Thanks for the chart....most of the people who seem to have a good grasp of this collapse seem to think the dollar will devalue substantially. If we have the dollar devaluing a lot ( >50%), would it be prudent to be buying govt bonds? It looks like the only time the bonds did not go up in value was during the stagflation era. I do wish they had shown how the assets did during the depression era. Do you know how they did by any chance? Gold looks to be a good bet if we have any type of inflation.
My wife also grew up in the Soviet Union. After the collpase the Mafia moved in. She said the Chechens were the worst and most brutal. Their signature was beheading their enemies. She knew someone who got on their wrong side and his headless body was found in his car.
If things go to shit, you don't want to be holding paper, promises of paper, or paper receipts of anything. You want to be holding physical gold and silver coin in small denominations to facilitate trade.
What about investing in gold through ETFs or futures(paper gold).....not particularly holding physical gold? If I cant hold paper gold and get paid out on it....wtf?
No, because in the worst-case scenario they'll be heavy default in gold delivery and gold will jump 1000$, overnight. Comex doesn't guarantee counterparty delivery on contracts. There's rumors gold miners plan a run on the COMEX next month. Lets wait and see. Do some research on Futures volume to actual physical stock of the underlying. Only 10 to 20% of the underlying could get filled if all open interest took delivery.... Its a paper market.
As romantic as you're trying to make it all sound the fact is that a lot of farmland was lost during the Great Depression, about 100K acres worth, AKA the Dust Bowl.
According to NPR, 30% of the population in 1920 were farmers and 60% lived rural. Today, less than 2% of the population farms and less than 20% live rural. The Dust Bowl has nothing to do with it. Contemporary society is far less equipped to survive a food crisis, then our predecessors. Its a relative comparison. Just because one circumstance is more favorable than another, doesn't imply either circumstance is "Good". LOL