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#274968 - 04/25/15 06:56 PM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Russ]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
By the way - I was just thinking about this, after the remark by Marc about losing a wallet being a "single point of failure".

The same thing is true on a larger scale. IF you have ALL of your finances in the Western financial system - then you are staking ALL of your assets on a "single point of failure".

I'm not preaching any kind of political view here. I am just noting that if Homeland Security feels that it is NECESSARY for bank officials to have survival kits - then clearly someone is considering the idea that the banking system MIGHT experience a problem at some time.

Therefore, maybe it's NOT wise to have all you financial assets tied up in that system. How you choose to diversify is entirely up to you.

BUT here's a good example of what I am talking about. Recently there was a major robbery of safe deposit boxes at a secure location in London (UK). Some people had their ENTIRE life savings in those boxes ... cash, jewelry, bonds, EVERYTHING. So when the thieves broke in and stole the contents - it was game over for those people. THAT is a huge loss.

It pays to spread your "nest egg" across several "nests".

Pete

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#274970 - 04/25/15 07:41 PM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Russ]
ireckon Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 04/01/10
Posts: 1629
Loc: Northern California
If the U.S. banking system completely fails, I expect other banking systems to fail at the same time. My survival preparedness for that situation includes things that have intrinsic value, like toilet paper, cars, shelter, water, intelligence, family, community, etc.
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If you're reading this, it's too late.

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#274972 - 04/25/15 09:21 PM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Russ]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
iReckon ... exactly. We ALWAYS have all those IMPORTANT things in life. And that's a super important thing to remember.

I'm not an alarmist and I'm also not a financial advisor. I have NO IDEA what the true state of the Western Banking system is. I doubt that more than half a dozen people in the world know the answer to that question - and they certainly won't give us any "heads up"!! HAHA!!

But one thing that I learned from the Fukushima disaster is that we simply cannot trust any authority "in power" to day ... to tell us the whole truth. We now know that three reactors at Fukushima have melted down completely, the radioactive cores have dumped into the Earth, nobody knows how deep they are, and highly radioactive water is still leaking into the N. Pacific Ocean. Furthermore, Japanese engineers are now saying that there is NO technology today that can solve this problem, and any real solution could be 200-300 years into the future. It's likely that the Japanese Government has known some of these details for quite a while, but it was never revealed.

So back to financial assets ... ... don't put all your eggs into one basket. And assume that nothing is SAFE. There is no perfect "SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX" in the world.

cheers,
Pete


Edited by Pete (04/25/15 09:22 PM)

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#274974 - 04/25/15 10:16 PM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Pete]
chaosmagnet Offline
Sheriff
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/03/09
Posts: 3819
Loc: USA
Originally Posted By: Pete
So back to financial assets ... ... don't put all your eggs into one basket. And assume that nothing is SAFE. There is no perfect "SAFETY DEPOSIT BOX" in the world.


This is very good advice.

My estimate (based on once having met someone who claimed to be an economist) is that if the US financial system goes down, for whatever reason, banks everywhere would suffer severe effects. I don't worry about it very much other than having cash on hand for short-term use.

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#274977 - 04/26/15 02:13 AM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Russ]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
OK folks - it LOOKS LIKE we have a possible answer.
I stress the word "possible" here. But this makes sense.

Those of you who follow finance and economics will know that a strange circumstance has happened with the bond markets IN EUROPE. Fully one third of all the major European bonds are now trading with a NEGATIVE INTEREST RATE. Yes, this situation is bizarre. It means that if you are holding assets in European bonds ... you will actually be PAYING FOR THE PRIVILEGE of owning the bonds. Instead of collecting money from a bond, you will need to PAY MONEY to own it!

The logical question is ... WHY DO THIS? The answer of course, is that you don't have to! Literally, the best place for people to store money these days appears to be in their mattress. The equity markets are trading flat, interest rates on bank accounts are almost zero, and now European bonds have negative rates. So literally there in an incentive for individuals and companies to hold their cash in private strong boxes.

APPRENTLY one pension fund in Switzerland decided to do exactly that. You can read what happened when they decided to go down to a SWISS BANK and ask for their cash ...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-25/war-cash-migrates-switzerland

Obviously, the concern is that if banks REFUSE to pay out cash ... then many citizens will become nervous and there will be a RUN ON THE BANKS.

