In my early years, I remember my parents and their friends talking about the Depression and hoping that "one day" it would end.
I was born 3 years before the USA got into World War II. The Depression was still oppressing a large number of Americans, all across the country.
FDR has been widely credited with ending the Depression, when in fact, he made it both worse and longer than it would have been had he not tampered with the economy through his "New Deal" policies.
I try to watch and read news and commentary from a number of sources and with varying political points of view. I've been concerned for several months that a few leading economists -- among them Arthur Laffer and Stuart Varney -- have been forecasting economic "collapse" for the US economy. Their consensus is that economic affairs will come down around our years no later than mid-2011!
That's SOON!!
It's been the conservative news media that have been warning of this for months. Now I see that the rest of the media -- not wishing to be perceived as ignorant of financial matters -- are now beginning to point with alarm at future events. In case you can't link to the link at the beginning of this post, I strongly recommend you read this article: http://www.benzinga.com/10/08/426718/will-quantitative-easing-by-the-federal-reserve-unleash-economic-hell
While I'm not exactly sure what "economic hell" is, I know it is not good!
You and I are riding this train, and they won't let us anywhere near the throttle in the engine room, so, what do we need to do in order to ride out this coming "economic hell".
Many financial advisors recommend converting any cash assets you have into precious metal coins -- gold or silver US coins. That sounds good to me, but having some experience in those markets, I recommend Silver Eagles from the US Mint. Those are worth somewhere near $20 today, and will have some value as a medium of exchange even when the paper dollars in your pocket are worthless.
Gold coins are OK, I guess, if you have a large amount of cash to stash, but because of their relative value, they might be too valuable to worth very much as a medium of exchange in crisis except for "big ticket" items, not for every day commerce. If you do decide to convert to gold and/or silver coins, I strongly recommend that you invest only in bullion coins from the US Mint. They are of reliable and accurate weight and content. With coins from any other source, you cannot be sure of either.
To prepare for such dire events, there are more urgent needs needing your attention than currency. After all, our parents and grandparents made it through the Depression with very little or no cash at all!
. . . more later. Your comments, ideas, and suggestions are welcome.
