Sidestepping so far... But we are all biased in our currency savings base, income base and properties...
I have a nice cash position and did pull a bit out to tide me over in case I can't get any for a month or two. I am hoping that a "crash" will just come and get over with. If we go down 20 or 30% more we will all live. This death of 1000 cuts is worse. My fear is the bailout bill gets passed, doesnât work, there is a crash and there is domestic terrorism against the financial industry. If there isnât a bail out and there is a crash I donât think the likelihood is as great. I think there is more on the line than the stock market here. I am listening to Lou Dobbs now and he is asking again and again, where or what is this crisis that required this to be a done deal by last Friday? The public donât know what it is and no one who claims to know is saying. We are in some scary times now.
I guess mine is none of the above, since I don't think cash is the place to be if the dollar goes to hell. I'm hedging my money in other currencies and commodities. I've done some of it already, I'm trying to decide exactly how to do the rest of it (like what to buy what account I want to hold it in, details like that). I'm resigned to the fact that I'll probably lose some money or potential gain because of this, but it's worth the peace of mind I'm gaining. I will probably pull out some cash. One of my family members is buying physical gold. I have a whole extended family with lots of land, hunting equipment, fishing equipment, and wood stoves (nothing having to do with armageddon, that's just how they live!). So, I should be covered if it ever got really bad.
Live between a major river, the Ocean and a forest. Know how to hunt and fish. Have a boat and a car. Stay out of the cities. Heck, that's what I do now - not out of any "survivalist" planning, I just prefer to live where I do. If we have a great depression - I may have more time to do what I enjoy - there's never a bad day fishing. Seriously, if it all goes to hell, do you really think that tapping on computer keys will be a viable way to make a living? And what will you do with gold bars? Use them as paperweights? Flash those babies during a depression and you better be packing heat as well. I doubt it will get that bad. But living where I do, I don't worry about it either.
Living off of nature is never bad, it is even healthy mental wise to be able to "find your place in nature" and know that you can take care of your self - simple peace of mind. I tend to go windsurfing now and then, there is not a lot of fishing here and nature is kind of "dangerous" in a tropical country like Brazil with all the unknowns - parasites, poisonous stuff, reptiles and more - and for someone used to more temperate nature it is a bit daunting, unpleasant even. I also think that there is one great investment that never fails - just land. Nothing in upkeep, just plain land. It is hard to fall much in price and size matters.
Come down to Houston/Galveston for a few days to get a taste of what could come. We still have 500,000 customers without power (going on 2 weeks). That equates to about 1,500,000 people without power.