SomeYoungGuy, You are doing the right thing...might add that you should think real estate; get a lot while you are young.
You're right, that is job number one for any central banker. Make certain that nobody can put a fair value on anything. Preserve the status quo at all costs and most importantly use the peons as a backstop should any of their "central planning" ever run amok.
Reagan tripled the national debt, Bush junior doubled it, and Obama increased it so far by 50% at the end of the year. Sounds to me a debt problem.
Everybody should be. The only ones who might not be too concerned are either: a) oblivious or b) near the end of their lives and could give a shit about the debt. Like a few others have said, it will be a binary event. We will print, manipulate, collude and intimidate until the cycle runs it's course and then things will just collapse in an instant. Since it's a structural problem and there is no possible way "to grow out of it", this is the inevitable outcome.
Do you really think it will be binary, here today gone tomorrow? I think we are already seeing the beginning of the end, and we have plenty of time to deal with it. Some of us will be well prepared, some will look back and say "I never saw it coming!"
Because it scares the hell out of me. --------------------------------- Why? Why would you be scared? Fear is the ultimate force of destruction. If you are "Awake" and you understand that it is a Terrifyingly HUGE number, then you will take actions and steps to make sure, you will survive what is coming. There is NOTHING you or I can do about this DEBT. US GOV has FUBARED the entire country and they are not going to change their spending habits. Nor are the US consumers going to stop buying things they can't afford. So, instead of being SCARED, you should start to rid your self of all debt possible. Find a industry that is more than likely going to survive and focus on your own finances. Economic survive is local for many now. PERIOD. Fuck the GOV and what they have done. Fuck the majority of the people who are also the cause. We are going to be like the EU and Socialism is where the majority of the people want to take the country...and the GOV will give them what they want. So, make sure your in a state where Socialism is not a norm. Right to work state, no state tax and make sure the state has a decent Economy. Otherwise,....shut the fuck up.
Debt is not a problem. Losing jobs overseas is the problem. No currency issuing monopoly can suffer from too much debt. EU nations are not currency issuing monopolies like the uS. They can suffer from debt. US cannot suffer from debt. US can only suffer from trade imbalance. It is huge. Money and jobs leave the US every day for Asia.
Remember Dick Cheney was caught saying "deficits don't matter" , whatever that means, probably in a political context. The Fed continues to have confidence printing more money and buying bonds to subsidize the debt. Hopefully they know something we don't. Jobs leaving for Asia is a major problem. Coupled with the public sector and unions draining the tax base and the government budgets. Kudlow keeps saying free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. But it's not a free market. Oil and food prices are artificially manipulated. Severe trade imbalances with Asia and the rest of the world. The corporations offshore jobs out of greed and performance reports. Not to mention the banksters who got two bailouts which should have gone to the middle class instead. For OP, maybe consider buying a farm and stocking up on seeds and foodstuff if you're that worried. Get self-sufficient on energy with solar panels. Stuffing dollars under the mattress may not help when the dollar collapses. Remember dollars are "Federal Reserve Notes", they are just paper notes issued and printed by the Fed and they used to be based on the gold standard and "in God we trust" that the value was equitable. who knows where the value is now, maybe a proxy for oil now. Before these notes, most countries used gold, silver and copper coins as currency. So maybe stuff a bunch of silver dollars if you're going to stuff some money somewhere.
I agree with you. It is very strange that you can grasp what you wrote, but yet in market timing you seem to be rather poor.