Personally, I am not in the least bit stressed by these events - although I agree that negative rates on bonds is bizarre. But you can never tell what the public will do next. And this may explain why bank managers are being issued survival kits.

Pete


Edited by Pete (04/26/15 02:15 AM)

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#274995 - 04/27/15 09:13 PM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Pete]
Mark_R Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 863
Loc: Southern California
Originally Posted By: Pete
Originally Posted By: Mark_R
"When things go catawampus, essential personnel are required to go in"


SO MAYBE ... things are going to go catawampus.
Just sayin' !!!

I feel SO MUCH SAFER
knowing that bankers are still in charge!!
:-)

Pete


We're all here because we know that sooner or later, things will go catawampus. It's just a matter of when, how, severity, and countermeasures.

Also, not to start a flame war, but I would advise exercise a little more vigilance in selecting your references. Zero Hedge falls under the same "tin foil hat" catagory as Infowars. Not to mention, who in their right mind publishes under the name of a fictitious, insomnia induced, anarchistic, alter ego (Tyler Durden) and expects to be taken seriously.
_________________________
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane

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#275008 - 04/29/15 02:48 PM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Russ]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
"Tyler Durden" may come across as "tin foil hat", but he's tremendously energetic and he does have good insights into what is happening. I NEVER expect any one source to be fully accurate Mark. So I never take the info on these sites as being the "gospel truth". I look on it as another source of info - but you have to apply judgment to what you are seeing.

That being said - ZeroHedge has come up with some truly amazing sources of info and commentary over the years. Some of it has been "spot on". A good example is the commentaries on the Fukushima disaster. Some of their earlier commentaries appeared to be "alarmist", but as time went by ... all the worst suspicions have been confirmed. So that is one example where the blog has been doing a great job.

None of these blogs will get it "all correct". It's definitely a buyer-beware situation with information out there. But sometimes they get sources of information - that the general media does not latch onto. And sometimes those sources are correct :-)

Pete

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#275011 - 04/29/15 05:19 PM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Pete]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
"Tyler Durden" isn't one guy, there are a number of staff writers/editors at ZH that post under that handle.
_________________________
Better is the Enemy of Good Enough.
Okay, what’s your point??

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#275028 - 05/02/15 06:12 PM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Russ]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
YES - if Tyler Durden is one guy, then he must be permanently addicted to methamphetamines. HAHAHA!! There is a tremendous amount of energy being put into the articles at ZeroHedge. They may not always be perfect, but somebody is trying hard to express an alternate viewpoint.

I have given up on all forms of alarmism. WHAT WILL BE - WILL BE. If you look at the stock market objectively (who is still objective these days?), then the market is seriously over-valued. If you look at bonds, they are also in an enormous Bubble. And everyone knows it. Furthermore, there is ample evidence that sovereign bonds, issued by entire countries, are themselves worth only a FRACTION of their current price. Greece is the best example, but there are plenty of others. And finally Real Estate is also highly dependent on what people are willing to pay, so that market can tank as well. THIS MEANS that if and when the system goes catawampus - the financial losses for average Americans will be huge. Most people depend upon some combination of stocks, bonds or real estate to try to preserve their wealth. It cannot be.

I am reminded of the sage advice from a friend ...

Try to always have the skills for one white-collar job, and one blue-collar job. THAT WAY, if one set of skills becomes worthless, then you still have the other set of skills. You can get by!

Pete


Edited by Pete (05/02/15 06:13 PM)

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#275037 - 05/03/15 04:23 PM Re: Treasury Ordering "Survival Kits" -- Update [Re: Pete]
Brangdon Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/12/04
Posts: 1204
Loc: Nottingham, UK
Originally Posted By: Pete
A good example is the commentaries on the Fukushima disaster. Some of their earlier commentaries appeared to be "alarmist", but as time went by ... all the worst suspicions have been confirmed. So that is one example where the blog has been doing a great job.
Really? No-one died from Fukushima, nor is anyone ever likely to. It's small beer compared to the tens of thousands killed by the tsunami.
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Quality is addictive.

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