Yeah, the landlord would love that sitting on the property, heh? Which brings me to this question; Can the average citizen actually BUY a barrel of oil? Somehow, me thinks not. Guess you'd need some connections. But, does that keep you feeling safe, barring any market crash? I mean, a BIG crash like we're talking about here? I'm just curious to know, IF people are really worried about an imminent crash - then what are you doing to protect the money you've got saved - if, it's in the banking system? And no Wacky, I do not think the sky is falling. I'm just asking an honest question related to the threads subject matter. IF you have money, and IF it's in the banking system, and IF it's all falling apart, then yeah - I want to know what others are doing to save what they've earned/inherited from family.
Hannah, that silly comment was not directed at you. I think that things may be tough for people, and may get more tough for some, but if you stay responsible everything will be okay. That said, I think your question is excellent. Personally I think your safest route is putting your money in a standard fdic savings account. It won't make you rich, but it is about as secure as you can get. My personal equity is split in several different directions, including foreign banks. The latter has more to do with logistics than security. If you are looking at investing, housing and real estate is currently a buyers market. If you do your homework, you can get into a solid investment. With property values down, lending rates at record lows, and construction slowing to a halt, that opens up some real opportunity to get the most for your dollar (even if it is at record lows). One thing you can guarantee is that property values will be going back up. Use this economic slump to your advantage. I know several people that have liquidated their assets and reinvested in property and housing. There are a lot of masons, contractors, and builders out there that are looking for work. I would anticipate some of these 100-120k investments will turn 50-60 percent margin when the market turns (sure to be less than 10 years). What other area will you get that return? Of course this is a big investment and requires some homework to make sure you take the right steps. Just my .02
yes the average person can buy oil, it works like a stock, so you buy 1000shares (or barrels) for 100 and w/e dollars it is now for each share or barrel, then you can electronically sell this and they don't actually have to deliver 1000barrels of crude to your house , (this is the same thing for gold, you don't actually have to buy the bullion you can buy gold futures) can make some quick money before the election by investing in gold now then selling it right before it is declared who won(also about the gold thing and commodities in general, some people think its safer to actually buy the bullion so you have something to hold onto if the market suddenly crashes and the stock is worth like 1% of what it was overnight, but this isn't really resonable for oil, unless you want to start your own oil reserve lol) also you can't buy a single barrel but you can buy anything over 1000 barrels, just imagine if you had invested some money into oil just a few years ago when it was 30$ a barrel? tripled in price over over 8years? the whole fear of the banking system crashing, which causes people to remove their money from the banks causes them to crash lol
This world is one big trailer park full of trailer trash. The entire world is trying to live above their means. Everyone trying to be on top. Everyone wants the biggest widescreen, everybody sucking off the next guy in line... Being a lifetime farmer, it's interesting that what started happening to the small family farms years ago is now beginning to happen to everyone. Basically thinking more is better and going way into debt to fund bigger and better stuff, which never pays for itself once you figure interest into it. So eventually you end up going belly up due to DEBT. Seriously, it's the "system's" fault for dangling carrots under noses, but it's EVERYBODY'S fault for taking the bait. People got spoiled on the availability of STUFF they really couldn't afford. Now it's a huge tragedy when people start having to live below their accustomed "standard of living"... BUT. It's all a cleverly designed illusion. There shouldn't be any such thing as "living above your means" to begin with because it is all an evil fantasy, the way they'd have you think it works. I tried since I was a kid to figure out how the "gold standard" worked. And I now find that too is a total fabrication. Why? Because trading is trading. If I dig a ditch, you COULD pay me in trade with a bushel of lettuce. But instead, you give me a piece paper which REPRESENTS the value of the lettuce. Much easier to carry and maybe I don't need a bushel of lettuce today. So I can take that piece of paper to the store instead, and trade it for a pair of shoes. No place does gold enter into that! Which means, it should not matter one bit if they decide to print some more money! It's just more pieces of paper for people to trade with. All I can say is if you are seriously in debt, you could be screwed if those things you owe for are real important to you. The best position and mindset you can get into now is that of going with the flow. Make good investments looking toward the future, now, with what money you have. Stay out of debt or downsize to help GET out of debt, and if/when the money is no longer available, be PREPARED to adjust your lifestyle accordingly. Ultimately faze out money as a way of life as much as humanly possible, at least temporarily. The money itself is not the problem, it's the manipulators and the illusion behind it. It's NOT a crisis unless you perceive it as one. Only change. But if enough people buy into the illusion, it will BE a crisis.
Gold has historically been seen as something that has always had value, and has always been in demand, the gold standard means that the paper money the government issues actually has something to back it up more than just the word of the government, with the gold standard you could have taken that paper money and exchanged it for real gold. So there was a sense of value or security, or something for the money to stand on.
Very well said. Pressed Rat believes this is a completely manufactured crisis. But I say there are no winners if the system comes crashing down. But yes it's all a game of illusion. It's the ultimate indentured servant system. This is the situation we have let ourselves get into. Our generations and those to follow are now in debt and forced to work our lives away with no end in sight. That will be the enduring legacy of G.W. Bush, Cheney and the neocon republicans who care only about corporate profits. Shame on America for letting this continue... The worst is definitely yet to come. Yes, it needn't be perceived as a crisis, esp. if you've been preparing for this mentally for years. If so you know what is coming and are ready for it. It will be survival of the independent.
I don't quite understand your viewpoint skip, you say that the national debt will be the downfall of the U.S economy?
