on the market, then make it illegal and take it back. I think silver is a better metal to hold. It has industrial applications, governments dont horde silver, And silver is still standard in coinage. Currently many old coins have a higher face value because of the current price in silver.
Being from Wilmington, DE, I have heard many stories about the DuPont family and how they managed the Great "D". One of the brothers, having the foresight, raised alot of cash before the Crash. In the following years, the cash was used to help DuPont family members survive while holding onto their stock. I'm not sure if there were any strings attached to the help, but it remains an interesting story. The wise brother I believe was the one who established Long Wood Gardens, for those who know the area. I agree keeping a short term supply of cash in the family safe will help if there is a temporary issue with electronic transactions. But at some point if anarchy prevails... There is still great wisdom by those who routinely maintain an emergency pantry to feed the family for an extended period. Local, State and Federal government agencies would react in any serious break down. However, we should note the possible lag time and dysfunction as demonstrated by Hurricane Katrina. One last point I noted Jim Cramer make today. He doesn't often do much but make me laugh, but he referenced the dot.com/tech bubble crash using various high flying charts from the period. Almost all of the high fliers had roughly a 90% correction from their peak valuations to find the Nasdaq market bottom. If we use Apple's $200+ peak in a similar contemporary chart analysis to predict the possible future bottom from our current problems, perhaps we'll see Apple drop to $20 before we see the market bottom. Just a thought. Keep your powder dry and be safe.
Cramer is silly to reference the dot com. bubble. First of all many of those companies where vapor. They had no mechanism to make money they where just ponzi schemes. We already had our equity collapse which actually has led to healthy companies. Many companies today have lots of cash, actually provide products and service and have very health balance sheets with low debts. Corporate America has better balance sheets than Average America (Financials not withstanding of course) This crisis is not an equity crisis. Its a banking and government crisis. AAPL makes products that people want and sells them at a profit. AAPL has been around for almost 30 years. There are many people who would steal AAPL long before its worth $20.00 dollars.
Dude I have had an awesome year trading, and the only thing that I am worked up about is what kit I am going to buy.......... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...9939&perpage=6&highlight=lancair&pagenumber=1
Thats good to hear. I like the Epic but I know nothing about planes. And yes I am in a bad mood today, sorry to take it out on you but I am sick of all these gold bugs and end of the world types on the Internet. And no the bad mood is not from losing today I actually had a good day. Peace..