flynn23 wrote:
Dag hasn't responded as to his motivation for moving to gold or even really how he plans to do it (gold based securities or actually stockpiling the stuff in his basement). But nonetheless, I think it's foolish based upon the same logic that I think Decius was hinting at. If you're trying to protect wealth during a recession (which is still not a given), there are a variety of ways to do that. Mostly around shifting to high rated or muni bonds, cash, and smaller emerging markets. If you were just wanting to shift to a currency that was going to perform better than the US dollar in all these scenarios that keep getting ballied about, you're not really talking a big difference in return. Converting to the euro is only going to stave off inflation longer. It doesn't actually produce a better return long term. Unless there's massive collapse, which I am just not seeing happen to the degree that a lot of these articles have pondered.

Hi, no. I will not be shifting my money into bonds because those are backed by morons and their idiocy. Idiocy is unfortunately not an appreciating asset. I won't be migrating it to cash because the dollar is losing value like a badly-made new car. We're on par with the freaking CDN now, in case you didn't notice. Had I shifted my little stash into a medium that wasn't subject to revaluation based on the lunatic excesses of some rich bastards (who will likely never really feel the effects of what they have done) a year ago, I'd have made a significant gain in wealth simply from the drop of value in the dollar. As to the rest, I think we saw just how well even "high rated" funds fare after 2001 when everyone's retirement funds dropped in value by 30% or more. They're rated by the same people who put so much money into the "unemployed black man in a string vest" funds, i.e., "structured investment vehicles". So much for trusting in the "experts".

flynn23 wrote:
Even if you thought "the end" was coming, I don't see how gold is what you'd want to horde. If it's really "the end", then natural resources are what will have value. You can't do shit with gold. It's not even a good manufacturing material because it needs too much processing. I'd rather invest in something useful, like electricity production via solar, hydro, wind, or natural gas. Or water, wood, or masonry. Or if you really wanted to get hard core, buy a sustainable farm. People will always need to eat and make things. People don't necessarily need hard currency when the shit hits the fan.

If we're headed the way it appears we're heading, most of these suggestions run the gamut from "unprofitable" to "implausible". I need something relatively immune to the vagaries of economic shifts, which means relying on a scarce resource that doesn't revalue rapidly and has value everywhere. Gold is portable, value-dense ($800 an ounce is pretty dense, almost as dense as Google shares), and although not a huge winner for profit or dividends, is very stable.

RE: Wake up to the dangers of a deepening crisis