No the national debt will be the downfall of the USofA. Like corporations, the USA is not a real person. It is a manufactured entity. Nevertheless we treat it as a person economically and legally. But when it goes belly up, insolvent (like the banks today), and nobody wants to save it, it will die, just like a bankrupt corporation. Then the people will be free...
well if you look at the national debt... during WWII the national debt was 120% of GDP, now its half that even though its on the rise, and other countries have much higher relative debts in comparison to the U.S and they are doing fine...(japan's national debt is the same as roughly 168% of its GDP)
Yes, the big difference is the US WON WWII. We (or our banks) were OWED big debts by Europe. Plus we had Japan and Germany under out thumbs. Winners take all. I believe we stole a BUNCH of gold during and after the war, no? That can help one's financial situation, no? How much of our currency is backed by gold today? HUH??? It's all an illusion based on "trust" which GW BUSHIT & CO. is trying desperately to restore. Sorry but if you STILL trust BUSHIT, you ARE FUCKED.
That's the trouble. The illusion has been going on a long time. They have most folks convinced. Those pieces of paper "money" don't NEED anything to back them up as long as they are used to represent either labor or goods. No different than an IOU. We could bypass the entire "legal tender" concept and simply use pieces of white typing paper with the words "good for $5.00 worth of trade" or some such thing. It would be no different as long as everyone agreed to use that instead of "real" money. I also don't see why everyone is suddenly so concerned about spending their money on gold. While the dollar is worth less than ever and gold is at the highest dollar value? That's a BAD investment!!!! You can't eat gold, neither can you take it to the store and spend it. And the government could come along and declare martial law and CONFISCATE your gold, unless it's burried in the back yard...
real money is what people accept as money, the piece of blank paper with a #5 on it is worth nothing and you can't get anything for it, but people are willing to exchange services or goods for a USD because they know they can get other things with it and it will hold some kind of value, wat about we all build bombshelters and get a bunch of dried food and and store it in there instead of investing our money...lol.. how do you know gold is a bad investment it has always retained value and as times get worse everyone will be jumping onto gold thereby pushing the prices farther up, so the soon you get on the band wagon the better , I don't think the price of commodities are going to come down anytime soon.
skip i think we stole most the gold from europe in WW1 and then they confiscated the private sector of americas gold the post depression years completed by 1935 if im not mistaken,.. of course its all since been transfered back to europe through the federal reserve IMO, thats why they wont allow a audit of fort knox. as far as a emergency currency to invest in, pre 1965 silver coinage.. your best bet for the coming crisis IMO...
...And if folks actually AGREED they could use the barter system (that's what the white piece of paper idea would be) instead of "legal tender", then it would work just fine and not need anything to back it up but goods or labor, like I said... I understand this has actually been tried already by some groups and areas with much success. Nothing is probably a good investment when you are having to pay top dollar for it, and your buck ain't worth horse pucky... seems like a huge gamble to me. Nobody knows where this all is going, but if it gets REAL bad like a lot of the so called experts are predicting, survival goods will be more valuable than a hunk of pretty rock. And if things DON'T get much worse or actually start to improve, the high priced gold you bought today might LOSE value after a bit.
Thanks Wacky - thought since I had just posted about what to do with my money, it was aimed at me. Stupid change of life hormones. Also, thanks to you and the others with investment ideas. I'll look into the fdic. Retirement is going to come along and we know the baby boomer's are going going to drain the system - people get so little as it is now to live off of from their SS - I can't imagine it worse. And at my age, that scares me some. earthmother, you make some really good points. Thanks for sharing them.
Gold might drop some, but I don't think it's going to go down all that much. Too much demand from India and China. Their booming economies and reverence for gold will keep prices high in the long term. And if their economies were to contract, that would mean things have got even worse, and then gold demand may increase even more! But yes, survival gear is #1 if you are worried about the future. A generator, at least 2-3 months food, enough oil/gas/gasoline for a few months, some kind of weapon for defense, etc. are good to have just in case. I've also said that ppl should organize with neighbors. You could probably pool resources in a pinch. Get your worse case scenario plans down. There could be a short term turn around but the more they drag out the inevitable decline, the worse it will be when it comes...
The tanking of the dollar is poetic justice, and it's not like we didn't see it coming. The folks who are really hosed are those who borrowed too much or leveraged too much on the real estate bubble, and the banks who are now going belly up 'cause they lent all this money to folks they knew couldn't afford to pay it off. I'm loving watching the banks collapse. Those bastards deserve to take a hit after screwing people for so long. If you're one of the poor bastards who got screwed by the credit crisis, you might as well live it up one last time, spend as much of the bank's money as you can on a good steak dinner, it's not like they can get blood out of a stone. I agree you can't do much of anything productive with gold. You can't eat it, so you might as well take advantage of the real estate bust. It's definitely a buyers market, and you can grow food on land. Maybe if you hold out a bit it'll get better. Those of us like yours truly who didn't over extend ourselves stand to gain from this situation. I've been planning on building this kitchen for the past decade, and I waited till I had the money up front to do it without borrowing. Now the building supply people are kissing my ass 'cause I'm one of the few who's actually looking to build something. When I was putting myself through college working construction, a rich guy whose house I was working on told me this: always make sure you can pay off what you owe at any time, and you can't lose. He was an arrogant bastard, but he was right. Look at the bright side. As our currency loses value, outsourcing jobs to places like China and India won't be an option 'cause they won't want our worthess money. Imports will be reduced for the same reason. And as gas gets expensive, we use less of it, which helps the planet. We'll be buying locally produced goods 'cause it's too expensive to ship it. hannahannahannah, 'love the avitar, Joni's where it's at, and Earthmother makes a lot of good points.
