RA, stocks, gold - are not reliable in this economy anymore, they can permanently go down with the dollar any moment. IMO, only real goods, which are hard to wear off from moderate use, compact, and in a good demand is the way to go. In the USA (hoping for the firmness of the 2nd amendment holiness) I can think of guns only.

Yep, I'm with NuggetHoarder on this situation. But gold - still not good because it's too late already. And it's useless when the market will be down to pure hand to hand trade for a while (I'm talking about investing in it, not prospecting off course).

Regarding the ban on politics. It seems to me - the rule of thumb must be: talk about what you are going to do or done yourself, not about others (like governments, politicians, bankers, etc.).