Thanks, this has reminded to stock up on the Rum. The Malt Scotch Whisky is taken care off in the home preps.

Cheap Rum will do, but the ALDI Old Hopking isn't much of a compromise to the Good old OVD Rum in an emergency.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/product-range/...pking-dark-rum/

Please, no politics. Your comment is exactly why this forum has that policy.

I think it takes many decades of Collective National effort to get into such a mess. It certainly has done in the UK

Forbes disagrees:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2...eir-own-bosses/

"While the economy has been miserable for small business, and many larger ones as well, the ranks of the self-employed have been growing. According to research by Economic Modeling Specialists International, the number of people who primarily work on their own has swelled by 1.3 million since 2001 to 10.6 million, a 14% increase."

Read this before you make any general statements like that:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex.asp

That just happened in 2008-2012
You didn't notice? That's because the FDIC exists now, it didn't in 1929.

I don't think people realize just how many banks actually failed.

25 In 2008
140 in 2009
157 in 2010
92 in 2011
51 in 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bank_failures_in_the_United_States_(2008%E2%80%93present)

Total lost deposits of "electronic money" as you call it? $0.

Not. One. Penny.

Folks, the system is far, far stronger than you might like to think it is. Lessons HAVE been learned from the past and while this Furlough situation can and will hit the economy hard, it's by no means a country-killer.

In fact, countries like Iceland, Poland, Cyprus, Greece and more have, after all is said and done, done OK with their financial issues.

In terms of the Furlough? It will be annoying for most, distressing for some, devastating for a few who don't have the cash on hand to make it a month.

But it's hardly economic armageddon. We just went through that and it's been bad for many, but not for all.

Thanks for the link, but I agree with John Williams' analysis.

That's funny. People are holding on to dollars that are steadily losing money, and will be worthless long before precious metals start to fail, yet still see gold and silver holdings as a risk in an extended crisis.

When the dollar collapses, it could happen in hours. The transition to a full on barter only system will take weeks, as people realize that the economy is not going to recover as quick as the government lies indicate. During that time, the dollar will be worthless, while people will place even greater value on precious metals. The junk silver I have will be highly desirable during that period, possibly being over-valued by as much as 300% (right now a silver dime is worth a cheap loaf of bread, it could be worth a gallon of gas in that crisis period).

It would be prudent to have a few thousand dollars on hand, and 10-15k worth of junk silver. Then it is all about barter items if things keep spinning down the drain.

But saying gold and silver has no value while trying to retain dollars as a hedge when it will vaporize like flash paper when tshtf seems a bit backwards to me.

When you have the Fed generating $83 billion a month, it is pretty easy to balance the bottom line. Of course, the bailout bought up all the debt the banks generated with bad investments. This kept the govt from having to step up to honor and FDIC losses, as they never materialized. So the Fed sits on mountains of bad investments they will never call, since they can just print what they need and rob all of us to cover the loss.

But no, we're not in bad shape. Not as long as the rest of the world still believes that all those dollars are still worth something.

Let's hope the Chinese never lose faith in us. We keep losing our credit rating, and it will get increasingly difficult to convince everyone else to keep doing business with us without asking for a higher rate of return.